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

I came to school, but my head feels really fuzzy.

I’d usually be ordered around without question to do chores or errands, but today everyone looked at me with concern. “Are you okay, President?” “You’re spacing out.” “The teacher asked me to tell you to come get the handouts.” If they’re really worried, they could go get them instead of me, though.

It’s not like I’m sick.

I’m slow to react and seem absent-minded, partly because of lack of sleep, but mostly because yesterday’s events are still on my mind.

(…I got confessed to.)

And the person is in my class.

When I glanced over, Momose-san was looking at me too. Our eyes met, and we quickly looked away like nothing happened.

Even though I want to avoid looking at her, my eyes keep drifting to her without meaning to. And when that happens, she’s looking at me too and quickly looks away.

It’s happened a few times, and it’s super tense.

(…We’re not magnets.)

It’s embarrassing, but more than that, if we act in this unnatural way, people might start wondering what’s going on.

Momose-san is probably staring because she’s waiting for my answer.

…But the truth is, I still haven’t decided what to say.

(I should at least let her know it’s on hold.)

Realizing that, I secretly sent her a message.

“About my answer, can I have a little more time to think? I’m sorry for making you wait.”

“I’ll give you an answer soon.”

Momose-san seemed to notice right away and sent back a sticker of a little cartoon cat saying, “OK!”

Maybe that’ll make the wait feel a little shorter.

While I was doing that, the lunch bell rang.

I took out the lunch I’d made and headed to the rooftop like usual.

(…She probably won’t come today.)

We sometimes eat together, but not every day.

Momose-san has lots of friends, unlike me.

There’s no way she’d come to eat with me just after yesterday.

—Or so I thought.

◇

“Ah… ahaha…”

“…M-Momose-san?”

“Uh, I’m sorry, Honamin… can I sit and eat with you…?”

Momose-san came up to the rooftop and looked super awkward while lunch was going on.

“T-that’s fine.”

“I’m really sorry… haaaah~~!”

She sat down next to me, her face bright red, pressing her lips together like she was trying not to say something.

“…Are you two always together?”

Momose-san usually eats lunch with two friends. I thought she’d be with them today.

“Y-Yeah… um, don’t laugh, okay?”

“…What is it?”

“Today… I kept looking at you a lot, Honamin.”

She looked embarrassed.

Well, that’s right. She did look at me a lot.

“T-that’s true.”

“After you sent the message, I calmed down, but my friends noticed I kept staring at you…”

Even when she looked, she got noticed by her friends. Momose-san buried her face in her hands.

“And then… they said stuff like, ‘You’re not going to sit with your beloved president today?’ or ‘You’re always giving such intense looks’…!”

…O-ouch!

I felt kind of bad for her, but one word caught my attention, and I couldn’t help asking.

“…Today? Always?”

“Exactly! Isn’t that awful!? They’d noticed the whole time!”

They’d noticed the whole time.

So that means this kind of thing had been happening for a while.

“I got embarrassed and ran away, but I didn’t know where to go…!”

“…I-I see.”

Hearing that out of nowhere made my heart race even more.

I’d already been confessed to. It’s hard to act normal now.

I thought she could have run somewhere with no one around… but coming here like this, Momose-san must’ve been panicking too.

“…I’m sorry, Honamin. Just tell me if it’s awkward.”

“No, it’s fine… or rather?”

“What is it?”

“Aren’t those the two friends you were talking about?”

At the rooftop door, two girls peeked in and were grinning as they watched us.

“…W-why are you here!?”

Momose-san ran to shoo them away.

But they just giggled and teased, “You two are so lovey-dovey” or “It’s cold, can we join to keep you warm?” and dodged her. I don’t think keeping warm like that is really possible.

◇

After that, Momose-san came back, and we spent the rest of lunch talking.

At first, it was a bit awkward, but after getting caught up in the chaos with those two girls, the tension had eased a little. That helped a lot.

Before I knew it, lunch break was almost over.

“―Ah… the bell’s about to ring. Should we head back?”

Other students on the rooftop started disappearing toward the door. Momose-san’s friends had had their fun teasing a bit and left, too. Soon, everyone else was gone.

At this moment, it was just the two of us on the rooftop.

“Yeah… Then, I guess I’ll head back soon, m-maybe…?”

Huh?

There’s no one else here?

“…Honamin? Why did you stop all of a sudden?”

A silly little sound rang in my head.

Right. This situation… It’s just the two of us.

Then there’s something I should do.

If it’s just the two of us, then I have to do this.

I stepped closer, wrapped my arms around Momose-san’s back, and hugged her.

“Eh!? H-Honamin!?”

She shouted in surprise and tilted her head.