CH 7

V1: EPISODE 7: AFFECTION AND LOVE

The morning after night.

Unusually today, Yui was the one who suggested where to go for chatting and playing.

Although the main thing today was to play games together at the internet cafe as usual, before that, she wanted to have lunch together at a nearby coffee shop.

And she also wanted to treat me to a drink as thanks for everything so far.

“Hmm….”

He told her not to worry about thanking him or anything, but she didn’t think it was right not to return the favour.

He and Yui were best friends, and they had an equal relationship. As a result, he decided to accept the drink.

When he replied, “Okay”, I got a stamp back of Fee smiling happily.

As always, he went to Yui’s house to pick her up, and she awaited me outside her house.

Today, she was wearing a white one-piece dress instead of her usual hoodie. It was a fashionable dress that she bought at Nene’s store yesterday.

When Yui noticed me, she gave him a small wave.

……That’s all there is to it, that’s all there is to it.

And yet, his heart was furiously pounding.

(Like I said, it’s not like that! Yui and I are not like that!)

He secretly took a deep breath so that Yui didn’t find out. Ever since yesterday’s incident, he’s been strangely conscious of Yui.

“G….G-Good morning Yuuma.”

“Good morning. Were you waiting outside of the house? You must be tired of standing.”

“U-Uh, no, I’m okay.”

──? I wonder what’s wrong? Is she a little nervous? I felt somewhat concerned, but I brushed it aside for the moment.

“Let’s go then. We’re going to the coffee shop, right?”

“Um…yeah….”

Yui’s gaze wandered a little, and she took out her smartphone.

She began chatting.

Right away, his phone began ringing.

『You know that stylish coffee shop we always pass by on the way to the internet cafe? Over there.』

『I understand. Let’s go then.』

Yui breathed out a sigh of relief when I replied.

──Sure enough, she’s more nervous than usual. Is there something wrong?

He observed Yui, wondering what the cause of her nervousness was.

(Speaking of which, Yui…she’s dressed up today….)

Besides wearing a dress that she does not usually wear, she also wore a light amount of makeup.

Her eyes were large and bright, and her cheeks were like freshly pounded rice cakes, making me want to touch them. Her lips were also varnished with lip balm, giving them a very vibrant appearance.

They looked very soft.

“Y-Yuuma…? Is there something wrong with my face?”

“N-No, it’s nothing.”

He let out an anxious voice. His face instantly turned red the moment he realized he’d been staring at Yui’s face. He couldn’t help but turn my eyes away.

“Um…..uh, I tried to put some makeup on, just as I thought…it looks weird…doesn’t it?’

“No, no, no, no, no! I think it suits you quite well!”

When he said that, Yui looked delighted…and she let out a sigh of relief.

“I’m glad…..Today, I had a date with Yuuma, so I did my best to dress up…”

“Eh!?”

He felt his heart jump at the mention of the word “date.”

In the meantime, he searched for the meaning of the word “date” on his phone. And hereupon, found out that it was『 a meeting between a man and a woman at a time and place agreed upon in advance.』If that’s the case, then going out together like this could be called a date.

But still, when he hears the word “date,” he imagines a pair of lovers going out together. The thought of such a thing made his heart race.

I mean, Yui’s appearance is also stranger compared to usual.

She’s more nervous than usual, she’s stylishly dressed, and her face is seemingly red in colour.

Seeing Yui like this reminded him of a scene from a shoujo manga that Nene once lent him.

It was before the confession scene. Just before the main character, a girl tells her feelings to her favourite senior.

He felt that the expression on the main character’s face at that time and the expression on Yui’s face now were similar……

(L-Like I said, it’s not like that! Yui and I aren’t like that….right? It can’t be…right?)

The sound of his heartbeat was too loud. He couldn’t think straight.

The two of them headed straight for the coffee shop.

The coffee shop has a relaxed atmosphere, with quiet classical music playing.

Upon entering the restaurant, they were shown to a table in the back. It was just the kind of seat that would easily create a blind spot from the other seats.

