Ch.229IF Side Story: Like Memories Piling Up

I feel a bit strange.

Jihye and I have thought of each other as sisters for quite a long time.

This is natural. After all, we’ve been together since our earliest memories.

We’ve spent too much time sharing the same room to call ourselves mere friends.

Both of us were found abandoned in a Baby Box at a church, and when the pastor’s circumstances became difficult, we were sent to this orphanage. Since then, we’ve continuously shared the same neighborhood, same building, and same room.

Even now, in some sense, we could say we’re sharing the same room, but—

“It’s different from back then,” Jihye pouted and grumbled.

We were walking down a street together.

When I asked her what she wanted to do, she thought hard for a while before saying she wanted to go to places we’d visited before, just the two of us.

According to Jihye, rather than wasting time traveling far, it would be much better to book a nice hotel and restaurant, then enjoy the remaining time pleasantly.

So we came out early in the morning and have been wandering around outside.

“We used to have a room just for the two of us, but now there are so many other kids.”

“…Sorry.”

“…No, there’s nothing to be sorry about.”

Jihye said with slightly flushed cheeks.

“Besides, there are many things we can do now because of our current relationship.”

I stared blankly at her for a moment, then leaned down slightly.

“Chu.”

“Ah!?”

When I lightly kissed her lips, Jihye cried out in surprise. Fortunately, there weren’t many people around since it was morning. I had kissed her knowing this.

“W-what’s that all of a sudden?”

As if unsure what expression to make, Jihye pouted again and grumbled.

Seeing those pouting lips, I pressed my lips against hers once more.

“Hey, what are you doing!”

“Well, I am your girlfriend.”

I laughed and wrapped my arm around Jihye’s waist, pulling her close to me. Feeling our bodies pressed together much more intimately than simply linking arms, Jihye rolled her eyes in slight embarrassment.

“This way, we can do things we couldn’t do back then, right?”

“T-that’s, but still…”

That’s right.

There are many things you can’t do as “sisters.” Though it seems like the closest relationship in the world, it’s often not as close as spouses or lovers. Isn’t that natural? Families have their own boundaries.

Well, we’re still “family” now, but that relationship has definitely changed from when we were “sisters.”

Jihye muttered something just barely audible to me, but it seemed she was just trying to hide her embarrassment.

When I pulled her waist closer, Jihye smiled softly and put her hand around my waist too.

After gently kissing the top of her head again, we walked on.

*

There wasn’t much to do from early morning. So we decided to just get by with breakfast for now.

The hamburger chain with the yellow alphabet logo, famous worldwide with countless stores, was at least open in the morning.

We ordered pancakes for a light meal, then headed straight to a karaoke place.

“It’s been a while since we went to karaoke, just the two of us!”

Jihye said with sparkling eyes. Somehow, her face seemed to have gone back in time, looking like a high school student again.

Perhaps because it had been so long since we came alone together, Jihye excitedly went inside.

And for some reason, she stood waiting with a bright smile instead of sitting down.

Looking at her with slightly suspicious eyes, I sat down, and then—

“Hup!”

Jihye immediately sat on my lap.

“Whoa!?”

She tried to sit in a princess-carry position but gave it too much momentum, almost rolling off. I caught her with my arms to prevent her from falling.

As I held her waist tightly, Jihye’s face ended up slightly above mine.

She was playful when climbing up, but when I wrapped both arms around her waist, she suddenly seemed embarrassed and lowered her gaze.

“Aren’t you going to sing?” I whispered in her ear, making her body shiver.

“Y-you go first…”

“Hmm? Sorry, I’m holding you right now, so my hands are occupied. You choose a song for us. Hold the microphone too.”

Jihye seemed a bit flustered and tried to get up, but I held her tighter with both arms to prevent her from escaping.

Even under the flashing karaoke lights, I could somehow see Jihye’s face turning red. Well, I suppose that’s natural since some of those lights had red in them.

When I rested my face on Jihye’s shoulder, she shivered slightly again.

“T-then, let’s do one we used to sing a lot.”

“Sure, please choose.”

At my words, Jihye handled the remote.

We sang together. Actually, the songs we used to sing were usually upbeat ones. After all, there was no reason for sisters to sing melancholy songs or ballads when they came together.

