The door in front of me has a plaque that says, “Yuika’s room♪.”

I knock on the door familiarly.
Well, we’ve known each other for a long time, so it’s okay if I go in without permission, but just in case, it’s a respectful thing to do.

“‘No, don’t look!’”

What came back from the other side of the door was the voice of the owner of the room …… it was not.
It was a voice from a game character.

“That guy is loud again… I told her to at least keep the sound down. —Yuika, I’m coming in.”

When I open the door, there was an oversized bun on the bed.
It was my childhood friend, Kisaragi Yuika, who was playing a browser game on her laptop under the covers.
At any rate, I vigorously ripped off the futon.

“Hey, you social misfit who spends your weekdays playing video games. You should at least answer when I knock.”
“Kyaa!? You scared me! Eh, what… Souta!?”

A beautiful girl in her pajamas looked at me as she jumped.
Her hair is silky smooth, her skin is as white as snow, and her face is as well-groomed as an idol’s.
Yes, my childhood friend, Kisaragi Yuika, is a beautiful girl who is a joke.
If it weren’t for the fact that she’s wearing a pair of saggy bear pajamas, she’d be a scene out of a movie.

… Ah, no, there’s no movie with a heroine who looks like a half-naked video game character on a laptop. Sorry, I take back my previous statement.
Yuika puffs up her pretty face and protests.

“Don’t just take the futon off me. What if I get startled and make a mistake? If you sunk, you can’t be resurrected in this game.”
“It’s your fault for being cooped up in a room with a futon. And turn down the volume, the volume.
“I refuse.”
“Don’t refuse. What language is that? Just say no. Actually, don’t say no. Turn down the volume.”
“My playstyle is to block out the world with a futon and become one with the characters at high volume.”

Yuika pointlessly puffed out her chest.
By the way, her growth was very amazing. She was still wearing the pajamas she wore in elementary school, so her br**sts were pushed up and looked amazing.

“…Souta, your eyes are so erotic. Stop staring.”
“I refuse. I don’t waste such erotic opportunities, it’s my way of life.”
“Don’t refuse. What language is that?”
“I don’t know. You said it.”
“If you stare at me any longer, I’m going to have you pay a looking fee.”

She glanced at me with a scowl.
What’s with the looking fee? She’s always asking for it, regardless. Well, I’m the one who’s been spoiling her, after all.
I put the covers back on her and sit down on the edge of the bed.
I put my hand in the chest pocket of my uniform handed a card to Yuika, who was reaching for it, saying, “hurry up, hurry up.” It was a prepaid card for charges in the game.

“Turn down the volume before you charge me, okay?”
“Yes, I understandー♪”

As soon as she got what she wanted, she became honest.
I could hear the “I’m going to charge!” and “wha-what is that!?” which had been echoing for a long time, became quieter.
Yuika turned toward the laptop on her pillow side and tapped her foot.

“Hmmm, now I can pay for the screws, continue to refurbish MK.7, and make my fleet even stronger…”
“That’s a good thing. It’ll make me feel better that my part-time job that took up so much of my precious weekend will pay off.”
“Oh, and by the way, my Caldea is looking for more heroic spirits too.”
“Didn’t I tell you before that I don’t cooperate with bottomless charges?”
“You’ll figure it out for the love of your childhood friend. Right? Please, Souta.”
[TLN: No clue what the ship game is, Caldea is the organization in FGO that the MC is in.]

She hugs the phone on her pillow to her chest and stares at me flirtatiously.
She had a nice face and was usually cute. Dang, I’m not going to let something like this defeat me…

“If you want to pay your charges, get yourself a part-time job, you NEET.”

I tickled the bottom of the foot that was next to me mercilessly.

“Gyah!? Not the bottom of my foot! Ha-ha-ha, my phone going to fall out! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I give up!”

Yuika yelled in agony.
The bottom of her feet and back are her weak points. This is the trivia of a childhood friend.

“Did you reflect on that?”
“I did. I did.”
“Are you ready to work?”
“That I don’t think so?”

As soon as I release her feet, she stops reflecting.
Yuika says as she lazily rummages around in bed.

“If I work, Souta won’t be able to monopolize me anymore, right? As a childhood friend, I can’t be so cruel.”

