The Gal Next to Me Is Trying Too Hard to Make Me Fall in Love With Her
“Ahhhhh~♡ Saeki’s massage feels so good~~~♡”
“I’m glad to hear it. Yours was amazing too, Amagi-san.”
“Really? Hehe, I knew it, right?”
After the massage ended, we took a breather.
We got under the kotatsu, turned on the TV, and just lazed around.
“Um… about that, can I ask you something?”
“What? If it’s a marriage proposal, the answer’s yes?”
“No, it’s not that!”
“You wanna do naughty things? Oh my, you didn’t need to ask that specifically~♡”
“I said it’s not that!”
I let out a small sigh and looked away.
“…Why are you sitting next to me, Amagi-san?”
Her usual spot was across from me.
Even during dinner earlier, she’d been there. Yet now, for some reason, she’d deliberately squeezed herself into the cramped space beside me.
“Did you not want me to?”
“N-no, it’s not that I didn’t want you to… It’s just… you came over so suddenly…”
“Hmm… I just felt kind of lonely, you know?”
As she spoke, Amagi-san leaned her weight toward me.
Her head landed softly on my shoulder. She looked up at me and smiled, somehow seeming fragile.
“Saeki, you weren’t here this morning, right? Actually, I’ve been waiting in this room ever since. I wondered what it feels like to be a wife waiting for her husband to come home.”
“…Going all out even for roleplay? That’s so totally you, Amagi-san…”
“If I’m going to do it, I might as well do it properly. Besides, cleaning and laundry take forever when I actually try to do them right.”
Her hand overlapped mine, which had been resting on my lap.
I slowly grasped that hand, damp with sweat from the kotatsu and her body heat. Immediately, as if she’d been waiting for it, she intertwined her fingers with mine.
“I ate lunch here too, waiting all day for you to come back… So, you know, when you finally did come home, I was super happy, okay? Like, ‘Finally, we get to see each other!’ If I could feel this happy when my husband came home, I thought maybe waiting wouldn’t be so bad.”
She squeezed my hand, testing its feel, then looked away. “But you see…”
“If I were the real wife, I’d be with my husband all day when he came home. But this is just pretend play. It’s already past ten, and I really should be heading back soon… That makes me feel lonely…”
“…No, but…”
“I know, I know! That’s not what I’m saying! I’m not asking to stay over or anything like that, right? Before, we had the excuse of preparing for the cultural festival, but there’s nothing like that now. If I stayed over now, it’d be improper relations, right?”
“…………”
“I know… I won’t be selfish. Just a little longer, just a tiny bit longer, can I stay beside you? For me, being beside Saeki is the most peaceful place in the world.”
A smile like a snowflake—beautiful and fragile, like it would melt away if touched.
I understand deep in my soul that she truly, genuinely, from the bottom of her heart, doesn’t want to leave me.
Amagi-san looks beautiful when she makes this face.
I find myself mesmerized.
—But strangely, I can’t bring myself to like it.
Even though I shouldn’t, even though it’s wrong, my mind searches for a solution.
A way for her to stay with me… a way to see the smile I want to see.
“…Ah.”
The hand I desperately stretched out in the darkness felt awkward and ridiculous, even to myself… but I grasped onto a plausible excuse.
“What’s wrong, Saeki?”
“Um… My family also puts out a kotatsu when winter comes, you know? Kotatsu are so comfortable, right? So every day, at least one person ends up falling asleep in it, and they’re usually left there until morning.”
“…Huh? Sorry, what are you talking about?”
“No, I mean… since Amagi-san set up a kotatsu in my room, I was wondering if that kind of thing happens at my place too…”
She seemed to grasp what I was trying to say.
Amagi-san’s eyes widened suddenly, and the tension drained from her lips like a snapped string.
“Well, if someone falls asleep, it feels wrong to wake them… But if they catch a cold, that’d be worse, so I guess we’d reluctantly bring out the guest futon. So… um… yes…!”
“…You’re basically saying I should stay over, but is that okay? I know it’s weird for me to say this, but that’s a pretty weak excuse, right?”
“It’d be bad if my family didn’t allow falling asleep at the kotatsu, but luckily they don’t mind at all… so, y-yes, it’s fine. It should hold up…!”
“My family and you are different, aren’t we?”
“We’re supposed to be married now, so it’s safe, right…?”
“That’s such a stretch~!”
Amagi burst out laughing, took a breath, then collapsed face-first onto the table.
“Well then… I guess I’ll just… fall asleep?”
“G-Go ahead…”
She turned her eyes to me and gave a weak smile.
Like a snow-viewing daifuku left out in the summer sun, it was sweet and melting… The smile I wanted to see was right there.
“Cute…”
I murmured, and a few seconds later.
Realizing I’d said it out loud instead of just thinking it, I gasped and covered my mouth.
I messed up, so embarrassing… but.
Amagi-san smiled even more happily and wiggled the hands we were holding. Even that gesture was cute, it was really unfair.
“Say ‘cute’ again?”
“Eh…”
“Am I not cute?”
“You… you are cute.”
“More than anyone else?”
“…Yes.”
“Hehe, I see~~~♡”
Saying that, she let go of our joined hands and ruffled my hair. Roughly, like she was playfully wrestling with a dog, looking delighted.
“Pet me too!”
“Y-yeah, yeah.”
