Vol. 1 Chapter 24 – We’re Childhood Friends, Right?

“Alright! Let’s watch the rest! The rest!” (Akari)

Akari, having finally extricated herself from between my legs and moved to sit next to me to watch the phone, clapped her hands as if to change the atmosphere that had settled in the room. …I could tell she was trying hard to meet my eyes, but her focus was clearly off.

“Really, I’m sorry…” (Yuuto)

Seeing my childhood friend looking so obviously different from usual, my guilt intensified.

“No, no! It’s totally fine!? Totally! Yuuto’s like a little brother to me, after all!” (Akari)

She denied it, waving her hands frantically… but her eyes were darting around, and her flustered state would be obvious even to someone who wasn’t her childhood friend, making me feel even more apologetic.

“Come on! Do your usual comeback! Yuuto, you’re older, right~?” (Akari)

She nudged me with her elbow, trying to tease me like she usually did.

“It’s really okay! Here! As much as you like!” (Akari)

She said, her eyes spinning, and then collapsed onto my chest. …Was she telling me to sniff to my heart’s content? I wasn’t so far gone as to obediently start sniffing away there.

Should I reprimand Akari for getting into this weird mood, or should I accept this as her own desperate attempt to break the tension? As I was thinking, time flowed on, and Akari’s head, in my lower field of vision, began to tremble.

“…Sorry, maybe just forget it?” (Akari)

Akari’s face, as she looked up at me and whispered those words, was faintly blushing.

Giving up on watching the video for the time being, I brought some tea from the living room, intending it as a break.

“Oh, thoughtful of you, aren’t we?” (Akari)

“You’re very welcome.” (Yuuto)

Perhaps deliberately taking my time had been effective; she looked no different from the usual Akari.

“Um… sorry about earlier… I was trying to distract myself from the video somehow…” (Yuuto)

“Ah~ I told you, I’m not worried about it anymore!” (Akari)

The fact that she so lightly accepted my apology was, conversely, a relief, and I returned to my usual self.

“When I told Hinata-chan and Nagisa that Yuuto was a scent fetishist, I felt so much better!” (Akari)

She told me with a beaming smile and patted the spot on the sofa where she was sitting.

“Come on! Let’s get back into that position from before, okay? It’s fine! Even if Yuuto is a scent fetishist, I won’t start disliking you or anything, okay? We’re childhood friends, right?” (Akari)

“…You told them?” (Yuuto)

“Yep.” (Akari)

Saying that, she showed me her phone screen, displaying a group chat I didn’t know about, consisting of Murai-san, Akari, and Nagisa.

{Yuuto was a scent fetishist who loved the smell of freshly washed hair.}

That message, clearly marked with two read receipts, was straightforward and the absolute worst.

{Heaven doesn’t grant two gifts. It means that handsome men are properly given flaws too, doesn’t it!} – Hinata

{What shampoo are you using?} – Nagisa

Since there were already firm replies, it was too late to try and delete it now. …Well, if my sin could be forgiven with this much punishment, perhaps it was for the best…

“Hurry up and let’s watch the rest! Yuuto!” (Akari)

Perhaps understanding that this would inflict damage on me and anticipating it, she urged me on with a satisfied smile. I placed my drink on the night table and returned to the previous position once more. Carefully averting my attention from her hair…

From then on, there were no particular problems, and I watched the smartphone together with Akari, listening to her comments like “Amazing!” or “Oh, Yuuto, you look cool~!”

…Also, I didn’t particularly care anymore if the me on screen was spouting embarrassing lines. Compared to the atmosphere earlier, this felt much easier…

{“With this… surely Yuuya-san will…”}
{“Aoi-kun, aren’t you going to stop the camera?”}

Those two voices played, and the video stopped automatically.

“Well then… how was it?” (Yuuto)

“It was good, but… Yuuto, you’re really going to be in the exam, huh?” (Akari)

I moved the smartphone away from my childhood friend, who was murmuring that reflectively, and tossed it lightly onto the bed.

“I’ve been saying that from the start, haven’t I…?” (Yuuto)

“No, I still can’t believe that Yuuto, who used to say he hated his father, would deliberately stand on stage in front of Yuuya-san.” (Akari)

She shifted her posture, resting her head around my stomach area and staring at the ceiling.

“Are you talking about when we were in the second year of middle school?” (Yuuto)

“Yeah, yeah. Back then, Yuuto, you were always saying you hated your father, remember?” (Akari)

Indeed, I felt like I had been saying I hated him all the time back then.

“Well, there was a bit of a rebellious phase, and trying to understand my family situation with a middle schooler’s brain, I thought it was a forbidden topic and didn’t even ask Mom for details, just made up a story in my head. As a result, the only word to describe Dad in that story was ‘hate.'” (Yuuto)

Thinking about it now, maybe I was vaguely resentful that Dad’s eyes, when he played father roles in dramas, never turned to me, and that the loving gaze he gave his on-screen wives, as a man building a warm family, was never directed at Mom. In reality, Mom and Dad had been in contact, and she had apparently been giving him proper reports on his son’s growth.

“I couldn’t ask in detail before, but… are you really going to be okay meeting Yuuya-san on the day of the exam?” (Akari)

My childhood friend, who sat up straight in a formal sitting position and confirmed this with a serious gaze, was a worrier through and through.

“Hmm… Maybe I won’t be okay…” (Yuuto)

“Eh!? W-what are you going to do? Should I take your place? Oh, but it has to be a boy, right…” (Akari)

When I muttered that with a gloomy expression, intending to tease her a little, I got to see my usually easygoing childhood friend flustered in a way rarely seen. I chuckled a little, then placed my hand on Akari’s head.

“Well, I’ll be nervous meeting a father I’ve only ever seen on TV for the first time in my life, but…” (Yuuto)

“But?” (Akari)

Her eyes, looking up at me while she enveloped my placed hand with both of hers, held a question mark.

“You’ll comfort me if something happens, right? Big sis.” (Yuuto)

After a slightly stunned expression, she broke into a wide smile and leaped into my chest.

“Leave it to your big sis!” (Akari)

She jumped with quite a bit of force, so I also lost my balance and leaned my entire weight back onto the sofa. Smiling wryly at her unexpected strength, I gently patted the head of the childhood friend who had dived into my chest.

“Ah, but it’s fine to be dependent, but make sure to contact me a little before you need to be, okay?” (Akari)

“Why?” (Yuuto)

…I hadn’t said I would be dependent, but my childhood friend, wearing a smile that seemed to erase any such rebuttal, met my eyes.

“Because I have to take a bath for Yuuto, don’t I?” (Akari)

“…Thanks.” (Yuuto)

At my grateful childhood friend’s consideration, I accepted the title of “scent fetishist” without any denial…