Volume 1 - CH 5

“That movie was fantastic! There were a lot of explosions, as Junya mentioned, but I didn’t expect the entire earth to explode at the end! I couldn’t stop laughing!”

The coming Sunday.

We all went to see a B movie, just as we had promised.

Originally, Narishima-san and Seiran were going to go to a different movie together, but I stepped in on that day, so things eventually ended up like this.

And naturally, I felt really sorry about it.

Narushima-san was also seated next to Seiran at the movie.

On the way back home, we walked in a military formation.

We couldn’t walk side by side on the pavement, so we three, me, Shintarou and Asagiri, walked in the front.

Behind us was Narushima-san, walking side by side with Seiran. It was quite a splendid sight to behold.

“What are we going to do now? It’s only noon, as far as I’m concerned.”

“How about taking a look at Yoru’s new house~?”

“Aha, umm……well, it’s fine by me, but the floor is littered with cardboard boxes? You know, even though the gas supply was connected this morning……”

Like a timid little animal, Narushima-san shrugs her shoulders and laughs. Today too, her beguiling innocence was in full form.

“I heard that you live in the same apartment building as Junya. Say that sounds like a fun place.”

This Shintarou. It’s really no fun at all, although.

I already told everyone that Narshima-san moved in next door to me. Though I kept the fact about her barging into my room uninvited a secret since something like that would be hard to say.

Seiran laughed teasingly.

“I mean, if we were living next door. We could go to Junya’s house and borrow shoyu and various other things.”

“N-No way, I would never…go to a boy’s room….”

What are you saying? Yesterday, much less shoyu, you came to borrow my shower.

My eyes met with the ill-natured wolf in sheep’s clothing. She was staring back at me with an eerie look in her eyes.

Say anything more, and I’ll kill you────I felt like I was being appealed to that with just her eyes alone.

“T-That’s right! Narishima-san still has yet to dispose of everything, so why don’t we go to my room instead and have a takoyaki party!?”

I said this to escape Narishima-san’s powerful sight, though it was a surprisingly good idea.

“Your house, does it have a takoyaki pan?”

“I bought one on the Internet the other day. I wanted to have a youth takoyaki party with the five of us someday.”

“Then it’s decided! After visiting Yoru’s room, we’ll go to Koga’s room and have a takoyaki party!”

Thus, us team of three guys went shopping at the neighbourhood supermarket.　

In the meanwhile, Asagiri-san had Narishima-san show her room.

We met up in front of my room.

“Do you guys want to see Narishima-san’s room too?”

“Is that okay with you, Narishima-san?”

The first person to show interest in Asagiri-san’s proposal was, unexpectedly, Shintarou. This child face lecher.

Well, it’s not every day you get to see a room where a girl lives alone.

The homeowner nodded her head in a reserved manner, and we three men entered Narushima-san’s room.

Naturally, the layout of the room was the same as mine.

A one-room apartment with a carpet in an eight-tatami-mat Japanese-style room, it was furnished with large furniture such as bookshelves, a bed, and a chest of drawers, among other things, amidst a scattering of unpacked cardboard boxes.

The small things I notice here and there are very much like a girl’s room. There’s even a plush rabbit on the bed.

On a study desk in the corner of the room was a light pink laptop.

So that laptop was the culprit of my sleep deprivation yesterday, huh?

“I’ll keep that video matter of yours a secret. You wouldn’t want your fetishes exposed, do you?”

Naturally. I was too scared to let out my voice. I just wished she had forgotten about it.

“Oh…? Narushima-san listens to melodic hardcore music? Eh? Hey, wait a minute, there’s even Screamo!?”

Seiran, who was looking at the CD rack by the window, said happily.

“A-Ah, yes…w-when I was in middle school, I kinda got into it…”

To immediately be able to act out the shy girl part, just as you’d expect from someone like her.

“The lineup is good but to collect them all in CDs, you’re really an expert, aren’t you. I really wanted to see the CD jackets in person!”

“U-Um, yeah! It was a hassle to set up those discs, but it was at that point that I felt like I wanted to listen to the music. I really like this better than the data sound generator……!”

