Can I brag about my very devoted wife to you?

Confession

— I like you, Riko.

Ever since I started to have a crush on Riko, I’ve been hiding my feelings from everyone, and I finally told her about it.

Moreover, it wasn’t that I had made up my mind to confess, but it was the result of my overflowing feelings for Riko.

“Minato-kun likes me…?”

Power drained from her hands as she muttered in a faltering tone. The warm body that had been holding me in its arms pulled away.

I wonder if it’s this behavior and this response…

The moment I thought I had been rejected, my mind and body froze. However, Riko stepped on a puddle of water and walked around in front of me.

We get wet in the rain, and our eyes meet.

“Minatohito-kun, did you tell me you like me?”

She asked me straight away, and I realized now that I had done something outrageous. As I was swallowed up by the shame that came late, I couldn’t stop feeling flustered. While panicking and moving my mouth around, she added a few words in a different, almost muffled voice.

“Don’t worry… I’m not misunderstanding you… When you say you like me, you mean as a friend, right? Yeah, I know. But I’m still happy enough…”

Riko smiled at me, and I could tell that she was paying attention. If I didn’t say anything now, I could just pretend that I hadn’t made a hasty confession. It was crazy to say that I liked her when I had no chance of winning at this point.

… Yeah, I’m out of my mind.

I was well aware of that. However, at that moment, I couldn’t deny the feeling that I loved Riko so much that I couldn’t stop myself from thinking about her.

“I’m sorry, Riko. It’s not that… I like Riko, not as a friend, but as a girl.”

“… … No way…”

Riko’s eyes widened and she covered her mouth with both hands. Of course she would be surprised by such a sudden confession. I desperately pushed down my fears and clenched my fists. I can’t end this half-heartedly.

“I know that Riko has someone else she likes. So I was actually going to tell you how I felt when I after successfully making you aware of me. That’s why I was so worked up about our date today… and that’s why I failed…”

My body was tense, my face was on fire, and my legs were trembling slightly. I had never felt this way before, so I didn’t know how scary it was to talk about my feelings.

“I know I’m not good enough to get Riko to like me at all, but you’re so sweet and cute… I couldn’t help but tell you that I like you. –I can’t help it. I know that you’re confused to hear me say this out of the blue. I’m sorry. But, um, it’s not like I want you to respond or anything, so don’t worry. I just wanted to let you know how I feel. So… I know it’s not polite to say this, but I’m going to do my best to make Riko like me even more, so if you’ll just allow me to like you like this…”

“Like.”

The more I spoke, the more muddled my confession became. In the second half of my talk, my voice became weaker and weaker, and when I felt like it was about to disappear, Riko said something I couldn’t believe.

“I like you too…! I love you so much, Minato-kun…!”

“Eh. Ehh!?”

What? What the hell is going on?

It shouldn’t be me that Riko likes, it should be someone else… So why is she telling me that she likes me now?

I told her how I felt, and she reciprocated my feelings. I hadn’t expected such a miracle to happen, so my mind couldn’t keep up with the unexpected situation.

“W-wait, wait…!?”

“I can’t, I can’t wait…! Uuu… waaah…! I can’t believe that my dream is finally happening…!”

“Waaah, Riko!?”

Riko looked up to the heavens and started to cry out loud like a young girl.