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. 78: Sure Enough, My Childhood Friend Has Sore Muscles.

I arrived at Kisaragi’s house on a borrowed bicycle.
I managed to kick away Nadeshiko-san, who was waiting for me in the living room with a grin on her face, with just a short conversation, and I quickly arrived in front of Yuika’s room.

“I see, this is how it happened…”

There were two trays in front of the door.
One for breakfast and one for lunch. Both of them are completely untouched.

I don’t think there were any snacks in the room. In other words, Yuika hadn’t eaten anything all day.

What the heck is wrong…?

At any rate, I grabbed a tray for lunch and turned the doorknob.
I skipped the knocking. I went straight into the room.

“Yuika, I’m here. You need to eat right…?”
“Puguru…”
“What, did I step on something!? I stepped on something, and then I heard a strange sound1?”

As soon as I entered the room, I felt something soft on the sole of my foot.
At the same time, I heard a mysterious sound that sounded like sandals being crushed.
I jumped back almost going to drop my tray. Then.

“I’m hungry…”
“Y-Yuika!”

The identity of the mysterious sound was the girl I like.
I stepped on her head with all my might. What should I do? I’m a little nervous…

So, Yuika was lying on her face in front of the door, limping.
Judging from the situation, she was trying to get a tray for breakfast, but ran out of steam when she couldn’t reach it.
I put the tray on the floor and poked the black-haired woman’s head fearfully.

“A-Are you okay…?”
“No, I’m not okay. My muscles are sore and I can’t move…”
“Oh…”

It seemed that Nadeshiko was right in her assessment.

“How much training did you do to make your muscles sore to the point of being unable to move…?”
“This life, until it burns out…”
“If you were burning up, you’d be dead.”

Kekeke…She tilted her head with a stiffness that seemed to make crack sounds and looked at me.

“I’ve been working out…since Souta left yesterday. In addition to dumbbells, there are reverse planks, hip lift bridges, and various…”
“A splendid parade of katakana…It’s a pattern of getting into a lot of trouble where it looked cool.”

“I can’t argue with that because it’s absolutely true. …So I woke up this morning and my whole body was shaking. I was going to go out to get some food, but I couldn’t even stand up, so I crawled here somehow…”
“But ran out of energy on the way.”
“Exaktory, you got it.”

At any rate, I was relieved that she seemed to have the energy to talk.
This was also as Nadeko-san saw it.

A while ago, in the living room, Nadeshiko-san said to me, “She is probably not going to be able to move, but she’ll be fine as long as she eats. I was the same way, but when I start training when I was holed up, I can’t stop.”

I was in a hurry, so I just let it go, but now I wonder if she has had the same experience of being reclusive as Yuika, such as ‘I was the same way’ or ‘when I was holed up’.

…No way. Two generations of beautiful girls, a father and son, and a recluse with a tendency to swing around.

“Anyway, it’s good that you’re working hard, but you should do it in moderation. If you get sore, there’s nothing you can do.”
“I’m serious. It’s all in my head…Wake me up.”
“Hey, hey.”

I grabbed her by the back collar of her pajamas and lifted her up like a kitten. It was a little tricky, but once you get used to it, it was very convenient. Prancing, Yuika emerged from the floor.

“Raku-chan!”
“That’s right, thank you. Can you hold the chopsticks by yourself?”
“No, I can’t. Feed me.”
“I knew you’d come to me…”

Well, it was the result of hard work and training.
It wouldn’t hurt to indulge her a little.
So, I tried to make her sit down with the edge of the bed as a backrest.

“Ah, my back hurts. …No, I can’t sit on a hard surface…”
“Seriously…”

It seemed that the back muscles were also overworked, and as soon as she sat down, Yuika became half limp.

“Let’s see, let’s bring the futon to your back…”
“Souta, I’m hungry. If I wait any longer, I’ll starve to death.”
“Wait, wait, there’s an order to things. First the futon…”

“Souta, Souta.”
“What is it, what is it?”
“I have an idea.”
“…I have a bad feeling about this.”

But I had no choice but to follow the advice of the person with muscle pain.
The result.

