Fireworks Festival?
There were roughly two types of readers who followed How to Become a Hero.
Yi Siyun and Carmen are only friends. There's no way you could feel romantic love for someone you'd grown up with like family since childhood.
That opinion dominated among the readers.
But… there are always those who pursue true beauty no matter where they are.
I was one of them.
A romantic current was flowing between Yi Siyun and Carmen.
Wasn't that basically confirmed already?
The two of them cherished each other more than anyone else in the world, regarding the other as someone they could never do without.
On top of that, they had grown up together from childhood—holding hands, bathing together, sleeping side by side.
And they had even kissed. Anyone who still claimed after reading that past-flashback scene about their kiss that Yi Siyun and Carmen were nothing more than friends had to be an idiot.
Looking at those two, how could anyone possibly think it was just friendship? Of course it was love.
An unbridgeable gap existed between the friendship faction and the love faction, and because of it the related communities were forever ablaze with that controversy.
Of course I was one of the people who leapt straight into those flames and fought with everything I had.
And today, I proved that I had been right all along.
I heard it clearly from none other than Yi Siyun's own mouth!!!
She wants to kiss Carmen!
She dreamed of kissing her! It was sweet!
Hearing those words left me so dazed I barely caught the rest, but this much was certain.
Our Siyun… was plotting to steal Carmen's lips—and even Carmen's heart.
In that case, as president of the CarSiyun fanclub, Elysia… helping them was only natural!
I… will throw everything I have into helping Siyun and Carmen kiss.
Now that I've stepped in, the two of them will definitely! kiss.
A kiss where tongues tangle and breaths tangle together!
A deep! kiss where they exchange saliva and taste each other's scent!
I will make that outcome happen no matter what.
I will block every variable and eliminate every obstacle.
Even if it means destroying this world….
All of this is for CarSiyun.
So then, what should I do first?
Right after the counseling session I had already given her a pretty makeup so she could look her best for Carmen….
I don't wear makeup myself because I'm already beautiful without it, yet somehow I was perfectly capable of doing a beautiful makeup on her.
Maybe… I'm a genius. Should I become a makeup artist? That job would let me meet lots of pretty people… and I could touch their faces completely legally.
More than anything, a beautiful girl who makes other beautiful girls even more beautiful.
If it were me, I would have fallen for that instantly. So the rest of the world would definitely love it too.
Even to my eyes, Yi Siyun after receiving my makeup looked about 12.12% more charming than usual… but it was hard to believe that alone would have made them kiss.
I needed a more direct method… preferably one where I could watch them kiss myself…!
Should I make them practice kissing too? But is it okay for me to take her first kiss? Wait—it's my first kiss as well? But if Siyun is my first-kiss partner, that's fine! Gladly! Please!
"But…."
Yeah, better not make them practice kissing after all.
Do you know the aesthetics of a first kiss?
There's a unique cuteness and charm that only an awkward first kiss possesses.
Besides, making her kiss me when she already has someone she likes is weird too. Of course I'd enjoy it…!
Do they need to start dating before they can kiss? No—kids these days are so fast they kiss first and date later, I hear.
In that case, it would be better to quickly send them somewhere with a good atmosphere and make them kiss….
Where would be good? The amusement park? They just went recently, so asking them to go again feels a little off.
Then a night pool? Moderately warm water and a quiet surrounding atmosphere you can sink into.
Plus swimsuits that raise bare-skin exposure and wet hair—special effects that amp up the mood are packed in.
"No…!"
But a pool is only occasionally fine for a change of pace; it isn't a suitable place for a first kiss.
Then….
"Fireworks festival…."
In light novels set in modern times, festivals and fireworks always appear.
The love that sprouts there, and the almost instinctive yearning to draw closer.
It's a classic light-novel cliché.
And… the reason clichés are clichés is simple. Because they work!
"Decided…! Their first kiss will be while watching the fireworks at the fireworks festival…!"
More than anything, if it's a festival, the odds that I can hide and watch go way up!
The problem is that the time left until the festival is long….
It's still early in the semester. Meaning spring.
Fireworks festivals are mainly summer events….
But the saying "friends are good" isn't empty.
And I have quite a few good friends.