More than anything, I was glad their on the same page. I’ll definitely subscribe, but.

“Well then, it’s time to go to Koga-kun’s room and have a takoyaki party!”

Asagiri-san clapped her hands and said so.

“Hmm, how do I say this…it’s a very boy-like room.”

Asagiri-san said with interest, as she carefully looked around my room.

Naturally, there were no girl-like accessories in my room.

On the bookshelf were nothing but games and manga, and the small anime toys Shintarou gave me were lined up on the shelf, while the Janis Joplin poster that I received from Seiran was stuck on the door of my restroom. I don’t think he minds if it’s a little torn.

“It’s cramped, but please sit properly.”

This was the first time five people had entered this dirty room of eight tatami mats.

Just as you’d expect, it was a little cramped, but once you sat on the bed, it wasn’t much of a problem.

I took out the brand-new Takoyaki pan and put it on the low table. Seiran, who knows his stuff, plugs the power strip into the electrical outlet.

While I was tidying up the room, I called out to Narushima-san, who was preparing the dough in the kitchen.

“Narushima-san, sorry to bother you, but could you please pass the sauce?”

“Yes.”

Narushima-san opened the refrigerator, took the sauce and handed it over to me.

“Hou~, so Koga-kun’s the type who keeps his sauces in the refrigerator. Yoru-san figured it out pretty well.”

As Asagiri-san said that, both Narushima-san and I coincidentally let out a small “Haha.”

Some people store their sauces under the sink to keep them at room temperature.

In spite of this, Narushima-san didn’t hesitate to open the fridge because she discovered where I kept the sauces when she was cooking for me yesterday.

Damn, I didn’t know there was such a trap…!

“U-Uhm, my parents put them in the fridge too, so I thought it was normal…”

“Y-Y-Yes! It’s a little cold, but during the summertime, the refrigerator is just the right place for it. H-Ha ha.”

“Hmm? What’s the matter with you both? You two sure are in a hurry.”

Asagiri-san tilted her neck as she looked at us.

“Eh, really…but I don’t think that’s the case…?”

Narushima-san said this in her usual composed tone, and then,

“You should at least get your own sauces…!”

“Aren’t you the one who was careless…!”

She whispered this to me in a low voice, and left as if nothing had happened.

I feel awfully guilty from keeping this a secret from everyone else…

Narushima-san poured the liquid into the hollows of the oiled and heated-up iron griddle.

While Shintarou put in his previously finely cute octopuses into each of the mixes.

This was the best thing about a takoyaki party, about how easy it was to do.

“So who’s going to be the one to flip it?”

“Of course, it would be me, the homeowner. I’ll show you a brilliant display of my handling!”

“Hey, hey, Junya. The dough hasn’t hardened yet.”

“But, this end of the dough seems to be ready. Should I do it?”

“U-Um…I think you should do it after it’s all set…”

It’s fun to grill while everyone’s basking in each other’s company like this.

I spun the fully cooked takoyaki around with the Kiri.

Asagiri-san wanted me to lend it to her, saying, “I want to do it!” but she was extremely incompetent at it.

Everyone flipped the takoyaki once each, but Narushima-san was the best at it.

“Then, Bon appétit!”

Everyone ate the cooked takoyaki together.

“D-Delicious! The dough is so fluffy! Nice work, Narushima-san!”

“Really? It’s goooood! Yoru-san can probably cook just about anything!”

“Ahaha…um, you know, there’s a trick to adding just the right amount of mirin and soy sauce…”

“A-Ah, it’s hot! My tongue’s burning, but I just don’t understand how everyone can eat it. Maybe I have an inability to take in hot food?”

Yeah, I really enjoy being together with the five of us.

I still think I’m best off with my current friendship.

“U-Uhm…Koga-kun, aren’t you going to have some?”

Narushima-san looked at me curiously.

“N-No, I’ll have some.”

I sat on the bed and picked up the takoyaki with my chopsticks from the paper tray.

Various bonito flakes were dancing senselessly from the top of the takoyaki.

