Volume 2 Chapter 2

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♥

“Eehhh?! Taku-nii is sick and has to stay in bed?!”

After ending the call with Tomomi-san, Miu raised her voice when I went down to the living room to tell her why today’s date had been cancelled.

“No… That’s not true… That’s impossible…” Miu laid down on the sofa and started to complain exaggeratedly looking upwards. “What are you doing, Taku-nii…? Why are you getting sick in such an important moment? Argh… What a pathetic man…”

“Miu! What are you saying now? Takkun didn’t get sick because he wanted to.”

“I know that… But that doesn’t make it any less pathetic. Even more when it has to be his mom the one who calls to cancel the date. He’s twenty years old already, he’s not a kid anymore.”

“That’s… well, nothing could be done about it, right? It seems like he was going to force himself to go regardless, so Tomomi-san had to stop him…”

According to what I heard from her.

Takkun wasn’t feeling well last night.

And this morning, his condition worsened even more.

He woke up with a high fever and was in a bad state, so bad that he couldn’t even stand up properly. But despite that, he tried his best to get ready for his date with me.

But, he obviously couldn’t go out like that, so Tomomi-san heavily persuaded him to not go.

She forced her son to stay in his room and called me in his stead.

“…I received a message from Takkun after Tomomi-san’s call. I felt bad after seeing him apologize so much…”

“Well, it’s natural for him to apologize. Aaaaahh damn it… Why did this happen?! This is such a letdown, Taku-nii…”

“…By the way, Miu, do you have any plans for today?”

“Hm? Why you ask?”

“It’s just that Tomomi-san needs to go out in the afternoon to do some things, and she’s worried about Takkun staying alone. So I’d like you to go visit and take care of him.”

“Eh, I can’t. I’m gonna go out with a few friends.”

“Really…? That’s a problem, what should we do then…?”

“Why don’t you go?” Said Miu.

So casually too.

“Eh…? M-Me?”

“You’re free, right? After all, you didn’t have any other plans for the day besides your date.”

“I’m free, but…”

Certainly, me going would be the most obvious choice.

I was planning to spend the entire day on the date, and since it was canceled, I was completely free right now.

But… wait a moment.

I have to take care of Takkun?

When no one is home…?

“But… t-that’s, you know… ‘That’, right?”

“What do you mean by ‘that’?”

“Well, ‘that’ is ‘that’… you know… right?”

“…Why are you so embarrassed?”

“I-I’m not embarrassed!” I yelled loudly.

Miu started to look at me with a puzzled look, but then started to smile.

“Oh, I see, I see. You’re embarrassed about visiting Taku-nii and staying in his room with just the two of you, aren’t you?”

“Ugh…”

When she pointed it out with so much accuracy, I couldn’t help but step back.

“Seriously… What are you thinking about? You don’t have to worry about any strange event happening, you know? Even Taku-nii won’t turn into a wolf until he recovers from his fever.”

“Y-You’re wrong! I wasn’t thinking that…” I yelled in denial, but my words stopped.

Because… Miu was right.

Obviously, I doubted that any ‘adult’ event would happen when we were alone in his room… But somehow, I was very ashamed…

No one at home, just the two of us…

Just imagining such an event heated my face and made me feel anxious.

“In the first place, you’ve already been in Taku-nii’s room. More than once too. So there’s no need to get embarrassed right now. There were a lot of times when you picked me up at his house and played with us.”

“…That’s true, but…”

Certainly.

I’ve been in Takkun’s room many times before.

I used to play with them there… And when I was planning a surprise gift for Miu, I also made the plan with Takkun in his room.

In the past, it was normal.

When I was alone with Takkun in his room, I wasn’t conscious of anything.

But… that’s no longer possible.

I’m conscious of him now.

After his confession… Ever since I found out about his hidden feelings, his presence in my life had become incredibly big.

Now I think about him more than necessary.

Too much even, to the point that I’m ashamed and disgusted with myself because of it… It’s a vicious circle which I can do nothing about…!

“…Mom, you’re thinking so much about Taku-nii that you’re even making me feel embarrassed.”

“Ah… Shut up, shut up. Stop making fun of your mother.”

