Always read books in the classroom alone. Tried hard in class. A person whose test scores were above average. Did not join a club or the student council. Belonged solely to the "go home club" after school.
That was the kind of girl Saotome Hoshikawa was.
Although she didn’t have many friends, it did not mean that she was isolated from the social circle. It was just that she gave others an impression of trying to maintain a certain distance away from others.
"Kazuhiro-kun? A-am I not worthy of being your girlfriend?"
Her pupils, concealed by the thick lens glasses until just now, stared up at Kazuhiro from slightly below.
This was totally against the rules. It was way too dangerous.
Kazuhiro has been asked many times for "help" by girls with love affairs, but he usually ended up with the experience of receiving only a smile and a word of thanks. This kind of situation was a first.
"Um, mmhmm! Gladly! If you will have me, I'm happy!"
Kazuhiro nodded his head continuously.
Kazuhiro could not smile calmly as usual. His face started to twitch.
"Really... it's okay?"
"Yes! Yes! Definitely!"
Kazuhiro’s confirmations calmed Saotome, who sought for firm confirmations by repeated asking the same question.
"It's a deal. You won’t break the promise, right?"
"Certainly. S-Saotome!"
Kazuhiro subconsciously called out her name.
This was the development that Kazuhiro had longed for. There were many girls whom he could talk to in a relaxed fashion, but the only one he could directly call out the first name was his problematic childhood friend.
Ah, a girlfriend.
Kazuhiro often dreamed of having a girlfriend in his sweet dreams.
He finally got the girlfriend whom he has only dared to dream about.
He used to be "everyone's good guy". Now that was all in the past. His hard work has finally paid off.
And she was unexpectedly beautiful.
Just that—
A malicious smile curled up in the corner of this beautiful girl’s mouth.
This smile wasn’t one of happiness, nor was it one of joy.
This was not like a natural smile. The way her mouth curved gave off an ominous premonition.
"So, you agreed, and I have proof of that."
Saotome, who changed her tone in a flash, loosened her arms that had rested in front of her chest.
She took out a small recording pen that had been hidden. Then, she pressed the switch, and the red light, which indicated that the device was in recording mode, disappeared.
"Eh...? eeeeeeh?"
Kazuhiro was thrown into a state of confusion by the sudden development.
"Kazuhiro-kun said that, he wanted to be my fake boyfriend."
Saotome spoke to the recording pen in an affirmative tone.
"F-f-fake boyfriend? I thought you had said you wanted me to be your real boyfriend?”
Not surprised that Kazuhiro was in a state of panic, Saotome passed the earphones for the recording pen to him without uttering a word. She motioned for him to wear them, and proceeded to play the previously recorded conversation.
"Could you be my… (fake) boyfriend?"
Although at that time Kazuhiro didn’t hear the word, Saotome indeed uttered the word "fake" amidst the sentence.
The voice was very soft, but pronounced in an unmistakably fashion.
"You… you underhanded bitch!"
Angry about being deceived, Kazuhiro blurted out the words furiously.
Kazuhiro would not normally insult girls. However, he was quite far away from a state of tranquility right now.
"Kazuhiro-kun would never refuse a girl’s request. He would also not break an agreement with a girl. Is that so?"
"Of course not!"
"Kazuhiro-kun? Am I… not worthy of being your (fake) girlfriend?”
"Um, mmhmm! Gladly! If you will have me, I would be glad of service!"
"Really? Even a (fake) one, is that okay?"
"Yes! Yes, yes, of course!"
Kazuhiro had thought that Saotome was speaking with intermittent pauses because of being awfully embarrassed. In actuality, she was just using a minute voice to emphasize the word “fake”.
This was almost the equivalent of a demonic contract, in which the key words were written with extra small sized letters.
Is this a fraud?
Can I terminate the contract if that is so?
"There's more."
Saotome took out her cellphone. Of course, it was one that came with the camera-recording function.
Displayed on the small screen of cellphone was Kazuhiro, who was frantically rolling on the lawn.
“Aaaaaaaah! I really want a girlfriend!"
"Puu!"
Kazuhiro gargled at his own silly antics.
"I said it before. I was always taking special notice of you."
There was no turning back.
"W-what does a (fake) boyfriend mean?"
"It means what it means in a literal sense. Fake boyfriend and fake girlfriend. Don’t you get it?"
