The background becomes an eyesore once more because of the oversaturated colors. In order to protect my gaze, I decide to look down at the floor as I pass through the css to avoid seeing these painful colors, as well as avoid meeting anyone’s gaze, as failure to do so, will give my own cssmates a dinner known as me. To ease my hand, I tuck my phone into my shorts’ left pocket.

  I take a short gnce at the animals that I once recognized as my cssmates. Their gazes shot everywhere. Their breathing was erratic. Most importantly… their faces were hungry, not for food, mind you. Even our teacher was losing control, he wasn’t even teaching. He just sat silently.

  Everyone must still be short-circuiting from the sudden transition.

  I proceed to ignore the scenery before me and find Arisu. Though, much to my surpriuse, she just wasn’t there. I turn around to see that she wobbles left and right beside the door.

  …Did I really just miss her because I looked down?

  Now that I’ve spotted her, I approach her. But due to my carelessness, my gaze was too high up and our eyes meet. She seemed to be gd to see me.

  “K-Kibe!!! …hah…hah… would you like to take me home and tuck me into your bed?”

  My face naturally forms a disgusted expression.

  She did not just say that. Seriously? This is the best piece of dialogue you can get? She’s not even using fancy big words. Is this what a rush of estrogen does?

  “Shut up,” I reply to her, “Come, I need to ask you a favor for something important.”

  I grab her hand and she goes along with me, willingly.

  Just gonna borrow you for a while.

  Before ultimately leaving, I take a short gnce back at my cssmates. They were more unstable than before, by that I mean, their bodies are starting to attract one another.

  I should make this quick. Wouldn’t wanna turn this school into an orgy.

  Of course, when everyone in short proximity were affected by my antics, that included Masaru and Mari who had just come to greet me earlier. They were now entranced with one other, with Masaru performing a kabedon on Mari.

  I stare in awe.

  My doing is also boosting their romance.

  I smirk and let out a chuckle.

  Okay then, I will let you two have your private time. I will go to the other stairs instead.

  As I turn to do what I have promised… the bothersome scientist kept on bugging me to do the deed. She tugs my uniform.

  “Hey, why don’t we drink an aphrodisiac and go wild and crazy?”

  “No.”

  There are times when men want to be horny… now is not the time, I have absolutely more important things going on.

  “Whyyy??? Don’t you find me hot? Not even a bit?”

  “Your body, yes. Your personality, no. Your current personality, no.”

  “Then what would make me hotter?”

  “I firmly believe it would make you a lot hotter if you shut your mouth.”

  Wondrously, saying this actually worked out in my favor as she stopped bugging me until we reach the Science Lab.

  “Oh, you sly dog. You wanted to go all private?”

  “Truthfully speaking, I would have loved the original sadistic and narcissistic personality of Arisu more rather than this horny cheap knock-off.”

  I take out the phone still pying the naughty video and pause it. But nothing happens yet, then I remember about the missing step.

  Oh yeah, I need the Overruling Statement.

  “The Overruling Statement: Hentai to Various Genres.”

  Moments after I did, with a single blink, everything had returned back to normal, from the mental state of the students and teachers to the background that I was staring at. It had become less saturated.

  Before we move on, I believe the expnation for this is the world needs to realize the update I made, specifically, it needs a statement to read, analyze said statement, and determine if such an update is pusible. Hm, put in simple terms, think of pcing a block to a floating gravity block in Minecraft. The block will now fall due to the program realizing that such a phenomenon mustn’t be possible, and should now be able to fall, however, it needs to check whether a block is below, if yes, then it would, if not, then it wouldn’t. I’m not sure if that makes any sense at all.

  Anyways, right around that time, Arisu faints. I catch her with my two arms.

  As much as a pleasure it would be to see her fall ft on the floor… that would be too much considering her mental state.

  “Consider yourself lucky today, Arisu,” I say to her.

  …

  ..

  .

  When the students were free from the effects of the genre, that included Masaru and Mari who were about to engage in the deed.

  “My head…” Mari grunts.

  Her eyes were a bit blurry. When she looks again, she sees in front of her that Masaru y on the ground with one button on his uniform unlocked.

  “Huh?”

  At the same time, I snap back to my senses.

  “What… was I doing?”

  It takes me a few seconds to notice how awfully intimate we were. Mari grows furiously red. But there was something else I could feel.

  “Wh-Why do I feel something at m-”

  I look at my crotch to see that she was unconsciously pressing it.

  “WH-WHAT?!”

  She pushes me the minute she made sense of the situation.

