Love, Eroge, Music & Other Craziness

by Geek Girl Naruru

Namikaze Naruto is a normal fifteen-year-old high school student. He has a distant relationship with his sister Naruko, who always treats him rudely. One Day in Spring, he encounters a foreign girl playing a piano on one of his travels to a junkyard and helps her in many ways as he discover that her name is Weiss Schnee.

48. Rias's Special Story -Part 1-

Special Chapter: My Cute Older Girlfriend Can't be This Cute!

-Part 1-

- This is an alternate story I made for NarutoxRias pairing. The story set in different timeline where Naruto never met Weiss and Rias is twelve year older than Naruto. I hope you guys like this story :)

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In my opinion, there're way too many princesses who fall in love at first sight. Cinderella, Snow White, the Little Mermaid, Thumbelina, Sleeping Beauty, even Juliet: the majority of famous princesses fall in love right away.

They suddenly fall in love, become completely infatuated, and get all excited thinking "Kyaa~ This must be destiny!" Then, without so much as a single date, they accept the prince's marriage proposal. Seriously, do they only care about looks? Or is it the position of "prince"? Is the lesson here that an attractive person with money and power is the best?

It's not just the princesses either. Princes are just as bad. Just from looking at the princess's face, they fall head over heels like "What a beautiful girl, I shall make her my wife!" and propose without any kind of courtship. Among the offenders is some guy who fell in love after looking at a girl's face while she was asleep. Good grief, is it all just about the girl's face too? Is the lesson here that all a girl amounts to are her face and her youth?

In any case, these are basically just speed marriages. They walk down the aisle at super speed and everything is wrapped up with an "and they lived happily ever after." Even a tragic fate like Romeo and Juliet's only took about two weeks.

Nowadays you'll see stories in the harem romantic comedy genre catch flak because it's inconceivable that any of the heroines could fall for the main character, but personally I think that criticism should be levied more at classical literature. I just don't get it. I don't get why the princess and prince fall for each other. "Love at first sight" is a crappy excuse to just conveniently wrap everything up.

…Or, well, all that's how I felt before, anyway. Now, ever since I met her, my whole way of thinking has taken a 180. My world was turned upside down. Love at first sight does exist. I now empathize with the princesses and princes of the world. Come to think of it, an English mystery writer once said that "The only true love is love at first sight," and now I think that guy might just have a point. Because on that day, at that moment, I fell in love at first sight.

Actually… maybe I just want to make the whole thing into love at first sight. Now that I've actually fallen in love, maybe I want my love to be love at first sight. I want to think that because I've fallen in love, maybe the first time we met truly was something special. I want to feel like maybe it was destiny. Maybe I want everything about our story to be sacred. I can't deny the possibility that my brain is tweaking the narrative to make it so.

Come to think of it, maybe these mental gymnastics themselves are what "love at first sight" really means.

You might say it's a form of self-hypnosis that comes from having love on the brain. It's not that you fall in love when you first look at someone: after you've come to like and eventually fall in love with someone, your brain conveniently restructures your memories so that, when you look back, you'll be able to say, "I knew from the moment we met that we were destined to be together." It's entirely possible that "love at first sight" is nothing more than these distortions and rewrites to your memories. Or something like that.

Anyway, I think I've monologued long enough to hide my embarrassment now. It's about time we get to the point. It all starts with how we met. When I look back, now that everything has been laid bare, I can't help wanting to laugh at how funny, strange, and just like a fairy tale the whole thing was.

(◕ω◕✿)

It was an early Monday morning. I let out a small sigh inside the crowded train I take to school. The time of day was smack dab in the middle of rush hour for workers and students. By the time the train reaches my station, the cars get so crowded that you're not able to sit down or even grab onto a ceiling handle. Now, for those living in the metropolitan area, not being able to even get a handle might not seem like a big deal, but for someone from a northern provincial city like myself, a train is something that you sit down in.

Normally, I board two trains earlier than this one, sit in a seat and enjoy a nice, relaxing morning commute. On Mondays I buy a copy of Shounen Jump magazine from the convenience store in front of the station, read it on the train, and, after arriving early to my classroom, I leisurely reread the comments section and previews for next week; it is my Ultimate Routine. However, thanks to the terribly simple reason of me oversleeping, this tradition was tragically smashed to pieces.

I knew I shouldn't have stayed up reading manga and should have just gone straight to bed. Why is it that so many manga apps lately update at around midnight? Though I know in my head that it would be best to read them when I wake up in the morning, I just can't help myself and end up staying up all night. Staying up all night reading manga apps, oversleeping, and getting depressed because I missed my chance to read Shounen Jump: this is daily life in May for me, high school first-year Naruto Namikaze.

In the midst of having my stamina and liveliness erased by my lack of Jump and the crowded surroundings, the train came to a stop at the next station. The doors opened and even more passengers huddled into the train, forcing me farther into the back. I somehow managed to secure my own space near the door on the train's opposite side.

In that moment, I saw her. In that moment, I was entranced by that lone high school girl.

"…"

My heart was suddenly overwhelmed by how cute and pretty she was as I watched her gaze out the train window dressed in her black blazer. Her skin was pure white, and her features were beautifully proportioned. Her face had a lingering youthfulness to it, while her long eyelashes and lightly painted lips emphasized how womanly she was. Her long, glossy red hair gave off an air of tidiness, but it was still styled on the ends like you'd expect from a typical high school girl. Awash in that stifling heat peculiar to crowded trains, she appeared to me like a mirage, glowing with a faint, cool light.

I snapped back to my senses and, slightly flustered, I cast my gaze outside the train.

Oh no, I'm totally staring at her too much…

But she was so pretty I couldn't help staring. She was so cute. And… so BIG. There they sat, underneath her blazer, pushing up her thinly knit sweater: two rolling hills with the ability to drive a man insane with one look. So abundant… hanging so heavy… the kind of terrifyingly beautiful breasts whose very existence feels like a crime, breasts that make you want to sue someone. And then there were her legs, covered by her black stockings underneath her pleated skirt, perfectly sized, neither too thin nor too fat— wait, hold up! Damn it, why was I focusing so much on her sexy parts? It's way too early for me to be this horny.

In any case… something was strange. Her blazer was from Kuoh Academy Girls' High School. Around here, that's a pretty famous school for rich girls. However, this train was heading in the opposite direction of Kuoh Academy. In fact, she was the only person on the train wearing that school's uniform. If she got on by accident, she should be getting off somewhere soon… Maybe she forgot something? Feeling like something was off, I looked at her again. Yeah, something definitely felt off. It's not that I was staring at her again because I was horny. And I definitely was not thinking I wanted to get lucky and see her heavy melons bouncing in rhythm with the train.

Without moving my head, I took a look at her with my peripheral vision, and it was then that I realized that her face was completely pale. Also, I could tell it wasn't because she was sick. The reality was that her well-proportioned face was stiff from fear. Her tightened lip shivered slightly, and her hand was clutching her pleat skirt so hard it made an unsightly wrinkle.

It wasn't long before I saw the reason for this. It was a train molester.

I was witnessing the sight of a train molestation happening in real time. The high school girl's rear was being groped by a hand that had blended into the crowd, the hand of the man who was standing behind her. He was wearing glasses and looked like a white-collar businessman. From a glance, he had an earnest appearance and didn't look like the kind of person who would do this kind of thing. That said, his hand moved freely, and his face was completely calm. His other hand was handling his smartphone so as to distract from the former. He looked like he was totally used to doing this.

Are you serious? This fucking bastard, just what is he trying to pull this early in the morning? Wait, haven't I heard before that train molestations happen surprisingly often in the morning?

In the face of the defenseless girl being encroached upon by this asshole despicable hand, I felt something like righteous indignation well up from the pit of my stomach.

"Hey, you!" I said as I forced my way through the crowd and grabbed the hand of the pervert bastard.

"H-huh, what?!" he said, his voice almost a shriek. I squeezed his arm and roughly raised it into the air. "Wh-What's wrong with you?! What are you doing all of a sudden…?"

"Don't play dumb, asshole! This entire time you've been—"

It was at that moment that the girl's face caught my eye. With her face twisted in fear and shock, she still seemed on the verge of crying.

Aw man, I did it now. I shouldn't have acted so carelessly. Because I made such a scene, I was getting curious looks from all sides.

"What's happening?"

"He said it was a train molester."

"Train molester?! For real?!"

"That's hilarious."

"Who is it? Who did it?"

"It might be a misunderstanding, though? Lately it seems like false accusations of train molestation are on the rise."

"I can't stand women who think that every time someone touches them on a train they're being molested."

The inside of the train car was overflowing with curious looks and voices. There were even some people taking out their smartphones and pointing them in our direction.

At this rate, by catching the train molester I'll have gotten her caught up in and shamed by all of this. Crap. What should I do? What should I do?! After feverishly thinking it over, I had an idea. Damn it, I'm definitely gonna regret this later.

"This entire time you've been touching my ass, aren't you!" I yelled.

Both the perpetrator and the actual victim looked at me in shock. An awkward atmosphere permeated the surroundings, and before long the sound of laughter slipping out could be heard.

"W-What, you're joking. A guy got molested?"

"Isn't that called reverse molesting?"

"Nah, it's not called that when a dude touches another dude."

"That's hilarious."

"Well, love has no boundaries."

An intense feeling of embarrassment was welling up in me. However, now wasn't the time to back down! I'm pushing on!

"Seriously dude… Don't be getting all horny this early in the damn morning. Even if my ass is so cute that it just makes you wanna grab it!"

"W-What are you going on about? I don't like gu—ow!"

I grabbed his arm forcefully to prevent any kind of counterargument.

I'm begging you, bastard. You'd rather be mistaken for a touchy old man than a full-blown train molester, right?! I don't want to make things worse! I'll let you off the hook, so just read the damn room!

Thanks to my frantic eye contact, or perhaps the scary look on my face, the old man went completely silent.

"Good. Don't ever try that crap again!" I said firmly, returning to where I was originally standing and glaring out the window. I didn't have the courage to look behind me. The train car was abuzz with everyone talking about me.

When the train stopped at the next station, the guy practically ran away as he got off the train. Unfortunately, it wasn't my stop yet. I really, really wanted to get off, but if I did I'd be late for school, so for the sake of my perfect attendance I stayed on. Because the perpetrator had left, everyone's attention was focused on me. One after the other, they played the telephone game until suddenly the original message became "Him, over there. That's the punk looking boy who, like, molested someone it seems like." The masses sure can be scary…

In the end, for the ten minutes it took me to reach my station, I became the talk of the town inside the train car. It really sucked having so many people whisper about me, but no one seemed to realize it was actually the girl who had been the molester's target. Thank goodness for that, at least.

When I reached the last stop, I practically ran away from the train as I got off, and half-ran through the ticket gate.

Aw man… What happens if this whole thing becomes a rumor and spreads around? I'm pretty sure there were a bunch of guys from my school on that train. What if some idiot without any common sense uploaded a picture to the net or something like that?! Ugh, my high school life is over…

Just as it seemed I was about to be crushed by despair, as I finally brought myself back to a walking pace I heard, "Wa-Wait~~! Please wait!~~" I stopped walking, turned around, and saw that it was the redhead girl from the train running towards me.

"T-Thank goodness. I made it."

She had her hands on her knees and was trying to catch her breath. Because she was doubled over, her large breasts—which I totally wasn't paying attention to—were emphasized even more than before. Whoa. Getting a good look again from the front, I could see they truly were huge… and she really was cute. Her hair was smooth, and her facial features were pronounced. Her makeup was subtle: it complemented her natural beauty without seeming too thick anywhere. Her school uniform on the whole seemed a size too small, but it accentuated her curvy figure. Just calling her a pretty girl didn't do her justice, as she seemed to be more than just some pretty girl you'd see at school. Maybe you'd call it charm; maybe you'd call

it sex appeal; whatever it was exactly, she gave off a mature air that high school girls around here just didn't have.

"U-Um… Thank you so much for earlier!" she said before catching her breath and bowing deeply.

"I was so scared, and I didn't know what to do… but thanks to you, I was saved. Thank you… and I'm so sorry for causing you trouble…"

"Ah, well, it's no big deal," I said hesitantly. Being thanked and apologized to so politely made me feel ashamed too.

"I didn't really do anything special. I mean… I'm sorry too. I feel like it would have been best to turn that guy over to the conductor or one of the station attendants."

Really, that probably would have been the best thing to do. To make sure that the punishment fit the crime, that the molester was given a proper sentence by his peers, his crimes should have been brought to trial and judged by the law. However, my selfish decision spared him such a punishment.

"No! Please don't apologize!" With a strong voice, she firmly denied my apology.

"To keep me from being shamed, you put yourself in harm's way, right?"

"…Yeah."

"I'm sorry. Because of me, you had to go through all of that."

"D-Don't worry about it. It's something I did on my own."

"…Thank you. I'm really glad that you saved me."

She smiled cheerfully, her eyes squinting with tears. I felt too embarrassed, so I turned to face away.

"Oh no. It's already so late," she said while looking at the clock on the side of the station building, seeming panicked. The clock read that it was already past 8 a.m., and both of us needed to get on our way to our respective schools.

After we part ways here, we'll probably never meet again…

I found myself overcome with an unavoidable feeling of loss. I wanted to talk to her more. I wanted to see her again.

What should I do…?

Is this an appropriate situation to ask for her contact info? It couldn't be, right? It would be awkward for her. With this timing, it'd be like I was coercing her into doing it. I might as well be saying "I saved you from that molester, so the least you can do is tell me your phone number." Even if she didn't want to, she seems like the kind of person who would tell me out of sheer gratitude, which makes it that much harder to ask. Even still…

Just as I was really overthinking it, unable to move even a step forward… "E-Excuse me," she said, cracking into a falsetto from how nervous she was. When I looked at her, I could see that her white cheeks had turned red. "I-If it's alright with you… c-can you give me your contact info?"

She murmured that last part, and I was blinking from how stunned I was. "Umm… well, I want to thank you properly for today sometime, b-but if it's any trouble, please don't worry—"

"I-It's no trouble at all! I'll gladly give it to you!"

We both took out our phones and exchanged our Line usernames.

"Naruto Namikaze-kun… is that right?" she said while looking at her phone screen.

"Yes," I said, nodding my head in confirmation while looking at my own screen. It seemed like she and I were both the type to use our real names when using Line, so I finally got to know her name.

"Rias, Gremory-san?"

"Yes," she nodded shyly. "Ehehe… it's kind of odd name for a Japanese, right?"

