Chapter 42: A Friendly Love Consultation, Accompanied by a Pitch Black Belly

A Friendly Love Consultation, Accompanied by a Pitch Black Belly

"...So, you're basically asking for love advice?"

A beautiful girl is a beautiful girl even without expression. Miho-san, while not as beautiful as me, is still beautiful, so naturally, she has a beautiful face even without expression.

Incidentally, I'm the type of person who finds doll-like features appealing, so I find myself admiring her. Miho Mana, you're so beautiful. You're shining.

Miho-san's cute demeanor makes me want to suddenly ask her out.

To her, I'm her former partner, a precious person she's reunited in this life. It's only natural that she wants to be by my side as much as possible, and she probably wants to avoid me getting into a romantic relationship with anyone other than herself.

Happy that she cares about me that much, I smile and answer Miho-san's question with a beaming "YES!"

Being happy that someone cares about me doesn't necessarily mean I'll respond to it. It's not that I don't want to be with her, but it's not a high priority.

"Why? You have me, Hikari. We promised to be together forever, no matter what. We promised to be together in sickness and in health, so was that a lie? Why would you try to date someone else when you have me?"

Miho-san keeps asking why, why, why like a child in the why-why phase. Her eyes are a little bulging. If she did that in front of anyone other than me, people would be scared of her.

Now, it seems like Miho-san's mental health isn't great, but that was actually to be expected.

I knew even before I asked her for advice that Miho-san, who loves me so much, wouldn't be able to respond calmly to my pseudo-love-advice talk.

Still, there's no way she wouldn't understand the person who was with her from the time she was born until, presumably, the moment she died.

...Actually, I have no memory of the circumstances of my death or what my relationship with her was like at the time. My brain was a mess before my reincarnation.

Putting aside my previous brain problems, if I knew she wasn't keeping her cool, why on earth did I go out of my way to step on a landmine? It's not hard to see why I would never do something like this under normal circumstances.

Considering the future, I needed to deal with it now. Even if I knew where it was, there's no need to leave a visible landmine buried forever, and there's no guarantee that someone other than me wouldn't step on it.

Having calculated these things, I chose to deal with it now. It's also easy to deal with.

"Hikari, why not me? Why can't it be me? I know you better than the other kids. I understand you better than anyone. More than your parents, siblings, or childhood friends. I know Hikari best. So why not me?"

Miho-san grabbed my shoulders and rambled on, staring at me so close our lips almost touched.

It's embarrassing to get so close...

It wasn't the kind of atmosphere where I could joke around, so I reluctantly gave up and stared back at Miho-san with a serious expression on my face.

"...I think there's some meaning to my reincarnation. Maybe it's to do something I couldn't do back then, or to become something I couldn't have become. I don't know what it is, but there must be some meaning. ...And I'm sure it's something I couldn't do back then. Things I couldn't do, things I couldn't have become if I had stayed that way. I'm sure I was reborn to do something about those things. That's why I have to do it, and I want to try."

Naturally, I was reborn because I had received a revelation, and to defile the wonderful sparkle that exists in the world. I was explaining that, but that didn't really answer Miho-san's question.

It didn't, but to Miho-san, it seemed a little different.

Things I couldn't do in my previous body, things that in my current body, I had to be with someone other than Miho-san.  

...So, if Miho-san were to translate what I said earlier, it would be, "I want a child..." Because my body was no longer functioning properly. We couldn't have children.

And Miho-san, knowing that I was concerned about it at the time, doesn't find that interpretation strange.

That way, I can explain to her why I'm becoming a female for another male, while also removing the landmine. After all, if the topic comes up, I won't be able to persuade her in any other way. 

The only drawback is that it might hurt her feelings a little, but she's not the type to be broken by something like this, so it's collateral damage. It's not an exaggeration to say that she's effectively unscathed.

...Do I have no qualms about hurting my former partner?

Of course I do, but more than that, I'm excited right now by the look on Miho-san's face, as she struggles to get her hands on something so important no matter how hard she tries.

I know it's in bad taste, but sexual fetishes are sinful, aren't they?

Miho-san, who had been asking me why and why, stopped pursuing the matter after hearing the explanation and burst into tears.