"I... I know that much at least. Though, why are you doing this?"
"I have my own reasons. There is something that I have to do." Saotome said with a resolute tone.
This girl… is she the kind of girl who addresses herself as “boku[1]”?
In class — rather, until just now, she was always referring to herself using the normal “I” that all girls use.
Unless, she had been pretending to act normal, and now she finally showed her true color?
"There is a reason for doing this. I must understand the complicated emotions of love. To achieve this, I must first have a boyfriend."
Absent-mindedly playing with her glasses in her right hand, Saotome said in a firm tone.
Kazuhiro wanted to inquire further, exactly why she did this. He thought better of it after concluding that any further questions would make him fall deeper into her plans.
However, it was worse to firmly decline an offer just because it was rather odd.
For example, if that voice record was spread among the girls, gossip such as "Kazuhiro-kun is one who has gone too far and trampled over the feelings of a girl" would definitely appear.
Saotome, a girl who would record other people without them taking notice, might be capable of committing such an act.
Even though Kazuhiro was disgusted with his own “good guy” act, he was at least building a positive social image with his own efforts.
Even though Kazuhiro wanted to get away from the rank of being a “good guy”, he did not in the least want other people to think of him as a bad person.
Now, Saotome had a lethal weapon against him: the video of him rolling on the lawn while shouting “I want a girlfriend”.
Kazuhiro rescinded all of his ineffable gratefulness just a while ago.
There was no such thing as God in this world. No, if there wasn’t one, people’s fortunes could actually become more balanced.
Without a doubt, God existed in this world. He treated Kazuhiro as if Kazuhiro was a thorn in his eyes. God, please self-destruct right now!
"Have you thought it through? Kazuhiro-kun?"
Saotome suddenly moved closer to Kazuhiro.
Not good. This was quite different from the previous kind of "bad".
When she took off her glasses, Kazuhiro had thought Saotome was a beautiful girl. However, right now, in a close view, Saotome looked stunning.
Saotome was probably the most beautiful girl in the whole class… no, the whole school.
That wasn’t right. Saotome could be considered as a beauty even in the entertainment circle.
Hmm. It felt like that I had actually seen her on TV. Did I overthink a little?
Saotome, who commanded such beautiful appearance, was staring intensely at Kazuhiro from an extremely close distance. Kazuhiro could almost see the reflection of his own confused self in her eyes.
"Err, err... Why choose me?"
“Because of… a conclusion that I arrived at after some observations?"
Saotome smiled as she took one step closer toward Kazuhiro.
This time it wasn't a sinister smile, but a normal smile.
Her lips curved beautifully. Above those lips, there were a pair of serious eyes.
"Last year, since we have become classmates, I've always been paying close attention to Kazuhiro-kun."
If Kazuhiro hadn't been told that this was all a pretense, hearing this sentence would have made his heart jump twice in a beat.
"First, Kazuhiro-kun demonstrated a great talent in self-control, as well as being able to act really well. Even though Kazuhiro-kun wanted to have a girlfriend very badly, Kazuhiro-kun hid his true intentions and became normal friends with the girls."
"Don’t call this ‘wanting to have a girlfriend very badly’! For a man like me, this kind of desire should be normal!"
"Don't worry. Only I have noticed your true nature."
Kazuhiro felt relieved at first, but changed his mind very soon.
Put it in another way, Saotome has discovered Kazuhiro’s weakness, one that he didn’t want anyone to find out.
"Second, Kazuhiro-kun is interested in experiencing love. In other words, Kazuhiro-kun can help me to understand the emotions known as love. If Kazuhiro-kun is a bizarre creature who has no interest in love at all, I would have had no use for Kazuhiro-kun.
Saotome held up her fist, and put up her fingers one by one.
"Third, in order to help those female classmates, Kazuhiro-kun should be knowledgeable about those popular stores, right?"
Mm, that was true indeed.
If Kazuhiro changed his attitudes toward a girl whom he was helping just because she got a new boyfriend, he would be the subject of girls’ gossip.
Therefore, he gave those girls who already had boyfriend as much attention as those who didn’t have one.
If anybody asked him, he would provide the best route for a date, as well as all the related information that make a date successful.
Moreover, those girls’ boyfriends were either his friends, or his classmates. Kazuhiro didn’t want to be in bad terms with them.
