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Unlike chapter 152, this actually seems to be a chapter split in two (not by me, though, if I were to split it into normal sized parts, there would be five of them, not two). Both of them having the same number is probably still an error, since they weren’t posted on the same day, but it does work out better this time.

We’d been awfully busy for this month and a bit. There was no time to properly play with Karua and I also didn’t spend much time with Alim, unless we had work together. We also didn’t repeat the French kiss and all those other things from two days before the parade, not even once.

Still, things had finally calmed down and today neither Alim nor I had any work. That was because today… was the second time I experienced my 13th birthday. Or to be more correct, my 17th birthday.

Past me surely would never have expected to spend her 17th birthday in another world. I mean, who would?

I had an opportunity to return home, but… I wanted to stay together with Ayumu, no matter what. That’s why it turned out like this.

I opened my eyes. When I looked at the mechanical clock¹ above the bed, it was apparently 8 am. Alim was no longer next to me. I didn’t know whether it was sausage or fried eggs, but I heard the sounds of something sizzling.

I got out of bed and went to the kitchen. There, Alim was making friend eggs… No, he was Ayumu. He was also wearing handsome clothes with a masculine appearance that I hadn’t seen before.

To be honest, this is probably the first time since coming to this world, that I think of Ayumu’s appearance as “handsome”. Though I get the feeling, that the clothes’ appearance is rather close to what he wore when he went outside on Earth.
Heh-heh, naturally he looks as cool now as he did back then.

“Oh, good morning, Mika,” Ayumu said to me.

I didn’t know why, but it didn’t feel like he normally called me… more like we were back on Earth.²　

“Morning, Ayumu.”

Even though it’s something I always say to him, it feels different for some reason… I wonder why?

“You look lovely today, too, Mika,” he suddenly said, while putting the food onto plates.

…If he says it that abruptly, I’ll get embarrassed.

“Th-Thank you. Erm… You that outfit also looks rather… handsome, Ayumu.”
“Hm? I see, it has the same feel of my outside clothes back in Japan, doesn’t it?”

As I thought, but why would he choose this today…? Even though he’s always wearing cute clothes. Is it because of my birthday? Eh-heh-heh.

Ayumu lined up the food on the table and sat on a chair.

“C’mon, let’s eat breakfast.
“Y-Yeah!”

Urged on by him, I also sat down.

The breakfast was different from usual. There were three sunny side eggs, the miso soup was with additional pork, he had added roast-beef to the salad, and the rice wasn’t accompanied by seaweed and natto… but salmon roe. There also were salmon fillets in place of sea bream. What a lavish spread.³　

I first tried drinking the pork-miso soup. The taste was legendary, no different⁴ from the usual miso soup Alim made.

“Today’s breakfast is rather… extravagant, isn’t it?”
“That’s because it’s your birthday, Mika! We’ll celebrate it for the whole day today.”
“Thank you, Ayumu!”

I’m so happy.

Oh right, Ayumu didn’t throw a surprise birthday party. According to him, wanting to keep me in suspense and surprising me, even though it was my long-awaited birthday, would be merely for his own self-satisfaction, or something like that.

I feel like I’ve seen something like that in a drama, where the main character got depressed since they didn’t celebrate their birthday until night.

“Eh-heh-heh.”
“What’s wrong, Mika?”
“Oh, no… it just made me happy,” I told him, from the bottom of my heart. After all, I was truly happy.
“Gotcha, me too. But today I want to make you even happier. The previous times, we were childhood friends and we celebrated it as friends. This time… we’re a couple.”
“…Understood, I can’t wait.”

I wonder, won’t he raise to bar too much, since it’s him? Still, I’ll look forward to it.

Nevertheless, the word “couple” lingered in my mind.

Well, he’s right, isn’t he, we confirmed it many, many times and also confessed to each other several months ago, but if I’m honest, my true feelings probably didn’t well up until we kissed and did those other things.

Am I Ayumu’s girlfriend? His lover? It’s something like that. I’m not sure, although we reaffirmed it lots of times. Eh-heh-heh-heh.

“Mika, Mika? You look awfully happy, even though we haven’t done anything yet.”
“It’s just… well, you told me that you’ll celebrate my birthday with me. That makes me glad.”
“I see, yup. I’m also glad, that you’re happy. Oh, but the food will get cold, you know, so let’s finish eating.”
“Oh, r-right!”

In telling him how happy and delighted I was, I forgot to eat breakfast. Luckily, the food hadn’t gone completely cold. I focused on eating and finished it in a flash.

