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I felt a slight sense of discomfort.

I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was, but something about Ibuki seemed off.

She still ate like she was starving, lazed around like usual, and didn’t get up in the morning — the same as always. But somehow, our conversations felt a little awkward.

She answered me normally when I spoke to her, but she wouldn’t meet my eyes.

“Hey, Ibuki.”
“Hmm?”
“Are you hiding something?”

There was no point in tiptoeing around each other anymore. We weren’t like characters in a light novel who’d just misunderstand each other and drift apart because we didn’t talk things out.

“What are you talking about?”
“A secret. Is there something you’re keeping from me?”

Maybe she accidentally broke something, or maybe — and this was more likely — she ate both the ice creams I bought without telling me.

“No way, I’m not hiding anything! Seriously!”
“Suspicious…”
“I really didn’t do anything! Not yet, anyway…”

When I kept staring at her, she looked away. If she had nothing to feel guilty about, she could’ve just sat there calmly, but instead, her face flushed, and she bolted to the kitchen like she was running from something.

“You’re definitely hiding something. I’m not gonna get mad, so just tell me.”

Neither of us was any good at lying, so her attempts to cover it up were painfully obvious. Acting that guilty only made me more curious.

“…You promise you won’t get mad?”
“I just said I wouldn’t.”
“Ugh…”

Ibuki came back with a drink in hand, plopped down next to me, and groaned, her head swaying as she wrestled with something in her mind. Was it really that hard to talk about?

“So, um… You were drinking after you got home yesterday, right?”
“I wouldn’t know. I guess I was, considering I blacked out?”

I barely remembered anything from last night. Judging by the fact that Ibuki had to take care of me, I must’ve gone overboard again. I tended to let my guard down around her, and the next thing I knew, I’d be drinking until I couldn’t remember a thing. I wondered how many bottles I’d emptied this time…

“What… You blacked out again?”
“Yeah. I kind of remember getting home, but after that, it’s a blank. Did something happen?”
“…Jeez. Yukino you idiot.”
“What’s with the sudden insult? That’s harsh.”

Sure, drinking to the point of memory loss was a stupid thing to do, but I’d basically turned into a corporate slave lately — couldn’t she cut me some slack?

“It’s your fault for not remembering anything. After what you said…”
“…Wait, what did I say?”
“You said you were going to quit your job and become my personal maid. I got my hopes up, and then you crushed them.”
“…No way. I said that? I mean, sure, I want to quit, but suggesting that to my childhood friend… I should probably lay off drinking for a while.”

Apparently, I’d blurted out something completely ridiculous while drunk. I had daydreamed about quitting my job and spending my days taking care of Ibuki, but actually saying that out loud? That was a whole different level of reckless.

“I’m sorry, Ibuki… I can’t believe I actually said I wanted to be your maid. This is humiliating…”

What mortified me wasn’t the maid part — it was the fact that I’d basically confessed to wanting to mooch off the person I liked. Sure, if we got married someday, I might consider becoming a housewife, but we weren’t even dating. I couldn’t believe I’d said something so pathetic.

“Is it really that big a deal?”
“Of course it is! It’s like I told my precious childhood friend I wanted to leech off her and become a shut-in. I can’t believe I actually said that… Alcohol is terrifying.”

I’d heard people lost their inhibitions when they drank, but didn’t that just mean alcohol brought out your true nature? Did that mean my true self was the kind of person who wanted to cling to her one-sided crush and live a life of ease? I was genuinely disappointed in myself.

“You don’t need to beat yourself up over it.”
“I do. I can’t believe this is who I really am…”
“You seriously don’t need to worry. It was a lie.”
“I do need to worry! Until know it’s been all about how I wanted to protect and treasure y——wait, a lie?”
“Yeah, I made up the maid stuff.”
“Ha?”

I gawked at Ibuki, mouth hanging open like a fool.

“You…”
“Wait! You promised you wouldn’t get mad!”
“That only applies when you tell the truth!”

If she thought she could just throw out random nonsense to mess with me and get away with it, she was dead wrong.

I tackled Ibuki from behind as she lounged next to me and slipped my hands under her arms.

“Liars get the tickle punishment! Prepare yourself!”
“Wait! No, I can’t take it — I really can’t!”

I wasn’t exactly immune to tickling myself, but Ibuki was even weaker than I was. It wasn’t just her underarms; she was ridiculously sensitive in all the usual spots, like her neck and the soles of her feet. But the place she was weakest…

“Fuuu!”
“Hya—!”

I blew a gentle breath into her ear, and just like that, she let out the cutest sound. I held her body down as she reflexively jerked, then moved to her other ear.

“Heh… You’re still super weak to this, huh?”
“D-Don’t talk right next to my ear…!”
“Nope. This is your punishment for lying and trying to cover it up. You’ll just have to endure it a little longer.”
“O-Okay, I get it — I’ll talk! I’ll tell you the truth, so please… just let me go…”

I tried all sorts of techniques: long, slow exhales, short bursts of breath, even whispering directly into her ear. It didn’t take long for Ibuki to break.

But backing off the second she surrendered would’ve been boring, so I loosened my grip just a little but kept holding her from behind.

“Haa… haa…”

I’d barely even teased her, but Ibuki was already breathless, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. She looked so incredibly adorable like this that I almost wanted to keep going — but I needed her to finish what she was saying.

“So? What were you really hiding?”
“I wasn’t hiding anything… It’s just…”
“Just?”
“When you were drunk… you said I was your absolute favorite person in the world. And after that, talking to you has been making me all nervous…”
“Wait, n-no way. You’re kidding, right?”
“It’s true. You were hugging me and saying I was cute and smelled really nice… and then you forgot everything the next morning.”

Ibuki’s face flushed bright red as she confessed, and there was no sign she was lying. The moment I realized she was telling the truth, it was my turn to go completely red.

“S-So, Ibuki… you’ve been acting weird lately because I said something strange when I was drunk?”
“Yeah. I mean, even just talking to you normally… I kept thinking, ‘Wow, Yukino really does love me more than anyone else in the world,’ and it made me all embarrassed…”
“I… I’m really sorry.”

I slowly loosened my arms and let go of her.

That day, I made a solemn vow: I would stop drinking too much. If I drank at all, I’d stick to a reasonable amount. Alcohol was dangerous — it could make me spill my most humiliating thoughts. I truly understood that now.

“Uuuuugh… this is so embarrassing…”

Even as I pressed my burning cheeks with both hands and groaned at the ceiling, the shame wouldn’t leave me. I couldn’t believe I’d blurted out something so ridiculous just because I was drunk.

“…And since the kiss didn’t actually happen, I don’t really need to mention it, right?”
“I’m never drinking again… I swear I’ll never drink until I black out…!”

As I squirmed and writhed on the floor, dying of embarrassment, I completely missed the quiet little comment Ibuki let slip under her breath.

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