Chapter 56

Chapter 56 – By Ourselves (2)

After cleaning up, Asanagi and I went back to the couch and decided to watch a movie.

In our apartment building, we were required to sign up for an internet connection as soon as we moved in. As a result, we were able to watch exclusive channels including plenty of movies.

“Which one do you want to watch, Asanagi?”

“Whatever you want to watch, Maehara.”

“…There it is, the ‘it’s up to you’ answer… What about this one?”

When I was looking at the TV timetable, I noticed there was a special program titled ‘(Special Program) 12 hours of crocodile movies!’ There was a list of movies ranging from masterpieces that even I recognized to obscure B-movies.

I love exclusive channels because sometimes they have these kinds of events.

“Hm… That seems fine, let’s watch that. After the shark movie, it’s croc movies now, it’s perfect.”

“I know right?”

It seemed that she was interested in it, good to know. Now we had something to talk about at least.

“Achoo!”

Just as I was about to change the channel, I suddenly sneezed.

I hadn’t noticed, but it seemed like the temperature had dropped some more.

“Maehara? You’re sneezing, are you okay?”

“Mm? Ah, yeah, I’m fine. My nose was itchy.”

“…It isn’t okay… If you feel cold, then tell me…”

“I-I was alright until a few minutes ago, you know? It’s nothing, don’t worry.”

“Seriously, you’re such a pain in the ass…”

Asanagi then unwrapped the blanket and beckoned me to come over.

“Come here, quickly.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t give me that confused look! Y-You are feeling cold, aren’t you? Then come here, hurry up!”

“You want us to share the blanket?”

“D-don’t say that out loud, idiot!”

I guess she wasn’t trying to tease me, huh?

“O-okay sure… Excuse m– Achoo!”

“Oh jeez, hurry up! Both of us will catch a cold at this rate, you slowpoke!”

I decided to obey her for the time being.

“…Excuse me.”

“Mm, make yourself at home~”

As soon as I sat down next to her, Asanagi pulled herself closer to me. We huddled inside the blanket together.

“U-um, what about we share my scarf too. Let me wrap it around you, turn your face over here, please.”

“Eh… Are you sure?”

“Don’t even try to argue, just do it quickly!”

“…Sure.”

I did as she told and she wrapped her scarf around my neck. Now I was wrapped in both a blanket and a scarf, with Asanagi right next to me.

“There, now I only need to wrap the other half on my neck…”

“Asanagi, are you actually going to do this?”

After wrapping the scarf around my neck, Asanagi started wrapping it around hers too.

Now our necks were both wrapped with the scarf and our shoulders were touching each other’s.

“T-there it is… Doesn’t it feel warmer?”

“Yeah sure… But don’t you think it’s embarrassing?”

Seriously, this was embarrassing as heck.

“S-shut up, deal with it. Also, aren’t we going to watch a movie?”

“M-mhm… Then…”

I turned my attention to the screen, but of course I couldn’t concentrate on it in this kind of situation.

I felt cold a while ago, but now my face was getting warmer and warmer as my embarrassment started to build. I could feel my whole body sweating too.

This wasn’t the first time that the both of us were this close, but I couldn’t stop my heart from pounding wildly.

I could smell her sweet fragrance since we were so close. Even though we had just finished eating, how could she still smell this good?

This made me self-conscious about my smell. I ate a lot of garlic just now, did I smell like garlic?

“What are you doing, Maehara?”

“Ah, no. I’m just wondering if I smell or not.”

“Ah, glad you noticed. Seriously you smell like sh*t.”

“Eh? R-really?”

“Nope.”

“…”

This f*cker.

“Ow ow! Hey, stop pinching me!”

“Shut up, idiot.”

Seriously… She noticed that I was nervous, didn’t she? Of course she would take the chance to tease me.

“Ouchie… Sorry, sorry. But seriously, don’t worry about it, you don’t smell.”

“Really?”

“Mhm. Rather, I’m worried about myself. Do I smell?”

“Don’t worry about that, you don’t smell. Rather, you smell good, I feel blessed.”

“…Huh?”

