In Ayani Kika's arms, Kotomi Izumi blushed, her entire heart seeming to be wrapped in a thick layer of rosy embarrassment at this very moment.
"Kika, that line of yours is totally unfair..."
Blushing, Kotomi spoke from within Ayani Kika's embrace.
"Do you know, for a girl, the most lethal kind of confession is something like, 'I want to give you a home'? I feel like my face is about to turn into a steamed dumpling in a bamboo basket."
"I only told you my wish exactly as it is in my heart. When I said that to you, I didn't expect it would make you this shy. Could it be that this is what they mean by intentionally planting flowers that never bloom, yet accidentally planting willows that flourish?"
"Mm... don't say things like that all the time. It's too embarrassing."
Kotomi shyly averted her gaze. Ayani Kika's gentle yet forceful words made her already flushed cheeks grow even redder.
"The more embarrassed you look, the more I can't help thinking about something..."
Ayani Kika leaned in and lightly kissed Kotomi's lips again, whispering softly,
"If I had known you would be this shy, then if I had told you this wish earlier, would you have become my girlfriend sooner?"
"I don't know..." Kotomi's cheeks felt as though they might be steamed by heat in the next second.
"Is that so? Let me guess... there would probably be two possible outcomes. One is that you really would have become my girlfriend earlier. The other is that you wouldn't have been moved by me at all. Not only would you not have become my girlfriend, you might even have thought of me as a very strange woman.
After all, aside from love at first sight, the birth of a relationship usually needs some time to build up. The only difference is whether that time is long or short." Ayani Kika voiced her speculation.
"No, even if you hadn't told me that wish in advance, I already thought of you as a strange woman in my heart." Kotomi said with a red face, smiling awkwardly.
"Eh? So my first impression was really that bad?"
Ayani Kika's expression and tone both conveyed surprise.
But in reality, she was deliberately acting.
Ayani Kika had long known that Kotomi once regarded her as a strange woman. Perhaps even now, Kotomi still thought of her that way in her heart.
At the same time, Ayani Kika was well aware that Kotomi finding her strange had nothing to do with a bad first impression or dislike. It was because of curiosity.
She knew Kotomi was a girl with a strong sense of curiosity. Whenever she encountered someone or something mysterious, she would naturally feel intrigued. And some of the things Ayani Kika said constantly stirred the curiosity buried deep within Kotomi's heart.
Driven by that curiosity, even if Kotomi never said it aloud, Ayani Kika had already guessed that she saw her as a mysterious and somewhat strange woman.
However, for Kotomi to admit it so openly now still surprised Ayani Kika. Along with that surprise came warmth and happiness. She felt that Kotomi's frankness meant she had already placed her in her heart.
Unaware that Ayani Kika was only pretending to be surprised, Kotomi quickly explained, afraid her earlier words might cause unnecessary misunderstanding.
"It's not like that. It's just that ever since we first met in Gion's Hanamachi, some of the things you said and did seemed wrapped in mystery. I'm the kind of person who's very curious. Since you're so mysterious, I naturally kept thinking in my heart, 'That girl named Ayani Kika is kind of strange,' and things like that..."
Before Kotomi could finish, Ayani Kika gently placed a finger against her lips. The smile at the corner of her mouth gradually deepened as she said,
"Alright. I've already heard what I wanted to hear in your explanation, so let's stop there."
"Huh?"
Kotomi looked at her in confusion, replaying her previous sentence from beginning to end in her mind. Yet no matter how she reviewed it, she couldn't figure out which part was what Ayani Kika wanted to hear.
"Are you wondering which sentence it was that I wanted to hear?"
Ayani Kika's gentle, water-like eyes quietly gazed at Kotomi, as though they could see through everything in her heart.
"Mm-hm."
Kotomi nodded. With her naturally strong curiosity, she really did want to know which part Ayani Kika had been hoping to hear.
Ayani Kika smiled softly, then leaned close to Kotomi's ear and said,
"When I heard you say that you often think about me in your heart, I knew that was what I wanted to hear. I don't dare to hope that you think of me every single moment, but hearing that you often think of me is already enough to satisfy me—so much that I cheer quietly inside."
"So that's what you wanted to hear..."
Kotomi suddenly understood, and at the same time felt her cheeks grow faintly hot again.
"Mm-hm, that's right. But there's one more thing I'd like to say. When you think about me in your heart, don't you often think, 'That girl named Ayani Kika'? Could you change that description? For example, to something like, 'That Kika-nee named Ayani Kika' instead?"
Ayani Kika said this with a smiling tone. Her cheerful voice made it impossible for Kotomi to tell whether she was seriously asking or just joking to lighten the mood.
Regardless, Kotomi nodded first.
"Alright..." Kotomi nodded. Then the little devilish side of her personality stirred. Deliberately softening her voice, she called out in a coquettish tone, "Kika-nee~"
"Gasp!"
Ayani Kika froze all over, as if she had just heard a heavenly melody descending from paradise.
After a long while, slowly coming back to her senses from that sweetness, she sighed faintly.
"Hearing you call me Kika-nee with your own lips makes me feel like—even if I were told to die in the next second—I would have no regrets."
"Don't think like that!" Kotomi hurriedly said, then quickly changed the subject. "O-okay, let's hurry home!"
Ayani Kika nodded. Standing in the stairwell, she turned on a flashlight, shining it into the pitch-black staircase. Then she extended her hand toward Kotomi and said with a smile,
"Since you're afraid of a stairwell without lights, then when we go upstairs, you must hold my hand tightly, okay?~"
"Okay!"
