Chapter 3 – Understanding (part 1)

Everyday at the ‘battlefield’ wore Saito out, both mind and body.

He wasn’t used to living with a complete stranger, so even if it was in his house, he couldn’t calm himself down, nor could he get any deep sleep.

Moreover, because of their rivalry, quarrels kept breaking out as if on a loop. He felt as if his personal boundary was being breached, and felt annoyed at his opposition. This short marriage life of theirs was more brutal than even their two rivalring years at school.

This morning, opening his eyes, Saito felt a wave of relief realizing that Akane wasn’t lying next to him.

It would be better for him if she went to school first, but much to his chagrin he could still hear Akane cooking in the kitchen.

Saito washed his face, mentally prepared himself at the corridor and stepped into the living room.

The atmosphere was discomfitingly stuffed.

There were toast and salads displayed on the table. No matter how badly they argued, she still prepared breakfast. He wasn’t sure if this was due to her seriousness or her kindness.

“…Morning.”

Saito greeted before getting in his seat, while Akane turned her head away sharply and started eating the toast.

Well, she was more attacking the toast than chewing it.

An uncomfortable silence.

Akane annoyedly used the remote control to change the channel.

Both parties were drained, even the will to get mad at each other was no longer there.

The pressure gradually got the better of him, making Saito unable to even swallow the toast.

He wanted to escape this battlefield. That was the only emotion left inside him.

Just like him, Akane also reached her limits.

She left the house earlier than Saito, sighing exhaustedly while walking.

She didn’t understand why a senior highschool girl like her was in this position. Ever since they started living together, their relationship only got worse and worse. She couldn’t concentrate on her studies at home, and she could only think about Saito -about the despicable things she might do to him- when not at home.

Furthermore, their heated arguments drained a lot from her. Physically and mentally.

Since that day, Akane had lost 5 kgs. Normally, losing weight was a good thing, but she wasn’t welcoming of the sickness that might follow.

She stepped into the class with a heavy mood.

“Morning~, Akane. What’s wrong, are you feeling unwell~”

Himari called out to her with an unchanging beaming smile as always.

This was the only safe haven within the battlefield. Akane lunged herself at Himari.

“Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu…Himari…Himariiiiiiii…”

She buried herself into Himari’s chest and cried. Unlike Akane’s modest chest, Himari had a motherly figure, giving her a sense of comfort when hugged.

“Wa,wait, what exactly happened? Did you get sexually harassed on the way to school?”

Himari grabbed Akane’s shoulders and stared straight at her eyes.

Akane whispered in a soulless voice.

“Being sexually harassed…would be a hundred times better than this…”

“It’s even worse~!? Then go to the police!?”

“The police won’t be able to help…”

“IIt’s more dangerous than the police? What can I do then?”

Himari was seriously worried for her.

She had always been Akane’s ally. Other people in class didn’t like Akane, and didn’t want to make friends with her, but Himari was the exception to that. She was saved by her best friend’s kindness god knows how many times, but especially now, she’s fully savouring that kindness.

“If you have anything troubling you, just tell me all about it. I’ll listen to all you have to say.”

“Uhm…”

She could tell Himari since she was really trustworthy.

But the situation was too complicated.

Their unreasonable marriage was forced by their selfish grandparents, got pushed into a new home, having to live with a guy she really hated, quarrels in every daily matter.

-How can I tell her that~!!

Akane hugged her head in despair. This was beyond the counselling abilities of a high school girl.

But if she talked about this with the school’s counsellor, there would be a lot of trouble, and if the news somehow made the school boards, she would be seen in a negative light.

“E, etto…? If I have a very bad relationship with someone, but I am forced to be close with them, what do you think I should do…?”
Akane chose her words carefully.

Himari put her index finger on her lips and tilted her head.

“Wanting to improve the relationship with someone you hate…? Are you talking about Saito?”
“No! What does he have anything to do with this!? I don’t think I would ever want to be closer to him.”

Just the mention of his name was enough to make Akane’s heart skip a beat.

