Chapter 8.2

A Talk About Pair (2)

[It was just because you favor me too much. I usually get hated by someone too.]

“Whaat?!”

I couldn’t help but shout out loud. I almost dropped the phone from my hand. When it almost fell I barely managed to catch it, though… that surprised me.

That’s right. He was the kind of guy that’d say something like this.

My heart is beating noisily. I’m so glad Narumi isn’t here. He’d tease me to no end if he saw me getting flustered because of a conversation with an AI.

“Sou, how was the texting going?”

“Whoa!”

“Sorry, did I surprise you?”

After being suddenly called out from behind, I almost fell from the chair this time. I barely managed to keep my phone in my hand now, but my heart was beating so loudly from being startled for the second time. 

Narumi also seemed to be surprised by my loud voice. His eyes widened and looked in my way.

“…Errr. It was my parent asking about dinner.”

“Ah, that’s nice, being asked about something like that. What should I eat for dinner today? Ah, which one would you like from these?”

Narumi offered me orange juice and coffee.

When I asked why he choose those two drinks, he said it was because he wanted to drink both of them. I grabbed the coffee.

“Wow, so you can drink black coffee.”

“…What’s with that reaction.”

“I just think it didn’t really suit your image.”

“Isn’t that a bit too much?”

“No, not at all. Sou is more of a cute type, so I got the impression you’re the type that didn’t like bitter drinks.”

I felt like he was completely making fun of me. Also, it was the first time in my life someone called me a cute kind of person.

I looked so ordinary that someone could mistake me for a beta, and if anything, Narumi who was a generation older than me looked way cuter. I didn’t realize he was an omega until he told me, but he definitely has the cuteness that omegas have.

It was some kind of charm that made people want to protect him. I didn’t have something like that in me.

I opened the can of coffee he gave me and took a sip of it. The slightly bitter flavor spread to my mouth.

The flavor of coffee seemed to calm my nerves, which had been worked up after being surprised twice in a row. I let out a small sigh.

“By the way, why were you surprised earlier?”

“Huh?”

“You were surprised when you looked at your phone, right? Hey, what were you looking at?”

Blood drained out of my face when I heard that question.

Narumi definitely wasn’t talking about when I was startled for the second time. Because I wasn’t looking at my phone at that time.

Then it must be when I was startled for the first time. It’d be the time I got startled by that problematic statement from Yuugo.

“…What are you talking about?”

The moment I said it, I knew I had made a mistake.

I should’ve responded with something random like “I saw a video that surprised me”.

If he had seen me being surprised, there’s no doubt that it was strange to answer that way.

Moreover, Narumi had a keen sense in the first place.

I doubt I could have gotten away with it even if I tried to fake it, but now I’m afraid I’ve blocked my own way out.

“Hehehe, it seems like you even think that you’ve failed in lying yourself.”

He even noticed that much. I didn’t feel like I could escape from Narumi who was smirking.

I quickly gave up in trying to cover it up.

There was no point in trying. I knew from experience that I won’t be able to win against this person. That’s the kind of person Narumi is.

I gave up and decided to talk about it.

But I’ll keep my mouth shut about the virtual alpha. I’ll just tell him that I got surprised because someone I’m close to suddenly told me he liked me in the middle of a conversation— No, maybe this is also a bad move?

“Does that person is an alpha?”

“Ah…”

“I see. Wooow. Do you like him too, Sou?”

“It’s not like that…! He’s just an ordinary friend! A friend! I’ve told you there’s nothing between us.”

“Hmm. Why do you get so flustered like that over someone you have no interest in? So? How about the reply? What did you say?”

“I didn’t reply yet.”

“Hmmm, isn’t that too cold?”

The flow of our talk totally turned into a love consultation talk.

I was no longer in a situation where I could say that it was just an AI from an app. No, I don’t even have any intention to explain that.

After all, if I said I was friends with an AI from an app, I’d totally look like a cringy person. Well, it wasn’t like I had no other friend aside from that AI, though.

“You’re not going to answer him?”

“Ah… well.”

“You should reply. It feels lonely, you know? Being ignored after saying something like that.”

“But… I don’t know how to respond to something like that.”

I started to feel weird too.

At this rate, it’s like I was really asking for love advice. Even though I wasn’t.

“Why don’t you just reply normally? How do you really feel about him, something like that. I think he’d be happy just to hear that.”

“Is that how it is?”

“That’s how it is! Come on! Reply! Right now!”

I turned on my phone at his urging. When I opened the chatting app, the last message was still the same as I left it before.

This is obvious, because he was just an AI.

But, what should I reply? We didn’t talk about whether I liked or hated him in the first place. I was just talking about how it seemed like I was hated by someone, and he just said that he likes me on his own.

I thought that I didn’t need to reply after all, but Narumi looked at me with flaming eyes from next to me. It didn’t seem like he’d let me go until I gave a reply.

“Ugh…”

Even if I groaned like that, Narumi wouldn’t feel sorry for me. This person wouldn’t say something like “Should we stop after all?”.

I had no choice but to slide my fingers across the screen.

I just… typed a sentence that looked fitting. But I didn’t want to lie, so I wanted to at least use the words that I usually thought about him.

I typed it furiously and sent it without checking it beforehand. The sentence that I just typed popped on the chatting screen.

[I don’t really dislike you, too.]

It was the words that I had typed myself, but seeing it made my face turn red.