“Well, I can see why you’re embarrassed… but I still think you should go.” Said Miu and sighed. “Maybe Taku-nii was so excited about the date with you that his temperature increased and he got sick.”

“E-Ehh? That’s like when a kindergarten kid gets a fever the day before the school trip.”

“Well, that’s how excited he was, don’t you think?”

“…”

“Anyways… Please go and visit him, mom.” Said Miu in a formal tone. “I’m worried about Taku-nii’s health… Besides, he’s probably depressed because the date was ruined because of him. In that sense, you’re the only one who can cheer him up.”

Her tone wasn’t the usual teasing one, but a completely serious one.

If she said it so seriously, then I…

“…A-Alright.”

I had no choice but to accept.

The date was cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances… But it seems like I was going to spend the day with Takkun one way or another.

♠

I was dreaming.

My body felt heavy and my head was blank… I was having a vague dream in a state where I wasn’t sure if I was asleep or awake.

A dream about Ayako-san.

I felt happy and embarrassed, it was a complicated feeling. It seemed that, in no metaphorical way, but rather literally, I couldn’t stop thinking about her, be it asleep or awake.

Ayako-san was standing right in front of me… and I was looking at her from below.

It was a dream from when I was shorter than her… Back when I addressed myself in a more childish way.

“T-Takkun…”

Ayako-san face while she looked at me was a bright red color.

The reason for that… was her outfit.

“How do I look…? D-Do I look like Santa?”

It was a Saint Nick costume.

Having said that, it wasn’t a red suit with long sleeves and pants that a man with a big constitution would wear.

To put in bluntly… It was a Santa bikini costume.

Small pieces of red cloth covered her breasts and ass. And although her waist was firmly slim, some tremendous curves accentuated her glamorous body.

In the end, her outfit was so revealing that it exposed her figure completely.

It was too stimulating of a sight for the kid me… No.

That didn’t really matter, even now it would be too stimulating for me.

Ayako-san in a Santa bikini had great destructive power.

“Ahaha… L-Let’s stop with this. It’s a little cold… and besides, it feels a little lewd.”

Ayako-san twisted her body, covering her emphasized breasts and ass, and smiled as if trying to conceal the embarrassment.

No.

Come back to your senses dumbass.

What the hell am I dreaming about?

Why… Am I dreaming about “that moment”?

I mean… There are so many more moments to dream about from the past, right?

Is it because I’m frustrated? Why am I dreaming with such a lewd event that’s stored on the treasured memories part of my brain?

“Uhm…”

The dream me, who was still young, opened his mouth.

“Y-You look good in it, Ayako mama—”

“…you look good, Ayako mama.”

“Eh? R-Really…?”

In the middle of my sleepiness… I heard a familiar voice.

Lifting my heavy eyelids, I found myself in my room… but there was someone in front of me that shouldn’t be there.

Ayako-san.

The woman that was always on my mind, be it awake or asleep, was looking at me with a lightly worried face.

Ah, am I still dreaming?

There was no way that Ayako-san was in my room…

“Ayako mama…”

Sleepy, I called her name and extended my hand toward her. I was probably just feeling delirious from the fever, as it felt like I was trying to reach a mirage on an oasis after wandering through the desert looking for water.

But.

The mirage… ended up being real.

She gently took my extended hand.

“Y-Yes… I-It’s me, Ayako mama.”

“…Eh? Ehhh?!”

Hearing an embarrassed voice and feeling a hand touch mine, my consciousness finally woke up.

I got up instantly and looked at the woman besides my bed.

“A-Ayako-san?!”

“Hello, Takkun.”

Before my great surprise, she gave me a slightly embarrassed smile.

♥

Takkun sat in the bed and his eyes fully opened the moment he saw me.

“Wha… Eh? W-Why are you in my room, Ayako-san…?”

“Uhm, Tomomi-san told me that she wouldn’t be home during the afternoon… So I came to take care of you.”

“I-I see…”

“How are you feeling, Takkun?”

“Uh… A-Ah… I feel a bit better. I slept the entire morning after taking some medicine. But I felt really bad throughout the morning.” His voice still sounded sleepy, but his expression kept clouding little by little. “…That’s right. Today, out of all days, I had to catch a cold and stay in bed…”

After murmuring with a voice full of regret and guilt, he bowed before me.

