The Gal Next to Me Is Trying Too Hard to Make Me Fall in Love With Her
I knew you’d say that.
“Hmm? Wait, Mashiro…? You and Amagi-san are just friends, right?”
Mom kept smiling, but her whole face was tinged with suspicion.
No need to panic. I knew this would happen the moment I decided to introduce them to my parents.
“Yeah. But well, as you can see… it’s fine, I haven’t done anything weird.”
“Really? After hearing this from such a cute girl, you swear you really, truly haven’t done anything…?”
“I swear. Right, Amagi-san?”
Calmly, as if nothing were wrong, I handled it matter-of-factly.
If her goal was to send me back home, the quickest way would be to blab everything—like staying over at my place or going to a love hotel together—and put it all up for debate.
But Amagi-san’s goal is to make me fall for her.
Poking me like that would just lower my feelings for her, defeating the whole purpose. She’s smart enough to know that.
“Yes! We didn’t do anything! Really!”
See?
“Ah, um… I have a request!”
She said, glancing sideways at me with a sly grin.
She scurried over to my parents, pulled something out of her bag, and handed it to them. They opened what looked like a notebook, glanced through it for a moment, and their expressions turned solemn.
“Oh dear… What should we do?”
“Huh? Ah, ah… Hmm…”
“We’ll take this for now! If you’re curious, we’d like to talk about it properly later…!”
Just like she’d done to me before, she snatched the notebook and tossed it back into her bag.
Mom looked apolegetic, Dad troubled. Leaving them behind, she returned to me with light steps.
“Sorry for suddenly showing you something weird! But I really, truly like him, Mashiro-kun!”
As she said this, she threw her arms around mine with all her might.
She flashed me a big grin, looking as adorable as ever—so much so I couldn’t find words and ended up looking away, unsure how to react.
“Waaah~~~!! Dear, look! Look! My son’s popular, isn’t he!?”
“…Y-Yeah, I guess…”
“Hey, why are you getting embarrassed too!?”
“Well… I just remembered the past…”
Mumbling something, Dad looked down as usual.
Mom watched us with a face like a happy puppy and chirped brightly, “You guys are living your youth so well!”
“Ah, Shiro-nii! And Amagi-senpai too!”
“Sakuran-chan!? Whoa, long time no see!”
Holding a skewer with fried chicken on it, my younger sister Ouran arrived.
During the New Year’s shrine visit season, many food stalls set up at the shrine. She must have bought it there.
“Huh? Eh… Who is this little girl?”
“She’s my little sister. Her name is Ruri.”
“Little sister!? Saeki, you have another sister besides Ouran-chan!?”
“Besides Ouran, well—
I started to say, “I still have more sisters and brothers,” but stopped.
Ruri, the youngest, still only five years old and clinging to Ouran’s waist, suddenly started wailing loudly, “Waaaaaah!!”
“Whoa, whoa! What’s wrong!? Does your tummy hurt!?”
“Waaah! Waaaaah! My stuffed animal!”
“Stuffed animal? What’s wrong with your stuffed animal?”
“My stuffed animalaaaaaa!!”
“Ah, it’s fine, Amagi-senpai. She just came from the shooting gallery, but she’s upset because she couldn’t win the stuffed animal she wanted.”
“Stuffed animal… Ruri, I… I wanted it sooooo bad!!”
Ruri wailed.
Ouran handled it with practiced ease, while my parents watched with troubled expressions.
For our family, it was just another ordinary moment, but Amagi-san was incredibly flustered.
Whether it’s instinct or something else, a child’s crying just makes you feel strangely restless, doesn’t it? I get it, I get it.
“Alright, Ruri-chan! Let’s go get that stuffed animal again, together!”
“…Huh? Really?”
“Of course! I wanted to try the shooting gallery too!”
She patted her chest emphatically, and a smile bloomed on Ruri’s face.
W-wait, hold on a second.
“Amagi, you really don’t need to worry about it. Going out of your way like that… it costs money too.”
“Huh? But I already said I’d get it… Plus, I want to play with Ruri-chan. Is that okay?”
“It’s not that it’s not okay, um…”
I glanced at my mother, seeking her opinion.
Her mother sighed softly, took a 500-yen coin from her purse, and handed it to Ruri.
“Just one more try, okay? If you don’t win it then, you have to give up, understand?”
“Okay! Thanks, Mom!”
Ruri answered cheerfully, took Amagi-san’s hand, and started walking. Ouran followed behind them.
“Mashiro. Later, ask Amagi-san how much it cost to win that stuffed animal.”
“Huh?”
“That girl seems like the type who’ll go all out for her goals. If 500 yen wasn’t enough, I bet she’d just pay the rest out of her own pocket. We have to make sure she gets that money back.”
“…Uh, yeah. Got it, I’ll ask.”
Mom was a cheerful, energetic woman, but she had surprisingly sharp intuition and a keen eye for people.
Probably from Grandpa’s influence—he’d been a police officer.
“Speaking of which, where are Grandpa and Grandma? And others? Are they out somewhere?”
“They all went to buy lucky bags together. Once Ruri and Ouran come back, we’ll go shopping too. Mashiro, you go home first with Amagi.”
She said this, then narrowed her eyes and smiled mysteriously.
“You and Amagi-san… really nothing going on?”
“N-no way! That ‘no inappropriate relationships’ rule… I’m… I’m following it properly!”
“Really, really? You’re being liked by such a cute girl and you’re doing nothing?”
“I’m not! Really, really, we’re just friends!”
“Hmmm…”
Mom looked like she saw right through everything.
It’s… it’s okay, right? I haven’t done anything yet, right? Even though it’s about me, I started feeling uneasy…
“Whoa…!”
Suddenly, a shock to my head.
Dad’s big hands roughly ruffled my hair.
“Wh-what? What’s wrong…?”
Dad stared straight at me.
His eyes were stern, yet gentle, a little timid, reflecting only me.
“…Take good care of her.”
He murmured in a voice delicate, unlike his imposing frame.
But that voice was strong, heavy, deep.
I understood immediately that he’d told me something very important.
“I know. I’ll take good care of her, no matter what.”
I replied, then fell silent. We just stared at each other.
Suddenly embarrassed, I looked away. Dad blushed too, turning his face off in the opposite direction.
“Father and son, huh… really…”
At Mom’s exasperated voice, Dad and I looked at each other again and shared a small laugh.
Maiban