I put Yuika on my lap and cleaned her ears.

Every time I carefully scratched the grooves on the outside of her ears, her shoulders, wrapped in a cardigan, would shake and tingle.

“How’s that? Feels good, doesn’t it?”
“I-I don’t know… Don’t ask me that. Souta no baka.”

My childhood friend gave me a tsundere-like reply.
Fufu, I know, I know it all, Yuika.
It’s a little embarrassing when people scratch your ears because it feels so good that it makes you feel more and more relaxed, right?
But I just had the same thing done to me by you. So I’m not going easy on you!

“Let’s go scratch the entrance to your ear. Are you ready?”
“Entrance? W-wait! I’m not ready…for that.”
“There, there, there!”
“Hoo…! Baka, bakabaka, Souta is getting too carried away…!”
“Fu, it’s no use trying to fool me by deliberately making an erotic voice, you know? I’m the incarnation of the earworm, I won’t be fooled by such an act!”
“I-It’s not acting. This is really…! Ohhh, mm, mmm~…!”

Yuika bit her fingers and began to stifle her voice.
If you look at her, you can see that her cheeks and ears are as red as autumn leaves.
She was also sweating slightly, and her slicked-back hair looked very alluring.

As I watched the scene, I realized that I was right.
Oh my, my childhood friend is…

“… You’re such a good actor! If you weren’t such a recluse, you could be an actress or something.”
“It’s not acting! It’s the real thing! Please notice…!”

“Again. What is it? In fact, Yuika is the type of person who’s sensitive in her ears, but when I scratched her ears, she couldn’t resist my forcefulness, even though she should have moved off my lap right away, and has been feeling it since the beginning. And that’s how it is?”
“…”

“Is that why?”
“… That is wrong. I’m not that embarrassed.”
“Oh?”

I still think she’s just embarrassed to lose her temper.
You’re not very straightforward, are you? Well, that’s the cute part.

“Let’s keep going, shall we?”
“Ugh…this guy is an unconscious sadist. Souta is the type of guy who unconsciously becomes dominantly forceful in situations like this. It’s no good, I can’t go against Souta since I’m supposed to be completely devoted to him at the core…”

I touched the entrance with my ear pick and stroked it.
Yuika responds with a twitch.
Just in case, I’ll tell her to prepare herself.

“We’re about to go deep okay?”
“Aww, yes, you’re right…I’ve given up on a lot of things already. So I have one request.”
“What is it?”
“I’m scared, so I need you to hold…my hand while you enter.”

I felt like she’s like Red Riding Hood on the verge of being eaten by a wolf.

“But it’s dangerous if I don’t hold your head in place. I don’t know why you move so much.”
“I’ll do my best not to move.”
“Umm…”

Reluctantly, she looked at me with moist, upturned eyes.
She pleaded with me in her flighty Osanazuma mode.

“Please, hold my hand as you enter…Souta-san?”
“Can’t be helped.”

I can’t say no to her when she used san.
Holding the ear pick in my right hand, I held out my left hand in front of Yuika.
She clutched it with a desperation that surprised me a little.

“Souta’s hand…reassures me.”
“That’s good. Are you ready?”
“… I’m ready. I’m fine. You can do whatever you want to me Souta.”

Yuika closed her eyes tightly.
Her body is tense, but on the other hand, her eyes are hot and moist, as if in anticipation.
[TLN: Didn’t she close her eyes?]

I get it, I understand, Yuika.

Ear cleaning feels like going to heaven, right? It’s natural to feel a mixture of anxiety and anticipation.
I gently bring the ear pick as close as I can.

“Here we go. Relax…”
“Yes…”

With a quiet reply, the strength of her grip on my hand tightened.
My ear pick was slowly penetrating into Yuika’s ear.
But just before that.
A voice sounded from the other side of the door.

 

“Souta Nii-chan, I bought the DVD. Thank you! I also bought some sweets, so I’ll leave them in front of the door with the change.”

 

I stopped and looked up.

“Oh, Iori is back. I don’t want to leave a box of sweets on the floor, so it’s time to go, Yuika.”
“Eh.”

I moved Yuika’s head out of the way and got up from the bed.
Then I checked the sound of Iori returning to his room and opened the door.
When I looked at the floor, I found a box of assorted buns and some coins on the floor.
You can at least take the change with you, but you’re so disciplined, Iori.

… As I was thinking, for some reason I heard an outpouring of emotion from the bed.

“… A-a shortstop. I was pretty much ready to accept it, but then you stopped…! That’s just an ear pick, though! That’s just an ear pick, though! I said it twice because it’s important!”
“Hmm, what’s the matter, Yuika? I’m sorry to keep you waiting. Let’s continue—”
“No, we won’t! Souta no baka!”
“Hogee!”

Yuika threw a pillow at me and it hit me in the face.
Yes, a pillow. Not King Arthur, but a pillow. I don’t know what it was, but I got the feeling that she was really angry.

I fell down vividly. Unfortunately, I fell outside the corridor and the door was slammed shut by an angry Yuika.
What, I was locked out? Why? What did I do?

“O-oi, Yuika? Yuika!?”

As I pounded on the door harder and harder, the door to Iori’s room opened.
A cute otouto peeked out from the crack.

“… Did you two get into a fight?”
“I don’t think so…but I think we did.”
“… Anyway, do Souta Nii-chan want to watch a DVD with me?”
“… I do.”

I looked down and saw that I was still holding the ear pick.
It was a little sad.