“Ayako-san… I’m so sorry.”

“I-It’s alright. You don’t need to apologize, Takkun. It’s okay, really.”

“But… We were supposed to have a date today…”

“You got sick, so it couldn’t be helped. Don’t worry about that.”

“Yes…”

He nodded, but it was obvious that he was still depressed.

“But it’s weird to get sick this time of year.”

“…To be honest, I couldn’t sleep much these last few days.” He said, looking guilty.

“You couldn’t sleep? Why?”

“Well, you see… I-I couldn’t sleep because I was thinking about my date with you.”

“…Eh?”

“Besides that… I was practicing a lot.”

“P-Practicing?”

“I was going to rent a car today… I haven’t had much practice since I got my license last year, so I wanted to get used to it a bit. That’s why I was borrowing my dad’s car at night and drove a couple times through the date’s route.”

“Y-You did that?!”

“Of course, because… If I made a mistake driving, it would look really bad, right…?”

“I get that, but…”

How surprising. This is, how do I say it… I knew that Takkun would be excited about the date… but I didn’t think it would be to this degree.

He even reduced his sleep time to practice the date route.

“I’m happy that you feel that way… But I think you’re overexerting yourself. You don’t need to try that hard for our date…”

“…I couldn’t do that.” Takkun objected, looking straight at me. “I’ve been waiting for this date with you for a long time. There’s no way I wouldn’t try my absolute hardest on it. I wanted it to be perfect… and above all, fun. That’s why… I couldn’t help it.”

“Takkun…”

“But as a result, I got sick today… There was no better time to mess it up. Seriously, I’m so pathetic… so miserable…”

He lowered his head, completely depressed, sitting in the bed.

It seems that Miu’s assumption was correct.

His enthusiasm for the date was so big that it ended screwing him up. Same as a kindergarten kid that is looking forward to a school trip and ends up getting sick that day.

It could certainly seem a little pathetic.

But…

“…”

I felt a pain in my heart.

He was depressed and dejected… but for some reason, I thought he was extremely charming.

“Thank you, Takkun.”

When I came to, I had put my hand over his.

“For doing your best for me.”

“Ayako-san… But I…”

“It’s alright. Like I said before, I’m not bothered by it at all. Certainly, things didn’t go as planned… but your feelings were conveyed perfectly. It makes me really happy that you tried that for our date.”

“…”

“So don’t be sad and rest well. And when you’re better… Uhm, well… L-Let’s have a proper date!”

“Eh?”

Takkun got up instantly.

Uuh… W-What a big reaction.

It’s as if light had suddenly returned to his dead eyes.

A-Are you sure?”

“…Yes.”

“Can we have another date?”

“…Yes.”

“Really—?”

“I-I already said we could, geez.”

Stop asking so many times!

It’s embarrassing!

Uuh… This is so weird. Why is this happening? I was supposed to be the one being invited on a date, but now it’s as if I was inviting him!

No, it’s not like that! It’s only because Takkun was completely depressed and I had no choice…! Yes! I simply had no choice! That’s all there is to it!

“If you don’t feel well, it can’t be helped. It’s normal to postpone it, no, cancel it. Yes, that’s normal. I think that’s very common.”

“…I see. Postpone it.” Takkun smiled, relieved.

Ah, geez… You can clearly notice how happy he is.

He’s smiling so happily that I’m having a hard time believing he looked so sad just a moment ago… Somehow, I feel dizzy.

“…Ah, Takkun, are you hungry? I-I made some rice porridge, so I’ll go heat it up!”

Unable to tolerate that sweet environment any longer, I went out of the room.

I’ve used the Aterazawa family’s kitchen a few times.

When they invited Miu and I for dinner, I helped clean and wash the dishes.

And today, when I said I was going to take care of him, Tomomi-san said I could use the kitchen freely, so I didn’t hesitate to do so.

After reheating the rice porridge in the pot, I poured it in a bowl and returned to his room.

“Sorry for the wait, here you go, eat.”

“I’m sorry and thank you very much.”

Takkun sat on the bed and extended his hand to grab the porridge bowl.

