I did everything I could to talk Tomoyo’s train of thought back on track, but it seemed that she’d used up every bit of focus she had to offer. She ended up slumping back listlessly in her swivel chair.
“Ugggh... Nope. Can’t do it. I’ve got no drive. Battery’s drained,” Tomoyo groaned.
“Already, seriously? That was barely even a half hour...”
“Aaand that means it’s time to get flirty!”
I didn’t even have the time to question Tomoyo’s seriously flimsy argument before she’d more or less thrown herself at me. I caught her—because, like, what else was I supposed to do?—and she ended up essentially curled up on my lap like a cat. She had, once again, activated full dere mode.
“Heh heh, heh heh heh! Love you, Juujuu!” Tomoyo cooed.
“Glad to hear it,” I replied.
“Hey, Juujuu? Gimme smoochies!”
“What? No.”
“Awww, why not? Meanie!”
“Give it a rest. Look, I just... I don’t really like being that casual about that sort of thing, okay?”
“Hmmph! Don’t care! Shut up and smooch me! Smoooch!”
“Gah! Cut it out, moron!”
Tomoyo closed in on me, lips pursed, but there was just no way I’d be in a kissing frame of mind considering how stupid and unromantic the situation that had led us here was, so I braced my hands on her shoulders and kept her firmly at arm’s distance. It probably would’ve been a really surreal scene to witness from an outside perspective, but to us, it was a deathly serious struggle.
For a moment, we were caught in a total deadlock...but that’s when a noise rang out from outside Tomoyo’s door. I could just make out the distinctive thumping of somebody climbing up the stairs.
I barely had time to gasp before Tomoyo sprang into action at an almost stupefying pace. She leaped away from me, brushed the wrinkles out of her clothing at mach speed, and slammed back into her chair.
“Tomoyo, Andou? I brought you some snacks and drinks!”
“Like I said, Andou, this is no time to be slacking off! Go grab me that light novel I just mentioned from my shelf, okay? I want to check a few things in it for reference. Come on, hurry up! You know how close we are to my deadline, right? I’m an established pro in the industry now—they’re not going to cut me the sort of slack that an amateur would get! Missing a deadline’s out of the question, so hurry up and— Oh, mom!” Tomoyo said, looking up from her computer and acting as if she’d only just noticed that her mother had stepped into the room.
“Hee hee hee! You certainly are giving it your all, aren’t you?” Tomoyo’s mom said with a pleasant smile. She stepped over to the table I was sitting at and set down the drinks and slices of cake that she’d brought for us. “Thank you again, Andou. I really appreciate how you’re always helping Tomoyo out with her work.”
“Nah, it’s fine... It’s not like she’s forcing me to help or anything,” I replied.
“You too, Tomoyo! I hope you’ve been telling Andou how grateful you are for his help.”
“O-Oh, stuff it... Of course I have,” Tomoyo bluntly grumbled. She was so curt, it was almost like she’d gone back to her old self for a moment.
“I’m sorry about this, Andou,” Tomoyo’s mother quietly added as she leaned in toward me. “Tomoyo just doesn’t know how to be honest about her feelings. I’m positive that deep down, she loves you to pieces.”
“Uh... Right.”
“Mom! I can hear you! Quit butting in, jeez! A-And don’t go getting the wrong idea, Andou!” Tomoyo yelped.
“...Right.”
“For crying out loud... You’re done, right, mom? Give us some space, please!”
“Hee hee! If you insist.”
Tomoyo all but pushed her mom out of the room and slammed the door behind her. Then, the moment we heard her descending the staircase, the tension visibly drained from Tomoyo’s body. Everything about her—even her expression and the look in her eyes—just went slack, all at once. She sprawled out onto the floor, once again ending up lying in my lap.
“I love you, Juujuuuu!”
“This...is...exhausting!” I shouted.
I just couldn’t take it anymore. She was almost disturbingly affectionate with me these days, yes, but Dereyo only made an appearance when the two of us were alone. Whenever someone else was in the picture, she pivoted on a dime and went full tsun instead, up to and including going back to calling me Andou. She stuck to me like glue when we were in her room, but she wouldn’t even hold my hand when we were walking around outdoors. It was like...just total tsundere stuff, in the classical sense of the term: When other people were around, her tsun side came out, and when it was just us, she went dere instead.
“Look, Tomoyo...can’t you, like, work on this or something?” I asked. “The U-turns your personality takes these days are so sharp, they’re seriously gonna give me whiplash at this rate.”
