The Time Love Sprouts in the Eroge
You've probably seen it in movies or dramas before.
That moment when someone is crushed under extreme stress, or comes face-to-face with something truly terrifying.
How they sink to the ground with a soft collapse and simply freeze, staring blankly into space.
Most people watching those characters on screen call them sweet-potato generators—the kind that leave the audience grinding their teeth in frustration.
But I always figured it was a reaction that could happen easily enough in real life.
Maybe it was because her body had been locked rigid with tension for so long.
"Haa... I can't move."
Lee Ha-rin leaned her limp weight against me and murmured the words.
Of course I panicked hard at that.
"...Huh?"
Sure, I could understand it happening. She had been badly shaken, and she had been crouched in the bathroom for quite a while, soaked through. Mentally and physically, she had every reason to be completely spent.
But...
"H-Ha-rin."
The problem was that the situation right now made it pretty awkward for me to do anything about it.
"...You really can't move your body at all?"
I asked, hoping she would somehow find the strength herself.
"Nn... I can't."
She tried to push herself up, only to slump back against me again, breathing hard.
...This was serious.
And, at the same time, more than a little embarrassing.
"Th-that..."
I still didn't have the monumental courage needed to just take charge and do something.
And then—
"...I'm cold."
That single line was all it took for courage I didn't have to suddenly appear.
"...Okay."
Right. This was nothing more than a pure, emotion-free act of lifesaving. Humanity had always lived in communities, helping and relying on one another. This was simply an extension of that.
I sorted my thoughts that way and spoke to her.
"Ha-rin... I'm going to pick you up for a second."
She looked up at me with dazed eyes, then gave a small nod.
Permission granted.
I slid one arm under her back and the other under her knees, lifting her, and at the same time managed to snag a towel hanging in the bathroom with my fingers. Then I stepped carefully out of the bathroom.
Outside, the darkness was still absolute—not a single light in sight. Strangely, that only made me more confident.
"...Ha-rin, just a moment."
As carefully as if I were handling a baby, I spread the towel on the floor first, laid her on top of it, then went back into the bathroom. I pulled another towel from the wall cabinet and leaned over her.
"Uh... you might catch a cold."
At first I had considered just wrapping her in the towel as she was and carrying her straight to the bed. But she was far too wet for that. The mattress would turn into a swamp, and leaving her in soaked clothes didn't feel right either. So I had no choice but to carefully dry her off.
"...I'll be as careful as I can."
Again she nodded, breathing shallowly.
Something about this felt strangely off.
"Ha-rin, lift your arm a little."
I raised one slender arm with my free hand and carefully wiped from her hand all the way up to the smooth, hairless curve of her underarm, then lowered it again.
"Good. Now the other side..."
I repeated the same process. And the rest... well, I dried everything in much the same way.
Soft swipes, gentle pats.
When the exhausting work was finally done, I started to lift her again to carry her to the bed—
"Clothes... over there."
I froze at her words.
Hmm... did we really need to put clothes on her too? The thought crossed my mind, but skipping only that step after coming this far also felt weird somehow. So I followed her request, dug clothes out of the bag hanging on the bathroom door, and began dressing her piece by piece.
This was... like dressing a doll.
An incredibly pretty, delicate, cute doll.
I followed the normal order a person would get dressed: underwear first, then pants, then the top.
"Yeah, lift your hips a bit... there you go."
And just like that, I finished the entire mission.
I would never forget those cute little animal patterns I had seen earlier that day.
"Anything else...?"
She gave a weak nod and sank against me again. I lifted her light body and this time headed for the bed.
1. Lift Lee Ha-rin...
2. Carry her to the bed.
She was lighter than I expected, so the walk to the bedroom wasn't hard at all. I had always thought Ha-rin looked a bit on the thin side compared to other girls, and the difference in solid weight when I compared her to A-yeong was obvious.
If I had to put it into a rough comparison...
A-yeong had the kind of figure guys put on their ideal list. Ha-rin had the kind of figure that reminded them of their first love.