"No," I said, without really knowing why. "I think it's perfect name for beautiful girl like you. "

Rias-san's face became red in an instant. I probably looked the same way. I was so embarrassed that I felt like I was gonna lose it.

"C-C-Come on… don't say that, it's embarrassing… U-Um… but… Th-Thank you Naruto-kun."

Spilling out those words, Rias-san seemed both happy and embarrassed as she smiled. Her smile was so bright, I felt a pain like my chest was being bound up. At the time, I still didn't understand what that pain meant.

(◕ω◕✿)

"…So, you found a girl you like? Drop dead, bastard."

My friend Asto's response was as harsh as I'd expected. It was lunchtime, and just like always, I was eating lunch with Sai in an empty classroom. Aside from us, no one was there. It was about a month after entering high school, and our classroom during lunch was devolving into a space for the more outgoing and social students. Unable to adapt to that kind of environment, I chose to come to this empty classroom at the end of the school building and have lunch with a friend who was easy to get along with.

"I didn't say anything about liking her. Just… I'm kinda interested in her. All I'm saying is that there is a possibility that maybe I like her—"

"A guy scary and tall like you talking like a girl is creepy. And you're a traitor."

"Traitor? What are you talking about, what exactly have I betrayed?"

"I thought that at least you would never betray me…"

From behind Sai's bangs I could see his eyes boiling with hate, cursing me.

"I thought we would proudly walk the path of the introvert together, unfazed by the deceit-filled illusions of things like 'youth' and 'romance.'"

"The hell is the path of the introvert?"

"Remember, Naruto! Back in junior high school, during crappy events like Christmas and Valentine's Day, we used to curse the world together, right? The idiots dancing to the tune of corporations and their marketing of the holidays were the targets of our laughter as we drank delicious champagne!"

"Sai, stop digging up such cringey memories. I've moved on from that since junior high school. Now that I'm in high school, I actually want to get a girlfriend.

"…Also, we never drank champagne, that was just some kid-friendly stuff. I've had enough cursing the world while drinking fake booze on Christmas, thank you very much."

"Bah. In the end you're just a foolish commoner drowning in the foolish idea of romance. Get away from me, you idiot. Go get an STD and die."

Asto turned his face away as he pouted and put the straw from his vegetable juice into his mouth. I sighed. Astolfo Icecolle, one of my best friends, his stature was short, and his build dainty. He had a very feminine features and if you didn't take a good look at him closely, you could easily mistakenly him as girl. We've been inseparable since he transferred from France to my elementary school eight years ago. Along with another friend of ours, we hung out a lot as a trio.

When Astolfo Icecolle, aka Asto, was little, he was the type of bright and cheerful kid who would normally become the leader of his class. However, after a junior high school career that was a hell resembling heaven, he descended into being one of the most antisocial antisocials.

"In the first place, what's with the whole 'you saved her when she was getting molested on the train' thing? Is this a manga or something?"

"I'm sorry, okay? That's just what happened."

"Anyway, that Kuoh Academy girl was wearing an already proportionately short skirt and showing herself off, right? She's a slut I tell you, a slut. A confirmed easy lay. With an outfit like that, it was only natural that a train molester—"

"HEY."

My voice was so low I even surprised myself. Hearing Rias-san being insulted like that made me lose my temper to some extent. I was probably glaring at him too.

Asto let out a shriek as he almost fell from his chair.

"Wh-What's going on… v-violence?! Are you resorting to v-violence?! Putting your hands on me means that you admit that you can't beat me with your words! I win! Argument refuted!"

"Relax, I'm not gonna do anything."

Basically, this guy is pretty timid. Around people he's close to he talks a lot of trash and acts arrogant, but in reality he's shy and kind of a wimp. In his class, he's always loitering by himself with nothing to do. However, when I go to the neighboring class to visit him he's like, "Wh-What are you doing here, you bastard?" and runs up to me with a big smile. I mean, he's pretty cute guy.

"…Anyway, what are you gonna do, Naruto?" Asto asked, having regained his composure and returning to his seat.

"Are you going to date that girl?"

"No, you're getting ahead of yourself. We've only just exchanged contact info."

"So, what are you going to do?"

"Dude… that's what I'm asking you for advice about."

Thanks to good fortune, I was able to get her contact info. However… with no experience in romance, I had no idea what I should do next. Should I contact her as soon as possible? Should I wait for her to contact me?

"I see. In that case, let me give you a piece of advice—you're asking the wrong guy."

"I know that."

Just like me… no, even more so than me, his social life is dead. There's no way he knows anything about the strategies or subtleties of romance. After all, all of his romantic experiences are two-dimensional girl.

"For that type of advice, go ask Sasuke."

"Yeah, I thought the same, but… if I asked him for help, he'd probably give me advice that's too high-level, you know?"

"You're right. He'd probably say something like 'What? How about just contacting her?'"

"So, before that, I figured I'd get you to listen to me since you're low- level."

"Oh, I get it… Wait, who are you calling low-level?!" said Asto lightly, playing the straight man before his face became pensive.

"Well, I don't really get it, but wouldn't it be best to wait? You did save her, and she did say that she wants to thank you, right? In that case, she'll definitely get in touch with you when the time is right for her."

"That's true, but isn't it more manly to get in touch with her first? I was thinking that maybe it'd be a good idea to at least send a greeting first."

"Okay, why don't you?"

"B-But… becoming too greedy is no good either. I definitely don't want to use the fact that I saved her from a train molester to try something like taking the lead."

"…God, you're tiresome. So this is the creature known as a virgin," he said like he despised me.

Dude, you're a virgin too… On the Christmas of our second or third year of junior high school, I remember we got all excited forming that dumb "Virgins for Life Alliance."

"Naruto, you're getting way too worked up from just exchanging names on Line. As we speak, that woman is probably already over it. She's probably thinking to herself, 'Geez, I said I was gonna thank that guy just to be nice, but it's such a hassle. I'm just gonna ignore him.'"

At that very moment, my smartphone, which I had placed on the desk, vibrated to let me know I got a message on Line. I quickly snatched my phone off the table. It displayed the sender of the message as… Rias Gremory. "Good afternoon. I'm sorry to disturb you during lunchtime," the message began, in a manner surprisingly stiff for a high schooler. She politely repeated her gratitude from that morning then got to the point of the message. "I'd like to thank you for this morning, so, if it isn't any trouble, may I meet you tomorrow after school?"While reading that sentence, I probably had the goofiest look on my face. And Asto, with a sour look on his face, clicked his tongue and said "Drop dead, bastard."

(◕ω◕✿)

We agreed to meet up at the plaza in front of the station building the next day. Not wanting to be late, I showed up thirty minutes early. I watched the passersby coming and going along the dusk-soaked street as I awaited her arrival.

It was pathetic how nervous I was. I compulsively checked my phone, time and time again. I even used the glass door in the station building entrance as a mirror to fix myself up and straighten my hair which, dammit, I just couldn't seem to get right. I knew I should have gone to a hair salon.

After twenty-five minutes—five minutes before our actual meeting time— Rias-san showed up, and just like yesterday, she was wearing her Kuoh Academy school blazer. She jogged over as soon as she saw me.

"Sorry, Naruto-kun. Did I keep you waiting?"

"N-No, I got here just now."

I went with the standard line for this situation. Truth is, I was waiting a long time. I arrived thirty minutes early, and before then I went to the bookstore and video game store to kill time. When you're a member 'Go Home Club' like me meeting up at 5:30 p.m. is an awkward limbo: it's too soon to stop at home first, but it's still a long time to wait after classes. Naturally, I ended up just loitering around the station in the meantime.

"Sorry for calling you here at such a weird time. Today I had a… student council meeting and some stuff to do."

"That's okay. Please don't worry about it."

"Okay."

The conversation died right there, and I cursed my lack of communication skills. I couldn't think of a single smart thing to say. After a short silence where we both searched for a topic of conversation, Rias-san laughed awkwardly.

"Hehe… I'm kind of nervous."

"Me too."

"We just met yesterday."

"Yeah."

"For realz!"

"…What?"

I found myself staring in surprise at Rias-san, who was giving me a great big thumbs up.

"Huh? Did I do it wrong? Don't high school girls say 'for realz' these days? You attach 'for realz' to something and that establishes communication… right? Or was it 'for realsies'?"

Rias-san's face turned bright red as she became bewildered. It was like the punchline to her number one joke didn't land and she was being overwhelmed by shame.

"'For realz'? Well, there're certainly people who say that, but not anyone I know…"

I don't have a lot of cheerful friends, so I don't really use it. Honestly, I didn't know what it meant. Seriously, what does 'for realz' mean?

"Hey, just forget I said that. That didn't count! None of it counted!" yelled Rias-san with a bright red face. She then moved the conversation away from her slip up by letting out a cough.

"Okay, let's go somewhere else," she announced.

Rias-san led me on a walk a few minutes away from the station until we arrived at a playground by an underpass with no signs of life. It was a lonely looking playground with just a bench and a sandbox. I heard that my high school tennis club comes here to use the wall for practice, but no one was around this late in the day, when the sun was well on its way down. Rias-san tucked in her skirt and sat down on the bench, illuminated by the faint light of the street. After thinking hard about how close I should sit to her, I decided to leave enough space for one more person to fit between us and sat down.

"Once again, thank you so much for what you did yesterday." She adjusted her seating posture and continued:

"So, to thank you…"

Rias-san took out a cutely designed lunch box from the tote bag she was carrying.

"I… I made you a box lunch."

"A box lunch?"

"Are you maybe not hungry? If you can't eat, I'll eat it myself, so please don't force yourself…"

"No, I'm really, really happy! I was actually just thinking about how hungry I am!"

Receiving a girl's homemade box lunch, now this was a first. There isn't a man alive who wouldn't be happy about this. To think I'd get to experience something this wonderful in my lifetime… what a time to be alive…

"Ahh… I'm glad you like it."

Rias-san placed a hand on her chest and seemed relieved as she let out a sigh.

"I thought a lot about how I could show my gratitude. Even if I gave you something, I don't know what boys like. Besides, I'm… I'm just a high school girl, so I don't have any money! I'm a high school girl, so of course I don't have any money!"

She started rambling at high speed. And she was desperately emphasizing having no money and being a high school girl.

"I'm really a high school girl, so I have absolutely no money. I was raised being told that 'If you're born in the Year of the Snake, you don't have to worry about money,' but that's totally wrong."

"Year of the Snake?"

"Yes, that's right… huh? Do people not say 'If you're born in the Year of the Snake, you don't have to worry about money'? I used to be told that a lot by my grandmother."

"No, I do know that phrase. I've been told that too."

I'm told that just about as much as "If you're born in the Year of the Boar, you should just plunge forward without hesitation." When you actually stop to think about it, there's a lot about that saying that you could pick at, but I digress.

"You've also been told that. So, does that mean…"

"Yeah, I was also born in the Year of the Snake."

"O-Oh, is that so?"

"It's quite a coincidence. I guess that means that we're the same age."

"Huh…"

"If we were both born in the Year of the Snake, that means you and I are both in our first year of high school, right?"

"Th-That's right… that's correct. I have a feeling that's right. I'm a first- year high school student. A high school girl, in her first year of high school…"

Her unnatural way of saying it made her sound like she had just memorized a new backstory for herself. Well, even when you have two Snakes, if one was born early enough in the year, there's a possibility that one would be a grade above the other, but it looked like I was right about us being in the same year.

"We're in the same year, huh. I kind of thought that you were my senior. You have a very mature mood about you—"

"No I don't?!"

She suddenly raised her voice and her face got close… so close.

"Do I look old after all?! I don't look like a high school girl?! Am I pushing it?!"

"What…? Um, no…?"

For some reason, she seemed deadly serious. I guess saying 'You look mature' to high school girls these days is a no-go. I meant it as a compliment, though…

"No, you don't look old at all! I just meant that since you're so composed and polite, I thought you seemed mature."

"Oh… well, that's fine then."

Rias-san seemed to be relieved from the bottom of her heart as she silently exhaled.

"Is there something on your mind?"

"I-It's nothing. Hey, stop worrying about the little stuff and just eat already."

Urged on by the impatience in her voice, I opened the box lunch and my eyes went wide. Packed inside of that square box were sandwiches, karaage, rolled omelettes, bacon-wrapped asparagus, and cherry tomatoes. Rich in color, it was the kind of lineup that makes your mouth water.

"Thank you for the meal."

After briefly bringing my hands together, I decided to make my first bite the karaage. I grabbed the cute pin garnishing it and shoved the lump of meat into my mouth. Delicious!

Even though it had cooled since she made it, it was still delicious. It was properly seasoned, and the batter wasn't soggy. Every time I bit into it, meat juices squirted out. Then I went for the sandwich. Yep, it was good too. The ingredients for the sandwich were ham, cheese, and lettuce, and the bread had margarine spread on it. The rolled omelette was clearly on the sweet side of the "should omelettes be sweet or savory" debate, but that's just the way I like it. Yeah, that's right, rolled omelettes are best made sweet. If you can still call it a side dish, it's probably not sweet enough, in my opinion.

"H-How is it?" Rias-san asked, having gotten worried by how I was so focused on eating my meal. Oh no. It's so good I kept eating without saying anything.

"It's very delicious."

"Really? I'm glad."

Rias-san broke into a smile.

"This is my first time eating a boxed lunch this delicious. Rias-san, you're really good at cooking."

"No, not at all, you're flattering me too much. This is really nothing special. It's 'cause I've lived alone for such a long time, so I make my own lunch every morning to save money. Even if I didn't want to, I'd naturally get good at—"

"You've lived alone for a long time…? Rias-san, you're a first-year in high school, right?"

I feel like living on your own when you enter high school is relatively common, but could it be that she's been living by herself since junior high school?

"Um, you see, um… m-my family situation is complicated!"

I see. Her family situation is complicated. In that case, there's not much else to say about that. It's likely best I don't prod any further.

With the conversation stopped for the moment, I finished the rest of the box lunch.

"Thank you for the meal. It really was good."

"You're welcome. Ehehe. It's nice having a boy eat my cooking so heartily."

After Rias-san had a good laugh, she nervously steepled her fingers. "The truth is, I was a little nervous, you know? This is the first time a man who isn't in my family has eaten my cooking…"

"Is that so? That's kind of an honor. It really was good. So good it makes me want to eat it every day—"

I caught myself and shut my mouth, but I was too late. Rias-san's cheeks turned as the same color as her hair. Aw man, why did I say something so cliché?!

"I mean, I don't mean anything too deep by that. It's just that it was that good!"

"I got it! I got it, so you don't have to say any more!"

