Eh—n. Ta-0, tie kick!
“Aah… I’m getting kicked again this year… poor thing.”
“No, it’s not convincing even if you say it with such a big smile on your face, you know? In fact,
Kaede has been laughing all the time since a while ago, you know?”
It was the night of New Year’s Eve. Kaede and I were sitting side by side on the kotatsu (a table with a table over it) in the living room, watching the annual year-end show where you get spanked if you laugh. Oh, a Muay Thai fighter appeared with a lively entrance sound and threw a kick with all his might at the crying comedian. The comedian jumped on the ground like a fish on land.
“Aww… that looks really painful!!”
Kaede was laughing hysterically with a worried tone in her voice. What was with the kicking every year. It was a promise, but it was also good. I wonder if it would be a slap after this?
“A year ago, I never thought I would be able to spend New Year’s Eve with Yuya-kun like this. A lot has happened, hasn’t it?”
Kaede was leaning on my shoulder. When I gently stroked her head, she squinted her eyes in a pleasant way.
“It’s been an eventful year. I mean, it hasn’t even been a year yet, but it’s been such a dense
time that I can’t believe it”
“Yes, it is. Eh, Yuya-kun. Do you remember? I remember the day I came to Yuya-kun’s house.”
“Of course I did. I didn’t expect Kaede to come out of nowhere and make a big stink about Taka-san.”
The day his arsehole parents fled overseas, leaving him in debt. Kaede, who saved me from the fate of becoming Taka’s bestie. The girl of his dreams, who was voted the cutest high school girl in Japan, never imagined that she would agitate Taka-san in a big way when they first met. Ora, you surprised me!
“Because at that time, I was desperate to save Yuya-kun! That’s why I was so desperate. When I thought that my first love was going away, I was so self-conscious”
Kaede then hugged my arms tightly. ‘Don’t go anywhere’. I could feel that feeling.
“The rest of the story was full of surprises. I was surprised to find out that she was willing to take over my debt, but there was a condition, and that was to live together with Kaede.”
Furthermore, they would get married after graduating from High School. On top of that, I would eventually take over Kaede’s family’s business, Hitotsuba Denki. I didn’t know what was going on anymore.
“I’ve never known Kaede to be a prankster. She gave me a Coke that she had shaken beforehand, and tried to take a bath with me. It was a series of surprises from day one.”
To be honest, I thought at the time that no matter how many hearts I had, it would never be enough. I was especially nervous when she tried to take a bath with me. I thought she was wearing a swimsuit under her bath towel, but when she took it off, she had nothing on. The smug look on her face was burned into my mind.
“There is something I remember too. It was the first night that I came to this house with Yuya-kun. You were crying by yourself that day, weren’t you?”
“… eh?”
How did you know about that? I’m sure I had a dream that night that my mom and dad said goodbye and left me, only to disappear into the darkness. I was crying because it was painful to be abandoned by my parents, whom I took for granted that I would be with them for whatever reason.
“Mou… of course I’d notice. That night, I was so nervous about sleeping with Yuya-kun for the first time that I couldn’t sleep well.”
“Hmm? Nervous? Kaede was the one who asked me to sleep with her, and she said she wanted to fall asleep while squeezing me?”
“Then Yuya-kun went out of the bedroom… I thought he wouldn’t come back, so I went to look for him in the living room… Mou, if you’re going to cry, why don’t you cry on my chest.”
Oh, I was gloriously passed over. That was okay. So it wasn’t my imagination that she called my name then. So that was why Kaede was sleeping in a different place when I returned to the bedroom.
“That was partly because I was in a hurry, but also because I wanted to be surrounded by Yuya-kun’s scent. Thanks to that, I was able to fall asleep immediately. The scent of someone you love is so reassuring!”
“… I totally agree with you on that one.”
A lot has happened since then. The bento confrontation led to a change in the way we call her, from “Hitotsuba-san” to “Kaede-san,” and we learned that Kaede actually worked out every day in places we can’t see, and took care of her beauty.
“I was trying so hard, I thought what would I do when I collapsed. I was in a real hurry at that time.”
“Uuh… I’m sorry. I made Yuya-kun worry about me… It might sound inappropriate, but I was very happy that he was worried about me.”
I gently stroked Kaede, who smiled, ehehe. It was a bad habit to forgive someone because they were cute. I think I need to fix it, but I would probably never be able to.
“I couldn’t stop my heart from pounding when he gave me a kiss and let me eat it the night I made him Valentine’s Day chocolate. It was the moment when Yuya-kun’s natural charm came out in full force.”
“No, no, no!? I was just trying to surprise Kaede!? It’s not like I was aiming for an indirect kiss!?”
“Still, sir! Listen, Yuya-kun. When a girl is kissed by someone she likes, that’s all it takes to make her nervous!”
Kaede’s cheeks were slightly red as she pounded on the kotatsu. If you ask me, I’d be thrilled too if the girl I liked gave me ahhh. In fact, after that, Kaede did it to me, and my heart beat so fast that it hurt.
