His Childhood Friend is a Beautiful, Reclusive Girl, So He Spends His After-School Hours in Her Room (But He’s Not Her Boyfriend!) - Ch. 25: Childhood Friend's Love Comedy Attack Act 3 (Middle)

“—Say, ah.”

I went rigid when the twin-tailed Yuika offered me a homemade cookie.
I feel like my face is going to burst into flames just from this situation.

For example, there are many times when I spoil Yuika and feed her.
But not the other way around. I may have done it once or twice in the course of my life, but when it was done in this situation, I felt embarrassed.

And to my horror, the heart-to-heart communication between childhood friends.
Reading my feelings accurately, Yuika tilted her head in a cute way and said, “come on, hurry up.”
Then she leaned forward on the glass table and smiled kindly.

“Today is a good day for Souta to be pampered, okay?”
“~~~~!?”

What do you mean!?
Why are you talking like an onee-san!? The gap between the her now and the usual sweet Yuika is what’s killing me!

… Guh, my army is seriously outnumbered. We have to take the initiative somehow. Is there anything we can do? Something, something, something… Ah!?
I caught sight of the twin-tails. This is it!

“Heh.”
“Wha!”

I tugged lightly on the left side of the twin-tails swaying in front of me.
Her head tilted to the left and Yuika’s eyes went blank.

“Whoa, whoa. Hey, why are you pulling?”
“Yo, hey, there.”
“Are you listening to me? What do you want?”

She swiped my hand away.
But as the name implies, there are two tails. I quickly pulled on the right side this time.

“Heh.”
“Ouwu.”

Yuika rolled her eyes at me, catching me off guard, and I gushed.

“You know how rare it is to see Yuika with twin tails? That’s why I wanted to touch it.”
“I’m glad you like it, though…”
“This is fun. Just pulling on it is soothing. I want one of these in my house, okay?”
“You just need a handy floor-cleaning robot! Don’t play with people’s hair!”

“No, no, you can’t stop once you know how much fun it is. There you go.”
“Ah, ah. Kyaa, I told you stop that!”
“Haha, how about that? Come on. Come on.”
“Muu. Souta’s a bully. Ouwu, ouwu~”

Yuika tried to feed me the cookie she picked and tried to get past my hands.
Of course, I couldn’t let her do that, so I feinted and went after her twin-tails.
We squealed and joked with each other across the glass table.

I’ve managed to block out Yuika’s “ah.”
… I can’t help but feel like this is turning into some kind of bromance, but we’re not, are we? It’s just my imagination, right? I’m sure it’s okay.

But I was too careless, and in a moment of distraction, Yuika picked up the cookie again.

“If Souta is going to be a bully, I’m going to take strong measures too. That’s right.”
“Muggh!?”

The cookie popped into my mouth, her finger, and all. I felt the softness of her finger on my tongue, and it made me squirm in a weird way.

“How is it? Is it good?”
“I can’t taste it this way! I was so surprised it almost went into my windpipe!”
“That’s because Souta only likes my twin-tails and won’t eat the cookies I made for him.”

“I’ll eat them! I’m going to eat them if you act normally because they’re the cookies that Yuika made for me!”
“Then eat them!”
“Before that, give me your hand. I’ll wipe your fingers.”

I took a sheet of tissue from the floor.
But Yuika just refused.

“I don’t need it. I’ll just do this.”
“What? —Hey!?”

Before I could stop her, Yuika popped her finger into her mouth.
I was shocked… and my face blushed, which was rare.

As if to tease me, Yuika said, “you’re clean now,” and released her fingers and smiled softly.
She was like a mischievous little devil.

“Fufu, I can taste Souta.”

… Mayday, Mayday. Our army is in a critical situation. We need help, please, someone help us.
But this is a recluse’s room, so no one will be here…

“Mmm? Souta, why are you silent? You look like a helpless commander.”
“The analogy is too accurate to be taken seriously… I was just going to have a full cookie, that’s all. Ah, it’s good. It’s so good!”

I turn my body to the side with a giggle, look away from Yuika, and ate the cookie. I’m so nervous that I can’t taste it. But I don’t think it’s right not to taste it properly, so I do my best to concentrate on the flavor.
… Eh? This has my favorite cinnamon as the secret ingredient. Dang it, I’m swooning over Yuika’s thoughtfulness! Oh no!

… And all the while, Yuika was staring at me.
She put her cheeks on the floor and muttered quietly to herself.

“Today’s Souta is kind of cute.”
“Gu…”

I take back what I said before, you’re not talking to yourself at all. You’re totally talking so I can hear you.
Oh, man, I’ve been on the defensive all day. Even when the tide turns for a moment, it comes right back. I’ll have to find a different angle on this one.

If this happens, I have no choice. She may be in a bad mood too…

I glanced over at Yuika.
Her F-cup was leaning up against the glass table, their presence popping up.
The belt of her overalls was tight, and the t-shirt underneath was loose around her chest.
Swallowing the cookie, I said something bitter.

“… Yuika”
“What?”
“… I can see your breasts. If you’re not careful, I’ll take a picture, okay?”
“Ah…”

The defenseless childhood friend finally noticed it, and her cheeks blushed for a moment.
But… for some reason, she didn’t try to hide it. Normally, she would instantly hold her chest and give me the disgusted look.
With her cleavage exposed, she glanced at me.

“… It’s okay. Why don’t you just take a picture? You can w*nk all you want.”
“Haa!?”

The unexpected words made me look up.
And… I belatedly realized. That I had so carelessly stepped into a ridiculous minefield myself.

The reason why Yuika had been so strict about sexual matters was that she had decided not to become lovers with me.
But now, she’s on a mission to “make me fall in love with her.”
If I say something erotic, what is the current Yuika going to do?
To my dismay, I hadn’t given it any thought until this moment.

In an instant, a tremendous sense of tension enveloped the room.
The silence was as if the room had sunk to the bottom of the ocean.
It was Yuika who broke the silence.

“… Souta. Not only cookies but also, by any chance…”

Hey, stop it.
Don’t say anything more reckless.
If you give me the okay in today’s atmosphere, I won’t be able to stop myself…

She knew about my state of mind, but still, Yuika continued to speak.
With a bright red face overflowing with fondness, her shoulders shook with anticipation and anxiety.

“By any chance… do you want to eat me too?”

[TLN: I’m a little scared this is about to turn PG.]