Chapter 1: A Seduction Only I Can Pull Off ♥
Sakurato’s Flashback. I’m sure of it. He called out that name.
Ring that bell three times while calling the name of the one you love, and that love will come true.
Back then, I truly believed in that old saying, the kind of thing you’d see in an anime or a manga.
What I remember is the scent of the tide.
The wind carried it from Suruga Bay, which spread out under a perfectly blue sky.
At the boundary between the endless blue of the sea and the boundless blue of the heavens, he grabbed the white rope hanging from a slightly weathered, bronze-colored bell.
He swung it as if he were making a wish.
He let the bell chime as if he were confessing his feelings.
And I’m sure of it—he called out that name.
“—!!”
Loudly.
As if declaring it to the clear, open sky.
My name.
The name of that place is Lover’s Cape.
That’s why, in that moment, there was no denying it. I was Shikimi-kun’s lover.
—.
“Just get the hell back to your room already…”
I spoke to Kichijoji Meru, who had finally gotten out of my bed, not even trying to hide my exhaustion.
It was the morning after I’d become Meru’s provisional boyfriend.
I had attended the party celebrating Meru’s tournament victory and ended up staying the night at the Kichijoji residence. Later that night, Meru visited my room, and after a whole song and dance, I was defeated by her persistence and became her so-called provisional boyfriend.
It came with conditions—nothing more than kissing was allowed, and the term was set for two months for now—but for me, it was a major defeat. I’d never intended to get a girlfriend, yet I had caved to Meru’s relentless, steamroller-like offensive.
Meru had stuck to me like glue and spent the night in the same bed, but naturally, my iron-clad reason wasn’t about to shatter over something like that.
Still, I doubted others would see it that way. If the other sisters—especially Rank—were to see us like this, I might not escape getting fired this time.
It was that simple risk management that prompted my words, but Meru, still in her pajamas, simply turned around while running her fingers through her messy hair and tilted her head, looking puzzled.
“Why?”
“You wouldn’t want anyone to find out you were walking out of a guy’s room in the morning, would you?”
“This is my house, though.”
“It is! You’re right, it is! But at this very moment, this is considered my room!”
Dealing with this socially inept gamer was going to take all day. I got out of bed, placed my hands on Meru’s back, and began to unceremoniously push her out of the room.
“…This is no way to treat your brand-new girlfriend, you know.”
“Yeah, yeah. Starting tomorrow, I’ll take you on a date or whatever you want!”
I brushed off Meru’s complaints and pushed her out into the hallway.
“Now, get going before anyone else sees you.”
“But I want to stay with you a little longer…”
…Her straightforward affection is making me uncomfortable.
No, I can’t let her throw me off my rhythm. She’s my girlfriend, but only provisionally. And it’s only for two months.
“If Ranka saw us like this, it’d be a huge—"
—Click.
The door to the next room opened.
That room, situated on the way to the stairs, belonged to—if my memory served me right—
“—Huh?”
Ranka, also in her pajamas, froze as she saw us.
“What are you two… doing, this early in the morning?”
I gave up all hope of leaving this house in one piece.
When I first met these four sisters, I thought of Kichijoji Meru as a degenerate, lazy slob.
I have no choice but to admit that my perception was gravely mistaken.
“I’m Shikimi’s girlfriend now.”
In the living room with its view of Tokyo Tower, in front of her sisters who hadn’t even changed out of their pajamas yet, Meru made her declaration while trapping my arm against her ample chest.
“So, don’t get too handsy with him, okay? He’s mine now.”
Ranka and Chinana, the recipients of this news, were just as dumbfounded as I was by the deadpan way Meru said it, as if she were a prosecutor reading an indictment.
She spoke as if she were simply asserting her natural rights. Meru probably thought that claiming ownership was a girlfriend’s biggest advantage, and it would be stupid not to use it.
Only now did I finally understand the personality of my provisional girlfriend.
She was a monster of pure rationality.
In short—she had a completely warped gamer brain.
The most effective way to win me over is to create a fait accompli—her actions last night, when she came on to me spouting that logic, were, to her, nothing more than choosing the obvious ‘strong move.’