…To be honest, I didn’t go out of my way to mention it, but I’m not very fond of bonito flakes. I don’t like how it wrinkles when you’re eating it and how it gets stuck to your upper jaw. In the first place, I’m also afraid of the way it looks when it wriggles under the heat.

So I gently avoided it with the chopsticks before eating it.

“────Fufu.”

Narushima-san, who was watching me, let out a small laugh.

Did she see me avoid the bonito flakes? Such a thing…now she knows I’m not very fond of them.

After a few more rounds of grilling and eating the takoyaki, we spread out the confectionaries and had an anime viewing party together.

Shintarou was the one who brought the Blu-ray of the anime.

He seemingly prepared it in advance, believing that we’ll go to my house to watch a movie.

The animated film depicted a boy who was trapped in a mushy love triangle with two heroines.

I was annoyed by the self-centred protagonist, and thought again that we should be nothing more than friends, but I was glued to the TV screen just like everyone else.

And then, the Blu-ray ends just at the right place.

Asagiri-san turned to Shintarou.

“…Hey, hey, what’s going to happen to the protagonist at the end?”

“That’s something you’ll have to see and enjoy for yourself.”

The Blu-ray of this animated film is a two-disc set, and the one we just watched was the first half.

“Then get on with it, Shintarou. Come on, come on, come on.”

Seiran shook Shinatrou’s slender shoulders, seemingly wanting to see more.

“But what about the time?”

He said as he looked at the clock.

It was still light outside, but it was already before six in the evening.

“If that’s the case, then there’s no problem at my house! I’m not going to be left in the middle of the road like this!”

“I agree! I’ll call my house as long as the landlord, Koga-kun is okay with it!”

Of course, it was totally fine, but as for the others…

“I think I’ll be okay too. I’ll tell my family that I’m studying at Junya’s place.”

Shintarou was okay with it.

And finally, Narushima-san,

“…U-Uhm, I’m also curious, a-about the rest of the story.”

Well, if it’s this sort of mushy romantic drama, I’m sure she’ll like it very much.

“Well then, I guess we can watch a little more.”

“Yes!”

Asagiri-san, who was excited, exchanged high-fives with Narushima-san.

“Then, I’ll put in the second half of the disk, okay?”

“Oops, Shintarou, stop for a moment.”

Shintarou was about to put the disk in the game machine instead of the disk player, when Seiran stopped him.

“Before continuing the rest of the movie, how about we do some shopping?”

The packet of confectionaries on the low table was now hardly left with anything but scraps.

Well then, I proceeded to stand up.

As for the rest, well, they didn’t want to follow suit. Asagiri-san and Seiran looked at me with an evil grin on their faces.

“N-No way, you guys, don’t tell me you’re planning on letting me go alone?”

“Yes. I mean, it’s faster that way, right? Koga-kun knows this area better than anyone else.”

“Don’t worry about us. We’ll just play Momotaro(Peach boy)while waiting for you to come back.”

Hey, hey…

On the other hand, Shintarou and Narushima-san were in a dither. As if they were thinking, “I could go with you, but I’d rather not, given the way how things are going.”

“No, no! Why should I be the one to go while you bunch are sitting around playing Momotaro! At least let me go with someone else!”

“Then how do you say we decide the going shopping team?”

“U-Um…I-I don’t particularly mind if I go alone…?”

Narushima-san timidly raised her hand.

“W-Well, my bad, but thanks. Will 200 yen per person be enough? Errr, as for Momotaro…”

As I put some coins on the low table, everyone stared at me with piercing white eyes.

“Junya…as expected, you let Narushima-san go alone…”

Shintarou, Seiran and Asagiri-san agreed, saying, “Mhm, mhm.”

Damn, you have no qualms about letting me go alone, but not Narushima-san?

They just don’t know. After all, they don’t have to pay attention to this wolf in sheep’s clothing.

“A-Ah, then…I have a good proposal…”

The naivete girl shrugs her shoulders and laughs wickedly.

With our backs to the takoyaki cooker, we listened to the sound of the dough cooking.

“Hou Hou. Narushima-san is such an interesting girl. By no means did I expect her to bring the strongest 『death sauce』.”