“Sh-Shut up, okay...? I can’t help it! I mean...it’s embarrassing,” Tomoyo muttered with an abashed blush. “I just can’t act all flirty in front of people... Not even my mom. I mean, like...when it’s just the two of us, I end up looking like a total ditz, right?”
“Oh, so you know...?”
“Yeah, I do!” Tomoyo shouted. Her expression grew grim. “Every once in a while...I come to my senses, right? I step back and take an objective look at myself...and I think ‘Oh, god, that’s creepy.’ It’s honestly hilarious—I’ve always been the sort of person who makes fun of girls who can’t think about anything other than their boyfriends, and now I’m one of them! But...” Tomoyo added, a slight tremor working its way into her voice, “I just... I can’t help it. There’s nothing I can do to stop myself. I love you so, so, so much...I can’t hold it back!”
I didn’t say a word.
“Just spending time with you makes me so happy I can’t even deal... I wanna touch you, and hug you, and kiss you, and mess around with you literally all the time... And you’re, like, always so chill and blasé about it and stuff? And I start worrying if I’m the only one who feels this strongly about us... So I end up thinking that I have to make it even more obvious that I love you, or you’ll end up getting sick of me...”
“Tomoyo...”
The reason I’d ended up acting relatively chill about our relationship was because Tomoyo’s affection had been so overwhelming. Having someone come at me that aggressively, paradoxically, made it really easy for me to keep a cool head. It was like I knew on some level that if both of us went full dere we’d completely lose control, meaning that it was my responsibility to stay calm and keep things reasonable for both of our sakes.
Apparently, however, my calm and collected act had just ended up making Dereyo go to even greater extremes. Her excessive affection was just a manifestation of the anxiety that she felt deep down. I was starting to feel really pathetic, honestly. How could I let myself make the most important girl in the world to me worry, of all things?
“Tomoyo,” I called out. A dark and dreary shadow had fallen over her, but she still looked up when I called her name—and the moment she did, I pressed my lips to hers.
I stole a kiss, as simple as that. The softness of her lips had me spellbound in an instant, and while she jolted with surprise at first, she soon wrapped her arms around me and pulled me even closer. It felt like our kiss lasted for an eternity, and yet at the same time, like it only took a split second before our lips regretfully parted.
“I love you, Tomoyo. I love every part of you, no matter how you act.”
“Ah... Aggghhhhhh!” Tomoyo moaned as she pressed her face—which was as red as a boiled lobster—into her hands. “D-Dummy... Wh-What was that? I-I wasn’t ready... Agggh...”
“Are you seriously getting embarrassed now? After all that...? You were all over me literally a second ago.”
“W-Well, come on... It was so sudden, you caught me off guard... And it’s been ages since the last time too.”
“Has it, really...? Pretty sure it was just the day before yesterday.”
“I-I mean it’s been ages since you kissed me! And it feels like it’s been a while since you said you love me on your own too. It’s like I always have to go out of my way to ask you to say it lately...”
“Yeah, uh...that’s just because you ask for it all the time. It has to be just the right time for me to say it naturally, and you always end up asking for it before I get the chance, basically.”
“I-I know! I know, but still...” Tomoyo sulkily moaned.
I gave her a pat on the head. “You don’t have to worry, okay? I really do love you. It’s all fine.”
“Yeah...”
The next thing I knew, Tomoyo had flung herself at me all over again. This time, her flying hug was so intense it sent us crashing backward onto her bed.
“Hee hee, hee hee hee! I love you, Juujuu! Let’s just do this all day today, okay? We can spend the whole day hugging and cuddling!”
“Or...you could do your work. Like, please, do that. I’m begging you.”
“Hmmph. You’re such a meanie, Juujuu! If all you’re gonna do with your lips is complain, then I’ll just go ahead and put them to much better use!”
“I said I’m not into that stuff when the mood’s not right, didn’t I?!”
Tomoyo was bearing down on me again, but I shut her down with a well-aimed flick to the forehead. She let out a little yelp and glared daggers at me, but it wasn’t long before both of us cracked up in unison. I couldn’t really say if we were flirting, fighting, or both, but one way or another, we spent the afternoon together in our own unique sort of way.
Honestly...is it really okay for me to be this happy? I wondered, saying a silent prayer that this wouldn’t all turn out to be just a dream.
World Alight Route: The End