When I brought my childhood friend back home after a long time, she suddenly started undressing and said, "I want you to hold me..."

It has been about two weeks since the two of us met.

To be precise, it’s been 2 weeks since the ‘night we did the deed’ and about 3 days since the attempted confession.

After our part time jobs, we had several instances where we talked and had dinner together. I tried my best to make things a little less awkward by seeing her more and more frequently after that day.

I may not be sure but I guess, I did my best to close the distance between us, and somehow we were getting closer into a normal romantic atmosphere.

However, life is part two of a series of things that can go wrong anytime.

We decided to meet today, but this time at my house, and it was Aoi’s first time at my place. The place where I live is actually a small six-and-a-half tatami mat apartment room, in which it has almost little to no furniture in it, and it is a bleak room with one bookshelf in the corner and a desk with a laptop placed on top of it.

To begin with I don’t really have any particular hobbies, and most of my books which I read are saved on my tablet. I was often told by Tatsuya that my life isn’t interesting at all, and in my opinion everyone has their own likes and dislikes which they rather change because of others, these are what we call ‘free-spirited’ people.

Aoi, who had come to such a boring and slanderous room, said the same thing;

“There’s nothing in here…”

She said that with a little reluctance, and commented nothing else even though she was disappointed after seeing how I live, she is considerate after all that habit of hers hasn’t changed over the years.

I can also call it like, as expected of my Childhood friend?!

“… Don’t say such things and well, that’s my style.”

“I think my room is much tidier.”

“You are in a delusion if you think it’s cleaned properly.”

If I remember, Aoi’s room was something of a mess. Though we should not interfere much in other people’s lifestyle, that much counter was necessary.

“Hey, I’m cleaning it regularly and the laundry is also properly done.”

“Everybody does the same.”

“Oh, and what about you?”

“I do it properly… and talking about house chores Aoi’s parents were doing everything most of the time, right?”

“… I don’t know what you are talking about.” She said while averting her eyes from mine.

“There is no point in refusing anymore, just admit it.”

“Because… It’s troublesome.”

“It’s just like you, really. Haha~”

When I mutter softly, Aoi glares back at me like usual when she is defeated in a conversation.

These normal conversations are actually relieving.

“I think Sho will tidy it up.”

“But I won’t be here forever though, and is it really necessary?”

“You will get sick at this rate.”

“I wish I was a good boy.”

“… Haa, then I will help you.”

“You are more than welcome.”

The two of us finished eating together, while talking about some silly stories of everyday life. After the dinner comes a relaxing bath, and fortunately as my water bill is of a fixed amount, we can refill the bathtub as much as we want.

“Hey Aoi, you can take a bath first.

“Okay~”

When I called out to Aoi who was in the living room, while cleaning the dishes in the kitchen, she replied in a lazy tone while yawning.

‘Does eating a meal make you that much sleepy? Seriously, she is still just like a baby.’

I looked at Aoi who was rummaging through her backpack and pulling out her change of clothes for the night, which always reminds me of her acting childish every time I see her.

A baby huh. Come to think of it, what we did was also an act of making babies.

‘—Wait, what the hell am I even thinking?!’

Shaking my head, I focused my gaze back to cleaning the remaining dishes.

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Aoi’s humming stopped coming from the bathroom after a few minutes. She wiped her body and came out wearing a change of jersey with a bath towel on her head.

“Are you done?”

When I asked her that, she nodded in reply.

“Alright, then I am going in.”

When my turn came, I immediately washed my body in the shower and immediately soaked myself in the bathtub. Come to think of it, Aoi just used this water, and my imagination started running wild with just a thought and I started feeling dizzy all of a sudden.

After a few seconds, I somehow calmed myself down, and thought about the current matter in hand.

‘Phew… for the time being, I have to do something about it.’

When I asked Tatsuya about the attempted confession, he questioned me seriously if I really liked her.

Certainly, it is true that our relationship has somehow become distorted. But I realized, even if only a little, in today’s world, love is indispensable.

I think that might be the right place to start, without any explanations or misunderstandings.

‘That said… It’s really difficult.”

I am not really sure if I like Aoi or not. When she asked me to ‘hold’ her, both of us were highly influenced by alcohol and didn’t know if we liked each other or not, after meeting for a very long time.

At least I don’t hate her and I think she is very cute and I also wish I could go out with her – not that the thought never crossed my mind. I think we are just as close as we used to be. Even though it started out differently, we sleep together and go out to eat together like this.

But nothing more, nothing less. There was nothing going on between us.

Should we just go on as normal, like usually?

Or should I just say I want to go out with her?

‘No, that would be irresponsible of me, it’s just like trying to justify my actions… Maybe I should start by clarifying whether I like her or not.’

**Sigh.**

If someone asked me if I liked her or not, my reply would be of three types; I do. It’s 50-50. I don’t really hate it.

Then Tatsuya’s words also came to my mind, “You should rather confess your feelings to her.”

My alter egos blossomed in my head in this never-ending discussion. In the end, I couldn’t agree with Tatsuya’s words, and as I decided to continue to explore whether I liked her or not.

—-An unexpected situation came up.

“Hey, on next week’s holiday… why don’t the two of us go to the hot springs?”

The fact that she invited me to go on a trip to a hot spring next week, while showing me the tickets for the hot spring and a hotel that had been reserved for us, was truly an unexpected situation.

No, because…

Do you really think you can make a leap from a silly story like, ‘Bath’s are good, aren’t they?’

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TL & ED : Zenon #4120