"You can't kiss me can you?" When I accepted my childhood friends challenge, she unexpectedly softened and is acting like a love-struck girl [Dropped]

“There is no way I can get it back from there, you idiot!”

Upon Ibuki’s angry outburst, Airi deliberately tilted her head in an exaggerated manner.

“Oh? Why do you think so?”

“W-Well, that’s… if I were to search in such a place…”

“Even though we’re childhood friends…? Are you conscious of me as a member of opposite s*x?”

Airi said, with a provocative smile on her face.

With this, Ibuki became convinced.

That all this act was revenge for the “Kabedon” incident from before.

“Come on, can’t you do it?”

Airi’s face blushed slightly.

…She seemed to be forcing it quite a bit.

It also felt like she couldn’t back down now, no matter how hard she tried.

‘…It’s infuriating to just do as she says…’

Even so, if he didn’t do it, she would say he “chickened out.”

After a moment of thought, Ibuki responded.

“Well… that’s because, Airi, you’re beautiful. …More than anyone else I have ever seen.”

Ibuki said, suppressing his embarrassment.

These words came straight from his heart.

Ibuki didn’t know a girl more beautiful and adorable than Airi.

“What…?!”

Upon Ibuki’s words, Airi’s face instantly turned bright red.

She stared wide-eyed, her mouth opening and closing in bewilderment.

‘…If pushing doesn’t work, then try pulling, huh?’

Ibuki was confident of his victory.

“However… that doesn’t mean I can’t do it, right?”

“Eh, um, wait…”

“Don’t move. It was you who said I should do it, right?”

Ibuki slowly extended his hand towards Airi’s chest pocket.

Meanwhile, Airi tried to escape, but upon hearing Ibuki’s words, she halted and puffed her chest out with embarrassment, only turning her face away.

The sound of both their hearts pounding resonated on the rooftop.

With trembling hands, Ibuki inserted his fingers into Airi’s chest pocket.

Gripping the eraser with two fingers, he slowly pulled it out.

“Phew…”

Finally, he let out a sigh of relief.

“I finally got it back.”

“Uh, y-yeah…”

Ibuki put the eraser back in his pocket, then turned to Airi, who had a slightly embarrassed expression on her face.

“What’s wrong?”

“Well, um… that… what I said earlier was just stating an objective fact, you know?”

Ibuki clarified his intention so that Airi wouldn’t misunderstand.

Airi was bewitchingly beautiful. That was a given fact.

However, whether he liked her romantically was a different matter altogether.

Just because your mother or sister was the most beautiful person in the world didn’t mean you’d fall in love with them. It was the same in this case.

“I see…”

“Also, please stop with these foolish pranks. Even if it’s a joke, doing something like this to a guy…”

“…Ibuki-kun.”

Airi interrupted Ibuki in order to clarify something.

She glared at him with a slightly displeased and angry expression.

“Do you think I’m the kind of girl who would do something like this just for a prank?”

“Huh? Ah, no…”

For a moment, Ibuki was confused.

He didn’t understand the meaning behind Airi’s words.

“Do you think I would do something like this to someone I don’t even like?”

‘It’s almost like Airi…’

“Do you see me as that kind of girl?”

‘…likes me.’

“Hey, Ibuki-kun.”

“W-well, uh, that is…”

Ibuki avoided eye contact, instinctively stepping back as Airi approached him.

“How do you feel about me, Ibuki-kun? What am I to you?”

“Um, well… you’re my childhood friend…”

“Just that?”

Airi asked with a tinge of sadness.

Ibuki finally understood that Airi was “confessing” to him.

While desperately trying not to hurt her feelings, he thought about how to respond.

And with that in mind, he gave his answer.

“U-um, you are important… my childhood friend. The most important person in the world… b-but, even so, that doesn’t mean in a romantic way, it’s just… well, complicated…”

As Ibuki nervously stammered, suddenly…

“…Haha, what’s that?”

A chuckle escaped from Airi’s lips.

“Huh, uh, no, I mean…”

“Hehe~… Hahaha!”

Airi burst into laughter, clutching her stomach.

Ibuki couldn’t understand what was going on. His thoughts had completely stopped.

With a dumbfounded expression on Ibuki’s face, Airi wiped away tears as she said…

“Just kidding! It was a prank!! Did you misunderstand something, Ibuki-kun?”

And she cleared everything up as a joke.

“…A prank?”

“Yeah, exactly! It was all just a harmless prank! You had that stunned look on your face, Ibuki-kun. Did you think I was confessing to you or something?”

As Airi spoke with laughter, Ibuki finally realized.

He had been tricked.

And now he was being mocked.

“…?”

“Hey, come on, Ibuki-kun. Say something… What do you think?”