Even if you know it’s the right move, normal people don’t actually do it.
But Kichijoji Meru isn’t normal, is she…?
Still, if I let this go on, it’ll cause more misunderstandings than necessary.
“Hold on, let me explain. When she says girlfriend—”
“N-No way!”
Just as I was about to explain that it was only a provisional arrangement, Chinana came rushing over and grabbed my other, un-captured arm as if her life depended on it.
“Wh-What is this all of a sudden?! A girlfriend?! Just yesterday, you two weren’t…!”
“I confessed a long time ago.”
Meru looked at Chinana and explained coolly.
“Shikimi was pretty stubborn, but yesterday I snuck into his bed and pressed my tits against him, and he finally said yes.”
“That’s an incredibly misleading way to put it! I just caved because you were so damn forceful…!”
“That’s not fair! I love Senpai, too!”
“Eh?”
“Eh?”
My dumbfounded voice overlapped with Ranka’s.
All our eyes snapped to Chinana. She met our gazes for a moment before letting out a small “Ah,” and taking a step back from me.
“Um… uh…”
Chinana’s eyes darted around wildly, and her face turned beet red all the way to her ears.
Did she… Did she just say that? That she loves me…
My brain couldn’t keep up. Did Chinana just confess to me?
Chinana covered her mouth with her palms, staring up at me.
“S-So… that’s how it is…”
Her voice, usually as clear and articulate as you’d expect from a voice actress, was now a barely audible mumble.
“That’s…! That’s how it issss!!”
And then, as if giving up, she shouted, bolted up the stairs, and fled into her room.
I stared blankly up at the second floor.
Ranka did the same.
On the monitor, Kikuri was grinning.
And Meru, still holding my arm, muttered under her breath.
“…It’s a little late to get serious now.”
The situation had far exceeded my processing capacity.
How did it come to this? I was supposed to be keeping my distance from this kind of stuff… Where did I go wrong? What did I…
Ranka, who I’d expected to be the first to cause a scene, simply stood there in silence, a bewildered look on her face.
I now understood, firsthand, why so many companies forbid workplace romance.
No matter how awkward things get, no matter how hard it is to face someone, you still have to go to work. I’d never felt such a heavy weight on my shoulders.
The day after Chinana’s surprise confession, I arrived at the Kichijoji residence as usual to perform my housekeeping duties.
Fortunately, neither Meru nor Chinana were in the living room. Only the face of Kuriki Hisoka was displayed on the large wall-mounted monitor.
While running the vacuum over the floorboards, I spoke to the illustration on the screen.
“Do you think Chinana… remembers what happened seven years ago?”
Kuriki Hisoka—or rather, Kichijoji Kikuri—let out a dubious ‘Hmm?’
“What makes you say that?”
“Well, it has to be, right? We’ve only been reunited for four months. For her to say she loves me already…”
“If you’re going by that logic, we only spent a month together seven years ago, you know~”
Her sharp point left me speechless. Right, that was true. The five of us—me and the Kichijoji sisters—had only lived as a family at the group home during summer vacation seven years ago—
“Kunshi-kun, you either underestimate yourself, or you put girls on way too much of a pedestal.”
I felt a subtle sense of disconnect at being called ‘Kunshi-kun’ in Kuriki Hisoka’s voice, but I listened anyway.
“No matter how cute a girl is, she’s still just a teenage girl at the end of the day. If there’s a guy spending this much time with them, it wouldn’t be strange for them to develop a little crush. Same goes for Meru, right?”
“Well, I guess…”
“You did things that made Chinana fall for you. You need to accept that, okay?”
…Logically, I knew that.
But it just didn’t feel real.
Then again, constantly rejecting it by saying things like that probably isn’t very sincere, either…
“And of course, I’m head over heels for you, too, you know? Just waiting for you to make your move ♡”
Kikuri winked, speaking in her idol voice, and I shot her a cold look.
“Honestly, you’re the one whose feelings I understand the least…”
“Whyyy? We had such a heart-to-heart talk~”
“That’s what I’d like to know. Why does every single thing you say sound so damn shady?”
