#19: The Childhood Friend’s Decision

Ever since I got strong-armed into joining the Literature Club, my daily life has been changing in all sorts of ways.

Especially how I spend after school.

The Literature Club meets on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
On top of that, I’ve got plans with Sakura-san, so on open Tuesdays and Thursdays we go on detour dates. She’s also studying for entrance exams, so for now twice a week seems to be just right for her, which worked out well.

And every night, I study and chat with Megucchi.
By the way, on weekends she stays over at my place and the two of us just lounge around doing nothing.

Speaking of Megucchi, ever since that three-way showdown event, her skinship has gotten even bolder, and she never misses a chance to play the childhood-friend card.

“Megucchi, lately you keep wanting to wear my T-shirts, but after you do, the chest area gets stretched out, you know? Big boobs are trouble, honestly. Good grief.”
“It’s fine. A T-shirt soaked through with the scent of a cute high school girl is, like, super-premium merch.”
“Nah, the entire room already reeks of Megucchi. It’s a ten-year vintage, after all.”
“Duh. Norio, you need to value our years together a little more. People say childhood friends are the losing heroine, but it’s not that trivial, you know?”
“Hmm, true. Megucchi in her school swimsuit is the ultimate loadout.”

Megucchi lay on her side fiddling with her phone as we talked, all the while tangling those tight, plush bare legs around mine.

When it comes to childhood-friend appeal, light novels love to show them coming to wake you every morning, cooking in place of your absent mom, tutoring the protagonist who’s bad at studying—in short, doting more than family despite not being family—but our Megucchi is a cut above those LN childhood friends.
In the mornings she’s too busy with makeup to come wake me, and I’m the better cook, so she doesn’t go out of her way to make food for me. Same with studying—I get better grades, so I’m the one doing the teaching. So what does Megucchi use to appeal? She plays to the max with a woman’s weapons—pure erotic charm.
Since we’ve been together since we were kids, Megucchi knows my kinks inside and out. She equips the school swimsuit, goes boing-boing during bath events.
She links arms when we walk together, and clings when we hang out in my room.
In short, Megucchi’s childhood-friend appeal is nonstop skinship using that voluptuous body to the fullest.
You might think, couldn’t any girl do that? But being able to come to my room every day without hesitation, to link arms or bathe with me without a second thought—that’s only Megucchi. If you imagine she uses all that time for full-on skinship, you’ll get the idea.

The pity is, no matter how voluptuous and attractive she is, that appeal has lost its bite.
I’m just too used to it.
Without add-ons like the school swimsuit, current Megucchi has it tough.

For the record, the school swimsuit became standard gear, and Megucchi started wearing it every day.
According to Megucchi: “School swimsuits are easier to move in, easier to size, cheaper, and Norio likes them, too” (apparently larger bras have fewer options and cost more).
Now people go, “Megucchi Tsuchida? Oh, the one in the school swimsuit?” It’s practically become her byword, and she’s even earned the nickname “Swimmer Megucchi,” yet, as always, the school swimsuit never caught on with the other girls.

And then…

“Lately, Norio, you don’t get excited at all when you see Megucchi’s school swimsuit, do you?”
“Hmm, I don’t know. I still love the school swimsuit, but maybe I don’t feel freshness from you anymore, Megucchi.”
“No freshness… so, like, are we in a rut?”
“Yeah, I mean, we’ve been together for over ten years. But that can’t be helped, right? You feel that way about me too, don’t you, Megucchi?”

Megucchi sat cross-legged on those tight, plush bare legs, arms folded, and began thinking.

Then she seemed to arrive at a conclusion.

“…Got it. Megucchi is moving up to the next stage beyond the school swimsuit.”
“Next stage?”
“Yep… I bought a micro bikini online! There’s nothing else for it!!!”

Right.
I’m Norio, a heartbreaker.

#20: The Upperclassman’s Resolve

Sakura-senpai still comes to my class every lunch break to eat with me.
At first, we sat facing each other across our desks, but lately she puts a chair right next to mine and eats and chats glued to my side.
I don’t know if it’s unconscious or on purpose, but there’s been more brazen touches—her hand on my knee, our shoulders pressed together.

“Sakura-san, you’re aiming for college, right?”
“That’s right. I’m thinking of a university in the prefecture.”
“In the prefecture, huh. Don’t you ever dream of moving out and living alone?”
“What are you saying, Norio? If I left the prefecture, I couldn’t see you. Honestly.”

