“Hey, why aren’t you doing anything?”
Sumire’s sleepy-looking eyes were wide open. With her face pushed right up close to mine, I reflexively leaned back in surprise.
“W-What?”
“I’ve been waiting this whole time, you know?”
It wasn’t like I didn’t understand what “waiting this whole time” meant.
I was waiting too. Or rather, I was on guard.
“Waiting for what?”
When I tried playing dumb on purpose, Sumire let out a massive sigh and slumped her shoulders.
That gesture of hers is kind of annoying.
“Come on, we started dating, right? If so, there should be some proper lover-like moves, shouldn’t there?”
“Lover-like moves… Sumire, you haven’t done anything either.”
“I was waiting. Waiting to see how Aoi would make her move, any second now. I was planning to counter it.”
Sumire clenched her hands into little fists to show me.
Seriously, way too scary.
“No, I mean… lover-like moves or not, it’s a secret, so…”
“Then there’s no point in dating, is there? We’re dating for now just because we didn’t know if we liked each other or not, right? In that case, we have to try various things to find out.”
I remember that was kind of how the flow went.
Though I was half-in-disbelief about whether we’d actually do it.
“So come on, hurry up. Do it?”
“Huh? Do what?”
“Kiss.”
Sumire pointed her index finger at her own lips and tapped them repeatedly.
She was suddenly acting as aggressive as if a completely different personality had woken up.
“Wait, wait. What’s with that no-argument attitude?”
“Since Aoi doesn’t seem to get it at all, I decided on one lover rule.”
“A lover rule…?”
“We have to kiss at least once a day. One time each for both of us.”
“—And why is that?”
“Why, because everyone does it, right? Don’t you know?”
She said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Is it just that I haven’t seen it and don’t know about it, or are couples in this world secretly forced to kiss once a day?
「”Isn’t that just a Sumire rule? Could you not decide things on your own?”」
“Respecting each other’s opinions is what dating is all about, right?”
She said something that sounded kind of convincing.
If she puts it that way, I’ve got room to talk back too.
“Speaking of respecting opinions, I don’t want to walk across such dangerous bridges.”
“If we cross it together, there’s nothing to be scared of!”
“No, this is definitely the kind of bridge you shouldn’t cross together.”
「”You’re rambling and stalling again. Well then, in exchange, Aoi can make up whatever favorite rule you want.”」
Sounds like she’s looking for a fistfight.
Well, what Sumire is saying isn’t entirely wrong, either. If we do nothing, nothing moves forward, and we’ll never understand anything.
Besides, it’s better than feeling awkward like we did this morning.
“Come on, what does Aoi want? One minute of sniffing each other’s hair as much as you want?”
「”That’s the one you want to do. Even if you suddenly ask me that…”」
“Fine then, think about that later. Anyway, one kiss a day is already locked in. Yes, so do it.”
Sumire lifted her chin just a little bit and closed her eyes.
She put her hands behind her back, completely taking a waiting posture.
Our previous kisses were either sudden surprises or getting surprised.
The situation is different. The mood is completely different.
This is the first time we’re doing it in a normal state, waiting calmly like this.
How should I put it? It’s super hard to do.
I stepped one step closer and lightly touched Sumire’s shoulder.
Sumire’s body twitched just a tiny bit. When I brought my lips close, that familiar, nice peach scent reached me.
It washed away the bathroom smell and drifted right in.
My heart suddenly started pounding. I know that just touching our lips lightly isn’t a big deal, but I’m still nervous.
I mean, how do you even kiss again?
If we go straight on, do our noses bump? Do we tilt a little bit?
I think I did pretty well yesterday, all things considered. No, looking back, that was clearly weird. I realize all over again that I must have gone crazy.
I slowly pressed my lips against hers.
At a slight angle, compared to Sumire’s straight-on lips.
The moment we touched, my chest gave a tight squeeze.
More than the sensation itself, this is dangerous.
Something like an electric shock raced all the way up to my brain, trying to issue weird commands on its own.
Like do it harder. Do it a lot. Do it more and more.
We only touched for a few seconds.
When I pulled my lips back, Sumire’s eyes opened slowly. The corners of her mouth relaxed into a happy melt.
“Nfuh…”
Short, or not quite good enough.
I thought she’d complain or criticize, but it seemed like this one was fine.
A momentary sigh of relief.
“Well, I guess this is how it starts.”
I was only getting let off easy because it was the first time.
Sumire swayed her body while shaking her head in a good mood.
“Now then, I wonder when I should do mine~?”
“Huh?”
“Not ‘huh’? Don’t tell me you didn’t properly understand the rule? Since Aoi just did it, now it’s my turn to do it.”
We both have to kiss at least once a day.
Put another way, we each have the right to kiss whenever we want.
It’s complicated, but I guess that’s how it is.
“It was just a spur-of-the-moment idea, but wasn’t Sumire-chan’s idea a nice one?”
Sumire gave a smug thumbs-up.
As expected, it feels totally fly-by-night. Is this really going to be okay?
“What if we forget?”
“A penalty.”
Sumire stated it flatly with a low voice.
I couldn’t bring myself to ask what the penalty was.
“I mean, timing that is clearly out of bounds doesn’t count, right?”
“Fufu… Sleep trembling, Aoi.”
Does she actually plan on doing it? What on earth is she plotting?
…Wait, hold on a second?
Was that kiss just now supposed to be my turn? She told me to kiss her, I kissed her, and now my one time is gone—isn’t that messed up?
While I was feeling all worked up, Sumire walked out of the restroom.
I hurriedly chased after her and caught the door Sumire opened. We walked side by side in the hallway again, heading to the classroom.
“I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of rule Aoi comes up with~?”
Sumire still seems to find this amusing.
It’s as hard to tell as ever whether she’s being serious or just messing around.
Still, she said I could make up any rule I wanted… is literally anything okay?
I stared at the tip of Sumire’s shoulder as she walked with good posture.
Yesterday she had me use her knees as a pillow on a whim, but I thought it felt kind of nice.
If I asked for stuff like that too, would she do it…?
「”…Hey, Aoi? Don’t go coming up with anything super perverted all of a sudden, okay?”」
「”W-Wha? P-Perverted… A-Are you stupid! There’s no way I would!”」
「”Because you had that kind of face.”」
“I didn’t!”
Sumire pointed at her face while grinning. I swatted her hand away.
Good grief, what on earth is she thinking.