Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/822139845923627658/episodes/2912051595934528492
“What are you saying?! you are the one who kissed me while I was sleeping the other day!”
My voice echoed throughout the room.
“…………”
Mashiro froze at my words.
But then, just like ice melting in the heat, her face gradually turned bright red…
“W-what? W-what…? W-what⁉ W-what⁉⁉⁉”
Mashiro’s voice, unusually high-pitched, echoed through the room.
“W-what are you talking about? Kissing while asleep? Who? W-what, me? It couldn’t possibly be me, right?”
“N-no, it’s Mashiro. Mashiro kissed me the other day while I was sleeping on the couch!”
“H-huh⁉ C-come on, you really need to rein in your imagination… I-I mean, there’s no way I’d kiss you, right? I’m not you…”
“You can’t wriggle out of this! I definitely remember the sensation from that time!!”
“!!!! that’s gross… Gross, gross, gross, gross!”
“Say whatever you want, you kiss-crazy girl! You’ve been calling me a pervert and saying I’m totally lusting after you, yet you kiss me while I’m asleep… You’re the one who’s the most lustful and the biggest pervert! Right, Mashiro?!”
“!!!”
Mashiro’s shoulders trembled, and she clasped her hands in front of her chest.
She fidgeted with her fingers and darted her eyes around, as if unable to focus her gaze.
“…………”
“-!!”
I stared intently at Mashiro.
“Um, w-well… maybe you just misread something…”
“There’s no way I could have misread that. I got kissed by Mashiro—there’s no way I could have misread that.”
“B-but… I-I…”
“—Mashiro!!”
I kept staring at her, my gaze strong and determined not to let her escape.
Mashiro flushed bright red and fidgeted, but after looking at me, she seemed to give in and lowered her head.
Then, with tears welling up at the corners of her eyes, she murmured in a voice so faint it was almost inaudible.
“…………I’m… I’m sorry…”
“!!”
In that instant, my heart was shattered with devastating force.
W-what the hell was that…? She’s way too cute.
“I, I don’t really understand it myself, but before I knew it, I just…”
“I, I see…”
“…I’m sorry. I’m sorry, so… um… will you… forgive me…?”
“Huh! W-well, it’s not like I’m holding a grudge or anything, I don’t really mind… Besides, we’ve already kissed… and, we’ve even… well, done more than that.”
“! …R-right. Well then… I-I’m glad.”
“O-oh…”
“…………”
Silence fell.
An unbearably awkward, yet somehow sweet stillness.
Mashiro clenched her T-shirt tightly, turned on her heel, and tried to leave the room.
—But.
“Wait a second.”
I grab Mashiro’s arm and holds her back.
It’s not going to end just because she’s cute.
“W-what? Aren’t you satisfied already?”
“No, this is actually where the real fun begins.”
“R-really? W-what are you trying to… Huh! Y-you’re not seriously going to do it a third time…!”
“……No, that’s not what I meant.”
Well, I’d love for it to be that way, though.
“Mashiro, let me ask you one thing.”
“Wh-what?”
“Why did you kiss me?”
“H-hey! W-well, that’s…”
“If you really only saw me as a lowly underling, you wouldn’t have kissed me, would you?”
Mashiro kissed me.
This fact holds more value than the fact itself.
Normally, you don’t just kiss someone you don’t care about. Especially someone as guarded as Mashiro.
—To kiss someone means…
“Hey, Mashiro. You…”
In other words, Mashiro…
“D-do you like me⁉”
“Huh⁉⁉⁉”
…
“Do you like me⁉”
“Why are you repeating yourself?!!”
I was so flustered that I blurted out the most embarrassing words a man could say—twice in a row.
But there’s no turning back now.
“If you kissed me, that means… that’s what it means, right?”
“-! N-no, that’s not…”
“Of course it does! Come on, Mashiro! You…”
“H-!! L-let go of me! Let go!”
Mashiro desperately tried to break free.
But she was too frail for her resistance to amount to anything.
“That reaction… could it be… is it really true?”
“N-no way! I-I don’t like K-Kensuke! I don’t like you!”
“Even though you kissed me⁉”
“J-just because we kissed doesn’t m-mean I like you, does it⁉ Besides, w-we just did that, but other than that…”
“Do you kiss guys you don’t even like? You don’t, do you?”
“! …I, I would!”
“Huh?”
“I, I would kiss! I mean, we’re not just kissing… we’ve, we’ve had sex! Twice! That’s proof, isn’t it?!”
