3

I spent time talking with Noire in her room until late into the night, while enjoying tea with biscuits around a low table on the floor. Somehow, my laborious visit to the basilicom turned into a midnight pajama party with a dear friend. I honestly didn't mind helping out, but anyone would prefer this kind of a development, right? I don't even remember of the details of what we talked about anymore. The topics themselves weren't important. They were simply everyday things like my school, what's going on in Lastation and the other nations, the other CPUs, the CPU Candidates and the rest of our friends.

Before the contents, I treasured the moment.

The fact that I was here, speaking with Noire.

Looking at Noire, listening to her words.

I was grateful simply for being alive to experience all this.

"...And after all that, Neptune tells me, 'I'll leave the rest to youuu~!', and runs away, dragging Nepgear with her. If Uni hadn't showed up, I don't know what would've happened next. I can't believe that idiot! Every single time I get the worst of it! It's not right, is it? Would any kind of friendship endlessly forgive this kind of treatment? I don't think it's very fair, if I'm allowed to complain a bit. Don't you think so too?"

"Ahaha...I wonder..."

Whether allowed to or not, complaining you've sure been.

It does sting a little, to hear the person you care so much about endlessly bring up stories about other girls, but I was somehow able to ignore that part in favor of the situation itself.

"Ah, I'm sorry," Noire suddenly regained her self-consciousness and apologized. "I've been going on about my troubles for a good while now. It must be so boring to listen..."

"No, not at all," I insisted. "Your everyday life is full of so many fun adventures, I'm kind of envious, to be honest."

"Were you even listening...?" Noire sourly mumbles. "I don't think that qualifies as 'fun' by any stretch of the word. Well...if I were to be perfectly honest, then I suppose it wasn't all completely bad either...Maybe?"

The fabled dere-dere is here.

"W-well, anyway, shall we go to sleep now?" she hurriedly changed the topic and proposed an ending to our tea party. "You must be real tired. It's been a long day, after all."

I couldn't deny that. But as tired as I was, instead of sleeping, my mind was somewhere else.

"Um, Noire..." I timidly called her, as she was about to get up. In a hurry to keep her attention, my tongue struggled to express what was but a vague but persisting desire lurking in the back of my mind.

"What is it?" Blinking her eyes, Noire looked back at me and waited.

Oh no. When she looks at me so innocently like that, it gets even harder to speak my mind. Still, since I already got started, there was no backing out now.

"Noire...If you don't mind...Could I...could I, for just a bit, stay close to you...?"

"Huh?" her eyes widened in surprise.

Really, is it something to be surprised by? We're in Noire's room, just the two of us, late at night, how can I help it? If you're going to look at me with such bewildered eyes, it will make me feel like a complete pervert. Indeed, I burned up with embarrassment. But I couldn't help it.

I can't stop feeling the way I do.

It's not a secret, nor am I ashamed to admit it.

I love Noire.

Not just as a friend.

I love her every bit as much as a person can love another. Naturally, that also included the desire to be by her side, to be as close to her as was physically possible, to savor her presence to the fullest. She might not share my passion, but I will work diligently and do my best every day, to ultimately win her over.

Still, if I'm the one doing all the work for no reward, I can't keep up with it forever, can I?

That'd impossible for anyone.

So, won't you grant me a little favor?

Won't you let me rely on you, for just a bit?

Give me a little bit of courage and hope—I'm not asking too much, am I?

"That's..." Noire went stiff, flustered.

That cute reaction only served to boost the compelling emotion in my chest. I would surely die unless she saved me now. Like a rabbit, I would die of loneliness.

"...Alright, alright," she sighed and gave in with a soft smile, like a mother who knows she's spoiling her child rotten. Leaning her back on the bed behind her, she reached her hand to me in an inviting gesture. "If I were to say no to those eyes, I doubt my own heart could take it. For just a little while, okay?"

"Yes…!"

Without giving her the time to change her mind, I crawled over to Noire and snuggled up close, resting my head by her pale neck. Her slender body firmly against mine, letting her support me, I closed my eyes, becoming filled with a bliss so overwhelming, I feared it would break my mind.

Ah, it's warm.

What was warmed wasn't so much my body, as it was my heart.

The heart that was once forced to harden, all weakness of it expunged, as it became folded all over and over like a sword. The one who had restored it was this girl. The one who kept it beating was her and no other. If only I could take shelter in her warm radiance forever...

"I'm glad..."

Amid my happiness, I heard a voice quietly speak close to my ear.

"Huh...?"

"Having someone treasure me so much makes me really happy," Noire said with unusual warmth in her tone, gently stroking my hair. "To be honest with you, I may have been just a little lonely these past few weeks...without you around..."

"Thank you," I mumbled. "Thank you for saying that. Whether you let me or not, I'll try my hardest, so that you will never be lonely again."

"Ah...I'd be happy if you did. K-Sha," her whisper answered me, just as I was about to pass to sleep.

Lulled by the waves of the sea of happiness washing over me, wondering whether I really heard it, or whether it was just my own wishes materialized in a waking dream, my consciousness little by little slowed down to a still.