“It’s just, I can only think of Saito… Akane, ever since the first year, you seem like you only care about Saito.”

“I don’t give a damn about him! It’s anyone but him for me!”

Her ears were hot as if on fire. Something like liking a person she really hated (Saito) must definitely not happen. That was her nemesis. A force that Akane must drive down.

“That so~. Well it’s good.”

Himari smiled as if relieved.

“Well, I’m currently at my limit. If we continue arguing like this, the stress will drive me funny. What should I do…”

“This really is about Saito huh?”

“I told you it’s not!”

They were going nowhere with this. But, Akane didn’t want them to go too fast and reveal everything.

Himari gave a suggestion.

“Hmm~, that’s right~. If it was me I’ll hug that person maybe?”

“H,hug?”

“Right. Hugging tightly, because if both can understand one another’s breaths and heartbeats, they won’t want to quarrel anymore. And they will think ‘so this guy is just a human like me’”.

“Hya~”

Himari approached and hugged Akane, making her let out a pitiful noise.

Her body was wrapped by a gentle aroma… Doing this with Saito? Just imagining it makes Akane embarrassed and exhausted.

“I, impossible impossible! That’s not something I can do with him!”

“That’s your challenge!”

“Impossible! There has to be another way!”

Akane left Himari’s embrace.

Himari’s maternal instincts were too dangerous. She felt like she was slowly becoming a degenerate staying in her hug.

“So, how about having an overnight stay?”

“Don’t wanna!”

She couldn’t say she sleeps with him on the same bed every night.

“What about having a meal together?”

“That would ruin my appetite.”

She also couldn’t talk about how she cooked for him everyday.

“So, how about hugging each other naked? Do that on a hot spring trip?”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAa…….”

Recalling being hugged while naked by Saito, Akane used her palms to hide her face.

Thinking back, him and her were doing some unimaginable things. These were some dark days no person studying in high school should ever face. 

In front of a trembling Akane, Himari crouched down to meet her gaze.

“If that also doesn’t work, then try first off to talk with each other?”
“….Talk with each other?”

“Uhm! I think people understand each other better when talking to one another.”

“Doesn’t that only apply to you Himari…Himari, you are a superhuman, with the power to become friends with anyone you talk with.”

‘You even did so to me’, thought Akane.

“It’s not like that. Even I have people I can’t befriend.”

“You do?”

Unimaginable. If it was Himari she could even hang out with aliens.

“Of course! Compared to Saito and Akane, I’m just a perfectly normal high school girl. But listen to me, you don’t need a big brain, nor beauty, to become close with someone. The trick is knowing that to gain respect from others, you must first respect them.”

“Respect…others..?”

Himari laughed and nodded.

“Accept others and listen to them. Try to guess what they are thinking, what they are feeling, why they are getting angry. The more you try to understand the other party, the more you can respect them. This was how I got closed with you, Akane.”

“That, that so…”

Akane became flustered being thrown a straight ball like that.

It was true that she wasn’t exactly close with Himari from the beginning. It was thanks to Himari’s relentless efforts approaching Akane that she managed to break the wall surrounding Akane’s heart.

“But… can I do it?”

“Of course you can!”

“Whenever we talk, I feel like snapping the other person’s neck in half…”

“Don’t! Try to hold it back!”
“There will be a bloodbath…”
“You are talking to each other! Not murdering each other!?”

Akane clenched her fists.

“…….I’ll, I’ll try my best. By any means possible, I’ll definitely make that person… understand my request!”

“You’re not forcing them to understand you, but you’re trying to understand them!? You’re not being mistaken are you?”

Himari worriedly reminded her.

Lunch break.

On the stone bench at the school’s garden, Saito was drinking some milk coffee. That good-for-nothing artificial sweetener entered his nervous system, giving him some energy.

Sitting next to him was his cousin, Shisei.

She was holding a melon break the size of both her hands, munching on it. She looked more like a hamster than a high school girl. To someone scarred by a hand of a girl, her figure healed him a bit.