“Fufu…everyone, not yet, please don’t look over here…”

Why Narushima-san had that in her hands, I don’t know, but she went to the room next to mine and came back with a horrible pain-inducing condiment, well known for its effects.

That is to say, Narushima-san’s good proposal was 『russian takoyaki』.

Putting a large amount of death sauce into one of the cooked takoyaki. Whoever tastes it has to go to the store with Narushima-san. That was the gimmick. That was the rule.

“Y-You don’t have to do this. I could have just gone together with you…”

“Don’t be so lukewarm, Shintarou! Anyway, Narushima-san, are you done yet!?”

“Well, let’s see…yup, it’s ready. Everyone turn this way.”

It seems that they were just about ready and in good order. At Narushima-san’s signal, all four of us turned around at once.

The takoyaki on the grill was just enough for four people.

All four of us were to take one takoyaki and put it in our mouths at the exact same time.

“I-I’m so nervous~. Hey, I want to ask just in case, but how much of it did you put inside? You know, that death sauce.”

“Fufu, just a little.”

Following what Asagiri-san asked, Narushima-san made a finger gesture as if to say “just a little”, but there’s absolutely no way such thing was true.

Because as soon as I saw these four takoyaki, I could already see through the scheme of that ill-natured wolf in sheep’s clothing.

The takoyaki that was steaming on the iron griddle was covered with nori and small pieces of sliced dried bonito flakes, however.

There was obviously one takoyaki where there weren’t any sliced dried bonito flakes at all.

I knew at first glance. The one with the death sauce was that one.

She knew I wasn’t fond of bonito flakes, so she probably put a lot of death sauce into it. I can assume so, right?

When this fellow proposed the Russian takoyaki, I could tell there was something definitely going on.

At any rate, she probably wanted to play around with me again.

But sorry, I’m not one who falls for such a simple trap.

How silly, Narushima Yoru.

“Well then, let’s all begin, shall we? Ready, set.”

“────Wait.”

Just as Seiran was about to send his hand out as a signal for the cue, he stopped.

Rather than that, what if it’s the opposite…? After all, such a thing, it’s so straightforward…no, but.

“What the hell, Junya? This is all based on probability, so let’s get straight to the point, shall we?”

Uuuughhh…which one…is the dangerous one without the bonito flakes? Or is the safe one the one without it?

“Fufu. Then I’ll give the signal, everyone, please don’t wait any longer…okay? Ready, set…go!”

Still unable to come up with an answer, we all reached for our takoyaki at the same time at Narushima-san’s call.

A few seconds later, one man’s exclamation echoed throughout the apartment.

“NGAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!?”

◇

“Hahaha. You fell for such a simple trap. What an idiot~.”

“…Tsk.”

The daytime heat had calmed down, and Narushima-san and I were walking down side by side along the cool, dimly lit street to the convenience store.

“I should have known at that time when you proposed Russian takoyaki. No matter how you think about it, you shouldn’t go for the one without the bonito flakes. No, I’m glad no one else but me got to eat it.”

Probably. Just as I’d expected, she put in a lot. Even now, my mouth was still burning.

So, in the end, I took the takoyaki without bonito flakes. And there was a huge amount of death sauce in it.

“But no matter how suspicious I was, I knew that Koga-kun would definitely take the takoyaki without bonito flakes. After all, he instinctively avoids foods he’s not very fond of. Ahahaha!”

As a matter of fact, that was what happened. Unable to get any answer when she shouted words of encouragement to me, I ultimately lost my mind and went for the takoyaki without bonito flakes.

To have calculated such a thing…what a horrible woman.

As it was just the two of us, she cast off her mask of deceptive innocence and started laughing aloud.

“You’re so weird! 『NGAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!?』, I mean, what was that? Hah~, now I don’t have to worry about side dishes for a while, Ahahaha!”

“Stop calling it a side dish.”

“Because~. Ahahaha! It was so funny that it actually made my stomach hurt!”

The sound of her laughter was well heard throughout the open road, which was filled with nothing more than paddy fields.

The distant ridges were dyed red by the evening glow, but the sound of her laughter was so immense that it seemed to reach even that place.

