Chapter 51: Secret kiss with my childhood friend in the storage room

Secret kiss with my childhood friend in the storage room

“Hey, Boyan, can you drink sake?”

“No, I can’t drink alcohol.”

“It’s fine just for celebrations, right?”

“Hey, Masao-san, you’re troubling Boyan!”

“Whoa, Aya-chan is acting like a wife!”

Masao-san, a middle-aged man who seems to be called Masao, laughs merrily. Next to me, Aya glares at the drunken man with pursed lips, like a cute little kitten trying to threaten someone.

The situation is rather amusing. Aya and I are seated in the middle of the table for some reason.

There are about a dozen of Aya’s relatives gathered here, bombarding us with questions and teasing.

“Everyone here seems full of energy.”

“Sorry, it’s noisy. It always ends up like this when we gather.”

Looking around, it’s a room full of men, except for a woman who is presumably Masao-san’s wife. There’s a child around elementary school age named Hiroto-kun and another one about junior high school age, both boys.

Among the children, it seems that Haru-kun is the oldest.

Aya has had a boyish vibe since she was young and maybe she’s always looked like an older sister due to being surrounded by boys like this.

“Hey, Boyan, are you going to drink tea?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

“Haah! Aya-chan is making a good wife!”

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Ignoring such banter, Aya quickly goes to the kitchen. Her back looks like she’s in a good mood and that’s probably not an illusion.

I’ve been placed between Aya and her relatives and they’ve been bombarding us with questions and messing around with us.

“Hey, Boyan, let’s play a game.”

A boy around upper elementary school age pats my shoulder and speaks. He’s holding what seems to be a handheld gaming device in his hand. But I’m not up to date with recent games.

“Sorry, I’ve never played that before. Can you teach me?”

“Aww, that’s a hassle. I’ll play with Haru-kun.”

Saying that, the boy runs over to Haru-kun, who’s seated diagonally across the table.

“By the way, Haruki, didn’t you decide on a job?”

Masao-san starts chatting with Haru-kun, who’s sitting next to me. Haru-kun’s full name seems to be Haruki.

“Yeah, you mentioned that before. I got a job offer last month.” Thanks for reading on ManaNovel!

Haru-kun responds with a somewhat exasperated tone.

“Oh right! Um, you got a job offer from that big company, right? That’s amazing, Haruki. You’ve always been skilled, after all.”

“Masao-san, have you found a partner?”

“I’m just like that, unlike Haruki, I’m faithful, you know? I can’t juggle partners like you do.”

“That sounds bad. Even I would be faithful if I were in a relationship. I’m just like that.”

Haru-kun replies to Masao-san while engrossed in a game with a boy. He’s indeed skilled. The boy shouts, “I lost again!”

“So, how about you, Boyan? Are you going to marry Aya-chan?”

Out of nowhere, Masao-san throws a killer pass my way. Beside me, Aya makes an amusing sound, “Hoh!?”

“Yes, I will marry her.”

“Ooh! Ooh!”

Aya’s relatives start buzzing with excitement.

Masao-san glares at Aya’s parents and then at me.

“Are you serious? Have you thought about the future? If you think young love will always work out, you’re dead wrong… Once you become an adult…”

“Yes, I’ve thought about it and I plan to have a comfortable life with Aya.”

“…Is that so? Okay then!”

Masao-san suddenly breaks into a broad smile and reaches for a bottle of sake, but then hastily grabs an orange juice bottle nearby.

“Well, here you go!”

“Thank you.”

I extend my empty glass and the juice is poured generously.

“Hahaha, you’ve caught yourself a fine man, Aya-chan!”

Masao-san laughs with joy. I glance at Aya and see her blushing as she nods in agreement.

Suddenly, I feel a gaze from across the table. Haru-kun is looking at Aya with a stunned expression.

After a while, Aya seems to get embarrassed and retreats to the kitchen, not coming back out.

And next to me, there’s Masao-san sitting.

“Boyan, seriously, thank you so much.”

“Sigh…”

“Because we’re like this, you know, even though Aya-chan is so cute, she’s always been boyish, I was worried she wouldn’t find anyone. I used to think, ‘Maybe there’s no one for her.’”

“It’s okay. I’ve never thought of Aya-chan as being boyish.”

Probably from the moment we met.

She was the only girl in my world.

“I see… thank you very much.”

Tears glisten in Masao-san’s eyes as he looks at the small cup.

They’re good people, I think.

Thinking that Aya has been loved by these people all along makes my heart warm too.

I want to get along with these people.

Maybe it’s because they’re Aya’s relatives that I feel that way.

Almost on the verge of tearing up myself, a boy calls out to the kitchen.

“Aya-nee-chan, let’s do fireworks!”

And Aya, with a smile on her face, appears.

“Sure, let’s do it!”