“That’s Bro’s entire lunch? You weren’t able to buy bread?”

“It’s not like that…”
“Shise will give you half. You taking it?”

The bread offered to him had Shisei’s adorable little bite marks. There existed a crazy fan base in the school – no matter male or female – who would want their hands on that no matter the cost, but unfortunately Saito only considers it some leftovers.

“I’m not in the mood to eat. Just drinking is fine by me.”

Shisei used her two fingers to poke the area near Saito’s eyes.

“……….!”

Saito instantly pulled back and narrowly avoided the dangerous piercing power of those fingers.

“You, you, you, what are you doing!?”

“Bro, you have some dark rings under your eyes.”

“So I’ll get my eyes pulled out if I have rings under my eyes?”

“I was thinking of giving you a massage.”

“Ahh, that so… I’m a bit relieved.”

Saito placed his hand on his chest. His heart was pounding.

“Eyeball massage.”

“I knew I can’t be relieved!”

Saito kept a distance from Shisei when she’s trying to approach him with her fingers.

He wanted to think it’s just an eyebrow massage, but Shisei’s way of thinking is abnormal, so he couldn’t trust her. He would like to avoid the tragedy of getting his eyes yoinked out of their sockets.

“Bro, why aren’t you in an eating mood?”

“Home is hell. Do you think I would have any mood to eat when I’m living with someone who argues with me whenever she has some freetime?”

“Aa…What about a divorce?”

“I can’t do that.”

“Even if Bro’s a divorcee, Shise will still take good care of you. You don’t have to worry.”
“Aww. Thanks.”

Saito patted Shisei’s head who was consoling him. Her hair was silky smooth, like rubbing a cat’s fur.

“…muuu~”

Shisei pouted.

“First of all, it’s hard for me to file a divorce. If I run from this place, I’m basically leaving my fate in my grandfather’s hand. I need to seize control of the Houjou corp.”

“But, Bro will die.”

“It does seem like that doesn’t it… but I’ll overcome this, somehow or another.”

Saito gave a dry smile.

Shisei stared at Saito.

“Shise doesn’t want Bro to be in pain. If a divorce isn’t an option, the only one left is to become closer to Akane.”
“That’s impossible. I’m not compatible with her. You know that much don’t you, that girl is out for my blood. We’re polar opposites.”

“Humans are animals after all… I think, there would be some rivalries within some specific species.”

“See?”

“But, this, is just Bro being lazy.”

“Lazy…? Why?”

Saito pinched his eyebrows together. Why was he called such when he had to endure to the point of crying on the battlefield.

“People are born and raised in different conditions, we can’t just be magically compatible. We all have different likes, different ways of thinking, tastes… How about if Bro just yield to Akane a bit?”

“That…”

He didn’t think about that. Because outside of arguing over every little thing, he didn’t do anything else to interact with her.

“It’s selfish to want to have your real self accepted by others without putting in effort yourself. If you are looking for someone perfectly compatible with you, you’re looking at a clone of yourself. And that’s a boring world. An interesting world is one with diversity. That’s what Shise thinks.”

“You…think a lot before you speak huh.”

“Shise is thinking. Shise is different to everybody, but never argue with anyone. I’m also different to Bro, but I still love you.”

There was a noticeable raise in Shisei’s lip corner. He felt as if it was a smile.

“So, to be closer, the only way is to yield. If you can understand the other’s feelings, manipulating it is a child’s play. When you become the CEO, you can’t not know how to do just that.”

“That is definitely true… If you argue with your subordinate due to some petty little thing, the business would become a whole mess…”

Saito again looked at Shisei.

She was thought by many to be an alien, or a weird creature treated as a baby by the girls, but it appeared her mental age was much higher than initially assumed.

“All of this discussion leads to one natural conclusion”

Shisei pinched her brows together.

“…what conclusion?”

Saito straightened his backs. Advice from his smart cousin was worthy of receiving properly.

Shisei made a serious face and said.

