Final: Always Together
…I’m so restless.
I lay in bed in my room, hugging the penguins, staring blankly at the ceiling.
The reason for my restlessness is simple—
“Mashiro, thanks for letting me use the bath.”
The door opened, and Riri, fresh from the bath, entered the room.
“Ah, you’re welcome.”
I jumped out of bed.
We came straight to my house from the festival.
I took a bath first, and then Riri used it after me.
“Are the pajamas okay? Do they fit?”
“Yeah, they’re perfect.”
Naturally, I lent Riri my pajamas since she didn’t have any clothes here.
The lavender short-sleeved top and shorts looked glamorous on her.
“That’s surprising, Mashiro. You wear this kind of thing?”
“No, I’ve never worn them…”
They’re probably Amatsuki Suzuna’s, I wouldn’t have the courage to wear them.
I’m wearing navy blue long-sleeved pajamas and long pants.
“Eh, that’s a waste. They’re cute.”
“I can’t… show that much skin.”
“Even in pajamas?”
“It’s… drafty, and I’m not used to it.”
—Creak
The bed creaked.
Riri sat down next to me.
“What do you mean, making me wear these pajamas that you’re too embarrassed to wear yourself?”
Riri covered her mouth with her hand, grinning mischievously.
I can pretty much guess what she wants me to say.
“What do you think it means?”
But I didn’t want to fall for her trap, so I returned the question.
“You’re turned on, aren’t you?”
Riri said playfully, trying to keep it light.
Her ability to handle any situation, keeping the conversation going, is typical of her excellent communication skills.
But her words hit a nerve.
Riri’s flushed skin looked alluring.
And that body was exposed in my space.
Next to me on the bed, wearing my pajamas, with an unguarded smile.
It’s impossible for me not to feel something.
“What if I said yes?”
Unlike Riri, I can’t speak playfully.
I’m an extreme person: I hate it if I hate it, and I like it if I like it.
So I say what I think.
My straightforward words made Riri’s smile falter.
“Well… what do you mean, ‘what if’…? That puts me in a difficult position.”
Even though I’m the only one here, Riri-chan scratched her cheek and looked away.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Y-You’re making me say it…? There’s such a thing as… reading the room, going with the flow…?”
I’m not good at grasping vague things like “the mood” or “the flow.”
I need more… clarity.
“You want me to hold you, don’t you?”
“…Y-Yeah. You’re being very direct.”
“Riri, you made me say it when it was my turn.”
“Ah… that’s true, but… it’s so embarrassing to be on the receiving end…”
She’s the one who told me that I have to verbalize things.
And now she’s acting like I shouldn’t.
Reading the room is truly difficult.
“Do you not want me to? I won’t if you don’t.”
“…Of course I want you to.”
I put the penguins I was holding onto the floor.
I don’t need a barrier between us right now. I want them to… look away for a bit.
“Really?”
“…Please.”
I gently touched Riri’s shoulder.
Her skin was warm, fresh from the bath.
Or maybe it wasn’t just because of the bath.
I kissed her, a deep kiss.
Our tongues intertwined as we sought each other, devouring each other’s mouths.
When our lips parted, Riri’s eyes were moist and dreamy.
Her expression was so alluring that I felt myself being consumed by her.
I gently pushed her shoulders and laid her down on the bed.
Her smooth hair spread across the bed, and a sweet fragrance wafted through the air.
The feeling of dominance, looking down at Riri-chan silently, heightened my excitement.
“I’m going to undress you.”
I reached for the buttons of her pajamas.
“…The lights?”
“I won’t be able to see if I turn them off.”
“No, it’s… too bright. Turn them off.”
I’m already inexperienced, and I won’t be able to do this properly if I can’t even see.
“Rejected.”
“…Seriously?”
I undressed Riri without hesitation.
Riri, completely naked, was beautiful.
“Hey, you’re staring too much.”
“You did the same to me.”
“But the lights weren’t this bright.”
Riri-chan’s blushing, embarrassed expression was cute.
I touched her breast.
I could feel her arousal from the way her body twitched slightly.
Her breasts were too large for my hands.
I touched her as gently as possible.
Her breathing gradually quickened.
“…How is it?”
