Isn't This Basically a Confession?
Yuri stayed silent for a moment.
She simply followed my eyes with hers, then wordlessly reached out her hand once more.
"Uh... does it? I did say it with the feeling of preparing for a proper confession, though."
Pfft.
Our gazes collided, and almost at the same time, the corners of our mouths lifted.
We really just kept smiling at each other without saying anything else.
"You're such a handful, you know."
"I don't want to hear that from you, Yuri~"
"But Noah, can you really wait until the very last block is stacked?"
"Yeah, I'll wait. I told you already. I want to experience every stage with you, even the part where we're just seeing each other. Because I want all my firsts to be with you."
"...Pervert."
"Huh...?"
Wait, could that sentence really be interpreted that way?
I couldn't hide my flustered expression and froze for a second.
Yuri, seeing me like that, simply leaned her body closer in a silent request for another hug.
"I thought you'd have had tons of experience after going to America, Noah."
"Unfortunately, while I got a lot of love calls from the guys, I never really connected with any of the girls. I guess my type doesn't really work in the West."
"The way you say that sounds weird. It basically means you were popular with the boys."
"Is the inside of you pink too, just like your hair?"
My childhood friend had suddenly turned into a perverted little devil doing a tap dance inside my head.
Even so, I couldn't control the smile that tugged at the corners of my mouth.
"Hee. I'm purely happy as the opposite sex. If other girls got tangled up with you, Noah, I don't think I could've stood it."
"Ahaha... You're really direct."
It seemed the original Yuri personality had quite the possessive streak after all.
Maybe that sticky desire reached its peak and manifested in the Cloudy personality.
Anyway, even though it was a bit of a detour, I had managed to tell Yuri everything I wanted to say.
Now it was time to bring up the main topic.
"Yuri. So, let's use every resource we can."
"That last line feels like there's still one more thing coming, doesn't it?"
"You're right. Like I said earlier, I want you to get regular treatment again. We're still students. There are a lot of things we're not good at yet."
She made a gesture like she was thinking for a moment.
She draped her hand over my shoulder and tapped her fingers as if playing piano keys while she pondered, then gave a faint smile and shrugged.
"There's one problem, Noah."
"And what might that be~"
"As you know, except for Sunny, I can't go outside and function."
"Ah... that's true. And you said that except for your mom and me, it's hard for you to even talk to other people."
Even when Seongtae casually asked her something at the PC bang earlier, she'd gone completely pale.
The first time is always the hardest.
Even if she somehow managed to get to the hospital in Sunny's state, it would still be her who had to continue the conversation with the doctor.
In that case, there was only one solution.
"Alright. I'll just go with you to the hospital every time."
"Huh...? But that would be so much trouble for you..."
"This is an event too, Yuri. Meeting up with your childhood friend every week to go somewhere together. If that's not a date, what is!"
"It'll be fun at first, but it'll get annoying... Plus, except on clear days, just getting there will be exhausting."
"It won't. Every single moment will be enjoyable. It'll feel new every time we do it."
".....You're so stubborn."
"Should I explain the tower-stacking theory from earlier again?"
"Hehe... Even I would get tired of hearing that again."
Still not breaking eye contact, Yuri wrapped her arms around my neck.
She even adjusted our embrace a little, shifting it into something like a princess carry.
"Fine, I'll just use you as my interpreter for conversations."
"Leave it to me."
"One more thing! So you'll have to carry me like this to the hospital every single time?"
"Don't tell me... the reason you've been staring into my eyes this whole time was because of that?"
"Yeah. I wasn't looking at the scenery outside. I was only looking at you."
So that's why she never looked away even once.
At the same time, I finally understood why she could stay so calm even in her original personality, the one that couldn't function outside.
I'm okay. As long as I fill my eyes with only him, even outside, it's fine.
...It made me happy. So happy that I even felt a thrill at being the only one she could lean on.
There was no way I could ever refuse her like this.
Instead of answering, I held her tightly and stood up.
My back that had slammed into the railing and my legs that had been scraped by the sand during the slide stung, but the pleasure flooding out of my brain from Yuri's gentle words easily covered it all.
"Then shall we practice, Yuri?"
"Haa... Now that we're actually doing it, it's embarrassing."
"Just look at me. Don't pay any attention to the people around us."
"...Okay. Take me."
"Anywhere you want."
Just as Yuri only looked at me, I only looked at her.
It was an old neighborhood that hadn't changed since we were kids, and there weren't any people around anyway.
So for now, it was fine for me to fill my eyes with only my childhood friend too.
#
After taking Yuri home and coming back, the time was already pointing at eleven.
The moment I opened the door, just as expected, I was greeted by my refreshingly sharp mother's scolding.
"Son, where have you been until now! It's eleven o'clock. Mom was worried sick!"