It had a nice atmosphere for a lover’s date…just thinking about it made him shudder in agony.

They ordered the same set of sandwiches from the waitresses.

Yui was silent until the sandwich arrived. She pretended to be looking at the menu……and sent occasional glances at him. When their eyes met, she would hurriedly avert her eyes left and right.

(Just as I thought, she’s behaving….weirdly, right?)

However, even from Yui’s point of view, Yuuma must be acting strangely right now. He was completely aware of Yui and was acting a little suspiciously.

During the process, the sandwich arrived.

It was probably delicious, but they were too nervous to taste it.

While eating, there was zero conversation. Peeping at one another, it was a terrifying silent meal.

They didn’t get up from their seats immediately after finishing their meal. Yui remained frozen like a stone statue on her chair, glancing at him. It was as if she was trying to find the right moment to say something.

…Yuuma’s heart has been racing the whole time. Evidently, with this kind of atmosphere at hand, it was virtually impossible that nothing was going on behind the scenes.

(Is it…a confession? Considering the kind of situation we’re in, it….)

He swallowed his saliva at the thought.

If it’s a confession…then what should I do?

Well, I’m a boy myself, and I want a cute girlfriend.

But Yui was his best friend, so he shouldn’t like her that way──he shouldn’t, but he just found Yui too adorable. She was too adorable that he couldn’t help it.

In fact, he was even more nervous just thinking about the fact that he was going to be confessed to.

As he was thinking so, Yui opened her mouth as if she had made up her mind.

“U-Um….. Y-Yuuma….!”

“Y-Yes!?”

“Er….um, right? Can I ask you, something weird….?”

“A-Ah.”

“….That….does Yuuma…like me….?”

He felt his heart jump.

“Y-You mean…like a friend…?”

In response, he probed back.

(Am I an idiot!? That’s obviously not what she meant!)

Yui continued to speak to Yuuma, fidgeting.

“That….uh, you know? Supposing Yuuma likes me…then let’s go out…..?”

He was choking.

A confession from a girl for the first time in his life.

Frankly speaking, he was insanely happy. He was just about to say 『Let’s go out』and let all the conflicts and everything up to this point blow over his head. …But, he noticed that something didn’t feel right.

──Yui was not a good talker and often had trouble communicating her feelings verbally.

Therefore, Yuuma had a habit of observing Yui’s facial expressions in an effort to read her feelings as much as possible.

For that reason, he realized something. ──Something was different.

“Yui.”

“Y-Yes!”

“Do you really like me?”

“Eh?”

Such an unexpected question was thrown back at her. Hearing this, Yui started to writhe in confusion.

“I-I like you, okay? If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have asked you to go out with me…..”

“When you say you like me, do you really mean that in a romantic sense?”

“Ah…that’s uh…”

Apparently, it was off the mark.

Sigh.

“Why did you say that?”

“That’s….because my dad said most of the time when guys are nice to you, they mostly have ulterior motives, so, perhaps, I wondered if that was the case, and….”

“I don’t get what you’re trying to say at all. Why would you want to go out with me if you have those suspicions, especially when they’re the opposite of what you’re doing right now?”

[Tl notes: Mc’s trying to say why would she(Yui) want to go out with him if she has these suspicions of him, especially when ‘ulterior motives’ are included]

“B-But. I just wanted to repay your kindness, since you’ve helped me out so much, and….um, Yuuma? Are you angry at me?”

“Yes, I’m angry.”

If Yui had said『I’m in love with Yuuma, please go out with me』I would’ve definitely said yes.

But it’s definitely not the same as going out with her so that she could thank me for everything I’ve done. I wasn’t befriending her because I wanted that kind of return.

He stood up from his seat and walked to Yui. Seeing Yuuma, Yui panicked.

He reached both his hands out to Yui and…pinched both of her cheeks as hard as he could.

“Unyautsu!?”

“W-What’s with that way of thinking, you idiot! No, you’re already an idiot, idiot!”

“Yu-Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmaaaaaaaa!”

Yui screamed, but he didn’t stop….and then he relaxed his strength a little before continuing again.

