My Japanese Childhood Friend Is Too Flirty

61. August, Growing Bolder As Time Passes…. My Childhood Friend. (1)

“Heh, so what happened?”

“Nothing really happened, I just got tortured until the teacher came, and barely escaped then…”

It was lunchtime, and we were in the first-floor hallway.

Leaning against the wall by the window, I recounted the morning’s debacle. Aki, seemingly able to visualize the scene, covered her mouth and stifled a laugh.

For me, the one who’d actually lived it, the experience had been nothing short of agonizing…

“I see… Heheh, how regrettable. If we were in the same class, I could have witnessed it firsthand.”

“If you and I were in the same class, there wouldn’t be a shred of my body left, you know?”

“Why wouldn’t there be?”

“Why else? You’d be all over me…”

Clinging and meddling with everything, and my friends, seeing that, would try to kill me, that’s why. It’s better as it is, with our classes separate.

“All over you, what?”

“Um, all over…”

My words trailed off.

It felt like unnecessarily stirring up trouble.

Who knows? Aki might hear me and purposefully start visiting our class more often, putting on all sorts of displays.

She already visits once or twice a day as it is, and each time, my friends glare at me with faces that scream murder. If that frequency increased, they might just bury me behind the classroom.

“Uju~chan…?”

And yet, a part of me entertained this thought.

If Aki and I were in the same class, perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad.

“……”

Hmm, no, wait. If we were in the same class, I wouldn’t have received that supportive k*ss during the physical fitness test, would I? Since Aki and I have different genders, our breaks wouldn’t overlap.

Thinking of it that way, there *are* good things about being in different classes.

“……Uju~chan!”

“Ah, huh?”

“Just now, you weren’t paying attention to *atashi*, were you? You were daydreaming!”

“Ah, sorry…”

I was lost in memories of the physical fitness test, and my reaction came late.

I immediately apologized and, before it could lead to further probing, swiftly changed the subject.

“But Aki, what’s that you’re holding in your hand? A ruler, right?”

Though it was September, the weather remained humid. Aki, clad in her summer uniform of a short skirt and short-sleeved blouse, was holding a long, slender plastic ruler.

Judging by its appearance, it didn’t seem intended for academic purposes. Was there some task requiring a ruler?

“Why’d you bring that out?”

A sudden curiosity struck me, and as I posed the question, Aki gently waved the ruler.

“Heh, curious?”

“Uh-huh, curious.”

“Alright. I’ll tell you.”

Aki nodded.

She gripped the edge of the ruler with her fingers, then lightly placed it vertically against her lower abdomen, shielded by the short skirt.

“Ah, is it for measuring skirt length? So you don’t get caught by the regulations?”

Aki smirked, a meaningful smile playing on her lips.

Though she said nothing, her expression seemed to say, ‘How innocent, Uju~chan….’

“Say, Uju~chan. Earlier, the girls in class 1 were talking about their boyfriends, you know?”

“Yeah, so?”

“The girls who have boyfriends, or have had them, were saying….”

Aki pointed to the middle of the ruler with her index finger.

A point somewhere between the 10cm and 13cm mark.

“Most of them said it’s from here to here.”

“……What’s from here to here?”

“Hehehe, heh heh….”

“……”

“……Ahem.”

Aki abruptly stopped laughing and pointed to the end of the ruler.

“Anyway, our Uju~chan….”

The point marked with the number ’20’.

“Is a little bigger than this, you see. That’s why I told them I had to bring a 30cm ruler. But then my friends were all like, ‘This b*tch is lying,’ saying that there’s no way your boyfriend’s face is good-looking and *that’s* that size too, they were cursing me, you know?”

“……”

For a moment, my mind went blank.

No, seriously, how can first-year high schoolers shamelessly talk about such lewd things in class?

The boys would never openly talk about their girlfriends like that. Do girls usually talk so freely without any reservations?

This what, what the….

