Thump, thump, thump, thump.
Flip…flip…
In the quiet room, the only sounds were Lily’s racing heartbeat and the turning pages of the manga.
(Why am I doing this? Why?) Lily wondered.
Soon after he started reading, Lily began to question why she was doing this.
She was sticking to him under the pretense of keeping him from escaping, but in reality, it was just a convenient excuse.
Just because she wanted to be close to Saito, Lily had ended up in this situation. But now, she regretted it.
This situation was awkward in many ways.
She worried that Saito might hear her rapidly beating heart and that he might notice their sweaty smell since neither of them had showered.
She hoped the sweat-wiping sheets they used would cover it up.
From Saito’s side, she could smell the scent of the sweat wipes and a faint, soft, sunny scent unique to him, so it was probably okay.
Actually, Saito’s scent was so pleasant that she found herself sniffing it intently, which was embarrassing.
Moreover, the manga Saito was currently reading had a scene similar to this one.
Seeing it made Lily nervous that Saito might ask, “Do you have feelings for me?”
Of course, she’d love it if it made him notice her, but she was too scared since there was no guarantee it would go well.
This childhood friend of hers was so engrossed in his reading that he showed no reaction.
He was simply reading to absorb information, showing no signs of being affected by the romantic elements.
She couldn’t see a future where confessing her feelings would go well in this state.
Even though she wanted to retreat immediately, her body refused to move away from Saito’s warmth and scent.
What a troublesome body.
So, what should she do? Lily thought and then decided:
(Maybe I’ll just sleep.)
Escaping reality.
If she let herself drift off, she could forget all the embarrassment and anxiety.
It might seem pathetic, but it was the only option for now.
Lily made an excuse to herself and shut her eyes tightly.
“……”
With the world turning dark, her senses became sharper, making her feel unsettled at first, but Saito’s gentle warmth soon enveloped her, oddly comforting her.
In the end, she drifted off to sleep, feeling quite comfortable.
“Zzzz… Zzzz…”
“She fell asleep.”
About ten minutes after he started reading, Lily sleep breathing is heard, leaning against him.
He knew she had been moving around a lot lately and was tired, but to fall asleep while he was struggling with an unfamiliar genre of manga was quite carefree of her.
He considered standing up to let her fall, but remembering he was still in the middle of reading, he held back.
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Saito resumed reading.
(This guy, Onsoji, really resembles the president.)
Looking back at the manga, the character’s appearance and personality indeed resembled the president.
His blunt yet considerate nature and the way people relied on him were especially similar.
Lily had a good reason for recommending this manga.
But for now, that was all. He still didn’t understand why Takumi was cold towards Koyuki.
As he continued reading, hoping to find a clue, he came across a scene:
[Who is that guy? Why is he acting so familiar with my childhood friend?]
[Does she make that face for him?]
[She never shows me that side of her.]
[Maybe she’d be happier with him than with me?]
In this scene, the aristocratic boy witnessed his childhood friend getting along with a classmate and felt insecure,
leading to him distancing himself and acting cold
to avoid being seen as her boyfriend and causing trouble for her.
For this reason, the protagonist tries to keep his distance from his childhood friend.
(This is it! This must be the president right now!)
A spark went off in Saito’s mind.
──This is definitely it.
This revelation was more convincing than anything else he had heard from others.
Now, Its completely clear to him.
He had always found it odd.
No matter how much Takumi didn’t want to be mistaken as Koyuki’s fiancé, it felt wrong for someone as kind as him to hurt her.
Thinking that Takumi hated Koyuki didn’t sit right either.
Looking back, during that senior fight, Takumi had been harsh with Koyuki likely to protect her from being involved.
The only way to stop those two was to intervene forcefully, and Takumi had realized that.
If he knew Koyuki would get hurt,
Saito might do the same to protect her.
Sure, if it were a childish fight, Saito might ignore it,
but if she were about to get hit by a car or fall from a height, he’d prioritize her safety over his own.
That’s how much he cared for his childhood friend.
He wanted her to be happy.
Takumi likely felt the same. He acted like the aristocratic boy in the manga to avoid being a burden to Koyuki.
He intentionally made her dislike him.
(…I don’t like it.)
Saito understood.
He understood it perfectly.
But as Gouda from the student council had said, he couldn’t accept it.
This way, only Takumi would suffer.
He’d just end up hated by his childhood friend.
There was nothing good for Takumi in this.
It was too cruel.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT GADGETIZEDPANDA.COM
It is wrong to neglect yourself for the sake of your childhood friend’s happiness.
Saito, being selfish and greedy like a child,
he didn’t want to make the mature choice of sacrificing one for the other.
If he had to choose, he wanted both to be happy.
(This is what they wanted me to realize.)
He didn’t need to pretend to be an adult.
That’s what the student council members wanted Takumi to realize.
So, Saito had only one thing to do.
Tell Takumi this directly.
That was it.
“……Thanks.”
Saito thanked Lily, who was sleeping next to him.
Thanks to her, he had realized this truth.
As a reward, he patted her head, and she made a pleased sound in her sleep.
“Alright, let’s finish this manga.”
He now knew the reason, but there might still be valuable information in the remaining pages.
Thinking this, Saito decided to continue reading and discovered something interesting.
[Ah, I guess I do like her.]
Near the end, the aristocratic boy realized during a conversation with his childhood friend that his true reason for wanting her happiness was because he liked her.
Saito thought it was obvious for a childhood friend, but if the aristocratic boy realized this, it must be true.
Whether Takumi felt the same, Saito couldn’t say.
But if he did, then Saito believed Takumi should stop being cold.
He didn’t expect them to live happily ever after like in the manga.
But it would be too painful to be hated by someone you liked.
“Amazing, I feel like I’ve made great progress.”
Closing the manga with a sense of accomplishment, Saito murmured softly.
This single manga had significantly advanced his understanding of the issue.
Looking back, everything in the manga seemed accurate.
It captured the nuances of the heart.
As he skimmed through the last pages, a scene from the middle caught his eye.
[Don’t sleep in front of others. You’re cute, so people might get the wrong idea.]
[…It’s fine. Girls only do this in front of people they like.]
It was about the heroine falling asleep.
Initially, Saito was so focused on Takumi that he didn’t think much of it and had skipped over this scene.
But now it is different.
with more time to digest it, his thoughts turned to his own childhood friend.
If this scene applied to all girls,
then Lily, who was sleeping vulnerably next to him, must—
“──like me…?”
Saying it out loud, Saito still couldn’t quite grasp it.
It wasn’t that he didn’t understand the meaning.
To like.
He knew it meant being attracted or fond of someone.
He remembered looking it up in the dictionary in the past.
But the word “like” was more complex than what the dictionary said.
There were different kinds of liking.
As a friend. As family. As the opposite sex.
How much you like them, how much you are attracted to them.
Each had its own standard, which varied from person to person.
So, the word “like” was extremely vague and had no clear answer.
Like the heroine in the manga who liked the aristocratic boy, he couldn’t be sure if Lily’s feelings were the same.
“Well, it can’t be.”
But with his childhood friend, it was unlikely.
Lily had been falling asleep in front of him since they were kids.
It couldn’t be the same.
“Anyway, it’s hot. Oh, Lily’s clinging to me. Should I wake her up now? Hey.”
“Umm?”
Deciding it was best, Saito shook Lily’s body, his cheeks blushing slightly for some reason.
continue

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