Prove Your Eternal Love. There Shall Be No Heroine Correction. - Chapter 1 Part 1

I made a bad choice.

I felt my heart beating so strong and fast that it hurt, how regrettable.

We were alone in a small, closed room, just the two of us.

This was the third time Nagisa and I went out like this. But for a boy and a girl in the early stages of a relationship, this situation seemed a little too stimulating.

I was currently reading Nagisa’s favorite shoujo manga in the couple’s room of a manga cafe.

What was unfolding on the page I was on was a sweet love scene, and I could smell the faint scent of sweet shampoo from Nagisa, who was next to me.

She was always present in my consciousness, and I could hear her body movements and breaths as if I could reach out and touch her right away. Moreover, I was strongly attracted to her.

In other words — this space is already dominated by the sweet atmosphere of love. The air I breathe in and out was sticky like syrup. I felt like I was going to lose my mind.

“Suguru-senpai, how do you feel about it?”

Nagisa, looking up at me, asked in a whisper. She seemed to be enjoying the situation that she could be heard even in a whisper, although she did not have to be so quiet in the soundproof room.

“How do I feel…Well, somewhat, a little nervous about this situation.”

“Heh? Ah, no, not that…I meant the manga.”

Nagisa slowly removed her gaze from mine. Her expression also changed from an innocent smile to an awkward one. It seemed that my careless comment had awakened the tension that had been cleverly hidden between the two of us.

“Eh? Ah, yeah, this. This is certainly interesting. I’ve been avoiding it because it’s a shoujo manga, but I should have read it when Minagi recommended it to me.”

I quickly closed the manga, turned it over, and placed it in a pile. There was no doubt that the manga was interesting. But to be honest, only about half of the contents had entered my head. There was no way I could concentrate in such a state.

Yes, I made a bad choice. We talked about recommended mangas, but Nagisa said she couldn’t lend it to me because it was her sister’s collection, and there was a manga café nearby, so we came to read it together casually. That was how it led up to this situation.

“I know, right!? The content is sordid, but the descriptions are strangely refreshing, it’s a miraculous balance of seriousness and gags! It just keeps pulling me in!”

“I especially like the character of the rival. She reflects on her past misdeeds and cries in the sack, saying, ‘Even if I only get the results, it’s meaningless without the essence.’ From that point on, I feel a sense of kinship with her, and I find myself rooting for her.”

“Ah, Misaki-chan? …Yes, I agree.”

“I feel like you are implying a little something. No, leave it. You don’t have to say anything else.”

“No, not at all. But you’d better be prepared for the fifteenth volume.”

“That’s definitely something going to happen! That’s a vicious spoiler!”

“Well, well, it’s all right, Suguru-sa—senpai. It’s interesting enough that you shouldn’t mind those spoilers.”

Nagisa smiled mischievously. She was the younger sister of my ex-girlfriend — Tokiwa Minagi. So she should be more used to calling me ‘san’ than ‘senpai’. Yet she has recently started calling me Suguru-senpai.

“You know, Nagisa, you don’t have to call me senpai. Although we are seniors and juniors in the same high school, we have known each other since before that.”

That said, we were only acquainted with each other, and we didn’t talk alone together.

And yet, here we were, with only the two of us, thinking of each other.

No──It really was strange, inexplicable, and unnatural.

“Mmm, I felt like I had to add ‘senpai’ to your name. Besides, I get better responses when I call you senpai. Did you notice that, Suguru-senpai?”

Again the upward glance. Nagisa tilted her head with a smile while shaking her red ribbon. I looked away with a startled look. She was right. When she called me ‘Suguru-senpai,’ for some reason I felt a little different from my normal self.

“Ah, see!? I knew it! Senpai, senpai, Suguru-senpai!”

“S-Stop it.”

With a hushed voice, I took my distance from Nagisa, who was closing in on me. I was only a few centimeters away from Nagisa until I was completely backed up against the wall. In other words, the gap between us was shrinking.

Yeah — I love her.

But every time I thought that, a nagging doubt raised in my mind as if to counteract my feelings.

Is this feeling really genuine?

It was a question that I still could not figure out.

About three weeks ago, on July 21st. We were attracted to each other with a feeling so strong that it cannot be explained by love at first sight. Most likely, we fell in love.

The process I was supposed to cherish, the reasons why I love her, the time I have accumulated to love her, were nowhere to be found.

—If I fall in love with you from now on, and you fall in love with me from now on. …Then we would go out with each other. That kind of game.”

—In the end, the person who has the greatest feelings for the other person wins.

At that time, I proposed such a game to Nagisa. A game with strange rules that couldn’t even be called a game. But I thought that if I didn’t do so, if we didn’t form some kind of relationship, our feelings would soon disappear. So I tried to hold on to my love without a process and our ambiguous relationship somehow in some form.

We gradually got to know each other, and our feelings for each other were mutual, even if we didn’t say it out loud. Even so, I was still unable to take the plunge into a relationship with a girl with no process.

“By the way, Suguru-senpai. Just earlier, umm. Was it a little heart pounding for you Suguru-senpai.”

