My Japanese Childhood Friend Is Too Flirty

72. From Childhood Friend to Girlfriend (3)

A few days later, during lunch break at school.

Before heading to the cafeteria, I rounded up my friends and asked them to sit down for a minute.

At first, they were all, “Hey, we gotta get in the lunch line! Quit yapping and let’s go eat,” but when I told them I had something to say about that confession thing from last time, they all gave me this look, like ‘Oho, something’s up with this one?’ and obediently followed.

“So, what’s the deal?”

“Did she reject you? Thought dating her was a bit much, anyway?”

“Knowing Joo-joo, he wouldn’t call us to brag, so he must have been dumped, right?”

Jaehyun, Dongho, and Sungmin tossed out their guesses, trying to gauge the situation.

“Hmm….”

And then there was Seungwoo, all by himself, seeming to know something I didn’t, staring at me with a knowing glint in his eyes.

Not a single one of the four was exempt; all their eyes burned with curiosity, like they were dying to know what I was going to say.

So, for the sake of my friends, I drew out the silence.

“C’mon, what happened?”

“Did you start dating, or did you get rejected?”

“Something tells me he didn’t get rejected…”

I drew out the silence a little more.

“Hey, why won’t this b*stard talk?”

“Look at him, doing this on purpose. What kind of messed-up concept is he pulling today?”

“Seriously, I want to crack his skull open.”

I drew out the silence for what felt like an eternity.

“Looking at his updated profile pic, I’m guessing they’re going out?”

Seungwoo casually glanced at his phone and broke the ice in my stead, and I nodded as if I’d been waiting for him to say it.

“Yeah, that’s right. We’re going out.”

“Oh, really? Congrats~”

“With whom, Dongho?”

“Wow, you made a seriously big decision. Have a beautiful relationship.”

“If those two get together, Dongho’s a little too good for her, you agree?”

“Agreed. Dongho’s more of a real man, so it’s a waste.”

“Wait, why are you bringing me into this all of a sudden, damn it?”

“…….”

Akiga told me to be sure to tell my friends about it, so I brought it up, but Seungwoo’s the only one offering real congratulations, and the others are just spewing the same old nonsense as usual.

Should I have just kept my mouth shut…?

“But it’s kinda weird. How do you guys hang out glued at the hip like that and *not* be dating? In class, you’re practically hugging out in the open, so I just assumed you were going steady.”

“Everyone else probably thought the same thing, right? If Ju-woo-ju hadn’t spilled the beans, they’d probably *still* think you two were an item.”

“Mm, yeah, I guess so….”

“Woo-ju-ya. Now that it’s come up, why’d you suddenly confess to him? Like, is there some… special reason or something?”

Seung-woo tossed the question like a stone, and all eyes swung my way.

Come to think of it, I feel like I heard a similar question last time too, but, like before, I couldn’t give them the honest reason (because the real reason was that I couldn’t resist Aki’s allure so I decided to confess to beg him to wait just a little bit longer), so I just mumbled something vague.

“Just… no special reason… I like him, so I asked him out, I guess…?”

“Whoa….”

“…What?”

“What do you mean ‘what’? It’s so cheesy, my fingers and toes are curling up.”

I’d asked Seung-woo, but Dong-ho answered, and Jae-hyun and Sung-min nodded along as if they fully sympathized with his words.

“Ju-woo-ju didn’t used to be like this, did he? Did he get hit on the head somewhere? What’s with the sappy lines?”

“Nah, this dude’s always been like this. Didn’t you guys see his profile status the other day? ‘What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger,’ that kind of garbage.”

“Wow, I’ve got a quote-spouting guru right next to me.”

“…Pfft.”

Seung-woo, who seemed amused by Dong-ho, Sung-min, and Jae-hyun’s offhand remarks, chuckled and looked at me.

“So, how is it going steady? You like it? Like, are you happy every single day?”

“Well, yeah, I guess…?”

The truth was, even before we were “official,” we’d been living pretty much like a couple, but still, being officially together was different from just pretending.

For example, I could now proudly display ‘In a Relationship ♡’ as my status on KakaoTalk, or confidently set my profile picture to a GIF of Aki giving me a k*ss, or, like now, I could confidently say we were dating to anyone who asked.

