One random day after school...
"Hey, Takei. I learned something interesting today."
"What is it?"
"Apparently four hugs a day is needed for survival, eight hugs a day is needed for maintenance, and 12 hugs a day is needed for growth."
"..."
An incredulous fact was being stated in front of Takei. He was completely speechless as a result of the hard-to-believe fact.
"You look unconvinced..."
Akari looked at Takei as if he was the odd one.
"I've been going on for all my life with less than four hugs everyday, but I'm still not dead yet. Nevermind four hugs, I rarely even get one."
Takei explained the root of his reasoning and how that claim that hugs were essential to everyday life was most likely false.
"Well, do you want to try it?"
Akari asked Takei, with a strongly suggesting tone.
Even the slightly slow Takei was able to understand what Akari was hinting.
"Not really, but I don't have a choice, right?"
"Nope."
As expected, the goddess would not let him get off without a fight.
Takei could not be bothered to deny this any further, so he just decided to go with the flow.
"Well, whatever. I'll take this challenge head on!"
"It's not even a challenge in the first place?!" Akari retorted in an exaggerated tone.
She was indeed right about this not being a challenge. Takei just interpreted it as one in order to keep himself sane.
There was no way hugging a cute girl wouldn't do anything to his mental state.
Mustering the resolve to push forward, Takei moved in front of Akari and spread his arms out wide.
"Do your worst."
Stating his proclamation, Takei stood his ground and waited for the worst to be over.
"Why do you sound like a battle shounen character about to fight the main antagonist..." Akari sighed.
Akari was less than amused with his antics however. She was facepalming on the inside from the ridiculousness of his actions.
Putting that aside, Akari stood up from Takei's bed and started to approach him.
Slowly, she raised her arms outward as well and wrapped them gently around his waist.
Feeling the warmth that was surrounding the front of his body, Takei lowered his arms and wrapped them around her shoulders.
Now both of them were encased in each other's warmth.
The surreal experience was a rarity for the both of them who had both sorely lacked a type of physical intimacy.
Neither of them dared to let the other go. Their grips never tightened for a second, as they were absorbing the other person's warmth.
Akari's scent was absolutely intoxicating to Takei, and it also went for the other person as well. Takei's scent was destroying Akari's reasoning and thinking pattern.
I feel like I'm drunk off her scent... As if, right? There's no way you can be drunk off another person's scent. Well, that's what I thought until I realized her scent was creating a hazy cloud over my conscience.
Takei's head was resting on Akari's shoulder, while her head was resting on Takei's chest. It truly looked like a picturesque scene from a romantic movie.
They were both stuck in that position for several minutes. There was a chance that they would never separate if someone else didn't intervene in the situation.
Luckily for their health, someone did intervene.
"Oya? Ara ara, looks like the kids are getting to work~" Flora teased. "We're getting grandkids soon!"
Flora opened the door to find these two in the awkward position of being in each other's embrace.
"I-it's not what you think!" Takei stammered.
They broke the embrace as soon as the realization of Flora's intrusion was made known.
"Hm? Is he telling the truth, Akari?"
Flora looked at the two quizzically, but eventually decided to question the other person involved.
"..."
"What's up with the silence?!"
Akari replied to Flora's question with silence, while Takei was surprised with her choice of answer.
"Fufufu, I have my answer. I'll leave right away, so you two can continue~"
Flora left the room in a hurry which left the two lovebirds alone once again.
Once the door was fully closed, Takei turned towards Akari with an exhausted sigh. He remembered the four, eight, and twelve hug rule that Akari taught him earlier.
"I don't think I can handle another hug, not to mention the several increments that we were supposed to do..."
There was no way Takei was going to be able to survive several more hugs if they were all going to be like the first one.
"Please?"
Akari asked him with upturned and pleading eyes.
As a result, it did an incalculable amount of damage to Takei's psyche.
"Haaah... fine."
They ended up hugging many times more, before being interrupted by Flora once again.
***
One day on a weekend after the events of the hugging event.
Takei was shopping at a jewelry shop looking for a good present to give to Akari for her upcoming birthday.
Not exactly knowing what to buy, he decided to ask one of the female clerks.
"Excuse me?"
"Hello, what can I do for you?"
The stylish yet very peppy female clerk was the perfect person to ask about a gift for a female friend. At least, that's what Takei's reasoning was.
"What would you recommend as a gift for a female friend?"
Takei decided to go ahead with his main question that he wanted to approach her about.
"Can you describe the relationship between you two?"
A question that he expected just so happened to pop up. Deciding to use the already prepared answer he had thought of beforehand, Takei answered the clerk without a shred of hesitance.
"Something more than friends, but less than lovers."
Yes, the cliche answer that many dense protagonists used was also used by Takei. The only difference being that he only pretended to be dense.
"Ah, I understand."
The clerk immediately understood his description of their relationship and led him towards a display filled with goods.
She then pointed to a certain accessory and explained the recent popularity of it.
"I recommend the scarlet gold color, it's become very trendy amongst teenage girls as of recent."
Seeing the accessory, Takei immediately agreed to her recommendation.
"That looks great. I'll take it!"
---
Akari's True Affection Meter: 82 -> 84%
She is about to reach the peak of the summit. True DereDere is inevitable.
Sugar-san: Author-san did an outstanding job with this chapter!
Serious-san: You only say that since most of this chapter was fluff...