We’ve known each other the longest, yet she’s somehow the one who spews the most untrustworthy crap.
“Besides, I’m Meru’s boyfriend, for now. Don’t you go around casually encouraging me to cheat.”
“But it’s just provisional, right?”
“Yeah.”
I had explained to Kikuri and Ranka yesterday, after everything went down, that my relationship with Meru was only provisional. They were supposed to have shared that with Chinana as well.
“But a promise is a promise. As long as the contract is in effect, I’m going to see it through.”
“So serious. I figured you were that type, though.”
“Being that type is the only way a relationship is supposed to work.”
Even I knew that much. I intended to be considerate, as long as it didn’t interfere with my work.
“The idea that a relationship has to be one-on-one is just one way of thinking. This is an age of diversity; we should all just get along together.”
“Like that would ever work.”
In any case, regardless of my own self-esteem issues, Chinana was currently a suspect.
The one who emailed me that photo from seven years ago and called me with a voice changer, claiming to be my ex-girlfriend Sakura—
Chinana, or maybe Ranka. There was a high probability that the culprit was one of them.
Sakurato had said she wanted to be ‘chosen again.’ If Chinana was Sakurato, then her recent desperation would make sense…
Or maybe it was all just some scheme. For example, maybe she just wanted to keep Meru in check for getting too close to me…
“Ah, she’s home.”
As I was lost in thought, vacuuming, the monitor displaying Kuriki Hisoka suddenly winked out.
What? What’s going on?
A moment later, the front door clicked open.
“I’m home~”
Chinana, still in her school uniform, stepped into the entryway and took off her shoes.
I tensed up slightly but immediately forced it down. I was on the clock.
“Welcome back.”
“…Ah.”
The moment Chinana saw my face, she blushed.
Don’t react like that… I was trying so hard to act normal.
“I-I'm home…”
She said it again in a tiny voice, then scurried past me toward the stairs to the second floor.
But she stopped dead on the first step.
A pause, as if she was thinking. Then, she shook her head vigorously.
Wondering what was wrong, I watched as she spun around and shot me a defiant look.
She marched right up to me.
I stood frozen, the quiet hum of the vacuum cleaner still in my hand.
Chinana grabbed my shoulders.
She stood on her tiptoes.
She pulled my shoulders down.
And then, a soft sensation touched my cheek.
“Y-Yesterday, I got embarrassed and ran away, but…”
Her face was as red as a boiled crab.
But her expression was desperate, and utterly serious.
Chinana stared into my eyes and declared.
“What I said yesterday…! I was serious! So there!”
Letting go of my shoulders, she spun around and rushed up the stairs.
I stood there, stunned, the lingering sensation of her lips still on my cheek.
What in the hell… is happening to my life?
No matter how tossed about I was by this sudden period of popularity, time marched on for everyone.
July was heading into its second half, and Tokyo had taken on the full appearance of midsummer.
A while had passed since I became Meru’s provisional boyfriend, but so far, we hadn’t done much of anything couple-like. We hadn’t been on a single date, and the frequency of our texts hadn’t changed at all. I did my housekeeping as usual, and Meru threw herself into her VB practice as usual.
It was a bit of an anticlimax. I’d thought she’d be more clingy or drag me out on dates… not that I was expecting it, of course not.
Behind Meru, who was silently playing her game with her headphones on, I tidied her room. It didn’t look like she was streaming, but it was still practice, so I listened to the clicking of her keyboard and tried to work as quietly as possible.
This room gets messy so damn fast. There’s another empty mouse box…
As I was neatly folding the box, I realized the keyboard sounds had stopped.
The next moment, a soft weight leaned against my back. Slender arms wrapped around my neck, and long hair cascaded over my shoulder. A warm breath tickled my ear.
“Meru? Wh-what’s wrong?”
Thrown off by the sudden warmth enveloping my body and the large, soft sensation pressed against my shoulder blades, I felt Meru, who was now hugging me, whisper in a slightly coddling voice.
“Break time…”
She then leaned her full weight against me, and I was pushed down onto the bed.