“But it’s amazing. Just by looking, you can tell it’s huge, but how can a size like that fit inside….”

“……Let’s stop talking about that.”

I said, cutting her off sharply.

Listening any longer, I felt as though I’d drift into some strange fantasy.

No, truthfully, I already was halfway there…

“Heung, why? Are you shy? When I asked my friends, they all said they do things like this~?”

“Just because others do doesn’t mean we have to… let’s talk about something else, something else.”

“…Heuheung, you’re cute. Alright. Then what shall we talk about? The date course we’ll take later? Or maybe, what cosplay Uju~chan wants to see~?”

“Um…”

What kind of story would best distract Aki?

Stroking my chin, lost in serious thought, Aki’s attire suddenly caught my eye.

As I mentioned earlier, Aki was wearing her summer uniform.

With the length of the skirt and other parts being quite short, revealing a good amount of skin, her deeply carved collarbones and even her smooth thighs were clearly visible.

“…”

The summer uniform was the one designated by the school, but why did it seem so alluring?

The reason was probably because of Aki’s curves, which couldn’t be hidden by such thin fabric…?

“…Uju~chan.”

Lost in a daze, I was unknowingly staring, and Aki, noticing my gaze, took a step closer.

“Want to touch…?”

“No, th-that’s…”

“Here, then.”

Aki stretched out her arms and grasped my waist.

“Waist, hips, anywhere… if you want to touch, you can touch. It’s okay for Uju~chan…”

Such a tempting offer for a single, misguided glance.

I suppressed the urge to say, ‘Really, it’s okay…?’ and cleared my throat, pretending not to hear.

“Say, Aki. Didn’t you say you had something to tell me about the Christmas plans?”

“Ah, that’s right.”

Aki released my waist.

“But before that, bend down a little. Uju~chan.”

“Bend down, why…?”

“Don’t worry, I won’t do anything weird…”

Saying that only made it sound even more suspicious…

Regardless, as I bent down as instructed, Aki pulled a lip balm out of her school uniform skirt pocket, then held my chin and gently applied it.

“Yeah, that’s better. My lips were so chapped, it was unsightly. But why are they so chapped all of a sudden? They weren’t like this yesterday.”

“Could it be… because of what happened yesterday?”

The night before school started, we were up late watching a movie together, and when that k*ssing scene with the main couple came on, it must have sparked something in her. Aki was all over my lips, nibbling, s*cking, and licking them until she had to go home. The reason my lips are cracked like this is definitely because of all that k*ssing.

When I cautiously brought that up, Aki’s face flushed slightly, like she felt a little guilty. Maybe even she thought she’d gone a bit too far.

“Sorry, did it hurt…?”

“No, it didn’t really hurt. But the others were asking, saying, ‘Hey, what happened to your lips?'”

“……Should I put some more lip balm on for you?”

“Nah, once is enough. Let’s just talk about what we were talking about.”

“Okay, alright…”

Aki, still with that blush on her cheeks, smoothly pulls out her phone.

Wondering what she’s up to, I just watch. Aki opens her gallery and shows me several photos. At a glance, it’s a really magnificent-looking Japanese-style wooden house.

To exaggerate just a little, including the yard, it looks to be easily over two hundred *pyeong* [approx. 7200 sq ft] in size. If you showed it to someone like me who doesn’t know much, they’d believe it was the remains of a castle.

“What do you think?”

“It’s amazing…? Is it, like, a Japanese cultural heritage site or something?”

“Hehe, not like that. This is *atashi’s* [Aki’s use of “atashi” in Japanese gives a slightly feminine and cute feel] family’s main house in Japan.”

“……Huh? This is Aki’s family’s main house?”

“Yeah, it’s where my grandparents live. The location is Kyoto.”

“Ah, I see…”

To think that this place, not a house, but a palace, is Aki’s family’s main home.

A long time ago, Mom told me that Aki’s family was a really old, prestigious aristocratic family.