But somehow, becoming lovers changed the atmosphere—for some reason, we ended up singing a song that should have made us “run” while headbanging, as if it were a lovers’ duet.

Still, we had a good laugh after the song ended.

Jihye seemed more accustomed to this “lover atmosphere” now and leaned against me, while I caressed her body a bit. Though Jihye lightly hit my shoulder and glared at me.

Chu.

“…”

Whenever she did that, I’d press my lips against hers, and Jihye would squirm and bury her face in my shoulder.

I don’t understand why she’s suddenly being shy now.

It’s just the two of us here, and we’ve faced much more intimate situations.

The songs became calmer as we went on, and eventually we ended up singing a ballad as a duet.

Well, even I felt a bit strange by the end, and after the song finished, we both shivered slightly.

I guess more upbeat songs suit us better after all.

*

“Aaahn~”

Jihye had something else she wanted to try.

Of course, having known each other for so long, we’d been to restaurants together many times.

But we’d never dated at those restaurants. That’s what Jihye wanted to experience, it seems.

When Jihye held out her fork toward me and said that, the tip of the fork trembled slightly. I found it amusing that she was shaking just to offer me a piece of pork cutlet, though I could somewhat understand why.

“Aaahn.”

When I accepted it with my mouth, Jihye blushed slightly and smiled broadly.

That expression is nice too. No, it gives me a different kind of good feeling because of that expression. After all, being in love doesn’t mean you only want to see your lover lying naked in bed all the time.

Love is enjoyable, isn’t it?

I was slowly savoring that emotion while being with Jihye.

I picked up a piece of pork cutlet and offered it to Jihye’s mouth.

“Here, aaahn.”

As I awkwardly imitated Jihye—for some reason, my hand trembled slightly too. I was also a bit conscious of the people sitting at nearby tables.

Ah, so that’s why she was so embarrassed.

“A-aaahn.”

Jihye opened her mouth and ate it.

After doing it, I felt incredibly embarrassed.

Both of us didn’t continue doing that, quietly finished our meal, paid quickly, and went outside.

After walking for a bit,

“Pfft.”

Jihye burst into laughter.

“Hahaha!”

Seeing Jihye unable to contain her laughter as if she’d heard a funny joke, I found myself laughing too.

And then we stuck close together again and strode forward energetically.

The cold winter wind hit our faces, but perhaps because of each other’s body heat, it didn’t feel that cold.

*

In that sense, our “date” could be considered quite successful.

We did everything that fresh couples could possibly do.

“But using magic to win that stuffed animal was a bit much.”

Jihye said while hugging a large teddy bear.

Despite saying that, she looked extremely happy.

“No, I won that with my shooting skills, really.”

To be honest, I felt a bit wronged. Not just Jihye, but even the arcade owner gave me disbelieving looks.

I’m not a shooting-type magical girl to begin with. I’m someone who swings a huge hammer throughout fights. If it had been Ju-a doing the shooting, their suspicion would make sense.

Well, it’s not wrong to say I can use magic, but in the end, the arcade owner had to give me the large stuffed animal without finding any evidence that I had cheated.

“…Wait a minute. Are you saying that on purpose?”

Thinking about it again, Jihye wasn’t the type to disbelieve me when I said such things. In fact, at the arcade, she even got angry alongside me.

“Hehe.”

Jihye laughed mischievously as if deliberately teasing me.

That face, half-hidden behind the large teddy bear she was hugging—honestly, it was cute.

Cute and lovable.

“…”

I spread my arms wide and hugged Jihye tightly with the teddy bear between us.

Jihye immediately went quiet.

She had been developing a resistance to my frequent kisses, but this innocent hug seemed to leave her unable to collect herself.

“Hehe.”

I got my revenge by giving her the same laugh.

“…That’s unfair.”

“Well, you already knew I could be unfair.”

When I went back to Jihye’s side and put my arm around her waist, she smiled slightly.

Jihye leaned her head toward me. I leaned my head toward her too.

Now, both of us have become too skilled as each other’s lovers.

We’ll have many more days like this in the future.

Each time, new memories will slowly accumulate for all of us.

“Want to get waffles?”

“Yes!”

We bought waffles filled with whipped cream, and as I was feeding Jihye, who couldn’t use her hands, I licked some cream from the corner of her mouth, which made her a little angry.

Though with her smiling face, she wasn’t scary at all.