“Ah, wait a minute, it’s still very hot.”

“I grabbed the bowl, filled a spoon with porridge and took it to my mouth.

And then.

“Fuu, fuu.”

I blew a couple times to cool the porridge.

“Alright, it’s good now. Open big.”

“Eh…?”

When I took the spoon to his mouth, Takkun got red and froze in place.

After seeing his reaction… I realized my misake.

“Ah, s-s-sorry! I didn’t mean to! I always do it like that with Miu, so I… When that girl gets sick, she becomes a very spoiled girl…!”

“I-It’s okay! I understand!”

After we both blushed and raised our voice, Takkun took the tray, blew on the spoon and started to eat the porridge.

This time, with his own hands.

“Huff… It’s delicious.”

“Really? I’m happy to hear that.”

Takkun ate the porridge hungrily. It was nice to see he still had appetite. His complexion didn’t look bad either, so it was a sign that he was getting better.

While I saw him eat, I suddenly recalled the past.

“…Before, it used to be normal for me to feed you.”

“Eh?”

“There were a lot of times that I fed you myself, don’t you remember?”

“That was… when I was little, right? And since it was you, I couldn’t refuse…”

“Fufu, that’s right. You were always so embarrassed, but you obediently opened your mouth and said ‘aah’, you looked so cute.”

“…”

Takkun blushed, not knowing what to say.

His reaction was so cute that I couldn’t help but keep teasing him

“By the way, Takkun… A while ago you called me ‘Ayako mama’, didn’t you?”

“Pfffh… Cough, cough.”

Although he choked, he somehow managed to swallow the porridge in his mouth. And then he looked at me embarrassed.

“D-Did you hear that?”

“Yes, I heard that.”

“…Really? Well, it was just a misunderstanding. I was dreaming about the past, that’s why…”

“Fufufu. It’s been a long time since you called me like that. Before I realized it, you started to call me ‘Ayako-san’.”

“Well, that’s natural… I couldn’t keep calling you Ayako mama forever.”

 “…You’re right.”

That really… is natural.

The boy that was only ten when we met, was now twenty.

He had gone from a kid to a man.

But some place inside my heart has always treated him like a kid.

That’s why… I never noticed at all.

I didn’t notice his feelings.

That’s why I was so confused and lost right now.

Of course, Takkun had no blame in it. He just was living his life with dedication and devotion. He simply grew up and became a man.

The problem… was me.

It was my way of seeing and perceiving him

It wasn’t that complicated. After all, everything was just in my heart…

“Hey, Takkun, what were you dreaming about?” I asked, suddenly feeling curious.

I was wondering about what times he was dreaming about.

During the last 10 years we had spent together… I thought about him only as a son or a little brother, but he always saw me as a woman.

We spent the same time together during a decade seeing each other in a different way.

So I was wondering what he was remembering during his feverish dream.

“Uhm… Well…” Takkun hesitated to say it. “About the time… when you wore the Santa bikini…”

“Adfgdhj.” I started to hyperventilate.

All my seriousness dissipated, and I yelled at the top of my lungs:

“E-Ehh?! The Santa bikini…? Y-You dreamt about that?!”

“Yes… about that…”

“Noooo! Why did you dream about that?!”

“Even if you ask me, I simply dreamt about it…”

Uuuhhh!

I can’t believe Takkun’s dream was about that day!

I’ve now vividly recalled that dark page of my life that had been dug so deep inside my memory that I wanted to completely forget about it.

The most shameful page of my life happened a few Christmases ago.

I wanted to buy a regular Santa suit, but I accidentally ended up buying one that showed my stomach area.

I’m so glad that only Takkun saw me. If someone else had seen me, I could’ve died from the shame… That’s what I thought… but if Takkun was conscious of me as a woman since he was ten, then history changes quite a lot.

Uwaa… Uwaaaahhhh!

“Uhh… Takkun you dummy… Why did you recall that?”

“I’m sorry… it was really shocking.”

“W-Well, I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I looked weird and that it didn’t suit me!”

“No, I didn’t mean it that way… It was shocking in the good way, Ayako-san, you have a really nice figure, so you looked really well in that suit…”

“Wha… I-It’s alright, I don’t need that kind of kindness.”