“I consider you my best friend, and I want to take care of you! So why did you do what you just did, you idiot! Take better care of yourself, you idiot!”

“B-Because I thought you’d be happy to hear that….Hiya!?”

“Such a thing, we have an equal relationship, you idiot! You can’t go out with me to thank me for everything I’ve done for you, you idiot! Oh, God, this fool!”

“Umyaaaa….!?”

“….What’s more.”

“……..”

──The tone of his voice dropped a little.

“I was honestly shocked that you, my best friend, thought that I had ulterior motives.”

Yuuma did a lot of things for Yui for the sake of friendship.

The reason why Yuuma was able to have fun every day was because of Yui. That’s why he wanted to help Yui, who also suffers from a communicative disorder.

He felt their bonds deepening as they were together, which made him happy.

He enjoyed the time they spent together, and he was looking forward to the day when school begins, knowing that he would have fun with Yui every day.

He was aware of the fact that he may be too nosy at times, so he could understand why Yui’s father would be worried for her.

However, he was shocked….when Yui thought that the person in question(him) had ulterior motives.

“Ah….”

All blood drained from Yui’s face, and she turned completely blue.

“I’m sorry….”

A feeble voice. Yuuma let out a small sigh. She seemed to be sorry for what she had done, so he’ll leave it at that.

“I forgive you. Just, don’t do anything like that again, okay…Yui?”

“I’m sorry…for doubting Yuuma…hikku…he’s my best friend, and yet…I…”

Tears were spilling from Yui’s eyes.

“Y-Yui? No, I forgive you. I forgive you. Right?”

Now it was Yuuma’s turn to panic. This was the very first time he had ever made a girl cry like this, and he felt guilty.

He wiped her tears with a handkerchief and patted her on the back. Finally, Yui stopped crying.

“I’m sorry…”

Yuuma’s shoulders slumped dejectedly.

“No, I’m the one who’s sorry. I was too hard on you earlier.”

“N-No, I was entirely in the wrong a moment ago. Besides… I’m happy.”

“Happy?”

“Hic…because, a moment ago, you got angry for me, so I’m really glad that Yuuma’s my best friend. After all, Yuuma’s the one who takes care of me.”

“Were you questioning whether we were actually best friends?”

“No. It’s just that I had a fuzzy feeling, but it’s now all cleared up…at any rate, I was happy. However, because of that, it made me feel even more guilty…so I c-cried…I’m sorry.”

“Then let’s not talk about this anymore.”

He comforted her with a bitter smile.

Well, whatever it was, it’s over…just as he was thinking about this.

Yui placed her hands over Yuuma’s body and hugged him tightly. She gripped him tightly and nuzzled her forehead against his chest.

Caught by surprise, Yuuma froze.

“Y-Yui!?”

“I-I’m not very good at talking, so I’ll do this instead. This is how…I’ll convey my feelings to you seriously.”

Saying this, Yui looked up at Yuuma’s face as she hugged him.

Despite being embarrassed, she looked Yuuma straight in the eyes. She had such beautiful eyes that he felt as if he could be sucked into them.

“Yuuma, I, right? I love….Yuuma.”

──This wasn’t a confession of love or anything of that sort.

Yui mentioned that she only loved him as a best friend.

It’s not love but filial love.

He knew that…but.

Her words were too direct, and the embarrassed smile that surfaced on her face after she said them was too cute and charming.

He wanted to keep holding her. The urge to make her his own surged up within him…

(Wait…wait, wait, wait. Didn’t I just say that I had no ulterior motives!?)

He grabbed Yui by the shoulders and pulled her away in a hurry. Yui looked a little dissatisfied, but that wasn’t the point.

He was already at his limit.

To be held like that, to have those words aimed right at him like that, plus Yui was so close to his chest that he was afraid that she would notice the sound of his beating heart.

“Then Yuuma, let’s start over, okay?”

“O-Oh.”

He replied bluntly to Yui, who said this with a shy smile on her face.