Puffing out her cheeks, Sakura-san patted my knee with her left hand.

“By the way, what should we do after school today?”
“Hmm, let’s see. Honestly, talking one-on-one is the most fun, so how about stopping by a café again?”
“Roger. I’ll pick a place, but tell me if you’ve got somewhere in mind.”
“All right. I’m looking forward to after school, Norio.”

With that, Sakura-san took my hand in her left.

With an ordinary girl, I’d suspect some of this as “a bit calculated,” but this is Sakura-san we’re talking about.

Sakura-san, once feared as the demon disciplinarian, now smiles, chats excitedly, and piles on skinship. The gap has real destructive power. “Gap moe,” if you will.

Think about it.

A woman called serious and boring, so strict with others—and herself—that she earned the nickname demon disciplinarian. Her refined looks probably make her seem unapproachable, too. Beautiful women are scary when they’re angry.
She’s probably kept at arm’s length in her senior class, to the point she barely even forces a polite smile.

And yet she smiles only in front of me and dives into our conversations like she’s having the time of her life.
When she winked at me in a sweet voice, I doubted my eyes.

That’s how drastic Sakura-san’s change has been, and she’s got my heart in an iron grip.

Sakura-san said she has no dating experience, so I doubt this gap is calculated. It’s probably natural.

Even so, natural or not, she’s maximizing her character and getting huge results.

This shift in Sakura-san has rocked my internal heroine rankings. At this point, she’s practically neck and neck with the ultimate childhood friend, Megucchi.

Then, living like that, I got invited by Sakura-san and ended up visiting her place for the first time.

After school that day, like always, we met at the school gate. When I asked, “What should we do today?” she said, “How about my place for a change? There’s stuff I want to discuss that we can’t talk about at McD’s or a café,” so we headed straight to Sakura-san’s house without stopping anywhere.

At Sakura-san’s house, her mother greeted us.

She looked pretty shocked—”Sakura brought a friend home!?”

“This is my underclassman and boyfriend, Norio. I invited him over today because I really wanted him to come.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Norio Mizumoto. Sorry for dropping in so suddenly today. But as expected of Sakura-san’s mother—you’re so young and beautiful. A textbook heroine mom.”

“My! You’re quite the smooth talker, Mizumoto-kun! Sakura, since when did you get a boyfriend? Come, come, do come in.”

Once I was inside, I spent about thirty minutes in the living room being peppered with questions over tea. Eventually, Sakura-san lost patience—”It’s way too soon to talk marriage! You’re making Norio uncomfortable!”—cut off the interrogation, and whisked me away to her room.

When she asked, “Would you be okay being adopted as a son-in-law?” even I was at a loss.

“I’m sorry about my mother. As you heard, this is truly the first time I’ve brought a friend home, so she got a bit carried away.”
“Don’t worry about it. When you visit a heroine’s house, handling this much is part of the protagonist’s etiquette.”
“S-still, having you here in my room like this… it’s strangely nerve-racking.”
“Is it? Well, it’s my first time in a girl’s room that isn’t Megucchi’s, so it feels pretty fresh to me too. And the whole room is filled with Sakura-san’s scent.”

As we chatted, I took the cushion she offered and sat down. Sakura-san sat right next to me, practically glued to my side.

“Lately your sense of personal space is pretty close, Sakura-san. Such a cute little kitten.”
“I-is it? I don’t think so…”

Even as she said that, Sakura-san rested her hand on my knee.

She averted her eyes but fidgeted, clearly wanting to say something.

“What is it? Oh, right—wasn’t there something you didn’t want others to overhear? If my adorable Sakura-san needs advice, I’ll listen to anything.”
“About that… Norio, do you want me to wear a school swimsuit?”

“Huh?”

I thought she was about to confess her love.

“Well… you said before, right? That the school swimsuit is the strongest, or something like that. And Tsuchida-san wears a school swimsuit to suit your tastes, doesn’t she? So I figured I can’t just sit on my hands. But even if it’s under my uniform, the idea of showing you my school-swimsuit look is just too embarrassing… If you told me ‘I want you to wear it!,’ I think I could find the courage…”
“I want you to wear it! I’m dying to see you in a school swimsuit, Sakura-san! In fact, don’t hide it under your uniform—show me the whole school-swimsuit look right here, right now!”

I answered without a shred of hesitation.

“Oh! And please pair the school swimsuit with knee-highs! That would be mega drool-worthy!!!”

Right.
I’m Norio, a heartbreaker.