“…Now, I wonder. I just said I’m nervous, heart-pounding is a bit—”

Without waiting for my denial, Nagisa placed her fingertips on my chest. Hey, that was not fair.

“But it is, right? Your heart is pounding.”

“…O-Of course, it is. Just a little.”

“Just a little? You call this just a little?”

“Yes, this is just a little.”

“If so. I’d like to feel it beat faster.”

Nagisa’s lips slowly moved closer to mine, keeping her hand on my chest. Ahh, how simple we human beings were. My heart was beating with an unstoppable pace, and my brain, which has become hot, was melting. Reason was fading away, and desire was about to surface. Nevertheless, it was instinct that sounded a warning.

Kiss—No!

I quickly pushed Nagisa’s shoulder back. Nagisa, in a huff, pulled away from me vigorously.

“Ah… I’m sorry about this.”

Nagisa said, reflecting on her actions. Her trademark ribbon was also looking a bit listless.

“No, umm…Me too.”

“We’re not even dating yet. This is no good.”

“Yeah, right.”

I nodded. There was an order to things. Everything has a process and a result. We were not in a relationship, so we should not make that kind of contact. But more than that, my body moved on its own. I felt a strong resistance to being kissed. Why was that?

The air turned awkward, a complete change from what it was a moment ago.

“…You know, Nagisa.”

I couldn’t stand it, and this time, I gradually cornered Nagisa.

I couldn’t go out with Nagisa yet. I won’t go out with her until I was convinced that this feeling was real. This was my principle.

But when would that be? A week later, a month, a month, a year?

My mind has been uneasy for a while now, and every time I thought of Nagisa, it whirled around and spoke to me. I must not prolong this ambiguous relationship. It was the same as the close kiss earlier. Something like a lesson, engraved in my soul, drove me on.

“I love you. That’s why—”

If you say you like me, I want you to go out with me. This was according to the rules of our game.

Nagisa interrupted my attempt to spin such an offer with a question while smiling fleetingly.

“Suguru-senpai, what do you like about me?”

“…That’s.”

Nagisa was cute. She was cheerful and has a dazzling smile. She was fun to be with. She was an attractive girl. But that was not the right answer. The basis for this feeling was still nowhere to be found. So my honest mouth didn’t make a sound no matter how much I moved my lips.

Nagisa softly pushed me back with her arms while staring firmly into my eyes.

“…If you can’t, don’t force it. I could see it in your eyes. Suguru-senpai is lost.”

“I-I’m not lost. Nagisa is—”

“Because. You are still interested in Aogashima-senpai, right? You said when you met me again that you had potential feelings for someone. That someone was Aogashima-senpai…right?”

I certainly had liked Aogashima-san.

She was clumsy, shy, but a hard worker. Aogashima-san confessed her love to me, we both ran for the Cultural Festival Executive Committee, we worked together, and I got to know her better. I felt very safe with her and was struck by her efforts. I had intended to go out with Aogashima Yuno.

However, after meeting Nagisa, it changed drastically.

I shook my head strongly in response to Nagisa’s anxious expression.

“No, I can’t explain it well…But those feelings were fake.”

This was also puzzling. My memory until summer vacation was wrong in places. It was as if my memories had been replaced by daydreams, and they don’t taste right either. I don’t know why. But my intuition was telling me that the process was wrong.

“The process with Aogashima-san was wrong, and the feelings that resulted from it must be wrong too. That was why I’ve been struggling with it for so long, but yesterday I told Aogashima-san I couldn’t go out with her.”

As I finished, there was silence. I wondered how Nagisa would react. My heart was throbbing for some reason as I waited for her to speak.

“I see. I understand. Then the reason why Suguru-senpai is confused is much simpler. We don’t have a process. That’s why I…Well, still think it’s not good enough!”

She was right. The process part with Nagisa was a blank slate, but I couldn’t dismiss it as either real or fake. Both were equally possible, and both could be wrong outcomes. However, my feelings were inevitably influenced.

“That’s absolutely right. But—”

Nagisa pinched my lips between her fingers and kept my mouth shut.

“The process is more important than the result. If you don’t have the ability to stick to your principles, you’re not Suguru-senpai.”

“I don’t mean to deny that principle is a hassle, but this was only our third time going out together. Did you find it that much of a hassle?”

“…Eh? Uh, did you really mean that? How are you so unaware?”

Nagisa’s eyes blinked in surprise. Aheh, that was strange. I thought I was being careful.

“Anyway, Suguru-senpai, you don’t have to hurry so much. When you have an answer, please give me a much more wonderful confession.”

Nagisa had a bright smile on her face, and I flinched and scratched my cheek. When did this girl become so strong? The weak figure that was always hiding behind Minagi was nowhere to be found anymore.

“…Yeah. I got it. I’ll take care of it.”

“It’s okay. I would always be waiting for you, Suguru-senpai.”

That was why it made me even more anxious.

I pulled a small can out of my chest pocket and pop a melon-flavored candy ball into my mouth. It was to make sure that this was not a dream but reality. I prayed that the girl next to me would not leave me without my knowledge.

The reason why I love her could not be found anywhere in the past. So I have to find it from now on. I have to find a reason to go out with Tokiwa Nagisa.