「Yuuki!!」
With that shout, Hikari burst into the hospital room and immediately threw her arms around me.
…This scene feels oddly familiar. Didn’t something like this just happen earlier? Déjà vu, maybe?
「Are you okay? Feeling alright? Do you have a fever? Are you eating properly? Do you need me to wipe you down? Are you able to go to the bathroom on your own?」
She fired off one question after another. It was hard to even get a word in with her clinging to me like this…
「I’m fine! I’m fine, really! Just stop clinging to me! Everyone’s watching!」
「Huh?」
I pointed toward the others, and with a creaking motion that almost made an audible sound, Hikari slowly turned her head to look.
She hurriedly adjusted her posture and smoothed out her clothes, then sat up straight on the bed in a formal seiza position.
「It’s nice to meet you. I’m Mizushiro Hikari, Yuuki’s childhood friend.」
「It’s nice to meet you too. I’m Takanashi Himeka, the mother of these two—Haruka and Touka. This is my husband, Shuuji, and this is their childhood friend, Tomoe-chan.」
Following Himeka-san’s introduction, everyone gave a polite bow.
「Well then, I think it’s about time we left. Visiting hours are almost over, and I’m sure Yuuki-kun and Mizushiro-san have a lot to catch up on.」
「Ehh, but I wanted to talk a bit more…」
「Touka? Yuuki-san just woke up. You shouldn’t be tiring him out too much. Do you understand?」
Himeka-san’s final remark had a chilling tone to it, making Touka’s face go pale as she quickly stood up. That was intense… Even I felt a chill run down my spine.
After being effectively scolded, Touka rushed to the door, but before leaving, she called out,
「Okay! Yuuki-san! Think about that thing, okay? Bye-bye!」
She practically bolted out of the room.
「Honestly… Touka is such a handful. Well then, Yuuki-san, we’ll come visit again soon. Our room is just two doors to the right, so if you get lonely at night, feel free to stop by ♪. See you later…」
Haruka left with a mischievous smile, but Hikari’s glare was drilling holes into the side of my head…
「Alright then, shall we go too, Shuuji-san, Tomoe-chan?」
「Yes, Himeka-san!」
Tomoe-chan answered cheerfully, while Shuuji-san just gave a silent nod.
As they were leaving, Tomoe-chan turned back toward me and asked,
「Can I come visit again sometime?」
「Anytime you want.」
Hearing that, her face lit up with a happy smile as she followed the others out of the room.
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
Once the two of us were alone, the only sound in the room was the steady ticking of the wall clock.
(I can’t stay silent forever…)
Scratching my head awkwardly, I finally opened my mouth to speak to Hikari, who was sitting directly in front of me.
「Uh… Hikari… There’s something I need to tell you. You know those girls who were here earlier—the one with the cherry blossom-colored hair and the one with the sky-blue hair?」
「Yeah, they were cute. What about them?」
「They told me they liked me… and asked me to marry them.」
「Huh. That’s nice. So why are you telling me this?」
Hikari’s voice suddenly turned cold. Yeah… can’t blame her for reacting like that after hearing something like this out of nowhere.
「I turned them down. But… their father asked me to reconsider.」
「Well, that makes sense.」
「So… I plan to give them a proper answer.」
「Yeah, that’s probably for the best. Getting left hanging would be the worst outcome.」
「Ugh… yeah… You’re right… Sorry…」
(What the hell am I saying? Why am I even reporting this to Hikari?)
Silence settled over us again. I knew there was something I really wanted to say, but my thoughts were all tangled up.
「Ano… ehto… there’s something else I need to tell you. It’s about my job…」
「I know. Or rather, the God-sama told me everything. About how you were sent to another world, how I can use magic, and about you being a Brave… and even about that 【Brave Prefer Romance】 thing.」
…Seriously, what the hell, God-sama?!
「So… what do you want to do, Yuuki?」
「Huh?」
「Do you like those two girls?」
「Uh… well…」
If I had to say whether I liked them or not… I didn’t hate the fact that they liked me.
