My Beautiful Childhood Friend Is Working in a Maid Cafe For Some Reason - Chapter 80

“…Hey, Yukina. I have a few things I want to ask you.”

“Sure. My measurements?”

“…The photos on the wall of your room—what are they?”

“Those? Well, I don’t usually get to see you much, so I bought a bunch of pictures with you in them, plastered them on the wall, and pretended you were there!”

She smiled smugly as if saying, “Isn’t this a brilliant idea?” I was so shocked that I couldn’t respond.

—How much did that cost?

“On my desk, there’s also a two-shot photo of you and me that I talk to!”

“A two-shot photo? When did we take that?”

“It’s from when you were laughing the most after we started high school.”

“Wait a minute. We never took a two-shot photo together.”

“Yeah, so I just scribbled over the person who was in the way and forced it into a two-shot.”

I was speechless. My instincts told me not to dig any deeper into this.

“So, the next thing I want to ask about is…the pair of my underwear that I found in your room.”

Honestly, this is the biggest issue. This is the mystery I most want to solve.

“Remember when humanity’s enemy showed up, and I stayed at your place? I snuck it out after you fell asleep!”

…Yeah, my childhood friend might be beyond help. She’s definitely ventured way too far down a path she shouldn’t have.

“Can you give it back?”

“I can, but can I wash it first?”

“Why!?”

“Why? Come on, don’t make me say it. You’re such an idiot…Yuu-kun.”

Yukina fidgeted, blushing in embarrassment. Although she looked embarrassed, there was a strange hint of happiness in her expression, making her seem a bit like a pervert.

“Yukina…please, don’t take things this far anymore. You’re acting like a real weirdo.”

“Well, it’s your fault that I became this weird, Yuu-kun.”

“Huh?”

Wait a minute. I’m innocent. I’ve never said anything perverted to Yukina to make her act like this.

“You didn’t love me enough…Yuu-kun. Because I wasn’t getting enough love from you, I had to make up for it myself.”

“And now you’re blaming that on me? I feel like pleading not guilty in front of a judge.”

“Are you done asking questions now?”

“Ah, no, there’s one more…Why have you been calling me Yuu-kun again?”

“Yuu-kun” was a nickname Yukina used to call me in the past. Naturally, I remember it.

But now we call each other by our names, so why go back to the old nickname…?

“Yuu-kun is Yusuke.”

“That’s not what I meant…Aren’t you going to call me by my name anymore?”

“Do you prefer being called by your name? I want to call you Yuu-kun again!”

It makes my heart skip a beat when she calls me Yuu-kun. On the other hand, it feels ticklish when she calls me Yuu-kun. And honestly, being called Yuu-kun as a senior in high school is embarrassing.

Yukina tilted her head, as if asking with her eyes, “Is that not okay?”

Of course, I couldn’t say no. Even if I did, I felt like she would call me that anyway, so I just answered, “It’s fine.” Yukina’s face brightened up with a huge smile.

“If you want, Yuu-kun, you can call me Yukina-chan too.”

“No, I’ll pass on that. It would mess with me mentally.”

“Oh, that’s too bad. But it’s okay. Just hearing you call my name makes me happy.”

After that, Yukina and I left the karaoke place. We hadn’t sung a single song, but we had spent so much time talking that it was already time to go home.

“…Hey, Yuu-kun. Can we stop by the arcade for a bit?”

“Sure, but what do you want to do?”

“I want to make up with Yuu-kun in a Purikura photo booth…”

Why is she fidgeting here!?

She can be so bold sometimes, but when she’s asking for something, she looks up at me with those big eyes…She’s a master manipulator.

“O-Okay.”

When I agreed, Yukina’s face lit up, and she hopped up and down in joy.

We arrived at the arcade with a clear goal, so we headed straight to the purikura machine together.

“Hey, why were we even arguing in the first place?”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s in the past. More importantly…Hey, Yuu-kun, how does this thing work?”

“How should I know?”

“Why are you panicking?”

“I-I’m not.”

That’s a lie. My heart was pounding. This was my first time taking purikura, and to top it off, it was with a girl who liked me. No wonder I was nervous.

“W-Well, let’s just do this randomly.”

I tapped the screen at random, and then the machine started talking.

“Hey, Yukina. I think it’s about to take our picture.”

“Yeah, it is. Oh, Yuu-kun. The machine’s telling you to look that way.”

“That way?”

I turned in the direction Yukina pointed…about 90 degrees to the side.

“Oh, sorry. Actually, it says to face forward.”

“What the he—!”

As soon as Yukina told me to face forward, something soft touched my cheek.

I immediately realized what it was. It was Yukina’s lips. She had stood on her tiptoes and kissed me.

I was frozen, overwhelmed with emotions I couldn’t put into words. At the same time, the moment was perfectly captured by the machine.

The photo session ended, and the soft sensation slowly pulled away as Yukina backed off. She looked down for a moment, then glanced up at me and gave a shy little smile.

“Hehe…Can you forgive me for something like that?”

A rush of heat surged through my body. I was happy. She was cute. I wanted to touch her. All these feelings swirled around inside me.

“…D-Didn’t you like it?”

“N-No, I liked it…It felt nice.”

“Really? I’m glad. Oh, the pictures are ready.”

Yukina happily retrieved the photos and gazed at them. One of those photos captured that very moment. I wondered what she was thinking as she looked at it.

“Here, this one’s yours, Yuu-kun.”

Yukina handed me one, and I looked at it. Sure enough, the moment had been perfectly captured, and I started feeling hot all over again.

“I’ll treasure it forever!”

I couldn’t even look Yukina in her eyes anymore. I just nodded silently, unable to put into words the emotions that overwhelmed me.

In moments like these, I never know how far I should go or where to draw the line. Yukina said she wanted me to touch her, but now that I’d said it, I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

“Y-Yukina!”

“What is it?”

I didn’t even know what I wanted. All I knew was that there was something I needed to express.

“Yukina…You’re especially cute today.”

“…W-Why are you suddenly saying that? It’s embarrassing…”

Yukina fidgeted as she moved closer to me, looking up at me with her face flushed red.

“I’m happy. Thank you, Yuu-kun.”

And just like that, the rare fight between me and my childhood friend came to an end. By the time we both got so embarrassed that we almost forgot we had been fighting, it was all over.