…It’s just my imagination if it feels like nothing much has changed. Probably.

“How much?”

“Uhm, I like it more than I can say… So.”

I glanced sideways at Jae-hyun, Dong-ho, and Sung-min.

“You guys should get girlfriends too. Like, the world looks totally different.”

“……”

“……”

“……”

The three of them suddenly went silent.

The three besides Seungwoo stared at me, faces etched with expressions of ‘What in the world did I just hear…?’ Then.

“……This b*stard, he’s just flaunting it out in the open now, huh?”

“We went easy on you lately, and you’re just running wild? Got no fear in your eyes, huh?”

“What? So good you can’t put it into words? How about I beat you ’til you *can’t* put anything into words?”

Their faces twisted like vengeful spirits, they glared at me with a terrifying aura and rose from their seats.

That’s when it happened.

*Scrrreeeak-*!

The back door of the classroom slid open, and my childhood friend, no, now my girlfriend, Aki, appeared with a *pop*.

Aki, her pink hair fluttering, smiled as she approached the direction where my friends and I were sitting.

“Woo-joo~ *chaaan*~!”

“Huh? Aki, weren’t you going to get lunch….”

“……Oop-sha.”

*Softly-*

Aki, now right beside me, sat down on my lap.

Or, more accurately, on my thigh.

‘……Uh.’

I, who was about to greet her happily, froze.

My friends, as well, flinched in surprise. I guess they never imagined Aki would just sit on my lap like that.

“What were you talking about, Woo-joo~ *chan*?”

“Huh? Oh….”

What *was* I talking about?

The soft, pliant flesh of Aki’s thigh, peeking out from beneath her school uniform skirt, was pressed against my body, and all my attention was focused there.

And so, having completely forgotten the previous conversation, I unconsciously glanced at Seungwoo.

“We were just talking about going to eat lunch now…. Right?”

Seungwoo, right on cue, threw me a perfectly timed lifeline.

I grabbed it eagerly.

“Ah, right. That’s what we were talking about.”

“Ah, really? Then, should *Ahtashi* come eat with you all?”

But from Aki’s mouth came a completely unexpected question.

“Uh, with Aki…?”

“Uh-huh, me too, haven’t had lunch yet either.”

“Hey, Aki. Sorry, but I was planning on eating with my friends today…”

*Thwack.*

Aki half-hugged me.

“Nuh-uh, no way. Aki wants to eat with Woo-joo~chan…!”

“Ah, well…”

“Let’s go eat together. Huh? Huh?”

“……”

Aki doing *aegyo*, something I never expected.

Suddenly, my heart began to pound, and I glanced over to where my friends were sitting.

My friends, having witnessed Aki, the girlfriend of one of them, acting cute toward me (that is, the other friend), wore expressions of world-weariness as they looked at each other.

“Hey, what’s on the lunch menu today?”

“Rice omelet with egg drop soup.”

“Sounds good. …Let’s go eat.”

They gave me a look that screamed, ‘You’re dead after lunch,’ and then, completely ignoring me, smoothly got up from their seats.

And to top it off, Seung-woo even waved as if to say, “Have fun!” before following the others out.

“Woo-joo~chan. Shall we go too…?”

“……”

I’m dreading what’s going to happen in 30 minutes…

* * *

“Okay, Woo-joo~chan. Aah~”

“……Ah.”

“Hehe, how is it? Is it yummy?”

“It’s… it’s good.”

It would have been tastier if everyone wasn’t staring at us, but whatever.

Hiding my true feelings, I swallowed the school lunch that Aki had personally spoon-fed me and glanced around nervously.

Not only the first-years but even the second- and third-years with their different-colored neckties were watching us, whispering and treating Aki and me—who were sitting right next to each other with our chairs practically glued together, even feeding each other side dishes—like animals in a zoo.

“Um, Aki.”

“Yeah, what is it? Oh, should I feed you something else?”

“It’s not that… It’s just, couldn’t we do things like this when we’re alone…?”

“……Uju-chan, do you *hate* it when I’m like this?!”

“No, it’s… good. It’s good, but….”

