CH 81

Chapter 81: (Extra) Sara’s POV Part 9

For some reason, I was convinced that Shiori-san liked me.

As I lay down on the sofa in my living room, I reflected on the past. In quick succession I saw all my memories with Shiori-san since summer vacation.

Perhaps “I wished she liked me”. That thought which wormed its way in my head, ballooned, but I was glad I realized it before I confessed. I imagined myself confidently confessing my love for her and it being a misunderstanding, and then having my confession crushed. I was so embarrassed that I felt like I wanted to scream. Nonetheless, now I believe that isn’t impossible. Even if I don’t suddenly confess my feelings, I should try to find out how Shiori-san feels, and then make an effort to make her fall in love with me. Then I can tell her how I feel.

“But what exactly do I do?”

I thought about asking Natsuki-chan and my friends for advice, but their advice would be for boys, it probably wouldn’t work on Shiori-san. That being said, it wouldn’t work if I did the inverse, to approach her like I was a man wouldn’t work either.

Then should I go to somebody in a same-sex relationship? Yoko-san? No, my gut is telling me not to go to that person.

In the end, I decided to first look things up on my phone and try to implement stuff I read on there. I read up on a lot of things, regardless of gender, what I found out there was a lot of similar advice. Having a clean expression with a smile, and that’s before romance.

Skinship, using heart emojis and stamps, making eye contact and letting them know I like them. I feel like I’ve already been subconsciously doing all of this, I don’t know if that is enough anymore. . .

I think I should be more aggressive. Shiori-san seems dense.

—— I hope she likes me.

We are both girls, but strangely enough, I don’t have any hesitation. I just want this love to come true, and it is strongly pushing me forward. I’ve never wished for something this much before.

I wonder how much skinship is appropriate. I’m fine with stamps, but looking them in the eyes and telling them how much I like them. . .I wonder if I can do that. I’m going to seem suspicious. 

Oh, they say you could seduce with sexy clothes, but there is no way I can compete with Shiori-san. She is a sex appeal goddess! It’s impossible!

Just imagining it, causes me to flail around on the sofa while clutching my phone to my chest. But if I want this to work, I need to do it. If it moves Shiori-san’s heart even just a little! If anything it would make it easier for me to understand if I reach out! I want to give it my all!

I’m half desperate, but I want to do what I can.

After deciding that, I started “Project Seduce Shiori-san.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Since then I frequently sent good mornings, and goodnight, mixed in with stamps that might give her a thrill. While still making sure it isn’t a lot to not bother Shiori-san. I don’t know how effective it is yet, but I hope it works, even if it’s just a little.

As I was busy doing this unfamiliar gamble, July ended, and it was now one week into August. When I woke up, for some reason I really wanted to see Shiori-san.

Today is Thursday, so it’s in the middle of the week. There are still three days left until Shiori-san will come over.

“Three days huh. . .That’s such a long time.”

I wonder if it would look strange if I earnestly say that I want to see her. I did decide to be proactive in expressing my feelings, but now that I’m aware of them I’m not as honest as I used to be. Before I’d just say it, but now I pause and carefully choose my words. There are so many times I’ve erased words, or waited for the right moment to say them.

If it had been me before summer vacation I would have said without hesitation “I miss you!”. Besides, I would have been happy if a friend in my class told me something like that. I’m sure Shiori-san would also be happy.

So this should probably be okay.

“Alright, I’ll send it!”

After much deliberation, I sent the message and waited while clutching my phone.

—This is amazing. It’s like a shoujo manga, when you fall in love that person truly becomes the center of your world. The “Love” that has always tormented me up until now, that love I didn’t understand why it was any good, I finally understand.

Just the tension leading up to sending the text, the impatient feeling as I waited for the response, all of it is fun. Falling in love is making me so happy. If this is just the case when it’s a one-sided love, I wonder how happy I would feel if it was mutual. It sounds so foreign, I can’t even imagine it.

A few minutes later my phone vibrated and I got an answer! I didn’t mentally prepare in time, so my response stumbled a bit, but I hope Shiori-san doesn’t think I was being weird.

I wonder if she didn’t think it was strange that I told her I missed her, and she actually responded right away.

But now that I think about it, I told her I missed her and she immediately responded, so I guess she does like me right?

That thought made me grin a little. Or am I just being self-conscious? I really wished that was the case though.

As I was tidying up the table in high spirits, preparing for Shiori-san, my phone rang once again. This time it was a short message. I checked expecting it’d be Shiori-san, but actually it was Yoko-san.

“Morning, Sara-chan. Did you hear that today Shiori is taking the day off?”

Shiori-san is coming to my house soon, so she must have decided to use it as a break. . .but why? Did something happen? Why would Yoko-san bother to contact me?

(Good morning. Shiori-san is coming to my house. We just talked earlier.)

(Ah, I see. Good to hear. Thank you for letting me know!)

I was about to say a simple finishing message, but I immediately received another one. What I read made me freeze.

(They’re a first year student in our club that loves Shiori, and I think Shiori is taking a break because she didn’t want to be chased around by her again. Because of how Shiori is, she must be mentally exhausted, so she needs to be healed by you.)