When she came over to me from the pillow side, Yuika put her head on my lap with a sweet voice.
She was holding a smartphone in her hand. It seems that the next step after the fleet battle in the browser game is to go around with the heroic spirits on the phone.

“A beautiful girl in your lap? How’s that? Does it make you happy? Does it make you happy?”
“It’s normally the other way around. Why am I the one giving you a lap pillow?”
“Because it’s embarrassing to put Souta on my lap.”
“Oh, is it because I can see your big br**sts from below?”
“Don’t be delirious! Tell them they have style there!”
“Yes, yes, good style, good style.”
“Mmm. Better.”
“What’s your cup size, again?”
“C.”
“Oh.”
“Ah, but that was in junior high school, so it’s probably more now. Lately, all the bras in my wardrobe are too small.”
“Do you want me to go get you some?”
“All by yourself, Souta?”
“I’m prepared to storm the lingerie store for my cute childhood friend.”
“You’re such a pervert.”
[TLN: Apparently style is like the shape.]

She smiles happily on my lap while playing with her phone.
The princess is in a good mood.

Although it’s late, my name is Mikami Souta. Second-year of high school. I’m in the go-home club.
After school, I always come to this hermit’s room and laze around like this, doing nothing in particular.
I’ve been working part-time on the weekends, and since I get paid semi-monthly for my part-time job for some reason on the first and fifteenth of every month, I always bring Yuika a gift of a prepaid card. …Yeah, I wonder why. It has become a tradition since I happened to buy it at some point. Now, I only regret it.

“Ah, that’s right. I haven’t given something to Souta for his price yet.”
“You know, the way you say “price” makes you sound like a chuunibyou.”
“What. Don’t you want to get paid for buying me a card?”
“You don’t have to do it every time.”
“No. It’s like I’m the one who’s getting all the credit.”
“…I am, in fact, hitting on you.”

She seemed to have just finished her lap of the game and put down her phone.
Then she got off the bed and opened her arms to me.
It’s a gesture like a child asking for a hug. It’s not a metaphor, but it’s exactly what I meant by a hug.

“Here you go. It was a 3,000 yen card, so you have 30 seconds, right?”

I sat on the bed, still scratching my head.

“…Honestly, I’m embarrassed every time.”
“Wha-What? I’m embarrassed too, you know?”

She waved me over.
I gave up and stood up. …Honestly, it’s not that I don’t want to hug Yuika.

“Uh, well…excuse me.”
“…Yes, go ahead.”

With a reluctant refusal, I hugged Yuika.
I felt the softness of a beautiful girl in my arms, and the smell of shampoo tickled my nose.

…Oh my goodness. I’m soooo happy…

After all, she is a beautiful girl.
I’m not sure how to describe it, but once I hugged her, my heart began to race.
On the first and fifteenth of every month, I used my part-time job money to buy Yuika a card to pay her charges.
In exchange, she allows me to hug her. It’s a repeating event for us that started somehow.
And it was also customary for Yuika to say this. “You know, Souta,” she prefaced.

 

“——Don’t fall in love with me, okay?”

 

In my arms, my childhood friend’s voice echoed quietly.
I put my hand on her back and squeezed it tightly.
I placed my chin on Yuika’s silky hair and nodded, “yeah, yeah.”

“How can it be? We’re just childhood friends. And my type is a career woman.”
“… Ah, Souta seems to like being used as a jaw by his female boss, doesn’t he? It’s so creepy I can almost imagine it.”
“That’s an exaggeration. Let’s not use the word creepy, okay? I’ll cry if you say creepy.”
[TLN: Career women pursuing a professional career. Jaw, someone that gets talked to in a boring or scolding manner.]

With a small laugh, Yuika quickly pulled away.

“Alright, that’s thirty seconds! Souta, please sit down again. I’ll proceed with the event with a lap pillow.”
“…I was just thinking, isn’t it strange that I’m charged 3,000 yen for your hug, but you get a free lap pillow?”
“Eh, Souta, do you think you can get money with your lap pillow? What should I do? My childhood friend is too self-conscious for words.”
“You’re the one who likes my lap, aren’t you?”
“Yeah but I’m fine. Because I’m a beautiful girl after all.”

She was a beautiful girl who says selfish things.
In the end, she made me offer my knees to her for free after this.
I’m no match for my spoiled childhood friend.