“Mmph-♡ Feels so good-♡”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
“While you’re petting me, I want you to say I’m cute-♡”
“Cute… You’re… incredibly cute…!”
“Hehehehe♡ So happy-♡”
She gazed at me fondly as I flushed, then stroked my head again.
Then she touched my cheek, gently pinched it to feel its texture, and this time wrapped her hand around it tenderly, as if comforting me.
Our gazes locked, our breaths mingled.
My awareness became so focused on Amagi-san that I couldn’t even hear the TV anymore.
Even the sound of her hair spilling over her shoulders.
Right now, I didn’t want to miss a single thing.
“…………I want to… kiss you.”
She murmured softly, unexpectedly.
Her eyes held a languid glow, her face flushed faintly.
“My ‘I like you’ gauge is maxed out right now, it’s dangerous! I really, really want to kiss you! Hey, let’s do it, let’s kiss!? We’re married, so kissing is normal, right?!”
“Of course it’s not okay!! That’s definitely inappropriate dating behavior!!”
“Nah, no way! I’m kissing you!! If you don’t kiss me, I’ll explode!!”
“There’s no way I’m doing that—wait, Amagi-san!? D-don’t bring your face closer…!”
“Just the tip!! Just the tip is fine!!”
“I said that’s not okay!! Ah, h-hey, waaahh~~!!”
Amagi grabbed my face firmly with both hands and forced herself closer. My futile resistance was crushed as she pinned me down, and I let out a pathetic cry.
Looking down at me, she smiled.
Her lips curved into a wicked, feverish, and seductive grin, her white teeth gleaming.
“So, what if it wasn’t lips?”
“If it wasn’t… lips?”
“How about your forehead?”
“…Huh? Um…”
“Between your forehead and lips, which one’s safe?”
“…The forehead, I guess?”
“Then, do it?”
“Me…!?
“You don’t want to?”
“It’s not that…”
“I want you to do it. I want Saeki to give me a kiss.”
“…………”
“I want Saeki to do it. I only want Saeki to do it. I don’t want anyone else, I want Saeki. Because I like you, I really like you… Hey, is that okay?”
Her slightly pouty expression was exceptionally cute, and before I knew it, I was nodding my head.
Amagi-san giggled softly, “Yay♡,” then drew her face closer, lowering her eyelids. Her moist breath, heavy with expectation, brushed against me, dampening my face ever so slightly.
A forehead kiss probably wouldn’t count as improper relations…
I convinced myself internally, steeled my resolve, and placed my hand on the back of her head.
Feeling the soft texture of her hair, I pulled her forehead slightly closer to my mouth with a little more force.
――Huff.
For just a fraction of a second, less than a second, I pressed my lips against hers.
Any longer was too embarrassing, too much for me to handle. I turned my face away and closed my eyes.
Just this much made my heart pound like I’d sprinted a hundred meters at full speed.
I remembered doing something similar to Ouran long ago, when she was much smaller than she is now, but this was completely different in every way.
…Even so, Amagi-san was uncharacteristically quiet.
She didn’t fuss about being happy, didn’t demand more. She just lay there, her breathing echoing, right beside me.
Could it be… she thinks I’m disgusting and is disappointed?
It’s entirely possible.
I’m not used to this sort of thing. Maybe there’s some etiquette involved, and I broke it. Or… g-gasp, maybe my breath stinks?
Anxiety swirls and churns behind my eyelids.
In the darkness, her disgusted face appears before me.
Cold sweat breaks out.
I’ll apologize. I’ll ask her later what I did wrong.
“…Hm?”
I opened my eyes and looked at her, but before any apology could form, a question mark appeared.
Because she was bright red.
Amagi-san’s face, like it had been painted with pigment.
“Wh-what’s wrong, Amagi-san?”
“…I’m going to die.”
“Huh?”
Her wide-open eyes were faintly wet with tears, and her vermilion lips opened and closed rapidly, as if fluttering.
When our gazes met, she blinked several times and quietly buried her face in my chest.
“…I’m so happy, I’m gonna die♡ Just from that forehead thing, I’m like, do I like Saeki too much or what… ♡ My heart’s pounding so hard it’s ridiculous…♡”
She mumbled softly against my chest, then glanced up briefly.
The moment our eyes met, she let out a pink-tinged squeal, “Kyaaah♡!” and buried her face again, writhing slightly.
…Good. She didn’t hate it—she was just happy.
Relief washed over me from deep within, and I half-unconsciously placed my hand on her head. I stroked it a few times, savoring the sensation, and finally, the tension eased, the strength draining from the corners of my lips.
“Um, by the way, about that…”
“…What is it?”
“Could you get off me now?”
“…Can’t I just fall asleep here?”
“No.”
“…………”
“Um…”
“Zzz… zzz…”
The most obvious fake sleep imaginable.
I tried shaking her shoulders to move her, but she clung to me like a koala, refusing to let go. …Like this, falling asleep is impossible.
“Haa… Fine, just for a little while then?”
Resigned, I sighed. She lifted her face and looked at me again.
Her eyes shone like she’d found a treasure, and I felt an overwhelming happiness. The reflection of myself in her eyes made me feel incredibly valuable.
The weight on my body. Warmth and discomfort. Security and pressure.
Her heartbeat.
I just felt… intensely happy.
The night deepened.
I forgot to pick her up, like she’d fallen from the sunlight.
Maiban