A Romantic Comedy that started with an overcrowded train. If only it hadn’t...

Chapter 30: The research on ‘I love you’

[Hiroto POV]

~Phew!

“Now that’s ok, I suppose.”

In front of me, in one of the meeting rooms which is less frequently used lately, I covered both of them in a single blanket.

Obviously I didn’t drag them just like that. I mean, they were damp all around with … sdon’t make me say it.

So what did I do?

Did I touch her jigglypuffs?

You bet I did!

Muahahaha!!!

……….

I didn’t touch it.

My survival instincts kicked in

And the image of Sara…

Well, basically I used the hands of Nagi to clean The manager-in-chief. So maybe I am still in the safe spot.

And well, since I didn’t want to touch a man’s manhood. I had to used Manager-in-chief, Sena-sama’s hands to clean it.

Well, I know I am blessed with brains.

…….

…..

I wonder if holding the hands of the opposite gender without their permission, and letting them touch a man’s manhood can get you arrested…

After keeping some change of clothes next to those fellow idiots. And a note inside the clothes of manager-in-chief’s clothes, I left the place.

The time was around 3 a.m. and it seems today was the last day for the submission of the project.

And according to the briefing, a lot is yet to be done. The project deadline seems to be today itself as per working hours, but given tomorrow is a Sunday and a Holiday – it is likely that we are going to work from home and not get paid for the work since according to official notice, we are in a holiday.

So even if I or anyone else is required to work tomorrow, there is no rules that specify that we have to work tomorrow.

17 hours later—

“Thank you for your hard work. There is only some work left, so I would implore you to work a bit in your holiday tomorrow.”

“Booo! I am already too much exhausted!”

“Now, now Hiroto, don’t say it like that. We will be compensated for tomorrow’s work.”

“Sara, tomorrow’s one won’t be considered as an official work; since tomorrow is officially a holiday, and we can’t show that we worked in a non-working day. Right Manager-in-chief?”

“Yeah.”

“So, basically, even if we work tomorrow, we won’t be paid for it. Right manager-in-chief?”

“True.”

“Wow, Hiroto is so knowledgeable. Then I won’t work as well. After all, it’s not compulsory and we won’t be reprimanded for it~.”

“Well, as for me… I feel a little bit bad about Sena, and Director, so, maybe I will accompany them in completing the work.”

All eyes focused on Nagi.

“Nagi… I knew I can believe in you.”

As I thought. Maybe there is something between Nagi and Manager-in-chief?

“As for the others~ Well, surely you won’t be reprimanded. But, I wonder if you can go through anything other than being reprimanded~ fufufufu…”

“….what does that mean. We are against violence, I will tell you that!”

“Ah~ nope, nope. I mean. I made sure to keep cctv cameras installed in the hallways. I wonder if you understand the meaning of that already Hiroto~”

“Yosh~ suddenly I am getting all so very throttled up! This power, I think I can do some unpaid work for the future of the company! Glory to the company!”

“… why does this look a bit fishy, what did you do Hiroto? *Glare.”

“As for Sara. I made sure to keep a spy camera stuck to the wall parallel to Hiroto. I wonder if it caught something as well~”

*Gokuri

“Sara?”

“Aaaaahh, I remember I have nothing to do in Sunday as well. Might as well work for the project. Since we will get a good value in our repertoire and work-life profile.”

“I’m glad you both are so devoted to the company. I have tears in my eyes *sob.”

“*Jii” “*Jii”

“What? Do you have anything to say about my tears? Say aloud!”

““No, Nothing at all!””

“Good. Well then… get good sleep tonight — you all can get a taxi home, the company can do at least this much for passionate individuals.”

“““Yay!”””

“Also, Hiroto, come to my office for sometime after this. Sara, please excuse Hiroto to me for sometime.”

“You are not eyeing for Hiroto right, Sena-senpai?”

“My eyes are not that bad yet Sara. Don’t worry.”

“Hmmm~ Okay then. Hiroto, I will be going on ahead. Make sure to call — wait, I have a better idea. I am coming over your place tonight~”

“(… I wonder if I will be sucked out of my energy tonight.)”

“Nn? Did you say something Hiroto?”

“I was wondering if we have enough items for dinner. So, can I ask you to buy some in the way. There is a 24hr shop selling veggies near my area, or can even get bentos from 7/11, it’s a little bit more of a walk though.”

“O~kay~.”

Phew~ that was close.

“Hiroto!”

“Yes manager-in-chief!”

“Come to my office after you’ve assembled your bag!”

