Chapter 57: Humble Old Eight's Indirect Kiss.
....
Anna Yanami had never imagined in her wildest dreams that when she snuck over in the morning planning to wake Kihara up, she would end up witnessing a scene that left her face burning with embarrassment and her heart completely shattered.
'So without me knowing, the blockhead and Lala have already done that kind of thing...'
Every time she recalled the scene she saw with her own eyes, her heart throbbed as if pierced by countless needles. The piercing pain forced her to realize with complete clarity that in this bloodless war known as "Romance," she had officially become a loser.
Yet Anna Yanami wasn't willing to accept such an outcome. She snuck back home, spending two full hours organizing her emotions and expressions before calling Kihara over to her room alone.
"What's the very important matter you wanted to talk about?"
Upon stepping into her bedroom, Kihara sat cross-legged at the small wooden table set with hot tea without a single shred of hesitation, popping a butter cookie directly into his mouth.
"Blockhead, I like you," she uttered calmly. Her inner self no longer carried any of her past nervousness; it felt as though a hollow hole had been carved into her heart, allowing all the emotions that should have been inside to drain out completely.
"Hmm... is this another anti-cheating training session to keep me from being suddenly confessed to by pretty girls?"
His uncertain question landed like a sudden clap of thunder, exploding violently inside Anna's mind.
Her pupils dilated slightly, reflecting Kihara's bewildered face. She finally realized that more than ten years ago, she had made the single stupidest decision of her life—desensitizing him through confessions.
While that tactic seemed to guarantee Kihara wouldn't easily be tricked away by scheming green-tea girls, it had simultaneously pushed her into a position that was both closest to him and yet furthest away. Her genuine words of love would never again be taken as a real confession by him.
What was worse, Anna couldn't possibly have another ten years to untangle the thorny chains she had personally wrapped around her own love life.
The cruel reality struck like a massive sledgehammer to her head, making her eyes turn dark as she nearly fainted from the crushing blow.
Seeing her face suddenly drain of all color, turning frightfully pale, Kihara assumed she was suffering from low blood sugar due to her strict dieting. Leaping up, he produced a bottle of cola from his storage space and rushed to her side.
"Hurry up and drink this cola!" Without giving her a chance to explain, he forcibly pried her lips and teeth open with the bottle neck, pouring the soda straight into her mouth.
After chugging down half the bottle, Anna let out a soft burp as her consciousness finally drifted back into her body. Looking at Kihara right in front of her face, her nose twitched, and tears nearly spilled from her eyes.
"Blockhead... do you think we should continue this anti-cheating training?"
"Is this the important matter you wanted to discuss?" Kihara glanced at her reddened eyes, feeling that the issue wasn't as simple as it appeared on the surface.
"Yeah. I'm handing the choice over to you."
He gave his answer without a moment's hesitation: "Of course we're continuing it."
"I knew you'd choose that!"
Anna let out a relieved smile, pushing the remaining half bottle of cola back over to Kihara: "My stomach feels super full. You drink the rest."
He nodded, and just as he gulped down a third of the remaining cola, his phone suddenly chimed repeatedly.
"Hello? Director Ranko?"
"Ah? Emergency extra shoot?!"
"...Alright, I'm heading over right now."
"Anna, I have to run to the studio lot. Help me pop over to my house and tell Lala and the others that I won't be back for lunch."
"Got it, go ahead without worrying."
"Mmhmm, bye-bye."
Kihara left in a frantic rush, leaving the half-drunken bottle of cola sitting on the small wooden table.
Anna had originally wanted to use this bottle of cola to bid a final farewell to her feelings, but she hadn't expected an unexpected event to prevent him from finishing it.
'Could this be the work of fate too?'
Reaching out, she wrapped her palm around the exact spot Kihara had held earlier. Feeling the lingering warmth on the plastic bottle, she extended the tip of her tongue, licking gently around the bottle opening to comfort her aching heart, tears dripping helplessly from the corners of her eyes.
After spending more than two hours in her room self-indulging with the cola bottle Kihara left behind, Anna finally recalled the task he had entrusted to her. Hurriedly changing into a clean, crisp outfit, she ran over to his house.
After informing the three sisters—who were currently gathered around the food machine researching lunch—about Kihara's sudden trip to the studio lot, she originally planned to head straight back home to continue her emotional outlet.
Unexpectedly, Nana stepped away from her big and little sisters, trotting over to ask in a hushed whisper: "Anna, do you have time after lunch?"
"What's up?"
"I want to pop over to your place this afternoon. There's something I want to ask you."
"Mmhmm." Anna didn't want to keep agonizing over where her feelings should go next, so she took the chance to divert her attention, nodding in agreement.
"Hooray! I'll bring some snacks made by the food machine over!"
Hearing the word "snacks," she instinctively wanted to stop Nana, but remembering she had already been kicked to the curb in the romantic war, keeping up her diet and figure no longer seemed necessary.
"If possible, bring plenty over."
"Huh? You don't need to control your diet anymore?"
"No need."
"Awesome!" Completely failing to notice her off mood, Nana rolled up her sleeves and slapped her chest with total confidence: "I was actually planning to use the food machine to make treats anyway! Since you requested it, I'm going to make extra!"
"I'll wait for you at home."
"See you then!"
...
That afternoon, the snacks brought by Nana covered the entire small wooden table. She turned to look at Anna Yanami, who was busy stuffing her face, and voiced her question: "Anna, do you happen to know... what brother-in-law likes?"
Anna's right hand—which was reaching for a snack—paused for a split second before returning to normal. Grabbing a handful of potato chips, she shoved them into her mouth, asking while chewing with puffed-out cheeks: "Why do you ask about something like that out of nowhere?"
"Well..." Nana didn't dare meet her eyes, turning her head to scratch her cheek: "Can I not say?"
"If you don't tell me, don't even dream about getting answers from my mouth."
"A-Alright..." Nana relented to her in the end, explaining her reason: "Didn't I get saved by brother-in-law when I drowned earlier? After I woke up, I promised to give him a thank-you gift, but I still haven't decided what to give him even now."
"Isn't that a completely normal thing? Why make it so secretive?".
"Because I don't want Momo to know I've been agonizing over picking a gift for this long! She would 100% mock me!"
"True enough. If you two sisters didn't fight one day, that would be the actual miracle."
"So!!" Nana clasped her hands together in a pleading gesture: "Please tell me some things Kihara likes so I can use them as gift references!"
"He likes drinking cola, playing video games, and occasionally reading manga..."
Anna listed off the hobbies anyone could easily deduce just by taking a quick stroll through his room. Hearing them, however, Nana shook her head repeatedly.
"No way, those gifts are way too generic. Isn't there something that can truly move his heart?"
"Move his heart?"
That phrase caught Anna's attention instantly, snapping her back into total focus.
....
Thank you for reading.