Yeah, I understand how you feel. You resent me for being impotent in the past and now being a girl. Or maybe hate yourself for being a girl in this life too?

To be honest, if it weren't for the divine revelation, I wouldn't have minded spending the rest of my life with Miho-san in this life too. If Tomohiro-kun had actually been her, I might have even given up and accepted that this was my fate.

I comfort her, apologizing and saying I'm sorry, and then I hug her.

See, my body is like a soft girl's, right? That's why it can't be helped. Give up.

Either comfort her or make things worse– NO! Bad Hikari!

Don't try to make things worse. Comfort her!

I pat her head, telling her she's a good girl and a smart girl, and wipe the tears from her cheeks.

...It's really salty.  

There's a type of sodium that can only be obtained from the tears of beautiful girls who have done nothing wrong. Of all the wonderful things that go into creating a girl, surely one of them is a beautiful girl's tears.

Thinking about this, I concealed it on the surface and continued comforting Miho-san as usual.

I'm glad my mimicry skills are so good. Otherwise, I would have ended up showing this girl my nasty true nature.

Even though I'm a worthless reincarnated person, there are still people I don't want to show my unpleasant side to.

.... Snack-kun and the sparkly guys?

It's not people I don't want to show them to, it's people I shouldn't show them to. There's a big difference between not being able to show them and not wanting to show them.

"..... I'll give Hikari some advice. If you're not going to be mine, I hope you'll at least find someone better."

Miho-san cried for a while, then stopped crying and rubbed her eyes as she said this.

She declared that she would choose a man who would turn the man she loved into a slut. That's what an understanding girlfriend is. It's a deep karma. Deep, but not as deep as my fetish.

...Oh no! Hikari-chan's fetish is common! How careless! ...Watch your mouth, you pervert!

The commonality of my fetish is irrelevant, so I'll leave it there.

What's important now is which sparkle I should choose, or rather, my love life. Since that's how it is in Miho-san's mind, I have to talk about it that way too.

"...There are two people I'm torn between right now. One is someone I know well, someone I think I'll probably be happy with. Someone who will definitely bring me calm, warm happiness."

It's Shota-kun and little sister, you see. Someone whose thought patterns are easy to understand and easy to manipulate. Also, I'll assume that only I'll be happy, and the other two will be unhappy. 

"I don't know about the other one. If everything fits together perfectly, I'm sure I'll be much happier than with the other people. But if there's even the slightest bit of mismatch, I'm sure I'll get nothing and be left with nothing."

It's Satoshi-kun, isn't it? Because he's smarter than me, I'm not confident I can lead him, even though the rewards would be huge if I could guide him perfectly. To be honest, I think I'll fail somewhere and be ruined. After all, he's smart. That's why he's so wonderful and sparkling, but at this point, being too sparkly is a problem. It would be easier if he were a little dumber.

I continue the conversation, ignoring Miho-san's misunderstanding, who probably mistakes the former for Tomohiro-kun and the latter for Satoshi-kun.

Miho-san is basically a logical thinker, so she's not a bad person to talk to. She doesn't insert unnecessary emotional arguments, so the conversation moves smoothly....

"...Yeah, I wouldn't like the idea of ​​giving my Hikari to some random idiot, so if I'm going for it, the latter is the only option. That way, if things don't work out, I can get you back."

....She was only speaking emotionally.

I wish she'd stop acting the exact opposite of what I thought right after. Also, I feel sorry for Tomohiro-kun, who's being treated like an idiot by natural chance. A bone is a bone, but the more you chew on it, the more flavor it has.

"If things don't work out? ....Isn't that something that should be avoided the most?"

Essentially, she's recommending this option because it's more likely to fail. That's not what someone giving advice should do, and if she says it like that, it's enough to make people lose interest in choosing that option.

"Well, what I say won't change Hikari's feelings, right? And besides, you already had your answer decided from the beginning, right? So all I can do is kick you in the back."

"Hmph!" Miho-san sulked, but still sounded like she understood. She was absolutely right.

As expected of my former partner, she really understood me.

Miho-san: (If Hikari aims really high and succeeds, it'll be frustrating, but it's okay. If she fails and ends up homeless with a bloated belly, it's okay for me to pick her up. So please ...Fail, FAIL, FAIL!)