If Kazuhiro has continued to conduct himself under this kind of strategy, the result would be spending his entire life as a “good person”, without a girlfriend.
At this precise moment, Kazuhiro started to doubt his strategy even more.
"Also, the fact that you live alone is also a plus. If you have a girlfriend, your parents would naturally know about it. Wouldn’t it become a nuisance when your parents find out that your girlfriend is actually a fake?"
Saotome seemed to know everything about him, including his family background, even if he didn’t exactly try to hide the information.
The ironic thing was, Kazuhiro has always been afraid of being branded as a stalker, so he never deeply investigated into any of the girl’s family background.
For a girl with few friends like Saotome, Kazuhiro knew next to nothing about her background.
"Due to the above reasons, I have concluded that Kazuhiro-kun is the best choice."
Saotome spun the recording pen in her hand several times, and threw it inside her breast pocket.
Not good.
It’s not that Kazuhiro didn’t consider the last option of forcibly taking the recording pen away from Saotome. However, he didn’t want to use force on a girl. Besides, in this kind of situation, it would be inevitable that he touch Saotome’s chest.
For Kazuhiro, touching a girl’s chest was a joyful event, but he thought better of it.
Because Saotome’s racks... her racks… were unexpectedly big.
Not a humongous size, but…
The size was just right. It was definitely a perfect size, not to mention that her breasts seemed very soft as well.
Kazuhiro only made this discovery just now. The concealing effect of unadorned glasses was something to reckon indeed.
American air force could also do with a pair of unadorned glasses.
"Where are you looking at...? Kazuhiro-kun is a pervert☆"
Saotome shielded her chest with with her hands, and turned to the side ninety degrees.
And once again Saotome stared at Kazuhiro from below with her eyes opened widely.
"Aaaaaa… Whoaaaaa!"
Kazuhiro panicked due to Saotome’s unexpected reactions.
That was against the rules. Definitely against the rules.
This kind of expression, this kind of posture, and her sweet voice…
Who care if this was only a pretense? If a girl this cute asked you to be her boyfriend, what was there to hesitate about?
“Birururururu!”
Kazuhiro’s cellphone began to ring inside his pocket.
"Yagimoto-kun, what happened? Caught a cold?"
"S-sorry! There's something urgent! I'm going there right now!"
Kazuhiro answered the high-pitched loli with a short sentence, and immediately hung up the call.
Today was a work day. He has completely forgotten.
It was already time for work, but he forgot about it due to Saotome’s interruption.
"Ahhh, I still have work to do! I work in a café, twice a week. Today I have to work!"
Kazuhiro clasped both of his hands together in front of Saotome, as a gesture of apology.
"No! You can't go yet!"
Saotome extended both of her arms, and wrapped them tightly around Kazuhiro’s hand.
Warm, and soft.
If that previous expression could have gotten a red card, this one was definitely a weapon of mass destruction.
Her moist eyes could charm any man.
She gently stared at Kazuhiro, as if she was trying to persuade a warrior going to the front line to stay.
"Unless you agree to be my fake boyfriend, I won’t let you go."
The words that came out of Saotome sounded like a request that could not be turned down.
"I, I know! I agree! I agree to be your fake boyfriend! Is that okay?"
Work could not wait, and since Saotome was so cute, it didn’t matter whether she was my real or fake girlfriend.
Even though it was a little bit suspicious, it was still better to accept it.
This kind of logic isn't wrong, right?
"OK. Good luck with working. Don't be late for work☆"
Saotome finally let go of Kazuhiro’s hand, and waved her right arm as she said those words of encouragement. Kazuhiro took this opportunity to immediately exit the scene.
After taking several steps, Kazuhiro turned his head to look at the previous scene. Saotome was still standing there, waving her hand at him.
Kyuuhito City is located in the western part of outskirts of Tokyo. In the past, it had been known as a bustling area where the eminent nobles lived. Perhaps it was because of the historical legacy, the area around the metro station was quite lively.
Beside the main road was a commercial building. Kazuhiro’s workplace was a café located on the first floor of this building. Although he was part of the crew who worked mainly in the kitchen, he occasionally had to work as a waiter. Thus, he was obligated to change into the uniform.
Kazuhiro sprinted toward the storage room, aka employee lounge.
“Pataaaa!”
The door to the employee lounge was unlocked, and was opened with a light shove.
