I gently turned off my phone, which had Iori’s message.

I pretended that I hadn’t seen it… but I still felt bad about it.
One DVD may not be enough. I’ll have to look into getting a DVD set of “To LoveRu.” But I wonder how much the set will cost…

As I looked at Yuika, my eyes met with her eyes on the bed.
My childhood friend was red up to her ears, breathing unsteadily, and still trembling with shame.
As soon as our gazes collided, she quickly covered her face with her hands.

“Don’t look at me. I’m dying of embarrassment…”
“…”

I think I’m going to die from your cuteness instead…!

We scream in agony in silence.
But… I don’t want this day to end like this. These thoughts were beginning to well up in my heart.

Regardless of how it happened, the woman I love said so much to me. It would be a shame for a man if it ended like this.
I wonder if there is anything I can do. There must be something I can do to show my respect to Yuika.
As I was thinking about it in agony, my phone hit my foot.

A flash of realization. It appeared in my mind.
The hint was the message that Iori had sent me.

—Mouthful of sugar.

I changed my expression and turned to the bed.
Okay, let’s do this. Show your manliness, Mikami Souta!

“Yuika.”
“Eh, what…?”

I took a deep breath and said to my childhood friend who turned around to look at me.

“I’m going to turn the tables now. I’m sorry, but I’m going to win.”
“Huh?”

As soon as I announced it, I jumped on the bed. The springs creaked, and Yuika lost her balance, but I quickly held her as she was about to fall.
As soon as I did, she exclaimed “ehh!?”

“So, Souta… What? Did you get excited by any chance?”
“Yes, I did. I’m not going to cool down for a while.”
“No, you can’t. I told you to be gentle for the first time, didn’t I? Th-that’s why…”

Her gaze wandered wildly in my arms.
But her voice became quieter and quieter, and finally, she looked up at me as if to ask.
The voice was faint, like the buzzing of a mosquito.

“… Y-you’re serious?”

If I were to ask her seriously, I’m sure she wouldn’t refuse. We’ve both known that for a long time. But…that’s why.

“Just so you know, I’m not asking you to do anything erotic, okay?”
“Eh, then what…? —Ah.”

I lifted her chin.
Recently, we had been focusing on our physical relationship. Maybe we were just too close as childhood friends to think too much about jumping into a relationship.
But the truth was that there was a stage before that.

Of course, there are many problems.
Yuika has always been working on “Operation Make Souta Like Me,” which is an effort for her to get out of being a recluse, so I mustn’t succumb to it.

But I don’t care about such theories any more. I was ‘convinced’ by Yuika’s words. So I should do the same thing. Conviction takes precedence over everything else.

“Yuika… eyes, close them.”
“W-wait, wait! I’m not ready to…”
“I’m not waiting.”

I angled my fingers on her chin, pulled her hips in with my other hand, and then—

“Sou, ta…”

 

I kissed Yuika.

 

We kissed for only a moment.
When I let go of her lips, Yuika’s crystal eyes widened and she let loose.

“… We just… kissed.”
“Yeah, we did.”
“My first kiss…”
“We didn’t do that when we were kids, playing house.”
“Ah, why…?”

She touched her lips to feel the sensation.

“Why… a kiss now?”
“Let’s go on a date.”
“Wha…?”
“In the past year and a half, I’ve found a lot of new places to go on dates in the neighborhood. So let’s go there next time. Just the two of us, okay?”
“Ah…”

Understanding lit up in Yuika’s eyes.
During the Big Operation, all I had to do was keep taking Yuika’s approach. But that’s the kind of situation where Yuika is doing her best all by herself. It was simple. Instead of working hard alone, we should work hard together.
With the same goal in mind, the two of us should figure out what to do together.

“Satisfied?”

“I am. I am convinced…”

Yuika nodded with an exquisite expression of frustration and happiness on her face.
I chuckled and captured it.

“What’s more, you know what? I don’t want to be pushed down, but I do want to be pushed down through the end — that feeling is gone too, right?”
“Oh, it’s frustrating… but it is gone. I feel so fluffy with all the bewilderment gone. It’s like sweetness filled my heart.”
“I know, I know. My win?”
“Ugh, that smug look is so annoying! But I have to admit it. You have won this time!”

Admitting defeat, Yuika stomped her feet on the bed.
Fuhaha, that felt good.

“It’s so frustrating… But! More importantly!”

Yuika jumped up and down.

“I finally kissed Souta———!”

She started rolling around on the bed with a rumbling sound.
It was quite loud. I turned my gaze to my phone. The power is off, but… I’m sure I’m getting messages from Iori at incredible speed right now.

But oh well, it’s fine. Yuika was cute, and now I had to capture the sight of her shyness in my mind.
With that thought in mind, I continued to watch her with a grin, and avoiding the rolling Yuika.