“Thank you for that delicious meal! I’ll go change then, I guess.”
“Ah, please wait a moment, I make you some new clothes.”
“Alright…? I’ll wait.”

Ayumu created new clothes for me with Dark Matter. For some reason, they resembled my favorite set of clothes for going outside back in Japan.

“Those look like the clothes I preferred back then, don’t they?”
“Yep, you’ll look super cute, when you wear these… I recently managed to remember them in detail.”
“I see.”

I took off my pajamas in front of Ayumu and changed into the new clothes.

“W-Wah~!? Hang on…”
“Hm? What’s wrong?”
“Why would you change clothes in front of me…? I’m not Alim now, you know? I turned off that skill, so I’m sure you understand, but… I’m currently male…”
“Come now, don’t worry about it.”⁵　
“…Fine.”

Even with such a handsome appearance, it doesn’t change who he is. Really, what is it today with him?

“I… Since it’s you, Ayumu, I’ll be happy with pretty much anything we do, alright? That you’re celebrating with me brings me joy by itself…”
“Erm, alright. That’s true! Still, for now, better get dressed.”
“…Tch.”

I hesitantly dressed myself. Sometimes I pondered whether he lost his nerve since he never did anything after that night.

Ayumu hugged me.

“…Are you happy?”
“Of course.”
“Honestly… I was planning to leave the kissing and such for the evening, but… well, I decided to make you happy today. If that’s what you want, Mika.”

Just like that, he kissed me.
He said, if that’s what I want… Eh-heh-heh-heh.

After some time, he drew back his lips that had been pressed against mine.

“I’m happy.”
“Ah-ha-ha, I see, that’s good.”

For some reason, Ayumu’s face was flushed red.
He is quite innocent, after all.

“Let’s start, then. Please follow me,” he said while gazing at my eyes intently, after he’d stopped embracing me.

Ayumu opened this room’s door and exited into the mansion. I went there together with him and followed where he was going, until we finally arrived in front of a double door.

“What’s here…?”
“It’s… this!”

When he opened the double door, the interior looked like a movie theatre. There were lots of seats in front of a large screen.

“A movie theatre…?”
“Right, it’s a cinema, you see.”
“But, there are no movies in this world…”
“Even so, I can make them with Dark Matter. Japanese movies, that is. I don’t understand it very well, but… I can create even those I haven’t seen.”⁶　
“Really?”

I already thought that Dark Matter was almost omnipotent, but it can even create things from other worlds. That’s insane.

“Now… Since you like love stories, Mika…”
“It’s not that I only like romance, anything would be fine, you know?”
“Still, you like those the most, don’t you?”
“Eh-heh, well~.”
“Moreover, since we’re watching it together as lovers, a love story would be best, right?”
“Hm, certainly.”
“Alright. For the time being, please take a seat.”

Ayumu and I sat down in the best seats in the middle.

“Shall we watch it, then?”
“What will we watch?”
“Hmm, I think it was called ‘I give to you’. You had the manga, didn’t you, Mika?”
“Huh…!? Sure, but that movie… I’m pretty sure it hadn’t aired yet…”
“Eh, did I accidentally create something from the future?”
“Hm~, well, who cares?”
“I guess.”

Ayumu snapped his fingers in a cool manner and the “brrr” sound, typical for a movie theater could be heard. At the same time, the logo of a company, I’d seen before, appeared.

Our hands intertwined. Holding hands with me in a romantic movie, that was rather attentive of him. We watched the movie with our hands linked together like that.

If I had to give a rough summary of the movie’s contents, the main character (a delightfully good-looking guy) accidentally falls in love with a quiet girl though a series of circumstances.

For some time, we watched happily, but… The film reached a scene, in which they’d likely kiss. Involuntarily, I looked at Ayumu. He looked back at me, apparently feeling the same. I signaled him with my eyes, what I wanted to do.

Maybe he had picked up on it, since he brought his head close to mine, while shooting glances at the ongoing situation on the screen. The music from the screen turned dramatic. At the same time, Ayumu kissed me.

I wanted to try something like this once. Though if we did this in a real movie theater, people would likely think we’re lovebirds.⁷

15 minutes after that scene, the movie ended.

“How was it, did you like it? You got teary eyed during the kiss scene, Mika.”
“Eh… yeah, I liked it… The kiss, too.”
“I-Is that so? Even knowing there are no other people here, it was somewhat embarrassing, right?”
“Still, it made me super happy.”
“Gotcha.”

