The person who likes me is a yandere.

"Wow, there's so much stuff!"

As she mentioned, besides a study desk and chair, the room also contained a laptop, a game console, and a large collection of comics. Although she tried to tidy up regularly, the sheer number of items made it feel cluttered. But at least it wasn't considered unclean.

In short, I handed her a cushion as I usually do when guests come over.

She laid the cushion on the floor and then sat down.

With one hand on her knee and the other pressing down on the hem of her folded skirt, she carefully folded it behind her back and slowly sat down.

I suddenly realized that staring at him like that seemed a bit impolite.

"This is?"

"Huh?" Tohka suddenly pointed to the LCD screen in the center of the room. The screen was displaying the FPS game they had been playing until just now.

"It's a game." Since I said I had taken the day off because I wasn't feeling well, I was a little worried that she would scold me for having time to play games. She asked with wide eyes.

"Is this what a game is? Not one of those games where a bunch of internship photos are just put together?"

"Ah, umm. Probably."

"I didn't expect the scene to be so beautiful."

As she spoke, she stared blankly at the screen. Wait a minute, what's wrong with her reaction?

"Perhaps you'd like to give it a try?"

Is that alright?

"……please."

Perhaps she was unexpectedly interested in this kind of thing. After taking the remote control and listening to my brief explanation, she resumed the game she had interrupted.

Scenes appeared showing futuristic warriors in enhanced suits engaging in a fierce gunfight using laser beams.

In no time, the character she was controlling was riddled with bullets.

"...I don't understand what happened."

"Hmm, yeah, that's how it is at the beginning of FPS games."

Can I play again?

"Ah, um, of course."

The subsequent battle scenes, naturally, turned into various gruesome deaths of a lone warrior.

"Maybe we shouldn't play this? This kind of game isn't suitable for girls anyway."

"No, one more time." A raging fire seemed to burn in Tohka's eyes.

Then, she repeated her defeats time and time again, until finally...

"........."

She's stopped talking. Tohka, sitting upright on the cushion, stares intently at the screen, her hands constantly pressing the commands.

Every time a Game Over occurred, she would simply select a menu option and continue fighting. But the more she did this, the more Game Overs she would get. She was definitely addicted to the game.

Wow, there really are! People who stop saying a word after dying too many times in a game...

After more than twenty minutes, she finally threw down the remote control in front of the Game Over screen and said...

"Even in a technologically advanced future, the game's creator can only think of war; their creativity is truly lacking."

"Aren't you just being stubborn?" Upon hearing my question, Tohka's face instantly turned red.

"...Qianyu, why don't you try it too?" she said, handing me the remote control. I did as she suggested and started playing.

By the way, although it's not important at all, I'm actually very good at playing games, so I passed the level very easily.

"........."

Tohka is quite dissatisfied now.

"Well, that——"

"Aren't there any other games?"

Yes, there are.

Forced by her intimidation, I took out another game console that I had kept in the room.

The game series they've unveiled this time is world-class in both sales and popularity, and even holds a Guinness World Record.

"This should be easy to pick up, right?" After I said that, Tohka picked up the remote control with a defiant look on her face.

...Then, a massive number of Game Over notifications appeared again.

"In the end, aren't all things that make it into the Guinness World Records a bit pretentious? Don't they make you seem petty?"

"That can't be right, you're just being stubborn, aren't you?"

Well, she didn't directly express her dissatisfaction with the game; instead, she brought up other aspects to express her feelings of resentment.

"Ugh, I died again." After I casually remarked this while looking at the game screen, Tohka gripped the remote control tightly.

"Even if you're really good at games, what's there to be proud of?! Does it contribute anything to society?!"

"Hmm, I don't think so either."

"So stop playing games all the time and go study, okay..."

"Ah, another one died."

"..."

It's quite a shame that a male and female high school student, who are in a nominal boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, are having this kind of conversation alone in a room.

Seeing her getting frustrated and angry while playing the game, I suddenly felt that no matter what happened between us, it was hopeless, and my mood gradually calmed down.

At this point, I have absolutely no expectation of developing anything with her.

What are you laughing at?

"nothing."

Continuing to worsen her mood wouldn't be good for me either, so I put the game console away. Although she was reluctant, I figured even if I gave her a different game, the result would be the same.

"Have you really fully recovered physically?" As I finished tidying up the games on the shelf and returned to my seat, she asked me with a hint of dissatisfaction, as if she had timed it perfectly.

"Hey, um, um! It's all set now."

"I see." After hearing my answer, she picked up the handbag that was next to her and took something out of it.

"In that case, if Qianyu's health and time are both suitable," he said, while taking out two rectangular pieces of paper.

"Uh, what is this?"

"As you can see, movie tickets."

"Eh."

"By chance, there were two identical tickets."

"That certainly seems to be the case."

"And then, I'm off tomorrow."

Suddenly, a flash of insight struck me, and I finally understood.

As usual, Tohka looked at me squarely and said bluntly.

"If it's okay, could you come with me to see it tomorrow?"

"We can't be careless about the preparations beforehand. The format, the clothing, the hairstyle—where should we start discussing?"

After discussing with Tohka about meeting at the station at 9 a.m. on Saturday, which is tomorrow, she left my house. But just like a shift change, Aki Tomoya also came to my house at this time. After hearing about this, he showed a level of concern far beyond what is usually expected.

"No, no, you don't need to prepare anything, right..."

"So you're a dating expert who can handle anything without any preparation?"

"How could that be? But if you make plans in advance, it would be annoying if the other party found out your thoughts, wouldn't it?"

"You're such a hassle."

"Yes, I'm so sorry."

Now, let's begin with a recap of what happened before.

After Tohka got into a fight with Grandpa Wada and was beaten up, she felt responsible and entered a compulsive mindset mode where she felt she had to make amends.

But she didn't know how to make amends, and after discussing it with her classmate Megumi Kato, she received the puzzling suggestion, "Let's just go see a movie together."

The way the arrow pointing from "Apologize → Watch a movie" struck me as very subtle.

But Tohka actually believed it, which was hard to believe.

"Kato Megumi said that as long as I can make Asahi happy for one day, that would be the best compensation."

To be honest, what I did wasn't exactly something I had to make amends for. I did try to refuse her; how should I put it, ignoring her kindness made me feel guilty—and just before, I even wanted to kick her out of the house. There were quite a few things like that that caused Tohka some unpleasantness.

No, these are all just excuses.

To put it bluntly, this was a date, and it really was a date. Although Tohka claimed it was to make up for lost time, when a man and woman go to the movies together, it's almost always a date.

The difference is that I had a failed movie date with Tohka before I lost my memory, during which we barely spoke to each other.

In other words, I learned my lesson the hard way about this once.

Chapter Thirty-One: Adorable Bubbling

In other words, I learned my lesson the hard way about this once.

"Oh no, what should I do? I'm so worried."

"Isn't it great? It's a movie you've wanted to see for a long time, isn't it?"

"Hmm, it's alright..."

"Just think of it as going to see a movie you've been looking forward to for a long time."

By the way, the movie is a Hollywood thriller. It was only officially released in Japan a little before summer vacation. Although I was somewhat interested, I hadn't had time to see it.

Although its peak theatrical run has passed and it's not being shown as many times anymore, it's still barely within its theatrical run.