It’s Too Early to be Having Newlywed Syndrome! ~Childhood Friends Who Rekindled their Love for Each Other ~ - 1 - 4 - Thinking About Natsuki

Thinking About Natsuki

          “Fuuu, I think the massage was effective. I sweat up a lot, I’m also thirsty.”

While saying that, Natsuki pulled out a tumbler from her bag and put her mouth in its lid.

“Is that a warm drink?”

Naoto asked Natsuki while unconsciously looking at her lips.

“Yep, it’s roasted green tea though. Want some?”

“No, no. I’m just wondering. When I searched for a bit yesterday, I read that warm drinks are good for your condition.”

“At first, it was only to rehydrate myself for the time being. But it’s also good for my body to stay warm. That’s why honestly, I want to head straight home quickly after class.”

Naoto, remembering that after classes, Natsuki gets surrounded by people, asked,

“Whenever going to school or some places then going home, do you get time to buy bottled drinks?”

“I can’t. I’m always walking home with everyone.”

“How about bringing something like a thermos. That way your drink will not get cold quickly.”

“Maybe I’ll do that in the meantime starting tomorrow. I was forbidden by mom from helping in house chores, so maybe she will not let me prepare hot drinks for thermos by myself as well. Mom’s work will increase.”

“That much is okay, isn’t it? Rather, your mom will be relieved if she saw you come home with the thermos empty.”

“Somehow, whenever Morita-kun say that, I feel more and more okay with relying on mom.”

“Being okay with it is obvious. For your parents, and for me as well.

That’s why you should just focus on recovering. Right now, instead of helping at chores, you can show your love for your parents better by easing their worries.”

“Un, that’s right. Thank you. I’m glad Morita-kun is here for me.”

“At any rate, you not being able to go to the restroom is unexpected. Well, by observing Oshida-san, it really is a fact that you get surrounded quickly by people during break time.”

“I’m telling you. You see it now, don’t you?”

“I haven’t really noticed the timing of how it happens until I observed it today. Without exaggeration, it takes about 10 seconds from the start of break time for you to be completely surrounded in class. In that situation, it is indeed hard to go to the restroom with someone”

“You understand, right? You know— whenever I am answering someone’s question, before I notice break tie is already over. I’m so over with it.”

Natsuki let out her complaints.

Even back at school, Naoto felt that solving the problem is harder than he thought.

“You think it will take a while for you to completely recover?”

“I don’t know, but it really is quite painful even now.”

“Right now?!”

“It’s not that painful yesterday, but today it’s so painful I can’t take it. Is this thing periodic? Whenever I think that it might not heal, it hurts again. Today, whenever it hurt, I actually want to lie on my side.”

“I’m sorry, I, I haven’t noticed. It was not time to be having foolish talk, was it?  Won’t it be better if you warm yourself up and sleep——?”

“Is it okay to sleep?”

“Eh? I don’t really mind though.”

“Then I’ll sleep.”

After saying that, in front of Naoto, Natsuki took off her socks and blazer. Without Natsuki actually understanding what she is doing, Naoto was taken aback.

After folding her blazer, Natsuki laid down in the bed.

“Eeehhh, you actually meant sleeping on my bed?”

“You told me I can sleep, right?”

Showing her head out of the futon, Natsuki said while looking happy,

“No, I wasn’t thinking that you actually meant on my bed.”

“It’s been a while seen I last slept in the princess bed.”

“Princess bed?”

Naoto repeated.

——–Where in this bed shouts princess bed?

“Whenever I had a headache or the like, after I wake up you will always ask me if I want something. When I request something, Morita-kun will always bring me things like drinks or ice cream. That’s why during time like this, it becomes a princess bed.”

“Ah, is there something you want? We have ice cream on the fridge right now.”

“Uuunn. Ice cream is not good right now.”

“I see, you will indeed get cold. I will go buy anything you want, so just tell me if you want something, okay?”

“Morita-kun, so you can go and buy thing on your own now?”

“O, of course I do. How old do you think I am now?”