“…I wish you’d decided the ‘going out’ group fairly by playing rock-paper-scissors instead. Then it might be Shintarou rather than me here. Why go through the trouble of deliberately sniping me with Russian takoyaki…”

“Hmm, that’s right. I wonder why?”

Narushima Yoru held her finger against her cheek and smiled seductively once again.

“Maybe because I wanted to go shopping together with Koga-kun?”

“H-Huh?”

“Fufu. You’re so miserable it’s hilarious. Your seriously a virgin. The ultra-small fry Koga-kun. So inexperienced with girls.”

Ah, so it’s just another one of those things. She wants to get me to be more interested in girls. So she deliberately went out of her way to induce me to go shopping with her.

…Or, well, maybe she simply wanted me to eat her death sauce.

“This isn’t fun at all…you ill-natured wolf in sheep’s clothing…”

We arrived at the nearby convenience store and quickly made our purchases.

I carried the plastic bags, both of which were filled with a large number of snacks and drinks.

“Umu umu. A boy who can casually do that kind of thing scores fairly high points, don’t you think?”

“Then what should I do to raise Narushima-san’s points?”

“Obviously! To be affectionate with Honoko-chan!”

Walking next to me, she aloofly nudged her arm at me.

On the way back from the convenience store; Narushima Yoru only when she was alone with me.

Actually, I thought about it once again, but.

Sure enough, when it’s just the two of us without everyone, it’s entirely different…

“Hey. Aren’t you tired of using so many different characters?”

“I’m already used to it. Only a few people, such as my family, know about this side of me.”

For some reason, that doesn’t make me feel any superior at all.

“…That feigned, innocent personality of yours is just bait to entice Seiran, right?”

“Eh? That isn’t particularly the case, but…well, maybe it’s because I want people to care about me. It’s already become a habit, and it’s hard not to wonder which one of them is the real me.”

“Then, with that beguiling innocent persona of yours, you’ve been seducing many people until now.”

“Ara? Is Koga-kun finally interested in love stories?”

“No, I’m not. I was just wondering how many boys you seduced with that beguiling innocent personality of yours.”

Well, I guess it’s guys like this that don’t have much experience in love.

“I think my first time was in fifth grade. The other party was a private tutor from a university.”

────Eh?

“No, I don’t think that was the case. On those grounds, I think my first time was in first grade. The other party was a third-year student from a high school in my neighbourhood. I ended things with him just after a month, and right after that, I started dating a salaryman who looked like a recent graduate.”

“W-Wait, wait!”

Instinctively, I stopped her. After all. I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around this.

“…Narushima-san.”

“What?”

“Um…how many guys have you dated so far until now?”

“I haven’t counted.”

Just as we were on the roadway with a great view between large fields, a strong gust of the night breeze blew.

I shivered.

“…Even so, there were a lot of them. Old senior high school students and working adults. There were even people over forty if I remember correctly. Since my first year of junior high, I’ve had almost no break in the number of such people I’ve met.”

She talked about so many different dimensions that my eyes went dark.

Such a person──was there really anyone like her?

Was this teenager really──the same as me, a student in his first year of high school?

“…Did something happen, Koga-kun?”

Narushima Yoru looks into my eyes. As if she was trying to get a grasp of my emotions.

That smiling face, was no longer there.

“N-No, that…after all, I was surprised…”

“I told you yesterday, right? That I’m such a creature.”

Sure, I did hear her say that. About how love is more important than anything else in the world.

“──────Do you despise me?”

Narushima-san pulled away herself from me a little and let out a lonely laugh.

“If you think such a woman is unpleasant…yeah. I’m going back. I’m used to such things so. Haha.”

“I-I don’t think of it like that…I was just surprised. The stimulation was just a little too strong for me.”

“…Sorry.”

Why did you have that kind of commendable face?

Like always, she pointed at me in shock and laughed at me, calling me a virgin virgin.

Narushima Yoru was a love supremacist, so why did she have such a pained expression on her face.

Maybe she’s forcing herself in more ways than I imagine, I thought.

“…You should take even more care of yourself.”

In a mutter, such words were leaked out.

Narushima-san’s mouth contorted in contempt.

