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

◆ “Momose Nanaka”

This morning.

When I woke up, there was a message from the student council president.

“Nanaka-chan, meet here after school today.”

I rubbed my heavy and sleepy head while wondering what it was about, and then I remembered that we had formed an alliance.

(Wait, the alliance actually works…)

I looked at the message and felt kind of impressed.

We had just formed the alliance yesterday, so I wasn’t sure if it was serious or just a joke. But the president seemed to want it to actually work.

The place she told me to meet at was the same café as before.

“I’ll go, but what are we supposed to do?”

“You’ll get to meet Honami-kun alone.”

“Eh?”

My eyes got stuck on the message that popped up.

“W-What does this mean…?”

“It’s the first mission of the alliance. I’ll talk with Mio-san, so you can have your fill of time talking with Honami-kun.”

Even though I just muttered to myself, it was like the message was answering me.

No, no, this is.

It’s really sudden. Actually, it’s super sudden.

But… I do want to talk to him.

About confessing my feelings—.

(…Is this too fast?)

The first thing I think about is confessing. But I’m not even sure if Honami understands the situation.

(Probably, Shinonome-san doesn’t know that Honami and I are meeting… right?)

It seems like Shinonome-san doesn’t want me to get close to Honamin. I could tell when we were in the classroom. She subtly keeps Honamin away from me. It might look natural to others, but I notice because I’m the one involved.

So I thought I wouldn’t get a chance to talk with Honamin for a while…

(How did the president manage this?)

I don’t know how she did it. But she probably called both of us in a surprise way.

…But a surprise is fine. I’ll use this chance.

“Not just about confessing… the classroom feels different too.”

Since Shinonome-san came to our class, some relationships feel tense. My friends are especially watching her closely.

Honamin and I used to talk a lot. Then this childhood friend suddenly appeared. For some reason, she acts as if she hates me. My friends notice it and glare at her like, what’s her problem?

(I’m not really comfortable with Shinonome-san either… I guess I’m kind of jealous.)

She has things I don’t. Being Honamin’s childhood friend is so unfair. I wish I could live next door, too.

But even if I felt that way… I didn’t want to make the atmosphere awkward.

(I should ask him.)

Honamin probably hasn’t noticed this tense feeling yet. The people who dislike Shinonome-san are around me, so he, on the other side, probably hasn’t felt it.

(…I just have to go for it.)

So, after school, I headed to the café where the president told me to meet.

◆ “Shinonome Mio”

―The moment I realized I’d been tricked by senpai, I couldn’t help but stand up.

“I’m leaving.”

“…Whoa, calm down. Where are you going?”

Senpai didn’t look surprised at all, just wiggling her fork.

When she said that, I realized I didn’t actually have anywhere in mind.

“…I’ll call Honami.”

“Then you don’t need to stand up to do that.”

She was right. It annoyed me, but I sat back down and called him.

One ring. Two rings. —And then he hung up during the third.

“…Huh?”

“It’s not that unusual. There are plenty of times when he can’t pick up.”

That was true. It wasn’t that strange for Honami to miss a call.

But now it feels weird.

Senpai trapped me here, and if she had someone else ready, it would be Momose-san. So it’s very likely that Momose-san and Honami are together. The two of them? Again? No. I can’t. My heart tightens. What if Honami abandons me? I don’t want him to go yet.

Senpai’s tart was almost half gone.

“You look like a puppy that got left behind.”

“…”

“Are you really that worried that your childhood friend is with someone else?”

She smiled while wiggling her fork.

Of course I’m worried! What is she saying? Ugh, I should’ve given him the stuffed toy with headphones as I thought.

I stabbed the tart with my fork and broke it.

I can’t just sit here feeling anxious. It’s my own fault I got dragged into this. Fine. I’ll try to figure out more about her while I can.

“…Why did you have to do something like a surprise attack?”

“I have a few reasons. One is a thank-you for forming an alliance with Nanaka-chan.”

“Alliance?”

“An alliance to win over Honami-kun. I think if the two of us work together, we can probably do it.”

“…Huh?”

The tart I was about to eat slipped from my fork and fell onto the plate.

“Do you want to join too, Mio-san?”

I could only move my mouth.

“Of course not.”

“I see. If you joined, we could’ve surrounded Honami-kun and made a little harem right away.”

“He’d hate that.”

“Would he? I think the more cute girls there are, the better.”

Not hate exactly, Honami would probably just be confused. But I personally don’t want to see him surrounded like that.

“So that’s your reason?”

“That was one of two… Thank-you to Nanaka-chan, and inviting Mio-san. Well, that invite failed.”

“Obviously.”

I was surprised about the alliance, but thinking calmly, it wasn’t really a bad thing for me either.

After all, I’d already thought of the two of them as rivals, and even friends sometimes get in each other’s way.

Or maybe Momose-san is the one being used more cleverly than anyone.

“Also, there’s something I want to ask you, Mio-san.”

I ate some of the tart without saying anything.

“Before coming to school today, what did you do to Honami-kun?”

Ah, that’s what this is about.

I noticed the smartphone at the edge of my view. I had just tried calling him, so it was lying face down on the table. Even if she checked some app, she probably wouldn’t figure anything out.

“What do you mean?”

“Honami-kun suddenly acted weird earlier. You’re probably the only one who could do something like that? …Hizumi Mio-san.”

I froze.

I had been planning to ignore whatever she said, but that name hit me too hard to just let go.

“…That person doesn’t exist anymore.”

“Hizumi Mio. You were on TV a long time ago, right? I didn’t recognize you at first because the name’s different now.”

It’s my old name.

After my parents divorced, I took my mother’s maiden name and became Shinonome.

“Does that have anything to do with this?”

“I think it does.”

Senpai continued.

“Mio-san’s dad’s company once became famous for selling beauty products. The brand name was… ‘Psyche.’”

The moment I heard that, my vision shook a little.

…Huh?

“‘Psyche’ was a popular new beauty brand. But after a few years, it got into trouble and disappeared.”

What is she talking about?

I closed my eyes to ignore it for a moment.

“That was because they used some shady methods on the sales pages. For example, a message flashes for just a tiny fraction of a second when you scroll. It was too fast for the brain to notice, but it pushes you to buy. It’s called subliminal messaging.”

“…”

“There was also a quiet sound on the page that made people feel rushed. It basically made users think, ‘If I don’t buy now, it’ll be gone.’”

“…”

“When all that got exposed, ‘Psyche’ went down. They used all sorts of tech, but it was all for bad purposes. Hey—”

I opened my eyes and met senpai’s gaze, piercing deep like she was looking into my soul.

“If it’s you, Mio-san, couldn’t you take your dad’s company’s tech and use it? ―Maybe even to manipulate people?”

“…”

There was a loud clatter, and I realized I had stood up without thinking.

Senpai murmured and sounded a little worried.

“…Are you okay?”

I wanted to say something back.

I stood up to respond, but no words came out. That memory was buried, lost in a thick fog.