- - -

In the darkness, colorful sparks light up.

In that light, Aya’s joyful face comes into view.

“Hey, Aya-nee-chan, you went straight for that!?”

“Huh, wasn’t it good?”

“It’s better if we all do that at the end. It looks prettier.”

Aya, the boy, a middle schooler and Hiroto-kun are gathered in a circle, enjoying handheld fireworks. The smoke from the fireworks rises, flowing all the way to the veranda where I’m sitting.

The boy spins his arm while holding a firework.

“Look, Aya-nee-chan, jumping through the ring of fire! Jump through it!”

“No, I can’t!”

“Then, Aya-nee-chan, draw something with fireworks!”

“Huh?”

Aya reaches high and draws a small circle that she lets drop in a straight line. The afterimage of light forms both a circle and a line.

“…A bus stop?”

“Wrong. This is a… a stick figure.”

Amidst this endearing exchange, I watch from the veranda.

“Hey, weren’t you about to call out to Aya just now?”

Haru-kun seated next to me peeks over.

“I wonder…”

Haru-kun is quite drunk from the sake and he’s been pestering me since earlier. Because of that, I can’t join the fireworks.

“Aya-chan, she’s really cute.”

I’ve heard that line from him several times now. While silently agreeing in my mind, I wait for him to continue.

“In the past, she used to be really close to me… I used to think of her like a real little sister.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah… but then, Aya-chan got a boyfriend back then, right? You know, that kind of carefree guy.”

You mean Tokita.

“I couldn’t leave Aya-chan to a guy like that. I thought, ‘He’ll just break up with her sooner or later.’ So I thought, ‘Maybe it’s okay if I take her…’ I thought I could protect her properly… I mean, sort of?”

This gaze from earlier, this straw wrapper… I don’t feel that vague at all, but I’ll refrain from commenting.

“And then, you, Boyan-kun, appeared.”

“Sigh…”

“Unfazed, composed… You’re mature, aren’t you?”

If Haru-kun sees me that way, it’s probably thanks to intuition.

I’m absolutely going to get Aya. We’re going to be happy together. If I didn’t have that certainty, I would have been more anxious and flustered.

“Sigh… Anyway, Aya-chan has really become cute.”

“That’s true.”

“I’m jealous.”

“Huh?”

“…But, I’m relying on you.”

He mutters in a fading voice and falls asleep.

- - -

“I’ve never seen fireflies.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah… I don’t have the kind of place that’s really out like in the countryside.”

“I see. Then let’s come back… in May.”

“Yeah, let’s do that.”

Suddenly, I find myself surrounded by a chorus of insect sounds all around. It’s not particularly charming, rather it’s overwhelmingly loud. Yet, it’s strangely calming. The scent of the trees and the sounds of the insects feel familiar. It’s as if this place has become my hometown.

It’s probably because Aya is here.

“I really like this place.”

“You’re quick to decide.”

Aya bursts into laughter.

“Everyone is nice, there’s abundant nature and it’s Aya’s hometown.”

“I see.”

—I want to kiss.

—Boyan… I want to hold you tight.

Through the contact of our shoulders, Aya’s emotions flow into me.

Just when I was thinking the same thing.

“Aya, can I kiss you?”

“Huh, ah… but, someone from the neighborhood might see.”

“It’s fine. It’s dark and no one can see us.”

“Those kids might come.”

Is she talking about the relatives’ boys?

“They went inside the house just now.”

Aya hesitates like this probably because if we kiss now, it feels like it won’t end with just that. I feel the same way.

“And besides, I can’t hold back anymore. I’ve been holding back since we met at the station earlier.”

I grab Aya’s chin and lift her face. I press my lips slowly against her glossy lips, illuminated by the light of the small bulb.

“Ah… mmm, mmm… mmm… chu, mmm… mmm…”

We kiss with our lips protruding, pressing our bodies together. I feel my whole body ignite with the touch and softness of Aya after so long.

I lick off the faintly applied lip gloss with my tongue. I press my lips against her trembling ones again.

I savor her sweet scent, the gentle swell of her chest and the warmth of her feverish body.

“Hey, don’t sniff like that.”

“Aya’s scent is calming. It smells really nice.”

“…I like your scent too, Boyan… uh, you know.”

“Yeah?”

“I wanted to see you.”

“…Yeah, me too.”

“I wanted to watch fireworks with Boyan.”

“Let’s do it together next time.”

“It’s a promise, okay?”

“Yeah, I swear on the Great Buddha.”

“Hehe… that might be a good idea.”

Surprisingly, Aya goes along with my joke.

I tightly embrace her soft body. Her sweet scent wafts from the gap in her hoodie and it melts my brain. My arousal is already evident, pressed against her lower abdomen.

This time, I cup Aya’s cheek with my palm, pressing my whole face to kiss her.

