While Rio was speaking with Francois and the others in the meeting room, Miharu was in her bed. It wasn’t evening yet, but her face was buried in her pillow.
“Uuuh... Uuugh!”
She kicked her feet and moaned as she vented her embarrassment to her pillow. In the end, she hadn’t been able to say anything to Rio during the banquet. She couldn’t even look at him directly.
I have so much I want to say to him too... But because of what happened...
Miharu touched her own lips.
That was my first kiss!
She never thought she’d have it without her own awareness. Well, she woke up in the middle of it, so she did get to experience some of it. At any rate...
“Ugh!”
Because she recalled the kiss, her face turned bright red once again. It felt like the kiss still lingered on her lips.
It was so soft... I mean, no!
What she wanted to know was why she had ended up kissing him.
Lina was controlling my body, right?
Honestly, she had no realization of that herself. When she was told that one of the Wise Gods worshipped in this world was her past life, she had no idea what that actually meant. But that was a natural reaction to have.
Right now, Miharu’s embarrassment over her kiss was far more important to her, and she didn’t have the room to think about anything else. And yet, when she looked back on it now, she realized there was something familiar about this situation.
She’s that person in my dreams, isn’t she?
Miharu had recently dreamed of being in a white space with a woman she had never seen before. In that dream, that woman would say things about the future, as though she knew what would happen.
If I fall asleep, will I be able to meet her?
Miharu had met that person in her dreams a total of two times. To be more precise, she had also seen her a third time after she had slapped Takahisa, but she was unable to keep her memories of that.
In that case...
She didn’t feel sleepy at all, but she lay still in her bed anyway. Even if she wasn’t tired, her body that had been activating large-scale sorcery against the golems since early morning was exhausted.
Which was why it didn’t take that long for Miharu to fall asleep.
✦ ✦ ✦
Before she knew it, Miharu was standing in a pure white space.
“Wha...?!”
It was that dream! Miharu immediately whipped her head around to look at her surroundings. There was no one else to be seen, but—
“Good morning. Or would it be better to say good evening?” a woman’s voice said out of nowhere.
“Are you Lina of the Seven Wise Gods?” Miharu asked, getting straight to the point. She had something important to say today.
“Getting right to it, I see. Sure, let’s go with that. I am Lina.” Lina easily revealed who she was.
“Um! I don’t think you should be using other people’s bodies to kiss people.” Although she had a point, it was rare for Miharu to scold someone so firmly.
“Out of all the things we could be talking about, you want to start with something so trivial first?” Lina said, giggling.
“I-It’s important to me!” After all, it had been her first kiss.
“It was with someone you loved, so what does it matter?”
“It matters a lot! It’s because I like him that I wanted...my first kiss...” Miharu mumbled, trailing off.
She had wanted to have a proper first kiss with him. Now that the aspiration she yearned for could never come true, Miharu objected with embarrassment.
“What are you talking about? That wasn’t even your first kiss.”
“I-It was my first kiss! How would you know anyway? What are you to me?” Miharu was rarely this emotional.
“I know your first kiss was with Amakawa Haruto, when you were seven years old and Amakawa Haruto was about to move away.”
“Th-That was a kiss with Haru-kun, not...!”
“So you do remember. That’s right, today wasn’t your first kiss with him. The kiss today was your second kiss. So I fail to understand why you keep going on and on about your silly first kiss.”
“‘S-Silly’...” Miharu pouted in spite of herself.
“Well, you’ve already given your first kiss to Amakawa Haruto. You can only give Rio your second kiss onwards. So why... Oh, is it because you’re feeling sorry you can’t give your first to Rio instead?” Lina asked in realization, but it was clear from her tone that she was teasing Miharu.
“Guh...!” Miharu bit her lip. Anger filled her eyes and she looked like she wanted to argue with Lina, but she held her tongue. There was a part of her that knew she couldn’t deny all of Lina’s words.
Indeed, Miharu’s first kiss was with Amakawa Haruto. That’s why today’s kiss was actually her second one. But just because it wasn’t her first kiss didn’t mean she didn’t care... Although it wasn’t because she felt sorry over being unable to give him her first kiss or anything...
Miharu’s thoughts went around and around in loops. The possibility of Lina making her think about that on purpose didn’t even occur to her.
“After all, you’re not the sharpest tool in the shed.”
“Huh?” Miharu’s head snapped up.
“I don’t really get it myself, but human men are happier when they take their partner’s firsts, right? They seem to place value on the fact they’re the first, and consider any woman who’s had their firsts to be dirtied. I wonder if he’s the same? Maybe he wanted his first kiss to be with someone who hadn’t kissed before too. Not with a woman who’s had their first kiss,” Lina said in an innocent voice, exaggerating her words in order to plant a sense of inferiority in Miharu.
Miharu fell silent, unable to deny anything.
“That aside, I have something I want to ask you as well,” Lina said, suddenly changing the topic.
“What is it?” Miharu replied sluggishly, unable to keep up with her thoughts.
“Is the person you like Amakawa Haruto, or is it Rio?” Lina asked directly.
For some reason, that question felt like a sharp shovel digging into Miharu’s heart.