  “WOAH!” I yelp.

  “Wh-What are you doing?!” she asks just as confused as I am.

  “I-I should be asking that… to you.”

  She didn’t know what to say, I mean I wouldn’t either. I hurriedly stand up. Looking at her p, I see a very familiar object.

  “H-How do I have this?” she wonders.

  “Wait, is that my belt?”

  As these were integral to holding my pants, they fall down to the floor. To make matters worse, the girl in front of me had a first-css view of what was in front of her – my gray boxers wide in the open.

  Her hair strands grow on edge and so do I.

  “EEEKKK!!!”

  “GYAHHHH!!!”

  …

  ..

  .

  Arisu slowly regains consciousness in my arms.

  “What… went to me?”

  “Welcome back,” I answer.

  She stares back at me with utter disgust.

  “Unhand me, commoner!” she orders.

  “Gdly.”

  I let go of her and drop her ft to the ground

  “Oomph,” she yelps lightly.

  She stands up dusting her clothes. Then reforms her posture to act dignified, which doesn’t quite help recalling the state she was in earlier.

  “What have you done to my body? Did you poison me?” she interrogates with grim eyes. She even covers her whole body, thinking I sullied her.

  “Rex, I didn’t do anything suspicious.”

  To her body, that is.

  “Then what happened to me?”

  “You fainted.”

  “Why did you take me here instead of the Nurse’s Office?”

  “Hmm…”

  What excuse do I say to her?

  “Thought this was the pce, but figured it was the Science Lab just a while ago, and then you woke up, so I lost the need to take you there,” I expin.

  She stares at me with great dismay.

  “As expected of a monkey. To make such a mistake…”

  She shakes her head. Yeah, this is normal Arisu.

  “Let’s leave and go back to css.”

  “Wait.”

  Screams penetrate the room, entering through the narrow holes, mostly coming from the doors. Curious by the sounds, she looks through the small window provided by the back door of the room, where countless students rampage from both directions of the hallway.

  “What? What’s going on outside? Did the zombie epidemic start?” she wonders.

  “Ahahaha,” I chuckle nervously, “They’re just the lower ones, rebellious generation nowadays, am I right?”

  “I’ve always prepared for a day like this. Now I’m permitted to turn everyone into a test subject.”

  “What.”

  Wait, no.

  I grab her by her shoulders to bring her back to the matter at hand.

  “Scratch that! We have more important matters.”

  “What is it?”

  “Before we go back, I have a favor to ask of you.”

  “Another one? You still owe me for the st time and you wish for another favor?”

  “I promise to pay you back tenfold, if it makes you happy. Just this one favor for now and I will pay you back in one or two weeks.”

  “How can I take your word for it?”

  “Let me drink a truth potion and ask me the same question again.”

  “Oh? You trust me that much? Even if my concoctions provide side effects from time to time?”

  “For doing favors, yes.”

  In all honesty, I’m shadier than you could ever be. It’s a miracle that you trust me at all.

  She digs through her station and takes out a small test tube filled with a red liquid from the test tube rack.

  Plop.

  She opens the cork of the test tube and hands it over to me. Out of caution, I look deeply into its contents, but I stop since I could never discern what chemicals were used to make it anyway.

  “What is the duration of this solution?” I ask instead.

  “10 minutes at best. You gonna drink it?”

  Looking at it, it’s sketchy. But whatever truths that she gets from me won’t help her anyway. Building my resolve, I face her.

  “I will. To wholly prove my innocence and so we can continue business in the future.”

  Gulp.

  I drink some portion of it.

  “Drink it all in one go,” she orders me.

  “Oh, alright.”

  Thank goodness she didn’t ask me a question yet.

  I keep some of the liquid in my mouth, but made sure my now slightly bumped cheek wasn’t visible from the outside. I adjusted it, so that I could answer her quickly and clearly once she asks me.

  “So, do you pn to keep your promises, in payment for all the favors I do for you within due time?” she asks me.

  “Yes.” I answered.

  “No hidden schemes, no trickery… do you genuinely wish to keep your word?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, then what do you want?”

  “I need a love potion. You have some?”

  “I think I do.”

  She goes back to her station and takes another test tube filled with pink liquid. She hands it over to me.

  “Thanks.”

  I keep it in my right pocket.

  “Great. But then again… letting you drink this potion now… seems like a waste to have a drink of my effective solution and not take advantage of it, no?”

  Now with a frightening smile on her face, she gres at me.

  “Tell me. You didn’t really think that I’d let you go with just that, did you?”