We both waved our hands feverishly. After catching her breath, Rias- san said, "Thank you. I'd be happy to have someone like you eat my food every day, Naruto-kun," and smiled cheerfully. It seemed like something an adult would say for politeness's sake, but it made my heart beat fast.

Suddenly, her expression became dark.

"It gets kind of lonely making food for just yourself."

Her smile was fleeting. The sun had already gone down, and the moonlight that followed illuminated Rias-san and her lonely smile. In that moment, she seemed so fragile that she might fall apart at the slightest touch. And yet, contradictory though it may be, it made me want to hold her tight all the more.

On our way back to the station, we shared some light banter.

"So, Naruto-kun, your birth month is October and your parents named you after a Ramen topping?"

"Yeah, it's just my luck my parents named me with something related to their favorite food."

"Ahaha, but I think that name really suit you. It's a cute name."

"If you say so, by the way, you were born in December, right, Rias-san? I guess I'm a little older than you."

"Y-Yeah… I guess it works out like that…"

While bantering, we walked side by side. To make at least a minimal show of manliness, I held the tote bag that contained her lunch box.

Things seemed to go pretty well, but I was having a slight problem. I completely missed the opportunity to stop using honorific speech with her. When we first met, I totally thought she was my senior, and even though I know now that we're about the same age, it's hard to just stop. It'd be fine if she said "You can speak casually with me," but for some reason… it just feels right this way.

In no time at all, we reached the station.

"So, I guess we part ways here?"

"Um… shall I escort you home? It's gotten pretty dark."

A suggestion made from the goodness of my heart—is not what that was. It's true I was worried about her, but the number one reason I said it was that I wanted to be with her more. Even if it was just one minute longer—

"Thank you. But I'm okay. My house is close to here."

"Is that so…?"

"Yeah. So, I'll just be going."

"Okay… Hey."

"Yes?"

"I'll see you next time."

There had to have been a ton of better lines to use. However, for someone like me with no experience in romance, even after using all of my courage that one line was the best I could muster. Rias-san momentarily looked confused, but she smiled kindly and said:

"Yeah, I'll see you later, Naruto-kun."

From deep inside my chest welled up an indescribable joy. Even if it was just something said to be polite, even if it was a "See you later" that meant "If I have time I will," I was happy to be told something that made it sound like we would meet again.

Rias-san lightly waved goodbye and disappeared into the crowd of people. I watched her go, my face slightly red.

"…Well, guess I should go home," I said to myself as I headed towards the platform for the train to take me home. It was like I awoke from a dream. Someone as pretty as Rias-san made a boxed lunch just for me? It seemed like a dream, but it was definitely reality. I mean, I had the tote bag and lunch box to prove it.

"Wait…"

Oh no, I forgot to give it back. What should I do? Should I hurry and run after her? Wait, no, in this type of situation isn't it more polite to wash it before giving it back? But she said she makes her lunch every morning, so she was probably planning on using it tomorrow… At any rate, it'd be best to go after her and just make sure.

I spun on my heel and went back the way I came, searching for Rias-san. I'm pretty sure I saw her walking in the direction of the coin lockers… Oh, there she is. From the inside of the crowd I could see Rias-san from behind.

"Ku—"

I started to call her name, but I panicked and stopped because she was just about to go into the women's restroom. Probably not the right time to call out to someone. For the time being, I figured I'd wait for her. I was pretty close, so I decided to put some distance between me and the restroom and wait.

However, even after ten minutes Rias-san still didn't come out of the bathroom. A suit-wearing woman who seemed like an office worker, a lady and her young daughter, a girl from my school; a lot of girls went in and out, but among them there wasn't a single person wearing a uniform from Kuoh Academy Girls' School.

Another ten minutes passed and she still hadn't come out. Did I miss her? As you'd expect, there was a limit to just how long I was willing to observe the entrance to the girls' restroom and I was just about to hit it, so I sent a message to Rias-san. I thanked her for today and told her about how she forgot her lunch box. A reply soon followed, and from the message it seemed that she had already left the station.

Which means… I guess I missed seeing her exit the girls' restroom? I mean, it wasn't like I was focusing the entire time I was looking, and it wouldn't be unusual if I just didn't realize…

Still, there was something that didn't sit well with me and felt off… but all of that was blown away by the next message.

"Sorry to cause you trouble. Would it be alright if I had you return it the next time we hang out?"

It seems like—without having to work for it—I got a promise to hang out again. It was almost scary how well things were going.

(◕ω◕✿)

"It looks like you've been up to some pretty interesting things while I haven't been around. Still, I'm happy; it looks like spring has finally sprung for you, Naruto."

My friend Sasuke Uchiha's response was eloquent, as expected. We were in the usual empty classroom eating lunch. Lately, Sasuke had been eating lunch with his new girlfriend, but today it looks like he decided to come eat with me and Asto.

"Don't be a stranger. Why didn't you tell me as soon as you got a crush on her? We're close friends, aren't we, Naruto?"

So he said, being supportive with that smooth smile of his. Even if he did want to help, it didn't seem like this guy who can naturally pick up girls on the street and me with no romantic experience could fundamentally have anything to talk about. The difference in our experience was so vast, it made it seem like his advice wasn't going to actually be advice.

"As your best friend, I'll do my best to assist. After all, if Naruto has a girlfriend, then I'm happy as well. If it goes well, let's go on a double date."

"Hey Sasuke, don't drag Naruto onto that hellish path overflowing with love addicts. Naruto and I will love no one, be loved by no one, and proudly walk the path of the introvert."

"Seems like your path is the one that's hellish," Sasuke interjected as he laughed at me and Asto.

Sasuke Uchiha, a good looking guy with even facial features and a slender build. He has spiky, long raven hair, and it was so smooth it was irritating. His eyes were clear, and his looks overflowed with a sense of coolness. He was social and could get along with men and women of all ages. It's said that even though only about a month had gone by since school started, he had already exchanged contact info with seventy percent of the school's first-year students. He's a pretty boy who had gone beyond being a womanizer and was at the level of a con man. Just like Asto, he was one of my childhood friends.

When Sasuke, was a kid, he had been relatively gloomy and reserved and was always reading a book by himself in class. However, after a junior high school career that was a heaven resembling hell, he became one of the most extroverted extroverts.

"If Naruto fell in love at first sight with this Rias chick, she must be cute, right? Do you have her picture?"

"No, I don't."

"Okay, what about her Instagram?"

"She said she doesn't use any social media 'cause she doesn't understand things like that."

"That's pretty rare for a high school girl these days."

I'll give him that. Nowadays even a borderline introvert like me has an Instagram account. Though I just randomly look at other people's pictures without uploading anything of my own…

"So, did you make a promise to have another date, Naruto?"

"Not yet. For the time being… I figured I'd wait about a week to let her contact me first."

"Look, Naruto." Sasuke sighed and said, "The only ones who can get away with that passive stuff are handsome guys like me, you know?"

…Don't call yourself handsome, bastard.

"'If you just wait around, women will approach you on their own…' that type of thing is improbable unless you're a really handsome guy like me—no, even if you're handsome, that's impossible. From a woman's point of view, a guy who is only passive has no appeal. Okay, Naruto? All women are princesses. They are the type of creature who, no matter how old they are, still wish to be led by a prince."

"I-I see…"

"Princesses? Bah. This is exactly why these creatures called women are so annoying."

I was actually impressed with Sasuke's analysis, while Asto became fed up and started speaking ill of women. Sasuke continued:

"A long time ago, Naruto said 'I don't understand why the princess falls in love with the prince in these stories.' The reason, however, is that every one of those princes took action. Even if they only fell in love with the princesses' appearances, they still properly conveyed their love."

That… might be true. Conveying your love and putting your feelings into words… that's probably the most important thing. I was just desperately trying to make excuses for being passive and had no right to look down on those princes.

"What? But, in the end, the reason that they get together is that the prince is handsome and rich, right? I'm telling you, if a broke ugly guy does his best to 'take action,' he'll just be treated like a stalker."

After spouting off his sarcastic yet sound argument and ruining the mood, Asto reached for my smartphone which I had placed on the table.

"Naruto, give me your cell phone. If you're planning to approach this girl, I'll think of something to write to her."

"H-Hey, knock it off."

"In this situation, I wonder if being direct is the best approach? Perhaps saying something like 'Hello. I like you' would do the trick?"

"That's too direct!"

"'I fell in love with you at first sight. Yes, sight. Which means that I only fell in love with what's outside, and don't value anything that's within.'"

"That's just an insult!"

"'On the condition that we get to have sex, please go out with me.'"

"You're making it sound like a proposal to be bang buddies!"

"What's wrong? All kinds of men and women start dating with the expectation that they'll have sex, right? Am I wrong?"

"In this world there's this thing called etiquette!"

"Hmph. After all, you just wanna bang her, right? You're just confusing being in love with lust, right? I won't let you say that after only three days you've fallen in love with what's inside as well."

"That's… damn it, just give me back my phone."

As we argued and fought over my phone, it suddenly vibrated. I quickly snatched my smartphone from Asto and looked at the screen. It was a Line message from Rias-san. What it said was… I couldn't believe it.

"Wh-What's wrong, Naruto? …Your face is looking creepy."

"Is it from Rias-chan?"

I relayed the message to Asto and Sasuke. As always, the message started with a formal greeting, and touched upon how I was holding onto her lunchbox. She said she wanted to make some time to see me so I could return her lunchbox. Everything was fine until this point. I expected this much. However, the last sentence made me lose it.

"Since we're going to the trouble of meeting up anyway, and only if it's okay with you, would you go on a date with me next Sunday?"

W-What—wait, what? I'm so happy my mind's gone blank. By staying passive, I seem to have opportunities pop up one after the other. And things just keep getting better.

Perplexed by this blessing I didn't even pray for, my two irreplaceable friends gave me the kindest words.

"Drop dead, bastard."

"Don't get tricked into buying a vase or anything, okay?"

(◕ω◕✿)

By Sunday, I figured I had to do something about my clothes. When I entered high school I was determined to try to be more fashionable, but I still hadn't done anything during the month since school started. Who would have thought that the day my fashion sense would be tested would come so soon?

I thought I would ask Sasuke or my sister Naruko to coordinate my whole outfit for my date, but—whether by luck or misfortune—that wouldn't be required.

"Good morning, Naruto-kun!"

Today, Rias-san was the one who arrived early to our meeting spot. Returning her greeting, I walked my way over to where she was. Or really, what started as a walk naturally turned into a half jog.

Today was the promised Sunday. The time was 10 a.m. and the meeting spot was the same as last time, the plaza in front of the station. I was even wearing the same thing as before: both me and Rias-san were wearing our school uniforms.

"Um… I don't mind or anything, but why did you want us to wear our school uniforms today?"

It was Rias-san's request that we both come in our uniforms today. I had no objections, especially since it saved me the trouble of worrying about what to wear. Still though, it was regrettable that I didn't get to see Rias- san in her everyday clothes.

Rias-san gave a smile and clutched the edge of her skirt with both hands.

"No reason in particular… I just wanted to have a date while wearing school uniforms."

Date. There was no way I wouldn't feel embarrassed after picking up on that word. So this really is a date.

"Alright, shall we go, Naruto-kun?"

"Sure… where should we go?"

"I haven't really decided… let's just wander around."

"Wander around?"

"Yes, wander around." With a beaming smile, Rias-san said, "Let's have a date like students would."

First off was lunch. The two of us entered mcdonald inside the station.

"Wow, it's been such a long time since I've come to a place like this," Rias-san said with her eyes sparkling.

I often come here with my friends, but for someone like her who goes to a famous girls' high school, it seems like coming to a mcdonald like this must be a rare occasion.

Inside the mcdonald were many students our own age. There were even some people there who looked at Rias-san and whispered "That girl from Kuoh Academy is really cute," making me feel a bit of pride.

Together we ordered off the set menu, and at Rias-san's request we split the cost between us. We sat in a booth in the back and engaged in light conversation while eating our reasonably priced hamburgers.

"So, you actually play video games, Rias-san?"

"I do. A lot, actually! On my days off I probably won't step foot outside and spend the whole day playing them."

"What are you playing now?"

"I'm playing a lot of different ones, but I think the one I play most is Smash Bros."

"Oh, I play that too."

"Really?! Smash Bros is so fun, right? No matter how old you get, it's still good! I've been playing it since the 64. I'd play it so much the analog stick in the middle of the controller would get all worn out—"

"…Sixty-four? What was 'the sixty-four' again?"

"What… oh! That's right, high schoolers these days don't know about the 64. You see, I… um… had an older sister, so there was a 64 in our house… So, Naruto-kun, was your first Smash Bros game on the 'Cube?"

"C-Cube…? No, the first one I played was on the Wii."

"Y-You started from the Wii…?!"

For some reason, Rias-san looked like she just got punched in the gut as her face filled with despair.

After eating, we started talking about going to karaoke… however…

"…Let's not go after all."

"Y-Yeah."

We came all the way to the storefront of the karaoke place, but both of us were unable to take another step before we gave up. As expected, karaoke was too difficult for us. Having to sing in front of each other was already embarrassing enough as it was, and I had a feeling being together in that tiny karaoke box would be pretty awkward. Even though we ended up not going to karaoke, it got us talking about music.

"Rias-san, what kind of music do you like?"

"Um, I don't really have a particular genre that I like. I listen to anything. I listen to what I feel like at the time, so what I'm hooked on changes."

"Ah, I'm kind of like that too. A lot of times I'll listen to the themes for dramas and anime and get hooked on those songs' genres. From there I'll make my 'Best of' playlist."

"Oh. I do that too."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I'll make my own 'Best of' playlist for every situation. I've been doing it for a while, come to think of it… Back in junior high school I made a ton of MDs with playlists for stuff like, 'When I'm Sad' or 'Study Time' and so on…"

"…MD? What's that?"

"What…? You don't know MiniDiscs?! Then, what do you listen to music on…? Naruto-kun, what was your very first music player…?"

"Just an iPod."

"…Y-You started in the iPod generation?!"

For some reason, Rias-san looked like she just had her entrails cut out as her face filled with anguish.

Next we stepped into the bookstore. I had a feeling that we didn't really have much in common when it came to talking about games and music, but for some reason when it came to manga we were totally in sync.

"Naruto-kun, you read a lot of older manga, huh?"

"Well, there just happens to be a lot of opportunities to notice them. Also, I'll see on manga apps that they're being re-serialized, develop an interest and buy the digital version, then read them at manga cafés, that sort of thing."

"I see."

"Not only that, but also there's a lot of manga that are still going whose publication began before we were born… also, lately there're ones that get turned into anime."