“I’m not saying it because of that! You’re really beautiful and have a nice body… that’s why I was charmed…”

“~~! A-Alright… I get it.”

I couldn’t take any more lethal praises. Ah, I can’t take it anymore, please stop. Seriously, stop. If you keep praising me like that… I don’t know what will happen.

“Geez… You’re a pervert, Takkun.” I said embarrassed, pouting.

“E-Even if you call me like that…”

“On top of that, you said that you were staring at my breasts when we bathed together…”

“…Well, it’s true that I stared in the bathroom, but the Santa bikini, you showed me that on your own.”

“S-Stop making excuses! And forget that already!” I yelled loudly.

Although, no matter how you looked at it, I was the one making up excuses.

“I-I’m sorry…”

Ah… I made him apologize. I’m sorry, Takkun. The shame is making me say all these things.

“But…” Takkun continued while I was filled with guilt. “I can’t help… being like this.”

“Eh…?”

“Seeing the woman you like in front of you with such revealing clothes… well, it would make any boy excited.”

“Eh… Ehhh?”

“It’s absolutely impossible to forget. It won’t ever leave my memories. It’s something I’ve dreamt about a lot of times.”

“A-A lot of times…?”

I was baffled and Takkun looked straight at me.

He was blushing from embarrassment, but he didn’t look away.

Staring directly at me.

With eyes full of passion, he looked as if seeing through me.

“I… well, I didn’t fall in love with you just for your looks… But your looks… I like them a lot too. Both your face and your figure are very attractive…”

“Wha, uh, ah… auh…”

With a passionate look in his eyes, he started to praise me again and I didn’t know what to do.

My body was burning up.

And my head in a daze.

The embarrassment and excitement kept increasing, and my reasoning stopped working…

“…Really?” When I came to, I had already opened my mouth.

I put my hand on my chest, as if trying to point at myself.

“Takkun, do you honestly… this… do you like this body?”

“Eh? Well… I-It sounds a bit terrible to say it like that, but… yes. I like it…”

“…I see. Then—” I said, sitting in the bed.

Right next to Takkun, pretty close to him.

“—Do you want to touch it right now?”

♠

I didn’t understand what she was saying.

Touch?

What thing?

If we followed the context so far… did she mean her body? No, there’s no way. Ayako-san would never say that. Impossible. Absolutely no way.

In an instant, a lot of thoughts went through my head, but…

“Give me your hand.”

The moment her hand touched me, all my thoughts dissipated.

With her 2 hands, she grabbed my left hand’s wrist.

And then… Pulled it towards her.

“Wha? A-Ayako-san…?! What are you doing?!”

“Please, just stay silent, and extend your hand.”

“But, w-wait a minute—”

“I-I’m also embarrassed! But I want you… to touch and feel me.”

“You want me to touch you…?”

Eh? Eh? What’s this? What’s going on here?

Ignoring my extreme confusion, Ayako-san pulled my hand. My hand gradually got closer to her, and my vision was also attracted to her.

And what inevitably came to my line of sight… was her huge breasts.

It was impossible to look away from those huge lumps that violently pushed her blouse where they stood. And when she barely moved a little, those lumps fluttered a lot, just like my reasoning.

They’re huge.

They really… are too huge.

Those huge forbidden fruits were just a few centimeters away from my hand.

“Maybe you don’t want to… touch an old lady like me.”

“Eh… No, it’s not that I don’t want to, but…”

Of course I wanted to touch her.

To be honest… I don’t know how many times I’ve fantasized about it.

It’s not that I fell in love with Ayako-san just for her body… But I’m also a man. Not all of my thoughts were pure.

Of course I want to touch… the breasts of the woman I love.

But.

It’s exactly because of that… That I dislike this weird development!

“P-Please wait, Ayako-san! W-What’s with you all of a sudden…?”

“It’s alright! J-Just succumb to your impulses!”

“Impulses…?”

“Come on now, stop resisting!”

Speaking violently with an embarrassed face, she kept pulling my hand.

If I had been serious, I could have easily shaken her hands off of mine.

But… I couldn’t.

