Can I brag about my very devoted wife to you?

The right way for high school couples to spend their time (weekends) ①

Saturday, the appointed day. After breakfast prepared by Riko, we left the house in the morning to go to the electronics store. The sky was covered with clouds and it was a pleasant day. Unfortunately, it was supposed to rain again in the afternoon. Well, it’s better than rain in the morning.

I hope we can make it back before it starts to rain. As I was about to say this, I felt a light tug on my hem.

“Hmm?”

I looked down and saw Riko picking at the hem of her long-sleeved T-shirt with her fingertips.

“…!”

The gesture was so striking, and suited Riko so well, that it made my heart flutter.

“Riko, Riko, what’s wrong…!?”

When I asked in a raised voice, Riko faltered and said.

“You know? … Your hands.”

“Hands?”

“I’d like to hold your hand…”

“…”

Wh-wh-whaattt!?

I was so surprised that even Riko lost her composure, as if it was contagious.

“Oh, oh, you know… well, well… oh, yes! We might run into someone we know somewhere, like in the shopping district, right? If we were to walk like strangers in such a situation, people might wonder if we’re really dating…!”

“I see…! That’s true.”

Come to think of it, this is the first time I’ve gone out with Riko in private since that shopping trip.

“And look! Minato-kun said that we should also show off our lovers…!”

“Yeah, I did.”

“So that’s why…! I think we should spend our time trying to look as lover-like as possible, even when it’s the weekends…!”

Riko leaned forward a little and spread her hands in an attitude as if she was presenting a product. I shook my head a couple of times, pushed by her momentum.

But if I think about it calmly, Riko has a point. If we were to act like normal, we wouldn’t look like lovers at all…

Besides, that’s what Sawa said, right?

‘Up until now, she hasn’t been interested in boys in general, so they would look at her from afar as if she was a flower on a high mountain. However, now she’s got a boyfriend and he’s a plain, ordinary guy named Niiyama. If you’re not careful, the rush of confessions that happened when Princess Riko first entered the school might come back.’

The thought of Sawa’s words coming true flashed through my mind and I shook my head in panic. I definitely don’t want this to happen.

After all, when there’s even the slightest chance of being witnessed by someone we know at school, we have to make it as outwardly obvious as possible that we’re lovers.

[To show that we are lovers.]

At this point, of course, I had no idea that these words would have an impact on various aspects of my life in the future.

“Um, so…”

Riko’s cheeks turned peachy pink as she gently grasped my hand in return. On the way home after school, when Riko had twined her arms around me, I was happy to death, but holding hands was a different feeling, and I couldn’t stop my heart from pounding.

“Hey, hey, Minato-kun.”

“Yeah?”

“Which do you like better, the way we’re holding hands right now… or this way?”

After a brief separation, Riko reclasped her hands in a lover’s bond. Our fingers intertwined with each other, giving me the illusion that the boundary between us had become blurred. Naturally, my heartbeat became explosively noisy.

“…Hey, this is nice too, but I’m nervous…”

“Yeah…I’m really nervous too…”

“Eh, Riko too?”

“Because this is the first time we’ve walked together like this, holding lovers…”

Riko’s shy eyes are so cute that I can’t handle it.

I see. Riko has never walked like this with anyone before.

So I’m the first…

I’m sure I’m not particularly obsessed with it, but I’m so happy to have shared my first experience with her.

“I’m nervous, but I like it the way it is…”

“Um, I… agree with you…!”

“Really? I’m so happy…”

I was too embarrassed to look at Riko at all, and Riko, perhaps also embarrassed, kept looking straight ahead, just like me. We walked side-by-side down the street to the station, sharing the same awkwardness.

Riko’s hands were a little cooler than mine, and they were so soft that I felt like they would break if I squeezed them too hard. So I carefully held them.

Holding hands is a strange feeling… It’s like wrapping a treasure in the palm of your hand… It makes me feel happy and ticklish.

We walked straight to Ofuna Station. As we passed through the ticket gate, our hands separated, but Riko quickly reconnected them. So we stayed together on the train.

If I were to go on a date with Riko, I wonder if it would be like this. Due to accidentally thinking of such a thing, I started to feel irresistibly excited. (TL: Minato, what you’re doing can already be considered a date…)

Translator & Editor: Riciel