The Day After I Told My Shut-In Genius Childhood Friend, Who’s Highly Dependent on Me, “I Got Confessed To,” She Showed Me a Hypnosis App - Chapter 1

Next door to my house lives a genius girl.

Her stories are countless.

She started using a computer when she was about three and somehow ended up making a simple app.

Something she invented on a whim in elementary school amazed a university professor.

A paper she casually wrote got noticed overseas and even made her appear on TV.

She was invited to a famous foreign university, but turned it down because “it’s too far.”

And there are plenty more. Some true and some maybe not.

Everyone around her had high expectations.

What kind of amazing person will she become in the future?

Will she develop a groundbreaking system, make a big scientific discovery, or start a company that becomes famous worldwide?

No matter what, she’s sure to leave a remarkable mark on the world.

That was the belief that filled everyone’s living rooms.

But now, the genius girl who once amazed everyone―.

“Ah, Honami. I’m tired from arguing online, so give me a shoulder massage, will you?”

She stays holed up in her room every day, wearing a tracksuit and spending all her time online.

◇

A messy room.

Clothes are thrown everywhere. Thick books filled with strange and complicated words.

A keyboard and monitor. A Moai statue whose purpose I couldn’t even guess. What on earth is all this?

At the chair in the back of this cluttered room sits the former genius girl ―Shinonome Mio.

“Ah, Honami. I’m tired from arguing online, so give me a shoulder massage, will you?”

Mio being celebrated as a genius is long behind her.

Now, as a high school student, my childhood friend sits holed up in this dark, messy room.

“Massage your own shoulders!”

“But I stayed up all night fighting online!”

“Fighting online in what way exactly…”

“I can’t help it. I’m a genius beautiful girl, and they just won’t give up on me.”

Mio has a calm face, but she’s clearly blaming others for her own actions.

Still, calling herself a beautiful girl isn’t a lie; her looks are incredible.

Long silver hair that almost touches the floor when she sits. Eyes the clear purple of amethyst. Pale skin and a slender figure.

Maybe because she has some Northern European blood, she looks like a doll from overseas.

Her beauty probably helped her appear on TV in the past.

But right now, in this messy room, wearing a tracksuit, she’s just a shut-in high school girl acting tough online.

“The other side can’t see your genius or beauty anyway. Just go to bed already.”

“I’ll sleep if Honami cuddles with me.”

“Are you a baby?”

I, Mizumura Honami, in fact, am Mio’s childhood friend.

When I was about six, the Shinonome family moved in next door.

Since then, we’ve been paired together by our parents, and we’ve been inseparable ever since.

Even before and after Mio became a shut-in, I’ve been taking care of her.

Basically, we have a stubborn and unbreakable bond.

“If Honami cuddles me, I don’t care if I’m a baby!”

“…Actually, if we only look at your life skills, you basically are a baby.”

“That’s mean!”

Mio has zero life skills.

She skips meals and showers without a second thought.

If I leave her alone, she gets dangerously unhealthy, so several times a week I make sure she eats and bathes. Taking care of her is basically like taking care of a pet dog.

That dog suddenly pouted, unzipped her tracksuit to her stomach, and pushed out her chest.

“Then, I have to ask! Honami, do you really think a baby could have boobs this BIG?!”

“…BIG?”

When she pushed out her chest, her loose room clothes stretched a little.

Not that it wasn’t there, but calling it BIG was a bit of a stretch…

“…What’s with that face? You think it’s not enough? Do you want to touch and check? I don’t mind if it’s Honami?”

Mio raised the corner of her mouth provocatively and grabbed her nicely shaped chest.

But teasing like this was just normal for her.

“No. I don’t feel anything touching a baby.”

“Hey! Stop calling me a baby!”

Where did that teasing act go?

As soon as she realized I wasn’t taking the bait, she immediately pouted and got mad.

Mio was definitely beautiful, but she didn’t make my heart race.

The lazy, tracksuit-wearing Mio had no hint of sexiness, and I’d seen her face too many times to be impressed by it.

That’s what being childhood friends is like, I guess.

…Still, I wish she could at least take care of herself.

“You… what would you do if I wasn’t here to look after you?”

The thought slipped out before I realized it.

At that moment, time seemed to stop.

“If Honami wasn’t here?”

For some reason, Mio froze completely.

“W-why…? Why… would you say that?”

“Huh?”

“D-d-did I do something wrong…? Did I make Honami hate me…?”

“That.”

“I-I’m s-sorry, I’m sorry? I’ll fix anything bad I did…! Please don’t say that?! You won’t leave, right…? Don’t leave me alone…!”

“No, no, calm down!”

I panicked and shook Mio as she had suddenly started trembling and her eyes had gone unfocused.

“It’s just a hypothetical! I’m not going anywhere!”

“H-hypothetical…?”

As I shook her shoulders, color returned to her pitch-black eyes.

“H-hypothetical? Oh, that. I was just surprised because you said it all of a sudden…”

“No… that’s way too much of a surprise.”

“B-because Honami said it!”

She lightly tapped my shoulders, as if trying to brush them off.

A little awkward, but she seemed to be back to her usual self.

(…This girl. She gets weird sometimes.)

Ever since we were kids, Mio has had moments like this.

Most of the time, it’s just a misunderstanding, and once I clear it up, she’s fine again.

“…Then, I’m heading to school soon. Heat up the food in the fridge. Don’t forget it like last time and pass out.”

“Yes. It’s not a problem. I’m not a baby!”

That’s the kind of lazy, never-ending relationship I have with my genius neighbor and childhood friend.

Our relationship only started to change on this day ―the day I got confessed to.