“Souta, you’re late…”

“Uwa, Yuika, what’s wrong? What kind of hazard is it?”

When I entered the room, my childhood friend was wobbly.
She had dark circles under her eyes. Her hair was bouncing all over the place, and her pajamas looked a bit saggy. Even so, her beauty hasn’t gone down, but she looks like she’s about to die. In fact, I even feel like she died once and came back to life.

“What’s wrong with your face? Have you been infected with the zombie virus? Are you the hazard or there is a hazard? Or is it the dead? I don’t mind the classic slow zombie style, but I still romanticize the fast-dashing zombies of recent years, honestly, sorry!”
“Hmm? Souta, don’t you dislike the occult…?”
“Zombies are not occult! They are comedies!”
“Well, I’m not interested in that at all…”

I hurriedly stopped as a zombie-looking Yuika staggered in the room and caught me.
If this were a movie, I’d be bitten and it would be the end.

“… Fine! I don’t mind being bitten if it’s by Yuika! Let’s do an elevator attack on the hero team together! We’re high-speed zombies, so it’s 80% more kaleidoscopic and gore-filled!”
“… Um, I’m sorry? To be honest, I don’t really care about zombies or anything, can you come back from your fantasy?”
[TLN: I am pretty sure the elevator attack is from Left 4 Dead where the opposing party comes out of an elevator on a high floor, and the charging zombie tackles them off the building, making it instant death with no revives.]

She said something very cold.
Oh no, my childhood friend is annoyed.

“Yes sir, I’m back. I was getting a little geared up for zombie talk. I’m sorry. But I’m sure Yuika will still be cute as a zombie.”
“I don’t want to talk about that right now.”
“Y-yes sir…”

What’s with all the grumpiness…?
Yuika is scary when she can’t take a joke!

“Listen, Souta, I didn’t sleep today.”
“No sleep? Why not? Playing games all night again?”
“I didn’t play games. I just couldn’t sleep.”
“I see. … has that ever happened to you before?”

“No, for the first time in 17 years of my life.”
“Is, is that so…”
“Yeah. That’s why.”

Yuika, who was using my arms for support, tugged at the sleeves of my blazer on both sides.

“I’m going to sleep now with Souta as my pillow! I’m going to sleep like a sleeper! So pamper me! Pamper me so that I can sleep in peace! You have no right to refuse!”
“I’m relieved. It’s the usual selfish Yuika. It’s the same old Yuika that doesn’t give me any choice at all.”
“Yes, dash for the bed!”
“There’s no distance to dash.”

I was made to sit with my back against the wall on the far side of the bed. Yuika examined the position of my legs, and eventually placed her head on my thigh. She seemed to be satisfied with her position.
I put the futon on her, and she’s completely ready to go to sleep.

“… Is this the kind of thing where I can’t leave until you wake up?”
“Can you stay here today?”
“It’s a great line, but I’m not being treated like a human being right now, am I? You’re treating me like bedding, right? And I know you’re saying this casually, but you have to get permission from your parents.”
“You have a smartphone, right? You can send a message to Iori and he’ll talk them through it.”
“Fu, that’s true…”

That’s right. I’m sure Yuika’s brother will be able to arrange it with two words.
Tomorrow is Saturday, so there is no school. I have a late shift at my part-time job, so it’s not a problem.

“Satisfied? Now hold my hand.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Pat my head.”
“Here, here.”.
“Mmm-hmm.”

She was so happy.

I’m kneeling with her on my thighs, holding her hands with my right hand and stroking her head with my left. If I could sing a lullaby to her, it would be a full course meal.

“Ah, you don’t need to sing, okay? Souta, you’re a terrible singer.”
“Konoyaro. Shall I give you a loud recital?”
“Oh, no!”

I cackled in full-blown amazement. In the meantime, Yuika soon began to breathe steadily in her sleep. She must have been very sleep-deprived. But.

