“I thought I was going to die… No, really,”
Kamijou Yuuto, sitting on his bed in his room a little after eleven, reflected on the last few hours as if they had happened to someone else.
Ichinose Ayano, sitting next to him, also looked utterly exhausted, her shoulders slumped.
After Mikado Kouki’s outburst in the classroom, he was restrained by Akimoto Fuyuki and the others. Yuuto, along with Kouki’s injured brother and Ayano, who was accompanying them, were taken to the hospital and treated.
The wound was wide and bled a lot, but thanks to the blazer, it was just a cut to the skin, and a simple procedure was enough to prevent anything serious. It would take a few weeks to heal completely, and although there would be some scarring, there would be no lasting aftereffects.
By the time the treatment was finished, Yuuto’s Mother and Ayano’s Father had arrived, and after sending the two home, they rushed to the school.
“Looks like things are tough on their end too,”
Yuuto chuckled wryly at the message he had just received from Fuyuki.
The police had arrived at the classroom, and their parents and the Mikado couple had rushed into the faculty room, demanding an explanation from the teachers.
The Mikado couple were yelling, “There’s no way our precious son would commit such violence; the other child must have been the problem,” which infuriated Ayano’s Father, causing a huge uproar.
The Mikado Kouki in question was unresponsive, as if his strings had been cut, and was taken to another hospital.
From now on, Fuyuki and his Older sister would have to explain the situation to the police and the school as parties involved.
“…I’ve caused trouble for everyone,”
A heavy sigh escaped his lips.
He glanced at Ayano next to him, who was still looking down.
Even while Yuuto was being treated at the hospital, her mind seemed to be elsewhere.
“Still, I can’t believe he had a Knife… Thinking about it now, it’s chilling. He was really ready to throw everything away. What a pain,”
He forced a laugh, and Ayano suddenly leaned closer to him.
“It really was. I felt like I wasn’t alive…”
She gripped Yuuto’s arm tightly.
Sobbing, she said, “I was so scared when I thought you were going to die.”
“I’m okay, I’m alive.”
“But you got hurt.”
“It’s nothing.”
“Does it hurt?”
“Just a little, but I’m okay.”
His left arm, wrapped in bandages, hurt when he moved it, but it was no problem to wipe away the tears of his beloved Fiancée.
“It’s over now. We’ll have to explain things to our parents and the school later, but that’ll solve everything.”
Yuuto gave a weak, sloppy smile and said, “After that, all that’s left is to enjoy high school life with my childhood friend who’s my girlfriend and Fiancée, all Lovey-dovey.”
“…What are you talking about?”
Ayano, her tears gone, sighed in exasperation.
Yuuto gave her a meaningful look.
“What? Doesn’t Ayano want that too?”
“Eh? Um… Ah…”
Asked the question, Ayano sighed softly, as if resigned to Yuuto’s gaze.
“I want to be Lovey-dovey with Yuto too…”
Yuuto grinned sloppily at her answer.
“But I haven’t told everyone that I was putting on an act, have I? And in the end, that too…”
“That?”
Ayano looked down at her chest, where he was pointing.
It used to be a generous E-cup, but now it was down to a C-cup.
But her original size should be a B.
“In the end, you’re still padding it, aren’t you?”
“Oh, I just felt a lot of pity.”
Ayano pouted and said, “Yeah, I’m a B! Just a modest B! But if I use a good bra and work hard to gather and lift from all over, I can make a cleavage or two!”
She took off her blazer, untied her ribbon, and opened the collar of her shirt.
“See! Look! It’s your beloved girlfriend’s cleavage! Aren’t you happy!?”
“O-okay…”
Yuuto’s gaze was fixed on the modest cleavage of her white skin, wrapped in light blue underwear.
…After staring for a while, she couldn’t take it anymore and said, “Um… Is it okay if we… stop now?”
“Ah… Yeah, I’m happy.”
“That’s… good to hear.”
Ayano awkwardly rebuttoned her shirt.
She cleared her throat deliberately.
“Well, you know… After padding it that much, the difference is just too extreme if I just wear a bra…”
Ayano muttered to herself, then, seeing Yuuto’s awkward expression, she said desperately, “Well, it’s not like I’m forcing myself to pad it; I’m just ‘working hard to shape it,’ and I have this much potential anyway! …Well, the power of the NuBra I’m using is a big part of it, though.”
“NuBra power is amazing, huh?”
“I’m gathering it with a front hook from the outside, but don’t call it NuBra power. Are you making fun of me?”
She pouted her lips.
“I want you to find me attractive as a woman, even if just a little. Let me do this much…”
“Ayano is attractive enough as she is.”
She was immediately answered to her mutter,
“But, thank you… I’m happy.”
Hearing that and seeing his smile, Ayano felt a warmth deep inside her and averted her gaze.
