Mizuha’s sleeping face is something I could look at forever without getting tired of it.
I woke up with the morning sun streaming in through the window.
In the past, I would have been late for sure without an alarm clock, and while I was hospitalized, the nurses would wake me up for blood tests and checkups.
But after eleven years since reincarnating in this world, my body has become accustomed to waking up with just the sunrise and the chirping of birds.
However, Mizuha, who should have a longer history in this other world than I do, is still breathing quietly in her sleep. I guess this is the privilege of the one who wakes up first. I don’t hold back and gaze at her defenseless figure.
Her appearance is different from before.
Mizuha was much thinner, and her body was childish for a sixteen-year-old. But Mizuha, in contrast, is voluptuous in all the right places, like her chest and hips. Yet, her waist is slender. She has the look of a stylish older woman, but her face is exactly like Mizuha’s when we were in Japan.
In short, this is probably how Mizuha wanted to look as an adult.
I haven’t become an adult; instead, I’ve regressed from fourteen to eleven years old. If an old man became a child, he might rejoice at the chance to redo his life. But when a child becomes even more of a child, I don’t see any advantage at all.
Well, I can endure everything else as trivial since my consciousness didn’t disappear, and I was able to reunite with Mizuha like this.
I can, but still.
It’s still frustrating that I’m a child while she’s a full-fledged adult.
“Let’s play a prank.”
I poke Mizuha’s cheek with my fingertip, squishing it.
It’s soft. It dents like a marshmallow.
“Mmm, mmm…”
A small voice escapes her lips.
I thought she might wake up, but then.
Mizuha took my finger in her mouth and gently nibbled on it, like a baby sucking on a nipple.
“Akito-kuuun… fnyuu…”
“This girl… her body’s an adult, but her expressions haven’t changed a bit from the old days…”
I muttered in amazement. But soon, my amazement turned into gratitude.
Mizuha has been fighting as the Saintess for a hundred years. Yet, she’s lying next to me as the Mizuha I know.
Many miracles have happened to me, but this seems like the greatest miracle of them all.
“Munya munya… Ah, it’s Akito-kun… When I wake up, Akito-kun is here… Ehehe, life is wonderful. I’m glad I’m alive.”
“Good morning, Mizuha.”
“Good morning, Akito-kun. I can hear the birds chirping… and we’re both in bed… Uhehe, it’s a morning cuddle, isn’t it?”
“Mizuha. Do you even know what that means?”
“Do you know what it means, Akito-kun? Akito-kun, you’re still a child, so you’re just pretending to know, aren’t you?”
Mizuha grinned, a teasing smile on her face.
Annoying. I have to retaliate.
With that in mind, I moved my face closer to Mizuha’s, driven by impulse. Our lips touched, barely, if at all. No, they did touch. But it was truly just a graze. The time was less than half a second.
But it was definitely a touch. A kiss. I did it.
“That’s what it’s called. No, it’s when you do something even more amazing. You spend the night in bed together. And then you wake up to the sound of birds. That’s what they call a morning cuddle, right?”
I tried my best to speak in my usual tone.
Of course, I’m embarrassed too.
I lived to be fourteen in my previous life, and I’m eleven in this life. If you ask if my mental age is equivalent to twenty-five, I would definitely say no.
No matter how many times I repeat my childhood, I’ll just become a seasoned child. I don’t feel like I’ve become an adult at all.
That’s why kissing someone you like is a big deal, it takes courage, and it’s hard to hide the fact that my voice is about to crack.
But the one who was kissed was a hundred times more flustered than I was, and she didn’t seem to have any room to notice my agitation.
“H-! ~~~!? T-T-T!? ??? L-lips, touched, eh, eeh!? A kiss? That just now, eh, a kiss!? But, that kind of thing, in reality, is that even possible!? This isn’t a rom-com!”
Mizuha fell off the bed while letting out a strange, scream-like shriek.
“The way she’s flustered is weird…”
“But! But, but! It’s too, too lewd! Why, Akito-kun, even though you’re younger, you’re so calm about it…!”
“…Mizuha, you don’t want to do this kind of thing with me?”
Mizuha’s agitation was so intense that I started to feel like I was being rejected. My voice naturally became darker.
“It’s not that I don’t want to! It’s that I do want to! But, it’s a little too early for us! Shouldn’t we take more time before doing that kind of thing!”
“How much more time?”
“Hya… About a hundred years…?”
As expected of the Saintess who has been fighting for a hundred years. Her sense of time is different from ordinary people.
Well, it’s fine.
In short, Mizuha isn’t rejecting me; she’s just embarrassed. If that’s the case, then it’s fine.
I’m embarrassed too.
I did it on impulse, but I agree that we should take things step by step.
Although, a hundred years is too long.