  “No.”

  Yeah, I kind of saw this coming, honestly.

  “What about css?” I ask.

  “Worry not, I already know everything that is being taught at this very moment.”

  You know, I wasn’t asking for you. But then again, it’s not like I learn anything from css anyway.

  I slickly slide my hand into my phone of mine.

  Should I py it to stop her trickery?

  I consider my options.

  Maybe I’m being a little too stuck-up. Perhaps I could take a question or two. It’s not like her questions are much more horrifying than Hentai.

  Note: Really?

  Did I jinx myself?

  “How about we py a game? I call it Truth or Dare, but there is no dare,” she decres, “Plus only I give questions and you answer.”

  “Truth or Truth? Wow, what a veeeryy interesting game, I wonder what the rules are,” I reply sarcastically.

  “Doesn’t this just make you excited?”

  “Just get on with it, woman.”

  “I wonder…”

  Please make it faster, I feel some of the truth serum dissolving into my taste buds.

  “First question, what exactly happened in the cssroom? Why are the students screaming like it’s the end of world?”

  Shit.

  “I pyed a p*rnographic video via The Overruling Statement to change the genre to Hentai and took you specifically, so that I could ask you out on an offer.”

  “Oh, so you were lying?”

  “Yes.”

  “But why are you talking about changing genres? You believe you live in a manga or whatever?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then how did I faint?”

  “Because of the genre change.”

  Arisu looks at me puzzled.

  “Is the truth serum malfunctioning? Or are your answers not exactly the truth, but what you perceive as the truth?”

  This sounds oddly philosophical.

  “Well, if you truly believe that then no matter what truth I seek, you will give out the same foolish answer,” she excims.

  Huh… I thought she’d pry further.

  “Second question, what did you actually do to me to get me here?”

  “Same answer as earlier.”

  She was about to question it, but refrained from doing so.

  “Third, did you do anything to my body?”

  “I only touched your hand to bring you here.”

  “Fourth, was I unconscious during that time?”

  “No.”

  She was confused.

  “What state was I in?”

  “You were in a lustful state full of libido.”

  “What in the world are you saying? Do you really perceive me that way?”

  “No, I am simply being forced to answer your questions truthfully because of the truth serum.”

  “Interesting, it’s almost like our ways of understanding things are worlds apart. I cannot comprehend a single thing you saying, I am cking a severely rge amount of context.”

  You do not have the power to be self-aware of the true state of the world around you. Only I, he who was the true mob character, was able to realize it. Due to the ck of definite personality, role, and knowledge assigned to me, I was not limited to acquiring such essential information. That is the difference between me, the fool who does not limit himself to absurd conclusions that his world is fake to the genius in front of me, the embodiment of knowledge itself.

  “Expining it in your terms probably wouldn’t help either…” she says, “Oh well, I’ll let it go for now, the truth will come find me after all.”

  “Can you let me go now?”

  She puts her finger on my lips to shush me.

  “Patience. I still have a few more important questions.”

  She had a seductive and sinister smile on her face. As I was dancing within her palm, I had no choice but to py along as I did indeed still need to repay for the things I asked. She had every right to mess around with me.

  “Who is it that you like in the cssroom?” she questions, “By like, I mean who is it that you have the hots for?”

  The cssic girl question? Fine.

  “None,” I answer.

  “Hmmm… you gay?”

  “NO!”

  “Then who is it that you hate the most? Genuinely.”

  “You.”

  I speak abruptly.

  “Oh… you hate me? Wow, what an interesting interrogation indeed. The feeling is mutual.”

  She chuckles.

  “Alright, you do not need to be impatient. There are only a few integral questions I have left.”

  How bad could it possibly be?

  She clears her throat.

  “This is a serious question.”

  I listen earnestly.

  “What discipline do you truly work on?”

  “None. I was never a scientist to begin with.”

  “I figured as much. Wait, none?”

  Answering in another way, I shake my head.

  “Then… are you perhaps knowledgeable about space-time?”

  “Not high level.”

  She is lost in thought.

  What is this?

  “Why? Did something to your research? It was about time right?” I ask

  Instead of answering, she shoots me an indifferent gre.

  “Did you… in any way or shape come across something that was out of this world? If not, then are you perhaps doing something that distorts space-time?”

  “N-”

  Before I could answer, she raises her hand.

  “Don’t answer that question. I’ll simplify it… are you the one behind the distortions in space-time?”

  Distortions in space-time? That’s a big thing, isn’t it?

