Chapter 32: Eating a Snack After Such a Long Time Feels Special. This is Why I Can't Stop Snacking. I'm Hungry!

Eating a Snack After Such a Long Time Feels Special. This is Why I Can't Stop Snacking. I'm Hungry!

"Hikari! Let's have lunch!"

It's been a while since I found out what Miho-san's true identity was and we even had dinner together. I've been struggling with the idea of ​​keeping a distance from her. 

...After dinner? Nothing happened except that when Dad came home and said there wasn't a seat for him, and then she went home still wearing the cat set, which she'd gotten used to wearing from wearing it all the time.

By the way, she gave the cat set back to me at school the next day, her face all red. I heard that her family had teased her a lot.

It's good to hear that she still has a good relationship with her family in this life.

Though maybe not as close as ours!

"Hikari! Let's go home together!"

Leaving that past aside, the problem is the present.

To be more precise, Miho-san has become excessively affectionate and clingy in various places since then.  

What's the problem with that? Well,

"Hikari, why don't you stay over tonight? Let's take a bath together?"

She's become a very troublesome child, behaving like this indiscriminately, regardless of the situation. Know your distance.

No, considering her original behavior, I should have known better.

Think.... Have you thought about it before you do this?

Eh, if you do this, you will be able to get Hikari away from bad people? Anyone who does get in your way will be crushed with the power of yuri?

Hmm, this is...

I don't particularly dislike spending time with Miho-san either. Not that I dislike it, but I don't like this kind of desperate, pushy heaviness, like, "If I do this much, you'll understand my feelings, right!?"

Even if it's the same heaviness, I'd welcome it if it spilled out even though you desperately trying to hold it in.

Also, aside from my personal preferences, keeping bad male insects away from me also means that you're getting in the way of my search for sparkles.

So, you're simply a nuisance, Miho-san.

Of course, being a nuisance doesn't mean I dislike you or want to get rid of you, but you're still a nuisance.

I'm getting hungry, so I want to eat Tomohiro-kun. In spiritual sense.

So I told Miho-san to stop, and if she was too persistent I'd start to dislike her! But she refuted me, saying that if I could dislike her by trying to, then I already disliked her.

It was frustrating.

I was so frustrated that I decided to make sure we set aside time together regularly every week.

This was the first defeat I'd ever suffered in my life as a humble Mashiro-san. I can no longer get carried away and expect to experience defeat every time I win something. 

I cried because I'd been deprived of one of life's simple joys.

I let out a sigh and cried, making her worry, and then I left her there as she was.

Today, I get to go home with Tomohiro-kun for the first time in a while. Yay!

Even while Miho-san was stalking me, I could have gone home with him if I'd wanted, but my Tomohiro-kun is very shy. He doesn't talk much if someone else is around. 

That's what's so cute about him.

"Let's go home together!"

I invite him with a smile, and get his approval, just like always.

"Refusing to go home with me and going with a guy like that...?"

Miho-san's face looks like she's trying to hold back a crunch in her brain, but it'll be just the right punishment for interrupting me for a while.

I'll show her plenty, slowly, and with my sticky load, making it clear that the person you loved has become another man's woman.

The truth is, who do I have more attachment to, my partner from my past life or my childhood friend from this life? For me, it's hard to choose.

My ex-partner, the one I'd spent my whole life with, and my childhood friend, the one I'd raised with. If I'd had both, I might not have had to worry about it, but if there was any suspicion that Tomohiro-kun was a reincarnated person too, I probably would have taken some kind of action, so it's a pointless assumption.

"Mashiro-san, you've become really close with Miho-san. No one else calls you that, but you still accept it as if it's natural."

As we walked home together for the first time in a while, Tomohiro-kun seemed curious about Miho-san, the reason we couldn't walk home together, and asked me quite directly.

Well, if he'd asked me in a roundabout way, I would either dodge the question or answer so directly that it became meaningless. I like people who speak in a monotonous way, just like my brain.

"Whether it's my last name or my first name, it's fine either way. Plus, I kind of liking the cute sound of 'Mashiro', so after I told everyone, they started calling me that."

The external students also naturally settled on Mashiro because the internal students were calling me that, and the story had spread.

Sometimes they calls me Mashiro-chan or Hikari-chan. Well, I don't really mind if they calls me Mashiron or Pikarin.

When I said that, Tomohiro-kun turned into a space cat and said, "Pikarin...?"

By the way, he usually calls me Mashiro-san, but when he's with my family he calls me Hikari-chan, just like he always did.

Well, we have three of us with the same face, and we're all Mashiro-san. It's only natural that he would do that.

"...So, you don't mind if I give you a nickname? Can I call you something different from the others?"