It’s not that I hate it when Aki is like this. If I had to classify it as good or bad, it’s naturally more on the good side.

However, I wish she’d do this stuff at home, or somewhere no one can see us. In this huge cafeteria, we’re the only ones sitting shoulder-to-shoulder, and she’s even feeding me. People are looking at us with ‘what are *those* two doing…?’ eyes.

“Then, aah~”

“……”

“Come on, aah!”

“……aah.”

I ate the school lunch Aki was feeding me and thought to myself.

Earlier, I said we’d been living a life practically like we were dating even *before* we were dating. Take that back.

Aki, who changed from my ‘childhood friend’ to my ‘girlfriend,’ is showing an overwhelmingly immense affection offensive, incomparable to when she was just my childhood friend. At this point, it’s almost like an obsession.

‘Is it because she’s of Western mixed heritage…?’

Why is she so uninhibited about expressing her affection in front of everyone?

I’m so embarrassed, you know…….

“Aki.”

At any rate, I can’t just keep being on the receiving end of this. I’m a man, after all.

I carefully placed a side dish on my spoon and subtly held it out.

“Say ‘aah.’ I’ll feed you too….”

“……Huh?”

Aki’s face flushed slightly.

Even though she didn’t feel embarrassed when she was feeding *me*, she feels different when being fed. The bold attitude she had just moments ago vanished, and she hesitated, watching my expression.

“Hurry, my arm is getting tired.”

“Ah, right….”

If I return the favor like this, she’ll be too embarrassed to do it again, right?

“Aren’t you going to eat it?”

“Ah, I will…. …Munch.”

……Or so I thought. Aki slightly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and obediently ate the food I was feeding her.

“Heh, it’s delicious….”

“…….”

My face grew a little red.

I knitted it for Aki with the purpose of embarrassing her, but she, without knowing my heart, just purely liked it, making me feel strangely awkward.

It felt like I was doing something wrong, and my chest pricked…

From now on, I shouldn’t feed her with this kind of feeling, but properly.

“Oh, right, Uju~chan. About that trip we talked about last time…”

“Trip? What, which one?”

“The Japan trip. We said we’d make time later to properly go.”

“Ah, yeah. Why is that?”

“Atashi looked into it, and apparently airplane tickets are cheapest in January. But we’re off for winter break exactly in January, so if we’re going, it’d have to be right next month…”

“Aki.”

I cut her off.

“I’m sorry if I’m throwing cold water on things… but, didn’t you say your mock exam scores dropped this time…?”

“……Ah, did I?”

She says no, but Aki’s voice is shaking ever so slightly.

I narrowed my eyes and spoke.

“October’s mock exam, what was your average grade?”

“Average of 1.9, I think….”

“November?”

“Erm, 2.0…?”

“December.”

“……It was 2.1.”

“…….”

She’s steadily declining, like walking down stairs.

Of course, for the actual college entrance exam, percentile rankings are more accurate than average grades, but in this situation, there’s no need to spell everything out.

“You know that if you and I are going to go to college and live together, and raise cats… At the very least, we both have to go to universities in the same area, right?”

“Ah, y-yeah…”

“If your scores keep dropping like this… what do you think will happen?”

“W-we’ll become anxious, I guess…?”

“That’s right, we’ll become anxious.”

I placed my hand on Aki’s shoulder.

“Listen. I want to go to the same college as you if possible, Aki. But I’m not going to lower my ambitions to match your score. I shouldn’t either…”

“…….”

“This vacation, I suppose we should study, huh?”

“Yeah, we have to….”

Aki shrunk in on herself.

I’d pushed enough; now it was time to pull.

I gently soothed Aki’s shoulder with my hand, softly patting it.

“In January, let’s study hard, and if your grades improve a bit…. Then, let’s set a date and go on a trip together. We can date there, and greet Aki’s grandfather. We can relax and play, and if we get a little late….”

“…Ah.”

Aki’s face flushed slightly.

Deliberately trailing off seems to have worked a little.

‘Anyway, until we’re both adults, there are limits to how far we can go… .’

But imagination is a personal freedom.

“I’ll tutor you, so let’s work hard. Got it?”

“…Yeah, got it!”