"That's true. Lately in the anime industry a lot of past works are being remade."

"It also seems like One Piece has been going since before we were born; actually, my dad bought the manga and we've read it together since I was in elementary school."

"…Oh, your dad. B-By the way, how old is your dad?"

"Um, he's 22 years older than me, so… I think he's 37 this year?"

"37?!"

"Yeah… a-are you okay, Rias-san?"

"Y-Yes, it's n-nothing…"

For some reason, Rias-san's eyes went wide and she seemed like she was going to faint.

At around 3 p.m. we headed to the Round One close to the station. If we're talking about the standard date spot for students around here, then it would have to be Round One, after all.

Today being Sunday meant that it was totally crowded on the inside of the building. There were people with their families, groups that appeared to be students, and young couples. The interior was boisterous with people's conversations and the music playing in the background.

"Wow, it's amazing."

Rias-san's eyes lit up as she looked out from the second floor's reception desk to the play area.

"Could it be that this is your first time coming to Round One?"

"The truth is, y-yeah."

Unable to conceal her excitement, she gave a small nod.

"It's like… the me at high school isn't anything like that. I've always been interested, but I don't have any friends to come with me," she muttered with a clouded expression. She then looked at me as if she were expecting something.

"Naruto-kun, do you come here often?"

"Yeah, now and again."

"In that case…"

She then grabbed her school uniform's sleeves tightly and said, "Teach me how to have fun here today, Naruto-kun."

That gesture and those words were more than enough to shoot me through the heart like Cupid's arrow.

Even if I say that I'm going to teach her, there isn't really a proper way to have fun at an amusement park. You should just do whatever you like.

Bowling, batting cages, mini basketball, darts, ping pong, badminton, segways, the video game arcade, and so on—we enjoyed as many attractions as time permitted. Just like students would, we enjoyed a wholesome low- budget date.

"Ahh… now that was fun. It's been a while since I've cut loose and moved around so much."

Rias-san let out a long stretch as we waited for the elevator on the fifth floor.

"But now that I think about it… Naruto-kun, you're not very good at sport, are you?"

"Ugh…"

"At the batting cages you couldn't touch a single ball. What's more, you kept missing when we played badminton and ping pong. And your dribble when you play basketball made you look like a senile old man—Oh. S-Sorry! I wasn't trying to make fun of you."

Perhaps Rias-san picked up on how I was starting to get depressed, because she became flustered and added, "I mean, um, you looked c-cute!"

"…That doesn't cheer me up."

"I didn't mean to speak b-badly of you. I'm just surprised… Naruto-kun, you're so tall and muscular that I thought you must play sports."

"…I've been bad at sports pretty much for forever."

For the longest time, because I'm so tall, I've had a lot of experience with people arbitrarily expecting me to be good at sports and then getting disappointed in me. Seriously, a lot of experience. When I entered high school, I had invitations to join the basketball club and the soccer club. When they wouldn't give up, I reluctantly participated in trial practices… After that, neither ever invited me again.

"I have muscles because sometimes I help out with my grandfather's carpenter job… but anyway, you're not very good at sport either, Rias-san."

"Ah…"

"After my turn at the cages you stepped up all smug-like and said, 'Let a lady show you how it's done,' and then, just like me, you didn't hit a single ball."

"W-Wrong! I was able to touch one ball! I heard it go 'tick'!"

"That's the same thing!"

"No, it means I'm a little bit better!"

"…Pfft."

"Hahaha."

We both burst out laughing at how silly it all sounded. The elevator arrived, and we descended to the first floor. This really is fun. I wonder if you'd call moments like this "happiness"?

It seems like we have a good mood going. If I ask now, it seems like I can totally set up another date. I've let her completely take the lead up until now. Today is the day I'm going to personally take things to the next stage. Today I'm going to graduate from being passive.

We got off the elevator, and as we headed across the Arcade Corner to the exit, in my head I was desperately going over the invitation to our next date that I thought up yesterday. And just as I was about to say it—

"—?! H-Hide!"

Just as I noticed Rias-san's body flinch, she grabbed my hand.

"Wait, what?"

"The chair… a person I know from school is here! Please! Hide with me!" Rias-san grabbed my hand in a panic and pulled me over into the shadows between the photo booth machines. The space between both machines was quite narrow, so our bodies firmly pressed against each other.

"!"

"Sorry, Naruto-kun. Are you okay?"

"Y-Yes."

Truth was, I was far from okay. This was bad… for various reasons. We were both pressed facing towards one another, so Rias-san's abundant chest was totally touching me. Her two mounds were being squashed flat. They were soft, yet rich in bounciness. Even through her blazer, their destructive power was outstanding.

"…What'll I do if they see us?!"

Perhaps because she was so flustered, Rias-san was completely focused on the movements of her acquaintance and didn't notice how close we were to one another. Carelessly and without reserve, her ample breasts were being pushed up against me, and I could feel her warm breath against my neck. Oh no, this isn't good…

"Ugh… Naruto-kun, go deeper… ahn… you're so b-big…"

W-What the hell! Rias-san, don't say such lewd things!

My brain knows she means that because I'm so tall she wants me to go deeper into the shadows, but that's not how it sounds!

"Phew… Good. It looks like they headed over to the karaoke booths." Rias-san let out a sigh of relief as she looked out into the aisle. "What a relief… that was a close ca—oh no!"

After the danger had passed, Rias-san calmed down and finally realized the situation we were in. She jumped out from between the photo booth machines in a panic.

"I-I'm sorry, Naruto-kun… I mean, I didn't mean to push them against you."

It's absolutely no problem. In fact, I wish you'd push them against me more—is something that I definitely can't took all I had to avert my eyes and just tell her "…N-No problem."

I was prepared for her to yell "Kya~! Pervert!" and slap me in the face but, surprisingly, she apologized to me. I wonder, could she be an angel? Or maybe even a goddess?

"Though when you stop and think about it, there wasn't really a reason for both of us to hide. You could have just hidden inside the photo booth all by yourself, Rias-san."

"Oh yeah… I got so flustered that I didn't think of that…"

Rias-san gave me an embarrassed grin and then gazed at the photo booth machine with a kind of nostalgic look in her eyes.

"Hey, Naruto-kun. If it's alright, can you take a photo booth with me?"

"A photo booth?"

"I've… never actually taken one. Have you, Naruto-kun?"

"Only, like, a long time ago, when I was forced to take one with my big sister."

It was when I was in elementary school. I had heard that photo booth was really popular about ten years before that, especially among middle and high school girls at the time. However, thanks to smartphones becoming so commonplace, that wasn't so much the case now.

"Let's take one, as a memory of today."

Urged on by Rias-san, we passed through the photo booth's white curtain.

"Wow… H-How do we do this?"

"I'm pretty sure that you put the money in here."

"Wh-Wh-What?! What are all these different frame designs? Which one do we choose?!"

"It's probably okay if we just choose whatever, right?"

"Oh no, Naruto-kun! The timer is running out!"

"It's okay if the timer runs out. It'll just move on to the next screen… I think."

While not really knowing what to do, we stumbled our way through the photo session. The voice of the photo booth machine was overly hyper as it gave us instructions one after another, like "Next, let's give each other a big hug!", "Smoosh your faces together and get close!", and so on, all of which totally didn't fit the mood. Trying our best, we gave each other some space and stood next to one another while awkwardly doing peace signs.

"Did it take the picture?"

"Yeah, and over here we can add doodles to it."

"Doodles…? I-I don't really get it, so you do it, Naruto-kun!"

"N-No way, I don't know anything about this type of thing!" Again, while not really knowing what to do, we stumbled our way through adding doodles. Since we only added our names and the day's date, our final work was pretty orthodox.

After about a minute, our finished pictures came out from the side of the photo booth machine. We used the scissors at a nearby table to split the pictures between us.

"Oh wow, it's really photo booth! My very first photo booth!"

The way Rias-san's eyes lit up was like looking at a kid who just got a present from Santa.

"Thank you for listening to my request, Naruto-kun."

As she said that, she hugged the picture to her chest. The way she looked right now gave off a faint atmosphere of tranquility.

"I'll remember this day for the rest of my life."

"…"

For some reason, I felt a great pain in my chest. She was smiling. She looked truly happy, and she was smiling. I, on the other hand, looked like I was desperately trying to hold back tears. Doing my best to force a smile, I held them back. I felt lonely, fleeting, and frail. Despite all that, I made up my mind and with a bitter smile—

"…Eh, Naruto-kun?"

Before I realized it, I was grasping her hand that was holding onto the pictures. I felt like if I didn't, she'd go somewhere. Even though she was so close, she suddenly seemed like a faint existence that would disappear at any moment. The pictures of us unexpectedly dropped from her hand.

"I love you, Rias-san."

I didn't prepare myself. With neither thought nor reason I entrusted myself to impulse and instinct, and put my feelings to words. I was immediately assaulted by intense regret and feelings of embarrassment. My heart was beating so loudly that I couldn't believe it, and my whole body began to shake; I felt like my blood was flowing backwards.

Even I didn't understand it. However—I couldn't help feeling this impatient. If I let this moment go, it seemed like I would never be able to see her again. This person in front of me, Rias Gremory, would be lost to eternity. That feeling of loss drove my thoughts mad.

"W-Wh… ah."

Rias-san's eyes were wide and she was dumbfounded. I could feel her shaking from her thin wrist as I was grasping it. She looked like she was afraid, and I started to feel guilty. Still, I couldn't turn back. I suppressed my fear and nervousness, and mustered up words from the depths of my heart. This is going to be my very first confession of love.

"I… I love you, Rias-san. Probably ever since the very first time I saw you."

I likely didn't need the "probably." But these were my true feelings and my honest thoughts. I didn't know if it was love at first sight, but right now there was a part of me saying "I want to make it love at first sight." I wanted to honestly believe, perhaps to a fault, that everything had been destiny, and that the two of us were meant to meet and actually did. And I wanted to take that belief and convert it into courage.

"It's been less than a week since we first met… you might be thinking 'What is this guy saying?'…But, I love you. I love you so much I just can't help it. Ever since I met you… you're the only thing I've been thinking about."

I remembered what my friend Asto said.

"You just wanna bang her, right?"

"I won't let you say that after only three days you've fallen in love with what's inside as well."

Absolutely, looks are a big thing. I totally love how Rias-san looks. Whether it's her face or her body, both are totally my type. And if I said I didn't want to have sex with her, I'd be lying. If someone criticized me by saying I'm just a virgin confusing lust for love, I wouldn't have a comeback. But that's not the case. It's not just about lust.

We've only met a few times, but the time I'm with her is just so fun that I can't help myself. I don't want to lose this or let it go. I want to make these moments of happiness into something everlasting. Even if it all started from lust, in just this moment I want to be able to call this raging feeling "love."

"I don't think we know anything about each other yet. However, from here on out, I want to know more, little by little. I want to know about you, and I want you to know about me. Rias-san… I want to be together with you more."

I want to be together more. I want to know her more.

I want her to know more about me.

By knowing more, and being known more, I want to fall even deeper in love with her.

This was the first time I'd ever felt this way.

Sasuke said that there's nothing appealing about a guy who is only passive, and that all princes take action. In that case, I have to take the initiative.

If even a nice, handsome prince has to actively make a move when he wants to get the princess, then there's no way that anything will change for a virgin like me if I stay passive. If I don't muster up my courage and put these feelings into words, the world won't change.

"I love you, Rias-san. Please go out with me."

I said it. I was so nervous and excited my head felt like it was going to reach its boiling point, but somehow I put my feelings into words. It seemed like my heartbeat wouldn't calm down.

The time it took her to respond felt freakishly long. Unable to stand the silence that seemed to last forever, I raised my face full of fear, and the first thing that caught my eye was—

"…"

Tears. Rias-san was crying. With an expression like her soul had left her body, she silently shed her tears. I reflexively let go of her hand that I had been holding on to the entire time.

"R-Rias-san…?"

She hid her face with both hands as she began to sob. However, her hands weren't enough to stop the overflowing tears, and they began to streak down her cheeks.

"…S… orry." In between sobs she spoke to me, and I listened bewildered. "I'm sorry."

I felt like everything stopped. Time, my breath, my heart, the world, everything.

Still, in spite of all this, my mind and my thoughts were strangely calm.

"I'm sorry," that's probably the standard way to refuse someone's confession. Even if you think you didn't do anything wrong, and even if you have no emotional attachment to the person who expressed affection towards you, saying "I'm sorry" for politeness's sake is a kind of etiquette in this country.

However—

"I'm sorry… I'm so, sorry… S-Sorry."

It seemed like Rias-san was repeating "I'm sorry" over and over again like some kind of chant. Repeatedly being apologized to while she cried like a flood didn't seem like politeness for politeness's sake. She was honestly apologizing from the bottom of her heart.

After saying "I'm sorry" over and over again, and without wiping away her tears, she left like she was running away. And all I could do was just stand there. The pictures she had dropped to her feet was still there. In the picture we looked so innocently happy, and even though it had just happened a few minutes ago, it felt like it had happened in a different world.

I don't understand. I don't understand at only thing that I could say was that, for the first time in my life, I confessed my love. And for the first time in my life, my heart was broken.

(◕ω◕✿)

The next day was Monday, but I forgot to buy a copy of Jump and didn't realize until after school. How many years has it been since I forgot to buy Jump on the day it came out?

"Hahaha, that's a shame, Naruto."

In spite of the kind words coming from his mouth, Asto couldn't help but laugh as he over-familiarly slapped my shoulders while I was draped over a desk like an amoeba. We were hanging out in an empty classroom along with Sasuke, discussing what happened during the date.

"Looks like Naruto has the blood of an elite introvert running through his veins, just like me. Even if you get obsessed with romance, your proud introvert blood just won't let you get away with having one."

I'd normally play the straight man and interject something like "What the hell is an elite introvert?" but today I didn't feel like saying anything. I'd been like this since I got home the day before. It felt like a hole had been popped out of my chest.

"That said though, that Rias chick is one bad lady. She willingly asks you out, but when you tell her you have feelings for her she says 'I'm sorry'? Just how wishy-washy can you be? I'm just saying, if there wasn't any chance, she shouldn't have acted all nice from the beginning. She was probably just getting off on feeling all attractive because she had a guy in her pocket. That sucks, Naruto. Getting caught by a shitty woman thirsty for attentio—H-Heeey?!"

By the time I realized it, I was picking Asto up by the collar of his shirt. "Yeep!"

"Oh… sorry."

After seeing his abnormally scared face, I sighed and let him go. A teary eyed Asto ran to hide behind Sasuke's back with lightning speed.

