By the time Kazuha and I finally returned to our dorm that evening, I was exhausted.
My ankle hurt, my entire body smelled faintly like the inside of a mascot costume, and my financial future had been reduced to six hundred and twenty seven yen.
Still... Today had been amazing.
I dropped the merchandise bags beside my bed before collapsing onto the mattress. "Home..."
Kazuha quietly put her bag down before taking off my leather jacket and holding it out to me. "Thank you."
I took it from her with a small nod. "Yeah. No problem."
She then reached into her bag and pulled out her damaged cardigan. The torn fabric immediately reminded me of what had happened on the carousel.
Oh. The pictures.
I sat up. "Kazuha."
She glanced toward me. "What?"
"I almost forgot. I want to send you the pictures I took on the carousel."
"Okay."
My heart immediately started beating faster. There it was. My opportunity.
I cleared my throat and tried to sound casual.
"In that case... could I have your phone number?"
Kazuha's expression immediately became cautious. "You can send them through Bluetooth."
My shoulders dropped.
The fortress remained undefeated. "But that'll take forever."
She frowned. "Why? A few pictures shouldn't take long."
My entire body stiffened.
A few. Yes. That's what a normal person would've taken. I had apparently documented every individual movement Kazuha made during the entire carousel ride.
She narrowed her eyes. "Kaoru."
"Yes?"
"How many pictures did you take?"
I swallowed. "Define 'many.'"
Her eyes narrowed further. "Did you take too many?"
"Yeah."
"How many?"
"Photography isn't about quantity."
"Kaoru."
"It's about capturing the beauty of a fleeting moment!"
"Lend me your phone."
I reluctantly handed it over.
Kazuha opened my gallery. Her finger stopped.
I looked away.
She scrolled, and scrolled and kept scrolling. "Kaoru."
"Yes?"
"Why are there this many?"
"Because every picture is different!"
"Most of these look identical."
"THEY ARE NOT!" I immediately pointed at the screen. "Look at that one! Your hair is slightly farther to the left!"
Kazuha stared at me.
I slowly lowered my finger. "I'm sorry... Please continue."
She sighed before looking through them again. "Can I just choose the ones I want?"
My soul suffered critical damage. "Okay."
She hesitated before adding, "Also... it feels a little weird knowing you have this many pictures of me."
That immediately made me stop joking.
Kazuha looked at the phone. "Can I delete the ones I don't want you keeping?"
For a moment, I didn't answer.
Then I thought about it from her perspective. That was fair. We weren't dating. We weren't even particularly close yet. If someone I barely knew had hundreds of pictures of me saved on their phone, I'd probably assume they were building some creepy secret shrine.
"Sure."
Kazuha looked slightly surprised.
I shrugged. "Delete whatever makes you uncomfortable. They're your pictures."
Her expression softened just a little. "Thank you."
For the next fifteen minutes, she sorted through my gallery while I sat nearby and silently mourned.
Delete.
Goodbye, masterpiece number forty seven.
Delete.
No! Not number eighty three! The wind was perfect in that one!
Farewell, my children.
But occasionally, I noticed something strange. Kazuha smiled. Sometimes she'd pause at a particular photo and look at it longer than the others. Once, she even zoomed in before quickly zooming back out.
I tried not to grin.
Eventually, she handed my phone back. "Thanks."
"No problem." I immediately checked my gallery. My collection had suffered catastrophic casualties. Still, I couldn't complain. I understood why she'd done it. And besides... She'd left some. A victory nonetheless.
Almost a week passed after our trip to the theme park. After everything that happened at the theme park, I'd expected some massive romantic development.
I mean... She hugged me! Surely that unlocked the next stage of the romance route! But no! There was no dramatic confession. No surprise kiss. No morning where Kazuha suddenly crawled into my bed and whispered, Good morning, darling.
Well... there was one tiny bit of progress, I guess.
Actually, calling it tiny might've been disrespectful. Because yesterday evening... Kazuha suddenly told me she was interested in me!
Yes.
Interested. In. Me.
