I was sitting on the floor, facing the bed.

On the bed was Yuika, leaning forward to push me down.

Yuika’s hands were hot on both my cheeks. If I didn’t hold her in my arms, she might fall off the bed.
This way, she completely eliminated any chance of my escape and told me.

If I have Souta, I don’t need anything else. I’m serious about this.

Right now, we—can be lovers right?

Of course, I know painfully how much courage she took to say those words.
It was a word that would finally reduce the distance that had kept us apart for the past year and a half to zero.
It was a word that would put an end to the relationship that we had spent the past 17 years as childhood friends.

Depending on my response, our world would change color in the blink of an eye.
For Yuika, it must have taken a lot of determination to cut this relationship off.

That’s why.
Yes, that’s why.
I—

“Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…”

I sighed as hard as I could.

“Why!?”

With a shocked look on her face, she shouted and fell off the bed.

“Why are you sighing in this atmosphere? You didn’t right!? It’s not that kind of turn right now, is it!? Even in late-night anime, there isn’t that big of an offset!?”
“Ah, sorry. Please be quiet for a moment. I’m in the worst depression I’ve felt all year.”
“I’m the one who’s depressed! I know what it’s like to be the girl who receives a sigh in return for what is almost a confession! Souta’s a baka baka baka moka moka moka…moka!?”

I caught Yuika as she slid down…But I couldn’t muster enough strength, and her head slid down to my groin.

She couldn’t seem to speak properly because her shirt was in her mouth, and there was a squirming sound. She looked a little distressed, but it’s all right now that it’s quiet.

I’m feeling rather depressed right now.
The reason and the cause of my depression was not the ‘can be lovers right?’ part.
What was important was what came before that.

—If I have Souta, I don’t need anything else.

I don’t need the outside world, or in other words, I can be a recluse for the rest of my life.
This was what Yuika meant when she said that.　

For the past year and a half, we’ve been spending every day in the same room, and even though we already know how we feel about each other, we’ve dared to draw the line.
We’ve always maintained a close relationship as childhood friends.
This was because I don’t want Yuika to fall into this state of mind.

There was no such thing as not needing anything.
You said it yourself, didn’t you? You said that you were happy to see Iori’s pretty face after a long time.

Of course, Yuika knew exactly what she was doing.
She knew the meaning of the past year and a half and what her heart really was on.
She knew that, but the reason why she said that was because she couldn’t control her feelings anymore.

In other words, it was my fault.
My actions yesterday and today have set fire to Yuika’s mind and body.
It was the biggest blunder of the year.

If I say, “Okay, let’s be lovers,” she won’t go out anymore.
She would even lose the desire to leave.
It was a huge mistake on my part.

But we can’t stay down like this all the time.
If you make a mistake, make up for it. That’s how we all live.

“Hey, Princess Moga Moga.”
“Moga…what? I’m not going to let you touch my br**sts again, okay?”
“We’ll talk about that later, but I have one question.”
“You didn’t answer my question. I thought it was guilty as charged to ask a question back.”
“Don’t worry. This question is the answer. Yuika will figure it out in one shot.”

I said to Yuika, who looked up from the pit of her stomach and grumbled
I stare straight into her eyes, and in one breath.

 

“Have you been writing your novel lately?”

 

At that moment, her expression froze.
The unfaithful mode was instantly lifted, and both eyes began to swim furiously.
Hmmm, it looks like I got the message right.

After confirming that she understood what I said, I gave a very refreshing smile and at the same time snapped an anger mark on my forehead.

“I remember you wrote a novel and put it up on a posting site, and people on the other side of the Internet read it, and we had a pretty touching exchange, remember, Mademoiselle?”
“A-ah…I remember. Yes, I remember. Of course I remember, Mademoiselle, yes.”

“I remember that we were in the mood to keep working hard, remember, Freudian?”
“I-I remember, of course, I remember Freudian, yes.”
“So, are you writing?”

“………Teehee♪”

She tried to fool me with a cute smile.
It was very, very cute. But that’s not what I’m talking about, I’m going to use Iron Claw!
I tightened my hold on Yuika’s face making sure it doesn’t hurt.

“Y-o-u-a-r-e-s-u-c-h…”
“Scaaarrryyyyyy! Scary, scary, scary! I know it’s a whip of love, but Iron Claw reminds me of an alien movie I saw when I was a kid. Don’t get angry!”

She struggled, but I didn’t let er go and punished her for a while.
In the meantime, I’ll explain.
For Yuika, the act of having someone read her novel was the key to the outside world.

After all, she hadn’t communicated with anyone but me since she had been shut-in until recently.

Recently, she has been making some progress with other people by writing to Iori and meeting him face-to-face, though by chance.

So what she need now was more experience with people she had never met before.
By uploading her novel, Yuika was supposed to have taken that first big step. And yet, here she was.