“Besides, it’s not like putting on an act is that painful. I’m just using the same attitude I use with teachers on everyone else. It’s not like all of that is a lie, and it’s too much trouble to talk to people without a mask now.”
“What about Mizuhara?”
“Kaori is different… But even so, I can’t do it like you.”
Seeing Yuuto’s worried expression, she said, “Because you’re the only one I want to show everything to, the only one I want to know me… the only one I want to love me.”
Ayano’s cheeks flushed red, and she answered in a faint voice.
“Oh… Saying things like that…”
Driven by impulse, Yuuto took her hand and pulled her into an embrace.
“N-no… You can’t be so rough…”
“Sorry, did you not like it?”
“It’s not that I don’t like it, it’s not that at all, but…”
They gazed at each other from a distance where their lips were only a few centimeters apart—
“Ow, that hurts! It really… really…”
Yuuto grimaced in pain and collapsed onto the bed.
“Of course it would affect your wound. It’s not my fault,” she said, thinking he was an idiot, but also feeling affection for him.
“The Older ladies won’t be back right away, right? It’s a little early, but should we eat the Bento Box?”
“If Ayano is going to eat, I’ll eat with you.”
“Then wait for me, I’ll warm it up anyway. And a fork would be easier to eat with, right?”
Yuuto instinctively grabbed her hand with his left hand as she stood up.
He suddenly didn’t want her to leave.
“Ayano…”
“Eh, what—? Why are you using your left hand!? Are you stupid? You’re going to reopen the wound!”
“W-wait a minute… Wait, sit down…”
Thinking to himself that he was an idiot, he sat Ayano down on the bed and opened the drawer of his desk.
Later would be better, later would be better—he thought in his head, but his heart was screaming that he wanted to tell her right now.
“Ah…”
The situation overlapped with the time he had proposed to her the other day.
The tension, elation, and slight fear of that time resurfaced in Ayano’s mind.
But what he held in his hand was a square, palm-sized white box.
And Yuuto knelt before the stunned Ayano.
“W-wait. Let’s wait a moment, okay? I’m not ready. No way, no way.”
“Sorry, I won’t wait.”
Yuuto opened the box with a click.
Inside the box, carefully nestled, was a ring with a small, vibrant green gemstone.
“Peridot. The birthstone for August, and the words it embodies are—”
“‘The love of a married couple.'”
Ayano finished Yuuto’s sentence.
He gave a sheepish, wry smile.
“Well, it’s not real. It’s just some accessory from a chain store that looks like it. Besides, even if I were to give one, it’s usually for a second wedding anniversary. It’s also called the ‘stone of the sun’ or ‘a gemstone that shines in the night’ and is used as a charm, so it might not be suitable for a Marriage Proposal, but—”
Looking straight into her eyes, he said, “The feelings embodied in this stone and my feelings are the same.”
From the bottom of his heart, he said, “Please marry me.”
He confessed once more.
“Ah…”
Tears streamed down Ayano’s cheeks.
Words she had heard once before. Feelings conveyed and accepted.
He had hinted that he would confess again, and she had been told so by him.
She should have known, so why was she so happy?
She thought that her current capacity for love was the limit, but he easily surpassed it.
Waiting for her answer, he looked somewhat anxious.
He really was an idiot.
There was not even one in ten thousand, not even one in a hundred million, chances that Ichinose Ayano would reject Kamijou Yuuto.
But the most important feelings should be conveyed with words.
“Yes, with pleasure!”
She responded, and he gently placed the ring on the slender, white ring finger of her left hand.
They wasted three years of middle school.
At fifteen, being prompted by her confession from another man was pathetic as a guy, but even so, he was able to convey his feelings.
She couldn’t say she was honest with those feelings—but she was able to respond.
They kissed as lovers.
She made him a Bento Box.
He learned about her secrets and struggles.
They became aware that they desired each other as members of the opposite sex.
They had their first proper Date as lovers.
Bad Rumors spread, but they overcame them together.
Their Leverage was seized by the worst kind of man, but upon careful consideration, it turned out to be nothing much.
He believes he has truly connected with his friends as well.
—And now, they are Fiancé(e)s.
The two minors are, literally, still children.
No matter how much 愛 they have, they don’t have enough power to be completely free.
They may worry, quarrel, and come to hate each other over trivial matters.
And, over trivial matters, they will rejoice, support each other, and come to love each other.
As if to make up for the three years of the past, they will walk the next three years.
And they will probably be holding hands thirty years from now as well.
From here, it begins anew.
“I, Ayano—”
“I, Yuto—”
—愛してる.
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Afterword
Thank you very much for reading this far.
Regardless of the completeness of the story and writing, I think it has become a volume equivalent to one book.
I have reached a milestone, but I have more to come, so I will post it again as a series.
If you are curious about what happens next, I would be happy if you would continue to follow me in the future.