"B-Bastard! Y-You wanna fight?! If you wanna fight, I'll get mad! And when I get mad I'm real crazy! When I get mad I don't remember anything, but I become a cold-blooded killing machine! I can use whatever's nearby me, even stationery, to accurately stab the human body's vital points."

"You seem to remember a lot of things."

Sasuke calmly took a jab at Asto's comment while he lightly stroked his head.

"You're in the wrong for that one, Asto. What you said was absolutely too insensitive."

"E-Even you, Sasuke…"

Asto shrank as he became depressed.

"I was just… mad at that woman who played with Naruto's innocence."

"I know you were trying to cheer up Naruto in your own way. But love isn't that simple."

Sasuke turned his cool eyes towards my direction.

"You worked hard, Naruto. It even looks like you pushed yourself."

"…Yeah."

His words of appreciation cut to the bone. Truth was, he was so cool it pissed me off. Sigh, I wonder if I should just date Sasuke. I'm sick of women. I hear that he has a girlfriend right now, but I wouldn't mind being his side piece—or so I started to think, before I hopped off that idiotic train of thought and lifted my face. I leaned in my seat, looked up at the ceiling, and let out a deep sigh.

"Agh… damn. I feel like crap…"

It had all just happened, so there was no way I was gonna be already recovered. Honestly, I wanted to skip school, but for the sake of my perfect attendance I dragged myself there. Besides, rather than being home alone, I wanted someone to listen to me complain. I wanted to vent out all these hard- to-process thoughts to my good friends.

"…It's not like I calculated my chances of success. There was just a part of me that thought maybe I could do it. I mean, she was the one who invited me, and what's more, she seemed like she was having fun when we were together…"

I thought I had a chance, but I wonder if that was just me being conceited. I wonder if it was just me being a virgin not used to girls and misinterpreting her being polite for having a good time.

"Really… what was all that?"

What was all that? What was this week? What is Naruto Namikaze to Rias Gremory?

"Hey, Naruto. That girl's name is Rias Gremory, right?" Sasuke suddenly inquired with a serious look on his face.

"Y-Yeah. What about it?"

"I felt bad about doing it, but… I personally looked into her a little bit. I was curious about what kind of girl you'd fallen for, so I asked a couple of friends I have at Kuoh about what kind of person she is."

"You were doing that this whole time?"

"They said she doesn't go there… She's not there, Naruto. It seems like there's no student in the Kuoh Academy first-year class named Rias Gremory."

"What…? Not there? Wh-What do you mean?"

"It means just that. I asked five or so different people but nobody knows about her. Even after they searched for her they couldn't find her. Rias Gremory is not among the students at Kuoh Academy."

"…"

I don't get it. Doesn't exist? What does that mean?

"…Does that mean her name is fake?"

"I think that's possible. But I suspect another possibility. Could it be that that girl wasn't a student at Kuoh at all?"

"What? What are you saying? Rias-san was wearing a Kuoh uniform—"

"You've only seen her uniform, right? It's not like you've seen her school ID or seen her going to Kuoh. You haven't seen her together with friends from Kuoh either. Naruto, what reason do you have to think that she's a student from Kuoh, aside from her uniform?"

"…"

No words came out. When I thought it over, all I had was her uniform. There wasn't anything aside from the uniform to prove that she was a student of Kuoh Academy.

The Rias-san that I know is always wearing a school uniform. Even during our date on Sunday. Almost as if she were showing off. Almost as if—almost as if she were making a display out of being a high school girl going to Kuoh Academy.

"Hmm. I thought she was kind of suspicious from the very beginning," Asto chimed in with a docile look on his face.

"A week ago when you almost arrived late to school, you said you saved that girl when she met that molester, but… there's no way a girl who goes to Kuoh would be riding the same morning train as you."

That… is also something that I had my doubts about. I just arbitrarily decided that she probably forgot something and didn't think any further about it.

"Naruto, could it be that… you're so desperate that you saw an illusion of a girl who doesn't exist?"

"Th-There's no way that could happen."

Asto was being way past rude, but I wasn't able to make a strong comeback. I could feel myself go pale as an indescribable feeling of uneasiness rose from my feet and gradually enveloped my body.

"If she wasn't an illusion… then who did you fall in love with?"

I couldn't answer. Rias-san—Rias Gremory-san. Just who was the girl that I fell in love with? Was she really some kind of ghost or spirit? I suddenly felt like I had become uncertain of everything that happened this past week. If you told me "It was all a dream," I would probably believe you without thinking.

As my terrifying feelings started to grip me tighter and tighter, my pocket vibrating brought me back to reality.

I looked at the screen—I felt both surprise and relief at the same time. It was a message from Rias-san. The surprise came from the fact that she contacted me; the relief came from the confirmation that her existence wasn't a dream.

There wasn't the usual formal greeting. The message felt unnaturally distant and got straight to business.

"I apologize for suddenly going home yesterday. If you have any time, I would like you to meet me. I would like to explain everything then."

(◕ω◕✿)

The appointed place was a casual dining restaSaint close to the station. I arrived early, sat in a nonsmoking seat in the back and just ordered a refillable drink. Looking out the window, I could see that the sun had already started to set. Students returning home from club activities rode their bikes on the asphalt that was basking in the evening sun. After about five minutes, Rias-san showed up.

"G-Good evening."

"…Yeah."

The greeting I somehow managed to squeeze out was an indifferent reply. Rias-san's face was glum as she hung her head. Her makeup seemed heavier than usual. Her outfit… was the Kuoh Academy uniform I had seen time and time again. Even though this person wasn't supposed to be a student of Kuoh Academy Girls' High School—

She pressed the button on the table and also only ordered a refillable drink. When the restaSaint staff left, a hellish awkwardness followed… God, was it hard to take.

Seriously, what is this situation? Why do I have to be alone with and come face to face with the person who dumped me the day after they gave me my very first heartbreak in my entire life?

Honestly, I wanted to turn down her invitation so much. However, there was no way that I wouldn't come. There was no way that I wouldn't hear her out. I wanted to know.

Just who is the woman that I fell in love with—

"…First off, I'll say this."

The one to break the silence was Rias-san. She spoke indifferently, with a low voice as if she were suppressing her feelings.

"Because I don't want you to have any kind of weird hope, I'll say this clearly. I… can't date you. If I gave you the wrong idea by calling you here today, I'm sorry."

"…Sure."

This sucks. She's just beating a dead horse. It wasn't as if I didn't have a little hope, but being told that is heavier than I imagined.

"Today, the reason I had you meet me is… Naruto-kun, I wanted to tell you the truth."

"The truth?"

"This whole time, there's been something I've been hiding… no, that's not right. Not hiding, I've been lying to you this entire time."

Rias-san had a face like she was in pain as she continued.

"If we parted ways like this, I felt like it would be too dishonest, so… now that I'm ending this, please let me explain everything."

Rias-san told me to "please wait here a little while," got up from her seat, and exited the family restaSaint.

Hiding? Lying? What could it be? I mean, she just got here, so why did she leave the restaSaint? My mind felt like it was going to be buried underneath these endless questions, but I obeyed her words and drank my coffee as I waited for her.

When I had finished my second cup of coffee, a lady wearing a suit made her way towards me. She seemed like an office worker. Her red hair was bundled up from behind, and she wore thick-framed glasses. Her pumps clicked on the floor as she walked between the tables of the restaSaint. I thought that she was making her way to the restroom, but she stopped by my seat. Without saying a word, she sat opposite me, in the seat where Rias-san had been.

"…Wha? U-Um, I'm sorry, I have a friend who's coming soon."

"N-Nice to meet you, Naruto Namikaze-kun."

Ignoring my perplexion, the lady spoke in a voice that made me feel like she was nervous and awkward. And as soon as I heard her… my mind fell into disarray.

That was—that was her voice.

Again, I stared straight at the lady. Her hair style, her clothes, everything about her looked like a different person. However, if you looked carefully, her face was exactly the same. It was her.

"My name is Rias Gremory… My age is t-twenty-seven."

What could I even say? The high school girl I fell in love with… was actually twenty-seven years old.

(◕ω◕✿)

"Eternal Blue Co. Ltd. Marketing Division Chief of Direct Marketing Rias Gremory."

The business card I was handed had a pompous title written on it.

Eternal Blue, huh? Even I know about them. They're that company whose commercials I see online and on TV all the time selling cosmetics and supplements. I think their main headquarters is in Tokyo, but there should be a branch office around here…

In addition to the business card, she also showed me her employee ID and driver's license.

"…With this, do you understand now?" the suited-up Rias-san said with a somewhat embarrassed face. All I could do was nod. After being shown absolute evidence like her business card and license, there was no room to doubt her. Rias-san was not a high school student. She was an adult, a member of society, an employee at a company, and twenty-seven years old.

"For lying to you and saying I'm a high school girl… I really am sorry."

"I-It's okay."

Even if I was being politely apologized to, I wasn't emotionally prepared to accept her apology. My mind and my heart were overwhelmed, and I didn't know what to do.

Rias-san posed a question to me as I sat there unable to say anything. "D-Did you really not realize…?"

"What?"

"That I wasn't a high school girl."

"…No."

"Not at all? Not even a little? You were completely unaware? It didn't seem like I was forcing it?"

"…N-No, not at all."

"R-Really. Hmmm, I see."

Rias-san's face broke slightly into a smile. She appeared to be doing her best to maintain a calm expression, but it seemed she was unable to contain her happiness.

"No. I mean… there was no way I would realize, right? Who would have thought that despite their age, a grown adult was shamelessly walking around town dressed as a high school girl—oh."

By the time I realized my slip of the tongue it was too late. Rias-san was slumped over the table like she had just been mortally wounded. Her face looked like she was writhing in pain on the verge of death. The words "Kill me" were practically written all over her face.

"S-Sorry."

"…No, it's fine. I know what I did was pretty cringeworthy… Seriously, why did it turn out like this?"

Rias-san slowly began to lift her head back up as she muttered with a touch of self-deprecation. Once again I looked at her.

Truthfully, it feels so out of place. To me, she just looks like a high school girl who's simply wearing a business suit. But that's not true. It's wrong. Am I only thinking like that because she was wearing a school blazer the first time I saw her?

The adult woman in front of me wearing a suit is the real Rias Gremory. This is the real her.

"…So it was a lie, all of it."

The words spilled from my lips like a sigh. I wasn't trying to criticize her, but Rias-san bit down on her lip like it hurt.

"You going to Kuoh, us being the same age…"

"…That's right. I'm truly sorry."

"Your birthday, and being born in the Year of the Snake?"

"Th-That part's true."

Rias-san quickly interjected this last part. It seemed like she was telling the truth about her birthday and zodiac sign.

She was born in the Year of the Snake like I was—which means…

"…Oh, I see. We're twelve years apart in age."

Twenty-seven years old and fifteen years old, a difference of twelve years.

"We're not even a whole twelve years apart! It's only eleven years and ten months!"

Rias-san yelled at me in a loud voice as if that was the one thing she couldn't let go. However, embarrassed at herself for becoming so serious, she added in a small voice, "…Well, it is basically twelve years…"

I'm fifteen years old, and I was born at the middle of October, so if Rias-san is twenty-seven years old and born at the beginning of December… our difference in age really does seem to be eleven years and ten months. It's just a little short of being twelve years. Still, it's pretty much twelve years.

"Um… may I ask a basic question?"

"G-Go ahead."

"Why were you dressed as a high school girl?"

"…Adults are complicated."

In regards to my question that cut to the heart of the matter, Rias-san diverted her eyes and spoke uncomfortably.

Ah, I see. I guess that's what she's into, huh…

"W-Well, everyone has their own hobbies."

"W-What… No!"

I was trying to accept what she said and gloss over it, but she shook her head furiously.

"It's not like I wanted to do it, okay!"

"Huh? Dressing up like a high schooler and marching around town isn't your hobby?"

"No! Aww, geez, I'll give you the whole story, so listen!"

After shooting me a desperate look, she began to talk while seeming pretty embarrassed.

"Um… I wonder where I should start. First off… my attending Kuoh is actually true. It's just that it happened about ten years ago."

Ten years ago. This person went to high school ten years ago—were smartphones even a thing back then? All the way back when photo booth was in its heyday?

"I have a friend from high school who I'm still close with. Her name is Akeno-chan… On the day before I met you, I went to hang out at Akeno-chan's house and we drank."

She "drank," as in alcohol, probably. Rias-san is twenty-seven years old and at the age where it was okay for her to consume alcohol.

"It had been such a long time since we last saw one another, so we just kept talking and drinking… By the time we realized it, we were both pretty drunk."

In that drunken state, her friend Akeno apparently said, "Rias, you have such a baby face. You could probably pass for a high schooler even now, yeah?"

"…After that, Akeno-chan brought out her uniform from high school. Since I was really drunk, I was like 'Sure, why don't I try it on…'"

So the uniform that Rias-san wore wasn't hers, but a friend's.

"In the spur of the moment, I wore the uniform and did up my hair and makeup like a high school student… I don't have much memory after that. When I realized it was morning, the time was past the point I'd normally be leaving my house. I rushed out of Akeno-chan's place in a panic, thinking 'If I go home now and change into my suit, I'll just barely make it to my job.' So I dashed to the nearest station and slipped onto the train—and that's where I finally noticed my appearance…"

Rias-san covered her face with both hands and was in agony from embarrassment. It came through loud and clear how she was so regretful that she wanted to punch her past self.

"Really… I was so embarrassed I thought I was going to die. In my head I was shouting 'This kind of humiliation play is too high-level for me!' to myself the entire time…"

It seemed like she felt so embarrassed she had given up on having any sense of shame about it. She stared off into space and let out an empty laugh at her own joke.

A twenty-seven-year-old woman, looking like a high school girl, in a crowded train… Yup, that's a full combo. As a guy I can only imagine, but that's some next-level embarrassment.

"It was already hell, but to think that something even worse would come along to add to my misery…" she said with a touch of self-mockery.

I didn't even have to ask—she was talking about the train molester.

"The train molester was scary on his own, but… not knowing what I'd do if my real age got exposed was just as scary. If I raised my voice and asked for help, I could have probably ended that molester in the eyes of society, but if I did that it would have been a double KO… Haha, hahaha. It seems like something that'd be snatched up on the evening news, right? Something like 'A Train Molesting Incident On the *bleep* Line! The Victim Was a Twenty-seven-year-old Businesswoman Cosplaying as a High Schooler?'"