No matter how much my head refused, the overwhelming earthly desires surpassed my reasoning.

As a result, I couldn’t move at all and I was at her mercy.

Ayako-san strongly pulled my hand and took it towards her torso.

And then, she put it under her blouse…

“What…?”

Directly?!

Wait a moment! You want me to touch them directly?!

Even when it’s more than enough to touch from on top of your clothes, you want me to do it directly?!

“A-Ayako-san…!”

“…It’s alright, Takkun.” She whispered with a sensual voice, trying to desperately hold back the embarrassment.

My hand slid from under her clothes. Lower and lower down her blouse. And when the tips of my fingers touched her soft skin, she shuddered.

“Ahn. Funh…” She let out a soft voice.

“I-I’m sorry…”

“…It’s alright. I was just surprised because your hand was cold.”

After adjusting her breathing, she looked straight at me.

“Go on… Takkun. Don’t hold back and touch as much as you want.”

And then, my hand was pulled strongly.

Pressing.

I felt something soft on the palm of my hand.

To be honest… It was a lot more modest than I expected.

I was imagining something more… well… a volume so big that it would never fit in one hand, but I didn’t feel that much mass.

But the soft, warm and damp skin felt pleasant.

It was a delightful sensation that made me want to touch her forever…

“So, what do you think, Takkun?”

“…What do I think?”

“This is my body… My… m-meat.”

Meat.

Well yes, it was certainly meat.

A woman’s bust… her breasts, to put it bluntly, were just lumps of fat that the majority of men can’t stop loving. Just some lumps of meat that a lot of men crave, long for and praise, and sometimes, even mess up their lives for.

What I was touching right now was definitely meat.

However.

I wasn’t touching her breasts…

…But rather, her stomach.

“Uhm… Ayako-san. I have a serious question.”

“W-What’s wrong?”

“…Why do you want me to touch your stomach?”

A deep confusion and disappointment invaded my thoughts.

The hand she dragged under her clothes and thought was going to go toward her chest… somehow, didn’t go up.

Instead, she made me touch her stomach.

…Why?

Why… her stomach?

“W-Why you ask…? I told you before, didn’t I? I want you to feel me.” Said Ayako-san, trying to suppress the embarrassment while pressing my hand against her stomach. “You praised me a lot before… but, well, that’s because you only know the body I had during my twenties, right? That’s why I wanted to erase that illusion from the past by making you feel the me right now—Eh?! E-Ehhh?!”

In the middle of her explanation, Ayako-san yelled loudly.

She let go of my wrist and distanced herself in an instant.

“N-Nooo… Takkun, T-That…!”

“Eh…?”

“Uhm, well, that… I-It’s become so…!” She screamed, covering her face with her hands, blushing all the way to her ears.

When I followed the perplexed face that was looking in between her fingers… It led me to my crotch.

The lower body ‘me’ was violently asserting its presence.

Unlike jeans or pants, the bulge couldn’t hide through the thin cloth of a pajama.

The cloth was fiercely pushed upwards.

“U-Uwaa!”

I grabbed a blanket and hid my crotch as soon as I could.

Although… It was too late already.

“I-I’m so sorry! I…”

“Takkun… Eh? W-Why…?”

I couldn’t help but feel embarrassed and guilty, and Ayako-san asked with a look of deep confusion:

“D-Did it become like that because you touched my stomach…?!”

“…”

It seemed that she had misunderstood something.

“Eh… Ehh? Do men get excited when touching stomachs? Or is that just a fetish of yours—?”

“It’s not like that! I didn’t get excited from touching your stomach!”

“B-But you…”

“That’s… well, because I thought… you were going to let me touch your b-breasts.”

“Eh………….. Ehhhhhh?!”

Right when her complexion had started to get its color back, her face started to get red again.

“W-What are you thinking about, Takkun?! I wasn’t going to let you touch my breasts!”

“I know… But just maybe…”

“How could you think I took your hand so that you could touch my breasts…! I-I wouldn’t do something that lewd! I just wanted you to touch my stomach!”

“…”

No, well.

That’s also perverted, isn’t it?

“L-Letting you touch my breasts… Geez… Since you’re always thinking about lewd things, you misunderstood everything…”

“…I-I’m sorry.”