I suddenly kissed Ayumu on his cheek. For a moment, his eyes opened widely in surprise.

“Heh-heh-heh, I got you.”
“You… you sure did.”

Ayumu and I left the cinema and returned to our room.

“Oh? Is it only half past 10…?”
“Hm~, I wonder, was the movie too much in the morning?”
“Not really, you know?”
“Is that so? Now, what to do until noon… you can choose, Mika! No matter what you say, we’ll do it as long as it’s possible. We could go outside and watch a musical or go to the flower field we visited during our date…”

No matter what I want… I wonder, what would be best? He’ll really do anything for me… What about this and that… no, it’s still before noon…
Hm~~, I’m surprisingly undecisive. Since we have been constantly in attendance outside lately, I’d obviously prefer staying in the house.

…Then let’s do something, Ayumu would normally be too embarrassed to do.

“Good… then, first of all, please pick me up in a princess carry.”
“A princess carry…? Alright.”

Ayumu put his hands on my back and behind my knees, and picked me up. I held onto his neck.

Ayumu’s arms… to say they’re looking like a girl’s would probably go too far, though they were thin. To be honest, I wasn’t sure whether he’d be able to lift me up with them, but he seemed to manage.⁸ His face was close. He smelled nice.

“How is it?”
“Eh-heh-heh… it’s awesome… Oh, but I’m not too heavy, am I?”
“You lost weight, didn’t you, Mika…?”
“Well, erm, I think that’s enough.”

Ayumu set me down gently.

“What next?”
“Next… Hm~…”

What would be good… what to do next?

Hm~… Slamming his hand next to my head, while I have my back to the wall, then lifting my chin and saying a cool line!⁹ Let’s do this.

“First, slam your hand on the wall next to my head.”
“S-Slam my hand on the wall!? Understood, I’ll try.”

I leaned with my back against the wall. Then, Ayumu placed his right hand with great force onto the wall close to my head and suddenly brought his face close.

Looking at him from this position, Ayumu is taller than me, after all. His face is so close… My heart is racing…

“W-What next…?” Ayumu asked me, his face turning red, as he still had his hand against the wall.
“Like that… now lift up my chin… and say a cool line, please… as for what comes after, I’ll leave it to you.”
“You leave it to… Understood…”

Ayumu tenderly placed his free hand on my chin and suddenly lifted it. At the same time, he managed to say, “Mika… I love you, girl¹⁰,” without messing up at all. Then, still in that position, he kissed me.

Whoa… incredible, I feel like I’m melting. Eh-heh-heh.

The kiss ended after two seconds and Ayumu, with his face bright red, let go of my face, which was likely just as red.

“Wow… this was awesome, wasn’t it?”

Ayumu pushed the back of his right hand against his mouth and hung his head a little, looking embarrassed.

I myself was in a dreamlike state.

“…Mika? You’re drooling…”
“Huh… oh… P-Please don’t look!?”

TL notes:
The first part of this sugary sweet two-parter from Mika’s PoV. As I mentioned previously in chapter 126, I like how they’re both inexperienced in their relationship, but are willing to try things out they’ve seen or read about. Though this time it seems to have gone better than back then, when they were both way too embarrassed to enjoy it much.

1. It says “analogue” clock in the original. Not sure if that’s supposed to mean a mechanical clock or an electric one with clock hands instead of a digital display.
2. He always calls her 美花 (“Mika” written in kanji) in this chapter (and the next). There shouldn’t be a difference to the usual ミカ (“Mika” in Katakana), but apparently, she can tell.
3. That sounds like way too much for breakfast. Do people actually eat this much in the morning? As someone who gets maybe slightly hungry around noon, this sounds like a recipe to feel sick.
4. This may be a typo and intended to mean that it does taste different than usual.
5. Seriously, at this point, he’s seen her naked plenty of times in the bath. It’s not like he forgets that simply by switching genders.
6. I guess that magic isn’t called “Creator God Magic” for no reason.
7. Well, you absolutely are lovebirds at this point.
8. I guess she forgot about their monstrous stats again. They could probably lift a mountain without breaking a sweat.
9. The originals are 壁ドン (kabedon) and 顎クイ (suddenly lifting someone’s face by their chin (in a domineering yet romantic fashion)). I think I’ve seen kabedon used in some light novels before, but I’m not sure how well-known the expression is.
10. This is the first time he uses 愛する (“to love”) instead of the usual 好き/大好き (“like”, “like a lot”). Though it’s obvious he’s quoting some line here.