Be careful with the laid-back beauty who took a liking to me. Otherwise, it will be too late! - Chapter 15: The Trigger of Falling in Love

Episode 15: The Trigger of Falling in Love

If we keep chatting here forever, we’ll be late for school, so we decided to head to school.

Normally, I can talk naturally, but today, I’ve been nervous since I met her, and I can’t speak well.

Without saying a word to each other, when we reached near the school, Koga-san started pulling at the hem of my clothes.

“Kawai-kun, after school, do you want to go get custard pudding? I’m sure you’ll like it too.”

With sparkling eyes, Koga-san pleaded. Rather than thinking about telling her after school, I’d rather think about eating custard sweets with Koga-san as usual.

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

“Yay!”

“Koga-san, you seem to know a lot of places that serve custard sweets.”

Every time, she suggests going to the same place, but the location is always different. Sometimes it’s near the school, sometimes a little way away by train.

“Hehe, when it comes to custard, I can’t lose… Because I love custard.”

“I see, but who are you competing against that you can’t lose? There’s no quiz competition about custard knowledge.”

“True, but I had this thought from when I was in elementary school… Someone gave me a custard taiyaki at a festival…”

“Was that taiyaki custard-flavored?”

“Yeah… I guess that was the start. I had never tasted custard before, and that’s when I realized how delicious it is.”

From then on, it seems she started to like sweets with custard in them.

“There was a time when I started to dislike eating custard… Nah, let’s not talk about that. It’s nice to have strong feelings for something you love, right?”

Though it seemed like she was about to bring up something dark, Koga-san smiled gently and repeated the words I once said to her.

“Yeah, it’s wonderful.”

“…You’re different from that guy.”

“That guy?”

“This is just between us, so don’t worry about it.”

She smiled faintly, not wanting to worry me.

—

After school, we went to the shop where Koga-san recommended custard pudding and bought some to take away. We decided to eat it in a nearby park.

The park was bustling with children playing on the playground equipment and parents chatting while watching over them.

Finding a spot a little away from the crowd under the shade of a tree, Koga-san and I sat on an empty bench. It was a calm place where you could hear the sounds of nature well.

As soon as we took out the pudding to eat, Koga-san was looking up at the sky beside me.

“This is a calm place, huh…”

“Yeah, it is. I like places like this.”

“I like it too. It suits my laid-back nature.”

“Laid-back… I always thought you were a very firm person until we started talking like this.”

When I conveyed my initial impression of her, Koga-san seemed surprised, but then she nodded in agreement.

“Firm? Oh, that’s just a habit from when I was little. My family was strict, always telling me to behave properly in front of others.”

She told me that she had experienced things that didn’t suit her personality several times before.

“But being so strict all the time is tiring, right? So when I’m with someone I feel comfortable with, I try to be myself.”

“I see.”

After I said that, it fell silent between us. Maybe we’re both nervous about what we should say next.

After a while of not saying anything and just listening to the sounds of nature, Koga-san spoke up.

“Can I continue from this morning before we eat the pudding?”

Koga-san looked at me with straight eyes. I felt a mix of excitement and reluctance to hear what she was going to say, but I quietly nodded.

“I like you, Kawai-kun. Not just as friends, but I really like you as a man.”

My expectation that she would say the same thing as me wasn’t wrong.

“Thank you. I like you too, Koga-san. Not just as friends, but as a man… I want to be in a relationship with you.”

When I conveyed my feelings to her, Koga-san hugged me tightly.

“Of course. I like you, Kawai-kun. I might end up saying it all week because I’m so happy.”

She warned me in advance that she might not be able to contain her words of love. There’s no way I could dislike being told “I like you” repeatedly.

“It’s okay to say it as many times as you want because it makes me happy too. I like you too, Koga-san.”

I wrapped my arms around her back, and this time, I hugged Koga-san tightly.

“Kawai-kun, you don’t mind hugging in public places, do you?”

“I-it’s fine here since there’s no one around…”

“Hehe, you’re funny… Well then

, I want to stay like this until someone comes.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Koga-san once said it’s wonderful to be told “I like you” by someone you like.

I can understand that now. I never thought being told “I like you” by someone you like could make you feel so happy.

“Oh, the pudding…”

Although I said I wanted to keep hugging her like this, she remembered something and muttered softly.

“Oh, right, let’s eat.”

“Yeah, let’s eat…”

When she moved away from me, Koga-san seemed to feel lonely, so she snuggled up to me again.

The pudding we ate that day tasted much better than usual. Perhaps it was because we were eating it with such happy feelings.

“It’s delicious, isn’t it?”

“Huh, aren’t you going to say ‘so gooood’?”

“Mmm, I don’t have to say it every time. It’s embarrassing to say it now.”

It seems there’s a timing for saying it.

“Hey, Kawai-kun, do you have a desire to get married?”

“…Huh!?”

It was such a sudden question that for a moment, I thought I misheard, and I reacted late.

“I do… Of course, I want to marry you, Kawai-kun.”

“Isn’t this conversation a bit too early? We just started dating a while ago.”

Wanting to marry me is something I’m really happy about, but it’s a bit too soon.

“I’m just asking to talk about it. I was just wondering if you want to get married someday.”

“…I guess I haven’t really thought about it much.”

I assumed that marriage was something way off in the future, so I never really thought about it.

“I see… It’s a nice day today, isn’t it…”

Looking up at the cloudless sky, she was still her usual self today. I like her just the way she is.