Meru hugged me like a body pillow, nuzzling her cheek against my neck affectionately. She was like a large dog, but one with far too many parts you weren’t supposed to touch.
I couldn’t just shove her off, so what was I supposed to do here…?!
As I hesitated, Meru looked up at me with a dissatisfied expression.
“Pamper me more.”
“P-Pamper you?”
“I’m in the mood to be affectionate.”
In the mood to be affectionate… So this is a thing between couples. You can just be affectionate whenever the mood strikes. You don’t need the other person’s permission or anything…?
As if to urge me on, Meru pressed herself even closer. She tangled her legs with mine and brought her cheek against mine, as if going for a kiss. She had zero reservations about being this close to the opposite sex.
Is… Is this kind of lewdness considered normal for a couple…?!
Reeling from the culture shock, I somehow managed to move my hands.
I had no idea what to do when she said she wanted to be affectionate, but for now, I tried stroking her head, just like I used to do with my little sister.
As I ran my fingers through her hair, Meru closed her eyes, looking pleased.
This really is like playing with a big dog… She looks just like one getting brushed.
That thought helped me relax a little. I didn’t dislike animals.
Just as I was starting to get used to it and my awkwardness was fading, Meru opened her eyelids and whispered in my ear.
“Is that all?”
Her tone was as if she was testing me.
“There are… other places you want to touch, right?”
My eyes naturally drifted to her chest. On top of my own chest, the two white mounds peeking out from the neckline of her camisole were stacked on top of each other like mirror mochi rice cakes.
“It’s okay, you know? I’m your girlfriend…”
“No, but that would… by my standards, that counts as more than a kiss—”
Ignoring my protest, Meru grabbed the wrist of the hand I’d been using to stroke her head. And she tried to forcefully guide it to her chest.
Hey, hey, hey! Is that how you flirt?! This forcefully?!
I resisted with all my might.
There should have been a strength difference between Meru, who was a shut-in all day, and me, who worked out at my part-time job, but Meru used both hands to guide my right hand toward her chest.
Does she want me to touch them that badly?!
The earlier relaxed mood was a distant memory. I braced myself for a life-or-death struggle, when—
“Meru? You got a minute?”
Ranka opened the door with a click.
Meru and I simultaneously looked toward her.
Ranka stared at us, tangled together on the bed.
Time froze for a moment.
“S-Sorry!”
Ranka blushed, apologized, and slammed the door shut.
You’re not going to stop this?!
W-wait… right. We’re a couple, even if it’s provisional, so doing this isn’t considered a bad thing—wait, I’m on the clock right now!
Meru stared at the closed door for a moment, then said,
“Well then, let’s pick up where we left off.”
“Like hell we can!”
I finally pushed Meru’s body off me, sending her tumbling onto the bed.
Even a girlfriend should have the right to choose the mood for this kind of thing.
After finishing cleaning Meru’s room, I went down to the living room and found Ranka on the sofa, scrolling through her phone.
She seemed to notice me coming down the stairs but immediately returned her gaze to her phone screen.
I walked up to her.
“Sorry about before.”
It was true that I’d been in a situation unbecoming of someone on duty, and I felt bad for letting her see it. So I apologized, but Ranka just replied with a standoffish tone.
“I’m not mad. It’s natural, isn’t it? Since you’re dating.”
“Yeah, but I was still on the clock… and besides, my relationship with Meru is just temporary. As I explained before, I have no intention of crossing any lines.”
“So you’re just keeping her around? Must be nice.”
“She came on to me! This was the only way to get her to back off.”
Ranka suddenly fell silent and stared at my face.
I felt an accusatory quality in her gaze and could do nothing but stand there motionlessly.
Eventually, Ranka opened her lipsticked lips.
“So if someone comes on to you forcefully, you’ll date anyone?”
Her accusatory words made me want to reflexively shout, “That’s not it!” But then—
Her hand shot out and yanked my arm hard.
I lost my balance, catching myself with a hand on the back of the sofa.
Ranka’s perfectly sculpted face was right in front of mine. Her sharp eyes, glinting with a fierce light, pierced mine as if trying to bore into the back of my brain.