  “No. I can’t possibly be behind something that grand.”

  “Are you perhaps an accomplice with someone responsible for it?”

  “I don’t even know what you are talking about.”

  She stares intently at my face.

  “Look, I drank the potion; I can’t lie my way out of this one,” I expin.

  “Alright, it doesn’t seem like you are the culprit anyway. You’re an idiot.”

  She turns around with a groan.

  “Ahhh~ this interrogation turned out to be a waste of time. What a disappointment.”

  “Well, geez, sorry.”

  “Let’s head back to css before anyone starts questioning our absence.”

  “O-Okay.”

  So, there’s something going on behind the scenes… distortions in space-time… that’s massive. Who could possibly be out there responsible for it?

  The possibilities are great. If there was one who could influence the world to that extent, it would be main characters or even side characters.

  Could it be…

  I contempte the chances of there being one.

  Is there somewhere… someone out there… who was also given sentience like me?

  While pondering about such possibilities, my eyes fall on the test tube where I drank the serum and the cork which covered it earlier.

  “Hey… can I have th-”

  Wait, the truth serum is still in effect. I have to mind my words or I’ll end up spilling the beans.

  “Hm?” she wonders.

  “Can I have the test tube and the cork? I kinda need it for something important.”

  An ambiguous truth. That way, she wouldn’t ask.

  “Sure, do whatever you want with it, we’ve got plenty of those in there anyway,” she tells me.

  “Yes!”

  I grab the test tube and the cork and pce it safely in my pocket.

  “Hang on, you didn’t come to css today, what was up with that?” she queries.

  “I was pretending to be sick as me and my friends are currently on a war for the rooftop.”

  Hearing that right now come out of my mouth, it sounds stupid.

  “You pretended to be sick, eh? And you made your way just for me?” she replies.

  “Hey, don’t word it that way. Also, thanks for reminding me, I almost forgot that I was still supposed to be at home. Almost went to css.”

  “Looks like I’ll be the only one returning to our cssroom.”

  “Seems so.”

  “Well then, see you ter, I guess.”

  “See you.”

  She goes out of the door first. I wait for her footsteps to fade then I follow after her steps, as that direction led to the bathroom. Entering it, I take out the test tube and the cork. I position the test tube right by the sink and there I put some of the truth serum kept in my mouth.

  I wanted to be as discreet as possible, so I can’t do anything about it being rather unhygienic.

  Plunk.

  I close it off with the cork I borrowed earlier.

  Of course, I didn’t ask for the truth serum for no reason. Thankfully, I now have a little weapon I can use in the future.

  I tuck the test tube filled with the mixture of my saliva and the red liquid and go outside the bathroom.

  I have to give the pink serum to Masaru.

  I stop in my tracks.

  But it isn’t break time and there are no more breaks after afternoon.

  “Ah! I should let Masaru and Mari grab some drinks from the vending machine and then he could mix the love serum with the drink he will buy for her.”

  Now, the only problem that remains is how I will give the potion to him when there is no break. Wai-

  “I should’ve given it to Arisu and let her deliver it to him.”

  Well, I wouldn’t have wanted her to find another way to get me in debt, so I guess its fine.

  I saw a familiar person crossing the hallway. It was Kasumi Kurata, my kouhai. (refer to Chapter 4)

  “Oh, Takabi-senpai,” she says monotonously.

  “Please stop referring to me that, refer to me as my normal name.”

  “Your normal name?”

  She tilts her head slightly.

  “What?” I asked.

  “No, it’s nothing, it’s just that I have completely forgotten your name.”

  “Wha-”

  I shake my head.

  You remember that ass nickname, but not my real name?

  “Let me introduce myself again, my name is Takayuki Kibe, you may call me Kibe.”

  “Okay, Takoyaki-senpai.”

  “STOP IT.”

  “What are you doing? Why are you out of css? And why are you not wearing a uniform?”

  “Okay, long story short, I was supposed to be back home recovering from my illness but I forgot to bring something to my friend.”

  “Ah, I see. I was on my way to the bathroom.”

  You did not need to tell that.

  She continues, “See you, Yuki-senpai.”

  “Wait!”

  She turns around.

  “Is it alright if I ask you for a favor?” I request.

  …

  ..

  .

  I and Mari were seatmates. Both of us were in the 4th row with me on the 4th column while Mari on the 5th column.

  Both of us were embarrassed about what had gone down earlier. Suddenly, a random girl appears by the door and the teacher was interrupted from the discussion.

  “Y-Yes?” he asks her.

