The Gal Next to Me Is Trying Too Hard to Make Me Fall in Love With Her
After dinner, Amagi-san took me to the planetarium.
We enjoyed the special Christmas show, then walked along the night streets saying things like, “That was amazing!”
“It’s getting pretty late, but where are we going next?”
It was past nine in the evening.
It was about time to head home, but her feet still wouldn’t turn toward her house.
“Hehehe! Next is a place worthy of capping off this first date!”
“…Just, just to confirm, it’s not some weird place, right?”
“Weird place?”
“So, like… a love hotel, or something…?”
“Huh? Saeki, you want to go to a place like that with me? You little pervert♡”
“No, no, stop making it sound like I suggested it!?”
“Relax. I’ll do anything to make Saeki fall for me, but it can’t be anything that counts as an improper relationship, okay? Got it!”
“Then… where exactly…?”
Amagi-san glanced sideways at me and snorted smugly.
“The sauna!”
“…Huh?”
“The sauna! Don’t you know? It’s a super hot place!”
“I know what a sauna is… but… why?”
“So we can sweat out all the fatigue from this past year! Come back feeling refreshed and clean, then get a good night’s sleep! We’ve got school tomorrow, after all!”
“H-huh…?”
The finale of our first date—a Christmas date, no less—is a sauna.
For Amagi-san, who’s usually all-in on making me fall for her, this choice is utterly baffling.
…Ah, maybe it’s that?
The couple roleplay we did before. Back then, she said she’d make me fall for her by healing me. Maybe this is the same idea.
Or maybe going to a sauna at the end of a date is actually pretty common, and I just didn’t know?
I don’t really get it, but if it’s not some kind of seduction tactic, I guess it’s fine.
A sauna… I haven’t been to one much, so I’m kinda looking forward to it.
“We’re here! This is it!”
“…………”
We stopped in front of a building.
It was undeniably, refreshingly obvious to anyone who saw it—
“Come on, let’s go!”
“…I’m going home.”
“Wh-why!? We came all this way!”
“There’s no ‘whatever’ about it! You know the reason, right!?”
A chic exterior dominated by black.
The sign boldly displayed the three characters: “Rest Area.”
Even someone unfamiliar with saunas like me could tell this wasn’t one.
“This place is clearly a love hotel, isn’t it!? No way, absolutely not!! The moment we step inside together, that’s already improper relations with the opposite sex!!”
“Huh? Then let me ask you this: if it’s raining and we’re both soaked to the bone, and we need to shower and change quickly or we’ll get sick—does going into a love hotel then become improper relations? Doesn’t that sound ridiculous?”
She fired back with a plausible-sounding argument in no time, and I was impressed—this girl really is smart.
…Wait, no, no. But that doesn’t mean it’s okay to just go in like this.
“First off, I followed you because you said we were going to a sauna!? But this is a love hotel, right!?”
“Huh? Did I ever say we weren’t going to a love hotel?”
“You did—… No, you didn’t.”
She did say we were going to a sauna, but she never explicitly said we weren’t going to a love hotel.
She’s sharp, or something… Using that kind of quick thinking for this feels like it might be against some law or other.
“You didn’t say it, but that doesn’t make this okay! I’m leaving! Trying to trick me in here like this is awful!”
“Ah— wait a sec! Look at this, see? This!”
She showed me her phone screen.
Displayed was the homepage of the love hotel right in front of us.
“A completely private space for a special sauna experience with your loved one”… Huh?
There’s a sauna? In a love hotel…?
“See?! I wasn’t lying!”
“Well… I guess…? But mixed bathing is bad! We don’t even have swimsuits!”
“Mixed bathing is common in German saunas, and it’s totally fine for us!”
“This is Japan!!”
“We’ll wrap towels properly and won’t do anything weird, okay? Still no? I booked this ages ago… I was really looking forward to it…”
Amagi-san looked down, her expression drooping.
Her face looked so genuinely disappointed, I couldn’t bear to watch… A pain like being gouged struck my chest. A cold sweat broke out from the overwhelming guilt.
“Besides, didn’t you say you’d go anywhere on a date, Saeki? You call me a liar, but it’s okay for you to lie?”
“Go anywhere…?”
I tilted my head, searching my memory, digging through the roots.
Soon, I found it.
[Dates… I-I understand. If you’re okay waiting until I have a little more money, I’ll go anywhere with you.]
That night, when I gave her a present because I wanted to support Amagi-san.
As we parted, I definitely said that to her. Oh man, I actually said it…
“…R-really? Just the sauna?”
“That’s what I said from the start.”
“If you try anything weird… I’m leaving right then and there, okay?”
“I know that!”
She puffed out her chest proudly.
I couldn’t trust her at all, but since I’d promised to go anywhere with her, I had no choice but to go.
“Well, if that’s how it is…”
She gave a shallow nod, then triumphantly took my hand and started walking.
Maiban