Chapter 97: Schrödinger Relationship
What are the things meant only for couples in love?
Early morning, just returned home, Sakurai Saki was holding his phone.
He was thinking about whether he should send a good morning message to his girlfriend or not.
From "Best friend" to "Girlfriend", although it's only a one-word difference, the meaning is completely different.
Moreover, after sending the good morning message, depending on the reply from the other side, Sakurai Saki could also know whether he had really accepted the confession yesterday or not.
But how should he start it?
[Good morning, Hayasaka-sama, the sunshine is golden today, huh? (˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧]
Ugh... did your brain turn stupid, Sakurai Saki!?
"(ノ _ <,, )
'After falling in love, does your brain really become dumber? Is that true or not?' Sakurai Saki lay sprawled on the sofa, holding his phone up, his eyes fixed on Hayasaka Ai's LINE profile picture. She used a sticker photo that zoomed in on her own face, looking quite cute.
A gyaru type obviously wouldn't use anime pictures as an avatar — this wasn't a subtle jab at some guy named Ishigami Yuu or anything, just stating facts.
But honestly, there aren't many guys who use a chibi killer whale as an avatar. That's right, Sakurai Saki is a killer whale fan, simply because he felt the personality of killer whales really suited his taste. Normally, Sakurai Saki enjoyed watching videos of killer whales playing with seals for entertainment.
All the seals must die!
( -_•)▄︻テحكـ━一💥 ( '• ω • `)
"Now that we're boyfriend and girlfriend, I guess we can do a few things we couldn't do before, right?" Sakurai Saki muttered.
But those things didn't need to be thought about just yet.
"Ring~"
The notification sound startled him so much the phone almost dropped on his face.
Sakurai Saki scrambled to catch his phone and let out a relieved sigh.
He looked at the new message.
Ai-chan: Good morning~![Hand heart gesture]
'Phew, turns out it's just a good morning message.'
...Wait a sec! A good morning message?!
"Why does this feel strangely familiar?"
Sakurai Saki scrolled up the chat box.
Refreshed it.
Yesterday——
6:31——Ai-chan: Good morning~![Hand heart gesture]
Kept scrolling up.
The day before yesterday——
6:35 —— Ai-chan: Good morning~![Hand heart gesture]
Sakurai Saki: [Killer whale waving hand.jpg]
Scrolled up over ten days' worth.
Sakurai Saki banged the back of his head against the sofa a few times, making "thud thud" sounds.
"...Love really does lower your IQ." Terrifying.
(ᴗ_ ᴗ.)
Sakurai Saki had completely forgotten that he and Hayasaka Ai had been exchanging good morning messages for several months now.
"So I can just reply however I want then?"
He started typing on the numeric keyboard.
Just typed a few characters.
"Ring~"
Ai-chan: Today's energy~[Attached photo: very close-up shot, Hayasaka Ai's long blonde hair still soaking wet, hanging down in front of her chest, the "northern hemisphere" round and full being embraced by her arms, she was wearing a white bathrobe...]
...TOO LEWD!!! (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)!!!
BUT I LOVE IT!!! ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧!!!
Is it okay to send that kind of picture right after taking a shower?
Sakurai Saki reached up and pinched his nose.
"Sending me this kind of thing so early in the morning?"
Who the hell could endure this? Even with superpower, you couldn't defend against that.
Do normal couples send pictures like this?
Sakurai Saki saved the image into a secret album, then deleted all the text he had been typing in the input box.
After that, he sent a sticker ——[Killer whale with nosebleed.jpg]
Since she already sent that kind of picture, I guess we really are a couple now, huh?
...
"Read immediately?" Hayasaka Ai leaned against the wall.
So I guess we really are a couple now, huh?
She was waiting for Shinomiya Kaguya to wake up.
Turning off her phone screen and pressing it against her face, Hayasaka Ai felt a bit shy.
Before sending that photo, she had actually thought about it for a long time.
Also, it was because this time the good morning message was read immediately that she dared to send it.
Otherwise, if she'd already been rejected and still sent a photo that embarrassing, wouldn't that make her look completely like a slutty, horny girl~
...Though right now, she kind of already does.
'Wonder what kind of expression he's making right now~'
( ๑ ˃̵ᴗ˂̵)و ♡
So curious~
"Ring~" her phone vibrated once.
Ai-chan glanced at her phone — on the screen was a new message from Sakurai Saki, still the same good morning message as always.