“Yes…”

I am pretty sure it is about the note and the naked thingy and the cctv thingy… I am pretty sure it is about the note and the naked thingy and the cctv thingy… I am pretty sure it is about the note and the naked thingy and the cctv thingy… I am pretty sure it is about the note and the naked thingy and the cctv thingy…

…………………………………

Inside Manager-in-chief, Sena’s office room.

What should I do… What should I do… What should I do… What should I do… What should I do… What should I do…

“So, Hiroto —”

“—HYES!”

“Now, now, don’t be too tensed. Here, take some tea.”

“Ah, thank you.”

“So, how much did you see?”

“Bufo—!”

“Are you alright~? Please have some tissue. Here.”

“Yes, thank you.”

“Please, drink comfortably.”

“Yes.”

*sip…

“Did you do something while I was unconscious?”

“NFOOO.. *cough *cough.”

“Ahhh. I told you to take care. See, now you have made this table dirty as well.”

“… sorry.”

“For what?”

“Manager-in-chief. Trust me on this, I have not done anything to you.”

“*Glare; Well, I know you didn’t. But you were about to, weren’t you?”

“*Giku… I think I did a good job controlling myself there.”

“Well, you had to control. Else I don’t know what would have happened.”

“Ahahaha, I know right! I mean, I could go get arr—”

“—No, you are not getting it Hiroto. I am saying, I don’t know what could have happened to your body~.”

I COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED?!

SOMEONE SAVE ME FROM THIS HELL!

“Well, keeping that aside.”

Is this really something to keep that aside?

*fidget *fidget

Nn? Why are you fidgeting.

“Umm, considering you and Sara had been in a relationship for such a long time, and how I have some dirt on you now, can I ask for some advice.”

…

Oh, so that means I have no choice but to help right! Goddamnit!

“You are not allowed to say no.”

Obviously I understand that for God’s sake!

“I will try to answer till the best of my ability.”

“That smug face feels creepy, so shut that.”

“Ugh. Sorry.”

“Nope, sorry from my part as well. That … came out a bit instinctly.”

Just how much do you hate me!

“I wonder what Sara found good in you?”

Are you asking me that or are you giving your impressions on me goddamnit!

For real, this woman. If only I had the —

“—I feel like you are thinking something bad about me.”

“—Nah, I was just wondering what you will ask from me. My guess would be the relationship between Hiroto and you? But Hiroto told me that you both are not in a relationship yet.”

“Catch your tongue there company servant. It’s Nagi, not Hiroto.”

“*Shivers, …apologies.”

“Haah, really what did Sara find good in you…”

First you slander me, then become an esper, next you act like getting fooled but instead corner me even more, and then you go on to again slander me.

*fidget *fidget

AND NOW YOU ARE BACK TO FIDGETING!

“The thing is, Hiroto~ … It’s not like I hate Nagi or anything. But, I just can’t get myself to say the three words of love to him. Also, I think, something in me goes into void when I imagine saying that. What should I do?”

I have no idea what she is talking about. Is this some sort of a riddle?

“Have you not gone through something like this? Like, when you say I love you to Sara — then, your love for Sara goes down a little… Ahhh, it’s so embarrassing when I say it aloud. *cups her cheeks.”

That is cute, but not at all cute coming from a girl who has the authority to make people go jobless…

Also, what is this person talking about.

But then, come to think of it…

“Yeah. I do feel that sometimes. Even during ecchi, I feel like a void in me when I say I love you Sara.”

“Iyaa… you pervert! When did I ask you about your ecchi and all!”

YOU WERE LITERALLY SAYING I LOVE YOU THROUGHOUT YOUR ECCHI THOUGH!!

*sighs

Somehow, I am getting exhausted as I go on with this.

“Ahahaha… About that actually, I think I read a document regarding this. A research on the effects of I love you—-.”

I feel like my brain is about to burst. Hold a little bit more, my neurons!

“— So in that research, they to 80 couples and test their physical reactions over a course of time. Looking at the dips and rise various things and actions cause when the couples experience it. They used words like ‘I love you’, ‘I wanna have ecchi with you,’ ‘I want you to mess me up,’ ‘you look so beautiful today,’ and such things. It was a long project which lasted about 3 months if I read it correctly, and during that time, they couples were subjected to these things for a period which ranged from a week to about 4 days depending on the result and progression—.”

“Fuu~uun.”

I wonder what she understood. Did she understood that about 5 billions years later Andromeda and Milky way galaxy will clash each other. We are talking about galaxies right?

“—and there they found that, what effect ‘I love you’ has on the partner and the person speaking it.”

“OooH”

“It seems that love of a person when it comes to a height surpassing a – what they call a tipping point – the person find it hard to keep the emotions within and says I love you.”

“That is normal, everyone knows about that. What else did they understood?”