I hurried toward the classroom with light, pattering steps, humming my friends' names.
"Tania~ Adele~ Luna~."
A beautiful girl can accomplish half of everything in the world, and a person with lots of money can accomplish the other half.
Therefore, a rich and pretty girl can do anything.
And no one will be able to call me cowardly for it.
After all… you guys want to see it too, right? The kiss.
Since I got reincarnated into this world, maybe my story is being written as a novel or manga as well, so I sometimes play around with little jokes like this.
If a description like this actually appears in the text, the readers who see it would definitely be shocked, right? Ah, is even this kind of thing written down?
"…Fireworks festival?"
"Yeah…. Want to go together?"
"…I don't mind, but."
Carmen looked with awkward eyes at Yi Siyun, who was fidgeting.
Ever since she had learned that Siyun liked her, she had no idea how to treat her anymore.
After both of them had gone home in a daze, following the flow of consciousness they had slept together for the first time in a while….
Recalling last night's events, Carmen closed her eyes and unconsciously traced her own lips with a light fingertip.
A dark room with the lights off.
On top of a bed that was large for one person but a little narrow for two.
Carmen had been pretending to sleep. No—more precisely, she had been trying to fall asleep.
Only, she had realized such a shocking fact that sleep simply would not come….
So she had kept her eyes tightly shut, waiting only to drift off.
Rustle.
Yi Siyun, who had been lying beside her, carefully raised her body.
And at that moment, for reasons she herself did not understand, Carmen continued pretending to sleep.
She knew that if it had been her usual self, the moment Siyun got up she would have gotten up too and gone out together for a drink of water.
Since childhood, whenever they woke up together they had always gone out to the living room side by side.
But why had she pretended to sleep? Had she been curious about what Siyun would do? Or had she secretly been expecting something?
At the time she might have had no thoughts at all.
Contrary to expectation, Yi Siyun only raised her upper body from the bed and did not move further.
Yet while it differed from expectation, it matched the action of the secret hope she might have been holding inside.
Yi Siyun, who had slightly leaned her upper body toward Carmen, extended one hand and gently stroked Carmen's cheek.
Carmen had never received that kind of touch before.
Even normally the two of them would stroke each other… but the feeling was different from that.
Normally it had been closer to playfully rough petting… this touch carried an emotion that seemed to yearn for something beyond affection.
Like… sticky, as if she were desperately holding something back with all her strength.
It was a strange sensation she would clearly have disliked under normal circumstances… yet maybe because the other person was Siyun. Strangely, it was not unpleasant.
Rather, her heart pounded, and her body even gradually heated up.
Yi Siyun did not stop at stroking Carmen's cheek.
Sliding her hand down the cheek, she slightly extended only her thumb and gently brushed the lips.
Carmen's heart raced madly, as if it would burst.
That state continued a little longer, then a shadow fell over her.
Carmen kept her eyes tightly closed, yet she could feel it.
The bed subtly shaking and tilting, the weight and faint trembling felt from the hand that stroked her cheek and lips.
And… because of the ticklish breath that reached her from how close they had become.
She wanted to open her eyes.
What expression are you making right now? Are you… also having your heart race as if it would burst, just like me?
She wanted to open her closed eyes right that instant and confirm it.
But she could not.
If she did, she had no idea how her relationship with Siyun would change.
Not knowing is truly frightening.
Even while knowing it would surely lead down a good path, how could she still be this afraid?
So Carmen did not open her eyes. She could not open them.
In the space where only the two girls' breathing quietly spread, she kept her eyes closed in silence.
With the resolve that she would simply submit no matter what action Siyun took.
Carmen's hand trembled weakly. Because everything would be decided according to Siyun's next move.
From friendship to love. From best friends to lovers.
Even if it changed, the two of them would surely be happy. After all, it was Siyun and Carmen.
But… Yi Siyun withdrew her hand from Carmen's cheek and raised her tilted upper body.
Then she crawled into Carmen's arms, curled up her body, and closed both eyes.
She had been afraid too.
Afraid that the relationship they had continued for a lifetime would completely change.
And so the night deepened with neither of them able to sleep.
Only the breathing of the two girls who moved as little as possible so as not to wake each other quietly filled the room.