I Win This Round (While Deep Kissing)
I Win This Round (While Deep Kissing)
Immediately after arriving at the academy...
Sia locked herself in her dorm without looking back.
[Young lady, are you all right? Yujin is completely crushed.]
[What on earth happened in there?]
[Please answer when you see this.]
'...They were so noisy.'
—Whoosh.
She flung the phone that would not stop buzzing to the other side of the room.
She did it because she wanted no one to disturb her.
She was far too confused.
'My head was already spinning because of these strange memories.'
The source of her confusion was the memories that had suddenly poured into her.
Memories of herself and... Yujin.
Memories that should no longer have existed.
[Hehe. Sia, I missed....]
[Good grief, you idiot. Who dressed like that to meet a female friend? What a waste of that face.]
[I-I studied pretty hard before choosing this outfit...?]
'Why had Yujin been so pathetic?'
The Yujin she knew was a capable, sly young man.
But the memories had been forcibly shoved into her mind moments ago.
The Yujin who appeared in them was completely different.
His shoulders were hunched from a lack of confidence.
He flinched whenever his hand so much as brushed a woman's.
Even his speech dissolved into stammering whenever he grew nervous.
"Pathetic" fit him in every possible way.
Even so, he still had that face.
There was an adorable quality to him that made him impossible to hate, but...
[H-Hiiik!! Hiiik!!]
[Hmm. He can fight, but... why does he have to look so pathetic doing it? What a waste of that face.]
Even during the entrance exam, he'd scraped through by crying, sniveling, and using every cheap trick imaginable.
He had been pathetic enough to disgust even the Sia in those memories.
He was worlds apart from the present Yujin.
[Th-Then let us go to the movies first. A new romance movie you would like just opened. I reserved really good seats.]
[Huh? Had I ever told you what kind of movies I liked?]
[W-Well. Actually, the hypnosis....]
[What? You spoke too quietly. I couldn't hear you~.]
[......I'll tell you later. Sorry.]
[How anticlimactic. Dummy.]
There was one more difference.
The guilt that surfaced from time to time, and the inferiority complex born from it.
Somehow, Sia thought she understood its cause.
[Y-Yoo Sia!! F-Fall in love with meee!]
'Was it because of this? He had hypnotized me to fall in love with him?'
Among the chaotic jumble was one particularly distinct memory.
Even at his worst, he had cleared Stage 10 of the entrance exam, so she'd treated him a little warmly.
Then, that very day, he'd abruptly cast hypnosis on her.
[Hmm? What was that, a confession?]
[D-Did it w-work?]
[Ahaha. Dummy. Still, I might have admired the courage it took to reach for a flower on a cliff.]
[......? Wh-What does that mean?]
[I'll think about it, just this once. Dummy.]
'But the hypnosis had not worked at all.'
The hypnosis had failed.
And naturally so. Fall in love with him?
With a face like that, how could she have disliked him to begin with?
Sia had never particularly disliked Yujin.
Love was a separate matter, but still.
Afterward, she'd begun spending time with Yujin on friendly terms.
Unlike their present relationship, she had held the upper hand.
[Yujin, aren't you spending too much time with Sia? You promised to go on a date with me too!]
[You had yours yesterday, you damned vixen! Besides, Yujin enjoys being with me more—]
[D-Do not fight....]
[Yujin, stay out of this!]
[Shut up. This is a matter between women.]
'At least bickering with that vixen hadn't changed.'
Bickering with Alice was irritating, but...
They were happy memories all the same.
The Sia in those memories smiled every day. She must have been happy.
[Oh, right. Yujin.]
[Hm? What was—]
—Peck.
[......!!!!?]
[A gift for our first anniversary. That was Yoo Sia's first kiss, so consider it an honor. Dummy.]
'They had even shared a first kiss.'
As an added bonus, she had fallen for his character rather than his looks and started dating him.
Thus, the Sia in those memories became Yujin's girlfriend.
It happened exactly one year after they met.
[Aika Ninomiya?! Why are you....]
'...I didn't remember much after that, but it seemed as though many other things had happened.'
She could remember clearly only through the first year of their relationship.
After that, the memories became fragmentary, but...
One memory remained crystal clear.
[......Yujin. If you forget me, I'll kill you.]
[As if I could forget you even in death.]
In the distant future, in an unknown pure-white place...
She tearfully saw off Yujin, who'd lost an arm.
He had put on a little weight, yet still smiled at her with that handsome face.
And finally...
[How could I forget the wives who made me who I was?]
[......If only you were not so good with words.]
[Anyway, this time I'll truly make you happy. I'll become the best man worthy of all of you, so wait for me.]
'Wives? Why was that plural?'
That wording bothered her immensely.
Wives. It sounded as though he had several.
That was why her thoughts were such a mess.
'What kind of dogshit memories were these? Was I insane? Schizophrenic?'
Her reason rejected the memories.
Memories of a future that had never existed suddenly surfacing made no logical sense.
And that upright young man taking multiple wives?
With her meekly accepting it?
Impossible.
Whatever else happened, she would never allow her husband to roll around with another woman.
Sia was not that broad-minded.
'But... why had my heart raced whenever I remembered them?'
Her heart, however, accepted the memories.
Simply recalling them felt bittersweet.
Sometimes they made her happy, sometimes angry. They were precious, loving, and joyful.
They were far too valuable to dismiss as lies.
In the end, Sia couldn't reach a conclusion.
She remained shut in her room, turning the memories over and over.
One hour passed. Then two. Then three.
It was enough time for the sudden memories to settle into her as her own.
—Bzzzt.
'...Yujin must have been hurt because I had left him so coldly.'
