Chapter 8:

Naoko's sobs abruptly stopped. Amemiya pinched her face and frantically wiped away her tears. "Naoko, you look so disgusting when you're like this. Wipe your tears and come inside."

She pinched his soft flesh hard on the waist to express her disapproval.

"It's all your fault! Irie-senpai was my first love!"

He remained unmoved. "I'm just returning everything to the way it was, isn't it? Anyway, I was the only one in your life before. Naoko, you should have gotten used to it."

Just as she was about to lose her temper, Amemiya thrust the parfait fork into her hand.

"Hurry up and eat! I won't wait for you if you're late."

Naoko cried as she ate, still scolding him:

"You've ruined everything for me, Amemiya-kun."

"Ha, don't you just like that kind of pretentious hypocrite? That guy just pretends better." He said, picking up a nearby tissue and gently wiping the corner of her lips.

"Are you crazy?" She jumped out of her chair in shock.

His crimson lips curled up as he asked, "Naoko-chan, don't you like this kind of hypocritical type?"

Naoko held the parfait spoon in front of her: "You'd better change back quickly. Give me back that venomous and mean Amemiya-kun."

He sneered from the side.

"I'll give you five more minutes."

"Five minutes is not enough to finish it, is it?"

"Ha, isn't it because you spent too much time with that ugly bastard?"

She had no choice but to sit back down, burying her face in the parfait and eating it.

Of course, she couldn't finish it, so she packed up the portion she had been given and prepared to take it back to Ms. Kawase Misato.

Lying in bed at night, Naoko habitually browsed Irie-senpai's social media account.

Thinking of his gentle gaze, she couldn't help but feel a sour taste in her throat.

Just as she was feeling sour, Irie-senpai's profile picture jumped twice, and a message popped up.

It was the senior!

She clicked on it impatiently, but was greeted with cold words:

[Kawase, can you give me Amemiya-kun's contact information? Because we're still on good terms.

Like a bucket of cold water poured over her head, Naoko's fiery heart suddenly cooled.

If Irie-senpai hadn't been so blunt, she wouldn't have been so upset. Fortunately, he'd clearly told her:

she simply couldn't defeat Amamiya-kun.

Irie-senpai always used to text her goodnight before bed, and thinking of that made her want to cry.

She was struggling with how to respond to Irie Reo. After all, she shouldn't give Amamiya-kun's contact information to anyone, and secretly, she didn't want to.

But before she could formulate a polite refusal, a message popped up on her computer screen about a remote login.

It had to be Amamiya Tomie.

Naoko had a feeling he was about to do something terrible again, and after a frantic frantic effort, she finally managed to push Amamiya-kun out after ten minutes, but it was too late.

Amamiya-kun had already lashed out at Irie Reo with a barrage of harsh and vicious words.

There were probably a dozen messages, but Irie-senpai hadn't replied to a single one.

"..."

Her fingertips trembled as she hurriedly typed an apology, unsure if it was too late.

About two minutes passed before the other party replied:

[Ah, yes, I guessed it. It was Amamiya-kun, wasn't it? Even the humiliation is so condescending...]

[...I'm sorry! Irie-senpai, are you angry?]

[How could that be... I'm so grateful, Amamiya-kun... I'll take a screenshot and keep it safe...] I'm

glad you're not angry.

Naoko breathed a sigh of relief.

But not long after, she received a brief message from Amamiya Tomie:

[Deleted him.]

As for who was deleted, it was self-evident.

Naoko lifted her finger and deleted Amamiya Tomie from her contact list.

Amamiya-kun must have been furious, because he had sent several friend requests in quick succession, interspersed with vile insults and put-downs about Irie Reo, which she had, of course, ignored without exception.

But as she dozed off, lying on her side, she heard a slight noise on the windowsill behind her.

She thought the wind might have forced the doors and windows open, but when she turned, she saw Amemiya-kun's angry face pressed against the windowpane.

Naoko was startled.

Amemiya tapped the windowsill with his fingers and mouthed a warning, "Add my friend back."

She rubbed her eyes, trying to dispel the unrealistic illusion, but two minutes later, the scene before her remained unchanged.

Naoko jumped out of bed, not even bothering to put on her slippers, and flung the window open.

"Are you crazy? This is the second floor!" She lowered her voice to avoid attracting the attention of Ms. Kawase Misato or the other neighbors.

"Add my friend back, Naoko."

"Yes, add me. Come in first!"

His fair, beautiful face twitched twice, and he repeated, "Add my friend back, Naoko."

Naoko had no choice but to take the phone and accept his friend request right in front of him.

He finally returned to normal and climbed in through the window. She was so frightened that she leaned against the wall and cried.

"Amemiya-kun, are you crazy?"

Amemiya returned to his calm demeanor, narrowed his eyes, and pinched her face. "You're the crazy one. But it seems like I haven't been in your room in a long time, Naoko—since junior high school."

