Kane was now sitting in the bathtub, his body fully immersed in water. His knees up to his face as his expression remained deadpan. "Is there a way to reload a save?" Kane thought with a low voice.
He makes bubbles pop out from the water using his submerged mouth. Shortly after, he raises his head above the water and takes a deep sigh. He relaxes a little bit, before recalling what happened after that so-called incident.
⋆｡°✩
Erisa had fully changed into his clothes, which was actually his old gym uniform during his junior high school years. Simply put, this consisted of a white shirt with the emblem of the school placed on the right breast pocket, and dark-brown gym shorts.
Erisa sat on his chair in his room with her left leg crossed over her right. With her arms crossed, she looked down on him with a disgusted look — it was as if she was staring at trash.
Kane, on the other hand, sat in a seiza-style way of sitting in front of Erisa. He wore a disingenuous expression as he looked to the side with his eyes. "W-why do I have to apologize? I didn't even do anything wrong…"
His brown-eyes then turned back over to Erisa. They remain half-closed as he leans forward. A sly grin then tugged at his lips as he states, "Look, I didn't even see a single thing… even if I did, there wouldn't be much to look at, now would there?"
An arrow had seemingly struck Erisa directly in the chest. She lifts up her chest with her crossed arms in an attempt to show that there is indeed some volume in them.
"Hu-hum~? W-what are you trying to say, Kane-kun? L-look, they look fine to me!" Erisa muttered with a pout as she made a poor attempt at looking like she wanted a little bit of validation.
"Not interested, but thank you for your consideration," Kane raised his hand and turned his head to the side.
Kane was already over the fact that he couldn't experience the quintessential rom-com event; instead, he has chosen to go all in with making fun of her, despite Erisa looking like the one in power.
Erisa sighs with disdain. "...You're just trying to change the subject now, aren't you?
She then points at Kane with her foot, before raising her chin and speaking in a demanding tone, "Back to what we were talking about: You do know it's rude to walk in on somebody as they finish showering, right? It's best if you apologize now."
"Seriously? Like I said, I didn't see a single thing! Maybe if you paid close attention, you would notice how my eyes were closed the entire time!" Kane was not lying.
Her hand shakes uncontrollably as she pushes up her glasses. Erisa then stuttered as an obvious blush began to grow on her cheeks, "Hu-hu-hum~? M-my eyes don't deceive, Kane-kun!"
"What are these blatant mood swings? One moment you're serious, the next you're blushing like a schoolgirl; just choose an emotion already, jeez..." Kane brazenly thought as he looked at Erisa with an unimpressed stare.
Shrugging with no care about the situation, Kane blankly remarks as he looks at the floor with his eyes closed, shaking his head side to side. "I honestly feel bad for your future husband... I wonder how many misunderstandings might happen between you two because of your eyesight."
"How rude! I can see a little bit even without my glasses!"
"So if you were to take them off, would you be able to see this?" Kane then raised three fingers in his right hand.
"Hmph!" Erisa exhaled confidently. She then closes her eyes and raises her chin, before pointing at herself with her thumb continuing, "Of course! Why would I struggle with something so easy?"
Specifically 14 seconds have passed since Kane challenged her.
"...E-eto, is there a way to retract what I said earlier?" With her glasses off, Erisa was almost as blind as a bat. Everything she saw was hazy and blurry — even Kane who was sitting in front of her was a blur.
"Nope." Kane spoke with a blunt voice while holding up two fingers next to his face.
Erisa then grabs her glasses and puts them on, before standing up and pointing down at Kane in rage. "Ahh mou~! Why do we constantly get set off track with our conversation! Just apologize already, hurry up!"
"Do you want me to lick your feet?"
"MOU~! YOU'RE THE WORST!"
⋆｡°✩
Kane slams his head into the water, before resurfacing quickly. A small blush had formed on his cheeks as he shouts, "Why was I acting so shamelessly earlier!?" He then grabs his head and shakes it aggressively.
"Yamete! Yamete! Stop replaying those memories!" Despite it happening minutes earlier, Kane already wanted it buried in the deepest parts of his brain next to his trauma.
"Ah! Sou da[1]! I probably got taken over by a parasite that feeds off malicious intent!" Kane nods his head in agreement. It seems he finally came to peace with him—
"WHO THE HELL THINKS OF THAT AS A COMPLETELY VALID REASON!? AM I SOME KIND OF CHUUNIBYOU[2]!?!?" —I completely retract my earlier statement. Kane had not come to peace with himself.
"Impossible… I'm already six years late! I'm already past that phase in my life!" Kane then lets go of his head and looks down at his hands; his brown-eyes shaking uncontrollably due to the sheer embarrassment coursing through his veins.
"...M-Maybe… Maybe it is true that I have an evil parasite in my brain," Kane muttered to himself. It had seemed that he was beginning his dark descent into madness and delusions of a power he thought he had, all starting in his bathtub.
He begins to laugh due to this new discovery, which then transitions into maniacal laughter as he looks up at the ceiling and raises his hands into the air — Kane had begun his Chuunibyou Era despite being six years late!