“If I… forced myself on you like this… would you date me, too?”
I… couldn’t say anything.
She was right. What I was doing… was exactly that.
Ranka shoved my shoulder and stood up from the sofa.
“Just kidding, just kidding…”
Averting her gaze, she said it in a weak voice and walked away, up the stairs.
Left behind on the sofa, I was simply crushed by my own patheticness.
“Hello everyone, and for those of you just joining us, welcome. You’re watching the Kiminaga Shikimi Conquest Frontline Channel.”
““Yay~!””
A mysterious video shoot had begun in the living room. Well, there were no cameras rolling, but… Meru stood in front of a whiteboard like a lecturer, while Ranka and Chinana sat on the sofa like students. Kikuri was on the monitor.
And I had been forced to sit on a sofa in front of Meru, my shoulders held from behind.
“Today, as a successful conqueror, I will be lecturing all of you on how to win over this stubborn, blockheaded man.”
“Yes! Please do!”
Chinana answered cheerfully while Ranka made a face like she was completely fed up.
I looked back at Meru behind me.
“Hey, what’s your angle here?! You’re supposedly my girlfriend, yet you’re encouraging other girls to make passes at me?!”
“Kiku-nee said it’s the duty of the popular to bestow their favor.”
I glanced at the monitor, where a version of Kuriki Hisoka with her tongue sticking out was displayed. What kind of noblesse oblige is that?!
“This is what you call the magnanimity of the main wife. Plus, it feels good to show off your conquest strategies to people.”
“You just want to flex on them, don’t you…?!”
“Not at all. Chinana was the one who asked me to teach her first.”
I looked at Chinana, who was fidgeting shyly.
“Well, you’re the only guy I’ve ever fallen for, Senpai… I don’t know the first thing about seducing someone… and you seem like you’d make things complicated… so I figured I should swallow my pride and ask a master for guidance…”
“Just the other day you two were at each other’s throats…”
She shouldn’t be applying her humble and diligent attitude, the kind that would lead to success in anything, to this.
“I can let the teaching slide, I guess, but could you at least do it when I’m not here?”
“But we can’t do the demonstration without you, Shikimi.”
“Demonstration?”
Meru ignored my question, uncapped the pen in her hand with a pop, and started writing on the whiteboard.
“Shikimi’s conquest method is simple.”
Meru read aloud the six words written in large letters on the whiteboard.
“—Surprisingly weak to being pushed.”
““Ooooh~!””
“…True…”
Chinana and Kikuri clapped, while Ranka shot me a look of contempt.
“Hey! That’s slander! Of all the things you could say, ‘weak to being pushed’!? Me, a man who lives his life with a will of steel!”
“He says stubborn things like this, but…”
Meru continued in her lecturer’s tone, walking around the sofa I was on and sitting down next to me.
She then leaned her whole body against me.
“If you get close and act all cutesy like this, he surprisingly won’t resist. He’s a closet pervert.”
“That’s just me trying to avoid shoving you away violently—hey!?”
Meru had nonchalantly pressed her chest against my elbow. As she did, she said,
“What’s wrong?”
…with a feigned innocence and a slight smile.
Seeing that, Chinana’s face turned bright red, and Ranka shot up from the sofa. “That’s going too far!” Kikuri, on the monitor, was squealing, “So lewd~~!!”
“Get off him already! That’s more than enough for a demonstration!”
“Not yet. You can also casually place your hand on his thigh like this…”
“Taking notes, taking notes…”
…Was it possible that I was just a toy for these sisters?
I let out a soft sigh and waited for the storm to pass.
Looking out the school building window after class, I saw that a light rain had started to fall.
Good thing I brought a folding umbrella, just in case.
We’d gotten our final exams back, and now all that was left was to wait for summer vacation to start. My part-time job at the Kichijoji house meant I was spending more time dealing with the four sisters, so I’d been worried my grades would drop, but I somehow managed to keep my first-place rank in the year. I wanted to give myself a pat on the back.
As I got down to the school lobby and took my folding umbrella out of my bag, I spotted a familiar figure at the exit.