“I see that Morita-kun who will always hug me and say ‘I can’t go without Nat-chan.’, while crying has become independent.”

“It’s not that I have become independent. It’s just that the things I can do has increased compared to back then, try me on for size.”

“Ah, then make me drink that.”

“Eh? The tumbler?”

“Yep.”

“Back then, when I tried giving a drink to Ohida-san while sleeping, didn’t it vigorously spill?”

“That’s why I’m checking right now if you got better in that department.”

“There’s no way I got better at it.”

“Since Morita-kun is a nice person, you will be kind as to give your sleeping girlfriend a drink, won’t you?”

“It’s not like I’ll be able to get a girlfriend. If someone like me did it, I wold only be hated by my supposed girlfriend.”

“——Fuuuuunnnn.

Well, it’s okay, I would know once you make me drink it.”

“No way, no matter how you look at it, it’s better to do it after you wake up.”

“But my stomach always hurts whenever I way up. It’s okay if it spills, so make me drink it.”

“Isn’t it bad at your age if your chest gets soaked?”

“How is it bad?”

Natsuki smiled while gazing fixatedly at Naoto’s face.

“No that………”

Naoto mumbling with a red face, feeling a chill down his spine from Natsuki’s gaze, pondered.

Aaah this, its that. This happens whenever this person is doing something like teasing me…….

Naoto finally understood that he is being made fun of.

“Don’t look away. How is it bad?”

“Like I was saying, your shirt getting wet is……”

“Then, Morita-kun, won’t you be absolutely delighted if that happens?”

“No, I won’t be looking so it doesn’t concern me. However, if your uniform gets wet you will get cold.”

“Really? You won’t be spilling it intentionally like you did back then?”

Natsuki laughed when she remembered what happened back then.

“It really did accidentally spill that time though. And there is nothing to look at Oshida-san’s chest back then.”

Naoto, as payback for being teased, pretended to fool around and replied with that as counterattack.

“Yes, there is!”

“No, there isn’t.”

“There was absolutely something there! Just barely.”

“There was nothing there yet.”

“When I was wiping myself when I got wet, even though your back is turned, I could see that your ears were bright red!”

“That is, you know, that. It’s not a matter of you having something on your chest or not, but the fact that I can see your chest through your clothes and that you’re wiping yourself behind me.”

“Oh, I see. Even back then, Morita-kun is already a huge pervert.”

“……I apologize.”

“If you have time to be apologizing, use it to make me drink already. I will continue teasing you unless you do it.”

“I’ll give you a drink, alright. But it’s not my fault if you get wet.”

Naoto proceeded to take the tumbler.

“It’s alright. The present Morita-kun is a nice guy after all, and even if you intentionally spill it, I will forgive you just once. I’ll tell mom if you do it a second time., though.”

“If you say weird things like that, my already trembling hand will get worse.”

Naoto, who have no room for even a forced smile, poured the drink into Natsuki’s mouth with a serious expression.

Natsuki immediately let out a ‘nmu nmu’ sound and tapped Naoto’s arm repeatedly.

“We’re already done?”

“Fufu, I’ll just drink little by little. That way, you have many chances to do it. Aren’t you glad?”

“I’m not.”

“Even though you want to spill it. Your face is red, you know? You planning to make it slip from your hand next time?”

“I have no such plans!”

“Aaaaaa this is fun. Somehow, I always feel calm in this bed. I might fall asleep if I let my guard down.”

“I’m so far away from being calm though……”

Naoto pathetically said with a pathetic voice while making a pathetic face.

Natsuki laughed when she saw it, then complained,

“You know, my stomach hurts so don’t make me laugh too much.”

“I don’t know. I don’t even get what’s fun with this.”

“I’m happy because Morita-kun is worried about me.”

“If you keep saying that, I might misunderstand, you know?”

“I’m okay with you misunderstanding though.”

