Chapter 1: They are connecting
───● The College-Aged Childhood Friend Formulates a Plan ●○●
The confession plan of Mizuho and mine, despite its twists and turns, was successfully completed.
We didn’t get an immediate “yes” from Masato, but I had kind of expected that, so it wasn’t a huge surprise.
Most of our classes for the year were already over, but today was the final class of the year that Mizuho and I were taking.
“Mornin’~”
“G’mornin’, Koumi!”
When I entered the classroom for the second period, Mizuho was already in her seat, so I sat down next to her. Her trademark twin-tails—black hair with pink inner coloring—made her easy to spot, which was always a big help.
“Koumi~ Have you seen Masato-cchi today?”
“Nope, haven’t seen him~ I don’t think he came to campus today, did he?”
Masato basically never skipped a day of university before. In fact, it was usually us who couldn’t make it, and we’d end up having him teach us the class material.
But it seemed he hadn’t shown up today. Well, I had a pretty good guess as to why.
“Even a man of Masato-dono’s caliber must find it a little awkward to show up after receiving a double confession, I wager…”
“We did tell him that everything can stay exactly as it is for now, but from Masato’s perspective, I guess it’s a bit much…”
Not even a week had passed since the day we confessed.
From Masato’s point of view, he suddenly got confessed to by two girls he’d been hanging out with purely as friends. So I suppose it couldn’t be helped that he was surprised.
B-But he really should have noticed our feelings a little earlier than that!
“I’ll go ahead and message Masato-dono.”
“Yeah, maybe I should shoot him a message too…”
I felt a bit guilty for putting Masato in a tough spot, but I truly believed this was a necessary step.
I just want Masato to… choose us. Or something like that.
“Fear not, Koumi! With the ultimate tag team of you and I, even Masato-dono is sure to accept us!”
“Ahaha… Yeah, you’re right.”
Maybe my anxious expression was showing, because Mizuho gave me a bright smile and a thumbs-up. She was right. Knowing I wasn’t doing this alone gave me just a little bit more courage.
As Mizuho pulled her class materials out of her tote bag and set them on the desk, she brought up what happened that day.
“I really am glad you showed up, Koumi.”
“I’m so sorry about that, honestly…”
“Good grief. It is only because yours truly is an archangel that things worked out. Had I been merely a lesser cherub, I might not have gone to such lengths for you, you know?”
“So you’re an archangel now… And I’ve never even heard of a lesser cherub before…”
There were so many things I wanted to point out, but I decided to limit it to just those two. I gave a wry smile as Mizuho rested her cheek in her hand with a huff.
But she did save me; that much was true. If Mizuho hadn’t pushed me, I might never have been able to confess to Masato that day.
“Nishishi…” Mizuho let out her trademark laugh. She really was so kind. My very best friend in the world.
“Well anyway, a theme park trip with just the two of you must have been a blast, right?”
“That’s… well, it would be a lie to say I didn’t enjoy it.”
Mizuho replied shyly, twirling one of her twin-tails around her finger.
Of course it was. Being on a theme park date with Masato all by yourself had to be incredibly fun.
“But you know, Masato-dono was fretting over you the entire time, Koumi. Makes me jealous! Truly!”
“Eh? R-Really?”
“Halt! Wipe that grin off your face at once. When we were lining up for the attractions, he seemed completely restless. Even without asking, it was painfully obvious he was worried sick about you.”
…I see. Masato really is a softie through and through. Hearing that made me feel a bit bad for Mizuho. She probably couldn’t enjoy herself from the bottom of her heart.
“I’m sorry. I ended up making you worry about me too, didn’t I?”
“Perish the thought! Not at all! Besides~ I confessed to him after we boarded the Ferris wheel, and I made sure to ask him to ‘only think of me’ while we were up there.”
“Eh?! What’s with that! I-Isn’t that a little too bold?!”
“Hehehe… Love is a battlefield, my dear lady…”
That was the first I’d heard of it. Well, today was the first time I’d seen Mizuho since the day of the confession, so it was only natural that I didn’t know.
“Even Masato-dono was flustered beyond belief. He was quite adorable, I assure you.”
“So lucky…!”
A confession on a Ferris wheel… huh. That must have been incredibly romantic. The Ferris wheel at that theme park was famous for its gorgeous night view, after all.
Mizuho had a dreamy look on her face, likely remembering exactly what happened.
But thinking about it, if you’re going to confess on a Ferris wheel, you’d definitely want to do it right as it reaches the very top…
“Did you confess when it was near the very top?”
“Yep! I figured it’d be much more romantic that way~”
“I’m so jealous… But wait, what did you do for the rest of the ride?”
“…Ah~… Well, you see…”
I only asked because I was curious, but suddenly Mizuho started stuttering and dodging the question.
Did I ask something weird? Since I knew she hadn’t gotten an answer to her confession yet, I genuinely just wondered how they spent the time until they got off.