“Don’t… stare at me… It’s too much…”
“I have to look.”
“You’re doing this on purpose! You know what you’re doing!”
Apparently, it’s not bad.
After a while, Riri’s legs closed tightly.
Sensing that, I moved down from her chest to between her legs.
“Eh, ah, wait…”
I touched her Secret Place; she was wet.
I ran my tongue along her skin.
“…Haa…”
Her breathing intensified, her chest rising and falling rapidly.
Her body, fresh from the bath, was becoming increasingly sweaty.
I touched her with my lips and tongue.
As if to drink every drop of her moisture.
“Mashiro, that’s… dangerous…”
Riri-chan’s hand touched my head, her legs closed tightly around my face.
But I knew that it wasn’t rejection, but pleasure.
“Seriously…”
“It’s fine.”
“—!”
As if triggered by my words, Riri-chan’s body convulsed.
Her muscles tensed, and her back arched on the bed.
Listening to her moans, I waited for her body to relax.
◇◇◇
“How was it?”
I looked down at Riri-chan’s face, her breathing ragged, her body sprawled on the bed.
Riri-chan’s eyes met mine, and I noticed that her gaze was filled with a different emotion than before.
“…Mashiro, you seem… unfazed.”
“Well, I managed.”
“Want to hear my opinion?”
“I do.”
I waited, wanting to see her embarrassed expression, and Riri-chan grabbed my arms.
“Eh?”
She flipped me over, and now I was lying on the bed, and she was straddling me.
“Okay, I’ll tell you.”
“Um…”
I suddenly had a bad feeling.
“With my body.”
“I wasn’t… thinking about that today—”
Ignoring my hesitation, Riri-chan’s hand reached for the buttons of my pajamas.
“No questions asked.”
Now it was my turn to be undressed.
◇◇◇
How long did it last?
Before I knew it, we were holding each other.
My body was exhausted, but my mind was still clear.
I felt a blissful sense of happiness, our bodies warming each other.
“Hey, Mashiro.”
“What is it, Riri?”
We gazed into each other’s eyes and called each other’s names.
“Mashiro, you were originally… from outside the game world, right?”
Riri suddenly brought up that topic.
“…If you believe me, then yes.”
“Whether I believe it or not is a different matter.”
But it still seems to be an ambiguous boundary for her.
“Anyway, the protagonist is Shindo, right?”
“Yes, and we’re the heroines.”
“And you were trying to prevent Shindo and us, the heroines, from falling for each other, right?”
“Well, roughly speaking, yes.”
“I was thinking… isn’t that strange?”
“…What is?”
“Shindo is the protagonist, but he didn’t end up with anyone. And we, the heroines, are dating each other. Isn’t that weird?”
That’s true.
But I thought it was a bug caused by my irregular existence, Yukitsuki Mashiro.
“So you’re saying you want to deny that this is a dating sim world?”
I can’t argue with that.
“No, that’s not what I mean. I think the premise is wrong.”
“Wrong?”
“Yeah, in games… not just the characters, but the players are also the protagonists, aren’t they?”
Riri looked directly at me.
“So you, Mashiro, are the protagonist who was playing the game. It’s only natural that I fell for you.”
“…I see.”
That might be a valid interpretation.
A hypothesis.
“So, Mashiro, you chose me, the heroine, of your own free will.”
“That’s… true.”
We embraced, our foreheads touching gently.
The distance between us was close to zero.
“Then love me until the very end. My protagonist.”
The answer to that question is obvious.
“I will. My heroine.”
It’s a ridiculous story, whether it’s true or not.
But no matter what our relationship is, I think we would have ended up together in the end.
I feel that strongly, our happiness intertwined.
Side Story
“Hey, Mashiro, um… don’t you ever change your… loungewear?”
“…Eh?”
Riri suddenly asked that, and I was taken aback.
Since we started dating, we’ve been spending a lot of time at each other’s houses.
We see each other almost every day, so it’s tiring to always go out, and we naturally settled into this routine.
Today, we were at my place. I was reading manga on the bed, and Riri was lying on her stomach on the carpet, reading a magazine.
I was a bit bewildered by her sudden question about my clothes.
“There’s no problem with this, is there?”