Chinana was looking up at the rain, which showed no signs of stopping.
Did she forget her umbrella? Just as I was about to call out to her, Chinana turned around with a start and saw me.
“Oh, Senpai. What a coincidence?”
“Yeah. Heading home?”
“Yep. I don’t have lessons today, so I was planning on going straight home, but…”
Chinana looked troubled as she watched the cars kick up sprays of rainwater.
“I really didn’t think it was going to rain. I had no idea at all.”
“…Don’t you sound a little insincere?”
“What do you mean? Little Chinana-chan just forgot her umbrella and is in a pickle~…”
As she spoke, Chinana kept glancing at the folding umbrella in my hand.
Isn’t this girl supposed to be a professional actress? At least, sort of… That was way too obvious.
It was a transparent trap. But I couldn’t just let her walk home in the rain.
Feeling conflicted, I said.
“…Wanna share?”
“Really? Thank you!”
Chinana beamed. The nerve on this one.
I opened the umbrella and held it over my head, and Chinana happily snuggled in next to me.
And so, we began to walk together in the rain.
I usually commuted by bike, but today I had anticipated the rain and taken the train instead. The station was less than a five-minute walk, but…
“It’s a little late to ask, but is this really okay?”
“What is?”
“Sharing an umbrella with me—I mean, with a guy. You’re a voice actress, right? Even if you’re new.”
I’d heard that female voice actresses were basically idols. Sharing an umbrella with a guy on the way home from school seemed like it could easily become a scandal.
“It’s fine. It’s not like anyone pays that much attention to me… For now, I’m just a one-hit wonder who got by on being young.”
Chinana said it with a light laugh. Her tone was bright, but I didn’t think she took it as lightly as her words suggested. As someone who had heard her talk about her worries, I could tell.
Besides, her own sisters were so successful. There was no way she didn’t feel something about being the only one not doing well.
But I couldn’t bring myself to carelessly step into the depths of her heart.
As I wondered what to do, Chinana, walking beside me, pressed her shoulder right up against mine.
Just like Meru did in that lecture the other day.
Chinana smiled meaningfully and looked up at me.
Then, she stood on her tiptoes slightly and whispered in my ear.
“(I love you so much, Senpai.)”
That simple whisper of love made my heart leap, and my body went rigid.
The perfect pronunciation, the crystal-clear tone—her skills and talent as a voice actress dyed those simple words, making them ten times sexier.
Chinana giggled like a successful prankster.
“A seduction only I can pull off ♥”
I could feel my ears burning and couldn’t manage a reply.
After that, both on the train and after getting off at Daikanyama Station, Chinana kept whispering words of love in that beautiful voice all the way home.
“Man, you’re getting all the action.”
Kikuri sat in a high-end office chair, grinning as if this had nothing to do with her.
“This is your fault for egging Meru on to hold that stupid lecture…! Do you feel nothing about teaching your innocent middle-school sister such lewd tricks?!”
“Sure I do. I’m glad to see her growing up into a fine little erotic succubus.”
“I was a fool to expect any sense of decency from you!”
This was the girl who used to come to school just to observe high school girls. She possessed neither ethics nor reason.
“At this rate, maybe I should do something too? A little seduction…”
“Don’t. Don’t you dare do anything extra.”
Completely ignoring my words, Kikuri tilted her head in thought, then said “Ah, I know,” as she swiveled around to face her computer.
“Kunshi-kun, come take a look at this.”
“What is it now…”
Feeling a powerful sense of foreboding, I peered at the computer screen.
It was displaying an SNS timeline. Colorful illustrations were lined up vertically… wait? Colorful?
No, they weren’t.
More than eighty percent of it was flesh-toned.
An infinite scroll of indecent images of a certain short-haired, blonde character I spoke to through a monitor nearly every day.
“Wh-Wh-… What is this?!”
“The R-18 fan art tag for Kuriki Hisoka.” Kikuri said with a grin.
“I actually just turned eighteen the other day, you see. So now I can look at it all I want without any shame.”
“I’m still a minor!”