“W-Well, how should I put this… You could say we were, ah, getting a bit intimate…”
“I-Intimate?!”
“W-We didn’t go all the way, okay?!”
“I’d be shocked if you did go all the way!”
I must have accidentally raised my voice, because Mizuho quickly shushed me with a finger to her lips.
True, it’d be terrible if anyone overheard this conversation. Lowering my voice, I asked again.
“W-What exactly did you do?”
“Um, well, you know… k-kissing, and such.”
Mizuho replied, hiding her face behind one of her twin-tails. Wait a second, how long does one rotation on a Ferris wheel take again? Usually around 15 minutes, right…? And from the top to the bottom, that’s about 8 minutes…? You spent 8 whole minutes making out?!
“S-Specifically…”
“Y-You desire even more specific details?!”
B-Because I… I mean, sure, I got to kiss Masato too, but it was just for a split second. Of course, I was insanely happy and it felt like pure bliss, but… could Mizuho have possibly…
“T-The grown-up kind…?”
“…Yeah…”
This time, the embarrassment was too much for Mizuho, and she collapsed face-first onto her desk.
N-No way…
I was dealing with a massive shock of my own. So when I kissed Masato, he had already shared a passionate, heavy kiss with Mizuho?! N-No way…
“…I’ve made up my mind.”
“Eh?”
Since things had come to this, there was only one thing left for me to do.
“I’m taking him all the way…”
“Koumi-chan, thine eyes hold a dangerous glint that a maiden’s absolutely should not!!”
Ah, no, no, no. Let’s regain some composure.
“B-But look. It’s gentle Masato we’re talking about… So, um, if I just create a fait accompli…”
“That line of thought is quite terrifying, you know?!”
“Y-You only sound so laid-back because you already got to have a good time!”
“N-Nay, that isn’t true, but…”
Even as she said that, Mizuho’s cheeks loosened a bit, probably remembering what happened. So lucky~! I-I want to, too…
“H-How do you think I can, um, do it with Masato?”
“E-Ehhh~”
I had to formulate a plan right here and now. The Grand Masato Encirclement Operation.
Mizuho frantically looked around again to make sure no one was listening in. It definitely would be bad if anyone caught us having such a shameless conversation.
“I-Inviting him to a hotel or something might be a bit too high-level for us.”
“Y-Yeah… Plus, I’ve never even been to one…”
When Mizuho went on her drive date, I’d irresponsibly told her, “Just take him to one!” but if I had to invite him myself, I could never do it. I’d absolutely start speaking in broken gibberish.
“Masato-dono lives alone, so perhaps visiting his abode…?”
“That feels like our ulterior motives would be way too obvious…”
“It can’t be helped! That’s exactly what it is!”
“Pray, do not say it so openly!”
Even if it ripped my mouth open, there was no way I could claim I had no ulterior motives while talking about something like this!
“Well, both you and Masato-dono reside alone, so I believe a house visit is the safest bet…”
“Oh, right, I could just invite him to my place…”
It seemed obvious if I thought about it, but it was surprisingly a blind spot. Yeah, inviting him to my house might actually work.
After all, now that he knew he was the boy I liked way back then, there were a lot of things I wanted to show him. Like the softball glove I used back in those days.
I also wanted to show him my photo albums to prove I’d kept playing softball even after we stopped seeing each other…
I could genuinely say that without any ulterior motives whatsoever. In that case, it might be pretty easy to invite him over!
“Alright, maybe I’ll try inviting him to my place…”
“Ehh~ I’m so jealous~”
“There, there, you can invite him over after I do.”
“Assuming everything goes perfectly for you, wouldn’t my inviting him straight after be far too transparent?”
That’s… a fair point.
While we were bantering, a notification popped up on my phone.
“It’s from Masato.”
“Oh, indeed it is.”
A message had arrived in the group chat between Mizuho, Masato, and me.
Masato: Sorry, I completely overslept. (Sweat)
“That’s rare.”
“Yeah, it really is.”
Masato wasn’t the type to oversleep, so maybe part of it really was that he found it too awkward to show up?
Just as I was sinking into that sad thought, another notification popped up.
Masato: I’ll just head straight to my part-time job today! I’d appreciate it if you could share the class notes with me later.
Ah, right. Today was Friday. The day Masato worked his shift at the bar.
“Hmm, hmm… Oh right, today is the bar event!”
“An event?”
“If memory serves, they are hosting a Christmas event today!”
“Ehh~ Sounds so fun~”
A Christmas event. I couldn’t really picture what that entailed, but it sounded fun.
If I missed today, I might not get to see Masato again before the year ended. Just thinking about it made me feel incredibly lonely.
As I was busy feeling envious, Mizuho stared at me with a blank expression.
And the words that came out of her mouth were something I never would have thought of myself.
“Why don’t you simply come with me, Koumi?”
“Eh?”
It was a suggestion that hadn’t even crossed my mind until this very moment.
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