“…How did this happen?”
“It’s not like it hurts..

Mikami Souta, 17 years old. I have been appointed as the chair of Yuika.
To be precise, I am sitting with my back against the bed, and Yuika was sitting with her back against me.
It was what I call a “hug from behind” position.

“Yes, let me eat. Let me eat.”
“I’m spoiling you right now…”
“Fufu, sore muscles are a sign of approval for pampering.”

“I’ve never heard of such a system before in my life.”
“Then can I punish Souta? You stepped on me earlier.”
“Nooo, you remembered…”

I can’t help it.
I gave up and picked up my chopsticks. The tray was placed on the glass table in front of me. I grabbed a small tomato from the salad with my chopsticks and brought it to Yuika’s mouth.

“Here, ahhh.”
“Ahhh, hem.”

Then I fed her the rice. She seemed to be in a good mood and asked for this, that, and the next, so it was easy.

Finally, we had dessert afterward.
Natsuko-san’s homemade raspberry yogurt was served with a spoon for her to swallow.

“This is the only day you’re going to get all this, okay?”
“I know.”
“So be it. How did you like your meal, princess?”
“I’m satisfied!”
“That’s good.”

“Shall I give Souta a reward for his good work?”
“Reward?”
“Yes. I’ve been thinking about it for a while, but Souta doesn’t seem to notice, so I’ll tell you. Doesn’t this position remind you of something?”
“What do you mean…?”

When she said that, I remembered.
I’ve been in this position with Yuika before.

I think it was when I was forced to watch…her favorite anime. When the scene was good, Yuika turned around and almost kissed me. …Ah.

“Did you realize?”

More so, Yuika leaned her back against me.
The smell of shampoo, which I was trying not to worry about, almost made me lightheaded.
Behind me was the bed. There was no way to escape. Somehow I managed to at least open my mouth.

“Wait, wait, wait. You can’t do that, right?”
“Why not? It’s good. It’s a reward. I’ve already done it once.”
“That’s…”

She may be right, but I have my own reasons.
Even yesterday, Reason was in a life-threatening situation. If I kissed her in such close proximity, I would…never be able to resist.

—If you push her down now, you’ll become a grown-up.

Duh! Shut up! Distraction, distraction!
Some mother’s voice echoed in my brain, and I shook my head frantically.

“Anyway, no! I’m your chair and I don’t need a reward!”
“You want to do it too, Souta.”
“Even if I want to, I can’t, you know.”
“Are you sure—?”

With her black hair swaying, Yuika turned around.
It was the seductive lips that draw my gaze. A little redder than usual.

“Now it is a limited-time, raspberry-flavored kiss, okay?”

She smiled mischievously and stuck out her tongue.
My heart jumped when I saw the red, even more, intense than usual.

“Yuika, y-you…”
“Hmm?”
“Are you going to use your tongue!?”
“Huh!?”

She turned bright red, not raspberry, but the usual color.

“N-No, I didn’t say that!”
“You stuck your tongue out. You flicked your tongue out!”
“Flicking out doesn’t mean I’m using it!”

“But if I’m going to taste raspberries, don’t you think you should stick your tongue in?”
“Well, it might…go in, but it is…”

Her cheeks turned even redder.
Perhaps her embarrassment had reached a critical point, but Yuika screamed. She exploded with a bang.

“I hadn’t thought that far ahead anyway! I’m not such a naughty girl!”

Unexpected! That was the standard of Yuika’s shame!
It was safe to let me touch her stomach, but it was dirty to stick her tongue in. I can’t touch her ears. I guess I’ll have to check this one by one…

And right after I yell. “Whoa!” Yuika’s face tightened up.

“Every muscle in my body is screaming! Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch!”
“Whoa, idiot, don’t fall on the table! There’s a tray over there, tray!”

I had to rush to help her the same way treating her like a kitten.
Well, fortunately, or unfortunately, it did blow the kissing mood.

Huh, thanks for the help…I was able to resist the urge again today. I never know where Nadeshiko-san might overhear us if we do something wrong.

After that, Yuika used me as a chair and limped all the way.
You can’t train too hard, that’s for sure. She took those words deeply to heart.