“Bro, you should give Shise a princess carry.”
“Why!”

He suddenly have doubts about his cousin’s intelligence.

“Bro, you never had experience with princess carrying?”

“Experience… I don’t.”

“A majority of girls will fall for you if they were given a princess carry. Bro should practice giving Shise a princess carry.”

“I don’t think things are as simple as that… There are some creatures out there who wants to snap my fingers if I was so much as to give her even the slightest touch.”

Shisei stared at Saito.

“That’s because Bro touched her boobs.”

“I did not touch her boobs!”

“Or was it an even worse location?”

“I definitely did NOT touch THAT place!”

“Sure…?”

“Nono, I definitely did not touch anywhere. There’s no mistaking it.”

Saito felt chills down his spine.

They were glued together during the bathroom accident, but it was an accident, so him touching doesn’t count.

“Bro needs to understand a maiden’s heart more. Just trust Shise.”

He couldn’t deny now that his little cousin has said it like that. Through Shisei’s eyes, he could feel she wasn’t lying.

Saito nodded gravely.

“….Understood. I believe you.”

“Banzai.”

Shisei pushed herself up from the bench using her arms.

Her white socks covered up to the knees, and her tiny legs seemingly sucked into her skirt.

Her long hair covered the petite body.

That absolutely still posture perfectly mimics a western doll.

Saito placed his left arm under Shisei’s knees, while using his right hand to support her back. He lifted her up carefully so that she didn’t get dropped and shatter.

“Fuh~hah…”

Shisei let out a small voice from her throat. 

That body was as light as a feather. Seemingly scared of being off the ground, Shisei shrunk her body and wrapped her arms around Saito’s neck. The aroma coming from her snow white body was sweeter than milk.

“Is this…okay?”

“More than okay. Bro has evolved into a princess-carrying pro.”

“It was too soon to be promoting me.”

“But, there’s still not enough love.”

“Love…?”

“Uhm. Whispering gentle words into my ear. Something like ‘I love you’”. 

“Whisper my ass!”

“If you don’t, you won’t become a princess-carrying master. Don’t you trust Shise?”

She shot him an accusing gaze.

“Kuh~…”

Saito grinded his teeth. Even if it’s just practice, he couldn’t say something as cheesily sweet as that. But since he was the one asking for advice here, he should follow it to the bitter end.

“I love you.”

“……!”

Shisei’s ears were now dyed red.

“Shise can get embarrassed sometimes huh.”

“Of course. Shise is also a maiden.”

“Sorry, that’s the first time I’m aware of it.”

However, once he was aware, this situation became a tad bit worse.

“Next, say ‘I want to make your everything mine’”

“I, I want to make your everything mine.”

“Next is ‘I won’t let you sleep tonight.”

“I w- I won’t let you sleep tonight.”

“…..Ecchi bro.”

Shisei exclaimed “Kya” and used her hands to hide her face.

“Didn’t you tell me to say that!”

Saito was aware his cheeks were burning.

Even if they grew up like siblings, it was still unacceptable to do things like this. (Yes, the raws said “even if”)

Shisei used her fingers to point at her lips. Such an alluring action.

She directed her gaze at Saito, as if asking for something.

“Next, Shisei’s lips…”

“Hya~!?”

There was someone’s voice coming from nearby.

Saito lifted his face up, and saw Himari standing there with widened eyes.

“You two, are in that sort of relationship!?”

“No, this is for practice—”

Saito was trying to explain, but Shisei confirmed her suspicion with a smug face.

“We’re in that sort of relationship. Bro has a habit of princess carrying Shise whenever wherever”

“Stop trying to cause more confusion!”

Saito tried to throw Shisei down, but couldn’t due to how strong Shisei was holding on to him. She was fully utilizing her two arms and legs, reminding him of an onbu obake.

“I, I saw nothing… but I need to talk with Akane a bit!”

“Wait! Anything but that, wait!”

Himari ran away, while Saito used everything he could to chase after her.

