As I was riding the train to work, Yuika greeted me in her usual attitude.
At first glance, she appeared to be a serious, beautiful girl; on the contrary, she was an outrageous high school girl who used foul language with a dry tone.
Whenever I was on the commuter train, this girl would talk to me and try to lead me into a romantic conversation.
After a little chatting, Yuika asked me a question out of the blue.
“Hey. Is your junior cute?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do other people say you’re cute?”
“… Some people do say that.”
“Soka~~. Onii-San thinks his junior is cute.”
“Don’t subtly falsify the story.”
… It’s always this way.
Every time, you’re going to force the story to go that way.
You little devil.
“But you do think she’s cute, don’t you?”
“…, Yeah.”
“So you do think she’s cute.”
“You’re jumping from one interpretation to the next.”
“If you can’t be honest with me, does that mean you’re still conscious of me~?”
Yuika was trying to steer the conversation towards romance.
The junior had a certain feminine charm, but that and romance were two different things.
She didn’t seem to understand that.
She was just a high school girl.
I didn’t think she understood the concept of adult love.
Then, I opened my mouth.
“If that’s all you want, I think you’re cute, too.”
It was a casual remark, but she suddenly fell quiet and stared at my face.
“What’s wrong?”
“N-Nothing…”
The tone of her words was the same, but her lips were pouting.
I wondered if I had said something strange.
And then I realized a possibility.
“… Are you embarrassed?”
“… I’m not embarrassed.”
I continued.
“What? You’re embarrassed? You’re always so cocky, but now you’re embarrassed?”
“I-I’m not … embarrassed.”
I followed up with more.
“Didn’t think that Yuika-sama, who was always talking about love, would be embarrassed just because someone called her cute?”
“W-why would I be embarrassed?”
Yuika was trying hard to keep her expression stoic, but her lips were trembling slightly.