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 19

◆ “Shinonome Mio”

—This morning, after I saw Honami off.

I kept listening to the conversation between Honami and a girl I didn’t know.

Their voices came through my earphones, the sound of the two of them talking on the train.

“I’m sorry for being so close like this. I’ll move away once there aren’t so many people.”

“…You’ll move away?”

“Huh?”

My childhood friend was riding the train with a girl who had a cute voice.

“…Even though you did that thing yesterday.”

“…Huh?”

Hearing their words made a dull pain spread deep in my chest. It wouldn’t stop.

(Why…)

Why are you riding the train with Honami?

Why are you talking with him like you’re having fun?

(That’s where I’m supposed to be…)

I know these feelings aren’t fair.

But still, I felt jealous.

I want to be by Honami’s side all the time. I want to ride the train with him again, talk about silly things, and walk into the classroom together. I want to link arms with him without asking and get scolded for it.

But I’m shut inside my house.

Just thinking about going outside makes my heart race. My vision shakes and turns white.

I can’t go to where Honami is.

(…Even just listening to this is pretty hard.)

I leaned forward on my desk and buried my face in my arms.

But it wasn’t over yet.

This was still the easy part.

◆

After that, the girl got hurt on the train, and the two of them moved to the nurse’s office.

It didn’t look like a serious injury, but Honami seemed to take her there a little forcefully.

(…It’s just a small injury. She didn’t have to worry so much.)

When Honami is kind to other girls, I can’t help feeling jealous.

(…But I guess that’s one of the good things about him.)

Still, it hurts that his kindness isn’t aimed at me.

I followed what was happening with mixed feelings, and then I froze when I suddenly heard these words.

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

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

“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!?”

“…Huh?”

(Is this ―Hypnosis?)

Honami was letting a girl I didn’t know rest her head on his lap, and he was gently patting her head.

I felt the blood drain from my face.

“―No way.”

This was a huge mistake. The hypnosis app hadn’t worked the way it should have.

Something was wrong with the commands. It was reacting to someone other than me. This was the worst.

I pulled one earphone out and gripped it tightly. My weak arms couldn’t break it, but I hoped something would happen to the main device. This was the only thing I could do from my room.

That hope was crushed. The two of them kept talking, not noticing anything at all.

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

“…I don’t really have any plans.”

“Then let’s go on a date.”

A date…?

“Alright, let’s go.”

“Yeah. It’s a promise.”

It seemed like their conversation was over. But I felt terrible.

My reflection on the monitor looked awful.

“…Why did it turn out like this…”

I never imagined that Honami’s hypnosis would work on someone other than me.

◆

I don’t remember much of what happened after that.

I think I talked with senpai, but nothing as urgent as what happened with my classmate.

I only panicked once, when a stuffed toy was pulled out.

After Honami left the club room, I took off the earphones and hid them in a drawer.

I had watched the situation more than enough.

Now, I looked at the cause of the tight pain in my chest on my phone.

(The hypnosis app… it was bugged.)

I made the app in a rush, staying up all night. Of course, it hadn’t been tested enough.

And it seems the worst possible problem has happened.

I grabbed my hair and messed it up.

“Idiot… I’m such an idiot… ugh…”

If someone is to blame, it’s only me.

I’m the one who made the hypnosis app. I’m the one who used it.

That’s why it feels so awful. These dirty and muddy feelings have nowhere to go.

But I can’t keep groaning like a zombie forever.

“…Ah, Honami will be here soon…”

I don’t even have time to calm these feelings down. Honami will come home any moment.

When that happens ―What should I do?

(I can put the issue with senpai aside for now.)

The real problem is the girl who confessed.

The two of them had promised to go on a date.

Then, a thought came to me.

(Wait ―Wasn’t that promise made because of my hypnosis?)

Thinking back, they were supposed to split up at the nurse’s office.

But the hypnosis I used happened to activate, and after that, they promised to go on a date.

So if the hypnosis hadn’t worked, there wouldn’t have been any date promise.

(Then isn’t it fine to pretend it never happened?)

I nodded to myself.

Oh. That’s fine then. Really.

If I do nothing, then nothing happens.

I’m just putting things back the way they were.

When I touched my mouth, I noticed it had curved up like a thin smile.

(Is he coming back soon?)

Just like yesterday, I decided to wait for Honami at the front door.

Today was one of the days he cooks for me, so he would stop by on his way home.

When I once said it was fine since it was test season, he scolded me and said, “You’d skip meals if I didn’t come.” So in the end, he still came.

…If he had refused, I would have had no choice but to watch their date from far away.

(—I can do whatever I want.)

I rolled my phone around in my hand.

Ding-dong, the doorbell rang. The lock turned.

Honami came.

“…Excuse me for coming in. Eh… Mio? Are you there again? At least turn on the lights.”

“Yeah. Honami… um.”

“Hm?”

With a faint smile, I showed him the screen I had prepared.

“Welcome back.”

◇

“―Huh?”

Before I knew it, I was at Mio’s house.

It felt like I was slowly waking up from sleep, and my mind started to clear.

“…Was I spacing out or something?”

“Hm? What’s wrong, Honami?”

“No…”

I turned toward the voice and saw Mio lying on the sofa, and she was playing a mobile game.

This was Mio’s living room.

I was still in my school uniform, sitting on a chair.

Right. I had been studying for tests in the club room. After that, I thought I needed to go home and make food for Mio, so I left and then… Huh?

(…I remember the distance was short, but I don’t remember it at all.)

I remember unlocking the door with the spare key.

And then, before I knew it, I was sitting on this chair in the living room.

…This wasn’t just a lack of sleep.

I also felt strangely tired.

“By the way…”

While I was tilting my head in confusion, Mio spoke without looking away from her phone.

“Do you remember our promise for this Sunday?”

“A promise…? …Ah.”

When I searched my memory, something vague came up.

“—I had a date planned with you, Mio.”

The corner of Mio’s mouth lifted.

“That’s right, that’s right. You remember perfectly!”

“…But a date? Why was it again? Isn’t it the same as usual?”

“There’s such a thing as a home date, right? Let’s do that.”

“Is it really something we need to make special plans for…?”

Now that I think about it, I had put in a strange plan.

The Sunday after tests were over, I was going on a date with Mio.

When I opened my phone’s calendar, there it was, “Date with Mio.”

…I really wrote this down myself. I must have been really looking forward to it.

“I’m excited, Honami.”

“…Yeah.”

Mio was smiling beautifully.

But my head felt uneasy, like something was wrong.

Wasn’t there something off?

But I couldn’t remember.

“I can’t remember.”

I shook my head.

If it were called a date, maybe I should do something special.

Thinking about what to do, I stood up to start making dinner.