After five years of suffering, rejection, changing into a girl, experiencing my first period, nearly freezing myself for her, bankrupting my bank account, and becoming a giant bear... My efforts were finally bearing fruit!
At least, that was how I remembered the conversation.
It happened yesterday evening while I was lying lazily on my bed, scrolling through my phone.
Kazuha was sitting at her desk like usual, quietly studying. Then, completely out of nowhere, "Kaoru."
My thumb stopped moving. I slowly lowered my phone. "Yes?"
"Did you really just make that wish the night before your birthday and wake up with Puberty Syndrome?"
I blinked. "Yeah."
Kazuha turned slightly in her chair. "There weren't any symptoms beforehand?"
"Symptoms?"
"Anything unusual. Fever, dizziness, pain, changes in appetite..."
I thought back to the day before my birthday. I'd gone to campus early. Attended the final orientation. Then... I'd confessed to Kazuha and gotten rejected.
I slowly glanced toward the culprit of my broken heart sitting three meters away. "Emotional damage?"
She frowned. "I'm serious."
"So am I."
"Nothing physical?"
"I don't think so."
She became strangely thoughtful. "Did anything happen while you were sleeping?"
"I didn't think so..." I stared at her. Why did this suddenly feel like a hospital interview?
"Did everything change at once?" she continued.
"Pretty much."
"Voice?"
"Yep."
"Your body structure?"
"Obviously."
She hesitated. "And your chest?"
My eyes widened.
Oh? Oh?! I slowly sat upright. "Kazuha."
"What?"
I dramatically covered my chest with both hands.
"Are you finally interested in my boobs?"
"No."
Instantly. Not even one second of consideration. My shoulders slumped.
She ignored my suffering. "Did they develop immediately?"
"Yeah."
"Did it hurt?"
"No."
"So you went to sleep completely male and woke up with a fully developed female body."
"Basically."
Kazuha remained thoughtful for a moment, her eyes lowered slightly as if she were processing everything I'd told her.
I watched her from my bed.
This was strange. Kazuha had known about my Puberty Syndrome for a while now, but she'd never questioned me this seriously before. Tonight, she'd suddenly asked about what happened before my transformation, whether there had been any symptoms, and how quickly my body had changed.
I scratched my cheek. "Um... Kazuha?"
"Hm?"
"Why did you suddenly ask me all of this?"
She went quiet for a moment before her expression softened slightly. "Sorry."
I blinked. "Huh?"
"I didn't really think about it." She glanced away. "Those questions might've been too personal. I might have crossed a line with your privacy."
Oh. So that's what she was worried about. I quickly waved my hand dismissively. "Nah, it doesn't really matter to me."
Kazuha looked back at me.
"I mean..." I scratched my cheek, suddenly feeling a little awkward. "Why are you asking so many questions? You look... interested somehow." I hesitated on that last word. Saying it out loud somehow made it sound different than I'd intended.
Kazuha went quiet for a moment, as though considering her answer. Then she looked at me and replied in her usual calm voice. "I was interested."
I blinked. "Interested?"
She nodded. "Yeah."
My brain stopped right there. Kazuha... was interested.
I slowly pointed at myself. "In... me?"
Kazuha gave another small nod. "Yeah."
And that was it. Whatever explanation might have come afterward never reached my brain. My heart slammed against my ribs.
KAZUHA WAS INTERESTED IN ME!
Wait. WAIT! Wasn't interest the first stage of love? Interest became attraction. Attraction became affection. Affection became love. Love became dating. Dating became marriage!
My hands started trembling. Oh my God.
I immediately grabbed my pillow and shoved it against my face before Kazuha could see the enormous grin spreading across it.
Calm down, Kaoru. Don't scream. You're eighteen years old. You're an adult. You can handle one girl showing the tiniest amount of interest in you.
I silently kicked my feet against the mattress. SHE'S INTERESTED IN MEEEEEE!
I slowly lowered the pillow just enough to peek toward Kazuha. She was already reading again, completely unaware that we'd just advanced approximately seventeen stages in our relationship inside my head.
A stupid grin returned to my face.