When I reunited with my arrogant childhood friend, she had become a talented and beautiful girl – Even though she has probably forgotten about me and I don’t want to be toyed with, for some reason she keeps getting involved with me!?

Hello everyone. It’s Kazuki Sato.

Recently, a female friend with whom I’ve been getting along well suddenly cornered me against a wall and took me to the rooftop.

Right now, I’m really confused.

What should I do? Someone, please tell me.

No, this isn’t the time to escape reality.

Given that we’re on the rooftop, I assume we’re going to have lunch together, but Futaba’s behavior is clearly strange.

“…………”

“…………”

The silence between us continues.

Wow, I can hear the birds chirping.

Even though we’ve been through a lot together and have become good friends since we first met… What’s this heavy atmosphere…?

Is there another problem? Or perhaps something from that time that wasn’t fully resolved…?

“Hey,”

Futaba starts a conversation as if to break the silence.

“Oh, yeah. What’s up?”

“There’s no deep meaning or anything, I just kind of thought, are you interested in eroge (erotic games) or anything?”

“Oh, yeah…”

Huh? What? Eroge? What is she talking about all of a sudden?

There’s no deep meaning? Just kind of?

No, there must be a deep meaning, it’s not something that just came to her mind!!

Answering incorrectly could be disastrous!!

Eroge… Honestly, it would be a lie to say I’m not interested.

There are various types of eroge, including what are commonly known as tear-jerkers and burning games.

I’ve always wanted to try those types of games.

Because there’s no man who’s not interested in erotic stuff at all!!

But if I answer that I’m interested here…

“Eh? Oh, I see… Gross.”

She might respond like that! That wouldn’t be good… If she said that, my heart would be shattered.

Wait a minute? Considering she initiated the conversation, wouldn’t it be better to honestly answer yes?

Perhaps Nakano, like me, is interested in tear-jerking or burning erotic games?

“Well…? If you ask me if I’m interested, I guess… I am?”

“That’s good…”

What does she mean by “that’s good”? What does that mean? Was my answer correct?

When I look at her, Nakano clearly looks relieved.

“Um… Futaba… are you… interested in eroge?”

“Eh? Well… I’m not really into eroge itself…”

Sorry, I’m getting more and more confused… If she’s not interested in eroge, why did she bring up the topic of eroge?

Does she mean she’s not interested in games?

Wait, if she’s not interested in games, does that mean she’s interested in the erotic side!?

In other words… Nakano is interested in naughty things!?

Honestly, I don’t understand what I’m thinking, but is that what this means!?

“Ah, um… hey, if you were going with me, would you prefer a movie date or a date to Osorezan (a mountain associated with the dead)?”

What’s with these extreme choices all of a sudden!?

Ah!! I see!! This is Futaba’s conversational technique!

“Would you prefer a movie date or a date to Osorezan?” By forcing a choice between the two, she’s making it seem like there’s no option not to go.

And by offering Osorezan, an option I absolutely wouldn’t choose, she’s trying to make me choose a movie date.

So, Futaba wants to go to the movies with me. But why did a movie date suddenly come up?

Erotica and a movie theater…?

Aha…! Could it be…!! Futaba… you…!!

You want to go to a porn movie theater with me!?

A porn movie theater is a place where you watch adult DVDs on the big screen. Watching porn with a female friend…? That’s a kind of hell, even worse than Mount Osore in a way…

“Uh, I’d prefer a Mount Osore date…”

“Would you prefer a movie date or a Mount Osore date?”

Eek… There’s only one choice…!!

“Uh, a movie date…”

“Yep, yep! I knew you’d say that! Now, let’s reserve the tickets!”

Futaba happily started fiddling with her smartphone.

I just held my head in my hands.

Really… Are we going… To a porn movie… Just the two of us?

Wait, do those even exist anymore? Can we even get in? Can we reserve seats on a smartphone?

… Huh? Hm?

“…Um, which theater are we going to?”

“Huh? The shopping mall where we watched a movie together last time, why? Do you prefer somewhere else?”

“No, um… The movie we’re going to see, is it the one that’s been getting a lot of attention lately and is based on an eroge?”

“Yes, exactly!! I saw the trailer for it yesterday and it looked really interesting, so I thought I’d like to see it with you!”

“Oh, right! That makes sense!”

That was close… I’m glad I realized…! Wait a minute, what’s wrong with her?! Her invitation was so misleading!

“…What’s the matter? You seem quite flustered.”

“Ah, no… I just had a bit of a misunderstanding.”

“A misunderstanding?”

“Um… Well…”

I inadvertently averted my gaze.

“Tell me~ If you don’t, I won’t be able to avoid it next time.”

She’s right, but…

“So, um… mumbles…”

“Wha…! You idiot!!”

When I explained in her ear, Futaba’s face turned bright red and she started hitting me on the shoulder.

“Ouch! Stop hitting me on the shoulder! It’s your fault for inviting me in such a misleading way!”

When I complained, she seemed to realize what she had done and reluctantly stopped hitting me.

“But…!! It can’t be helped! It was my first time inviting someone out…!! I wanted to see it, but you might not want to see the movie, right? Then there’s no benefit for you.”

Benefit… I see. I’ve been thinking this for a while, but I get the feeling that Futaba has a low self-esteem. She feels she can’t make demands of others unless she has something to offer because she lacks confidence in herself.

“…I’ve told you before, haven’t I? I enjoy spending time with you. So I’m more than happy to accept any invitation to hang out.”

It would probably reassure Futaba if I stated this clearly here.

“…Y-yeah.”

Futaba let out a quiet sigh of relief.

“But man, I was really taken aback thinking you were super interested in naughty stuff.”

I teased Futaba to bring back our usual light-hearted atmosphere. If I did that, she should react with an “Oh stop it!” or “You’re so annoying!” in a sulky way.

“…It’s not like I’m not interested, okay?”

“Eh?”

Suddenly, I was pushed down by Futaba.

Her reaction wasn’t what I had imagined. I was taken aback.

I couldn’t make out Futaba’s expression, hidden by her bangs and shadows.

“Futaba…san?”

“It’s obvious that doing it in reality would be better than just watching it on screen, right…?”

“Eh? Eh? Eh?”

Her body pressed against mine, her lips gradually moving closer.

I inadvertently held my breath and closed my eyes-

“Why are you closing your eyes?”

“Ouch!?”

A sharp pain ran through my forehead. It seemed like she’d flicked my forehead.

“Geez, you’re such an innocent one, Itsuki-kun~ Anyway, keep your schedule free, okay~”

…She got one over me.

All I could do was stand there, dumbfounded, watching Futaba return to the classroom ahead of me.