A first year student in her club, it’s probably. . .no, it’s absolutely that girl, right?

Ahhh~ she really did it, Shimamoto-san. I’m sorry Shiori-san. It’s partially my fault!

(Is the first year a girl named Shimamoto-san?)

(Eh, you know her? Did you hear from Shiori?)

(No she didn’t tell me. Just a coincidence, I had a chance to talk to Shimamoto-san the other day. I think I’m the reason why she started to fully pursue Shiori-san.)

(Seriously!? Texting would be too long, could we have a call?)

I said it was fine, and then a call came in before I could think.

“Can you tell me what happened with Shimamoto-chan?”

Yoko-san said without hesitation, it was as if she was in a hurry. Usually, she is the kind of person that likes to lead into what she wants to know.

“The other day, I was hanging out with some classmates. It seems that one of my friends went to the same junior high school as Shimamoto-san, and I ended up taking the same train back home with her, so we talked for a little bit. She wanted to get along with Shiori-san, and she asked for my cooperation. . .”

“Hahh~”

“Of course I refused! But I told her that if she wanted to get along with her, she should say so directly, so maybe that’s why she started pursuing Shiori-san. . .”

I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything extra and just rejected her.

“Well it was only a matter of time before she’d start to chase her around, so I don’t think you need to feel guilty about it. Although, did you tell Shiori that you met Shimamoto-chan?”

“I didn’t talk about it. If I did, I thought I’d carelessly talk about her asking for my cooperation. I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to tell her about it or not. Besides when I met that girl with Shiori-san there, Shiori-san started acting strange, or rather she seemed like she didn’t like her, so if I said something like that, she’d probably get worried. . .”

“Huh- – -You’re not good at this. I mean, have you met her before, right?”

Meeting her by chance so soon seems like fate. They say that something that happens twice will happen a third time, let’s hope it doesn’t.

“Should I tell her about it. . ?”

If I stay quiet about it, I’d feel guilty because I’m hiding the fact that Shimamoto-san doing this stuff is because of me.

But I also don’t think telling her would change anything. It doesn’t mean Shimamoto-san would give up, but rather it only makes her worry more. If that’s the case, I’d rather keep Shiori-san’s peace of mind than deal with my guilt.

When I told Yoko-san this, she was a little taken aback, and laughed saying “you two are more alike than you think.”

“I think it’s fine to just tell her, but I’ll leave it up to Sara-chan to decide. I’ll keep quiet, and tell me if you tell her.”

“I understand. Thank you very much.”

“Yeah that’s alright. For that reason though, do your best to heal Shiori. Skinship is best for healing! Of course bare skin! To be precise the boobies.”

“Yeah- Understood. Goodbye-.”

Geeze, she was a good person up until that ending. I gave a quick response and hung up. I wonder, does Yoko-san only feel comfortable if she throws dirty jokes into the conversation. Is that her identity?

Well whatever. That isn’t the main question, it’s about whether or not I’ll tell Shiori-san about me meeting Shimamoto-san. In the meantime, I’ll care more about the timing and then apologize.

After finishing cleaning up. Shioir-san came to my house with a large paper bag.

What she brought was a patterned Yukata she had talked about on the phone. She said it was worn by her older sister on her first date. She asked me to try it on, and then I remembered what I was wearing today. Regardless of whether or not it’s sexy, it’s an off-shoulder top that exposes a lot of skin. I put it on because Shiori-san was coming, but so far it doesn’t seem like she’s being seduced. . .Even if I expected this, it still hits hard.

So I’ll push harder with this! I asked her, “Should I take it off?” and pinched my sleeves, but she didn’t respond. Like nothing she simply said “What you’re wearing is fine.”

Yeah yeah, so that’s how it is. I guess I just don’t have the body to pull off a trick like that.

After that we had a good time putting on yukata and cooking lunch together, but after eating Shiori-san looked really tired.

I thought it was because of the lunch, but when I asked her she just told me she just had not slept well last night, so I suggested a lap pillow. She hesitated for a moment, and then said “Well. . .” and put her head on my lap with her left side down.

Even though this isn’t the first time she has fallen asleep on my lap, it feels completely different than before. After I realized I liked her I noticed everything about her. Her weight on my thighs, her warmth, the way she looked a little embarrassed, and other things I didn’t particularly care about before were irresistibly endearing to me.

I remembered Yoko’s words. “Skinship is the best for healing!”, but perhaps I was the one being healed. Because just by looking at her relaxing on my lap felt like my heart was warming up quicker and quicker.

As I stroked her glossy hair as if she was a cat, I heard her sighing voice that was pleasant to my ears, it was as if my chest was about to overfill and burst.

Ah, geeze. Please control your natural sexiness!

Shiori-san was more relaxed than before, as her eyes closed, she never noticed my resentful gaze. I don’t want her to see it, but I’m also a little annoyed that she doesn’t notice me at all. It’s not fair how conscious I am of her and how nervous she makes me feel.

As she was lulled to sleep, I stared at her as her breathing began to slow. I continued stroking her hair for a while. Wishing one day I could make her feel this same thrill.