"Oh…"

To think there was so much backstory to it all. Rias-san was in a double bind. She had to pick between stopping the crime being committed by the train molester or letting her high school girl cosplay get exposed to everyone around her. Even if she was able to stop the train molester, after that she probably would have been asked to present her ID by the station staff or the police. If she was unlucky, the story could have even reached her company. That… that would be the kind of embarrassment that would make you want to die a little.

"I really didn't know what to do, and all I could do was freeze up. The one who saved me from that crisis was you, Naruto-kun."

"…"

"Once again, I want to say my thanks… reeeaallly, thank you so much. Thanks to you, I avoided committing social suicide…"

It was a really earnest thanks. It felt like she was truly giving me thanks from the bottom of her heart.

"I'm really glad that you were the one to save me, Naruto-kun. If you hadn't been there… I probably would have left this town by now."

"You're exaggerating… I just happened to see it. Even if I hadn't been there, some other person would have probably saved you."

"No, you're wrong," Rias-san responded kindly, yet with a passionate look.

"It is because it was you. It was thanks to you trying to protect me, even though you were the one who would be embarrassed, that I was saved. And I was even able to keep the fact that I was a twenty-seven-year-old cosplaying as a high school student from being exposed."

In hindsight, it appears that my choice at the time was, in a way, the best course of action. If we turned the molester over to the station staff after that mess, even more trouble would be waiting for her.

"It's because you were a kind boy who sympathizes with women…"

"…"

Honestly, that day's dramatic rescue isn't really a pleasant memory. It was unplanned and haphazard, and even if you were being nice you couldn't really call it a smart solution. I was the laughingstock of everyone around me and I felt ashamed. I kind of regret how uncool I was—

"You were really cool, Naruto-kun."

"Rias-san…"

I felt like I was going to be sucked in by her slightly red cheeks and sensual smile. For a few seconds we locked eyes with one another. However, we gradually became embarrassed and turned our faces away at the same time.

"I-In any case, it's thanks to you that I was saved," she said in a flustered voice to get the conversation back on track.

"I really wanted to thank you, so after I got off the train I ran after you and called out to you… I don't have to explain the rest, right? After that, as you know, I met you while cosplaying as a high school girl."

"…"

"It was tough, you know? On the day I made that boxed lunch, I had to hurry after work to the station, change in the women's restroom and put my stuff in a coin locker," she said jokingly as she let out a giggle.

Oh, so that's what it was. Rias-san in a suit—I thought I had seen it somewhere before, but now I finally knew the cause of this déjà vu. When I was waiting for Rias-san in front of the women's restroom to give her back her lunch box, I saw a woman wearing a suit who looked like an office worker come out. I didn't realize it then, but that office worker was Rias-san. From a high school girl to an office lady… Rias Gremory transformed from her temporary form to her true one.

"It was embarrassing walking around town cosplaying as a high schooler, but… it was a tiny bit fun."

"…Oh. So it is a hobby after all."

"No, it's not! I meant that it was fun being with you, Naruto-kun…"

She suddenly yelled her denial but her voice gradually tapered off. Also, her face quickly became red.

"…It was fun being with me?"

"Th-That's right! Is there something wrong with that?!" she yelled, lashing out a bit.

I felt like I was going to laugh unintentionally. This person really is Rias-san after all. Her clothes and hairstyle had changed, but her expression and mannerisms were left unchanged. She's the very person I fell in love with. However…

In contrast to how calm I had become, Rias-san's expression became dark.

"…It was fun. It felt like I became young again and returned to my high school days. It was like a dream—but I have to put an end to it. The magic is already broken."

Her face no longer laughing, Rias-san announced this with a sense of determination in her voice. Lacking warmth, she was expressionless like a doll.

"Well… that's how it is."

As her gruff words forcefully brought the conversation to its end, she pulled her wallet out of her bag. Then she pulled out a ten thousand yen bill and placed it on the table.

"I'm going to pay for this. I'm an adult."

"What…"

"Go ahead and order anything you like. As for the change… please take it as an apology for deceiving you."

Bluntly declaring this, Rias-san stood up from her seat and quickly left.

"…Huh? P-Please wait!—Oh. S-Sorry."

I almost bumped into a waiter carrying food as I hurried to pursue her. If I chased after her that would be a dine and dash, so I used the ten thousand yen she gave me to pay the bill. While I was dealing with all of that, she had already left. Clenching the change in my fist, I flew out of the restaurant.

"Wait… Please wait, Rias-san! Rias-san!"

I raced across the street light-illuminated asphalt, chasing after her. After calling out to her a few times, she finally stopped for me and turned around.

"…What?"

Her face and voice were uncomfortably cold.

"'What'? …We were still talking, right?"

"What more do we have to talk about?" Rias-san asked, her glare piercing through me.

"Could it be—you're not going to say you still like me, are you?"

It was a voice tinged with sadness, and she smiled sarcastically with self-mockery.

"That's…"

Looking at me choking on my words, the self-deprecation and self- torment that was warping her beauty became even worse.

"I get it… I get it, okay? The one you said you loved was the high school version of me—the high schooler attending the all-girls school, Rias Gremory, right? She's different… she's completely different from who I really am. The one you love isn't the twenty-seven-year-old me."

"…"

"The girl you fell in love with doesn't exist."

I remembered the girl I fell in love with. The high school girl who I believed was the same age as me without even questioning it, the girl named Rias Gremory.

"If you knew that I was twenty-seven, you wouldn't have approached me in the first place right? You wouldn't have been interested, right? That's right… that's natural. For a high schooler like you, I'm already an old lady. You do realize I'm closer to your dad's age than I am yours, right?"

"Rias-san…"

"Sorry. I really didn't mean to lash out at you like that. After all, I'm the one in the wrong."

Words escaped me. My head still couldn't process it all. My confusion wasn't subsiding. My mind was in shambles. Even still, I couldn't just say nothing.

"Are we… over?"

I didn't want to end it. I didn't want to lose it. Putting aside all reason, that feeling was raging inside of me.

"It's over. The only thing to do is end it… I mean, the worlds that fifteen- year-old you and twenty-seven-year-old me live in are completely different."

"That's… It's just twelve years." "

'Just?'"

Rias-san seemed like she was about to cry, but she spoke in a stern voice.

"You don't understand. You don't understand at all, Naruto-kun. You totally don't understand what type of age twenty-seven years old is…"

Her pupils filled with a deep sadness, and she declared to me the despair of being twenty-seven years old:

"Twenty-seven years old—it's the same age as Anago-san!"

My eyes went wide. It was as if an attack came from an angle I hadn't predicted and my thoughts froze.

"Anago-san…You mean that Anago-san? From Sazae-san?"

"Yes. The coworker of Masao-san, Anago-san. According to official info, he's twenty-seven years old."

For real? With that presence and that voice, Anago-san is twenty-seven years old? No matter how you slice it, he looks like he's around forty.

"…You see, when you become an adult, you steadily become older than the characters you idolized as a child. I passed over the teenage Jump main characters like Gon, Ichigo, and Luffy, and before I knew it I became more of an adult than Nube. I was somehow able to handle the despair that came with getting older than Jump main characters, but… when I learned that Anago-san is twenty-seven years old, as you'd expect it was a huge shock."

"…"

"Naruto-kun, could you date Anago-san?"

No. I couldn't date Anago-san. How can you ask me that with such a serious face?

"You see, it's impossible right?"

"You see," my ass! God, what should I do? Should I make some kind of joke? Is this a serious scene or a comedy scene?

Ignoring my indecisiveness, Rias-san continued the conversation by herself.

"There's no way that you, who started playing video games on the Wii, and I, who diligently blew into my Super Nintendo cartridges, could understand one another… Anyway, I bet you were one of those kids, right? The first Game Boy you played wasn't the long Advance, it was the folding SP, wasn't it?"

"…I never played the Advance. The first portable games I played were on the DS."

"You started on the DS?!"

Rias-san's eyes went wide and she started to stagger. She was just about to pass out.

"…Y-You understand now? There's you, from the DS generation, and me, who devoted my adolescence to Mega Man Battle Network; our worlds are just too different. So please. Just forget about me already."

She said that and turned her back to me. However, I just couldn't watch her leave.

"W-Wait—"

"Cooome on! You still don't get it?!"

I didn't want to give up. I tried to stop her, but suddenly she let about an exasperated yell. When she turned around, her face had a look on it like she was absolutely fed up. It was an expression I had never seen before.

"Can't you tell I'm trying to be nice? For real, can you just read the mood and go home?" she said in a biting tone.

"I don't think anything of you. Your reaction was interesting, so I just pretended to be a high schooler and made fun of you. I'm a grown woman. From the very start, I never had any interest in a high schooler who's never earned any money themselves. Don't misunderstand me just because I was a little nice to you."

Her contemptuous words came one after the other. She gave a wicked smile and proceeded to sully our memories.

"I mean, confessing to someone at Round One is unbelievable. That's so lame. I'm an adult woman, so you need to put more thought into the mood. For example, renting out an entire theme park and bringing me a bouquet of flowers in front of the castle, that's how you really do a confession. Adult women only go for men who consider—"

"…Why are you saying those things?" My heart wasn't hurt by her words. "Why are you lying?"

What really hurt was that she was being forced to say such things. "It's…it's no—"

"If it's not a lie, then why did you cry?" Rias-san swallowed her breath.

"When I confessed to you, why did you cry like that?"

She seemed so apologetic, like she was repenting her sins from the bottom of her heart.

Now I understood the meaning of those tears. At that moment, Rias- san truly hated herself. She felt so guilty for making me fall in love.

"Please don't force yourself to act like you're a bad person. I know that you're not like that."

"…You don't know anything about me."

"I do… because you're the person I fell in love with."

Only a week had passed since we first met, so I didn't know a lot about her—but I did know that Rias-san wasn't a bad woman who enjoyed tricking people. Of that much I was sure.

I understood loud and clear just how much it pained her heart that she deceived me. It was easy to tell that she was just forcing herself to act like a bad person—it was obvious that she was trying to get me to hate her, and I just couldn't be silent about that. I understood that was her kindness. However, I wasn't enough of a child that I could be fooled by that lie—and I wasn't enough of an adult to let myself be fooled by that lie. I'm neither an adult nor a child: what I am is somewhere in between, a fifteen-year-old high school student.

"Rias-sa—"

My words stopped. She had started to cry. The world had grown dark with the arrival of night; awash in the glow of the street lamps, Rias-san shed her tears quietly. This marked the second time I had seen her face in tears.

"Stop… Stop it, Naruto-kun… I'm begging you, please don't get in my head any more than this."

I did it again. I made her cry. The person I fell in love with, the person I wanted to protect, was crying because of me. Why did it turn out like this?

Rias-san was crying her eyes out and sniffling, but in spite of this, she looked straight at me.

"…Please, Naruto-kun. Forget about this weird old lady. Find someone your own age and fall in love like normal. It's okay. Someone like you will be able to get a cute girlfriend in no time. So… bye-bye."

She smiled as she said that. Even though her face was a mess with tears, she gave me a huge smile. Stifling all her sadness and pain like that, it was like she was a saint. Kindly and proudly, she was praying for my happy future with a beautiful smile. She turned her back to me and disappeared from my sight.

I couldn't move, though. It was like someone sewed my feet to the ground, and I couldn't move. No matter how coldly I was treated, no matter how abused I was, I thought I would still go after her. But after being shown that smile, there was nothing I could do anymore.

I looked up at the sky and desperately fought back tears. The moon in the night sky was so beautiful it pissed me off.

(◕ω◕✿)

"Twenty-seven years old… that's, like… an old hag."

As you might expect, the person in the empty classroom making an enemy of women over twenty-five across the globe was none other than Asto. His eyes were wide with surprise. Sasuke, who was standing right next to him, had the same look on his face.

"That's quite the shock. I totally thought she would just be a student from a different school walking around in a Kuoh uniform, but to think that she's an office worker from Eternal Blue…" Sasuke said, staring at the picture he had in his hand.

It was the picture Rias-san and I had taken together. Since I picked up the copy Rias-san dropped, I had sadly come into possession of both copies.

"When you look at this, she really doesn't look like she's twenty-seven years old. She just looks like a normal… no, a really cute high school girl. Even if you take away the fact that this is a picture from photo booth, she's definitely got a baby face."

"Bah. Women can change into anything they want with makeup, after all. It's scary."

After airing his biting cynicism, Asto looked at me and laughed. "Still, you dodged a bullet, Naruto."

"Eh…?"

"You were in danger of dating an old hag with a whole zodiac cycle on you. I'm just glad that she was a sensible adult. If it were some trashy woman who likes to toy with innocent young men, who knows what would have happened to you?"

"Dodged a bullet…" that's one way of looking at it. That's probably the normal way to think about it.

If our roles were reversed—if it were a fifteen-year-old girl and a twenty- seven-year-old man in a romantic relationship—whether you like it or not, it would seem like a crime. No matter if it was pure love, it'd be unlikely that society would understand. Even with the roles changed, essentially it'd be the same thing. An adult lady and an underage boy being in an adult relationship would be, legally speaking, sexual misconduct.

Maybe if I were in Asto's shoes I'd say the same thing. If I were to find out that my friend fell in love with a girl they met in town, found out they were a twenty-seven-year-old adult, and in spite of that confessed and suffered an honorable defeat—I'd also probably say "You dodged a bullet." After all, in the unlikely event they started dating, it'd be impossible to fathom just how difficult it would be.

If it were the old me, I'd probably say just that. If it were the me that hadn't met her yet, that is…

"It seems like you still have a lot of regrets, Naruto," Sasuke said with eyes that saw right through me. "It seems like you still haven't given up on Rias-cha—Oh, we can't really call her Rias-chan anymore. Let me rephrase that. It seems like you still haven't given up on Rias-san at all."

"What? Wait, are you serious, Naruto? She's twenty-seven. Pushing thirty. The big three-oh. If this were a high school romcom, she'd be that one teacher whose only thing is going on and on like 'I'm still young! Somebody marry me~'"

Seriously, what's with Asto and making an enemy out of huge demographics? There's a world full of cute teacher heroines, dude.

"…It's not like I'm unable to get over it. It's just, my mind still isn't able to process all of it."

It's all felt so surreal. It's like I've been floating, and even after everything I can't keep my feet on the ground. Everything was supposed to have ended yesterday… our relationship was supposed to have completely ended, but it's like I'm still not able to accept it.

"Naruto. You won't often find me saying things with 100% good intentions, but in all seriousness: it'd be for the best if you gave up on her."

Sasuke dispensed with his nice smile, and his face became unusually serious. "You should forget about her as soon as you can. Think of it like you had a bad dream—or even a good one, just hurry up and come back to reality."

