Yukino Yukinoshita was clearly jealous after hearing that Kotomi wanted to wear a strapless backless evening gown. She didn't want anyone else to see Kotomi dressed like that. But how could Yukino possibly admit to herself that she was jealous?
So she turned that jealousy into concern, claiming she was worried Kotomi would catch a cold. Yet in reality, anyone who had attended a winter piano competition venue would know how illogical that explanation was.
To prevent cold weather from affecting the contestants' performance, piano competition venues were usually set to the most comfortable indoor temperature. Forget a strapless backless evening gown—even wearing short sleeves and shorts wouldn't feel cold.
Coincidentally, Kotomi Izumi had indeed attended winter piano competition venues before.
She knew a young lady who loved listening to piano performances. The music app on that young lady's phone contained no other songs, only piano pieces.
Every time she went out for a walk, she would wear earphones and loop her favorite piano compositions endlessly.
At home, she owned countless expensive pianos. Just selecting a few at random would be enough to hold an exhibition of rare and valuable instruments.
However, despite spending at least one hundred million yen on pianos every year, this young lady couldn't actually play the piano. Even though she had loved piano music since childhood and knew many world-class pianists, she couldn't play even the most basic piece.
Why?
Because she had never practiced. She had never hired a piano teacher either. The huge yearly expenditure was used entirely on sponsoring piano competitions or buying new high-end instruments. Among the countless pianos in her home were many legendary world-class instruments that had long gone out of production.
As she herself put it:
"I enjoy the feeling of spending extravagantly on pianos. Only then does life feel less boring. As for learning to play? Unfortunately, I don't have even the slightest interest in that. I know very well that playing a beautiful piano piece requires enduring long periods of monotony and hardship. I don't want to waste my time on that."
Last winter, that young lady had invited Kotomi to attend a piano competition she sponsored.
What left the deepest impression on Kotomi was the warmth of the venue. The entire space maintained a comfortably warm temperature. In fact, it was almost too comfortable. When people stayed in such warmth, they naturally felt sleepy.
Kotomi had been sitting in the audience, listening to the piano music… and ended up falling asleep.
She slept until the competition ended.
Her most direct impression of that winter competition was: warm indoors, comfortable seating, and piano music that worked wonderfully as a sleep aid.
She had slept so soundly that even the young lady beside her felt helpless.
So while Yukino Yukinoshita was secretly feeling proud of the excuse she had come up with, Kotomi Izumi watched her with a faint smile, as if looking at a stubborn little girl who loved to act tough.
At that moment, Kotomi suddenly had a strong urge to kiss Yukino's lips—forcefully kissing her before she could react—and then say with a teasing smile:
"Yukino, no matter how stubborn your words are, your lips are still soft when kissed."
Kotomi didn't believe that if she forcefully kissed Yukino a few times, Yukino would still be able to keep up her stubborn facade.
Surely she would stop being stubborn and become honest instead!
Kotomi had even begun imagining that once Yukino became her girlfriend, she would definitely find an opportunity to have Yukino wear a maid outfit, put on cat-ear accessories, and call her in the cutest voice possible:
"Master."
A cat-eared maid… Kotomi had dreamed of it countless times. One of her life dreams was to have a beast-eared maid! Cat ears or dog ears, either was fine!
If beast-eared girls weren't possible, then a monster-girl maid would also be acceptable!
With a very wide and deep XP system, Kotomi Izumi loved beast-eared girls, insect-girls, and monster-girl beauties alike.
Just imagining Yukino Yukinoshita wearing a maid outfit with cat ears—
Kotomi Izumi's heart was already beginning to stir restlessly. She truly wanted Yukino Yukinoshita to become her girlfriend right now. The very first thing she planned to do once the train arrived in Kyoto would be to buy a maid outfit and cat-ear accessories. If Yukino refused to wear them for her or call her "Master," she would just roll around on the ground throwing a tantrum!
"Kotomi, why do you keep smiling at me like that?"
Perhaps Kotomi's smiling gaze was too direct and too intense. When it landed on Yukino Yukinoshita's snow-like skin, she instinctively felt that the way Kotomi was looking at her right now was anything but pure.
Of course it wasn't pure. Kotomi Izumi was currently imagining how to make Yukino obediently wear a maid outfit, put on cat ears, and call her Master.
Hearing Yukino say that, Kotomi hurriedly snapped back to her senses. She had gotten a little too carried away with her fantasies.
"I-I'm just happy!"
"Happy?" Yukino asked, puzzled.
"You care so much about my health, Yukino. Of course that makes me happy. I thought you were jealous and didn't want others to see me wearing a strapless backless evening gown. Turns out you just didn't want me to catch a cold."
Kotomi deliberately spoke as if deeply moved. She even slipped in a subtle hint, as though saying: I already know your real thoughts. If you're jealous, just admit it. I'm this pretty, so it's normal to feel jealous over me. If you say it directly, I'll listen and won't wear the strapless backless gown.
The implication was so obvious it was almost spoken outright.
"How could I possibly be jealous just because you wear a strapless backless evening gown? Even if you wore a bikini, I wouldn't feel the slightest bit jealous! I'm not your lover… In any case, the reason I don't want you wearing it is simply because I'm worried you'll get cold and catch a cold. There are no other thoughts behind it, so please don't misunderstand."
Yukino spoke very seriously. If her voice hadn't trembled slightly from nervousness, it might have been more convincing.
But from her response, it was obvious that Yukino hadn't understood the hint in Kotomi's words at all. After hearing Kotomi, she had merely grown nervous for a moment and silently thought to herself:
She guessed more than half of it right?! Luckily, the excuse I came up with earlier was good enough. She didn't realize I was jealous.