“And then… extracurricular camps. My first time skiing with Yuya-kun, it was so much fun!”
“Haha… I got carried away and took a big tumble, though.”
“It’s true! It’s a good thing the snow wall was soft… one wrong move and we’d have been in big
trouble! Yuya-kun’s body doesn’t belong to him alone anymore, so please be careful.”
“No, don’t think that line is funny!? Don’t think we should say that line until we’re both a little older!”
That was what you would say to fathers who had children, right? I didn’t think it was appropriate for us who were still in high school. Well, I want to be like that eventually—aah, no. Not now!
“Fufu. I’m looking forward to that time. Ah… na… ta.”
Kaede breathes into my ear with a huff. An electric current surged through my body. The breath was one thing, but Kaede’s voice had a strange luster to it. That was what disturbed my reason.
“And that night… is a memory I will cherish forever.”
“Aah… I’ll never forget it either. What happened that day.”
Under the starry sky, I confessed my feelings for Kaede. With all my heart, I told her, “I love you. My body and voice trembled in a different way from the cold.
“I was so… I was so happy. I had been waiting for a long time, dreaming that Yuya-kun would say “I love you” to me.”
“I’m sorry to keep you waiting, Kaede.”
“It’s okay. I’m happy enough to be here with you now.”
She smiled and looked at me with moist eyes. I couldn’t help but take Kaede’s hand and hug her as hard as I could.
“Yuya-kun, what’s wrong with you all of a sudden? fufu. Did you feel like spoiling yourself?”
“… Yeah. I want you to spoil me.”
“Mou… I can’t help it.”
There was no sign of dismay in her voice as she said this, in fact it seemed to be filled with a lot of love. Kaede gently stroked my head. It was as if my mother had done this to me when I was a child, and it made me feel at ease.
“I will not go anywhere. I’ll always be by your side, Yuya-kun.”
“… Yeah. Thank you, Kaede.”
The countdown to the new year begins on TV
—Happy New Year! Happy New Year!!! —
Kusudama (black balls) were broken, and people celebrated the New Year with great fanfare. Kaede turned her body away from me and we faced each other.
“The new year is here. Yuya-kun, I look forward to working with you again this year.”
“I look forward to working with you again this year.”
We greeted each other for the New Year by laughing and bumping our foreheads with a knuckle. I wish you a good year. May I and Kaede accumulate a lot of happiness. With that wish, I kissed my beloved.
“Yuya-kun. Let’s make a lot of memories together this year.”
Eh—n. Ta-0, tie kick!
“Aah… I’m getting kicked again this year… poor thing.”
“No, it’s not convincing even if you say it with such a big smile on your face, you know? In fact,
Kaede has been laughing all the time since a while ago, you know?”
It was the night of New Year’s Eve. Kaede and I were sitting side by side on the kotatsu (a table with a table over it) in the living room, watching the annual year-end show where you get spanked if you laugh. Oh, a Muay Thai fighter appeared with a lively entrance sound and threw a kick with all his might at the crying comedian. The comedian jumped on the ground like a fish on land.
“Aww… that looks really painful!!”
Kaede was laughing hysterically with a worried tone in her voice. What was with the kicking every year. It was a promise, but it was also good. I wonder if it would be a slap after this?
“A year ago, I never thought I would be able to spend New Year’s Eve with Yuya-kun like this. A lot has happened, hasn’t it?”
Kaede was leaning on my shoulder. When I gently stroked her head, she squinted her eyes in a pleasant way.
“It’s been an eventful year. I mean, it hasn’t even been a year yet, but it’s been such a dense
time that I can’t believe it”
“Yes, it is. Eh, Yuya-kun. Do you remember? I remember the day I came to Yuya-kun’s house.”
“Of course I did. I didn’t expect Kaede to come out of nowhere and make a big stink about Taka-san.”
The day his arsehole parents fled overseas, leaving him in debt. Kaede, who saved me from the fate of becoming Taka’s bestie. The girl of his dreams, who was voted the cutest high school girl in Japan, never imagined that she would agitate Taka-san in a big way when they first met. Ora, you surprised me!
“Because at that time, I was desperate to save Yuya-kun! That’s why I was so desperate. When I thought that my first love was going away, I was so self-conscious”
Kaede then hugged my arms tightly. ‘Don’t go anywhere’. I could feel that feeling.
“The rest of the story was full of surprises. I was surprised to find out that she was willing to take over my debt, but there was a condition, and that was to live together with Kaede.”
Furthermore, they would get married after graduating from High School. On top of that, I would eventually take over Kaede’s family’s business, Hitotsuba Denki. I didn’t know what was going on anymore.
“I’ve never known Kaede to be a prankster. She gave me a Coke that she had shaken beforehand, and tried to take a bath with me. It was a series of surprises from day one.”
To be honest, I thought at the time that no matter how many hearts I had, it would never be enough. I was especially nervous when she tried to take a bath with me. I thought she was wearing a swimsuit under her bath towel, but when she took it off, she had nothing on. The smug look on her face was burned into my mind.