“Wha—”
T-that’s true.
Back then, Mashiro definitely only thought of me as a lowly underling, a servant, or an attendant.
……But.
“T-this time is different from back then, isn’t it? That was just a battle of wills… but the other day, Mashiro initiated it—she kissed me out of her own free will, starting from a completely blank slate! That’s an unprecedented, one-of-a-kind exception!”
“Huh!! Y-you… don’t get too cocky…”
“Hey, Mashiro!!”
When I raised my voice, even Mashiro stopped resisting.
I stared intently at Mashiro once more.
Mashiro bit her lip as if holding something back and looked away from me.
“I… I… I…”
The ticking of the clock echoed rhythmically.
It was marking time in this world right now.
I swallowed hard.
A situation I never could have imagined. But right now, it was definitely happening right before my eyes.
I waited intently for Mashiro’s words.
Mashiro moved her lips slightly as if choosing her words, then spoke hesitantly, and then—
“There’s no way I’d ever fall for someone like Kensuke, right?! You… you idiot! You idiot Kensuke!!”
“…………Huh?”
While I stood there dumbfounded, Mashiro shook off my hand.
“Don’t get the wrong idea. That was… just like before—an accident.”
With that, Mashiro turned to leave the room for good this time.
“Mashiro!!”
Before I could even think, the words were out of my mouth.
“W-what now?! There’s nothing left to say…”
“I get it. That’s fine. It’s fine, so…”
If Mashiro says so, then that’s fine.
Then this time, I’ll… I’ll be the one to…!
“Mashiro! I… I…”
Just as I was about to say those simple yet most complicated words that followed,
Ding-dong.
The intercom rang out.
“Kita san! Delivery! Kita san?”
The delivery person’s voice was so incredibly tactless.
Of course, it’s not their fault. But in this situation—it’s just so damn annoying!
“…Go answer it already.”
“N-no… but…”
“Just do it! Hurry up and answer it!!”
“…………Y-yes.”
To the God of Romantic Comedies.
Aren’t you being a little too capricious?
I can’t help but think I’m cursed. Period.
▽ ▽ ▽
A few days have passed since then.
Of course, I haven’t been able to hear Mashiro’s true feelings, nor have I been able to tell her my own.
I’d tried to pry too deeply and ended up with nothing to show for it, so I was in a hopeless situation.
“……Haa, this is just too much of a ‘Hard Mode’ for my youth……”
On my way home from school.
As I walked along, sighing,
“Oh, Ken-kun?”
A voice called out from behind me.
When I turned around, there she was…
“Mariko-san. It’s been a while.”
“It has been a while~. Hehe, I’m so happy to see you. I’m getting excited like a little kid.”
A woman with a gentle, beaming smile.
This is Mariko-san.
She is Mashiro’s mother.
Is she beautiful because she resembles Mashiro, or is Mashiro beautiful because she takes after her? On top of that, she looks so young that you’d think she was Mashiro’s older sister.
The difference from Mashiro is that she has a gentle, soft personality that matches her appearance; in an anime, they’d definitely depict her with her eyes half-closed.
“Did school over? Oh, is Mashiro not here?”
“Mashiro’s at the student council meeting.”
“Oh, that’s too bad. I was hoping to see the two of you together.”
“Hahaha…”
She might not be too keen on that right now. You know, with everything going on.
“Come to think of it, I haven’t seen Mashiro’s dad lately… Is he doing okay?”
“Him? Oh, him…”
Mariko-san rested her hand on her chin, then said casually.
“Well, it doesn’t really matter if he’s doing okay or not. He’s just a jerk who never comes home because of work.”
“……Y-yeah, I guess so.”
“Mm-hmm, whatever, whatever. Hehehe.”
I guess you could say she really is Mashiro’s mother.
Her sharpness in certain areas might even surpass Mashiro’s.
“Anyway, how are things with Mashiro lately? Are you two getting along?”
“Huh! W-well, I guess so… sort of… hehehe.”
“I see, sort of, huh? Well, there are times like that, I suppose.”
“Y-yeah, I guess so…”
Scratching my head, I answered as if trying to brush it off.
Then, Mariko muttered, “I see,” and said, still wearing that gentle smile.
“Come to think of it, it seems like you and Mashiro haven’t been doing anything naughty at all lately. I see, so that’s what it was~. It all makes sense now~”
…
“…Huh?”
…Huh?
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