"I was talking with Yuri and it ended up running a bit long. Sorry, Mom."
"Are you sure you're okay? There's a huge band-aid on your leg. Don't you need to go to the hospital?"
As expected, I couldn't hide anything from Mom.
I'd thought that since the scrape was on the back, I could just brush it off without any issue.
"During PE we played foot volleyball and I did a slide, so I got a little scraped~"
"Hmm... You really got hurt while exercising?"
"Of course...!"
Well, catching a ball that fell from the sky (Yuri) could technically count as a sport, right?
Mom kept looking at me with suspicious eyes.
More precisely, her gaze was aimed at my back.
Even though I was turned away drinking water, her stare felt unusually prickly.
"Why do I get the feeling there are scratch marks on my son's back from fingernails?"
"Pffft!!! Ah, Mom, seriously!"
"Our son isn't the type to exercise roughly, is he? That makes this kind of deduction possible, you know?"
Mom made an incredibly cheeky face and grinned.
At some point her expression had completely shifted from worry to clear intent to tease me.
"1. Noah did indeed exercise."
"2. Noah went to Yuri's house."
"3. There's only one kind of exercise a boy and a girl can do at home."
"4. Regular exercise got boring, so they did extreme rice-cake pounding exercise."
"5. The scratches and bite marks on his back and legs are the evidence!"
She was driving the point home like a four-drone assault.
Next time I regress, I really need to stop her from watching those trashy morning dramas.
"It's not like that at all! And I don't even have any wounds on my back!"
"Son. You know Schrödinger's cat, right? You can't know until you open the box~"
"Ugh, then I just have to take my shirt off, don't I!"
"Hmm, that might be a bit much. I don't really want to see the body of a boy who's hit puberty. I like your dad's back the best♡"
She's really shameless. Now she's blushing furiously while thinking about Dad again.
Even though she gave birth to me at twenty, isn't she still way too hot-blooded?
In the end I just sighed and headed to my room.
"Anyway, nothing like that happened!"
"Hehe, it feels like the modifier 'yet' was omitted there~ Son. Still, do you want Mom to disinfect it for you?"
This time her expression overflowed with gentle maternal love.
This is exactly why I can never win against Mom.
"No. I already got it disinfected at Yuri's."
"Oh my, but you just said you got hurt at school. You wouldn't have waited until after school ended to disinfect it at Yuri's house... Hehehe."
Damn it... I slipped up.
I let my guard down at the very end.
Instead of making any more excuses, I hurriedly ran up the stairs and fled into my room.
"What a chaotic day until the very last second!"
(All my firsts... I want to experience them with you... To say something like that so casually.)
After seeing Noah off at the front door, I returned to my room.
"...Time to wash up."
I took everything off one by one.
First the shirt.
Then the dolphin pants.
And finally, my underwear.
"It's a little tight. I should ask for one size bigger next time."
I casually lowered my gaze.
My chest was blocking the view.
My height hadn't changed, but it felt like only this part kept growing for no reason.
Maybe all the nutrients I ate were flowing only into here.
Guys are supposed to like them big, but...
"I wonder if Noah likes them too? I hope he does. Hee."
Honestly, from my perspective they're just a heavy burden that gets in the way of my shoulders.
But if my one and only childhood friend likes them...
"Ehehe.... I like it. I like it so much."
Muttering to myself with a happy little giggle, I headed to the bathroom with a face full of bliss.
There was still no mirror in the bathroom.
After the first time my personalities split, I'd smashed it in a panic and it had been left that way ever since.
I'm still scared to look at myself.
Yet recently, when I sent selfies to Noah, it had been okay.
Maybe it was because the other person was my childhood friend.
"Noah. Noah. Noah."
Anyone who heard me would probably call it dependency.
They're right. The reason I feel so good right now is all because of that boy.
He's like a kind of painkiller.
All my psychological symptoms strangely calm down whenever I'm in front of Noah.
Looking at my own face.
Cloudy not hurting herself.
Ame becoming a little gentler.
Sunny working out even harder than usual.
"It's all thanks to you."
Aaah... I miss him.
It's only been about thirty minutes since we parted, yet my whole body is boiling with longing like withdrawal symptoms.
I want to share all my firsts with you.
Just thinking about those words again made something inside me grow hot.
I stood blankly under the shower spray and moved my hand down to my lower belly.
"I should hold back a little. Just like he said, one step at a time..."
I deliberately switched the water to cold, trying to cool the heat.
Even though I knew I couldn't cool the heat inside.
"Hehe..."
I let out a helpless laugh and forcibly pulled myself together.
If I kept thinking about my childhood friend, I'd probably burst like a balloon.
As I squeezed some shampoo into my palm, I thought about tomorrow's weather, the last item on today's schedule.
I'm pretty sure... it said it was going to be foggy.