He walked around the room twice and commented, "It's so small."

Before junior high school, Amemiya entered her room as if he were entering a deserted place. But after that, Naoko entered puberty and had her own little secrets, so she was not very willing to let him in.

He raised his hand and took down the target on the wall: "Is that my photo posted in the middle? Naoko, you look like you hate me."

"That's entirely because you, Amamiya-kun, always make people angry, right? Just like tonight, you could have gone through the main door, right? What were you trying to do by climbing up the water pipe..."

Amamiya half-lowered his eyes, staring down at her, his tone half-true and half-false: "This is to teach you a lesson, Naoko, and don't do the same thing again next time and make me angry."

"This...this kind of thing should be said by me, right? It's always me who compromises.

" "Really." He lay down on Naoko's small bed, "In that case, Naoko, you have to compromise and let me sleep here tonight. It smells so good with Naoko's body."

"Hey, hey, hey, Amamiya-kun, don't push your luck!" She grabbed his hand and tried to pull him up, but he pinched and tickled her palm instead.

"You slept a lot before, didn't you?"

Naoko kicked him weakly. "Please don't say things that will mislead you, okay? You were just a little kid before."

She realized then that Amemiya was still in his pajamas, having actually climbed up the water pipe from downstairs...

If someone caught him on camera, tomorrow's newspaper headlines would probably read:

"Shocking! Why is a man indecently dressed climbing on a neighbor's window sill at night?"

But with his interruption, Naoko quickly forgot about Irie Reo.

"Amemiya-kun? Amemiya-kun,"

she called twice, but Amemiya didn't answer.

He lay quietly on her pink sheets, his eyes closed, dark circles under them, looking like he'd fallen asleep from sheer sleep.

Even when she leaned over to touch his face, he didn't respond, nor did she pull out his hair.

Naoko began to fret, for she had no idea what to do with such a large, living being.

If Ms. Kawase Misato saw this, she would be doomed...

But who knows, Ms. Misato seemed to be quite satisfied with Amemiya-kun.

In order not to make a big mistake, she knelt down next to Amemiya carefully, pinched his ear and shouted: "Hey! Amemiya-kun! Wake up - wake up - you should go back to your house and sleep."

There was no response.

When she was about to pinch the other ear and shout, she saw that he had opened his eyes at some point and looked into her eyes.

"It's so noisy, Naoko."

As if she was a little itchy because of her falling hair, Amemiya raised his hand and tucked her messy hair behind her ear.

"It's obviously you who is excessive, right? Why do you still..."

"Shut up."

A warm big hand covered her eyes, and a rare gentle voice came, like helplessness, and also like a sigh.

"Why do you always look at me like that, Naoko? It's so disgusting, Naoko."

She slapped the offending hand away. "Huh, why is it disgusting? Don't you think you're being too much, Amamiya-kun?"

Naoko was about to bring up the past, but his eyelids fluttered open and closed, threatening to close.

Without a second thought, she reached out and forcefully pulled back his drooping lids. "Don't sleep, jerk! I haven't finished yet!"

Amamiya-kun had already fallen asleep.

He lay there at the end of her bed, in his pajamas, asleep.

"Hey, you!"

This gesture was a silent protest.

After repeated attempts to wake him failed, Naoko, furious, covered him with a thin blanket.

The weather between spring and summer wasn't too cold, but that didn't stop her from mentally cursing him for a cold.

With such a large man lying on her blanket, she had no choice but to sleep right next to him.

The room was so quiet that she almost thought she could hear the soft breathing of another person.

She had thought she would have insomnia, but unexpectedly she fell asleep very easily and forgot about browsing Irie-senpai's social media account before going to bed.

After all, it was the weekend, so Naoko got up late without any psychological pressure.

She wanted to sleep until noon, but there was always some furry movement at the tip of her nose, which made her feel itchy.

Naoko reached out to brush it away several times, but it would stick to her again the next second.

When she slowly opened her eyes, she saw the enlarged, perfect face of Amemiya-kun in front of her.

Even the most picky person could not find any flaws on this face. But for some reason, looking at it for too long always makes people feel a chill down their spine.

Sometimes it even makes Naoko feel a strange sense of strangeness in her heart.

He loosened the strands of hair he had pinched and said, "Naoko, I'm hungry."

Naoko had just woken up and her thoughts were still not back to normal, but her mind made a choice between "Why are you here" and "Who are you":

"Huh, am I dreaming?"

As soon as the voice fell, her face was pinched rudely.

"No, Naoko is not dreaming."

She jumped up from the bed: "Why are you here?"

"Compared to such insignificant things, it should be more important to fill my stomach now. And..." Amemiya paused strangely, and there was a knock on the door from Ms. Kawase Misato.

"Hey, Naoko, are you awake? Although it's the weekend, you can't sleep too late. It's time to get up and have breakfast."