“Pamper me so that I can sleep in peace… what was it that made you so anxious?”

I whispered to her and combed her bangs.
She is sleeping peacefully, so of course, she doesn’t answer.
I look at her sleeping face and talk to her only in my mind.

… Can I ask you something soon? It’s time to ask what you’ve been up to lately.

Of course, I can wait until she tells me. However, since Yuika has a tendency to hold things back, she often feels like she can’t say something even if she wanted to. In such cases, I would ask her and she would start talking with a relieved face.
Tomorrow, I’ll start thinking more carefully about what’s best for Yuika.
As I was thinking about this, her cherry-red lips made a small movement.

“… Souta”
“Hmm?”

Knowing that she was talking in er sleep, I whispered a reply. Then.

“… Suki.”
“Wha!? !? ! ! ! ! …!!!?”
[TLN: Suki = I like you.]

Hey, what, are you talking about!? No, it sleep talk, she’s sleep talking! But, ah, ah, Yuika!

Normally I would be tempted to push her over, but alas, I was now the bedding.
Unable to move against the weight, I continued my role as a pillow.

…
…
…

Eventually, when night had fallen, our sleeping princess woke up.

“Fuwa~… I slept well.”
“Good to see you awake.”
“Well, I’m satisfied. … What’s wrong with Souta?”
“What?”
“You’re… smiling a lot. What? Did you get an SSR in the gacha while I was sleeping?”

Still using me as a pillow, Yuika gave me a dubious look.
Oh, I’m such a grinch, huh? I thought I had regained a sense of normalcy in the past few hours, but it seems that the muscles in my cheeks are reacting on their own.
I feel so happy just looking at Yuika’s face.

“I think I may have pulled an SSR for sure. There are good things in life if you take them seriously, yeah.”
“Oh, really? Was my sleeping face cute enough to change the course of human history? You didn’t kiss me while I was sleeping, did you?”
“No, I didn’t. I don’t need that kind of insolence right now.”
“R-really? I hope so… I’ve never seen Souta in such a good mood before.”

“Fufu, well, I’ve reached a new stage in my life.”
“It’s like… you’re in such a good mood that I’m getting worried. Are you okay? I’m starting to get the feeling that you’re about to get a little too happy.”
“Haha, no way.”
“I wish that were the case.”
“Well then, let’s just smash the flag, shall we?”

I cleared my throat.
Now, let’s say, for example, that was a mishearing of something…

“Yuika, you’re not writing a memoir or anything like that, are you?”

That was the moment.
Yuika jumped off the futon and got up.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Did you see it? My loose-leaf!”
“What, you’re writing on it? Is this really a flag of lukewarm joy? No way! Is there no God or Buddha in this world?”
“What? You didn’t see it? I said it to myself without being seen!? Whaaaaaaa!?”

My childhood friend is screaming in agony on the bed.
The screaming banquet went on and on, and finally ended when my phone buzzed and I was warned by Iori in a message, “Souta nii-chan, please be quiet at night.”
Breathing heavily on each other’s shoulders, we sat upright and faced each other.

“Well, it looks like… there’s been some sort of misunderstanding.”
“Yeah, looks like it… sadly.”
“I’m not going to ask what Souta misunderstood. I think it’s better for the future.”
“It’s a wise decision. So what about your memoirs on…?”
“It’s not a memoir, it’s more like a loose-leaf note. … Oh, but that’s really just a note, so it doesn’t mean much. What’s important is … the one I typed over there.”

“Actually, I am…”

She said with a slurred but somewhat elated expression.

“… writing a syosetu.”
[TLN: Syosetu, web novel, etc.]

 

 

[TLN1: So basically Souta heard suki, which is I like you, but he wanted to make sure he didn’t mishear it, so he checked if she wrote a memoir, which is also pronounced suki.]

[TLN2: This is chapter is in thanks to the people who donated, along with Sangius and Samheart.]