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

After parting ways with Kirisaka-senpai, I couldn’t stop thinking about Mio.

(…Have I been a burden to Mio?)

After lunch.

In class, the teacher’s words didn’t reach me at all.

What Kirisaka-senpai said kept spinning around in my head.

—Maybe she could have managed to try on her own.

—But if someone is always there to help, she doesn’t need to use that strength.

(I’ve never thought about it like that…)

Ever since we were kids, Mio has always been part of my everyday life.

I thought it was normal to be by her side and take care of her.

I was doing it to help her, but what if it wasn’t about that?

(Should I stop taking care of her?)

Senpai said, “Let myself be a little freer.”

What does freedom really mean?

When I’m with Mio, do I look like I’m tied down?

Right now, Mio is sitting next to me with her head down and looks sad.

She’s not paying attention to class either, but for a different reason than I am.

I wonder what’s wrong.

I’m worried, but I just got told I might be helping too much.

Before stepping in, I should pause for a moment.

Whatever happens…

(…The reply to her confession?)

There’s a lot to think about. But the most important thing right now is the confession.

When we talked about it yesterday, I was honestly leaning toward saying no.

Momose-san is really charming.

But even if I said yes, I feel like I’d still have to take care of Mio like before.

I can’t imagine Momose-san smiling and agreeing to that.

Because Mio is here, I thought I’d have to say no.

But Kirisaka-senpai told me not to use Mio as an excuse.

While I was thinking, the bell rang.

A message came on my phone.

“Is the rooftop okay?”

Of course, it was Momose-san.

I looked at her, and she was packing up her things quickly.

As she left the classroom, she glanced at me, then quickly looked away.

I got up casually too.

Mio still kept her head down. I thought about saying something, but it might make her suspicious, so I didn’t.

(The reply―)

In the end, I didn’t say anything and headed to the rooftop.

As I climbed the stairs, old memories came back to me.

◇

When I reached the rooftop, Momose-san was standing alone by the fence.

When she saw me, she smiled shyly and walked over.

“I wasn’t sure where to go.”

She gave a little embarrassed laugh, even more shy than usual.

I thought the word adorable really fit her.

She had a cute face, and everyone liked her.

“Um, thank you for coming even though it’s so sudden.”

“No, it’s fine.”

“…Yeah, thank you… um—”

She paused while looking down and tried hard to find the right words.

I just waited quietly for her to continue.

“Um, I’m sorry. I don’t plan to take too much of your time.”

“It’s totally fine.”

Momose-san took a deep breath, her hands gripping her uniform near her chest.

Her nervousness was so close, it made my heart beat faster.

“Honamin, do you remember the time you helped me before?”

“…Huh?”

“When I dropped my Prikle keychain, and a boy from the next class picked it up…”

“Oh! I remember. That was when I… Um, recited that line from memory?”

That was a little embarrassing.

A boy from the next class found her Prikle keychain and teased her, and said only nerds would have it. I had to step in.

“Yeah. After that, we started talking more.”

“Yeah.”

“And before I knew it… I… kept looking at you.”

“…Yeah.”

“So… what I want to say is…”

Her eyes trembled.

They were wet with emotion.

She didn’t look away as she was ready to let me see her feelings.

“I like you. Will you go out with me?”

Momose-san was a really good person.

Maybe just calling Momose-san a good person is too simple, but she was bright, wonderful, and the kind of person anyone would like at first sight.

“…Honestly, I always thought Momose-san and I wouldn’t really get along. Not because I dislike you, but because we live in different worlds.”

“Yeah.”

“There were always lots of people around Momose-san, but that’s not really my world. If I didn’t have the title of student council president, I’d probably be alone.”

I wasn’t really good with people in general.

People called me the president in a friendly way, but that was because of the title and not because they really knew me.

“But Momose-san… you even talked to me. And the time we spent together was really fun.”

“…Yeah.”

Ah. I can’t do it.

My voice betrayed me and gave away my answer.

I figured it wasn’t fair to make her wait any longer, so I bowed my head.

“…I’m sorry. I can’t go out with you.”

“…Yeah.”

Momose-san whispered like she was half asleep, then nodded again.

“…Is it because of Shinonome-san?”

“…Something like that.”

Thinking about freedom, I realized something.

I’ve always been by Mio’s side.

Was it painful to live like that? Not really, though sometimes it was hard or annoying.

But if I stopped, I’d probably just get stuck.

“I probably couldn’t live without Mio.”

Why did I keep taking care of her?

Why did I keep helping my troublesome, clumsy, and hopeless childhood friend?

Some part of me was saved by doing it over and over again.

“…I guess I had a feeling about that.”

She gave a sad little smile. Her expression looked like her emotions hadn’t caught up yet.

“I hope we can still be friends.”

“Of course… same here.”

From tomorrow, things will be different. It might feel awkward, but we’d just spend time together as friends. We’d slowly build a new kind of relationship.

At least, that’s how it should have gone.

But at that moment, something happened. A myon, myon, myon sound started ringing in my head.

“…Huh?”

Even though I didn’t remember it, it sounded familiar.

(What is this?)

At the same time, an obsessive command suddenly popped into my head.

—“To hug you until we’re satisfied whenever we’re alone.”

“N-no… I’m sorry, Momose-san!”

“Eh… Ho-Honamin!?”

My body forced me to hug Momose-san.

And at the absolute worst moment… The rooftop door opened.

“Huh?”