He was already embarrassed to look at Yui from the front. Furthermore, no matter how many expressions she made, she was just too cute.

(Like I said, it’s different! Such a thing, Yui and I aren’t like that!)

He tried screaming that in his head, but his heart wouldn’t stop beating.

†

“Hey, Yuuma? Can I cross my arms with you once again?”

“O-Oh.”

When he left the store, Yui said that to him.

The last time Yui walked around without a hood, she crossed her arms because she was worried.

To be honest, he was a little hesitant on whether or not he should accept the offer, but he thought it would be unwise to leave her alone just because he was aware of Yui, so he accepted the offer……but oh, how that turned out to be a miscalculation.

“Nsho…Fufu ♪”

“Eh!?”

Yui twisted her own arm around Yuuma’s. That in itself was the same.

Just…

The last time Yui was out in the open, she felt nervous and clung to Yuuma’s arm.

But this time…

“Ehehe……♪”

Yui was happily cuddling against Yuuma’s shoulder. From the outside, they looked like a couple of lovebirds. Just walking together, it was just obvious that Yui liked Yuuma.

Moreover, Yui’s hair smelled soft and nice. As she held him tightly, he could feel her softness and body heat, possibly because her clothes were thinner than before.

──Yuuma may be firm for his age, but he was still an adolescent boy.

There was no way that Yuuma could endure such a thing for that long. Heedlessly, he quickened his footsteps.

Although he had noticed that Yui began to run, he pretended not to see it today.

He couldn’t help but feel embarrassed, but the other part of him was afraid that if he didn’t get away from her even for a second, he would start developing wicked feelings for Yui, and as a best friend, he wanted to avoid that…

But today, God was just unkind.

They arrived at the internet cafe.

“Welcome. Ah, it’s the two of you again.”

The college-aged lady at the reception desk calls out to them as soon as she sees them.

Ever since spring break, they’ve been coming here every day, so she seemed to have memorized their faces.

“But I’m sorry. All the twin rooms are occupied today.”

“Is that so?”

“I have a single room available. What would you like to do? It’s small, and there’s only one computer, but you can watch all the movies you want, and I think you two would enjoy it, don’t you?”

“Yui, what do you want?”

“I’m…fine with it? I can play the game on my phone, too, if that’s okay with Yuuma.”

“Then I’ll take the single room, please.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Like that, they checked in.

──And.

“Ah, just a heads-up. This store isn’t that kind of place, so please refrain from doing that kind of thing, okay?”

“That kind of thing?”

When Yuuma tilted his head, the store clerk brought her face closer to him and secretly told him what she meant by “that kind of thing.”

──His face blew up at once.

“W-What are you talking about!? I would never do such a thing in a place like this!”

“No, in fact, there are some now and then. Couples who do ‘that’ in a place like this.”

“There is!?”

“Hey, Yuuma, what are you talking about?”

“Ah, no, Yui doesn’t need to know! Rather, it’s better if you don’t know!”

“….Mu~”

Yui pouts in discontent. Seeing the two of them like that, the store clerk tried her best not to laugh.

“In the first place, we’re just friends! Since we’re friends, we’ll never be like that.”

“…Eh?”

The store clerk looked at Yui, who was happily crossing her arms with Yuuma. Then, after that, she turned to look at Yuuma, whose face grew bright red.

“I see. So you two are friends. I offer my deepest apologies.”

She was grinning immensely.

“A-Anyway, we’re going to our room!”

He couldn’t bear the store clerk’s gaze anymore, so he pulled Yui along and headed for their room.

In any case, they entered the single room.

Originally, the room was just meant for a single person to use the computer. Obviously, it looked natural, but it was considerably smaller than the twin rooms they usually use. In terms of space, it was about the size of an elevator chamber.

“Eh….”

“What’s wrong?”

“N-No, it’s nothing.”

The room was much smaller than he thought. And being together in such a small room, he couldn’t help but feel conscious of Yui.

And since the store clerk said such things, he ended up imagining some strange things.

“Hey, Yuuma. …What should we do?”

“W-What should we do!?”