When Saito returned home, Akane was already standing there with arms crossed.

She hadn’t changed out of her uniforms yet, and she looked several times more serious than usual. With deep wrinkles on her brows, she was staring at Saito as if piercing through a boulder.

“I, I’m home.”

“……”

She was silent at Saito’s greeting.

——-Unbelievable!

This wasn’t the atmosphere to give her a princess carry.

But the atmosphere where one wrong movement would lead to him getting punched and knocked to the floor.

Even though he was given advice by Shisei about yielding to each other and trying to understand each other, there wasn’t a single gap for him to do so. The only thing he knew was that she’s mad.

He was going to return to his room and plan things out. Thinking such, when he passed by Akane, 

“Wait.”

Akane held Saito’s shoulders. A force used to crush bones.

“So you finally decided to kill me then!”

“I’m not trying to kill you!”

“Then, what…?”

He didn’t understand what’s happening, but it’s definitely not anything of good faith. Saito was finding a route to escape. He regretted locking the door earlier.

Akane kept gripping Saito’s shoulder and whispered in a tiny voice.

“……with each other.”

“EH?”

“It’s like this! L, let’s talk, with each other!”

“….A divorce agreement?”

Saito swallowed his breath.

“Not that! Talking with each other, to, maintain the marriage between me and you! I want to talk about how we can have a more peaceful life!”

Akane looked down and bit her lips. Not sure if she reached her limits or not but she was red to her neck.

Saito never thought that the two words “peaceful life” would ever come from this lady’s mouth. Ever since they met, the only thing they did was quarrelling.

“You want to get along with me?”

“N, not that I want to~, but if things keep going like this, we’ll reach a divorce sooner or later!”

“Yeah…. I do feel awkward.”

“Right?

“First off, let’s just calm down and speak to each other.”

If he didn’t say that, his arm might never be let go.

The two came into the living room.

Akane made some tea, poured into the small cups and placed it on the plates on the table. She also brought a strawberry shortcake full of cream. It looked like it’s hand made by her. She must’ve made one to sit down and talk with him.

Akane sat next to him, while Saito was having some silly thoughts in his head “This feels like having a teacher come to your house…”. The atmosphere was strange, which made him think about irrelevant things.

Akane gripped her fists on her knees.

“I… think. Even though I despite you, since we’re living together anyways, making our life be more comfortable for both of us would be preferable.”

“Same feelings here. I also don’t want to live in a living hell.”

“So you mean living with me is like hell? That’s impolite.”

“And you’re implying something else?”

“Erm…. not really.”

Akane annoyedly looked down.

“But, I can’t relax with you here, so I don’t know what to do…..”

“How about letting me princess carry you?”

“Huuuuuhh? Why do you want to do that?”
He saw her make a genuinely disgusted face.

–Yup, your tip is useless with this one, Shise!

Saito complained to his wise sister who gave him this advice.

Humans have a concept of distance, if they were suddenly approached by someone whose emotional distance is a galaxy away from them, it was obvious they would be cautious.

But, for Akane to suggest a talk between themselves, it was a huge improvement. Since the other party was willing to compromise, Saito had to also step forward.

“That’s….so. So that our stress doesn’t accumulate more than this, how about deciding rules?”

“Rules?”

“Rules aren’t negative things, but rather, an agreement to cater to people with different life philosophies. By drawing a clear line between me and you that we can agree on, there won’t be situations where we get angry anymore, right?”

“Makes sense…. You are smarter than I thought.”

“Please stop mocking me while praising me.”

Saito was annoyed. He was mocked even though his academic abilities are the top of the grade.

“First off, let’s divide the chores. I had a feeling ever since our marriage, only I ever did any housework.”

“I planned to let them pile up and wash everything at once. More efficiency.”

Akane slapped the table.

“If you let it pile up, insects will get attracted to it!”

“Insects are perfectly natural in nature.”
“I don’t want to live in nature! If you don’t wash your things, it will be infested with bacterias and will cause diseases, even if it’s troublesome, wash up every day!”