“Kyaa!”
The sound of a girl shrieking came from inside the room.
It was Kazuhiro’s colleague, Sanae Tenkyuuin, who was changing her clothes.
Her snow-white skin contrasted strongly against her black hair. The radiant sight of her white bra and underwear flew into Kazuhiro’s vision.
“Ah, I am sorry for shouting out loud… no, I should have locked the door properly. I was entirely my fault...”
“Well, let’s just forget about this... whooahh!”
Sanae first covered her mouth with her hands, and then apologized by bowing down her body. Seeing this scene, Kazuhiro covered both of his eyes with his left hand, for the sake of being polite, while waving his right hand in panic.
He knew that the best solution would be exiting the scene promptly, but both because of the exhaustion from dashing earlier and the shock induced by the sudden turn of the events, he couldn’t command his feet.
“I’m really very sorry… eh? Are you not feeling well?”
From the gap between his fingers, he could see Sanae gradually approaching him with a worried look on her face.
Only the underwear and the bra were present on her slim body.
“The clothes! I am going out now! Please wear them quickly!”
In a hurry, Kazuhiro got down on all fours, crawled out of the room, and closed the door. After patiently waiting for a while, Kazuhiro heard sounds of knocking from inside the door.
“Yagimoto-san, I’m done changing. Could you open the door please?”
“Eh? Ahh, my bad.”
Kazuhiro blocked the door by resting his back on it, so Sanae couldn’t open the door. He shifted his weight from the door and turned the knob.
“Thank you for waiting.”
Sanae, who had changed into her uniform, walked out of the room.
She wore an elegant black dress with a laced apron in white. She wore a pair of gloves with butterfly-knots, and white headwear on her head.
This was the place two of them worked, “Sweet Drop”, a maid café.
Although the impression that Sanae gave off could be described as that of a traditional Japanese women, this appearance also suited her.
Once there was nobody left in the room, Kazuhiro started to change. What he had to wear was obviously not a maid costume. It was a butler costume with a white shirt under a vest, together with a pair of long pants.
After getting changed, Kazuhiro headed toward the kitchen, right at the moment when Sanae was about to press on the power button of an ice-maker machine.
“Yagimoto-san, are you okay? I am going to offer you some iced water.”
“Ah! Be careful—”
Kazuhiro warned her, but it was to no avail.
“Pssshhaaaaa!”
Sanae pressed down on the "PUSH" button. A large quantity of ice cubes and iced water flowed out of the machine at an alarming rate, even though one would have thought that only ice cubes could come out from the machine.
"eh? eeeeh?"
As a result from the water that was sprayed out from the machine, Sanae's clothes was wet.
"Qu-quickly, watch out!"
Kazuhiro directed the confused Sanae away from the disastrous scene. He randomly pressed the buttons on the machine, but the ice-maker showed no sign of stopping.
Finally, Kazuhiro unplugged the electrical cord, successfully halting the machine from its rampage.
"Ms. Tenkyuuin, I thought I had warned you of the dangers of being near electrical devices for people who are not good with them."
"I am really sorry. Yagimoto-san seemed to be very tired, so I wanted to quickly offer you a glass of iced water. I forgot about your warning..."
Sanae bowed deeply as she finished her words. Her gorgeous body was suddenly exposed. Kazuhiro found it hard to look away from this view.
Her white shirt, tightly glued on her skin due to the wetness, was visible. Kazuhiro could see the complicated lace pattern on her snow-white skin.
This scene was definitely not good for the eyes.
However, if one asked him whether he was pleased to see such a view, the answer should be obvious.
“Ahh, it’s all wet… what should I do…?”
Sanae was at a loss of what to do next. All the while, water drips were constantly slipping off from her fingers.
“I am really… how did it come to this…? I really need to wipe this place clean.”
“I will take care of here. Just go and change. There should be unused uniforms, right?”
Sanae’s appearance could seriously damage my eyes, and she might get a cold. Moreover, she couldn’t serve the guests if her body was wet like this.
Sanae was a clueless girl. If Kazuhiro didn’t tell her what to do clearly, she might even continue cleaning the place with her body still dripping wet.
“O-ok, then I will heed your advice.”
After Sanae left, Kazuhiro restarted the ice-maker. This time, he followed the instructions on the menu, supplying only ice cubes.
