Chapter 4.2

“Whoa!”

My thoughts came to a complete halt when I saw Nanami’s room before me.

“… Yusuke, you saw.”

I heard Nanami’s voice coming from the door.

Unlike the usual cheerful voice, her voice had a hint of coldness in it, which I didn’t know.

However, I was so confused by the abnormality of this room that I didn’t have time to pay attention to Nanami.

“Nanami, um… this is…”

The walls of her room were covered with my photos.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t tell you until now, but… that’s how it is.”

I turned in the direction of the voice. In front of the door, Nanami was looking at me with an expression on her face that I had never seen before.

Although she was smiling, I felt an unfathomable fear from her face. There was no anger or joy in her expression.

In other words, it was null.

Although she was smiling deep down she wasn’t.

“What… do you mean by… that?”

I don’t know if it was her expressions that pressured me or if I was just cowering from the situation. This was not the way to address a woman with whom you are in a relationship.

“What does Yusuke think of me?”

“What do you mean…?”

“Not as a childhood friend, of course, but as a woman?”

She asked me in a voice that chilled me to the bone.

“…!”

“Well, it doesn’t really matter.”

When I couldn’t answer her question well, Nanami opened her mouth first.

“Because it doesn’t matter anymore if you like me or not.”

She didn’t make any mention that I hadn’t responded to her yet and walked straight towards me.

“W-wait…”

I couldn’t help but back away from her. I tried to say something to her, who was coming towards me, to calm her down, but she seemed to be unconcerned and approached me.

“… I should’ve done this from the beginning.”

Nanami showed me the black rectangular object she was holding in her right hand.

“It may hurt a little, but you’ll have to be patient.”

She pushed her right hand into my abdomen. While I was still confused about what was happening, I felt an intense pain in my stomach and all over my body.

“…?”

My whole body went numb and I started to wince. I couldn’t stand up, I couldn’t free my body.

“You’re conscious. I thought stun guns were enough to knock you out.”

I was conscious, but I still felt pain and numbness all over my body, and I couldn’t get up.

The word “Stun Gun” that came out of her mouth was enough of a keyword to make me understand this situation.

“N-Nanami…”

“Hmm, it would be better if you were unconscious, but… that’s fine.”

I squeezed out my voice, but it didn’t reach Nanami.

Or it hasn’t arrived, or maybe it has, but it’s being ignored.

We’ve known each other for over a decade, but this is the first time I’ve seen her like this.

“I’m sorry Yusuke, I know it hurts. I didn’t want to be this rough with you either…”

I wondered if she was talking to me or just herself.

“Nanami, why are you doing this…?”

Then Nanami turned around said,

“Why? Isn’t it obvious?”

Then, in a voice that I could hear even as I endured the pain.

“To make you mine.” She said.

“… What does that mean?”

The numbness continued as usual, and I could not free my body.

However, after a while, I was able to calm down and was now able to reason with her.

I wasn’t sure that I could talk to Nanami as well as I used to, now that my fear was getting the better of me.

I was not even sure if the woman in front of me was the Nanami Haruse I knew.

“Do you like me, Yusuke?”

Nanami asked the same question as before.

I couldn’t answer earlier, but now I can.

“I like…”

“But that’s as a childhood friend, right?”

I couldn’t answer well.

I indeed like Nanami. But when it came to the question of whether I liked her as a woman, I hadn’t yet found a clear answer to that question.

Nanami had confessed her feelings to me before, and that had triggered my interest in her.

I became aware of her as a woman, and I was sure that a new feeling was born in me, as I had only known her as a friend.

But I don’t know if I would call it love.

I’m not lying when I say that I like her as a friend.

But when she asked me if I like her as a woman… I couldn’t say it outright.

“I’m kind of aware of everything.”

“Everything…?”

“I’m vaguely familiar with what’s going on in between you and Akari-chan.”

“Akari…?”

“Before confessing my feelings to you, I told you, “I don’t know for sure, but I think Akari-chan likes you.” That was a lie.”

As she said this, Nanami continued to talk about herself.

“The first time I noticed this was when I walked into your room the other day. I was so surprised that there was a ‘surveillance camera’ on the bookshelf.”

Surveillance camera? … Don’t tell me.

“At first, I thought I was mistaken. But then I realized that it couldn’t be. Because this surveillance camera was the same as the one I was planning to install.”

… Seriously?

“I knew right away who was setting up these surveillance cameras. The only person around you who could do such a thing is… Akari-chan, right? I had some doubts earlier, but at that point that I was right.”

… Yeah, it’s true that the only person around me who can do that is Akari.

“So, I was trying to keep her away from you. When I heard that you were trying to introduce her to someone, I was going to push her to that person so that you would be mine. That’s why I suggested that the three of us should go on a date. The reason why I made her buy the swimsuit, and the reason why I shook her when we were alone at the cafe, was all to keep her away from you, Yusuke.”