All Beautiful Girls Want to Stick with Me

”I’m sorry. I set a rule for myself before—I practice piano for three hours every day after school. That’s why I declined your invitations at the time. Next time, I won’t refuse.”

Yukino’s cheeks felt faintly warm. She knew lying was wrong, yet she forced herself to tell one anyway in front of Yui.

Although both explanations addressed why she had refused before, in Yukino’s view, declining because she needed to practice piano sounded far more respectable than declining because she wanted to hurry home and read novels.

Yukino was terrible at lying. If she had said this to Kotomi instead of Yui, Kotomi Izumi would have seen through it immediately.

After all, Yukino hardly seemed like the type who would voluntarily practice piano for three hours a day.

But Yui believed her. Being naturally simple-minded, she didn’t question the truthfulness of Yukino’s words. Instead, she simply admired her discipline.

”Three hours of piano practice every day? Just hearing that sounds exhausting. Have you really kept it up all this time?”

”Mm... Since I started learning piano, I’ve kept the habit. Come to think of it, it’s almost been ten years. Humans really are strange creatures. Even without much interest in the piano, I still managed to stick to practicing three hours a day for an entire decade.”

Yukino spoke calmly. Though she had been forcing herself ever since uttering that first lie, she maintained a composed expression, as if discussing something trivial.

”Yukino, that’s amazing!” Yui praised sincerely.

”I-It’s nothing...” Yukino looked away guiltily.

She truly was awful at lying.

”Mmm...”

At that moment, Kotomi Izumi stirred from her light sleep. She shifted slightly and let out a comfortable murmur.

Sure enough, sleeping under a heated table was the most comfortable thing in the world.

Yukino Yukinoshita, who had just been telling Yui about how diligently she practiced piano every day, instinctively felt a jolt of alarm the moment she saw Kotomi Izumi wake up.

There was no special reason—only that Kotomi knew very well that Yukino didn’t like practicing piano at all, let alone practicing three hours every day.

If Kotomi had heard what she’d just said, Yukino could already imagine exactly how she would tease and mock her.

Kotomi slowly sat up. After stretching lazily, she rubbed her sleepy eyes and greeted Yukino and Yui, planning to chat for a bit before heading to the bathroom for a bath.

The moment she saw the table piled with peeled oranges—each segment carefully stripped of its pith—she immediately became much more alert. Like rewarding a well-behaved puppy, she reached out and kneaded Yui’s soft cheeks, praising her:

”Not bad, not bad. Your orange-peeling skills are getting better and better. From now on, if you didn’t peel it, I won’t eat it!”

At the end, she even swore it with complete seriousness.

One of the essential skills of a seasoned flirt—occasionally giving your girlfriend harmless little vows. They don’t really cost anything, but they provide a certain sense of security.

Of course, Kotomi Izumi never thought of herself as a scumbag or a playgirl. In her mind, she was simply a pure and kind girl with a very big heart.

A very big heart—so loving one girl with each piece of it was perfectly reasonable, right?

As expected, after being praised like that, Yui Yuigahama’s cheeks flushed red. If not for the fact that all the oranges in the fruit plate had already been peeled, just that single sentence from Kotomi would have been enough for Yui to stay up all night peeling oranges for her.

Sitting to the side, Yukino watched the two of them flirting. The sight stirred a sour jealousy within her chest.

After chatting casually for a while, Kotomi patted Yui’s head and told her to go take a bath first.

Kotomi planned to go last, because she felt that her bath might take a little longer.

She didn’t want Yui to wait too long, so she sent her ahead.

It wasn’t that Kotomi liked taking long baths. Rather, after her short nap, although the thirst caused by the side effects had subsided, that didn’t mean the side effects themselves had disappeared.

On the contrary, she could clearly feel that the intensity of the side effects had become even stronger than before she fell asleep.

The side effects of the Queen of All Females constitution are getting more and more terrifying. I only took a short nap, and the intensity has already increased this much. If I don’t deal with it soon... by tomorrow morning, the bedsheets probably won’t be usable anymore...