Sanae was a clueless person when it came to electronic devices, to a drastic extent. If we use a metaphor with singers, she was on the same level as fat O. One couldn’t say whether it was because of her body composition or her special skills, but whether she liked it or not, machines would definitely malfunction if she came to touch with them.
Any device associated with electricity or involved pressing buttons would not do. As far as Kazuhiro knew, she didn’t even own a cellphone.
“I hope you didn’t wait too long.”
After Kazuhiro cleaned the whole mess up, Sanae reappeared, in her clean uniform.
“Wa!”
Her new uniform was quite different from the last one. The short skirt couldn’t be shorter, and there was a huge V neckline on her chest, revealing much of her assets. She only slightly dried her hair, retaining the watery look. She looked like as if she was sparkling.
“Ms. Ten… Tenkyuuin?”
At this moment, Sanae wore a dangerously revealing cos-play costume, and had a cute face.
This kind of combination was more threatening than the previous, water-drenched look.
“I asked manager Tomo, and she said that she didn’t have any other uniform to spare. She told me to wear this.”
“That woman is always like this…”
The uniform Sanae was wearing must be the uniform for night and holiday shift. In “Sweet Drop”, Tenkyuuin was the only maid who still went to high school. The other three were either university students or full-time workers.
“So what’s up…?”
Sanae was confused about why Kazuhiro was panicking, and she slightly tilted her head.
“An… anyways, don’t worry about me. The guests are waiting. You should hurry up.”
“Ok, I understand.”
This restaurant wasn’t a maid café in the beginning.
Until last year, this restaurant was operated by the current manager, Oofuna Tomo’s grandfather. The café was named “Purely for Drinking Tea – Honeydew”
Manager Tomo’s grandfather was an amazing coffee brewer, securing a large customer base. He was forced to retire due to old age, though. The one who inherited the café, Tomo, knew next to nothing about cooking.
Thus, Kazuhiro, who just happened to be searching for a job at that time, was tasked with the mission of brewing coffee.
Grinding coffee beans and brewing coffee were not difficult tasks for Kazuhiro, but he could never make coffee that tasted as refined as ones made by the previous manager.
Deprived of all but one choice, manager Tomo renovated the shop into a maid café altogether. The desperate gamble worked out somehow.
Even though the coffee shop was turned into a maid café, Kazuhiro remained as one of the employees.
If anybody else knew that Kazuhiro was working in a maid café, one would definitely be envious of his position. That was why Kazuhiro told all of his friends that he was working in a coffee shop. Besides, it was a coffee shop to start with.
Maid café didn’t have a strict requirement for the menu, nor the quality of food. The manager chose simple menus, and Kazuhiro, who was in charge of the kitchen, had a lot of free time to himself.
While Kazuhiro was busy brewing coffee and oolong tea, he heard a trail of footsteps.
“Ya-Yagimoto!”
The person who was sprinting toward Kazuhiro was manager Tomo. Manager Tomo had a babyish face, a short statue, couple with short hair. She looked like a middle school student, but she was in fact well passed her twentieth birthday. If one had to ask her exact age, manager Tomo would bawl like a kid, even though she was already an adult.
“I… I want to tell you… there was a guest…”
It was always hard to catch Tomo’s main point from her speech. Though, judging from her troubled expression and the way she sprinted here, some problems must have arisen.
“Alright, tell me your mailbox.”
“Ehh… so… what is a mailbox?”
“I like this kind of reaction, very similar to that of a rich lady. I am of course talking about the email address for cellphone.”
“But… I don’t have a cellphone.”
“In this day and age, what kind of person doesn’t have a cellphone? Did the employee regulation at this place tell you to treat a guest like this?”
After stepping into the guest area, it immediately dawned to him that Sanae was being harassed by a male customer.
Her hand was tightly locked by the customer. Her eyebrow was furrowed.
“Seeing the daring way you dressed today makes me want to see you in some other places.”
Perhaps because there weren’t any other customer in the shop, the man’s attitude was quite intimate.
“Sir, if you behave like this, we would be very troubled.”
Kazuhiro stepped forward, and grabbed the man’s hand.
“This shop doesn’t offer that kind of service. If you keep harassing our employee, I am going to call the police!”
Kazuhiro didn’t have a massive build. However, as the only male employee in the shop, he was the only one who could handle this situation.
