Chapter 60 – End of an Era

The serene feeling of finishing a long and hot shower was currently enveloping Takei, as he sat down in his chair relishing the feeling of elation that he felt from his soreness being removed.

With the events of the day replaying in his mind, a gentle smile spread across Takei's face.

He was feeling giddy from Akari's praise about him.

She looked just like a knight in shining armor that came to save him at his darkest hour.

"I wonder what Akari is doing right now..."

As Takei began to mutter something insignificant, a few knocking sounds could be heard from the other side of his door.

"Come in!"

Takei didn't feel like getting up to answer whoever was there, so he told them to come in of their own volition.

However, he would soon regret that mistake.

Opening the door slightly, a cute little goddess poked her head in.

"Is this a good time?"

Takei immediately froze and just stared at her trying to figure out the reason why she was here.

"So... is there a reason for this late night rendezvous?"

Akari had gone home after the festival due to her tiredness after the event.

She has gone on to play every game and eat at every stall before the festival closed down for the day. As a result, Akari declared that she was about to enter a food coma so the both of them headed back to their respective homes.

However, here she was standing right in front of him.

"I was worried about you, so I came over after I woke up from my nap."

Takei looked at the clock on his wall and noticed that the time was almost eleven at night.

"So, you took a six hour nap and skipped dinner?" Takei asked, exasperated.

Akari looked a little dejected about the way Takei phrased that sentence.

"Uuu... I went all out on the festival, so I ended up using more energy than I expected."

Takei observed her messy bed hair and confirmed his suspicions. She had definitely rushed over to his house as soon as she woke up.

It was also very evident by her light blue pajamas that she was already in full sleep mode.

Feeling bad that he caused her to come over in a hurry, Takei pointed to the bed and asked her a question that she never thought would have come out of his mouth.

"Do you want to sleep over tonight?"

Akari looked shocked about his proposal since she never would've expected the herbivore Takei to make such a daring claim.

He's never been that proactive before... Could it be due to the events that happened today? Well, it doesn't matter. This benefits me immensely so I won't care about the reason why.

Even though Akari was surprised, she quickly recollected herself and set her priorities straight.

"That sounds great! I assume that we'll be sleeping next to each other on your bed?!"

Takei reeled back in surprise at how excited Akari was to sleep over.

"Y-yes... that's the plan, at least. Or would you rather we sleep separately?"

"NO! N-O-P-E!"

Akari vehemently denied the idea with a grim expression on her face. She even spelled out the denial as a way to emphasize it.

"O-okay then..."

After Takei gave the go-ahead, both of them moved over to his bed and slipped under the covers together.

Takei turned off the lights using the remote that was connected to his lights and laid down on the bed.

The only type of lighting was the natural moonlight that shone through his window.

In other words, they were under the covers in the dark together.

Even though Takei invited her to bed, he was still extremely nervous about the action of sleeping next to each other.

It wasn't like the time where they slept separately while holding hands.

This time, they were sleeping directly next to each other in the same bed.

He could feel her warmth that was being transmitted to him through their shoulders that were directly touching each other.

Takei's nerves were in a bundle as he tried to endure the growing shame that was rising inside of him.

"Do you want to talk about what happened earlier?"

In order to break the silence that was forming between them, Akari decided to address the root of the problem that happened earlier in the day.

"Yeah, I think it's about time..."

Takei decided now was the perfect time to tell Akari about the entirety of his past.

For the next fifteen minutes, he told her every last detail of the incident that happened during the end of his middle school career.

Akari went through a wide range of emotions such as grief, anger, sadness, surprise, and pity.

As he finished the story, he noticed that there were droplets of water streaming down her face.

Takei felt happy that Akari was mad on his behalf, but he felt sad that she was crying because of it.

"You don't have to cry for me. I'm already thankful for you getting mad on my behalf."

Takei told her this as he wiped the tears off her face using the back of his hand.

Akari looked distressed since Takei had to endure so much pain during his middle school years, but her strained expression loosened up after she saw the bright smile on Takei's face.

"It's okay, I'm fine now. All thanks to you."

After stating that passionate line, Takei wrapped his arms around her and squeezed just tight enough for Akari to be enveloped by his large warm arms.

"..."

Akari didn't say anything, but he could tell she was being overwhelmed by his heavy feelings.

Of course, she accepted the hug wholeheartedly anyways.

"I'm so sorry that happened to you." Akari said, sadly. "I promise I'll only ever give you happiness..."

At such a cute declaration that sounded like a marriage proposal, Takei smirked and nodded in agreement to her statement.

"Me as well. I promise to only ever give you happiness."

The two lovebirds gazed at each other with even more passion in their eyes after their respective proposals.

They refused to break eye contact as their faces got even closer to each other.

Five inches, four inches, three inches, the distance between their lips was decreasing at an alarming rate.

Sooner or later, their lips would eventually collide and become what was known as a kiss.

It was inevitable.

Takei and Akari leaned forward inch by inch and then finally...

---

Akari's True Affection Meter: 97 -> 100%

-FINAL LEVEL UNLOCKED-

Akari now has the resolve to spend the rest of her life with Takei. She plans to have at least two children with him. Of course, that's only if he is willing to devote his heart, soul, and body to her wholeheartedly. I guess we'll see how their relationship plays out in the next volume which will be releasing after the volume two afterword.

As a side note, volume two afterword will be releasing tomorrow. I will be taking a one day break so only the afterword will be posted tomorrow. Volume three starts on 8/24/21 which is the day after the afterword releases.

Hint: Just know that there will be a whole lot more sugar and a heavily reduced amount of seriousness in the next volume.

Sugar-san: Yay~

Serious-san: Goodbye cruel world...