For the time being, I apologized to Ayako-san, who was mad at me, but I wasn’t completely sorry.

Yes… This wasn’t my fault.

No matter how you looked at it, it’s Ayako-san’s fault for doing something so misleading.

If you do something like that, 10 out of 10 men would misunderstand.

“But, Ayako-san… Why your stomach…?”

“Well… B-Because I wanted you to know who I am now.” Said Ayako-san, stumbling on her words. “…You saw me naked and in a bikini, but that was a long time ago, right? That’s why… When you praised my body before, it was the me back then… Now you… Are pasting the image of the me from a decade ago onto the thirty year old me, so I thought that it was worth showing you the reality…” Her voice kept gradually lowering and continued in a whisper. “…And well, you know. The older you get… the more the excess shows up. I haven’t been taking care of myself lately, and neglected my stomach area…”

“Were you worried about something like that?”

“W-What do you mean something like that…? This is really important for a woman in her thirties!”

“You don’t have to worry about that, Ayako-san. You aren’t fat at all.”

“Y-You’re lying! You don’t have to be considerate about my feelings! You touched my stomach and made sure, didn’t you?”

“Well… I certainly felt some meat. It felt quite soft.”

“See? I knew it…”

Lifting my gaze towards Ayako-san, who was about to tear up, I continued.

“But you have a perfectly normal figure. Besides, I think that woman that have some meat are more attractive. And also… I think you look very cute with a soft belly.”

“…”

“No, I don’t mean that your soft belly is cute, but that you look cute worrying about your soft belly. What I meant to say is that a soft belly has its own charm—”

“H-How many times are you going to say ‘soft’?!” Ayako-san yelled in embarrassment. “Uuh… Geez… stop making fun of adults.”

“I wasn’t trying to make fun of them…”

“…You’re nothing more than a pervert that gets hard from touching a stomach.”

“Like I said before, that was a misunderstanding!”

I immediately excused myself to Ayako-san, who murmured in disgust.

The atmosphere was awkward for a while, but…

“…Fufu.” Ayako-san started laughing. “I was supposed to come and take care of you, but, what are we even doing?” After whispering to herself, Ayako-san looked at me once again. “I’m sorry for, well… doing something so misleading.”

“No, I’m the one that’s sorry for showing you something so embarrassing.”

We bowed to each other.

“Anyways… You seem to be more vigorous now, so I feel relieved.” She said and immediately started blushing. “W-With ‘vigorous’ I meant your health! I-I didn’t mean anything weird by it!”

“It’s alright! I understood perfectly!”

For some reason, she tried to clear up something unnecessary.

After clearing her throat, she stood up and picked up the tray with the empty bowl.

“Well, I think I should get going.”

“Uhm… Thanks a lot. I was really happy that you came to take care of me.”

“No problem. Rest up and get well soon.”

“Okay. And when I get better… let me invite you to a date once again.” I said.

I hid my embarrassment and said it.

Ayako-san froze for a moment and then…

“…Yes, I’ll be waiting for it.” She replied after a brief moment.

After she left, I laid down on my bed and took a good rest.

I still had some fever, but I felt surprisingly well.

♥

Night.

“Ahahaha… I wasn’t expecting the date to be canceled due to a cold. I never saw that coming. This is just hilarious.”

“…This isn’t funny at all.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. You’re right, it’s not okay to laugh at other people’s misfortune. However… I don’t think this can be called misfortune.”

“…? What do you mean?”

“Instead of a date, Aterazawa-kun enjoyed your lovely care and company. I guess that every cloud has a ray of light.”

“Lovely care…?”

“From what I heard, this event seems to have deepened your bonds… Fufu. I thought he was an unlucky guy for getting sick at the last minute, but it’s the opposite, it could even be said he was lucky. It seems that Aterazawa-kun is raising your capture flag at a nice rhythm.”

“…You’ve played too many games, Oinomori-san.”

“Hahaha, perhaps. Lately, I’ve been very busy with many videogame projects. My head is full of them.”

“Geez…”

“Takumi Aterazawa-kun, huh… Fufufu.” She said.

With a happy tone.

“I’d like to meet and talk to him.”

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