The Former Swordmaster Who Pretends to Be the Worst, and the School’s Top-Ranked Chairman’s Daughter Who’s Way Too Sweet in Public, It’s a Real Problem
“I… I’m home…?”
“W-welcome back! Are you okay, Saito-kun!?”
“I’m fine. Though they did tell me to rest.”
When I returned to the Agatsuma residence, even though it was late at night, Rika came running out to meet me. It seems she understands that something she created has been eating away at my body.
However, it seemed her belief that there was nothing wrong with her best home-cooked meals hadn’t changed—
“Wait here! I’m going to make some gentle rice porridge for you!”
“Huh!? No, wait a minute!? Nishimiya sensei told me to fast!!”
—She hurried to the kitchen and started preparing the ingredients.
Why was she trying to use chicken breast in the porridge? And from the looks of it, it’s raw. I felt a chill run through my whole body, so I instinctively shouted that and grabbed Rika’s shoulder to stop her.
At that, my childhood friend looked dejected and began putting the ingredients she’d taken out back away.
In the midst of that, she said, as if suddenly remembering something.
“…Wait, that reminds me. Why is Nishimiya sensei at the facility?”
“Apparently, he’s a faculty member and researcher.”
“Huh, I didn’t know that either!”
At those words, I tilted my head, but still relayed the information I’d seen and heard.
Rika looked surprised, as if she were hearing it for the first time. Even as the daughter of the chairman and director, she probably didn’t know about personnel matters like that.
Come to think of it, that might be normal.
After all, I don’t know the details of my own parents’ jobs either.
“So, I guess the best thing to do right now is just to lie down and rest?”
“Yeah. That’s why I was thinking of going to bed early today—”
With that in mind, I was about to ask her to show me to my bed.
That’s when it happened.
“U-um! Well, if that’s the case, this might sound a bit weird as a way to make it up to you… Saito-kun, if you don’t mind, um… you know?”
“ —Huh?”
My childhood friend, blushing slightly, made this proposal.
“On this sofa… I’d like to let you rest your head on my lap.”
“L-lap…!?”
At that courageous statement, this time I let out a completely absurd cry.
A lap pillow… does she mean that kind of lap pillow? You know, the one that’s always talked about in romance comedies, the quintessential super-sweet scenario—according to my own research, anyway…!?
“Look, I mean, only if you really don’t mind, Saito-kun!”
“N-no, no, wait… u-uh, that ‘no’ isn’t what you think it means!”
I found myself completely flustered, facing Rika, whose face was bright red all the way up to her ears.
Right in front of me is a big, soft-looking sofa. If I were to rest my head on her lap right here—if I were to have such a dreamlike experience—what would happen to me?
At the very least, if she asked me if I minded—
“I, I don’t mind… yes…”
—I managed to say that in a voice so faint it was almost inaudible.
Rika looked up at me with a startled expression. She pressed her index fingers together shyly and said,
“Oh, okay… hehe, I’m glad.”
She said it in a soft voice, blushing.
Her expression was so endearing that I began to worry whether my decision was truly the right one, or if it might violate some law.
No, I know it doesn’t break any laws.
I understand that rationally, but the problem lies in that healthy sense of morality that’s hard to put into words.
“Well then, shall we go…?”
“…Ah, yeah.”
While I was still agonizing over it, Rika took my hand and started walking.
I let her lead me—she was more proactive than usual—and before I knew it, I was standing in front of the sofa. Then my childhood friend sat down there, looking right at me.
She tilted her head slightly and smiled, patting her thigh through her skirt.
There was a brief silence,
“Hey, come here…?”
Rika whispered in a gentle, sweet voice, as if inviting me.
At that, I had no way to resist.
“Hehehe… there, there.”
“…………”
With a naturalness that felt as if I were melting into her.
I sat down on the sofa and lay back. As I rested the back of my head on her thigh, all the tension drained from my body. Looking up, I saw the face of my childhood friend, her eyes narrowed in a small smile.
A small yet warm hand, like a giant sun, was gently placed on my forehead.
As she slowly stroked my forehead, my consciousness gradually faded away—
“…………Ah.”
—Perhaps because my body was completely exhausted, I soon drifted off to sleep.
◆
“Hehe… Ah, what a truly adorable sleeping face.”
As Saito began to snore, Rika smiled as she watched his expression.
The reliable boy who always protects her is, at this moment, nothing more than a gentle boy his own age. As she gazed at him, a warmth began to glow within Rika’s heart.
This feeling is surely stronger than anyone else’s.
She was certain of that.
“Yeah, I know this is absolute.”
No matter what anyone said, it was something that would never waver.
But she didn’t have the courage to tell him yet.
So the girl said,
“…………I love you, Saito-kun.”
To the sleeping boy who couldn’t answer.
Gently, just for now, she conveyed her feelings…
Maiban