“No, I’m not joking. I, during middle school, caused trouble to everyone around me because of I misunderstood something. I’ve also been told about this at my former part-time work, but I think I don’t quite understand when something said is a joke or an empty compliment. That’s why, it would be better if you just say things to me at face value. That’s the only thing I’m asking.”

“Understood, face value, right?

Let’s see……, I really want to thank you for today. I’m so happy that Morita-kun really worries about me.

I apologize that I don’t have enough resolve to take my treatment seriously at first. If Morita-kun didn’t scold me that time, I might have seriously spent the whole day not going to the restroom.

Next time, I will also ask help from my mom. That’s why, don’t worry about me too much.

I might become too spoiled because of Morita-kun’s kindness, so please scold me properly whenever I get ahead of myself.

If we can speak like this tomorrow as well, it will make me very happy.”

“……If that’s really true,”

“Yeah?”

“It would bother me.”

“Why?”

“It’ll make me nervous just like this morning. I think I’m not used to this yet, like I can’t calm down……”

“Were you nervous this morning?”

“Yep, I was very scared to ask about your cystitis. I somehow did.”

“It’s because you went straight to the point. Normally, you start with small talk first, right?”

“My mind was too preoccupied with cystitis.”

“How did it come to that?”

“I don’t know it myself, but maybe, it’s because when I saw Oshida-san coming to the elevator, you were acting your usual self. I didn’t expect we would be meeting, so I became anxious.

It’s just that when I take a close look at you here and then, I kept thinking that even you’re actually hurting, you’re still smiling like it’s not. I thought that if I don’t reach out to you back then, you will continue acting like you’re alright even at school. At that moment, I feel so close to tears and panicked.

I feel like if I see Oshida-san holding it back alone in the middle of class, it will be so painful I would cry.

That’s why, thinking it was all or nothing, not caring if you hate me for it, I might have gathered the resolve to talk to you.”

“You’re that much worried about me, huh?”

“How do I say it, I want you to get well. As I thought I don’t know much about it.”

“I might have. I’m all nice and warm here.”

“But your stomach hurts, doesn’t it?”

“Yup, So don’t tickle me or such, okay?”

“I won’t do it even if you don’t tell me.”

“Sorry. After I recover, okay?”

“Why are you saying it like you’re okay with being tickled once you recover?”

“Because you love tickling, right?”

“Look, even if I did love it…….”

“Ah, that means you can’t fight back now, s once I recover you will get back at me by tickling me to your heart’s content, right? Morita-kun, come closer. I’ll do something nice for you.”

The girl beckoned with a smile.

“I don’t want to.”

Replied Naoto, holding back his desire to comply with Natsuki’s invitation.

“Then, give me a drink again since I’m parched.”

“What do you mean by that ‘then’. It’s awfully suspicious.”

“I’m really thirsty. If you don’t make me drink quickly, my stomach will hurt.”

“I, I get it already.”

Naoto hurriedly grasped the tumbler tightly.

Natsuki smiled mischievously behind the futon.

After that, the drink spilled from Natsuki’s mouth, Naoto was obviously not at fault at all. It happened when Naoto’s hand slipped because Natsuki tickled him.

Naoto waited outside the room while Natsuki wiped her body.

Naoto couldn’t get his mind off Natsuki’s chest that was transparent through the wet clothes. Even after returning to the room, his face was still bright red.

Natsuki laughed because of that, making her stomach hurt again that she complained about it. After repeatedly teasing Naoto many times, Natsuki went home very satisfied.

That night, Naoto found it hard to sleep. Natsuki’s laughter was still ringing in his ears, and whenever he closes his eyes, the image of Natsuki’s smile surfaces on his mind. He hugged the pillow where the scent of Natsuki’s hair still lingers, and smelled it while in a trance.

Will she come to hate me if she caught me doing this? Even while thinking that, Naoto can’t stop what he’s doing.

With feelings of joy and guilt coming, going, and mixing together many times, Naoto finally fell asleep.

That day, the distance between Naoto and Natsuki shortened into how it was in the past.

It is from that very day, that Naoto’s time spent thinking about Natsuki suddenly increased.