  That girl simply points at me.

  “Arata-kun, someone is here to get you,” Yano-sensei calls out.

  “Hm? Oh!”

  I stand up in frenzy and approach to her. Mariwas aghast.

  “Is that… another girl?” she thought.

  Slightly envious, she pouts.

  Right outside the cssroom, we chat.

  “Ah, hello? Uh, what did you need me for? Who are you?”

  “Takoyaki-senpai asked me to lend me something to you,” she replies.

  She hands me over the test tube with pink liquid inside of it.

  “Takoyaki… You mean Takayuki Kibe? How?”

  “He also told me to bring you this note.”

  She gives me a small white paper that was apparently torn from a rger sheet.

  “What?”

  Meanwhile, she turns around and leaves me without even telling her name.

  Odd girl.

  I stare at her for a while and then hide the test tube in his pocket. I head back inside the cssroom and return to my chair.

  Mari takes slight peeks at me, though I was unaware of it.

  I open the note and read my message silently.

  “Hello, this is me, Kibe Takayuki, I know you have a lot of questions, but save that for ter, I need you to let Mari drink that potion I gave you. That potion will let her fall in love with you.”

  Wh-What?!

  I take a gnce at the test tube I was just handed and see the small part of it peeking out of my pocket. I gulp and gnce at Mari. Our gazes meet and we look away in a hurry.

  I take another look at the note.

  I don’t know if I can do this.

  Taking a deep breath, I shake my head furiously and convince myself.

  No! This is for the rooftop! I have to give this to Mari… But how?

  Gncing at my note countless times over, I flip it to see that there was more. Seeing that there was, I read it silently.

  “If you came across this message, then that means you have absolutely no idea how to give it to her, correct?”

  Kibe… seriously?

  I proceed.

  “If so, then all you have to do is to buy her a drink and open it for her and excuse it as an act of a gentleman. Make sure to buy one for yourself too, so that your intentions look inconspicuous. PS: I am not providing you money for your drinks. Buy with your own damn money, I am broke www.”

  I can’t help but face palm at his words.

  Fine, I’ll do what you say.

  …

  ..

  .

  4:01 PM, After School

  Ring. Ring.

  The school bell rings cueing the end of another school day.

  The students were packing their bags, including me and Mari.

  Goda-san, who was right in front of Mari, turns around to talk with her.

  “Hey Mari-chan, where do you think we should go this time? How about we hang out at the arcade with the others again?” she suggests.

  “O-Oh, how about we ask Ran-san?” Mari replies.

  “U-Uh, excuse me,” I interrupt.

  The two girls turn their attention to me.

  “Chinen-san… uh, I mean Mari-san… would you mind… if I asked to take you home?”

  “WH-WHA?!” Mari yelps as she grew as red as a tomato once more.

  “I see, a date was it?” Goda-san asks.

  “W-Wait, no! Rin!”

  “On second thought, I kinda have assignments to do, haha.”

  “We are in the same css, you scheming witch!” Mari spouts, “We weren’t given any assignments today.”

  Goda-san approaches the other girls and they chat for a bit. Momentarily after, they take a gnce at Mari, and both Goda-san and Tanimoto-san chuckle as they leave with Konishi-chan.

  Mari was visibly flustered.

  Katsuro was about to head for me, but immediately understood what was happening and then gathered the boys, doing the exact same thing as the girls did, giving us our alone time.

  The boys and the girls all left except for the two of us.

  “S-Sorry, should I have not interrupted? Am I overstepping a boundary?” I ask.

  “No, it’s totally fine. I… wanted to talk with you anyways.”

  “Well then, shall we?”

  “Yeah.”

  We head outside the door and approach the stairs.

  Step. Step. Step.

  Both of us were dead silent. The atmosphere was filled with awkwardness. Mari fidgets while I didn’t even know what topic to start.

  Think man, think! Use all that experience you used to flirt with girls.

  “Uh, why are you so quiet today?” I ask her.

  “N-No particur reason.”

  I remember the incident from before and decide to drop it. The conversation was left cold.

  Wh-Why is she like this? Is this about earlier? About us… being intimate…

  I have to break the ice or we won’t get anywhere at this rate.

  “A-About earlier…”

  She was startled.

  “Y-Yes?!”

  Unable to find what to say, I force a chuckle.

  “Um, were you embarrassed about what happened earlier?”

  She recalls the time I was called by the mysterious girl and blushes.

  “N-No! Why would I be e-embarrassed about that?” she replies.