Tomohiro-kun suddenly blurted out this.

Hmm, this is what Hikari-chan's analysis says; His childhood friend, who he'd always known as the closest to him, hadn't paid any attention to him for a while, so he probably wanted something special that set him apart from the others.

Tomohiro-kun is usually so self-deprecating, thinking things like, "How can someone like me be next to Mashiro-san...", so I'm glad he thinks that way. But, I guess the fact that he only asked permission before changing the way he calls me is because he's socially awkward.

Someone with strong communication skills would probably change the way they call me first, and then change it back if I dislike it.

That's just my prejudice, though. Well, I think his socially awkward side is part of Tomohiro-kun's cute side, too.

"...Is the way you call me the only thing that  you want to be different from other people?"

I stop in my tracks and turn to face Tomohiro-kun.

I stare up at him from a head and a half lower position, and smile mischievously. I wonder if I'm laughing as cutely as I practiced. It's not a type of laugh I normally do, so I practiced a lot using the mirror and the camera.

Tomohiro-kun choked on the response, which he probably didn't expect. It wasn't a blood vessel in his brain that clogged, but words.  

Tomohiro-kun was at a loss for words and couldn't say anything, so I gave him my usual smile and said, "Just kidding," and he patted his chest in relief.

Yeah, yeah, what I just said sounded like I wanted him to make not only the way he called me, but also our relationship "special."

It was a contradiction to my previous actions, as I'd been taking extreme precautions to prevent my relationship with Tomohiro-kun from progressing. No wonder Tomohiro-kun wouldn't be able to respond right away.

So, for now, I've set the stage for Tomohiro-kun tonight, his mind spinning in futon, thinking, "Maybe Mashiro-san and I really do have feelings for each other..."

There are two possible moves I can make next. I can set the stage more carefully, or I can let his brain get the usual brain-destroying treatment.

It's a tough decision to make. Making his first love even more complicated is something I have to do for the future, and since I'm hungry, I want to have a snack to satisfy my hunger.

After 0.3 seconds of thinking, the conclusion I'd reached was a very clear and simple one.  

There's no way my rationality, overcome by hunger, can function properly. So, I eat Tomohiro-kun, and he gets eaten by me.

It's a scene I've seen repeated many times before. It can't be helped, I'm hungry.

So, I check the cards I have in my hand to destroy Tomohiro-kun's brain. I haven't been able to interact with him much lately, so I don't have much. But giving up because of the bad cards in my hand would be a disgrace to a card gamer.

I'll keep talking for now, waiting for a good card to be drawn from the deck, and then I'll plan my strategy.

Roar, Pink Brain Cells!

"Well, let's not linger, let's hurry home. The cookies I baked with Mama yesterday were delicious, so I want you to try them."

Then, a sudden surge of electricity ran through my brain, and I naturally grabbed Tomohiro-kun's hand.

It was so natural, I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of anything until just now. I was captivated by how natural this was.

Tomohiro-kun was still confused, so I held his hand and we walked together. If that were all there was to it, it would just seem like I was being affectionate. It would be an action that suggested I was going in the direction of something other than just snacking.

But Tomohiro-kun is the type to think deeply. If I do something I don't normally do, he can't help but wonder why. So naturally, he'd naturally wonder why we were holding hands, and the first person that came to mind was Miho-san.

Yes, his childhood friend, who'd always been close and inseparable, had been easily influenced by her new friend.

She'd gone from being a modest and pure girl to one who was always clingy and touchy-feely.

This revelation would surely have the power to destroy Tomohiro-kun's sexual preferences.

"Hiro-chan? Hey, Hiro-chan?"

That's what I thought, but contrary to my expectations, I wasn't able to enjoy Tomohiro-kun's complex expressions. In fact, he froze up, and I couldn't enjoy any of his expressions, let alone his complex ones.

For some reason, why did Tomohiro-kun freeze up at the action that was meant to destroy his sexual fetish?

I took three seconds to think it through.

Normally, this would be a shirt thinking time, but with this amazing, high-spec body, it was enough time.

Ah, I see.

Yes, he had been lacking in 'Hikari-chan ingredients' for a while, and then suddenly ingesting a large amount of them seems to have caused him to go into shock.

To put it simply, before his sexual fetish was destroyed, his mind was destroyed by happiness.

It was too soon for Tomohiro-kun to unexpectedly hold hands with the girl he liked outside.

My unworthy Pikarin, what a sad miscalculation. Nothing has been going well lately.

I had no choice but to take the dazed Tomohiro-kun home and hand him over to the neighbor mom.

Hey, your child is broken. Did you give me a defective product? Please refund and exchange it quickly!

...And so, I missed out on Tomohiro-kun again.