“But it gets you hot, doesn’t it? Seeing the nipples and pubes of the me you always talk to.”
“I’m too busy questioning your sanity!”
“I could even recreate it for you, if you want? With the real me, if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t want that from the bottom of my heart!”
I backed away from the screen and Kikuri like I’d just spotted a giant bug in the house.
I really don’t get her. We’ve known each other the longest, but she’s the one I understand the least. What is she thinking?
Kikuri turned off the monitor and propped her cheek on her hand at her desk.
“So pure. That’s why people say you’re weak to being pushed, you know?”
“…So you’re saying it’s my fault?”
“In the sense that it’s bad to be indiscriminately kind to everyone, then maybe, yeah.”
That wasn’t my intention. I was just trying to do my job…
…Is that what I thought seven years ago, too?
“…Kikuri. Was it like this seven years ago, too?”
“Pretty much. It was more childish back then, though. Like kids fighting over a toy.”
“Do you think this is going to end up as a repeat of seven years ago?”
According to Kikuri, seven years ago, the five of us had our relationship destroyed because the fight over me escalated. If things keep heating up like this, and the same ending awaits us… The damage would be incomparable to seven years ago, since we’re living as a family now.
“If anything, things are better now.”
Kikuri said, laughing off my worries.
“Thanks to Meru’s gamer brain and Chinana’s sudden confession, everything’s out in the open now. It’s much healthier for them to be openly trying to seduce you rather than letting it turn into some insidious backstabbing.”
“Wait… was that lecture part of that plan?”
“Nah, I just instigated that because it sounded fun.”
“Thought so.”
Even so, things can’t stay like this forever.
I can’t keep taking this ambiguous attitude—wait, ambiguous? I thought I was taking a pretty firm stance… It’s just that Meru and Chinana’s attack power is so high that they’re blasting through the fortress walls I’ve built.
How did the me of seven years ago put an end to this situation?
Even if he failed in the end, in the sense that he produced a result, he was far superior to the me of today…
If only I had those memories now…
“Do you want to know? About seven years ago.” Kikuri said.
I nodded in response.
“Of course… If I can remember what happened seven years ago, I feel like there might be an answer there… somewhere.”
“In that case, I suppose I’ll have you come along with us after all.”
“Come along? To what?”
“A trip.”
Saying that, Kikuri reached for a stack of books piled on her computer desk.
“Our dear mother is apparently taking summer vacation in August, you see. We were planning on joining her for her little getaway, but…”
“A family trip? And you want me to come along?”
“I think it would be for the best.”
From between the stacked books, Kikuri pulled out a printed piece of paper.
I peered at what she held out to me. It looked like a pamphlet for a hotel or something.
“Our destination is—Izu.”
Kikuri uttered the name of the resort area in Shizuoka.
“The place where you chose one of us seven years ago.”
◆
I was lying on the living room sofa, staring at my phone screen.
On it was a simple exchange with Shikimi.
It was just mundane work-related stuff, really… but thinking of it as a conversation with my boyfriend made me feel happy for some reason.
I still haven’t been on a date with Shikimi. I mean, I don’t even know what you’re supposed to do on a date. I don’t go outside much anyway, and since we can be together at home, I figure that’s better.
It doesn’t feel all that different from before we were dating, but all the things that used to be mundane now feel completely different, and it’s been more fun than I expected.
What should I do to Shikimi next…? If I cling to him too much, he’ll get used to it. I wonder if I can get him to make a more flustered face…
Just thinking about it is fun. Honestly, I didn’t think it would be this fun. I need to be careful it doesn’t affect my gaming.
As I was grinning to myself, Ran-nee came down the stairs.
Ran-nee, still in her pajamas, glanced at me once before heading straight to the kitchen. She came back out with a tumbler and started heading back toward the stairs.
But she turned around before going up to the second floor.
“Meru… do you remember, too?”
For a second, my brain couldn’t process her casual question.
“Huh?”
By the time I asked, Ran-nee had already turned away.
“Sorry, it’s nothing…”
She disappeared up the stairs to the second floor.
I watched her back until she was gone.
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