"…"

"I'm not just saying this for your sake, Naruto. For Rias-san's sake as well, I think you should hurry up and forget about her and find someone else."

Sasuke continued trying to persuade me in his matter-of-fact voice. "Twenty-seven years old is the age where you're in your sixth year at a company if you started working out of college… a full-blown adult. Kurt Cobain and Jimi Hendrix had already lived their entire lives and taken the world by storm by that age, you know?"

"…I don't see the point of comparing her to legendary musicians."

"My point is, the world she's living in is fundamentally different from the one kids like us live in. If you were to date, I don't think it would do any good for either of you. I mean, that's the age when you start to think about getting married and having kids. It's not something that you should approach halfheartedly."

"Getting married." "Having kids."It felt like I was hearing some language from a faraway land. I had a faint understanding of what those things meant, but they were still things that were way off for me that I hadn't even started thinking about.

"Anyway, her being twelve years older than you makes it inconceivable. It's not like her looks are going to stay the same. The old hag energy's gonna seep out sometime, dude," Asto said as he began to speak once more. "Right now, Rias definitely looks young and cute, but she'll get old way before you do. I don't know how long you plan on dating her, but when you turn twenty, she'll be thirty-two, and when you turn thirty, she'll be forty-two… you'll never close the age gap. Naruto, right now you've got love on the brain, so you're probably thinking 'As long as we have love, the age difference doesn't matter!' but one day when your passion is gone, what are you going to think of a woman who's twelve years older than you?"

Asto and Sasuke's tones were unusually stern… and I was grateful for it. Encouraging someone's romance is easy. Saying irresponsible stuff like "It'll definitely work out!" and "That girl definitely likes you too!" is truly simple. But these guys were seriously thinking about me. They were worrying about my wellbeing and were prepared to be hated by me for doing so.

"…Thanks, you two. It's just like you guys say. You guys really opened my eyes on this."

As I said this, their faces relaxed into an expression of relief.

"Okay Naruto, today we're going all out and partying. We're gonna spend all our time playing games. We'll play mobile games, console games, card games, board games, we'll do it all!"

"Maybe instead of going all out you should just try going out… Naruto, in this situation you should focus on meeting someone new. Let's have a mixer.

I'll even invite some girls who actually go to Kuoh."

"Screw that. Naruto is gonna play games with me."

"What are you going on about? Naruto and I are going to have a mixer."

"Games."

"Mixer."

"…Chill out, you guys." I sighed as I put their quarrel in check.

"I'll… take a pass on that mixer. I'm not really in the mood. For now, let's just play some games."

(◕ω◕✿)

"Rias-san, Rias-san… Chief Rias!"

"Huh? Um, what can I do for you?"

I realized I was being called, so I quickly raised my head. My junior Toujou-san was looking at my face worriedly.

"Are you okay? You were kind of spacing out…"

"S-Sorry. It's nothing, I'm alright."

"These are the documents you requested. I've organized them, so please have a look. Also, if you're not feeling well, please say so, okay? Lately you haven't been looking so well, Rias-san."

"S-Sure. Thank you for worrying about me."

Toujou-san returned to her desk. Her silver hair was cut in bob style, and she was wearing a trendy, mostly white business-casual outfit. If I'm not mistaken, she turned twenty-four this year. Compared to me, who wears a suit because I don't want to deal with coordinating my outfit everyday… she seems to be brimming with youth. If I were a man, I'd fall for a girl like that, I think. Her youth is radiant. This twenty-three-year-old girl's youth is so radiant I feel like I could get dizzy just by looking at her. Compared to that, fifteen years old is practically the sun itself. If you got close enough to touch it, your mind and body would burn up and melt away—

"…"

I raised my face and once again looked out over the office. We were in a three-story building facing the highway. You could enjoy a bit of a view if you looked out the glass windows, but when you work here for five years, you get pretty sick of it. Tables with computers on them were lined up with chairs that were apple green for some reason. My many coworkers were hurriedly attending to their tasks. Perhaps because it was a workplace with so many women, there were a lot of trendy accessories, and the entire office was enveloped in a cheery atmosphere. This is my workplace. This is my reality.

"…"

It had been a week since I last met Naruto-kun. Since then, same as always, I'd been going to work. I couldn't take off just because I was depressed from some romance trouble. At least, that's what my head was telling me.

The truth of the matter was that I totally hadn't been able to get over it. Even during work I was often zoning out, and like earlier I'd had people worry about my health a few times.

"…I've got to pull myself together," I said in a small voice so no one could hear. I chugged down my lukewarm coffee and focused on my computer screen. I'm going to throw myself into my work.

I have no right to be hurt or depressed. I'm the one who's at fault. My thoughtless actions hurt a boy. It's unforgivable, and something I'll regret for the rest of my life. The dream is over. The magic is broken. From here on out, it will only be reality.

I went out to eat for my lunch break. People at my company spent their lunchtime in many different ways. You'd have some who ate boxed lunches they prepared, while others would go out to eat. As you'd expect from a business district, there were a lot of restaurants around, and lately delivery services like Uber Eats had become popular with the women in the office.

For my wallet and my health's sake I normally made my own lunch, but today I had promised to meet someone. I entered a café close to my company whose selling points were their chic atmosphere and vegetable pasta. As I looked over the restaurant's lunchtime crowd—

"Rias hime! Over here!"

A beautiful woman with black hair called my name from the back of the restaurant. I felt my cheeks go red and half-jogged my way to the table where I sat opposite her.

"Akeno, don't yell out my first name like that!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I totally wasn't thinking."

She sincerely apologized, though her expression didn't really change. Her dark hair was smooth and long, and her skin was as white as fresh snow. Her features were beautiful like a finely crafted doll, and her dignified appearance reminded me of a rose. She looked as chic as she did in high school, and you wouldn't have thought she was a mother of one just by looking at her.

Akeno Himejima, or rather, Akeno Hyoudou now that she'd gotten married. After graduating college she worked as a bank employee, but she quit once she got married and became a stay-at-home wife. She was one of my friends who I'd been very close to since high school. Thanks to her unparalleled beauty, she'd been popular with both boys and girls since she was a student.

"You still have a complex about that nickname, huh?"

"Of course! You can only get away with a nickname like "princess" when you're in your teens. But someone being called that when they're around 30 is just… you know?"

"Ara ara, I guess it would. I mean, nowadays you're not the princess of otaku, you're the princess of pushing thirty. Doesn't quite have the same ring to it, huh?"

"…I'm sorry Akeno. That's not that funny."

"Ah, what a shame."

Her beauty gave her an atmosphere of being unapproachable, but surprisingly enough she did things like crack lame jokes. It was easy to misunderstand her because of her looks, but on the inside she was unexpectedly humorous.

"Haah…"

"What're you sighing for?"

"It's just… I was just thinking about how you're doing so well. You're married, have a nice kid, it's like… you're proper."

After you turn twenty-seven, your friends get married one after another. Many of them have kids. I even know some people who've already been divorced and are living as single mothers.

"Compared to that, just what am I doing with my life…"

"Yeah, that's what I'm saying."

Without comforting me in my time of grief, Aken immediately agreed with me.

"You're pretending to be a high school girl and deceiving a fifteen-year-old boy. Seriously, what are you doing? At your age, don't you think that's shameful? Don't you feel like apologizing to your parents?"

"H-Half of it was your fault, Akeno!"

That day—having stopped breastfeeding and with alcohol no longer off- limits—Akeno drank at a pretty high pace. It seemed her husband told her "Take a break from being a mom and housewife once in a while and relax" and took their daughter with him to his parents' house. I accompanied Akeno while she enjoyed her booze and her day off to the fullest, so even though I wasn't that good with alcohol I ended up drinking heavily… and following that was the start of all this craziness.

"You've already told Naruto-kun or whatever that you're breaking up, right?"

"…Yes."

Our orders were finally served to us. It was the pasta of the day listed on the restaurant's signboard. As I ate my pasta with abundantly mixed baby sardines and cabbage, I explained our whole situation to Akeno-chan.

"So in the end you told him everything."

After I finished, Akeno-chan looked straight at me with an emotionless expression that I couldn't read.

"Good job, Rias. It must have been hard for you."

"Akeno…"

"—is not what I'm going to say to you."

Her look turned sharp like knives made of ice. It felt like the room temperature had fallen all at once, and I became rigid like a frog being stared down by a snake.

"I told you time and time again to stop being involved with him right away because it would become something you can't undo, right?"

"…"

I consulted with Akeno from the very first day I met Naruto-kun. What should I do Akeno?! On the high school girl train there was a molester and a cool boy helped but I was a high school girl! was how awkward the phone call ended up because of how disheveled I was.

"You're in the wrong with everything about this, Rias. I think repaying him was fine, but you shouldn't have gone on a date with him. Not to mention you were the one to invite him… there's a limit to just how foolish you can be."

I couldn't respond. The reason for our date, my lunch box that Naruto-kun was still holding on to—the truth is that I had realized it from the beginning. I knew that he was still holding it, but I pretended that I forgot. As I walked alongside him, in my heart I wished that he wouldn't realize. I wished for it like I was praying. Just like Cinderella and her glass slipper, I thought that if I forgot it then there would be an excuse to meet again.

"It was obviously going to turn out this way. Any man who went out on a date with you in high school girl cosplay would definitely fall for you."

"…Th-That's not true."

"Rias, you've never had single clue with how popular you are with the guys, so it's no surprise that you're not aware of how attractive you are. After all, when you were a student you were the lone, otaku princess that hide her regal beauty with thick glasses and braided hair."

"I-I'm not hiding anything!"

Desperately protesting was futile. Like Akeno said, my high school self was an otaku girl who always wearing thick glasses and braided hair. These days you'd call me an introvert, perhaps? I was always in the corner of the classroom reading a book (that was actually a video game strategy guide). I had friends who were girls, but I ended my three-year high school career without once talking to a guy.

"Yeah, right," Akeno was glaring straight at my boobs now, so I panicked and hid them. "Naruto-kun was shown that majestic chest at point-blank range, right? Of course he'd fall in love! If you dressed in a high school uniform and shook those boobs in the face of any teenage boy, they wouldn't be able to resist," Akeno declares.

I wonder if she's right. If I'm being honest… I got the feeling that Naruto-kun was frequently looking at my breasts. Well… very frequently.

"Admit it, Rias. You tricked a fifteen-year-old boy. You played with his heart with your womanly charms."

Her harsh words shot through my chest.

"You used Naruto-kun to wipe away your regrets from when you were a student. In order to redo your plain and boring youth, you used his innocence."

"Th-That's not—"

I wanted to say 'That's not true!' but I couldn't. Akeno is probably right. That date on Sunday was everything I wanted to do in high school but couldn't. The two of us dressed in our school uniforms going out, wandered around town, ate hamburgers at a cheap chain restaurant, hung out at Round One, took picture at photo booth…

It really was fun. It was like I was reliving my youth, and it really was a good time. So yes—it was all for my own self-satisfaction. I was only thinking about myself.

"But… but, I couldn't help it—I fell in love with him." I said it like I was making an excuse for myself. My first love… is a forbidden one. Forbidden, like Romeo and Juliet."So… even if it was just for a little bit, I wanted to be together. I wanted to try being like a couple… I thought I'd go on just one date, properly break up, and then never see him again."

I wanted a day I could remember for the rest of my life. If it was a first love that wasn't meant to be, I at least wanted a memory. Even if it was just once, I wanted to walk around town together. I wanted to try having a date like students. I thought if I could just do that, I wouldn't have any regrets. I decided I'd take my feelings and seal them away deep in my heart, and desperately hide them until they faded away. That's what I decided, but—

"That's what you decided, and then that date was supposed to be your first and last, but you ended up getting passionately confessed to. For your present-day guy, Naruto-kun is pretty assertive and manly. It only makes sense that you would fall for someone like that!"

I had no response to her cutting sarcasm.

"I love you, Rias-san."

I was honestly happy. I felt like I was in heaven. The person I fell in love with was in love with me. He even put that feeling into words. I thought that there wasn't any greater happiness in this world. However, what I ended up feeling even deeper than that was the sadness, the pain, and the guilt of it all that seemed like it would crush my heart.

"…It's like you say, Akeno. I played with Naruto-kun and hurt him. I was so concerned with myself that I didn't think about him. I should have done as you said and got out of his sight as soon as possible…"

If I had done that, then Naruto-kun wouldn't have been jerked around. I left a deep scar on the heart of a boy who was so kind and so mature— As I tried hard to hold back the tears that were about to come, Akeno got up without saying anything, sat next to me, and hugged me tightly.

"Eh, wh-what are you doing Akeno?"

"There, there. It's okay."

Just as soon as she started hugging me she started talking to me like a baby. As she whispered to me in a sweeter voice than I could have ever imagined her making, she wrapped her arms around me and patted my head.

"There, there. Did the baby have a tough time?"

"…What are you saying? I'm not your kid, you know?"

"Right now you're just like a baby. There, there. It'll be okay. All your boo-boos will go away."

Wrapped in her warm kindness, my tears began to come. "…W-Waaah."

Without worrying about those around us, Akeno spoke to me in baby talk, and I wept in her arms. Even though I was twenty-seven years old, I was crying like a baby.

When my tears finally stopped, I started to worry about the gazes of people around us, so we hurried out of the café. Akeno seemed completely unfazed, but I couldn't handle it. Geez, I probably can't come back to this cafe for a while.

I parted ways with Akeno and went back to my office. Okay, from the afternoon on I'm going to get motivated and do my best! Making the documents for the end of the month planning meeting, market research concerning our new products, adjusting the schedules with our customers, properly dividing work amongst my team members… oh, and next week Misaki-san will come back from childcare leave, so I have to make a manual for her.

I have a lot of work to do. If I can become buried in work like this, I wonder if I can forget about Naruto-kun one day.

"…"

Thanks to Akeno I felt a little better, but I was still depressed. Bound by regret and guilt, my gait was heavy. A phrase I'd been told a lot recently crossed my mind.

"Do you think a prince on a white horse is just going to show up one day?"

Being twenty-seven and single without making any effort to get a boyfriend, I was told this a lot by my parents and friends. "In reality, there is no prince. Unless you make an effort yourself, you'll definitely never find a boyfriend or someone to get married to." It's just them being sarcastic.

You know what, everyone? A prince did show up. Without me making any effort, he appeared, dashingly saved me, and what's more, he told me he loved me. Kind, cool, and manly, he's the best prince. But, unfortunately, he's twelve years younger than me.