Kotomi Izumi nodded vigorously and said,
"I definitely won't let go of your hand. Actually, I kind of want to use glue to stick our hands tightly together right now."
Hearing that, Ayani Kika couldn't help but burst into laughter.
"Haha, although I would like to do as you say, if we really did that, putting everything else aside, your girlfriends would definitely get jealous. And if any of them has a slightly yandere personality, she might suddenly pull out an axe and chop off the hands we've glued together."
Although Kotomi felt it was just an offhand joke, she still shuddered involuntarily after hearing it. The reason was simple—Megumi's personality was quite yandere! She might really do something like that. The only difference might be that what Ayani Kika mentioned was an axe, while Megumi would use a knife.
If I really glued my hand to Kika's, I'm not sure how Yui would react. But Megumi would definitely take out a hatchet and chop off the hands Kika and I glued together. She might even, driven by anger, chop off our other hands that weren't glued together...
Kotomi thought to herself, a thin layer of cold sweat forming on her back.
After Ayani Kika said that, Kotomi even hesitated for a moment about whether she should hold her hand at all...
Even when she reached out toward Ayani Kika's hand, she did so cautiously.
Noticing this, Ayani Kika curled her lips into a helpless smile, though it was unclear what she was thinking. In the next second, however, she extended her hand and firmly grasped Kotomi's still-hesitant little hand.
She even used a bit of force in her grip, as though afraid she hadn't held tightly enough. Not only that, she gave a slight tug forward, pulling Kotomi from behind directly to her side.
"Since you're afraid of the stairwell without lights, then you should obediently stand behind me. If you're behind me, you might accidentally be snatched away by a female ghost hiding in the darkness and eaten. If monsters and spirits really exist in this world, someone as cute as you would definitely be a delicacy to them."
Ayani Kika's usually gentle tone now carried a hint of dominance. After speaking, as if she still wasn't satisfied, she lowered her voice and continued in an eerie whisper to build the atmosphere,
"And don't secretly count how many steps there are in your head, okay? You've heard all those urban legends about staircases, right? What if, while counting, you suddenly discover there's one extra step?"
"Y-you! If you keep saying things like that, I'm really going to get upset."
Seeing that Ayani Kika was trying to scare her again, Kotomi quickly put on a small sulky expression, ready to throw a little tantrum.
"Hahaha, alright, alright. Let's go home first. Watch your step. Even though I'm holding a flashlight, its light is still limited."
Holding Kotomi's small hand, Ayani Kika reminded her gently before stepping onto the stairs.
Kotomi also took out her phone and turned on its built-in flashlight function.
When Ayani Kika suddenly saw light shining from Kotomi's phone like a flashlight, she said in surprise,
"Huh? Why did your phone suddenly turn into a flashlight? Do all the new phones nowadays have this function?"
It was just an ordinary flashlight feature. Yet when Ayani Kika saw it, the surprise and curiosity on her face were like someone in the era when everyone still used pagers and keypad phones were luxury items, suddenly seeing a touchscreen smartphone appear in a television advertisement and on store counters.
"Huh? As long as it's a phone, whether it's new or from a long time ago, it should all have a built-in flashlight function, right?"
As she spoke, Kotomi waved the phone in her hand with the flashlight turned on.
"I see..."
Ayani Kika was still immersed in her shock at the idea that phones had built-in flashlights. Then she laughed as if teasing herself.
"Thinking about it now, the smartphone I'm currently using is really wasted on me. It wasn't until today, seeing you use the flashlight function, that I learned phones even have that feature.
"No wonder when I went to stores to buy a flashlight before, the shelves were filled with professional ones that had all sorts of functions. The kind of ordinary flashlight people used in the past—I had to search through five malls before I finally found one. When I was checking out, the cashier looked at it and exclaimed in surprise,
"'Oh? We still carry this kind of flashlight? That's such an old model.'
"At the time, I didn't understand. I wondered whether people just didn't use ordinary flashlights much anymore.
"Now that I think about it, since smartphones already have built-in flashlight functions, those single-purpose flashlights that only provide light and can't even adjust brightness would naturally be needed less and less."
Kotomi glanced at Ayani Kika in mild confusion. She had heard before that Kika wasn't good at using smartphones, but she hadn't expected that she didn't even know about the built-in flashlight feature.
Before Kotomi could figure out how to bring it up, the two of them had already walked out of the stairwell. Ayani Kika switched off her flashlight.
"Are you hungry? Do you want to order some late-night delivery?" Ayani Kika asked.
"I had some late-night snacks not long ago, so I'm not that hungry. And it's already so late. I doubt any places are still delivering, right?" Kotomi replied.
"Did you have that late-night snack with your girlfriend Megumi Kato?" Ayani Kika asked with a light laugh, her tone carrying the faintest hint of jealousy.
"No, I just grabbed a bite while waiting for the private jet at the airport."
"Saying so calmly that your family owns a private jet—just as expected of Lady Izumi~"
"When you tease me like that, Kika, it feels kind of strange."
"Oh? That's not quite right. Compared to just 'Kika,' I prefer hearing you call me 'Kika-nee.'"
"Kika-nee~"
"Hehe, such a good girl."
Ayani Kika laughed happily. After speaking, she suddenly hugged Kotomi from behind.
"Mm... don't suddenly hug me from behind."
Kotomi's pretty face instantly flushed a visible shade of red.
"You don't like it?"
"N-no, it's not that I don't like it. On the contrary, I really do like it... It's just that we're in the hallway... it's a little embarrassing."
"So you're saying that once we're inside, it's fine?"
"Y-yes..."
Blushing as she spoke, Kotomi casually took out the key to Ayani Kika's home from her pocket and naturally unlocked the door.
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