“Aha. After all, such a thing is customary for Koga-kun.”

“You’re mistaken. Perhaps that’s what Narushima-san thinks, but it’s different.”

Narushima-san said it herself. Ever since her first year of junior high, she has never cut short on dating boys.

That is to say. She almost never spends time with her friends.

That’s right. In fact, when she came over to borrow my shower, she said that.

We were the only friends she had.

She would almost certainly prioritise boys.

Always alone with guys.

Maybe that’s why she couldn’t make any friends.

The world tends to hate people who prioritise love over friends.

For that reason… that’s why she most likely…

“Narushima-san’s first priority is love. I understand that.”

“…Yes.”

“But why don’t you spend more time with your friends? If you’re going to look so bitter, you don’t have to spend all your time chasing after guys.”

“Wait just a minute, what do you mean by chasing after gu────what, Koga-kun, by some chance…are you crying?”

Ever since a short while ago, my eyes have been a little hot.

I’m crying.

Why?

I don’t understand.

────I don’t understand, but.

Just as I thought, not having friends. It’s lonely, isn’t it?

No matter how many boyfriends I’ve been through.

I thought that would be definitely tough.

After all, if it was me, I wouldn’t be able to handle it.

“You should play with us more, don’t you think? A moment ago, you were having so much fun with us. When I said I wanted you to take care of yourself, I didn’t mean that you should stop chasing after guys. I want you to spend as much time with your friends as you do with them.”

“H-Hey, just a minute, Koga-kun…”

“B-Because. Narushima-san already has us, and if you want, you can call me anytime. I’ll come up with a really interesting game when it comes to that. S-So…a-argh jeez, I don’t know what I’m trying to say, but, in any case, don’t feel bad and say you wanna go home, and so on, or say such harsh things like you’re used to it. I really don’t mind that kind of thing at all. After all, we’re you’re friends.”

I rubbed my eyes.

I wonder why I’m crying.

Perhaps it’s that. Maybe I’m comparing myself to when Kazumichi and Megumi left me, and I thought all my friends were gone.

Narushima-san looked at me absentmindedly and, in the end, said,

“────This is the first time anyone’s ever said that to me.”

She showed me a soft smile.

“That’s why, I’m happy. Y-Yeah. I’m happy.”

Despite her smile, she gently wiped away the corners of her eyes.

I don’t understand what that means. After all, Narushima-san is really different from me.

“You should know by now. That I’m a woman who wants to fall in love anyway, and I’ve been told various things. Many people speak ill of me behind my back and even told me to take precious care of myself to the point I got tired of it. But…when Koga-kun says it, even if they were the same spoken lines, it kind of resonated with me.”

“I see.”

“This is how I’m really like, even so────can you still call me a friend?”

“Of course. No matter how much Narushima-san hates me.”

Narushima-san made another gesture as if to wipe her tears. For that reason, why are you still crying?

“Aha. Yes, I hate you lots. But I still consider you a friend. Really.”

“You say we’re friends even though you hate me lots…..haha, what’s that? But if we’re friends, that’s fine.”

“Yes. It’s fine like that. Hee hee.”

We both let out a small laugh, and for a while, walked along the quiet countryside road in silence.

Before long, we saw the shabby apartment building.

“U-Um.”

Narushima-san suddenly broke the silence.

“Just in case, to confirm what I said, Koga-kun…you probably won’t believe what I’m about to say, but…”

“What is it?”

At this point, I probably won’t be surprised by anything she says. After being told such a story.

And no matter what, I’ll believe in my friend Narushima Yoru.

Narushima-san, slightly facing downwards, looked at me with a sidelong glance as she stood there all embarrassed and fidgety.

“I-I’m still a virgin, okay?”

“L-LIAR!?”

Unintentionally, I shouted that out loud.

No, of course, it wasn’t unintentional. After all, no matter how much I wanted to believe such a thing, there was no way.

Narushima-san pointed at me and backed away in a very exaggerated manner.

“S-See, just as I thought! When I said I was chasing after men, I definitely thought you had the wrong idea!”

“Isn’t there no point lying at this stage!? You, a virgin!? What a joke!”