“Judging by the way you’re acting, you haven’t written anything at all since then, have you?”
“B-because! I’ve been busy with a lot of things, like making a big plan to get Souta to like me, and Souta suddenly kissed me!”
“You stupid kid! You’re a recluse, so you have an inexhaustible supply of time! I’m not going to let this go with that excuse!”

Oh, man. I sigh in a different way than before.
Not really? If she was convinced that staying indoors was what makes her happy, that’s fine. I’ll just have to provide for her.

But until the other day, Yuika kept telling me, “You can’t fall in love with me, okay?” This meant that she felt deteriorated about being withdrawn.

If that’s the case, it’s the job of the man in love to do something about it. Becoming a lover and nurturing her are all part of the process of saving Yuika’s heart.

“Yuika, let me make this clear.”

I released her from Iron Claw.
I looked her in the eye and declared.

 

“We’re not lovers. We’re just childhood friends.”

 

“Ehh…so I’ve just been rejected?”
“Yeah, you got dumped. I rejected you with all my might.”
“Tsk-”

…Yuika was sulked at in a very light-hearted way.
Her lips puckered up in a look of tremendous calmness.

“…Couldn’t you be a little more dramatic?”
“That’s the same way I felt when I heard your confession? Einstein?”
“Tsu…Yes, I am.”

Yuika raised herself up, sat down in front of me, and threw her legs out.

“Because I can see why Souta would say something like that, and there’s nothing dramatic about it.”
“That’s the same way I felt when I heard your confession? Einstein?”
“Mmm…Yes, I am”

Oh dear, I thought as I stood up.
I have to do my school work. It was business as usual from here on out.
Following me with her eyes, Yuika mumbled.

“…Hey, so how do we become lovers?”
“Well…maybe if you began to like yourself, right?”
“…Ah, I don’t know. I really feel like shooting Souta with a rasen shuriken right now.”
“Why!? I’m gonna be chopped to pieces!”
[TLN: Naruto, rasengan with spinning shuriken, you guys should know.]

Yuika leaned back on the bed and averted her gaze.

“Souta doesn’t know because he’s strong…It’s extremely difficult to like yourself, you know?”
“That’s why you write novels, right?”
“? What do you mean?”

I spread out two notebooks on the glass table.
One was for my assignment. The other one was for Yuika’s novel.

“That’s what our teacher in junior high school said. He’s in charge of Japanese. The teacher, who is now Iori’s homeroom teacher, said, ‘If you don’t like yourself, write a novel.’ It doesn’t matter how good or bad you are, what you write will always be the real thing. I didn’t really understand it, but…”

“I think I understand that…a little bit.”
“I guess? That’s what I thought. That’s why you were writing a novel.”

I turned to my notebook.
Yuika was silent for a while, but then she slowly moved to the table. Then she said, I’m sorry.

“…Well, now that I think about it again, I think I was the one who made the lover comment. I’m sorry…”
“No, it was my fault. Don’t worry about it.”
“…I’ve always wanted to write a novel. I’ve been wanting to write a novel for a long time, but when I tried to write it, I got scared…”
“I see.”

“So, you know, I wanted a reward.”
“Hmm?”
“I said, a reward.”

“A reward?”
“Yeah!”

She leaned forward a bit. Hey, hey! Don’t forget you’re not wearing a bra! Don’t push my reasoning any further than it already is!
Not knowing what I was thinking, Yuika came forward.

“Anyway, now that I’m ready to write, give me a kiss as a reward!”
“What? The rate is too high from the very beginning!”
“Come on. You’ve done it twice without my permission.”
“Well, maybe the first time, but the one on the cheek was an accident, an accident.”
“Shut up! Anyway, kiss, kiss, kiss!”

She began to call out to me like a strike call.
If I let her continue, Iori in the next room might start a rat-related summoning ritual. Oh, good grief, just spare me!

“Here!”
“—ah.”

I quickly turned her thin chin to the side and kissed Yuika’s cheek.
…I can get away with it if I’m in the mood, but it was so embarrassing when I do it just because.

But it seemed to have a great effect.
I thought she was going to complain about the fact that it wasn’t her lips, but she turned red and quieted down.

“…I didn’t think you’d actually do it.”
“Y-You told me to do it, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, thanks. …I’m happy.”

She hid her face with her notebook and thanked me in a muffled voice.
What’s with the strange atmosphere? I’m still embarrassed! I want to roll around on the floor!

After that, we continued to face our notebooks, not knowing what to say to each other.

 

 

Now, if our relationship were a story.
The first chapter was about Yuika finding her own way and stepping out on her own.
Chapter two would be the story of how I screwed up at the last minute and set her back a lot.

So I won’t make any more mistakes in the next three chapters.
The two of us will move forward together. This is where we have to hold our ground.

…But you know, if Yuika demanded such a reward every time she continued to write her novel, I think my reasoning would eventually stop working…what should I do?
In addition, I’ve been hearing a lot of mysterious incantations coming from the wall next to me since a while ago…I really don’t know what to do about that either.

While many problems remain, Yuika’s life as a recluse begins to move forward to the next stage.