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 14

“Excuse me… um, the teacher’s not here?”

I came to the nurse’s office with Momose-san after arriving at school.

It was about thirty minutes before classes started. The teacher in charge wasn’t around. Maybe they were at a staff meeting or something.

“When the teacher’s not here, you’re supposed to just write your name on the list, and it’s fine.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I’m a health committee member, after all.”

She puffed out her chest proudly. Momose-san is a health committee member and a laid-back girl who often gets hurt.

Now that I think about it, I remember being assigned as a health committee member at the start of the year. That must have been back in April… It’s weird that I can remember months ago, but can’t remember what happened yesterday.

Momose-san wrote her name on the list, then looked up at me with just her eyes.

“Um, Honamin. Just to check.”

“Hm?”

“We’re alone… right?”

“…Yeah, we are?”

What’s she suddenly checking?

We’re indeed the only ones here this morning. But the teacher will probably come back soon, and other students might show up too.

I waited a few seconds, unsure how to respond to her expectant look. Momose-san suddenly shook her head in a panic.

“I-I’m sorry…! It’s nothing!”

“Y-yeah.”

I see. It’s nothing.

Just saying “we’re alone” made my heart race a little.

(Ah… Maybe she’s thinking it’s a good chance to hear my answer?)

Yeah, it would be ideal to give my answer to her confession when we’re alone.

I even thought about it while walking this morning, but for some reason… I couldn’t make up my mind. So I had to delay it.

“…I’m sorry, Momose-san. Can I give you my answer after the test?”

“Huh? Ah, yeah. I-It’s fine.”

“…Thank you.”

I already made her wait two days, so I feel bad for delaying it even more.

But when I try to think about my answer, my brain goes all fuzzy, and I can’t think clearly.

(It’s probably because I also need to think about studying.)

So I decided it’s better to wait until after all the tests are done.

Momose-san cleaned her injured foot herself and put on a bandage.

“…Alright. That should take care of the injury.”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

“Thank you for coming with me, too, Honamin.”

“No, no, I didn’t really do anything.”

I really just followed her. She did all the work. I only watched.

“Then… let’s go back to the classroom. We need to study.”

“That’s right. Tomorrow… we have Japanese history and art, right?”

“Yeah…”

Momose-san stood up and suddenly went quiet while staring at me with a strange pause in her expression.

“Momose-san?”

“…Honamin, you’re really kind.”

“Huh?”

“I mean, I was the one who confessed all of a sudden, right? Anyone would think it’d be super awkward. But you’re talking to me like nothing happened.”

“Is that so?”

I try to act as normally as I can. I honestly feel more sorry for delaying my answer. At least I want my attitude to stay steady.

“If you say that, Momose-san likes that too?”

“Me? Well, I’m just happy to be able to talk with you, Honamin.”

Her unexpected words made my heart skip a beat.

She smiled shyly, then looked down for a moment.

“…Right after I confessed, I thought maybe we couldn’t talk anymore, and I felt lonely…”

“‘Lonely’―?”

The moment I heard that, a sound started ringing in my head.

A repetitive myon, myon, myon sound echoed, and I froze.

Lonely.

I made her feel lonely.

At that moment, I knew I had to do <that>.

I grabbed Momose-san’s hand.

“Huh? Honamin?”

“Come here.”

“Huh?”

We sat side by side on the nurse’s office bed.

“That?”

I placed Momose-san’s head on my lap, and she went along with it without a fight.

“—Wait!? I-I’m resting my head on your lap!?”

“…I’m sorry for making you feel lonely, Momose-san.”

I placed my hand on her head.

“W-what… does this mean!?”

“Eh? Well.. It’s just that when someone feels lonely, you’re supposed to pat their head…”

“Y-you can’t just say that with such a calm face!?”

I didn’t know what to do either, so I gently patted her head to help her calm down.

Momose-san covered her face with her hands like she was hiding.

“…I don’t get you at all, Honamin…”

“Well… I don’t really get myself either. I worry about my future dreams and stuff.”

“We’re not talking about that…”

Her voice was weak. She sighed and let me do as I pleased.

“Honamin… do you remember you said you wanted to ask me something on the train?”

“Yeah…”

Yeah, I think we briefly talked about something like that before.

Momose-san moved her hands and looked up at me.

“…What are you planning to do after the tests?”

Plans after the test plans?

I don’t really have anything in mind.

Maybe just showing Mio and Prikle up a little?

“…I don’t really have any plans.”

“Then… let’s go on a date.”

“Huh?”

My hand froze while I was still patting her head.

Momose-san was looking straight at me.

“Then, let’s go on a date.”

“Y-yeah, I can hear you even if you don’t say it so clearly.”

“…You’re going to give me your answer after the tests, right?”

“That’s the plan.”

She looked up at me with hopeful eyes.

“Then. Let’s go on a date, and you can tell me there.”

“W-why there?”

“I confessed on impulse… I feel like I messed up the order. We’ve never gone out together before. Honestly, I’ve always wanted to spend time going out with you, Honamin.”

Her gaze was so shy that I quickly looked away.

“Honamin… are you embarrassed?”

“…N-no, not really.”

“Liar.”

She pointed at me with a big grin.

But if we’re talking about lying… her ears were bright red too.

“By the way, the Prikle movie is starting this Sunday.”

“Really? I might want to go see that.”

“Let’s go. Just the two of us.”

Momose-san grabbed my hand while I was still patting her head.

I was a little surprised.

But I was glad for the invitation. It seemed like perfect timing.

“Alright, let’s go to a movie-watching party.”

“Movie watching party?”

“…I couldn’t say the date out loud.”

“Hehe, that’s fine. The name doesn’t matter but.”

Suddenly, her pinky hooked around mine above my head.

Even though she couldn’t see it, she was really skillful.

“It’s a promise.”

I realized I hadn’t patted her head at all.

I should have patted it since I made her feel lonely.

And just like that, we made a promise to go see the Prikle movie after the tests.

I didn’t even notice the strange sound coming from the stuffed animal on the backpack beside the bed.