“Yes, it also seems that once they say ‘I love you,’ the love of those individuals start to decline suddenly. This is especially seen in case of boys.”

“W—what do I do Hiroto-kun, I — I don’t want to start hating Nagi… W—what should I do? I — No, I can’t even imagine. What should I do?”

“Relax manager-in-chief, if you still feel like that, then it’s not late at all you know? Also, looking at your teary eyes, I can confirm how much you feel for Nagi (though I don’t know for the case of Nagi). I am sure your love will go even higher than before.”

“But the research!”

What research! What the heck are you even talking about!

“Actually, in that research, there is a continuation about girls. That is, in terms of girls, they try not to let the emotion of love go down. Some employ tsundere attitudes while some go cold. Some even resort to going out with other partners to re-evaluate their love for their present partner based on the reactions — this is done to see how if their male partners are still in love with them, kind of a re-assuring mechanism. And when they get reassured, they fall in a love even greater than before it seems. Well, those girls who took the option of trying to make their men jealous by going around with other men or attracting them – didn’t end well it seems.”

I wonder if such a fine galaxy of research truly exist. Although, manager-in-chief looks a lot into this though.

“And… what is the reaction in term of men?”

“It’s a bit more concerning in terms of men. So much so that they advised in their research to never say ‘I love you’ when they are in the peak of their love.”

“That much!?”

“Yeah, it seems that, in terms of men. That ‘I love you’ is also a sign saying ‘I loved you’. It also coincides with the male psychology that suggest that he should find and indulge with every possible mating partners as possible.”

“Uwaaa, so men are scums.”

“In the research that told this about men, they also said that women have a tendency to get the babies of a man in a greater hierarchical or genetically superior position, and then bringing that baby up with their married partner, keeping completely quiet about that. This is called the cuckoo syndrome.”

“… Women are not like that.”

Even men are not like that then.

“Coming back, —”

“—wait. So, does that mean, if Nagi says ‘I love you’ to me, there is a high chance that his love will start decreasing?”

“It’s more like, his love might already started falling.”

“Wha!?”

“According to the research, a man says, ‘I love you’ when they are already in their declining stage of their love. That is why a man’s ‘I love you’ in more like ‘I loved you’”

“Wait—wait—wait!!! Then what should I do about it! Nagi has… no, it’s only in …Hmm… Say Hiroto?”

“What is it?”

“If a man says ‘I love you’ when he is drunk silly. Does that also hold the same value as the ‘I love you’ he says when he is normal?”

What is this person even talking about…. What did you do to Nagi…

“I haven’t done anything yet.”

“That yet feels quite imposing.”

“Just answer the question you are asked. Or do you want me to have a hole dug up six feet in length.”

Those threats doesn’t look normal.

“Truthfully speaking, I don’t know—.”

Truthfully speaking, I have no idea about anything I am saying to you ma’am.

“—But probably not? Also, It’s best till the boy or man doesn’t find out how much he loves you. So you can just surprise him continuously, and he will continuously assess his own love for you. Ahh, it also looks like, if you can get the guy embarrassed or just have him think about you all the time — it’s already a win. Also, in a survey I looked, humorous girls are ranked quite high. Same goes for humorous boys.”

Just don’t ask for which survey it is….

“I see, so that’s why Sara has taking a liking to you.”

“Nn? What do you mean?”

“After all, you always feel like an idiot, and that ideocracy ends up making Sara laugh.”

Seriously, this girl can be so rude sometimes.

“Ahaha, maybe.”

“Fuu~uun”

…..

I wonder what is she thinking for so long.

Can I leave already?

*smirk.

Why did you smirk right now! Are you an esper?! You are an esper is it!?

“I thought of a really interesting idea to get Nagi conscious of me forever. — But, —I see, the report is truly interesting, since I also want to test how much he is conscious of me. Really interesting. Maybe I will include my sister into this. No word about this to Nagi, that is well, unless you want some spice in your life.”

“I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT WE HAD EVEN TALKED ABOUT!”

I am not lying though. I felt like the only neuron burst, and I went through a spiritual awakening, looking at those galaxies and universes mingle into existence, and creation of time happen in front of my eyes.

“Good, that is more like a good sla—subordinate.”

You just now were going to say slave! Don’t just re-word it like that! I completely understood that.

“Nah, you are more like a dog than a subordinate now. Right~ my pooch~. Bark right now, or else—.”

“Awuuh!”

Goddamnit! It’s worse than a slave now!

Uegh…

“What? do you have anything to say?”

“Nope… nothing.”

“Then go already. Get a taxi and leave.”

“YES!!!” *leaves

Phew that was a close call. I thought I was going to die.

Let’s visit the temple on top of the mountain tomorrow. I might even visit the Buddha as well.