14 - Just admit it

Nagi stared at me intensely. He stepped forward towards where I stood. I slowly backed away as I saw him walking closer. However, I forgot that there was no empty room behind me, only a wall restricting my movement.

Noticing this, Nagi quickly quickened his pace. He cornered me against the wall. Without hesitation, he lifted my arms above my head, gripping my wrists tightly.

KABE—DON! He pressed my arms against the wall, leaving me no room to escape.

Meanwhile, his other hand gently squeezed my cheek. His eyes looked soft, while his cheeks were slightly flushed.

"Yuichi..."

There was only a few centimeters between our faces.

"I———!"

Huh?

***

BEEP-BEEP!!

The ringtone from the alarm I set on my phone blared loudly, instantly waking me from the nightmare I had just experienced.

Huh..? A dream?

I felt a bit disappointed because I hadn't had the chance to hear what Nagi was about to say in that dream.

Forget about that dream; I was more amazed by the fact that I could wake up from sleep just because of an "alarm" sound.

Usually, it takes Nagi's shouting and banging on the door to get me up; that was just natural. So, I was quite impressed and grateful for waking me up from that nightmare...

"Besides, Nagi would never do something like that." I felt a twinge of disappointment in my heart as I muttered those words.

I picked up my phone, which I had placed beside my bed, and looked at the time displayed there. The time showed seven in the morning. Since it's Saturday, I could take it easier now.

The sound of my stomach growling filled the entire room.

"Hm... I'm hungry."

I then walked to the kitchen, opening cabinets, the fridge, and so on. However, I couldn't find any food there.

"Where’s the ramen I bought yesterday...?"

I looked to the left and right, only to find many food remnants scattered on the table, including the ramen I just mentioned.

I guess I eat it last night...

I sighed.

Oh well, I guess I’m fated to stop eating ramen now. It's been a few days since I've started eating ramen, because my finances is running low.

My parents sent me some money yesterday, so I might be able to buy a healthier breakfast option now.

I should invite Nagi to go shopping together~

***

On a holiday like this, Nagi usually just stares out of his room at passing insects or birds; I don't know how he can stand it. If not that, he usually reads a novel in his room.

I walked towards Nagi's room excitedly. It feels like the difficulties of life decrease by ninety-nine percent when I have money.

When I tried to knock, Nagi's door seemed slightly ajar.

Oh... It's not locked? That's unusual.

I then pushed it open forcefully, creating a loud sound. But don't worry; it won’t disturb the other residents, because on holidays like this, they are usually not in the apartment.

That means it’s just the two of us now.

"Good morning! Nagi! Want to go shopping together? I’m hungry, so—"

"..!"

From inside the room, Nagi looked at me with a shocked and awkward expression.

The screen of his monitor was clearly visible from where I stood, just like what he was watching at that moment.

I instantly froze in place, unable to move or utter a single word.

"Listen, Yuichi. This is a misunderstanding. I'm not on a corn site, okay?! Akane-san sent me this link, so— I thought it was just some regular site," Nagi explained, looking at me with a desperate expression.

"Believe me. Please! Just believe me?" Nagi continued. He looked extremely desperate in his explanation, but the reason he gave me sounded very unreasonable.

Why would Akane send a link to a corn site? Especially to Nagi of all person?!

"Uh— It's fine, it's normal for teenagers to watch that kind of thing."

Yeah, Nagi is a guy too... So it makes sense if he's curious about such things. Especially since he’s currently in his "phase".

"I'm sorry if I interrupted, I'll leave now. Just continue your routine," I said as I turned to leave Nagi's room, slowly closing the door behind me.

"WAIT A MINUTE!!"

Nagi quickly stood up as he saw me about to leave, tightly grabbing my wrist. It seemed Nagi wasn’t going to let me escape until he finished explaining everything.

"Lo-look!" Nagi then showed me a contact on his phone named "Akane." Nagi indeed asked me to look, but as far as I could see, I could only see three messages that said, "this message has been deleted".

"What am I supposed to see...?" I asked, confused.

"Huh?" Nagi looked puzzled at my response, then he flipped his phone over to check again.

Nagi was silent for a moment.

"I swear. The deleted message from Akane was the link to the corn site she sent! Hey!"

I let out a slow sigh as I watched his futile defense, even though the evidence was clear. "Nagi, even if what you're saying is true, then why did you check the link on your computer? Why don't you just check it on your phone? Isn’t that easier and safer? Just click, look, done."

"Unless you wanted to "observe" the link closely on a bigger screen? Don't make a fuss, just admit it, " I continued.

"A..." Nagi was left speechless. It seemed he had run out of defenses.

I then took a step back out of his room, while glaring at him sharply before leaving. "If there's nothing else to discuss, I'll leave."

"YUICHI!"

Nagi suddenly grabbed my shoulders tightly, looking at me intensely, as he slowly stepped closer to where I stood.

"Na-Nagi!?"

Seeing the dark aura of intimidation radiating from Nagi, I had no choice but to back away.

He cornered me against the wall. While his right hand gripped my wrist tightly, he pressed my arm against the wall gently.

I can't escape!!

Wait, isn’t this... A KABEDON!? Especially since his kabedon looked very similar to what Nagi did in my dream earlier...

Thump-thump.

Strangely, my heart started racing as Nagi intimidated me. I had never liked being treated this way before. My face was also getting redder, while my breath started to feel heavy.

Could it be that I'm the M type...?!

NO. It can't be that.

But why did Nagi suddenly act like this!?

He gently squeezed my cheek while glaring at me. "Yuichi..."

Huh? Is Nagi about to say the words that were cut off in my dream this morning...?

For some reason, I suddenly felt eager to find out those words.

"I———!"

"I'M NOT LYING!" I just kept a flat expression. I felt somewhat disappointed to hear what I had been eagerly waiting to come out of his mouth, only for it to be another useless defense attempt.

Well, it’s not like I expected to hear Nagi say something like "I like you" or anything.

Besides, why did he suddenly become so defensive just because he got caught while he's watching corn? He could just admit it.

"Whatever," I replied briefly.

TO BE CONTINUED.