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

◆ “Shinonome Mio”

The hypnosis worked perfectly.

Since coming home, Honami has been holding me exactly like I told him to.

But I still don’t feel happy.

Apparently, he was with another girl today.

Whether it’s luck or not, I noticed a different scent mixed in because we hugged.

(Honami, he’s actually pretty popular…)

The moment I thought that, my chest tightened.

(I should have asked him sooner.)

Honami usually doesn’t talk much about school.

I didn’t really want to hear about school myself, since I don’t have many good memories there. I thought I didn’t need to hear about it at all, but now I wish I’d listened, even if I had to endure it.

“Honami, you’re popular.”

“…No, I’m not really. Except with Momose-san… Hey, this pizza’s hard to eat. Can you move a bit?”

I’m sitting on Honami’s lap, eating the pizza we ordered online.

It’s the kind that stretches cheese, so sitting on his lap makes it tricky for him.

“No. I’m not done yet.”

“…Don’t complain if it gets on me.”

“Then maybe you can wash it off in the bath for me.”

“…I’ll eat carefully so it doesn’t get on me.”

While enjoying Honami pressing against my back, I replayed what he told me in my head.

Apparently, he has two girls he’s close with at school.

One of them confessed to him, and the other was the student council president.

(Student council president… he actually talks to someone like that?)

They just happened to be in the same club, but he seems to get a lot of help from her.

I also heard about the girl who confessed. They apparently got close talking about Prikle. I’m the one who suggested Prikle to him…

“Honami… do you want to be my kept man?”

When I asked, Honami coughed a little. He didn’t spill anything. Good boy.

“W-what’s with that all of a sudden?”

“I’m sorry, I misspoke. I’ll pay you, but don’t go to school. Do all the housework instead. Think of it like a part-time job. Life experience. What do you think? And you get an insanely beautiful girl too, right now.”

“…Whether taking care of you counts as life experience is questionable… And that’s basically being a kept man.”

I’m a little happy he didn’t make fun of me. Maybe he’s just exasperated.

I pushed a little more upon seeing his troubled expression.

“I think it’s a win-win, don’t you think…?”

I said it jokingly, but with a little seriousness.

If he nodded, it would be easy. I’d make sure Honami’s life is secure forever, and my own peace of mind would be guaranteed, too. If money could handle that, there’d be no problem at all.

But Honami still frowned.

“No… I’ll still go to school. Besides, I already take care of you every day.”

“…T-that makes sense.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing at all~”

I ignored Honami’s suspicious look and took a bite of the leftover pizza.

If he just nodded, I wouldn’t even need the hypnosis app.

I could probably earn as much money as I wanted if I tried.

But money alone isn’t enough.

I have to make sure no one takes Honami away.

(I do have a backup… but.)

I’ve spent more time with Honami than anyone else.

And I even have the secret weapon, the hypnosis app.

With that, the hypnotized Honami would obey only me.

But I still can’t feel completely safe.

At school, Honami is completely unknown to me.

…I hate the outside world.

But I want to know about the places where Honami is.

(Maybe I should push myself a little and try to find out.)

◆

I spent the whole time clinging to Honami until it was time to sleep.

We did housework together, and I helped him with the tricky parts of his homework.

Right after he came home, my chest felt all heavy and uneasy, but being hugged from both the front and back made me feel like we were newlyweds. It actually made me feel really happy.

Honami sat on my bed as he was ready for bed.

“Alright, time to sleep, Mio.”

“Yeah. Hug me tight, okay?”

“Yes, yes…”

He sighed like he had no choice and spread his arms.

I jumped into the bed with a thump. Even though he grumbled, he hugged me. It made me happy, like when we were kids.

I turned off the lights.

(I wish we could do this every day.)

I thought that, but we can’t just keep hugging forever.

It would ruin Honami’s life.

(I have to make sure the hypnosis is safe enough so he won’t get mad if he finds out…)

There are some things I absolutely can’t make him do with hypnosis.

For example, something like “Don’t go to school and just live here.” Forcing that with hypnosis would be like keeping him locked up. It would destroy his daily life.

I also can’t make him reject the girl who confessed to him with a hypnosis command like “Tell her you hate her.” If that were found out, Honami might reject me instead.

(I really don’t want Honami to hate me.)

The hypnosis app isn’t perfect. I can only use it in ways that are safe if he notices.

—At least, for now.

(I don’t even know how long the hypnosis will last…)

I also need to test how long it works. I have to check if Honami remembers anything after it ends.

(So much stuff to do.)

While I was thinking about all that, I noticed that Honami had started to breathe softly in his sleep.

“Honami?”

“…”

“Did you fall asleep?”

“…”

Honami’s sleeping face as he was breathing gently has always been cute ever since we were little.