“…We’re done.”

“…Huh?”

“We’re done. I’m ending our friendship. Don’t talk to me.”

With an emotionless face, Ibuki turned on his heel and walked away.

Ibuki was genuinely angry.

To be precise, it was probably the fifth time in his life that he had been this angry.

Meanwhile, Airi felt a chilling sensation running down her spine.

This is bad, she went too far in her pranks!!

Airi chased after Ibuki, who was trying to leave the rooftop.

“Wait, wait a minute! It was all a joke, like a little prank…”

“…”

Airi said that as she faced Ibuki’s back, but Ibuki started going down the stairs without saying a word.

Airi hurriedly walked alongside Ibuki.

“S-Speaking of which! I actually made a bento today… Do you want some Karaage? You like it, right? Would you like to taste it?”

“…”

Airi grabbed the sleeve of Ibuki’s clothes.

But… she was brushed off in silence.

“Oh, um, forget about tasting it, I’ll give you everything! I’ll even include Tamagoyaki!! …And, and, how about having all the side dishes?”

“…”

Airi grabbed Ibuki’s arm in order to stop him in his tracks.

She was forcefully shaken off.

“I’m sorry! I was just kidding too much!! It’s my fault… So, will you forgive me?”

“…”

Airi clung to Ibuki’s waist like a koala now.

Ibuki’s steps stopped upon reaching this point.

Facing Ibuki’s immensely displeased expression, Airi cried out desperately.

“P-Please! Forgive me, please!! I’ll do anything, just don’t end our friendship!!”

☆☆☆☆☆☆

After a while… during the lunch break.

A boy and a girl were sitting side by side on the rooftop, eating their bentos.

“Ho-How is it… Ibuki-kun? Is it delicious?”

Airi asked while trying to gauge Ibuki’s mood as he ate his bento.

On the other hand, Ibuki had a grouchy expression.

“… What?”

“I-I mean, Ibuki-kun… Is it, umm… delicious?”

“Calling me by my name? You’re acting a bit too familiar.”

“W-Well, Ibuki-san… Is it delicious?”

“…I’m still eating, you know.”

“S-Sorry about that…”

Airi showed a pensive expression.

Ibuki silently finished eating the side dishes from Airi’s bento, and then…

“…It was delicious.”

He answered and returned the bento box.

Airi’s face lit up, but she looked complicated upon seeing the half-empty bento box.

“Here.”

Ibuki held out his own bento, which he hadn’t touched yet.

Airi looked puzzled as she compared Ibuki’s face with the bento he was offering.

“I’ll share half of mine.”

“…Is it okay?”

“If you don’t want it then…”

“I-I’ll eat it… I’ll eat it!”

Airi reached for Ibuki’s bento with a surprised expression and happily put a bite in her mouth.

Then Ibuki said to her:

“In return, you have to treat me with an ice cream.”

Airi instantly froze.

She had already swallowed the side dishes.

“I’ll forgive you if you do that… Perhaps you don’t want to?”

“I’ll treat you!”

“…You seem reluctant.”

“Please let me treat you! Please!”

“Fine, then.”

Ibuki let out a small laugh.

Airi slumped her shoulders in relief.

“…Haah.”

And either because of relief or something else, she let out a deep sigh.

“Please never do it again.”

“…I won’t.”

“And needless to say, don’t do it to anyone else either. It could be dangerous. Even if it’s not intentional.”

Airi is an adorable girl.

She has many fans at school, and there are more than a few boys who have fallen for her.

If she were to lead those boys to misunderstand her intentions, it could lead to serious trouble.

There’s even the possibility that those boys, having misunderstood her, might forcefully approach her.

“…Hey, Ibuki-kun.”

Airi wore a dissatisfied expression in response to Ibuki’s warning.

It seemed she wanted to say something, as she frowned as if she was unhappy about something.

“What?”

“It’s just that… this is not a prank or anything, it’s really how I feel…”

“I won’t be angry if it’s the truth. Just say it clearly.”

“…Apart from you, Ibuki-kun, I wouldn’t do something like that to anyone else, you know?”

Ibuki’s heart skipped a beat at this moment.

“T-That’s…”

“As childhood friends, I trust you… that’s why I can do that with you. I wouldn’t do that with any other boy… You understand that, right? I hope you do.”

“I-I understand! I get it!!”

Ibuki said loudly, turning his face away from Airi.

And while hiding his face which was bright red due to embarrassment from her… he continued in a small voice:

“…I just thought it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

“I see… Well, okay.”

Airi seemed to understand and resumed eating her bento.

And Ibuki let out a sigh of relief.

‘I almost misunderstood the situation again…’

A virgin is indeed a pitiful creature.

☆☆☆☆☆☆

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