I Will Do Everything In My Power To Bring Happiness To The Enchanting Beauty Who Can No Longer Smile. - Chapter 67: A Morning Welcomed Together with My Girlfriend, Sakakibara Tsubame.

A Morning Welcomed Together with My Girlfriend, Sakakibara Tsubame.

I dreamt that I was sleeping on a fluffy bed.

No, I know what you’re thinking – dreaming about sleeping? That just shows how much I love to sleep. But it really felt like that blissful moment when you doze off for a second nap or finally lie down after fighting off overwhelming drowsiness. It was unbelievably comfortable.

I knew I was dreaming… but maybe that’s why I let myself sink deeper into the bed. It’s a dream, after all. I can do whatever I want.

I buried my face into the pillow. It was soft and squishy, giving off a sweet scent like milk.

…Huh? Squishy?

That wasn’t a feeling I should get from a pillow. Realizing that, the “dream” rapidly began to dissolve—

“…Are you awake?”

My vision was enveloped in darkness. The dream I had been seeing was gone, and all I could see now was the back of my eyelids. But because my sight was blocked, my other senses grew sharper.

A sweet scent filled my lungs… and I felt something soft pressing against my face. The same was true for my hand resting beside my head – my palm was sunk into something soft and warm, with a distinct heaviness. Quite firmly, too.

An intense déjà vu washed over me. Actually, I felt something like this just last night.

“…Still asleep?”

Her voice came from above my head – but I couldn’t respond. I froze, pretending to sleep just like I had before.

Crap. This bad habit of mine showed up again. I feel like something similar happened once before too.

But this time was… much worse. Because of my sleeping position, I had ended up using Tsubame’s chest as a pillow. This was on a whole other level compared to when I buried my face in it last night.

Because of that guilt, I completely missed the chance to admit I was awake.

“I see… still sleeping, huh.”

Giving up, I kept my eyes shut and my breathing minimal to maintain the act. My hand placement was seriously bad, so I tried to slowly relax my grip and…

“Mm.”

As I tried to let my hand slip away with gravity, it didn’t work. Tsubame pulled my head even closer, almost hugging me to her chest. My palm and face were pressed into that soft, warm feeling.

“Hehe.”

She let out a small giggle, her breath brushing against the top of my head. It tickled a bit, but soon I couldn’t focus on that as my face burned hotter and hotter.

I knew I had to do something quickly… but I couldn’t move. All I could do was wait for Tsubame to let me go… or try to gently slip away when the timing was right.

As I was thinking that, the softness pressed against my face suddenly disappeared.

Before I could even feel confused, Tsubame shifted positions and hugged me from the side, her cheek brushing against mine.

“If you don’t wake up… maybe I’ll do something naughty.”

“Ah—!”

Her teasing whisper, thick with breath, tickled my eardrum. I couldn’t help but let out a sound in surprise.

When I opened my eyes, she had pulled back slightly, and our gazes met.

“……”

“……”

“You don’t have to keep pretending to sleep, you know?”

“…Yeah.”

Her smile widened as she saw my face turning bright red, and a small, gentle laugh escaped her lips.

“Good morning, Shigure-kun. Did you sleep well?”

“…Morning. I… actually slept surprisingly well.”

Even though my heart was pounding like crazy right now, my mind felt refreshingly clear upon waking.

Though… no, let’s not think about last night right now. Yeah.

“It’s still our day off today. What do you want to do? Stay here and laze around a bit longer?”

“…That sounds tempting, but… I should probably get up. I don’t want to mess up my sleep cycle.”

It was already eight o’clock. Lately, I’ve been waking up around seven, sometimes even earlier, so this was a decent time.

“Okay. Then let’s get up.”

“Yeah, let’s—”

Tsubame stood up first, and I tried to follow… but couldn’t. I averted my eyes from her curious gaze that seemed to ask, “What’s wrong?”

“Um… can you go on ahead? I’ll… come out in a bit.”

Despite having just said I’d get up, these were the words that came out. But there was a very real reason I couldn’t stand right now.

As I debated how to explain… or if I should just make up an excuse, Tsubame froze with her mouth slightly open. Her cheeks turned even redder than before.

“D-Do you… need help?”

“N-No, it’s fine. I mean, it’s… morning. Just… give it a bit and I’ll be fine.”

“…Okay. Got it. See you in a bit.”

“Yeah… see you.”

With that, she left the room. I watched her go, then let out a small sigh.

“…Seriously, my body is way too energetic in the mornings.”

No matter how hard I tried to forget, the warmth and softness I had just felt refused to leave my mind.

***

“Both of you, be careful today, alright? If anything like yesterday happens again…”

“We’ll be fine, Mom. Don’t worry. Today we have reliable bodyguards with us too.”

As we left the house together, Tsubame’s mother voiced her concerns. Given what happened yesterday, it was only natural.

Today, we had bodyguards arranged by Usui-san. Technically, we had bodyguards yesterday too, but those were from her agency’s usual contractors, and she said she couldn’t trust them completely. So this time, she hired people recommended by someone she trusted.

“You be careful too, Mom. Don’t open the door for anyone you don’t know, okay?”

“Of course. They’ve arranged security for me here as well.”

I did wonder if it was really okay for us to go out today after what happened, but… Usui-san said it was unlikely for them to act again so soon. If they pushed too far, Tsubame’s movements would become too restricted, and her work would suffer – and she wasn’t the only one who would be affected by that.

Also, apparently it was Usui-san herself who encouraged us to go out today. She wanted people to become even more aware of how close Tsubame and I were.

If possible, she said she wanted me to become recognizable enough that when Tsubame’s photo books came out, people would say, “Oh, I’ve seen this guy on her social media before.”

For a while, she wanted any photos of me with Tsubame posted on social media to remain online for as long as possible before deletion, only removing posts that might make us uncomfortable. Of course, we both agreed.

And so, even though we had no particular plans, we decided to go out together.

“Alright then, you two. Take care out there. But make sure to have lots of fun too.”

“Yeah, we will. Right, Shigure-kun?”

“Ah, yeah. We’re off.”

“Hehe. Have a good time.”

With that, Tsubame and I began walking side by side, the bodyguards following a short distance behind – far enough to not bother us. Since Tsubame always attracted attention anyway, she was used to having eyes on her, so it wasn’t a problem.

“So, where should we go? Somewhere crowded would be good, right?”

“Yeah. There’ll probably be a lot of people out today too.”

We’d already gone shopping for clothes yesterday, so maybe we should go somewhere different today.

As I thought about it, I noticed Tsubame looking up at me intently.

“Is there somewhere you want to go, Tsubame?”

“There is… just one place. It won’t take too long.”

“Oh? Where to?”

“Shopping. Mother’s Day is coming up, so I want to buy something for Mom.”

“Ah,” I breathed out. That’s right – next Sunday was Mother’s Day.

“I’ve always been so busy with work that I never really had the chance to do anything for her. And since you gave me this necklace… I want to give her something that will last too.”

“…I see.”

She touched the necklace around her neck and smiled softly. Just seeing that warmed my heart.

“Alright. Let’s go. I want to get something for my mom too.”

“Thank you. Let’s go, then.”

She reached out her hand… and I took it.

And so, while it wasn’t just the two of us alone, our second day of dating began.