“How about sending messages to each other every day? Like when we wake up in the morning and before we go to sleep at night.”
If this is what lovers call a lover-like move, then this is totally normal. It’s not like it’s anything worth tying ourselves down with special rules for.
Or at least, that’s what I think.
“Eh, no way.”
Sumire answered right away.
“…Why?”
“Because I’m sleepy in the morning, and it’s a pain. We’re gonna see each other when we go to school anyway, so isn’t that fine?”
For a split second, a little vein popped in my head.
But I kept my face looking completely calm on the outside.
“What about on days off? You don’t know if we’ll see each other if we don’t go to school, right.”
“Ugh, heavy.”
“H-Heavy? What do you mean heavy!”
“I mean, you know I’m not a morning person, right?”
Sumire, who claims not to be a morning person, is often sleepy and sluggish in the morning.
She claims it’s low blood pressure or something like that, but I feel like she’s just staying up late.
She sometimes says she couldn’t sleep and watched anime until morning.
“…Then what about at night?”
“We go to sleep at different times at night, you know.”
“It’s fine, right, if you just send a ‘Good night’?”
“Isn’t it weird to send it when I’m not going to sleep yet? Getting something like ‘Well, I’m not going to sleep yet though’ would be annoying, right?”
It’d be totally fine though.
Why is she worrying about such a weird thing? I mean, she probably just thinks it’s a hassle.
“Then what? Does that mean my rule doesn’t get approved after all? Isn’t that weird?”
“W-Wait a second, calm down? Aoi-chan is suddenly getting so heavy~. Aoi’s love is heavy.”
“You just wanted to say that, didn’t you. I mean, how you look at it, once a day kissing is way heavier.”
“No way, once-a-day kissing is way more casual, you know. It’s cute.”
“Where is that cute? That’s fine on days we meet at school, but what about days off? If one of us goes on a trip or something, wouldn’t it be impossible?”
“Ah… well, days off or whatever are fine if it’s too much of a pain. We can be flexible.”
“Huh? That’s so sloppy! Are you even taking this seriously!”
When I accidentally leaned forward, Sumire patted my shoulder to calm me down.
She glanced around at our surroundings and held up her index finger to shush me.
I snapped back to reality and pulled myself back for a moment. My face started getting hot from embarrassment. I secretly checked my surroundings.
It’s fine, nobody’s looking, probably.
I lowered my voice and continued.
“…So in the end, does this mean you’re just playing around? Just a random idea on the spot.”
“Alright, alright. I’ll do it if that’s what you want, I’ll do it~~.”
Sumire started tapping on her smartphone.
“There, I sent a line.”
She said that while keeping her eyes dropped on her phone.
I took out my smartphone and checked the message that had arrived.
『Good nighty. Chu♡』
“It’s still broad daylight, though.”
“This is the kind of stuff Aoi wants to do, right? Whatever you say.”
What do you mean, “whatever you say”?
Actually, Sumire doesn’t really like messaging back and forth. Even when we occasionally do it, her replies are super cold.
When I wrote a long text about various things, she once brushed it off with a simple “Glad to hear it.”
She’s bad at reading tone of voice, or she dislikes not being able to see the other person’s face.
I’m pretty sure she said something like that before.
But I’m probably the type who can express things better by writing than by talking. Words don’t come out easily when I’m face-to-face, but with text, for some reason they flow right out.
“Fine then, let’s go with that.”
「”Bweh?”」
Sumire made a sound like a frog trying to croak.
She apparently didn’t expect me to say it was fine.
Sumire’s disinterested expression completely flipped into a serious face.
“Aoi, that’s wrong. Things like this shouldn’t be tied down by rules. It’s about feelings. It’s all about feelings. I’ll do it even without rules. Properly. As much as possible. When I feel like it. If I don’t forget. In a vague sort of way.”
As I silently stared back at her, Sumire started talking faster and faster.
“…I mean, getting a long text with a straight face is pretty tough~…”
“Hm? What did you say?”
“S-So anyway, let’s think of another rule, okay? Right?”
She really doesn’t want to do it no matter what.
She’s desperate.
“Got it. Fine, if you don’t want to.”
I actually already knew she wouldn’t like it.
That’s why I thought of it, but didn’t say it.
I put away my smartphone and faced forward.
Immediately after, a flustered voice came from behind me.
“Jeez, I’ll do it. I’m telling you I’ll do it.”
“Eh, is it okay?”
“I don’t want you to think I’m just messing around, either.”
Sumire said it casually, but my heart gave a start.
Then does this mean the two of us really are lovers… well, not that we’ve decided for sure yet.
“Then, I’ll send one now, okay?”
I switched my smartphone to a two-handed grip style and started typing a new message.
You might think, since we’re right in front of each other, why not just say it directly, but it’s still a bit embarrassing.
『Sorry for forcing that on you. I actually knew Sumire hated this kind of thing, so I worried you wouldn’t like it. But this time I realized Sumire wasn’t just messing around, and that you were serious. It made me kind of happy, I guess.』
『Whatever you say.』
『Saying not to talk to others was, um, like jealousy? Is it jealousy after all? But I don’t intend to tie you down or anything like that. I don’t even really understand it myself… but I guess I really hate this kind of thing, huh.』
『You have reached the message limit.』
When I turned back around, Sumire was putting her smartphone away.
She started rummaging around inside her desk while her eyes darted all over the place.
“W-Well then, the next class is…”
Sumire wouldn’t make eye contact with me.