“Mmm… ahh, mmm… chu, ngh… mmm…”

—What should I do?

—I want more…

—Even though I was able to meet you.

—I should have been content with just being able to meet.

—More.

—I want more of Boyan.

Aya’s inner voice makes my reason teeter on the edge.

Already, my tongue is prying open Aya’s lips, greedily exploring her heated mouth. Our tongues entwine, the sensation is so pleasurable it feels like my breath has stopped.

I can no longer hear the sounds of insects. The only thing echoing in our brains is the wet sound of mucosa colliding with mucosa.

“Ah… mmm… Boyan… aah… ngh… mmm… nnn…”

Aya’s moist lips, her tongue that seems like it might melt any moment, are delicious. Our rapid breaths, warming each other’s faces, become faster and more erratic. The squelching sound as saliva mingles becomes increasingly pleasant.

Unable to hold back, I lift Aya’s hoodie and with a rough touch, I knead her breasts through the bra.

“Mmm… oh, yes… ah…”

Moaning sounds of distress echoed in the surroundings.

“Ah, wait, don’t… aah…”

—Why?

—Just being touched by Boyan’s hands…

—It feels like an electric shock.

—My body’s tingling…

—No, if they hear it…

—It’s embarrassing.

“Ahh… wait… Boyan, please… something’s… weird…”

Her voice was mixed with a touch of anguish, so I withdrew my hand from her hoodie.

I’m weird too.

My heart is pounding and my breathing is heavy.

The pleasure is evaporating my self-control.

I really can’t hold back any longer.

“Sorry, Aya, I’m also… feeling weird.”

“Heh… hah… hah… yeah… sorry.”

Maybe it’s because we haven’t seen each other for a while.

Or maybe it’s because the distance between our hearts has gotten closer again.

Or perhaps it’s the work of a divine intuition, I don’t know.

In any case, every interaction with Aya is so pleasurable that I can’t stay sane.

While catching my breath, I stroked Aya’s hair. I need to talk about something to cool down, or else I might end up attacking her again.

“We’re going to the pool with everyone tomorrow, right?”

“…Yeah, Boyan is coming too, right?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there. I promised to help you swim, remember?”

“Yeah… thanks.”

“I don’t want Aya to be in a swimsuit when I’m not around.”

Honestly, I don’t want anyone else to see either.

“Boyan, you’re such a pervert.”

“Yep, I am. But just for Aya.”

“Seriously, you always say stuff like that…”

—I want it too.

—Boyan, you idiot.

“What is it?”

“Nothing, I just thought you were being an idiot, Boyan.”

“Is that so.”

My heartbeat has calmed down considerably.

It’s about time to return, or the people at home might start worrying.

“Hey, Boyan.”

“Hm?”

“If we get a chance to be alone at the pool… that would be nice.”

“…Yeah, you’re right.”

“Yeah…”

I’m in trouble.

If I see Aya in a swimsuit tomorrow, I’m not confident I can restrain myself.

Sometimes I’m frightened by how excessively I lust after Aya.

“Shall we head back soon?”

“Yeah.”

“Someone might come looking for Aya if she gets lost.”

To disguise the surging beastly desire, I tease her lightly.

“That’s impossible, Grandpa’s house is right here.”

“But when we were kids, you got lost at the amusement park, right?”

I recall the time when we went to the nearby amusement park during the summer vacation of sixth grade.

“Yeah… Boyan wandered off. So I went to look for you.”

“I was waiting by the restroom the whole time.”

“You did move a bit. You were gone.”

“Did that really happen?”

As we talk about old times, it feels like we’ve returned to being innocent childhood friends. The heat in my lower body has also subsided.

“That’s right! When I found you, Boyan had this face like ‘I was lonely~’.”

I remember when I found Aya standing alone in front of the Ferris wheel.

When I tapped her shoulder while she was looking around anxiously, she turned around immediately.

“Geez, don’t go off on your own.”

With tears in her eyes, she smiled.

For some reason, that relieved smile made my chest feel tight and I remember even feeling like crying.

Now I understand clearly.

Back then, I really liked Aya a lot and I was hopelessly desiring her.

From the beginning, Aya wasn’t just an innocent childhood friend to me.

“So… should we head back home?”

“Yeah, well… whenever I’m talking to Boyan, time just flies.”

“In the summer, you would’ve been covered in mosquito bites, especially you, Aya.”

“Boyan would’ve gotten bitten too.”

“Well, anyway.”

I extend my palm toward Aya.

“What’s this?”

“I was thinking of holding hands so that Aya doesn’t get lost.”

“I’m not the one who gets lost, you know.”

Our hands gently overlap and we hold each other’s hands at the same time.

“Come on, I’ll walk you to the front door.”

“No, that’s my job.”

We laughed together and walked hand in hand to the front door.