To make that vague description a little clearer—Ha-rin had something like the body of an idol you see on TV.
That was the feeling.
I laid that first-love-and-idol-feeling Ha-rin down on the bed.
"...Haa."
She let out that soft breath and sprawled out like a starfish.
I watched her for a moment, then cleared my throat once.
"I'll grab another towel to dry your hair."
I had wrapped the temporary towel around her head, but water was still trickling down toward her forehead. She definitely needed a proper dry.
I pushed myself up from the bed with a little grunt and headed back toward the bathroom for another towel.
A tiny voice reached me from behind.
"...Sorry."
I smiled faintly and answered.
"As long as you know."
Then I walked quickly toward the bathroom.
Now I just had to dry her hair, mop up the water on the floor, and take a shower myself, right?
Except the power was still out, so taking a shower alone was kind of scary...
That stupid thought crossed my mind.
...Why did today feel so endlessly long?
But even so, I didn't regret bringing Ha-rin home. For other reasons too, of course—but also because if she had been alone in her own place during this blackout, something much worse could have happened.
It had been a good call.
She was wandering through darkness.
Thud, thud, thud—
Behind her came the sound of footsteps following her.
Creeeak—clack.
To the side, the sound of a door opening and someone stepping inside.
Ding-dong—ding-dong!
In front of her, the doorbell ringing and a voice calling her name.
Where... where was she supposed to go?
Trapped in a space blocked on every side, Ha-rin simply stood frozen, unable to run anywhere.
Where... where was she supposed to go?
Every time she took a single step—
Thud—boom!
Creeeak—boom!
Ding-dong—boom!
The sounds from every direction grew louder, as if warning her not to escape.
So instead of running anywhere, Ha-rin stepped backward and covered her ears. Then she slowly sank to the floor.
Please... please stop.
Even so, the sounds reaching her ears never lessened. Her mind grew more and more hazy.
...Was she going to be swallowed by the darkness just like this?
That horrible fate felt like it was right in front of her eyes.
And then, at the very moment she was about to give up on everything—
Someone took her hand.
Lee Ha-rin... Ha-rin!
At that familiar voice, Ha-rin's eyes snapped open.
"......"
When she sat up, the blanket covering her body slid down. She glanced at it once, then shifted her gaze to the faint sunlight seeping between the curtains.
...It had been a dream.
Relieved by that fact, Ha-rin leaned back against the headboard.
Her body ached. Her head throbbed. And she felt faintly chilled as well.
Slowly recalling the events of the previous night, she looked around.
The somewhat bleak, rough room... and the man who had pulled a chair right up to the bed and fallen asleep slumped over it.
Ha-rin's hand was still clasped in his left hand.
"...Ha-jun."
The name slipped out of her mouth before she realized it.
He looked like he had collapsed from exhaustion while nursing her.
"......"
She stared blankly at him for a while, then came back to herself and tried to pull her hand free.
But—
"...Ah."
She couldn't let go.
Not because he was holding on tightly.
Just... well.
"...I don't know."
She stopped thinking and simply gazed at the boy holding her hand. Then she reached out with her right hand.
She didn't understand why she was doing this.
Just...
Because she was grateful for the way he had desperately taken care of her last night. That was all. She was only stroking his hair as a way of saying thank you.
That was how Ha-rin rationalized it to herself.
For a long time after that, she simply watched Ha-jun in silence—long enough for the shadow of the window frame cast into the room to tilt far to the west.
At some point Ha-jun twitched and mumbled softly.
"...A-yeong, I'm sorry."
Ha-rin pressed her lips tightly together.
...She knew.
She knew Ha-jun was A-yeong's boyfriend.
So as her friend, she shouldn't be doing something like this...
Why did it make her feel so envious?
The first time she saw him she had thought he was just a tall, flippant guy. But the more time passed, the more she noticed how considerate he was, how quick he was to read the room... and how unexpectedly handsome his face looked, too.
Nothing but good points...
"Someday..."
Would she ever meet someone like him?
Ha-rin's heart was nothing but complicated.