Even though the content of the message hadn't changed at all, happiness still welled up in her heart...
"Hayasaka~" in the room, Kaguya called out, but then corrected herself: "Herthaka~"
"Herthaka" sounds Western, but the pronunciation in Japanese is similar to "Hasaka" — just missing the "ya" sound to become "Hayasaka."
Putting her phone into her pocket, Hayasaka Ai pushed the door open and stepped out.
Inside the room, Shinomiya Kaguya and Fujiwara Chika had already finished changing their clothes.
The fluffy pajamas from last night had been neatly folded and placed to the side.
"Does Herthaka-kun really help Kaguya-san change clothes every day?" Chika asked curiously.
Because just now, Kaguya had been describing her daily schedule.
"Yes, Fujiwara-san." Hayasaka Ai nodded.
Kaguya had just woken up. Last night, she had been dragged by Chika to stay up until one in the morning. For someone whose biological clock had been programmed to sleep before 12 a.m. every night like her, Kaguya was still dazed and half-asleep.
A moment ago, she nearly called Hayasaka by the wrong name out of habit. Her daily schedule was also arranged and recited each morning by Hayasaka Ai.
That included helping her change clothes by hand, and casual morning chit-chat.
And not just in the morning — in the evening too, Kaguya would have her clothes changed by Hayasaka Ai, just like in the morning. She often pulled the poor maid into conversations, which was why Ai-chan had no time to play games with Sakurai Saki.
"So stimulating!" Chika whispered.
(⁄ ⁄•⁄Д⁄•⁄ ⁄)
Just changing clothes was already "stimulating" enough — but these two even stayed alone together every night, chatting…
If something were to happen, it would be perfectly understandable! Right now, Fujiwara Chika's mind was filled with purple and pink imagery.
"Kaguya-sama, your clothes are crooked."
Hayasaka Ai glanced at the outfit Kaguya was wearing and slowly walked over, adjusting the collar for her.
Kaguya naturally leaned against Ai-chan's chest — she was still very sleepy.
The two stood very close together.
Secretary Fujiwara had a nosebleed again.
She had successfully escaped the boundary of BL and stepped into another rabbit hole.
Fake-Yuri, and this one was delicious too.
And even better — this kind of forbidden affection.
————
Elsewhere, Sakurai Saki was holding his phone.
Waiting for a reply from Hayasaka Ai, he had been holding the phone up like that for several minutes.
"...Don't tell me that stuff online about couples always having lots to talk about is bullshit?"
Why had he and Ai-chan only exchanged four messages?
Normally, only a "spare tire" gets treated like this, right?
Also, the most recent message still didn't show [Read].
LINE has a read receipt feature, but it only shows up when you open the LINE app and enter the chat window. A moment ago, Hayasaka Ai had only read it from the notification bar, so Sakurai Saki didn't see anything.
This made Sakurai Saki start to panic.
"No way, right? Don't tell me we're not even officially dating yet?"
(*꒦ິ꒳꒦ີ)
Do friends send each other private photos like that? Are you kidding?
That was Oppai, you know! You can just show Oppai to a friend?!
"..." Sakurai Saki suddenly remembered Herthaka-kun.
He was Shinomiya Kaguya's butler, and also someone who had once confessed to Hayasaka Ai — in other words, a love rival.
Furthermore, Shinomiya Kaguya once said that she and Hayasaka Ai were friends.
Could it be that the confession last time was just a setup?
So what was the goal of Shinomiya Kaguya and Herthaka?
To make him jealous? Then provoke him into confessing to Hayasaka Ai?
With Shinomiya Kaguya's level of scheming, it was entirely possible she'd do something like that — but why would Ai-chan confess to him?
With a girlfriend in a quantum state like this, Sakurai Saki really couldn't make sense of anything anymore.
"...Existence and non-existence intertwined — this situation could truly be described using a quantum state."
Sakurai Saki ruffled his hair in frustration: "Are we even dating or not!!!"
(╬ `益 ')
And so, Sakurai Saki spent the whole morning wrestling with the thought of whether he was just a "spare tire" or not.
[Today's result: Sakurai Saki FAILED! (One tiny action from Hayasaka Ai wasted his entire morning)]
...
Breakfast time.
As a maid, Hayasaka Ai could not dine with her master.
She stood in front of the door, seriously took out her phone.
Only then did she realize she had forgotten to reply to the message.
'Sakurai-chan… won't be mad, right?'