The next morning I was back under the bridge at the riverbank.
I was seated with back was leaning against the wall.
And Akane was in my arms with her back leaning on my chest.
It was an hour before school started and we decided to meet here today.
"... so as I was saying, I had trouble attaching myself to this world. Everything seemed foreign. I tried to find meaning in my family and friends but knowing they were Yuuta's I struggled to accept them. It's not like I have any hate or so for them but none of it was truly mine. And because they weren't the result of my efforts, I found it hard to accept them and try to find meaning in them."
I paused and thought for a while before continuing.
"But the novel's story, I could try to find meaning by following the characters and try to see what they were up to. I could obsess over that and try to find meaning, which would act as my pillar of stability while I tried to get used to those around me and fully accept them in my life. But as you know, the female lead got engaged and the story has probably ended. I couldn't accept the reality of that and I started losing my mind as the only thing that was keeping me sane got destroyed."
I then looked at Akane and connected my forehead to the back of her head.
"Luckily you came at the right time and pulled me back to reality before I did something irreversible. I was able to find meaning in you since you weren't part of the original Yuuta's life. The interactions you have had with this body were all my efforts and hence I was able to fully accept you. In my previous life, I attached myself to novels to survive and in this life I have you."
As if she was happy, she grabbed my hands and started fiddling with my fingers.
But she suddenly paused and pinched my hand.
"But if you could attach yourself to me, then why did you refuse my advances and go through all that pain?"
Huh?
Why was her voice frosty?
She was just shy a few seconds ago and now she's speaking as if she's an Ice Queen.
I need to calm her down fast.
"Sorry, you were a potential female lead too. I mean I could sense there was some story behind you practicing like a mad person. And that would have contradictions with my obsession to not interfere with the novel. Of course my presence is going to bring inevitable changes due to the butterfly effect, but the big events would always be set in stone since I was betting on inevitability or the world correcting stuff by itself like it usually does in some novels or on the fact that the emotions of the characters usually are as we expect and they react in a set pattern."
Put my nose near her neck and inhaled her scent to calm myself down.
"You should understand I was almost mad with obsession over following the novel that I reduced living beings of this world to mere characters of a novel. That's not the worst part. What's even worse is..."
I gulped before continuing.
"... that I would have never even talked to you had I known who you were and if you didn't wear the hoodie."
Akane's body froze.
Right now, she is probably imagining herself meeting me without wearing a hoodie and me ignoring her coldly after having one glance at her.
And then me sitting on the river bank.
None of us interacting like we have done over the past few months and both of us going our separate ways.
The female lead getting engaged like yesterday.
And then probably one day the news of a death of a student pops up and shakes the school.
"But none of that happened and now I have the most precious thing in both of my lives."
I bit her neck to distract her from those dangerous thoughts.
"Oww! Why do you keep biting there?"
"Of course to leave a mark. I have to let people know you belong to someone."
"Like hell you're doing that! Aya already looks at me with sparkling eyes and if she finds a mark she won't leave me without knowing the full story."
Huh?
Akane turned her eyes towards me and saw my puzzled eyes.
I mean why was Amasawa curious about Akane?
"Don't look at me like that. It's embarrassing to admit but remember the first time we sat down at the garden?"
"How can I forget that? I wanted to spank you then and there in front of everyone. Luckily I didn't tell you the whole plan since I was feeling lazy otherwise you would have ruined it."
She didn't respond and seemed like she was thinking something as she was gazing into the air.
And then her ears were dyed red.
Sure as hell, my Emotion Recognizer was truly proficient in doing it's job.
So I decided to have some fun.
I brought my lips close to Akane's ears.
"Akane, did you just get turned on by thinking of me spanking you?"
I softly put those words in her ear.
Her hands started vibrating.
"N-no, I d-d-didn't."
It seems like she doesn't realise her voice is shaking.
Oh and she lied, I guess I'll account that later.
Sure enough, teasing her is a truly fun activity.
I decide to proceed further.
"It hasn't even been one day and here you are thinking of doing dirty things with me, you lecherous girl."
I once again put these words softly into her ear.
Her hands vibrate even more.
I can literally feel the heat coming from her head as she reddens.
She is speechless.
I guess she is trying to comprehend something to say and is thinking hard.
But before she gets the chance...
"After all I knew for a fact that you masturbate at least once a week."
I once again whisper these words softly into her ear and lodge in the final dagger.
She turns her head and meets my eyes in shock.
If her face could pose a question, then right now it would be asking 'how?'.
How do I know this?
Simple.
"Athletes tend to build up urges. When exercising, the blood flow increases which heightens the body's senses and hence sexual urges too. Of course I cannot say for the average high school female athlete, but Akane, you exercise like a mad person so I can say for sure you are definitely releasing your urges at least once a week."
How do I know this?
We can thank the Brazil 2016 Olympics from which I learnt 2 things: the first one was that the Olympic Village was a giant thirst trap with a record number of condoms being issued to the athletes, and the second one is that the water sport activities were carried out in not so clean waters that had raw human waste.
Akane froze.
She doesn't know how to react and she won't be able to escape from my clutches so she can't move either.
Of course I decide to have more fun with her.
"But the main reason I know this is your face just gave it away."
I look at her with a wicked smile.
After that she turned around and started punching my chest complaining that I was teasing her too much, while I was sincerely following the script as a good boyfriend and kept saying it hurts despite it not hurting.
✎﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏
It took a few minutes for us to stop playing around.
Right now Akane was seated on my lap with her legs tied around my waist and her hands tied around my back.
She was biting my neck as revenge for the earlier teasing.
Her revenge was quite cute too.
"So what were you saying about Amasawa?"
I asked her as I stroked her hair with one hand and her back with the other.
"She was asking why I acted like that towards you and I ended up saying it was frustrating seeing you get all chummy with Minami. Before you ask me anything, yes I ended up accidentally admitting I have a crush on you and now she is all super excited about fresh gossip about me."
She placed her head on my shoulders and sighed.
"Well it doesn't matter if she knows but let's keep everyone one in the dark and have a little secret to ourselves."
"Hehehehe."
As if she liked my idea, Akane started chuckling cutely.
"Ah by the way you lied to me earlier and broke a sacred rule so prepare yourself for a spanking."
She didn't refuse and started biting my neck to hide her embarrasment.
My girlfriend was truly was an adorable creature.
Like that we enjoyed each other's company before heading to school separately.