For this kind of customer, most of them would back down after a bit of warning.
“O-ok, don’t be like this. I was only joking.”
The man showed a fake smile, and promptly left the shop as he paid the bill.
“Thank you for your help.”
Perhaps it was because the man left, Sanae’s expressions were more relaxed.
“It’s only part of my job. The next time somebody harass you, just shout right away.”
“There are a lot that I don’t understand in the outside world. I really don’t know how to deal with that sort of people…”
Sanae didn’t have a phone because it would break if it came into contact with her. Even though this seemed like an exaggeration, it really looked like that Sanae was a spoiled girl from a rich family who has never seen the outside world.
In fact, Kazuhiro heard that Sanae started her work half a month earlier, because she wanted to learn about social experiences.
“Yagimoto-san is really dependable. I am lucky with you as my senpai.”
“Not at all, haha…”
That feeling when one was looked up upon by a pair of moist eyes… that kind of feeling wasn’t bad at all.
Subsequently, nothing irregular happened. When the night shift employees arrived, Kazuhiro’s work was done.
“So… Yagimoto-san…”
Sanae, dressed in her uniform, suddenly called up Kazuhiro, who was preparing to go home.
She didn’t wear her maid uniform. Rather, she was dressed in her school’s sailor uniform.
“Yep? What’s wrong?”
“I know it is disrespectful for me to say this, but there is one thing that I must ask of you, because I can only ask Yagimoto-san…”
Kazuhiro recalled that Sanae had said that she wanted to ask him of something.
“I said it before. I would glad help with anything I am capable of.”
At that instance, Saotome’s request flashed in Kazuhiro’s mind.
Could it be? That kind of rare request, surely it couldn’t be that again?
“I haven’t known Yagimoto-san for very long, yet I have asked this of you… it is really shameful…”
Sanae’s cheeks turned red. She bowed her head in embarrassment, and concentrated on playing with her fingers in front of her chest.
Finally, she made up her mind, and raised her head to look at Kazuhiro.
“Yagimoto-san, please become my lover!”
“What?”
What kind of development was this?
The super cute co-worker suddenly confessing to him?
No, Kazuhiro would be lying to himself if he said he wasn’t wishing for this result. Nevertheless, nothing good would come out of this, so he wouldn’t even dare to dream of this in normal circumstances.
But now, is has become true!
Kazuhiro’s spring was finally about to come!
The hours that Kazuhiro spent here working was all worth it!
“Of cou—”
Just as Kazuhiro was about to say “of course”, he suddenly stopped himself.
He was already Saotome’s boyfriend, wouldn’t he be cheating if he promised to date another girl?
That would not do. It was scary to be caught between two women. Girls wouldn’t like it either.
But, he wasn’t dating Saotome in the real sense.
So strictly, it wouldn’t be cheating.
After going through the reasoning, Kazuhiro smiled.
“So… I think there is some misunderstandings…? I am not referring to really dating each other. I meant dating only as a formality…”
“What?”
“I have my own reasons, so I need a person to pretend to be my boyfriend.”
This was an unexpected answer. It was in fact unbelievable.
Consecutively, two girls wanted me to pretend to be their boyfriend?
If I were to refuse, I must take order of sequence into considerations.
Since I agreed to Saotome’s request first, but I have already agreed even earlier to help Sanae…
“Please!”
The tone was not anything like that of Sanae. It was tense. Her slim hands tightly clutched Kazuhiro’s arm.
Kazuhiro could feel her soft and warm skin on his arm. The warm sensation was first transmitted to his arm, and then moved toward his chest, finally arrived at his brain.
“Wa! Waaaa!”
Even if they were coworkers, should they really touch each other intimately like this?
“I don’t have any male friend. Please, Yagimoto-san…”
Kazuhiro couldn’t do it. He couldn’t refuse her.
He couldn’t refuse her after she showed so much sincerity.
The grip on his arm tightened, dealing the fatal strike.
“Sure. If I could be of any help…”
After all, they were “fake”.
One, or two, it didn’t make much of a difference.
“Thank you, Yagimoto-san! Ahh… I am… please excuse my behaviors.”
Sanae realized that her behavior was quite out of line, and released her hold on Kazuhiro.
After telling Kazuhiro that she would fill him in later, she departed.
Kazuhiro had planned to walk her home, and ask her more about this request. However, Sanae said that “someone will pick her up”, and refused his kind offer.
