Shinobu Kocho, an eighteen-year-old girl living in Japan, is a young adult who recently lost her sister to a man-eating demon. Due to this event, she has been plagued by intense nightmares about what happened, hiding all her pain behind a smile. Now...
The embarrassment persisted throughout the entire outing. Why did I feel embarrassed? She was my friend; there was nothing awkward to do, except... yes, a strange fact to deny, my body couldn't hold back for so long—the fact that her eyes sparkled, her cheeks were always flushed, and she spoke without even thinking first. We were in sync, but even so, I didn't know how to react to her kiss...
Her soft lips, her grip that didn't want to let me go, her warm body... everything seemed to intensify in that moment. My heart was racing uncontrollably, and even if I didn't want to, I remained motionless, eyes wide open, while she seemed to simply act, perhaps taking advantage of the situation, in a long kiss that began to calm me down. Finally, we parted, and she gazed at me with half-closed eyes and a slightly open mouth, still holding me and letting the silence take over the surroundings.
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-"... why...?" A foolish question, which I didn't have the courage to complete when I looked into her eyes. Shinobu's face, so calm and yet nervous at the same time, was gradually disappearing, along with her grip on my clothes.
-"I guess... I've wanted to do that for a while." My cheeks blushed again; it was so unusual for me. I had never thought about it, but... my body didn't reject it. Even so, my mind wasn't convinced yet.
-"... we're two girls." Just a small phrase made the woman in front of me step back, lowering her hands and gaze, while she seemed to tremble slightly.
-"... yes, you're right... s-... sorry about that, I didn't think it through." She took a few steps back, lowering her head slightly while her eyes remained timid, her mouth drying up. I stayed quiet, embarrassed by the situation. My mouth was like Shinobu's; it was as if all my saliva had been taken away, like a butterfly extracting nectar from a flower.
The awkward silence lingered in the air, and the only action was to walk towards the mansion. I confess I tried to say something, tried to ease the tension... but the thought of having rejected Shinobu's feelings spoke louder, and my voice disappeared in that moment. She entered the place first, while I was left behind, looking at her back, thinking about the previous events and, mainly, what had just happened. Two fingers touched my lips; the sensation remained.
Shinobu... she's just my friend, isn't she? That's what I think, I don't have romantic feelings for her. Besides, two girls... there's no way, she might have just slipped up and done that by accident... no, that's impossible too, that look... I'm overthinking this, I can't get her out of my mind... I thought nonstop, from the walk to my room until my body lay on the futon. I couldn't sleep; this cycle of thoughts continued all night, with light dark circles appearing under my eyes. That was the day I woke up the earliest, going to the bathroom and washing my face several times to look less like a zombie.
I left my room with slow and worried movements, wondering how I would react if Shinobu was, first thing in the morning, in front of my door? Fortunately, that didn't happen. Instead, the three girls from the mansion were running down the corridors, and when they saw me, they greeted me.