Akane was adamant with this policy. She gripped the table firmly, and threatened him like a growling cat.

She won’t yield on this no matter what. So Saito’s only choice was to step one step backwards so they can step two steps forward in achieving a truce.

“…I understand. I’ll try to do the wash up daily.”

“T-that’s so? That’s good then.”

Akane said, relieved. She must’ve thought there was no way Saito would yield so easily like that.

“So about you, do you have any requests?”

“You are willing to listen to my requests…”

Saito was moved to tears.

“I’ll listen to fair requests! Don’t talk as if I’m a hard headed person!”

‘If you aren’t stubborn then who is?’-Saito wanted to retort, but this wasn’t the place to be querelling. The important thing now was to understand each other, and shorten their heart’s distance.

“Okay… I want you to put up with me touching you on the bed.”

“So what you mean is for me to forgive your sexual harassment!? Pervert!”

Akane’s face reddened. She hugged her body, and trembled while making a distance with Saito.

“How can you sexually harass your wife! The bed is cramped, so our bodies accidentally touching can’t be helped!”

Akane pouted.

“Won’t it be fine if you shrunk yourself? To around 50 cm would be fine.”

“Fine my ass! First of all I won’t have enough fingers for you to snap when I accidentally touch you with them. I only have 20 fingers and toes in total. Just understand that.”

Saito begged with all of his good will.

This was the first time he begged someone not to snap his fingers away, but there’s a first experience for everything.

“U, understood…. You can, touch my … body.”

Akane shrunk away as if trying to hide her embarrassment.

“B, but… just on the clothes. If you put your hands inside my clothes, …. I won’t forgive you…”

“Huh? Why would I?”

“You will!? You will touch me here and there when I’m asleep.”

“I won’t! Stop accusing me of things I’ve never done before!”

It would be suicide to do those things to someone who can snap your fingers as easily as folding origami.

“Next is your request. What do you have for me?”

“When you play horror games, put on headphones.”

Saito was surprised.

“You are quite an experienced player, wearing headphones to make the experience more horrifying. I wasn’t aware you were the headphone type of person… Do you enjoy horror games?”

“I hate it! I don’t even want to look at the cover art!”

“You’re scared?”

“N, not like that~, I just found it disgusting! I can’t concentrate on studying, listening to the zombies’ screams.”

“That’s so?”

Akane cleared her throat.

“Don’t suddenly open the horror game while I’m washing the dishes. It will enter my field of vision.”

“So how about blindfolding yourself?”

“Then the kitchen will become the setting of a horror game when I drop dishes and cut myself.”

“Ah, erm…. I understand. I’ll play the games in silence.”

Saito agreed, but he couldn’t understand.

Saito didn’t believe in myths, so he was just enjoying the horror titles like a simple action game, but if his housemate wasn’t comfortable with it, he’d put up with using headphones.

Saito and Akane discussed more details of their daily life, like dividing chores and deciding rules.

If they could list all the things that cause stress to the other party, they will feel a bit closer to each other.

To someone who prioritized efficiency over everything like Saito, Akane was a sensitive and serious person.

Those two people couldn’t concede over minute details, regularly quarrelled, so it was natural to find the atmosphere in the house stuffing.

After a few hours speaking with each other, the tea cups were emptied.

–This must be the first time I spoke with this girl for such a long time…

Saito thought while looking at the hanging clock.

She was his classmate ever since the first day of highschool, but there would be a quarrel between them just seeing each other’s faces. Never once did they try to exchange opinions without one jumping into another’s throat. It’s partly due to the fact that these two were like polar opposites.

But, today, that two people are discussing for the sake of one common goal: “to maintain their marriage”.

If they had this common goal, there won’t be big arguments between themselves anymore.

“There’s something else… I read a book the other day, it said something like, if you don’t forget to express your gratitude, your human relations will be better.”

“So you mean we should say thanks to each other?”

“Even if it’s just a small thing yeah.”

