I asked him to be my pretend-boyfriend but after a while I fell for him, but I can't seem to admit that fact! - Chapter 16: A Quiet Confession.

A Quiet Confession.

I’m not fond of the sound of the night wind.

Especially on stormy nights like this, just hearing that sound makes me anxious.

“It’s quite the night, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

“Power outages and all… a bit worrying, right?”

“Yeah.”

…Mom, Dad, and my older sister aren’t here… on this stormy night.

If… I hadn’t gotten involved with Asai, tonight… I would have been most likely all alone.

Just thinking about it makes me shiver.

I’m really glad that Asai is here with me.

…

That aside, this situation is really bad.

First, to explain the situation simply, I’m in bed… being held by Asai.

…When I say “held,” I don’t mean it in that way. He’s just holding me normally.

The reason this happened is simple.

As I mentioned earlier, I, who is afraid of the sound of the wind, asked Asai to hold me tight.

In the darkness, with the sound of this wind.

Because if I wasn’t held tightly like this, I felt like I would lose it from anxiety.

…But, even when being held, another problem arose.

My heart won’t stop racing.

In my life, my heartbeat has never been so intense. It’s still better than after a full sprint, but still.

Asai is the same, his heart is pounding like a death metal beat.

Perhaps we’re similar in a sad way.

…

The peak of the typhoon seems to have passed, and the sound of rain and wind is getting better, but my racing heartbeat hasn’t calmed down yet.

“…Itsuki?”

Gentle whispers came from Asai’s mouth.

Surely, he must be checking if I’m asleep.

…And so I pretended to be asleep.

I couldn’t stop various emotions from welling up if I were to talk to Asai right now.

Well, that’s already too late now.

I like Asai—I want to convey this feeling.

While being held by Asai in bed, that’s all I could think about.

After a while, I heard his sleeping breath.

It seems Asai has fallen asleep.

But… I still couldn’t sleep.

My feelings were so overwhelming that I couldn’t help it.

Right now, I’m caught in an endless loop in my head.

I want to convey my feelings to Asai.

…But it’s too late to say that now.

However, I can’t suppress these feelings anymore.

…But I’m worried that if I express my feelings as soon as I learnt about “Inheriting Sound” Akira, I might be suspected of just pretending to like him since he’s my idol.

No, no, Asai isn’t that kind of person.

That’s why I fell for Asai.

…But what if confessing ruins our current relationship?

…I guess I’m much more timid than I thought I was.

For now, I’ll just sleep and forget about it.

…I’ve tried to sleep multiple times, but I couldn’t.

And so… while carrying these restless feelings, morning arrived.

As for Asai… he’s sleeping soundly with an expression of pure contentment.

Such an adorable sleeping face, really.

…

…I never meant to fall for him this much… Why did this happen I wonder?

Thinking about such things while gazing at Asai’s sleeping face, I suddenly took an impulsive action.

Why did I do something like this?

Even I didn’t really understand.

…I was drawn to Asai’s lips—

And I stole a small kiss from those lips.

Our lips might have touched for just a moment… or so it felt much longer.

After a while, various emotions welled up within me, and my chest felt like it might burst.

…It’s no use… I can’t keep these feelings in my heart any longer.

I shifted my position slightly and hugged Asai’s head tightly.

And then—

“Akira… I like you.”

To the sleeping Asai—I conveyed my feelings.

Honestly, I wanted both the kiss and confession to happen when Asai was awake, with confidence.

But… this was the best I could do right now.

For some reason… tears welled up.

Spending the night with the person I like… feeling his warmth like this.

Both good and bad emotions overflowed uncontrollably, and I couldn’t hold them back.

I’m sorry, Asai… I made things complicated, and it’s all my fault… doing something so unfair while you were asleep.

With my face and heart all messed up, I headed to the bathroom to reset my emotions for a moment.

—I kissed him, didn’t I?

It was something I shouldn’t have done, right?

…

Uh-oh, I’m really messed up.

…I didn’t know that falling for someone so seriously could be this difficult, making it impossible to control myself.

If it were a proper relationship, there wouldn’t have been any issues.

But I’m not in a real relationship with him.

Maybe being held and my heart growing weak led to this, but what I’m doing right now… it’s still wrong.

…It’s unfair.

So… I need to apologize to Asai.

And then—end this relationship.

And if I’m forgiven in the end… I’ll honestly confess my feelings.

…

—Looking back now, I had a feeling from the start that I’d fall for Asai.

Being with a guy and feeling so happy, it was the first time. Being able to be myself like this, it was the first time.

But… well, I can’t stay like this anymore.