“Eh? I just wanted to ask you what should we play for now, but….for the time being, do you want to play games as usual?”

“A-Ah, yeah.”

For a moment, he reprimanded himself in his mind for thinking about something strange—deep breaths. Yui looked at Yuma with a puzzled expression.

“……C-Come to think of it, there’s only a single tatami chair. Yui, sit down. I’ll be fine without.”

“Nuh-uh, let’s sit together?”

“No, we can’t, space-wise.”

“It’ll be fine. Yuuma can just spread his legs while sitting, and I’ll sit between them.”

“No, no, no, no, no. I mean, isn’t that too close?”

“I’ll be fine, okay?”

He quickly retorted, 『 I’m not okay with that!』, but in the end, he complied.

Yui began to operate her phone. By conditional reflex, Yuuma also took out his phone.

『To be honest, I want to have skinship with Yuuma.』

Yui typed that in and smiled shyly, “Heh heh.”

This person…..is toying with a man’s heart once again…….. He thought about it but managed to keep a poker face.

『Skinship, you mean that skinship?』

『Yes. Yuuma, do you know what’s oxytocin is? It’s a happy hormone. I saw it on TV once.』

Come to think of it. I remember catching a glimpse of it on TV.

『It’s secreted when you touch or hug someone you like. It’s good for various things, such as relieving stress and improving immunity. When Yuuma patted me or held my arm, I felt like I was secreting a lot of it, and it was kind of soothing.』

──Hearing ‘the person you like’ from her made me stagger. I really couldn’t be more obvious about being a virgin.

『No, but that’s touching your body, isn’t it? Don’t you hate that kind of thing from a girl’s point of view?』

『I know you’re being very considerate of me because I’m a girl, but you don’t have to be, you know? I don’t particularly mind it if Yuuma’s the one touching me.』

──That’s why! Don’t say things like that to mess with a man’s head! I wanted to say that, but I couldn’t.

『I mean, you touched my chest when we first met.』

『Stop digging around on that subject!?』

──Perhaps, Yui wasn’t fully aware that she was a girl since she didn’t go to school much.

When she was in the lower grades of elementary school, men and women often changed clothes together in the gym and swimming pools, so she probably didn’t feel much shame about it.

However, in the social life of schools, they are often divided by gender, and they become aware of the opposite sex.

Yui probably didn’t have much experience with such things. For that reason, she was vulnerable…and straightforward in expressing her affection, something people usually avoid doing to people of the opposite gender.

That in itself made him happy. But, for Yuuma, Yui was a girl that he was interested in, and he was fully aware of her…subconsciously, he also sometimes thinks weird thoughts.

As her best friend, he couldn’t decide whether he should respond to Yui’s affection or refrain from doing so. He felt like holding his head in his hands.

『What’s wrong?』

“…………”

Yuuma sat back in his chair with a silent thud.

It’s okay. I’m not going to touch her in the wrong place. It’s just that we’re close. This is within the scope of friendship. That’s what Yuuma tells himself.

“Nn……spread your legs a little wider?”

“A-Ah.”

Yui nudged her way into Yuuma’s legs a little. ──She smelled immensely good.

“……….!”

Still zero physical contact. And yet, his heart was already racing. This distance is dangerous. Furthermore, Yui has been leaning her body weight on Yuuma’s body like a backrest.

“Ah…this, is really good.”

Yui commented as if she were sitting on the finest sofa. Yuuma, on the other hand, was…..completely out of it.

This position was like he was holding Yui as she sat between his legs.

The feeling of Yui’s body leaning against him felt nice. Yui’s body warmth was gradually transmitted to him.

Yui’s hair smelled somewhat sweet as she sat right before him. A little later, he noticed that it smelled just like the shampoo she used at Nene’s store. She must have taken a shower before we met, he thought.

And above all, she felt very soft. It would feel very nice to hold her in a tight embrace. Due to this, Yuuma had to mobilize all his reason not to do so.

“So, what are we going to do. Yuuma, do you have any quests you wanna do?”

