Chapter 4 Part 1 – My wife’s desires that I don’t know about

Translator: Chaos

Editor: Riciel

Everyday life became normal again after the field trip. But it was a little different than before.

For example, when I passed Riko in the hallway, she started to wave shyly at me. She even smiled at me when our eyes met in the classroom.

We didn’t chat during recess or walk to and from school together, but that small contact was enough to make me happy.

– However, I don’t know how Riko feels about that.

◇◇◇

That night.

I had been watching the two latest movies I had downloaded in a row on the living room sofa when I started to doze off after midnight.

It was seriously a hassle to move to the bedroom whenever this happened. As I had been goofing around, I fell asleep.

While sleeping, I had an incredibly happy dream.

Is there anyone who can realize in the beginning that they are inside a dream? Incidentally, I always figured it out in the dream world. This time was no different.

I wondered what was going on, and then I felt a soft warmth on half of my body.

I know this feeling. It was the softness of her that Riko had taught me when she crawled into my bed on a thunderstorm night.

Could it be that Riko found me sleeping on the sofa and leaned into me…?

– I couldn’t have seriously thought that.

There is no way such a thing could happen, and this is only happening in my dream.

But if that’s the case, I don’t want to wake up yet.

It’s not every day I get to see such a happy dream.

As I thought this and clung to my dream, Riko came close to me and whispered.

“… Hey, Minato-kun… You’re asleep, aren’t you…?”

“……”

“…I’m sorry for sticking to you without permission… I really want to do this when you’re awake…”

“……”

“Nevertheless, I can’t. I have been able to marry you, be your wife, and live with you… Even if the relationship is just a pretense, it would have been enough for me to be by your side… But, I’m getting greedier and greedier…”

“……”

“I’d like to be able to talk to Minato-kun more at school… And more than anything else, I want to tell him… my feelings… No, I’m an idiot… you know that if you do that, Minato-kun will leave you…”

Riko only expressed words that were pleasing to me, and made me feel truly happy.

Oh, crap.

I don’t want to wake up from this dream anymore, even if I die…!

However, perhaps it was because of such strong emotions that I put so much energy into my body, and at that moment, Riko next to me jerked away.

Oh, wait.

Please don’t go.

These were my thoughts, but it was too late. The warmth disappeared next to me, and I couldn’t hear her sweet and gentle words anymore.

The last thing I heard was the sound of footsteps moving away from me.

Slowly, I opened my eyes and looked around the living room where I was alone. The end roll of a movie was playing on the TV, which I had left on.

Just then, I heard the door of a room close in the distance.

Riko…?

“What? That was just a dream… wasn’t it…?”

I mumbled to myself, stunned, as I stared at the door leading to the hallway.

Of course, it had to be.

The actual… Riko would never have said something like that.

But…

The voices of my brazen desire and realistic rationality were arguing in my head.

I was stuck staring at the door for a while after that.

◇◇◇

The next morning, the vague feeling in my mind was still there.

Was it a dream or not?

This question was repeated over and over in my head.

If I asked Riko, I’d know the answer right away.

It wouldn’t hurt me if it turned out to be a dream.

I’m more than 99% sure of that.

But, what if it’s the remaining 1%…?

…… …… Oh, no, no, no… No, no… Ahhhhhhhhhhh…!

No, impossible…!

I couldn’t imagine a situation where Riko might like me at all, but the inexplicable excitement of the possibility caused my brain to stop thinking.

It was too much of a hurdle for me to think about the 1% that Riko might like me.

What should I do now?

I guess I’ll just leave it at that and say, “That was a nice dream, yeah.”

If it had been me, I would have chosen that path for sure.

Because if I did that, I would be able to protect the faint hope that was mixed in with the thoughts that I denied more than 99% of the time.

Sometimes I can even be happy on my own while pondering the possibilities.

… I’m a real wimp, and I know what to do.

No, I thought I knew that.

“- Minato-kun? Are you feeling a little out of it today?”

We stood side by side in front of the washroom to brush our teeth. Riko asked through the mirror. I also stared back at Riko in the mirror.

And then…

“Riko, did you come to the living room last night?”

I found my mouth moving on its own.