The teacher standing at the podium gives a closing greeting.

“Alright, everyone, goodbye.”

“““Goooodbye!”””

As soon as homeroom ends, the classroom instantly grows noisy.

I’m in fourth grade now.

Today, like every other day, I’m seriously living the elementary school life.

As I sling my backpack over my shoulders, a boy from my class walks up to me.

“Hey, hey, Shouta, wanna keep going from lunchtime?”

“Keep going… you mean soccer?”

“Yeah, yeah. You always head home right away, so come on, once in a while, okay?”

“Yeah, maybe…”

“—No.”

I’d felt a bit unsatisfied at lunch too, and was just about to nod.

But suddenly, my arm is yanked.

Right in front of me is my childhood friend Asuka’s face.

I try to pull away from my childhood friend, who keeps getting cuter every year… yeah, no chance.

Still clinging to my arm, Asuka waves her free hand dismissively.

“Shouta and I are going home together now. Don’t get in the way.”

“What’s with you two? You’re always together. What, are you a married couple or something?”

“That’s right. Shouta and I are husband and wife. So go away.”

“Tch.”

“Haha… well then, see you. Let’s play soccer again tomorrow.”

As Asuka tugs me along, we leave the classroom.

After changing into our shoes at the lockers, we head out through the school gate.

On the way home, Asuka seems unusually cheerful.

“Nufufu… husband and wife… Shouta and I are husband and wife…”

Lately, people have been teasing us a lot about being a married couple.

I can brush it off as kids’ nonsense, but Asuka worries me. If she kept hearing it over and over and ended up refusing to go to school because of it, that’d be a real problem.

“Hey… it doesn’t bother you?”

“Hm? What doesn’t?”

“You know, people teasing us about being husband and wife. I was wondering if it makes you feel uncomfortable.”

“It doesn’t. I’m happy.”

“Happy?”

“Because if it spreads that Shouta and I are husband and wife, there won’t be any thieving cats trying to steal you away.”

“Thieving cats… where did you even learn a word like that?”

I’m supposed to be the one who gets stolen from, though.

“Are you really okay being married to me? You like rich, handsome guys, don’t you?”

“No. The one I like is Shouta. I’m going to marry Shouta.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Hmph. You don’t believe me.”

I don’t believe her.

Because I know what the future holds for certain.

A future where Asuka is made to go ahe-ahe by a rich, handsome guy.

Before that day comes, no matter what, I have to find a girl I can get close to too.

That doujin manga only has two parts: the “Childhood Friend Arc” and the “Ability User Arc.” Which means that any cute girl I meet from here on out isn’t guaranteed to get cuckolded.

From here on, it all depends on my own efforts.

I raise my fist toward the sky and steel my resolve.

We head back to my apartment.

When I open the front door, Asuka naturally follows in behind me.

I’ve given up on getting close with Asuka romantically, but that doesn’t mean I dislike her.

We’re still neighbors, and we’re still close.

Today too, we’ll spend time together until our parents get home.

“TV, TV.”

I immediately turn on some mecha anime.

A while back, it probably would’ve been DVDs, but these days even the TV’s connected to the internet. I scroll through the playlist on my subscribed streaming service and pick what to watch today.

This one should do.

“Shouta, I brought it.”

“Thanks. Alright then, what should I make today? Maybe I’ll make a weapon for what I made yesterday. What was that rifle called again?”

“The Super Electromagnetic Great Coil Buster.”

“Right, that one. You remember it well, even though the name’s only in the fan book. How’s yours coming along, Asuka?”

“Yeah. It’s almost done.”

“Show me when you’re finished.”

“Okay.”

I rummage through the toy box, blocks clattering as I dig around for the colors I want.

Lately, we’ve been really into building robots out of toy blocks. We base them on the units that appear in anime and try to make them as detailed as possible.

I’m a mecha anime fan by anyone’s standards. I can already picture the finished result. There’s no way I’d lose to some random kid when it comes to the quality of my final product.

…Or so I thought.

That childish confidence was utterly shattered by my childhood friend.

I sneak a glance over at Asuka.

As for Asuka, she’s sitting at the dining table.

On the table is a train that looks like a steam locomotive. The level of accuracy is so high you’d almost ask if it were a store-bought model.

And cables are running out from the train, connected to a laptop.

Asuka taps away briskly at the keyboard, the clacking sounds crisp and rhythmic.

One day, after we’d been playing with blocks for a while, Asuka came home with motors, gears, and sensors. I was confused. On another day, she started programming on a computer. My eyes nearly popped out of my head. And when I finally saw the finished product, all I could do was raise the white flag.

My childhood friend is seriously way too much of a genius.

“Mm, it’s done.”

“Let me see, let me see. Wow, looking at it up close again, this thing’s incredible.”

“Here. Switch.”

“Fumufumu, so if I press this switch, whoa! It transformed into combat mode! Just like in the anime!”

“And it walks.”

“Seriously!? You said it was hard to make it walk on two legs not that long ago! Whoa!? It’s walking, this thing’s actually walking!?”

“Mm. I worked hard.”

Excited, I press the buttons on the remote control.

In response, the robot starts walking across the table.

After that, I switch it back to vehicle mode (the locomotive-like train), then transform it into combat mode again, make it walk, and repeat the process until I’m completely satisfied.

“Whew… that was satisfying.”

“Want to add this to your collection?”

“I do, I do!”

“Then I want a kiss as a reward.”

“Eh… no, that’s…”

Asuka suddenly leans her face in close.

She looks at me with expectant eyes.

A reward kiss.

This is completely my fault. When Asuka finished her very first build, I got carried away by how incredibly well made it was and, without thinking, gave her a kiss on the cheek. Even now, I don’t know why I did something like that. The moment I realized what I’d done, I dropped to my knees and apologized. Thankfully, Asuka forgave me.

After that, Asuka built a second one.

And this time too, while I’m all excited, she brings up the reward kiss.

“Um… no kiss this time?”

“Then I’ll break it.”

“Wait, wait, hold on just a second. Destroying this would be an insult to humanity! You worked hard to get it walking on two legs, didn’t you? It’d be such a waste.”

“I don’t care. If Shouta doesn’t want it, then I don’t need it either.”

“W-what…?”

“If Shouta wants it, then give me a kiss.”

“Ah—uh—fine!”

Giving in to temptation, I give her a reward kiss on the cheek.

“Nufufu… I’ll make another one.”

“Take your time…”

If Asuka ends up dating a rich, handsome guy someday, I wonder what she’ll think about this. If she locks it away as a dark memory, then that’s fine, but there’s no chance she’d ever sue me over it… right? I’m starting to worry already.