“I’m not lying! Really, I haven’t done anything! After all, I haven’t kissed anyone yet!”

“Then what about that story you were talking about a short while ago!? From the time you were in junior high, you started dating senior high school students and working adults; moreover, they were in their forties! Such a thing, how could you be dating all those people and not be doing anything with them!”

“Like I said, I really didn’t do anything!”

After a few minutes of unrolling questions and answers.

Apparently, this fake normie with breasts is seemingly really innocent.

Despite the fact that she meets with older men in search of love, immediately, when she feels like something is different, she stops contacting them in the end.

Of course, that is if I believe in Narushima-san’s words, however.

“If you haven’t kissed him, then how could you say you’re going out with him…”

“See, boys say that right away.”

Narushima-san looked at me with a sigh and then said.

“But maybe that’s actually the case. All the people I’ve had relationships with have been just the two of us going out and playing alone, and I didn’t really like them that much.”

She doesn’t like them, and yet she goes out and plays with them…why would she do such a thing. Well, I guess Narushima san has a lot going on, but she’s really enough of a devilish woman after all.

“…That’s the thing, isn’t it? After all, you’re putting yourself in danger.”

She was almost forcibly kissed, taken to a love hotel, and so on.

I didn’t dare say anything about it, but apparently, my intentions were conveyed.

“It happens. If anything, it was an everyday occurrence. That’s why I thought it was different.”

“What different. In the first place, if someone with such ferocious rocket tits approaches you, all the men will get the wrong idea.”

“Of course, I’m interested in ‘that’ too, you know? B-But the people I’ve met so far have been different. I don’t really know how to put it into words.”

Once again, she said something so outrageous calmly… the stimulation is too strong for me, the virgin king.

“You knew you were in danger meeting those people, and yet, why didn’t you stop meeting men?”

“I thought I said it before, but…well, because I’m such a creature?”

So that’s what it was. She’s the type that gets lonely and anxious when she doesn’t have a boyfriend.

“I always thought before that you were like a little animal, but Narushima-san’s like a perfect rabbit.”

“Haha, what an interesting thing to say~. They say rabbits die when they’re lonely. Maybe that’s actually true.”

“…Yes. Of course.”

“Then, that means…you like him, right?”

“Of course I like him. I definitely like him more than most people I’ve met. But I still don’t know whether this is love or not.”

“What’s that? Like or love, how is it any different?”

Narushima-san glanced at me thoughtfully.

“…I don’t know. For this reason, I want to go out with him seriously and make sure. Plus, Seiran-kun is indeed my type.”

Narushima-san seems to like older men, and the mature Seiran is probably her perfect match.

But, from what I heard, she says she’ll judge whether her feelings are love or not after going out with him for the time being, right?

I guess there is such a form of love, but as a….child, I had no idea how to understand it.

“I’m sure Koga-kun would think that you shouldn’t disturb the circle of the group with such half-hearted feelings. I’m really sorry for being such a woman.”

Yeah. I think so too.

But, well, if Narushima-san agrees to it, then I guess it’s possible.

Yesterday, Narushima-san told me that she would wait to confess her feelings until our summer play plan was over.

So all I have to do is to make as many memories as possible for the five of us before then.

Supposing things don’t work out with Seiran.

And if Narushima-san leaves us because she no longer wants to be a part of the group.

The happy memories of her spending time with her friends can be a little comforting for her, a lonely person.

I mean, I think any idiot would feel a little comforted.

I arrived at my apartment and walked up the rusty exterior stairs.

The walls were so thin that I could hear the laughter of Seiran and the others in my room while I was outside.

“Hey, Koga-kun!”

Narushima-san called out from behind me, and I turned around.

“Um…I guess being with friends is pretty fun too.”

It was a smile that could be taken as her true feelings rather than her feigned innocence.

Yeah. From now on, I’m going to make even more fun plans.

I’m going to make sure Narushima-san enjoys the fun of spending time with her friends.

So please, don’t make that lonely face again.

Instead of saying that embarrassing line.

I pushed Narushima-san’s back and made her open that flimsy door where her friends were waiting.