Not only had she failed to catch Kotomi's hint, Yukino even felt secretly proud of the explanation she had made up earlier.
Kotomi could also tell that Yukino was still feeling proud of that excuse. She couldn't help twitching her lips helplessly.
Showing off a little was fine, but why keep repeating it over and over?
Did this ice queen actually have such a smug side?
Kotomi suddenly felt that Yukino wasn't truly an ice beauty at heart. Beneath that cold exterior was someone who liked showing off a little, was very caring, and even a tiny bit goofy.
So how should she describe it? Ice queen plus goofball… an ice sculpture beauty?
Kotomi originally planned to say: Yukino, I could tell your excuse fell apart the moment you said it. Stop being stubborn and just admit you don't want others seeing me in that strapless gown.
But seeing how pleased Yukino looked right now, Kotomi thought about it and decided to pretend she didn't know for now.
Yukino had thin skin. She needed to save her some face. Once they started dating later, she could find a chance to tease her properly about it.
"Thank you for caring about me. I'll listen to you. When I go to the competition venue to cheer for you, I'll wear something else instead," Kotomi said with a smile.
"Th-That's good… Even though we're still high school students, we shouldn't dress too lightly in winter just because we think we're young. Catching a cold is really unpleasant."
Hearing that Kotomi wouldn't wear the strapless backless evening gown, Yukino finally let out a long sigh of relief and spoke slowly.
She really wanted to see Kotomi wearing it—but she didn't want anyone else to see. She wanted to keep the beauty of Kotomi in that gown all to herself.
"Yes, yes~ You sound like a nagging old granny, Yukino. I remember you once said I sounded like one when I nagged. Now it seems you're the more nagging one," Kotomi teased softly.
"Huh? I'm not nagging, okay? I'm just worried about you catching a cold."
Yukino Yukinoshita was still being stubborn.
"If you're worried about me catching a cold, then show it with actions!"
"Huh?"
For a moment, Yukino didn't understand what Kotomi meant.
Show it with actions?
Before she could figure it out, she was already pulled into Kotomi Izumi's arms.
"Ah—"
Yukino let out a startled cry instinctively, but the moment she remembered that Yui Yuigahama was still sleeping nearby, she hurriedly swallowed the rest of it. She looked up at Kotomi with a slightly resentful gaze.
As if saying: If you want to hug me, at least tell me in advance. It's not like I wouldn't let you!
"So this is what you meant by actions?" Yukino asked in a small, shy voice, her cheeks flushed.
"Of course. You're worried I'll catch a cold. So how do I avoid catching one? By sleeping warmly, obviously. I'm used to sleeping under a quilt. Blankets are fine too, but I'm not used to them. I might kick it off in my sleep. So I want to hold you while I sleep."
"That's sophistry!"
"Weren't you the one worried about me catching a cold? In that case, let me hold you for one night. Otherwise, if I really do catch a cold, you'll definitely be heartbroken~"
"Who would be heartbroken over you…"
Yukino muttered with a crimson face.
Even though she said that, she still shifted slightly closer into Kotomi's embrace, silently asking to be held a little tighter.
For Yukino Yukinoshita, sleeping in Kotomi's arms like this felt like something that could only happen in a dream.
Even knowing that Kotomi's official girlfriend, Yui Yuigahama, was sleeping right beside them, Yukino didn't want to move at all. She only wanted to completely immerse herself in Kotomi's warm and comfortable embrace.
Even if tomorrow morning, Yui—who usually woke up earlier—might see them.
Even so, at this moment, Yukino only wanted to sink into Kotomi's arms and monopolize that warmth.
When morning came, she would probably have to face Yui's questioning.
Yui would definitely be angry. Her girlfriend was hugging her best friend to sleep. Or perhaps, her best friend was sleeping in her girlfriend's arms.
If possible, Yukino didn't want to hurt the friendship between herself and Yui Yuigahama. She didn't want that friendship to end because of this.
Precisely because she had once had no friends, she cherished the friends she had now all the more.
But if she truly had to choose between friendship and love…
Yukino knew the answer in her heart.
She simply didn't want that answer to surface. Once a thought appeared clearly in her mind, even if no one else knew, she wouldn't easily change it.
No wonder her foolish older sister always said her personality was stubbornly obsessive… Yukino sighed softly in her heart.
The sigh was light, but Kotomi, who was holding her, heard it clearly.
"Why did you sigh?" Kotomi asked gently.
"I was thinking… why did you choose to hold me instead of holding Yui to sleep?" Yukino asked despite her embarrassment, voicing the question she truly wanted to know.
"Do you really want to know?" Kotomi smiled.
"I really do. But if you don't want to answer—"
"Shh. I'm not so stingy that I won't even answer a question. I'll tell you right now."
As she spoke, Kotomi's arms around Yukino's waist tightened slightly, drawing her closer. A faint smile curved at Yukino's lips. She had wanted Kotomi to hold her tightly from the very beginning.
When Kotomi spoke, whether intentionally or not, she seemed to enjoy whispering right beside Yukino's ear.
"The answer is simple. I just want to hold you while I sleep."
Just as Kotomi had said earlier, the answer was simple. Why hold you? Because I want to hold you.
What a simple answer.
Hearing it, Yukino felt both happy and guilty toward Yui.
"Kotomi… good night."
"Good night~ Yukino, can you sing me a lullaby to help me sleep?"
"I don't know how to sing a lullaby. How about you give me a few minutes to learn one?"
"Haha, no need. I was just joking before bed. You can learn one another time. It's late. Let's sleep."
The train continued to run along the tracks, heading toward Kyoto.
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