Oh, Naruto-kun… Why do you have to be fifteen? Why do I have to be twenty-seven? If I were a fifteen-year-old high schooler, or if you were a twenty-seven-year-old adult, could we have been able to become a couple? Could we have lived out the kind of fairy tale that ends with, "And the two of them lived happily ever after"?

Oh no, I'm about to cry I'd been crying way too much. Every night the past week I'd drank and cried aloud by myself till morning, but in spite of such a self-indulgent lifestyle my tears still hadn't dried.

I opened my bag to pull out a handkerchief—and then I realized. My phone had been on silent this whole time and had a message. For the first time in a week, it was a message from Naruto-kun.

(◕ω◕✿)

The fact there was little overtime at my company was a plus. As long as there wasn't a big meeting, there wasn't any special business to attend to, and no one caused a fiasco, usually I could go home at a set time. My friends often told me "I'm jealous" or "That's a good company," but if being able to go home on time is enough to be called "a good company," I wonder if this country is really okay.

I left the office and went to the appointed location. My conflicting feelings of wanting to rush without letting a moment go to waste and wanting to not meet at all if I could help it were entangled. As a result, I kept awkwardly changing between a power walk and a snail's pace.

The place I arrived at was a few minutes away from the train station, a park underneath the overpass. It was a lonely looking playground with just a bench and a sandbox. It was where he ate the lunch I made for him the day after we met.

The sun had gone down before I knew it, and gradually the interspersed street lights became the park's only source of light. On the other side of the park, in the dusk, I could see Naruto-kun. As soon as I caught sight of him sitting on the bench, I felt a sharp pain in my chest. Even though I understood I didn't have any right to feel this way, it felt so painful that it was like my chest was going to tear apart.

I bit my lip and told myself to get a grip. I have to be resolute. I can't show any signs of regret. I have to act like an adult woman who has already moved on and is moving psyching myself up, I took a few deep breaths, stood up straight, and strode forward. I quickly arrived at the bench, and I sat down on the opposite side without being asked.

"Good evening," I said indifferently in my coldest voice.

"Rias-san… good evening. Long time no see."

As Naruto-kun looked at me, he had a mixed expression of happiness and awkwardness.

"I didn't think you'd come. Thank you very much for coming."

"It's nothing. You said if I didn't you'd always be waiting, so I couldn't help but come."

I did my best to stifle my emotions and speak calmly. "So, what is this 'business' you were talking about?"

"It's about money."

I was stupefied by an answer I would have never expected. "At the restaurant, you know how you left me 10,000 yen?"

"Oh, that's what you mean."

Could it be that the reason he called me out here today was to return the money? Knowing how upstanding Naruto-kun is, that's possible, but it's a bit of a letdown.

I was a little disappointed—and I was surprised at the fact I felt disappointed. As embarrassing and pitiful as it is, it seems like I'm still expecting something of this kid. Even though it shouldn't be possible. Even though there shouldn't be anything between the two of us.

"I told you that was compensation for damages, didn't I? You don't have to pay me back, so just use it to buy something you like."

"Yeah, I did buy something I like. So I thought I should let you know."

"…Is that so?"

How unexpected. Just when I totally thought that he was going to return the money, it turns out he already used it.

"With that money, I bought a game."

"A game…?"

"I've been playing it this entire week."

"I-Is that so?"

I don't mind. It's up to him how he used the money I gave him. It totally doesn't matter one bit that I was so depressed that I wasn't able to play my beloved games, but Naruto-kun was having fun playing all by himself—

"This is the game I've been playing this whole time."

I paused my selfishly angry thought to take a look at what Naruto-kun pulled out of his blazer—and I had to catch my breath. N-No waaaay! I was shocked, and a flower of nostalgia bloomed in my chest. Boasting a superior portability that allows its small size to easily fit into even the pocket of a school uniform, it was…

"A Game Boy Advance SP!"

What Naruto-kun showed me was an outdated game console whose production had stopped a long time ago. It was hardware that was sold as an 'advanced' piece of high-end equipment. At the time, the frontlight on its LCD screen was revolutionary, as it allowed you to comfortably play games even in the dark. Also, it was fully rechargeable. I have fond memories of thinking "What?! I don't need to buy AA batteries anymore?!"

It was a high-spec, high-design piece of hardware, but the DS coming out a year after it made it feel like it quickly disappeared from the marketplace.

"Wh-What's the deal with this? Why do you have something so nostalgic…?"

"I bought it because I wanted to try Mega Man Battle Network."

He flipped open the SP, turned on the power, and I heard an incredibly nostalgic melody. Oh no. It's so nostalgic I feel like I'm going to cry. Wow! It's the Game Boy Advance startup screen! Thanks to the SP's frontlight, even outside in the dark like this the screen is totally visible…

"This whole week I played it so much I barely slept at all, and I actually cleared the game. It really is a lot of fun! At first I didn't expect much because it's such an old game, but I got really addicted. The unique 9 grid vs 9 grid field and the battle chips system was totally fun. Also, the story was really awesome. Even though it starts out just being about an elementary schooler solving some small crimes, it gradually changes into this story that engulfs the whole world… Who would have thought that Mega Man's real identity was Lan twin brother?"

He really seemed to be happy and having fun as he spoke. I totally get it. Yep yep, Battle Network is so fun. It's my childhood!

"I only knew about Mega Man from Smash Bros, but he shows up in these types of games too, huh."

"Oh, the Mega Man in Smash Bros is actually the original, so that's a little different. You see, Battle Network is actually more of an alternate universe type of story—hold up."

I got so caught up in nostalgia I became excited and started to talk about it myself, but somehow I managed to regain control and get the conversion back on track.

"Why Naruto-kun? Why do you own this old game…"

"I wanted to try the game that you were hooked on. I searched around a lot of second-hand stores and somehow managed to gather 1 through 6, so I plan on playing them in order."

"…Wh-Why? Why would you do that?"

"Because I want to get closer to you, Rias-san," Naruto-kun said as he closed his SP… but the SP wasn't like the DS, so even when he closed it it didn't go into sleep mode, so the music kept playing. Flustered, Naruto-kun flipped off the power switch. That's the DS generation for you.

"Um… Rias-san, you said that our worlds were different because you dedicated your adolescence to Mega Man Battle Network. In that case, I thought that if I played the same game, then maybe I'd be able to understand your feelings—even if it's only just a little, I thought I'd be able to better understand your world."

"What…?"

He tried to understand me? He tried to get closer to me? All for a terrible woman like me who deceived and hurt him—

"Rias-san."

His lips quivered slightly from nervousness… However, he had a look of determination.

"I love you after all, Rias-san."

He took my breath away. The feelings I was holding in the bottom of my heart reared their head, and the lid I had firmly shut on them was getting smashed in.

"What are you saying…? I properly turned you down, right? This conversation was over, wasn't it?"

"Yes, but I can't give you up."

"Are you s-stupid or something? There's no way we could date… our ages are 12 years apart, you know?"

Stop. Stop it Naruto-kun. If you look at me anymore, I'm going to—

"…Naruto-kun. Settle down and listen, okay?"

Suppressing my feelings and instincts, I focused only on speaking rationally.

"Right now you're just over-excited. If you start dating me with that kind of temporary emotion, you will definitely regret it. You only fell in love with me because you thought I was a high school girl your age. The real me is a 27-year-old adult. Soon I'm going to turn 30 and become an old lady." I kept going while enduring the pain in my chest."E-Even if we dated… there's no way that an adult and a student could work out. Our thoughts and values are completely different, so we'd only disagree with one another."

It hurts. My chest hurt so much I couldn't endure it. Listing all those reasons to refuse the love of the person I love was like mutilating my own heart. But I have to say it. For the sake of his future, I have to say it.

"Please, Naruto-kun. Don't sacrifice your youth for someone like me. It's your once-in-a-lifetime high school career, so you shouldn't spend it being jerked around by me. It's best if you fall in love like a student while you still are one…"

"…Yes, that's right. Probably." Naruto-kun laughed feebly."My friends told me to stop chasing you, and that I should completely forget about you."

"Right? So just—"

"However, that woke me up. I realized… I didn't have enough resolve."

"Resolve?"

"The two of us dating… probably isn't very normal. So naturally, there would be people who won't approve of us. Even my good friends object, so who knows what kind of prejudice and slander we'd receive from people we don't know… I didn't have enough resolve to protect you from a world that would push that kind of 'normal' on us."

Having said that much, Naruto-kun stood up. In his eyes I saw a heat like the sun, and my heart was getting scorched. "Rias-san—please let me redo my confession."

"Redo…?"

"The confession I made before wasn't a lie, but… after all, those were words I said to the high school girl Rias-san. So this time, please let me say I love you to the 27-year-old you—the real you."

At that moment something lit up beyond my eyesight. A bunch of orange-colored lights rose up from the darkness.

"Ah… idiots. Those guys are doing it too soon…"

Naruto-kun murmured something in a flustered voice, but I couldn't take my eyes off the lights. The pale glow was coming from the sandbox.

The countless sparkling lights weren't flat, but put together in a three-dimensional shape. Since the sun had set and it was dark I didn't realize it at first, but there was something in the sandbox. The pointy silhouette illuminated by the warm glow was—

"A castle…?"

Standing in the sandbox was a castle about one meter tall. A small, small castle made of sand.

"It's supposed to be a castle. I had my friends help and made it before you arrived. Um… please don't get too close to it. Honestly, the quality is kind of meh, and this is probably the best distance to look at it."

"Pretty…"

I let slip a gasp of admiration. It looked like it was Christmas lights that were giving off the orange light along the castle's outer wall. The light leaking from the castle window lit up the night. Wrapped in that warm glow, the sand castle stood out against its background of the dark night. It was a magical and mysterious sight. It's like a dream; it's as if I stepped foot into a fairy tale—

"I'm glad that you like it."

"…Yes. It's so pretty. But, why—"

I took my eyes off the sand castle to look at Naruto-kun, and I was so surprised I was speechless. It happened while I had my attention stolen by that magical sight. Without me noticing, Naruto-kun produced a bouquet of flowers. He looked slightly embarrassed as he held a bouquet of bright red roses.

"Wha—…eh? Wh-What is this? What is this…? What's going on?"

I don't know what's going on anymore. One surprise is coming after another and I'm beginning to feel faint. I'm drunk. I feel like I'm getting totally wasted on this whole dreamlike situation—

"You said so yourself, Rias-san. I have to think more about the mood if I'm confessing my love."

I did. I did say that. But.

"You're kidding… right?"

"For example, renting out an entire theme park and bringing me a bouquet of flowers in front of a castle." It can't be. It just can't. Did he take that seriously? It was just something I made up in a desperate attempt to make him give up on me.

"…Sorry. I don't have the money to reserve an entire theme park… Right now the best I can do is this cheap castle," he says apologetically.

"If you say that you have no interest in a fifteen-year-old who has yet to become a member of society, then I'll give up. If you say that you don't want to waste your time dating someone like me who has no money or status… It'd be frustrating, but I will step aside."

However, he took one step forward.

"My youth, my future, if you're worried about that—well, it's none of your business."

"N-None of my business… I'm just sorry for…"

I lied and seduced him, and because of that I made his life go crazy. Yet with his youthful face, Naruto-kun gave me a broad smile.

"My heart is already going crazy. If you feel bad about it, please do something about it."

He bent his leg, got down on one knee, and knelt before me all in one motion while I was still sitting on the bench. The scent of flowers tickled the inside of my nose. With the magically sparkling sand castle to his back, this boy with his flower bouquet looked up at me. His eyes were completely unclouded and contained an intense heat like the sun.

"I love you, Rias-san. I love the real you, the twenty-seven-year-old you."

"Naruto-kun…"

Oh no… I'm going to my toes to the top of my head, I was deeply submerged in this dream world. My armor of reason was being scorched by a boiling heat like the sun, and it began to melt and fall away. My feelings were going crazy and wrenching off the lid that was supposed to be suppressing them… My heart was completely naked.

"I… don't have money and power like a prince. My face isn't particularly good looking. However, at the least, I will work to make my heart like that of a prince."

"…That's not fair." The words spilled out of my lips."It's not fair, it's not fair, Naruto-kun… Why are you trying so hard for someone like me? If you keep doing that I'll…"

I lost control of my emotions, and my tears spilled out with them. Lately, I really have been crying too much. In the two weeks since I've met him, just how much have I cried?However, the tears I was shedding now were different from all the other times.

"…Do you really understand?" I said amidst sobs. "I'm… twenty-seven years old, you know?"

"I know."

"I'm already an old lady."

"Twenty-seven years old is not an old lady."

"I… really am not a good woman, you know? I'm not girly at all. I'm not very fashionable, and what's more, even now I hate having to coordinate my outfit, so I wear my suit to work every day. On my days off… I'm the kind of woman who stays inside and plays video games all day."

"Not a problem. Let's play together."

"As for cooking, what I gave you before was only because I was really motivated, okay? It's not like I'm trying that hard every day, and there're a lot of times where I just eat cup ramen…"

"I don't mind something like that."

"…Naruto-kun, you… look at my breasts a lot."

"Um… well, you see, um, that's—"

"…I mean, these boobs are probably going to start sagging soon, you know?"

"Th-Then I'll enjoy them until they sag! And when they start sagging, I'll enjoy that too!"

"…Psht. Hahaha. What are you even saying?"

I spat out a laugh and wiped my eyes. But no matter how much I wiped them, the tears wouldn't stop. When you get to my age, you have an understanding of what it means to cry. When your superior gets really mad at you for making a mistake. When your beloved grandfather passes away. Also… when you have to break up with a fifteen-year-old. You're so sad that your tears won't stop flowing, but even then you've acquired somewhat of an understanding of how to control your tears and your feelings.

However, at that moment I didn't know how. I don't know what to do at a time like this. Just what are you supposed to do when you're so happy you can't stop crying? I'm at such a loss, I feel like I'm going to lose it…

"…Are you sure? Are you really really sure that you want to be with me? Even though I'm almost thirty, will you make me your girlfriend?"

"Yes!"

His response without hesitation shot me through the heart. Oh no—I'm done for. I no longer have anything to conceal me. There's nothing left to stop me. Shackles, armor, lids, they'd all been melted away. The only thing moving me was my feelings just laid bare.

I slowly stood up. I gathered my courage, and to answer his step forward, I took one step forward as well. I bent over slightly and took the outstretched bouquet.

My name is Rias Gremory. I'm a chief executive in Eternal Blue company. My hobby is video games. My age… is twenty-seven years old. Today, I got my first boyfriend. He's twelve years younger than me, but he's the coolest, and he's my prince.

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