If you thought of the other’s actions as their responsibility, then you would feel annoyed when they didn’t do it, and wouldn’t feel any gratification with what they had done for you. All in all, it would be pure negatives.

On the other hand, if you didn’t take the things others do for granted, and instead express thankfulness to whatever they do for you, positive impressions will be amassed. Or so wrote the book.

“So…”

Akane pinned her index fingers together, expressing nervousness.

“You had my food, so tell me it’s good.”

Her cheeks were faintly red.

Saito blinked his eyes.

“Even if it’s just okay?”

“Even if it’s just okay!”

“But, if you asked me for my honest opinion, then wasn’t that a praise?”

Akane glared at Saito.

“How long do you think it takes to make a meal? No matter how hard you put efforts in your cooking, having it be called “okay” makes that enthusiasm drop.”

Saito recalled Akane getting angry when he stated his opinion about her food.

“To me, ‘okay’ is a praise…”

“Huh…? Why so?”
Akane made a dubious face.

“Ah, it would take a while to explain it…. Would take something like an hour or so.”

“That’s too long!”

Akane crossed her arms.

“So. Even if ‘okay’ means a praise to you, to me a praise is at the very least ‘delicious’! Try to remember your Japanese!”

“But my kanji has better scores than you?”

“I-irrelevant! You can’t use it in normal daily lives anyways!”

“…Understand!”

He was also told by Shisei to try and understand a maiden’s heart more.

Saito recorded how to praise Akane into his brain.

Their long talk was finally over.

Akane was exhausted and lay down all over the bed.

Her throat was completely dry, her mood was going straight to the gutters. Finding an agreement between each other was as exhausting as arguing. Envoys negotiating for peace must also feel like this.

With no energy left to cook, she had bread for dinner. She didn’t enjoy a non-nutritious meal, but there was no other choice today.

There’s a call coming from Himari, so Akane grabbed her smartphone from the top of her bed.

“…Hello.”

“Yahho~. You don’t seem well, are you okay? Did you become buddy buddy with the one you hated?”

Hearing Himari’s energetic voice, she could finally relax her stiff shoulders due to stress. Until Saito finished with his baths, this was her time to enjoy talking with her friend.

Akane sat on the bed hugging her knees.

“Being close… I don’t think we could be like that yet.”

“So it’s no use then~”

“But, we could now speak with each other. A grand total of 5 hours, I’m now exhausted.”

“You’ve tried your best! That’s good that’s good!”

She was praised like a little kid. But since this was HImari, she wouldn’t get angry about it.

“I tried my best. I couldn’t even count how many times I wanted to flip the tables.”

“You want to flip the tables like those old men in the Showa era?”

Akane puffed her chest out and reported proudly.

“But I held back. And I even promised not to snap fingers.”

“So you snapped fingers before?”

“Almost.”

“That’s~…..”

Himari talked as if in shock.

“But, to be able to speak to each other is a good thing. That’s a whole step forward.”

“That might be a step forward to an all out war though….”

Akane couldn’t be optimistic. If they could actually reconcile by speaking with the person she hated the last two years, she wouldn’t feel so pitiful like this.

“Something like that won’t happen. If you two are willing to talk, it means the other party is also trying to be closer to Akane right? If your feelings are the same, it will be smooth sailing.”

“That guy… wants to be closer to me…?”

She repeated in a whisper, and had no idea why her body temperature was rising.

“What happens next depends on you two’s efforts.”

“Uhm… I’ll try my hardest. From now on I’ll… let that guy touch my body. My butt for example, or breasts.”

“What does that mean!? Wait up. The other party is a girl right!? Explain to me right now!”

Himari hurriedly asked her.

Akane cut the call hearing footsteps in the hallway.

Saito stepped in after taking a bath. It appeared he was also, since he didn’t bring his book along.

Akane mustered up her courage and lied down on the bed.

“H,here… you can touch me wherever you want.”

“There’s no way I’m touching you on purpose!”

It appears she didn’t need to prepare herself anymore.