「I mean… it’s not like I dislike being liked…」
「What about me?」
「Huh?」
「I like you, Yuuki.」
「Huh?! Wha—?!」
I started thinking—what do I want to do about Hikari?
I… like Hikari. It sounds corny, but I’d take on the entire world for her. But right now, I’m not strong enough to make that a reality.
And… after what happened in that other world, losing someone precious to me because I was too much of a coward—
I never want to go through that again.
「So, Yuuki… what do you want to do?」
「If… if it’s allowed, I want to use this power to its fullest. I was too arrogant this time. I thought that since I’d saved the world once, I could handle anything… and this is where that got me.」
I looked down at my bandaged arms and legs.
「But if that’s the case, you don’t have to force yourself to build a harem, right? I’ll work hard to get stronger too.」
「Yeah… I don’t plan to stay like this either. I want to become stronger. But that’s not enough. Because… if I don’t, I won’t be able to protect you, Hikari.」
I paused and looked straight at Hikari’s face—the face of someone precious to me who had been by my side for over ten years.
「That’s why… if you’ll forgive me… will you become my number one?」
My face burned with heat. I finally said it…
「Yuuki… are you saying…」
Hikari’s face flushed as the meaning of my words sank in.
「Will you… marry me?」
Hikari lowered her head for a moment, then raised it again with tears in her eyes and a radiant smile on her face.
「If you’re okay with me… I’d be happy to be your wife, Yuuki!」
She jumped into my arms, and I held her close as we gazed at each other.
「Fufufu…」
「Ahaha…」
And then we both started laughing together.
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
After laughing for a while, the conversation shifted to what had happened while we were apart.
Hikari told me how Ootori-san had approached her parents to make her an Explorer—and how her parents had been targeted by agents.
「Rina-san and I did some spy movie stuff together. It was really fun!」
「Seriously? That sounds intense…」
「Yeah, it was pretty wild. We hopped between different hotels… even got into a car chase.」
「A car chase?!」
Hikari laughed sheepishly. That’s… way more dangerous than I expected!
「Oh, right! I heard you helped out your classmates in the dungeon.」
「Ah… yeah, that did happen…」
「When Yamanaga -san said, ‘As expected from the husband!’ I was so shocked!」
「I’d completely forgotten about that… I was mentally drained that day and just passed out. And then the next day at school, they accused me of cheating…」
「What?! I need to hear more about that!」
「Huh?! N-no, it wasn’t anything interesting…」
「Come on, Yuuki! It’s not every day you get cornered by your classmates—that’s rare!」
They weren’t bad people, but… I’m just not good at handling that kind of attention.
「A-anyway! You said you met God-sama… where did that happen?」
「Ah… about that…」
Hikari met God-sama when her consciousness was transferred during the return flight.
Apparently, that’s when she learned that I had saved another world.
It seems like they left out the part about Aerith and the others… Thank god…
Right before the plane landed, Tsuzuri-san told Ootori-san about my injuries, and Hikari found out from Ootori-san.
After that, as soon as the plane landed, she got into a car that had been arranged in advance and sped to the hospital.
「Honestly… I was already planning to say yes if you ever asked me to join your harem. But I didn’t expect you to propose.」
「Well… after thinking about a lot of things…」
「I’ve loved you since we were kids, but you never showed any signs of liking me back, you know?」
「Ah… well…」
No point in hiding it anymore—it’s going to come out eventually.
「You know how I went to another world, right? Well… I kind of fell for someone there. But I always knew I’d have to come back eventually… and besides, that girl already had someone she liked…」
「So, thanks to that person, you were finally able to think seriously about me?」
「Yeah… pretty much…」
Hikari crossed her arms and thought deeply. I was bracing myself for a scolding…
「Hmm… Not being your first love is definitely guilty… but I’ll forgive you! My first love came true, and thanks to that person, you finally sorted out your feelings for me. So, all’s well that ends well!」
「Ahaha—thank you for your boundless mercy!」
I bowed my head dramatically, and Hikari laughed.
Knock, knock.
「Who could that be?」
「I wonder…」
「It’s not Mom…」
「Might as well let them in?」
「Yeah… Come in~」
The door slowly opened.
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