Back then, I thought, ‘Is that really such a big deal…?’

But seeing it in photos like this now, it really hits me how incredibly impressive Aki’s family is.

“Let’s go here for Christmas.”

“Go here for Christmas? …To Aki’s family’s main house?”

“Yeah, as a day trip. To say hello to my grandparents, too…”

“……”

A day trip to Japan, huh.

Well, for me, as long as I’m going with Aki, I don’t really care if it’s Japan or anywhere else.

But, to go to Japan, we’d have to take a plane, and rather than spending several hours going back and forth in a single day, wouldn’t it be better to properly set aside some time and go for two nights and three days? Since we’re going anyway, we could look around and see the sights and everything.

“Christmas is on a Wednesday, so the time might be a bit tight. How about we go when we have more time, for longer? Like… two nights and three days.”

“Two nights, three days? Just the two of us…?”

“If I get permission, we can go just the two of us, and if not, we can coordinate schedules with your father and mother and go together. There are plenty of options, right?”

The four of us—Akine’s family of three plus me—going to Japan together would be a bit… odd. But we’ve seen each other’s faces for a long time now, and we’re close, almost like a second family, so it wouldn’t really matter.

Our family has even traveled with Akine’s family a few times before, after all.

“……Heuh, understood. I’ll ask Mama and Papa about it then.”

“Okay, great. So, is that the end of the story you wanted to tell?”

“Hmm… No. I still have one more thing.”

“What is it?”

“My visa issue.”

“Huh? What visa? Akine, you’ve lived in Korea for quite a while now. And you still have a visa issue?”

“Well, it’s not exactly an issue right now, but it will be when I become an adult. It’s fine when I’m a minor, but once I’m of age, my current visa supposedly becomes problematic.”

“Hmm, really? What’s the situation…”

“It’s a bit complicated to explain… Anyway, when I turn twenty, I have to make a choice, apparently. Whether to get permanent residency and continue living in Korea, or to return to Japan.”

“What do you have to do to get permanent residency?”

“I have to prove my qualifications, the qualifications that allow me to continue staying in Korea.”

“Prove your qualifications…?”

What am I supposed to prove, and how?

My brow furrowed in confusion, and Akine subtly moved closer to me, standing shoulder to shoulder.

“Woo-joo-chan, I’m a foreigner, right? My nationality is Japanese.”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“Do you know what the easiest way for a foreigner to get a permanent residency visa in Korea is?”

“What is it?”

“To marry a Korean.”

“……”

“If we get married, I can first get an F6 visa. If I live in Korea for more than two years, I can apply for an F5 visa… And supposedly, with an F5 visa, I can even apply for naturalization in Korea. Legally, without any problems, I could live in Korea for the rest of my life.”

Ah.

I see.

Getting married… that would do it.

“Woo-joo-chan.”

“Huh?”

“By the way, they said you have to hold a proper wedding to apply for the F6 visa. Because the documents you submit absolutely, positively have to include wedding photos.”

“Ah, is that so…?”

“Uh-huh, so think about it carefully.”

“Uh-huh, I’ll think about it….”

“You’re really just going to think about it?”

“…….”

Then what more am I supposed to do, sheesh.

“Um, I’ll actively consider it…?”

“Hmph….”

“……Alright. I’ll do it.”

“Do what?”

“What else….”

Does she really need me to say it out loud?

I just stared at her, putting all the meaning into my gaze that she should understand by now, and Aki chuckled.

“Woo-joo~chan.”

“What, again….”

“……Mmm.”

Aki’s lips brushed my cheek.

“Later, after school, could you come to my place for a bit…?”

“Why to your place?”

“I think the computer’s broken, but I don’t really know much about it… I was hoping Woo-joo~chan could take a look.”

“Ah….”

The computer’s broken, huh.

That *is* kind of a big deal.

I nodded without thinking.

“Yeah, alright.”