What kind of development was this? Two people asking me for the same favor on the same day?
In normal situation, Kazuhiro wouldn’t cheat on his girlfriend. However, both girls asked him to be their “fake” boyfriend.
Furthermore, one girl was his classmate, while the other was his coworker. The time and place for rendezvous were completely different, so it should be fine.
Lost in thought, Kazuhiro has already arrived at his home.
This spring, Kazuhiro’s sister and mother moved, following their father who had gotten a notice for job relocation. Kazuhiro lived in home alone after that.
When Kazuhiro checked the mailbox, he found a note, ripped off from notebook.
Only one word was written on it. That was, “food”.
“Sigh… here it comes again…”
Kazuhiro walked into his house dejectedly. He checked the fridge as he entered the kitchen.
Even though Kazuhiro could manage housework pretty well, he was still just a high school boy. There wasn’t much food in the fridge.
Kazuhiro swiftly cooked the previously frozen rice, cut ham, and vegetables. He poured scrambled egg over it, and covered it upside down with plastic wrap. Next, he brought it over to his neighbor.
He pressed the doorbell, but no one came out.
He turned the knob with his left hand.
“Talk about not being careful enough… the one who is in a life-threatening situation is the thief.”
“Sorry for intruding.”
Kazuhiro walked in without waiting for a response. He climbed up the stairs to the second floor.
On the second floor, there was one room that was on the direct opposite side of Kazuhiro’s room, where one could exchange words with the person living on the other side easily through the windows. He stopped at the door, and knocked on it.
Nobody replied.
“I am going to open the door!”
Kazuhiro proclaimed, and lightly turned the knob.
He found a girl lying on the bed.
This kind of situation would definitely be enticing no matter how one looked at it.
However, Kazuhiro was already accustomed to this scene.
The girl wasn’t wearing any cute pajama, nor sexy underclothes. She was wearing a loose, dark red colored sports jersey from her high school.
Not only that, saliva was dripping from the corner of her mouth. Her medium length hair was disheveled, and she was snoring.
She was Kazuhiro’s childhood friend. For most guys, having a younger female childhood friend who lived just next door almost was a dream come true.
Kazuhiro wished these people could see the harsh reality.
A female childhood friend… this kind of vocabulary did not guarantee the quality that it implied.
If Kazuhiro was forced to enumerate a few of her merits, he could only say that maybe her face was kind of… cute. Also, her body, while short in statue, was well-curved.
That being said, in reality, the sheer numbers of shortcomings could overwhelm the few merits that she had.
For example, in the center of her room, there was a sand bag, which shouldn’t belong to any normal high school girl.
The decorations in the room consisted of trophies and medals from karate competitions. The only thing that could go together with the word cute was the designs on her quilt. The room was not to Kazuhiro’s liking. It was beyond what a sports enthusiast’s room should look like.
“Yo, Takana, Takana Hio. It’s time for a meal.”
After attempting to wake her up for several times, there was still no response.
Kazuhiro tipped his toes and lightly approached the bed.
“…mmmm……”
The girl’s eyelids slowly opened.
Even though her head should still be in the sleep mode, her arms and feet shot out like a bolt of lightning.
“Waa!”
Kazuhiro jumped backward in a hurry. The girl’s spin kick ended up landing on the sand bag.
“Boom!”
As a result of the momentum from the kick, the sandbag swung all the way to crash into the ceiling, shaking the entire room as an aftershock.
“Waaaaaa! Idiot! Wake up! It’s me, Kazuhiro! I am here to bring you some food!”
Kazuhiro took off the plastic wrap in a hurry, and started to fan the food with his hands. He employed the last resort of trying to wake Takana up with the smell of the food.
“……ahh… it’s Kazu…”
The young maiden rubbed her half-closed eyes, and then quickly sorted out her hair with her hands. Finally, she tied up her hair into a horse tail.
“Don’t ‘it’s Kazu’ me! Don’t you think it’s about time to change your habit of ‘assaulting any person who tries to wake you up while you are asleep’? It’s dangerous!”
“Ehh, it’s a martial artist’s habit. When danger is imminent, my body just instinctively react.”
“A normal human being isn’t a threat! Please don’t wave your wild fists, which has the ability to knock out a wild bear, at people while you are sleeping ever again!”
