6 Main Heroines Who Absolutely Want to Monopolize Me - Volume 1 Chapter 7.2

Lovey-Dovey or Die 

“Wow, mine is delicious too! I really want Shinichi-kun to try it too!”

“Ah, ah… here.”

“Um, this is like an indirect kiss…”

Is it really necessary to go this far!?

“Ki-kiss… Now, don’t get all excited about such things at this point. Hira-Shinichi-kun, its not like its your first time! That’s why you never move on from your first love. Oh, That why ‘Shoshin’ and ‘Ubu’ written with the same kanji.”

Wait, why Osaki-san seems a bit too flustered… I don’t know what she’s talking about…

“Anyway, please eat it! An indirect kiss is not the enemy of us, who always secretly give each other french kisses! Right!?”

“F-French kiss.”

Osaki-san, aren’t you the president’s daughter? Is that choice of words appropriate!?

“Please, Hira-kun, don’t embarrass me any further…”

She says in a small voice while glaring at me with teary eyes.

I didn’t know what she would say next, so I took a bite of the sandwich from her hand.

“How-how is it? Is it delicious?”

“Yeah, um…”

Honestly, I don’t really know the taste…

“Well, that’s good then.”

As we leave the shop, a slender, glistening-white hand slips into my right hand.

“Oofuu, Sumire…!”

It’s a lovers’ hold. Even when we were dating, we never held hands like this.

“Don’t react too much. They will know that you’re not used to it.”

“O-Okay…”

She whispers softly, but even your ears are bright red…

We walk hand in hand for a while and arrive at the duty-free shop.¹

“Shinichi-kun, did you bring your passport properly?”

“Huh?”

When I touch my waist where the passport…

“I won’t steal it, you know? Don’t you trust me that much?”

And she lowers her brows, looking sad. Ah, this is her genuine expression…

Feeling a bit sorry for her, I explain briefly, ‘Well, recently my wallet was stolen, but I managed to recover it.’

It seems that Osaki understood with just that, and she smiles wryly, saying,

“It’s troublesome, even with that stalker. I don’t want her getting close to my Shinichi-kun.”

“By the way, the photo in your study abroad audition profile, it was your passport photo, right?”

“Oh, really? Well, I don’t really take photos…”

“Come to think of it, that’s right. At that time…”

“At that time?”

“Uh, well…”

After hesitating, probably realizing there’s no point in evading, Osaki confesses

“You know, there was a time when we tried to take a purikura at the game center.”

“Ah, I remember…”

I recalling it while scratch my cheek.

Our first date after we started dating was at the game center, at the insistence of the sheltered Osaki. She’s probably referring to the time when I declined.

“It hurt quite a bit, you know? Even though I gathered the courage to suggest taking it together, you said, ‘It’s impossible, isn’t it…’ At that time, you still used honorifics.”

“Yeah, that’s true…”

The first time I met Osaki, we were the chairpersons of the executive committee of a joint school festival.

Since we met as seniors and juniors from different schools, we naturally used honorifics.

However, after we started dating, around a little later, she said, ‘Hirakawa-kun, in a relationship, we shouldn’t use honorifics, shouldn’t we?’

After reading some column of advice, she prompted me to switch to casual language.

“I couldn’t ask that much at that time because it was too sad… But, if it’s okay, can I ask why you didn’t want to take the photo?”

Osaki, unusually considerate, looks at me, and since there’s nothing to hide, I decided to answer honestly.

“I just don’t like the way I look.”

“Oh, I see…”

Osaki lowers her eyes, looking a bit lonely at my simple answer.

“So that’s your self-evaluation. Well, everyone has their own perspective. It’s the opposite of my opinion, but that doesn’t mean I’m denying your sensibilities.”

“The opposite?”

‘Ah,’ I thought she would say that, but without doing so, Osaki continues.

“I think there are people who find your appearance attractive. Even if you don’t think so. Besides, your appearance is just a small part of what makes you who you are. In fact, I find everything about you, including your appearance, it is very charming.”

“…Ah, thank you, Sumire. I also—”

As I try to go along with Osaki’s act, she interrupts, saying, “No, that’s not what I mean.”

And then, she specifically tells me in a hushed voice,

“I’m not saying this because it’s an act. It’s the truth, Hirakawa-kun.”

“So, Shinichi-kun, is there something you want? Souvenirs for the bride candidates or something?”

“Ah, well…”

I was speechless at the moment but in an attempt to cover it up, I hastily respond.

“Certainly, it might be a good idea to buy something for everyone. Ouch!.”

With her nails scratching the back of my hand that she’s holding, my voice unintentionally comes out.

“W-Well! I don’t have money to spend on other girls… I-I mean, I wanted to buy a present only for Sumire.”

“Well, I’m happy!”

Sumire intentionally expresses joy.

“But, I’m okay with any presents. If you buy me a chocolate tablet for around 3,000 yen, I’ll be happy with that alone.”

“Chocolate tablet, is that a chocolate bar? ‘Around 3,000 yen’ – you’re probably trying to be considerate, but that’s quite expensive, you know?”

“Huh?”

Hey, seriously? Drop the act.

“Well, well, you’re really good at joking, Hirakawa-kun.”

“Yeah, around 1,500 yen, right?”

“Ahaha… No, that’s not it.”

Seeing my blatantly forced smile, Osaki, who apparently judged that she couldn’t keep up the act any longer, lets out a sigh, dropping her shoulders.

“I thought our sense of money was not that different, but… Well, it seems it was. Your family has the motto ‘Those who don’t work shall not eat,’ right?”

“You remember that well, huh? That’s our family rule or tradition.”

The phrase she mentioned, ‘Those who don’t work shall not eat,’ is more of a tradition at our house.

From around the time I was in kindergarten, I earned pocket money by doing chores. Bath cleaning for 5 yen, dishwashing for 10 yen, taking out the trash for 3 yen…

It was like that, and from as far back as I can remember, money for me was compensation for labor.

Therefore, I have a pride in being more strict about money than most of my classmates.

“If I discipline a child like that, he will grow up to be a like Hirakawa-kun.you know?”

“Do you want to raise a child like me…?”

“Yeah.”

Or rather, she keeps calling me Hirakawa-kun, but…

“I’m tired…”

After the farce, we returned to our mansion with a private pool. I wrote a message on a notepad I found there and showed it to her.

‘Is this place not under surveillance?’

Osaki looked at the note.

“You studied Indonesian, but the spelling is wrong,”

Osaki then writing below it.

‘Unfortunately, surveillance is still in place.’

“I see…”

“But, it was close. This one is the correct answer.”

‘If we’re in the pool, our voices probably won’t be heard.’

“…I see.”

¹. A duty-free shop is a shop, for example at an airport, where you can buy goods at a cheaper price than usual, because no tax is paid on them.