“…Ah…”

Crap, I misspoke…

Saying it that way made me sound like a pervert…

“I-I meant, I don’t care! Your smell isn’t important, right? Rather, let’s just focus on the movie, the movie!!”

“…Hehe…”

“W-why are you laughing?”

“Mm~ It’s fine, you’re just being honest. You don’t need to make random excuses like that.”

I thought she was going to tease me again, but it seemed like she was serious about this.

Knowing her, even if I were to pinch her cheek to make her forget about everything, she wouldn’t budge.

“…That’s new. You aren’t trying to tease me?”

“No way. I mean, I’m probably used to your scent already… Do you remember the time when I slept here?”

“…Ah, that time…”

At that time, she slept in my bed twice. Once when she accidentally fell asleep and once when she slept over.

Even though my bedding was clean at that time, my smell should linger around there. Now I felt bad about it.

“I see…”

“Mhm… Also, you aren’t the only one who gets nervous at times like this, you know?”

Then Asanagi moved closer to me.

I could feel her warmth through her clothes.

It made me feel even more nervous, but at the same time I wanted to stay like this.

The movie was entering the scene where the man-eating crocodile was fighting with the crocodile hunter, but both of us were focused on each other’s faces rather than the TV screen.

“Hey, Maehara…”

“What is it?”

“Can I call you Maki?”

“…If that’s what you want, Umi…”

“…Huh?”

Umi’s face instantly turned red.

“Huh, what’s wrong, Umi?”

“…Ora!”

“Ow! What are you doing?!”

“Maki, you’re getting too cocky.”

“What? Still, you don’t need to hit me… You’re being unreasonable!”

“Hehe… Yeah, I’m unreasonable, got a problem with that?”

She was all pouty just a moment ago and now she embraced me in her arms. Seriously, her mood swings were insane.

From being happy to being angry, smiling giddily and getting embarrassed. Her expressions changed a lot in the past few hours.

Though I had to admit that this was what made her cute.

“…You know, Umi…”

“Mm?”

“I’m going to say this once, so listen carefully.”

“Eh? Mhm. What is it?”

“Umi, you know… you can’t see your own face right now, but…”

“…Mhm?”

“…Your face right now… Your smile is really cute… Even Amami-san’s can’t match that…”

“!”

She thought that she couldn’t compare to Amami-san in terms of looks, but that simply wasn’t true.

The real Asanagi Umi’s charm wouldn’t lose to Amami-san’s.

…I wasn’t the only one who thought this. Of that, I was certain.

“That’s why, be more confident. You should smile more at school too. I’m sure everyone will look at you more if you do that.”

“…Hey, Maki.”

“W-what is it?”

When she heard my words, her smile turned to a wry one.

“Maki, do you actually love me?”

“…Ugh…”

I used to make excuses to myself that I liked her as friends, but I guess I couldn’t run away from my feelings anymore.

This was the first time I’ve felt this way, so I wasn’t entirely sure. But my feelings for her were different from the fondness one would feel toward a friend.

In the beginning, we were just friends who hung out every so often, but as we hung out more and more, I got to know more about her and she eventually became a bigger part of my life.

I cherished this girl in front of me. And I wasn’t completely sure that my feelings toward her were appropriate for friends or best friends to have.

Still, I really didn’t want to tell her about this…

“N-not really… Seriously, what the hell are you on about?”

“No, no, no. No way that’s the case. I mean, really? ‘Your smiling face is really cute… Even Amami-san’s face can’t match that’, what else it is if it isn’t an indirect confession?”

“What do you mean?! That’s just a normal compliment!”

“Liar~ Come on, be honest with me~ Look at my face and say ‘I love you’. C’mon~ Or do you want to kiss my cheek too? Go ahead~”

“Jeez! Stop that! Seriously, I’m not happy right now!”

“Boo… Even though I’m ready for you. You’re such a tsundere~”

“Stop poking my cheeks!”

After this, Umi continued to tease me until it was time for her to go back home.

The movie was playing, but we had no idea what it was about.

In the end, this Friday went on like every other Friday.