“Knocking out a wild bear” was not an exaggeration.
Takana used a school of martial art called “Hio Metsu Jinryuu”, or Hio God-destroying Style. As the next head of the dojo, she was hailed as a genius who would only appear once a hundred years.
When she was only seven years old, she has already learned Hio God-destroying Style. She easily defeated her father, who taught her the art. During a Hokkaido trip in elementary school, she got out of the hotel during the middle of the night, and actually defeated a wild bear.
At that time, the only witness, who was practically dragged into the action, was Kazuhiro. To Kazuhiro, however, that was only an inconvenience.
The sandbag was still swinging like a pendulum. It was a custom made training product. For normal practitioners of martial arts, punching this sandbag would make their fists hurt like hell.
Currently, Takana sat on her bed in a cross-leg position. She had a mouthful of fried rice in her mouth.
This scene could perhaps be interpreted as healthy, but it absolutely had nothing to do with beautiful or cute.
Even though she was like this, she attended the famous all-girls school, the Academy of St. Sky, a school full of rich young ladies. Kazuhiro heard from rumors that she only got in because of special enrollment for martial artists, so her grades were horrible.
“Emmm, Kazu’s fried rice is superb. It’s amazing that you can cook such amazing food with such a simple name[2].”
“What does cooking have to do with a name?”
Takana smiled contentedly, with a grain of rice still on the corner of her mouth.
Shouldn’t it be the opposite in normal circumstances?
The girl was the childhood friend who lived next door. The boy lived by himself.
Normally, the girl should cook for the boy. In reality, Kazuhiro always prepared the food for Takana.
Th…thi…this was the reality of having a female childhood friend!
“Today I have work, so I ate outside… please remind me again why did I cook for someone else as soon as I got home?”
Even though Kazuhiro was used to the routine, he has never forgotten to complain a little bit.
“It’s not ‘someone else’. My relationship with Kazu run deeper than that, right?”
“It’s definitely ‘someone else’. You are specially related to me.”
Although Kazuhiro has known Takana since he was little, she was neither his family nor his girlfriend. Granted that Kazuhiro’s family took care of her a lot in the past since her parents were busy with the dojo, so she could be considered as part of his family.
Besides, it was not just once or twice that he almost lost his life going along with Takana’s adventures.
That said, it was a miracle that Kazuhiro was still alive up to now, since angering her on accident could mean a certain death from deathly punches.
This girl might not even be a human being.
She must have mutated into the strongest creature, Homo Takana-ensis Violence. Exactly, that must be what happened.
“Last time, you said you wanted me to do a favor. Were you talking about the food?”
Kazuhiro was called up by Takana in the morning, being told that Takana wanted a favor from him.
“Nah.”
Takana took a few swigs from the sport drinks, which usually sit by her side. She wiped her mouth as she was finished drinking.
“It can’t be… that? Asking me to be your fake boyfriend or something crazy like that?”
Right after he finished his sentence, he thought that it was a really silly idea. He made a wry expression.
Takana didn’t know about the incidents today in which he was asked by two girls to be their fake boyfriends. Anyways, dating was not her style. It was like Mona Lisa and pickled radish. They weren’t compatible with each other.
“It seems like you have a good talent at guessing.”
“Ahh?”
“Kazu, be my boyfriend. Of course, we are only acting.”
Having realized that she got a grain of rice stuck on the corner of her mouth, Takana picked it up with her finger tips, and threw it into her mouth.
“Whhh…aaat?”
“Don’t misunderstand. I am not asking you to be my real boyfriend. We are only pretending.”
Ms. Takana was a person who did not give a shit about the receiving party’s emotions and thoughts.
It was a unilateral demand, one that was immune from any protest.
If he said “no”, it did not take a wild imagination to predict that a flying iron fist would soon come his way.
“Ha…hahaha……”
Even though he has reached a state where he could no longer laugh, he still had no other choice than letting the laughter out loud.
The request for fake boyfriend… and he was asked to do it three times all in one day.
The kind of bad luck that only he would get, getting asked multiple times to become a girl’s fake boyfriend.
If a guy was confessed to three times consecutively by different girls, it was a matter that demanded utmost attention and would bring endless worries. However, being asked to be a fake boyfriend three times consecutively was not a turnout that make a guy happy. Actually, only the part that would bring endless worries remained.
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