“A-Ah!? Um, I’ll leave it up to you to decide!?”

Yuuma started up Grand Gate on his computer and Yui on her phone.

In some way or another, Yuuma tried to concentrate on the game…but his heart hadn’t stopped racing ever since a while ago. He was inevitably aware of Yui’s body heat and softness in such a position, and he couldn’t settle down.

Even so, he somehow managed to continue playing the game and continued adventuring with Schwarz in the game world──who was being controlled by Yui.

(…..Eh?)

While completing a quest, Schwarz, operated by Yui, suddenly started running in the wrong direction. She crashed into a wall. Even so, Schwarz continued to run into the wall.

“Yui?”

When he turned to look at Yui, she was touching the screen of her phone, looking sleepy and groggy.

“Yui, are you sleepy?”

“Eh….? Ah, sorry, I was sleeping.”

“Not enough sleep?”

“I….was so nervous last night that I couldn’t sleep…”

“Nervous?”

When Yuuma asked her back, Yui’s face fell in embarrassment.

“It was my first time confessing to a boy…”

──He felt his heart jump again at those words.

Although it ended up that way, the confession was not a light one for Yui either.

Rather, if Yuuma had accepted that confession, they would have been lovers by now. That is to say, Yui would not be opposed to having that kind of relationship with him……

As he thought of that, his head was filled with a mixture of joy and embarrassment.

“Fuah…”

On the other hand, Yui was yawning cutely, unaware of Yuuma’s state of mind. She still seems sleepy and soon starts dozing off again.

“Hey, wake up?”

“I-I’m…sorry, Yuuma’s body just feels so…warm…I wanna stick close to it, it just feels so good…”

Yui said such things in a sleepy voice. It was a little sad how she was so unguarded around him, but he also thought that side of her was beyond cute.

“…If you want, why don’t you sleep here a little while?”

“…Are you sure?”

“A-Ah. I’m good, okay?”

“Hmm…thank you…”

As soon as Yui says this, her body relaxes. Within a minute, Yui started to sleep peacefully with her weight leaning on Yuuma.

“………”

──The situation turned out to be far more painful than he expected.

Yui, leaning against Yuuma and sleeping comfortably, was so defenceless.

Yuuma was also a man. He had no intention of doing anything to her, but seeing her so defenceless was the last thing he needed to see.

In such a position, he thought it would be okay to at least hug her.

(Why did I think it was 『okay』to hug her…)

Yuma put his hand on his forehead and slumped down. Even so, I’ve been strangely conscious of her since the confession, and this distance is quite painful.

Yuuma placed his hands on his forehead and slumped down. Even though he’s been strangely conscious of her ever since the confession, this distance between them was quite painful.

(She should be a little wary of me…I’m a man, after all…)

Sighing, just as he was about to give up and say it couldn’t be helped, something caught Yuuma’s eye.

“…..!?”

───There was a reasonable height difference between Yuuma and Yui. Therefore, when Yuuma looks at Yui, he naturally looks down on her from above.

Yui’s breasts were visible through the gap in her clothes.

It was modest, but surely enough, there was a bulge. Pretty white underwear with frills encapsulated it. The line of her collarbone was somewhat seductive against her delicate white skin.

Quickly, he looked away. But the sight of it was already burned into his eyes, and wouldn’t leave.

(Give me a break……)

……Of course, he didn’t intend to do anything about it. He would never betray Yui’s trust.

Nevertheless, as a man, he was in agony in such a situation.

In the end, the game did not progress at all that day.

──From that day on, the distance with Yui, which was originally close, became even closer.

Girls may rather casually cling to and hug their good friends, so I guess that’s how she probably felt about it.

Yui hugged him tightly and begged him to pet her head. Looking at this, you could already feel that she loves Yuuma and trusts him deeply.

It made him happy, and he thought she looked cute.

But, Yuuma was a boy, Yui was a girl, and Yui was too vulnerable.

Yuuma has also become completely aware of Yui. The distance between them was somewhat agonizing.

And finally, what he had feared, in a way, happened.