Innocence That Doesn’t Even Last Ten Seconds

“What’s wrong, Sei-kun? Calling me here out of the blue.”

“Ah, yeah… There’s something I wanted to say….”

About thirty minutes after sending the email to Mari.

I summoned Mari to the back of the school building after class, with a certain resolve in my heart.

It was about a month ago that I confessed to her here.

We faced each other, engaging in a similar conversation to that time.

“I was surprised to get your call out of the blue, since you said you were going home today.”

Mari smiled happily as she said those words.

It was as if she had been waiting for this moment, and a gentle breeze blew, gently lifting her hair.

“…”

I was taken aback by her stunning beauty and held my breath.

Mari was indeed beautiful. After a certain point, her innate, pure beauty had blossomed like a flower. She had a modest and pure beauty that was unique to her.

“Sei-kun?”

Perhaps sensing my surprise, as if wondering why I was struck and at a loss for words, she took two or three steps closer to me, peering into my face and calling my name.

Called by my name, I snapped out of it.

“S-sorry. I was just… lost in thought.”

“Huh? Weird Sei-kun.”

Mari giggled.

I gathered my courage and continued speaking.

“Mari—I have something important to tell you!”

“Something important?”

Mari tilted her head at my words.

“It’s quite sudden, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. I was actually planning to talk about this tomorrow, but I think I’ll get scared and won’t be able to talk about it tomorrow, so I’m going to talk about it today! Will you listen to me?”

“Yeah, tell me.”

Despite the sudden nature of the conversation, Mari smiled and said so.

Her reaction made me feel a little guilty.

“Umm, really? I mean, I can’t help but say this myself, but normally, if someone suddenly said something like this, I think they’d be more cautious or confused… “

I couldn’t help but say that myself.

But Mari shook her head with a bright expression and said,

“An important conversation is basically about this, right? Like when will we officially register your marriage, or how we’ll handle the wedding gifts, and then the discussion about how many children we want and what their names will be. Oh, by the way, I want at least three kids!”

A really unexpected reply.

“Huh!?”

“…Sei-kun, do you not like the idea of having three children? But, well, it’s not that I want to have children right away. I was just thinking that I wanted to enjoy having some time alone with just the two of us for about ten years or so… But then again, if it’s with you, Sei-kun, I feel like we could have a lively and happy family, and that makes it such a tough decision… Hmm? Wait, Sei-kun, why are you making a strange face? What’s wrong?”

“I mean, I can’t really…”

It seemed that the phrase important conversation had led to a massive misunderstanding between Mari and me, with each of us interpreting it in vastly different ways.

“Umm, Mari. This time, it’s not that kind of talk… It’s more like a super personal, selfish, and egotistical talk of mine…”

“Sei-kun’s personal, selfish, and egotistical… kink!?”

“It’s not that!”

I wonder if your brain is all pink?

“But being treated selfishly and roughly by Sei-kun in that way… well, that has its own kind of appeal, don’t you think?!”

“I said it’s not that!”

Also, please stop casually revealing your personal kinks.

“Me, captured. Sei-kun with a lewd smile. I’m drugged and can’t move, and I can’t resist as I’m tormented by Sei-kun… Oh, I prefer drugs to restraints! If that makes me three thousand times more sensitive, even better!”

“Seriously, come on…”

This perverted beast really doesn’t listen to anyone once she gets going.

“Anyway, um, yeah, let me get back to the point. Mari, I want you to hear my personal story. I’m sorry if it’s not what you were expecting.”

“…”

“Will you listen to it?”

“…Yeah, I understand. I’ll listen for now, okay?”

Finally, Mari seemed ready to listen to my story.

“Let’s sit down.”

“Okay.”

I encouraged her, and we sat side by side on the concrete step at the back of the school building.

… Okay. Finally, the atmosphere is right to start the conversation.

“Umm, you see. My story is about… this.”

I pushed the paper bag I had brought in front of Mari and started like that.

The paper bag was quite heavy. Mari looked inside and made a “what’s this?” expression.

I continued speaking to her.

“You see. That’s all the manga I drew a long time ago. I was trying to imitate Mari… sorry, that’s a lie. I was trying to show off to Mari, saying, “I can do it too,” but I was so bad at it, and it didn’t look cool, so I thought I couldn’t show it to Mari, and I’ve been keeping it sealed until today. Back then, I thought of Mari as a rival or something… but really, I really just wanted to show off to the girl I liked, and I was drawing manga to show off to Mari. I think there was also jealousy or envy. When I read the manga Mari drew for the first time, I thought it was amazing, but I also felt envious. I thought it was unfair that she had talent and could do amazing things, unlike me.”

I felt like my story was getting a bit muddled.

“I don’t know, anyway. Mari is amazing. When I first realized that, I thought she would go far away, so I panicked and tried to catch up with her, and I tried to draw manga too, but it didn’t work, and I tried hard, but it didn’t work, and it was so lame. Then I tried to pretend I forgot about it, but that wasn’t cool either… Anyway, I mean, well, yeah. That’s how it was. I think you once said I was “beautiful,” but I’m not like that at all. So, um, well…”

I couldn’t quite put my thoughts together.

But those words somehow came out smoothly.

“I’m sorry for hiding these lame parts of me from you all this time.”

I bowed my head to Mari.

I was afraid of what her reaction would be, and I was afraid to lift my head.

Also, I hadn’t finished saying everything I wanted to say.

I had to talk to Mari about something important, taking into account what I had just told her.

“Oh, sorry, Sei-kun. I knew.”

“Huh? You knew?”

“Yeah. I actually knew you were drawing manga, you know? With a surveillance camera—ah”

“Surveillance camera!?”

Mari covered her mouth, as if she had said something she shouldn’t have.

But the words that came out of her mouth knocked out my serious side in an instant.

“Wait! Wait! Wait! What surveillance camera?”

“Ah, yes, I think it’s the surveillance camera you’re imagining…”

“A camera to spy on my private life?”

“Ah, yes, as you imagine…”

“Huh… huh…”

“Actually, my hobby is taking secret photos of Sei-kun…”

That’s why I thought Mari had so many photos of me that I didn’t remember taking!

“Oh, no! But I didn’t leak them! It’s okay! I only used them for personal use!”

“What do you mean by personal use?”

“Of course, for masturbatio—”

“Sorry, I mean, never mind! I’m scared to hear it!”

I mean, I’ve been having a heart-to-heart with someone who knew everything about me this whole time!

Wait, that’s so embarrassing I want to die…

I covered my face with my hands and buried my head between my knees.

I could sense Mari’s confusion next to me, but I couldn’t think about that now. I was just too embarrassed; my face felt like it was on fire.

“So, Mari knew everything?”

“Umm, yeah. Hehe, I was watching your private life, thinking I could watch it forever.”

“I so want to die.”

Like when I was a high school student and secretly reenacted the cool scenes from the Nichi Asa drama in my room.

Or when I held a self-masturbation marathon, wrapping myself in tissues, trying to test my limits, while my family was away.

Or when I was struggling with whether to confess to Mari, writing love poems to her and reading them aloud in my room.

“She saw everything.”

“I was thinking, ‘I love Sei-kun so much’ while watching it.”

“Someone, please kiiiiiiiiiill meeeeeeeeee!” [TL: uwaaa, i’m getting second-hand embarrassment from reading this…..]

A painful moan… echoed through the back of the school building.