The Gal Next to Me Is Trying Too Hard to Make Me Fall in Love With Her
“…Want to feel even more butterflies?”
A soft peck.
Her lips landed on my forehead.
“Ahh♡… Salty…♡”
She tasted my forehead again, then my temple, then above my eyelid, one by one.
I knew I should resist, but her face, looking so delighted, was unbearable. I couldn’t make a sound.
“…Saeki, want to do it too?”
“N-no…”
“You kissed my forehead before, right? It’s the same thing. It’s okay, really… okay?”
Her hand on my head, her words reassuring me, somehow made me feel stupidly at ease.
I convinced myself it was okay for me to do it too.
I lightly kissed her forehead.
Checking her expression to see if it bothered her, she said nothing and just stroked my head. That felt so good, so comforting, I pressed my lips to the same spot again.
Salty.
It made me happy that she was the same as me.
“right?”
She said, then bit my earlobe.
A tingling sensation like being stroked by a bird’s feather ran down my spine, and I couldn’t help but let out a sound.
Finding it amusing, Amagi-san purred.
“Next… Saeki.”
Like someone in love with a vampire, she eagerly offered her neck.
Her eyes reflecting me still shone eerily, her slightly visible teeth captivating, and without a moment’s thought, my body was drawn to her.
I kissed the exposed white skin and felt the pulse against my lips.
Thump, thump—
“Hyah…!”
The proof that someone who couldn’t bear to be apart from me was truly here, this miraculous reality, made me unable to hold back any longer. I wrapped my arms around Amagi-san’s back.
A small cry fell from above.
Worried, I looked up. Our gazes met, and we exchanged smiles.
Her fingertips, painted with nail polish, toyed with my bangs.
Then she wiped the sweat from my forehead, slid down my cheek, and confirmed the feel of my lips.
Her thumb slipped in, tracing the surface of my teeth. She played with my mouth, and though it felt good, I couldn’t resist.
“Kiss…I shouldn’t, right? I know, it’s okay…”
She stopped playing with me and brought that thumb to her mouth.
She let her lips touch mine with a soft peck, flashed a teasing smile, and let out a hot, thick breath.
“…Hehe♡ Maybe I can taste Saeki’s flavor♡”
“Wh-what does it taste like?”
“Hmm… like my favorite flavor?”
“That’s not really an explanation.”
“Well, I don’t know how else to say it.”
“…Is that so?”
“Do you like my taste, Saeki?”
“W-well, if you ask me if I like it… I don’t know…”
“Then, do you want to know?”
“Huh?”
“Don’t you want to know? Not interested?”
“…………”
“Saeki?”
“I, I am interested…”
“Interested?”
“…Y-yes, I am…”
“Hehehe♡”
She laughed mischievously, ruffled my hair, and kissed my forehead again.
Our gazes met.
Our breaths mingled.
We savored the silence.
Surely, right now, this place is quieter than anywhere else in the world, and my heart is louder than anything else in the world.
Even so, these eardrums didn’t miss a single one of her movements, and I immediately noticed the motion of her fingertips.
“Lips… are off-limits, right?”
The bath towel covering her body. She’d folded the edges inward to keep it from slipping, yet somehow, she freed the inside.
I knew immediately what she intended to do.
But I couldn’t move.
I didn’t want to move.
Her eyes reflected only me. Blinking repeatedly, pat-pat.
Holding the towel’s edge with both hands, I entrusted everything to her fingertips. Hesitantly, yet surely, she slowly opened it,
“You can eat now♡”
I let go with a snap.
The sweat-soaked, heavy bath towel fell to the floor with a thud.
I thought, strangely calmly, how beautiful it was.
Immediately, a desire like molten lava surged forward, sweeping away my rationality, my intellect, my meager barricades. It tore through them effortlessly, like wet shoji paper.
I want her.
Right now, only that thought dominates my mind.
“Saeki… your eyes… they’re scary…?”
“…!”
“But I love those eyes too… ♡”
I reach out my hand.
Nothing else matters anymore.
She said I could eat her, so I have to eat her.
I have to.
—No, I want to.
I want Amagi-san to be mine alone.
“…Ah, that…”
“…Saeki?”
“My hands… u, can’t… move…”
“Saeki!?”
The hand I thought I’d extended hadn’t moved a single micrometer.
No matter how hard I tried, nothing worked.
Worse still, my vision warped and my consciousness began to blur.
…Ah, this is bad.
I’d been so focused on Amagi-san that I’d completely forgotten I was inside a sauna.
◆
“Saeki!! Hey, wake up!! Saeki!!”
I’d completely blown it.
How long had I been in the sauna… I didn’t know, but it was definitely ten or twenty minutes. It was way past the safe time for a beginner like me.
“Quick… I have to get him out…!”
It wouldn’t help if I escaped alone.
I jumped off his body, grabbed his arm as hard as I could, and pulled.
But I couldn’t muster any strength. He didn’t budge an inch.
To make matters worse, when I came to my senses, I’d collapsed to my knees, staring at the ceiling.
This is bad. Really bad. Terrible.
Even with my foggy head, I understood how critical the situation was.
I had to save Saeki. At least him. I had to get him out, no matter what—I reached out, but my hand felt like it couldn’t reach him.
“…!”
The one who grabbed my desperately outstretched hand was none other than Saeki himself.
His large body swayed as he stood up.
His eyes were unfocused, clearly half-conscious. But he gripped my hand tightly, scooped me up with incredible force, tucked me under his arm, and bolted out of the sauna.
“Haaah! Haaah! Haa… Ah, thanks, Saeki…!”
He slowly set me down on the floor. Breathless, I looked up at him.
No reply. He just stared off in some random direction, swaying unsteadily to the right, then to the left.
“Sa-Saeki~~!!”
Plop. He fell into the cold plunge pool.
Maiban