After her spinning thoughts settled somewhat...
Her first concern was Yujin.
'What was he doing now?'
'I remembered getting excited and kissing him, but everything after that was hazy.'
'I might have given him my handkerchief because his nose was bleeding. Hmm.'
Her hand crept toward her phone.
'Everyone must have been worried. I had to at least send a message....'
—Tap, tap-tap.
[42 Missed Calls]
[99+ Unread Messages]
'......?'
There were an alarming number of missed calls.
Sia's eyes widened.
Even though she'd returned alone without warning, there was no reason for them to call this many times.
She wondered what had happened.
"...Most of them are from Yujin."
When she checked, roughly half were from him.
He was sorry. It was his fault. Please, just answer him.
Most of the messages said something along those lines.
A laugh escaped her.
[Sia, I was wrong... I'm sorry I'm such a Rice Cake bastard....]
[I will keep prostrating myself outside your door until you come out, so please at least listen to my explanation....]
'This pathetic, adorable side of him really did resemble the Yujin in those memories.'
Even the claim that he was prostrating himself outside her dorm—something that would normally horrify a woman—sounded adorable.
'Right. Why did it matter whether those memories were real? The present was already different. I was living now.'
The clouds in Sia's mind cleared.
Memories that didn't exist? Inexplicable emotions?
She did not care. She would decide her own heart.
The memories that surfaced that day were certainly strange, but...
Reality had already diverged from them.
Her own feelings were completely different from back then as well.
—Step.
'I... Yujin....'
For some reason, her steps toward the front door felt light.
She'd finally decided to acknowledge at least a little of the feelings she'd denied out of pride.
Creeak. The front door opened.
"Sia, I'm sorry!! Everything is my fau—"
"Get up, dummy."
—Grab. Whoosh.
"......!!!?"
Sia wrapped the prostrate Yujin in her shadow and flung him inside.
At that moment, her eyes met Alice's.
Alice had been fretting beside herself while trying to stop Yujin from prostrating himself.
Alice's eyes sharpened.
"Sia!! What did Yujin do to deserve th—...."
—Freeze.
"...Sia? That expression...."
"You had suffered because of this idiot too."
Sia's expression, meanwhile, was pure composure.
She fixed Alice with a pitying gaze.
"You and me both."
"What does that—"
"Never mind. I'm going to talk to him, so go take care of your own business."
—Creak. Slam.
As an added bonus, she shut the door after that incomprehensible statement.
Alice could only blink.
"What was that expression? It looked exactly like the way Võ Chí Công watched Yujin."
She muttered to herself.
* * *
Meanwhile, Yujin was too overwhelmed to think straight.
After pounding the ground in regret, he could only stammer when the Awakeners rushed back into the Gate.
And the women who saw him?
'That page of the manual... Oh dear. They must have had an accident while practicing.'
'Well, things like that happened at their age~.'
They understood the situation almost immediately.
Sia had fled with her face bright red, while Yujin writhed on the ground with a nosebleed.
To anyone watching, it was clearly the aftermath of Yujin "drawing his sword."
Probably while directly beneath Sia.
Delighted by the development, the women encouraged Yujin.
Run to her dorm and apologize. They did not know what he had done wrong, but he should beg for his life.
Then perhaps their young lady would forgive him.
That was why Yujin had prostrated himself for three straight hours.
'But... why had she suddenly dragged me inside? Had I embarrassed her? If so, shouldn't she have thrown me out instead?'
Yet she had abruptly flung him into her dorm.
He could only blink in confusion.
He understood only after Sia approached.
—Step.
"Yujin."
"S-Sia. I'm sorry. Everything is my fault—"
"Why are you apologizing? Anyone can get a nosebleed. Though I do think you're a little too innocent."
"Not only that. Um, I...."
"I'm the one who should apologize. I panicked and left first."
"......."
'Had she really not noticed that I had drawn my sword?'
No wonder she was so calm. Was she too innocent to understand what had happened?
After a moment of hesitation, Yujin tried again.
His conscience wouldn't let him pretend nothing had happened.
He meant to confess his sin to the innocent Sia.
But,
"Sia. You might not have noticed, but the truth is...."
—Whump.
"......Huh?"
"Enough. Look at me."
Sia suddenly shoved him against the wall.
And then...
"What are y—"
—Smooch.
"......!!!!!?"
———She pressed her lips to his again as though sealing his mouth.
Their lips firmly overlapped.
Unlike before, Sia kissed him while fully conscious of her actions.
The brief peck ended quickly.
—Smack.
"S-Sia?"
"A gift to celebrate us dating. That was Yoo Sia's first kiss, so consider it an honor. Dummy."
Before the flustered, red-faced Yujin...
Sia smiled confidently.
She proudly embraced the feelings she'd finally admitted.
'The me in those memories had dragged things out for a year and let that vixen steal the first kiss, but....'
"Yujin. Open your mouth."
"O-Okay...."
—Slurp. Smack.
'This time, I had won.'
Inside the sunlit dorm...
For a long while, the only sound was their tongues tangling.
—Pressed close.
'What were they doing in there? Ugh, it was driving me crazy! Surely Sia was not doing something straight out of a hentai site....'
Fortunately—or unfortunately...
The pink-haired Brit with her ear pressed to the front door could not hear them.
* * *
The next day.
The day of my second Gate-clearing exercise dawned.
—BANG.
"Be honest, Yujin. What did you do with Sia yesterday?"
"W-well."
"If you lie, I'll pounce on you for real."
"......."
'What did that even mean, Alice?'
I realized the harem difficulty was roughly a hundred times higher than before my regression.