  “Huh? Okay.”

  Wow, really? She already moved on from the pantsing incident earlier? What a mature person she is! I have to learn to follow her footsteps.

  Note: They are referring to two very different incidents.

  We reach the ground floor. After that we walk to the entrance and out of the gates. No conversation occurs until we reach my favorite pce, the vending machine with the bench.

  Here goes.

  “Hey, why don’t we rake a short break before we go home?” I insist whilst I point to my left.

  “S-Sure.”

  Both of us sit on the bench.

  Mari was still finding the courage to tell what she was thinking.

  “So… are there any others?” she asks me.

  “What? What do you mean?”

  “Are there any… other girls?”

  Wait, she couldn’t possibly mean… is she asking how many girls have seen me in my boxers?

  I nervously sweat out of my mind.

  Wh-What am I supposed to tell her in this situation?!

  Note: This is the beauty of miscommunication.

  “Ah, I see,” she says not waiting for my answer.

  “HUH?!”

  WHAT DID SHE SEE?!

  “You have many others. I understand.”

  “WHAT?! No! No other girl has ever seen me in my boxers.”

  “Huh? I wasn’t talking about th-”

  Her memories of the incident come rushing in.

  “Wait, you weren’t talking about that incident?” I question.

  “AaaaaaaAABABABBABABABBABABBABA-”

  “Chinen-san?!”

  Then, she continuously punches me on my left arm.

  “W-Woah! What are you doi- Ow! Ow! Stop it!” I plead.

  …

  ..

  .

  It took a lot of expining, but we eventually resolved the misunderstanding.

  “I was talking about the pantsing incident, my bad. But then, if that wasn’t what you were talking about… what was it?”

  She fidgets.

  “It… was about the girl who called you earlier.”

  “Oh… that.”

  “So… are you two d-dating?” she asks shyly.

  “That’s all?”

  “A-Answer the question!” she orders.

  “We don’t have any retionship to each other!”

  “Are you telling the truth?”

  “Yes! Yes, I am!”

  “Hang on, there’s nothing wrong if the case is different. Wait… are you… jealous?”

  “WH-WHA?! NO! STOP THIS NONSENSE!”

  She continuously punches me on the arm softly.

  “I-I’m not… I’m not…”

  “I’m not that vulnerable. I couldn’t have possibly fallen for him so easily. It’s just that he’s fun to talk to and… I kind of wanted to know him better. Some part of me feels relieved to hear this… is this normal in friendships?” she thought.

  “I-I’m not envious…” she speaks with a waning tone.

  The conversation pauses right there.

  I… should stop fooling around, I have to get to action.

  “Hey, I’ll go get us some drinks. What would you like to get?”

  “Are you sure? I don’t wanna leech off your money.”

  She has better morals than Kibe, at least.

  “It’s all good. I’m the one who offered after all.”

  “Alright, I would like a melon soda please!” she requests.

  “Coming right up!”

  I go to the vending machine and take out my wallet. I grab a bill and insert it into the vending machine then press the buttons for the melon soda and for the dark coffee.

  Clunk. Clunk.

  The dark coffee and melon soda falls and I grab the melon soda first.

  I gulp.

  Is this really… the right thing?

  Hesitating one st time, I double down on my efforts. I open the melon soda and a fizz escapes into the air.

  Psst!

  After that, I take out the love potion and pour its contents in it. I take my coffee and open it as well. Slightly nervous, I turn around and head to her. I offer her can.

  “Here you go. I did the pleasure of opening the can for you.”

  “Ooh, thank you very much. Quite a gentleman.”

  I intently stare at her drink. When she was about to take a sip, she notices my intense gaze.

  “Hm? What’s wrong? Do you want my drink instead?” she offers.

  “N-No, carry on.”

  “Alright.”

  I close my eyes wishing I wouldn’t have to witness what was happening right at this very moment.

  This is fine. This is fine. This is fine. This is fine. This is fine. This is fine…

  I keep telling myself the same phrase to assure that I did indeed make the right choice.

  Is this justifiable?

  I open my eyes and her lips were now touching the can although not yet inclined to fall into her mouth.

  No… this… is wrong!!!

  “Wait!” I shouted as I grab her drink.

  “Hey, what’s the big idea?”

  I don’t want to fill this friendship with any more lies. Sorry, Kibe, I’m not man enough to do the act. I really am a coward.

  “Haha, I guess I got thirsty for melon soda, don’t worry, I’ll buy you another can,” I half-jokingly tell her.

  END OF EPISODE 33