She likes me? That was what she wanted to tell me today? I can tell she’s serious. She’s not making fun of me or anything like that, but this is unbelievable. This makes me so happy I can’t believe it...
I didn’t even notice falling, but I realized I was down on my knees. I must have looked so stupid... Could Kokoro really like someone like that?
“Y-You’re kidding, right?” I asked. “Are you really okay... dating someone like me? Instead of someone like Yuya?”
“How many times do I need to tell you?!” she replied with tears in her eyes. “I don’t know why I like you! I don’t know why thinking about you being happy with another girl makes me hurt so much, but... I now know that you were the perfect otaku boyfriend for me all along.”
Somehow, I was sure of one thing. No love confession in the world could ever top what Kokoro had just told me.
＊ ＊ ＊
Ding dong.
The familiar sound of my doorbell made my heart skip a beat. It was Sunday, precisely noon, as we’d arranged beforehand. I got up from the couch, where I’d been waiting, and rushed to the entrance.
“H-Hey...”
“Hi...” Kokoro replied. She was wearing the sundress she’d bought a few months ago, back when we’d gone shopping together for clothes an otaku date might like.
Is she wearing it because she knows I like it? She didn’t have to, but I definitely feel a little warm inside...
“It’s been like—what?—not even a month, right? This place feels so nostalgic though...” she said, leaving the entrance and taking a look around the house she’d been living in until a few weeks prior.
“You’re keeping it pretty clean, huh?” she asked.
“I am... lately.”
“So you let it get filthy?”
After losing my roommate, cleaning the house had felt utterly pointless, so I’d only done the bare minimum in terms of housework. I’d only hurriedly tidied the place up because I was expecting company.
In the living room, Kokoro sat on the couch, and, after serving her some tea, I sat down beside her.
“How come your parents let you come here?”
“Well, both Mom and Dad got really mad at me, but they’re happier now we’re dating for real. They told me off for lying to them, but they also apologized for trying to drag me overseas without really asking first. I told them you just let me stay here, without doing anything, you know, improper to me. They’re actually super grateful, and they like you a lot, despite all that. They told me I could come here today as long as I get back before dark and we wouldn’t do anything too, um... ‘intense,’ or something like that...”
Intense?! You can’t just say something like that as soon as we’re alone! Now I’ll be awkward for the rest of the day!
Even before she’d said that, I’d been feeling weird about being alone with Kokoro for the first time since we’d started dating. We’d shared this house for months before now, but this was nothing like our time living together. We were boyfriend and girlfriend now.
“I-I see...” I said. “Oh, by the way, that time when you told your mom the truth for the first time, did she go haywire at you? You never told me what happened after you left my room, so...”
I’d been meaning to ask her about that for a long time but had only just remembered when she mentioned her parents.
“She was seriously angry at first, but... By that point, I already knew I liked you for real, but I also thought you didn’t like me back. I told her, and she ended up hugging me,” Kokoro replied, sounding pretty embarrassed.
“Really?!”
“She’d figured it out on her own already though, so I figured there was no point lying.”
That all happened right after we went to Fantastia Land. Her mom must have heard Nishina telling her friends off when they were mocking me. That would explain how she figured it out. But that would mean Nishina already knew she liked me when we were on that fake date! I never would have guessed...
“But... Huh?” I muttered, unable to hide my surprise.
“I’m really sorry and all for telling her the truth after saying I’d use our cover-up story,” she continued, “but after she was so understanding about my hobbies, I just couldn’t keep lying to her, y’know? But, like, now I’ve told her you like me back, she doesn’t have to worry. Oh, and, um... I told Dad too. He says he wants to eat out with you sometime, and he kinda still wants to buy us an apartment when we graduate. But this time, he wants to go and check them out, and he wants you to go along, so he needs to know when you’re free.”
“Are you serious?! I can’t let him do that much for me, and I haven’t even told my own parents yet! I don’t think we can make a decision like that so lightly...”
“I know, but just seeing a couple can’t hurt, right? Maybe once we do that he’ll stop showing me floor plans every day.”
Once again, Kokoro’s parents seemed to lack any notion of common sense.
“And, actually,” she continued, looking at the floor and blushing slightly, “it’s not just them. I also wanna go back to living with you... but this time, not just as roommates. A-As a couple...”
Living together as a couple... Kokoro’s proposal reminded me that she really could be cute sometimes. At the same time, the thought of living with her as a couple after graduating high school was enough to make my face burn.
“Y-Yeah... me too.”
This time around, it would be a completely different experience. Just thinking about it made my heart begin to race and the corners of my lips curl upward.
“Oh, right,” I said, remembering to ask her something. “I know I’m showering you with questions, but there’s something else I wanted to ask. This is our first date, right? Are you sure you’re fine with us just staying here at home? You’ve been living here till recently, so this place must be anything but exciting for you...”
I’d previously asked Kokoro where she wanted to go for our first date, and she’d replied that she wanted to come to my place. Can we even call this a date?
“What are you talking about? It’s great! You know, as soon as I left I wanted to come right back again! And I brought a new game for the Snitch! Let’s play it! Pleeease!” Kokoro took the game out of her bag and waved it in front of my face.
“Which game...? Oh, that one?! I was thinking of buying it! Great!” I said, excited.
As she handed me the cartridge, her hand brushed my own. It was only the lightest touch, but my heartbeat began to drum in my ears.
“Ichigaya...” Kokoro said, her eyes looking right into mine. Her tone of voice had changed suddenly.
“What is it?”
“Games are fun and all, but we’re not just roomies anymore.”
“Wh-What do you mean?” I asked.
Kokoro moved closer, her face glowing a few shades redder as it stopped mere centimeters from my own.
“Don’t you get it? This is our first date,” she said.
“I...”
“We still haven’t done any couple stuff...”
I might have been dense, but I sure got the hint there. My ears began to burn like they were on fire.
I can’t leave all of the difficult stuff for her to say... So I told her what I wanted to tell her the most.
“Nishina... I’m happy that you’re my girlfriend.”
“I-I’m happy too... Let’s be together always,” she replied, smiling as her soft cheeks flushed even redder than before.
I took both of her hands in mine, and, as I realized what that meant, Kokoro closed her eyes.
And then, softly, I kissed her lips.