“There’s no problem… but a black sweatsuit? Really? As a girl?”
Yes, I wear a sweatsuit at home.
She was a little surprised when I wore this to go out with her before.
Since then, I’ve only been wearing it at home.
“No, it’s fine! You’re free to wear whatever you want at home. I know that. But, Mashiro, even though this is your room, I’m also here, right? Do you understand what that means?”
“…I have a guest.”
“You have your girlfriend over!”
She corrected me emphatically.
Well, I know that, but there are some words that are embarrassing to say out loud.
“In other words, it’s a date! This is a date! A home date is still a proper date!”
She repeated the word “date” in that short sentence.
I don’t want her to say that; it makes me self-conscious.
“That’s my point! What’s with the black sweatsuit on a date? No, it’s fine! It’s totally fine to wear it sometimes! But every single time, every single time I come to your house… every single time!… you’re wearing that! I can’t help but have some thoughts about it, can I?!”
Riri, seemingly having reached her limit, stood up.
She was apparently very dissatisfied with my outfit.
Riri always changes her clothes whenever we go out.
Today, she was wearing a college logo (I think) sweatshirt tucked into a long denim skirt.
…Wait, a sweatshirt?
“You’re wearing a sweatshirt too, Riri.”
So it’s the same as me?
“That’s different! I’m not saying sweatshirts are bad, it’s about how you wear them!”
…I don’t understand.
Why is it different when it’s the same sweatshirt?
I think she’s the one saying something strange, but… if that’s what she says, then that’s how it is.
“Well… I’m not… fashionable like you, Riri.”
“There’s a limit! Seriously! And… this… it’s pilling!”
Riri’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“It’s proof that it’s become a part of me.”
This sweatsuit is a perfect match for my body after wearing it so much.
See, it stretches comfortably with my movements.
No stress.
“That’s unacceptable! It’s not okay for a girl to wear a pilling sweatsuit!”
“I’m a human before I’m a girl.”
“That sounds deep, but it’s not relevant right now. Or rather, we’re girls before we’re humans.”
That’s the first time I’ve heard that.
Apparently, gender comes before species for us.
…Is that a philosophical statement?
“No, seriously, think about it. I’m not trying to force my fashion sense on you. I just want the cute Mashiro to become even cuter.”
“…Um…”
Riri can say these things with a straight face.
She’s always been like this, but it feels like it’s escalated since we started dating.
I don’t dislike it, but I don’t know how to react.
“Think about it the other way around. What if I was always wearing a black sweatsuit every time you came to my house?”
“…”
I imagined it.
Riri, covered from head to toe in a black sweatsuit.
But I could also picture her with perfect hair, makeup, and nails, and even the sweatsuit would be stylishly coordinated with carefully chosen innerwear and accessories.
Even the worn-out look would probably become fashionable in her hands.
“Well, a beautiful person looks beautiful no matter what.”
“…H-Hey…”
The atmosphere became awkward.
We were complimenting each other, calling each other cute and beautiful, and blushing.
We’re like a lovesick couple…
“I-I’m happy you think so, but that’s a separate issue from your outfit, Mashiro.”
“Well, I wasn’t trying to change the subject…”
“Anyway, don’t you have any… loungewear you want to wear?”
“If I did, I wouldn’t be wearing the same thing every time…”
I want Riri to understand the fundamental difference.
“So you’re saying I can choose everything for you? But you’ll complain, won’t you?”
“I won’t.”
“Eh, you won’t?”
“No, I’ll wear whatever you choose, Riri.”
“…Seriously?”
I’m not lying.
“I told you before, didn’t I? If you say it suits me, Riri, I’ll like it.”
“Y-You did, but… I didn’t think I could actually… choose your clothes…”
“It’s fine. You’re the only one who sees me anyway, Riri. As long as you like how I look, that’s all that matters.”
I don’t feel the need to be cute or fashionable.
But if that’s what Riri wants, I’ll do it for her.
If it makes her happy, that alone is enough for me.
“Th-That… response… is the most dangerous…”
Riri, for some reason, raised her voice and then smiled, her hands on her cheeks.
I don’t understand why she seems so satisfied when I haven’t even changed yet.
<The End>