“There is something I remember too. It was the first night that I came to this house with Yuya-kun. You were crying by yourself that day, weren’t you?”
“… eh?”
How did you know about that? I’m sure I had a dream that night that my mom and dad said goodbye and left me, only to disappear into the darkness. I was crying because it was painful to be abandoned by my parents, whom I took for granted that I would be with them for whatever reason.
“Mou… of course I’d notice. That night, I was so nervous about sleeping with Yuya-kun for the first time that I couldn’t sleep well.”
“Hmm? Nervous? Kaede was the one who asked me to sleep with her, and she said she wanted to fall asleep while squeezing me?”
“Then Yuya-kun went out of the bedroom… I thought he wouldn’t come back, so I went to look for him in the living room… Mou, if you’re going to cry, why don’t you cry on my chest.”
Oh, I was gloriously passed over. That was okay. So it wasn’t my imagination that she called my name then. So that was why Kaede was sleeping in a different place when I returned to the bedroom.
“That was partly because I was in a hurry, but also because I wanted to be surrounded by Yuya-kun’s scent. Thanks to that, I was able to fall asleep immediately. The scent of someone you love is so reassuring!”
“… I totally agree with you on that one.”
A lot has happened since then. The bento confrontation led to a change in the way we call her, from “Hitotsuba-san” to “Kaede-san,” and we learned that Kaede actually worked out every day in places we can’t see, and took care of her beauty.
“I was trying so hard, I thought what would I do when I collapsed. I was in a real hurry at that time.”
“Uuh… I’m sorry. I made Yuya-kun worry about me… It might sound inappropriate, but I was very happy that he was worried about me.”
I gently stroked Kaede, who smiled, ehehe. It was a bad habit to forgive someone because they were cute. I think I need to fix it, but I would probably never be able to.
“I couldn’t stop my heart from pounding when he gave me a kiss and let me eat it the night I made him Valentine’s Day chocolate. It was the moment when Yuya-kun’s natural charm came out in full force.”
“No, no, no!? I was just trying to surprise Kaede!? It’s not like I was aiming for an indirect kiss!?”
“Still, sir! Listen, Yuya-kun. When a girl is kissed by someone she likes, that’s all it takes to make her nervous!”
Kaede’s cheeks were slightly red as she pounded on the kotatsu. If you ask me, I’d be thrilled too if the girl I liked gave me ahhh. In fact, after that, Kaede did it to me, and my heart beat so fast that it hurt.
“And then… extracurricular camps. My first time skiing with Yuya-kun, it was so much fun!”
“Haha… I got carried away and took a big tumble, though.”
“It’s true! It’s a good thing the snow wall was soft… one wrong move and we’d have been in big
trouble! Yuya-kun’s body doesn’t belong to him alone anymore, so please be careful.”
“No, don’t think that line is funny!? Don’t think we should say that line until we’re both a little older!”
That was what you would say to fathers who had children, right? I didn’t think it was appropriate for us who were still in high school. Well, I want to be like that eventually—aah, no. Not now!
“Fufu. I’m looking forward to that time. Ah… na… ta.”
Kaede breathes into my ear with a huff. An electric current surged through my body. The breath was one thing, but Kaede’s voice had a strange luster to it. That was what disturbed my reason.
“And that night… is a memory I will cherish forever.”
“Aah… I’ll never forget it either. What happened that day.”
Under the starry sky, I confessed my feelings for Kaede. With all my heart, I told her, “I love you. My body and voice trembled in a different way from the cold.
“I was so… I was so happy. I had been waiting for a long time, dreaming that Yuya-kun would say “I love you” to me.”
“I’m sorry to keep you waiting, Kaede.”
“It’s okay. I’m happy enough to be here with you now.”
She smiled and looked at me with moist eyes. I couldn’t help but take Kaede’s hand and hug her as hard as I could.
“Yuya-kun, what’s wrong with you all of a sudden? fufu. Did you feel like spoiling yourself?”
“… Yeah. I want you to spoil me.”
“Mou… I can’t help it.”
There was no sign of dismay in her voice as she said this, in fact it seemed to be filled with a lot of love. Kaede gently stroked my head. It was as if my mother had done this to me when I was a child, and it made me feel at ease.
“I will not go anywhere. I’ll always be by your side, Yuya-kun.”
“… Yeah. Thank you, Kaede.”
The countdown to the new year begins on TV
—Happy New Year! Happy New Year!!! —
Kusudama (black balls) were broken, and people celebrated the New Year with great fanfare. Kaede turned her body away from me and we faced each other.
“The new year is here. Yuya-kun, I look forward to working with you again this year.”
“I look forward to working with you again this year.”
We greeted each other for the New Year by laughing and bumping our foreheads with a knuckle. I wish you a good year. May I and Kaede accumulate a lot of happiness. With that wish, I kissed my beloved.
“Yuya-kun. Let’s make a lot of memories together this year.”