⋆｡°✩
"Nope, nevermind… The shame was just too much to bear," Kane thought as he was now in his school uniform, sitting alone by the window of his classroom — without it even beginning, Kane's Chuunibyou Era had ended abruptly!
It was already past the first period when Kane had already begun to daydream while looking out the window. He looked back to what happened yesterday — it was like a distant memory now.
By the time Kane was about to shower, Erisa also had to leave his apartment since she had some errands to attend to that day. So that left Kane alone in his apartment, where he just played his favorite gacha game on his phone.
The day flew by with nothing happening. By the time it was midnight, he had accomplished absolutely nothing — if you were to compare his lifestyle to an animal, it would most likely be a sloth.
Sighing with a bored expression on his face, Kane looks out the window while resting his head on his hand. "I can't use my phone to play games during school hours, and I have nobody to talk to since all my friends are in different classrooms…"
"Aaahhh, this is the worst…" Kane closed his eyes, hoping that the hours would fly by and lunch would come around. Despite his best wishes, another event would approach him — and fast.
The sound of happy humming is heard in the distance. Kane paid no mind since it was just your average crowd noise. The humming continued, and it grew louder as it came closer to Kane.
"Kanec—"
"Go away."
Inari was immediately shut down by Kane as he continued looking outside. Now frozen with her hand way above her head as she was waving, and the once happy expression now being a shell of its former self, it was evident that she wanted to talk.
"M-mou~, Kanecchi… I wasn't even able t—"
"I already told you to leave me alone."
Inari was shut down a second time by Kane, who wasn't even bothering with turning his head toward her. Inari begins to feel a vein about to pop out of her head, which she stops by closing her eyes and performing some breathing exercises.
Looking back at Kane with her pink eyes, a dangerous thought entered her mind. "Fufufufu~, if you think simply ignoring me will make me go away… then you're wrong!" A wry grin began to form on her face.
She loosens her necktie and unbuttons the uppermost button of her white-button up. Without a second thought, she leans on Kane's desk while resting her head on her two hands.
"Nee~, Kannechi…"
"How many times do I have to tell you? Leave me alo—"
"Look. At. Me~!" Inari spoke with a playful yet mature tone, which immediately catches Kane's attention. He turns to look at Inari, his brown-eyes widened to its maximum capabilities.
Kane is surprised as to what is in front of him right now. "W-what? Is Inari-chan trying to act like a woman seducing me?" He squinted his eyes, taking in everything. "If so, I never saw her as a woman and more like a little gremlin," he thought; his gaze grew more distant.
Inari was giggling to herself as she pointed at him. "Made you look!"
"I only looked because you caught me off-guard with your voice… But still…" Kane paused for an excruciatingly long time, as if he wanted to torment Inari's patience. He then abruptly continued, "...Do you really have to look like that?"
With an unamused expression, she sighs before straightening her back. With a shrug, she looks down at him and says, "This is my way of apologizing for last week, after all!"
"...Your way of apology is showing off your chest to random men?"
"Sa-kun told me that I should properly apologize since I did something really bad! A-and wait, you aren't a random man, you're my friend!"
Choosing to completely ignore her remark about them being friends, Kane mutters to himself, "Sa-kun?" He then held his chin, before immersing himself in thought, which led him to a conclusion, "Ahh, Satoshi… Ryūzaki's first name."
"Hai~! Sa-kun is the nickname I gave him ever since middle school! Pretty cute, huh?" Inari spoke with a playful tone as she jumped up and down out of pure joy and innocence.
Kane then begins to rub the back of his head while laughing awkwardly. "Sorry, it still honestly confuses me that you and Ryūzaki-san are childhood friends."
Inari begins to wave her hand in front of her face. "Don't worry, we honestly never tell anyone that because it might cause a stir in the school, fufufu~," a cat-like face then began to form on her face as she relaxed.
"A stir?"
"Hai~! A stir! You know when like… a rumor circulates around the school that causes everyone to go crazy, making it the biggest rumor known to man? That kind of stir!"
"You do know 'Known to man' is kind of a big overstatement, Inari-chan…"
Holding up a finger, Inari puts on her thinking glasses which she suddenly materializes from nowhere. "Still! When everyone finds out the golden boy Satoshi Ryūzaki of Class 1-G has a childhood friend, they'll immediately come to conclusions!"
"Please… I think I have had enough of this info dump. We still have another chapter, after all…" Kane began to break the fourth wall once more as he tightened his fists and looked down at his table.
"What? Another chapter? What are you, some kind of protagonist that can break the fourth wall? Wake up from your chuunibyou phase, please… it's already cringe as is," Inari spoke bluntly without any pauses in between, which shatters Kane's pride.
"U-urusai[3], baka," Despite his attempt at deflecting this blatant attack, Kane had still been hit with a truth bomb — it was indeed… very cringe.
Inari sticks out her tongue playfully. They then share a moment of silence, which is then cut short by Inari, saying something that will catch anybody off-guard. "Ah right~, why don't we go to a family restaurant after school, my treat~!"
Was this a sudden date invitation by Inari?!? The Moving-In Arc has finished, and yet another arc has started almost instantly!? Where will this go!?! Will Kane finally grow a backbone and explore his love life more thoroughly!? Find out more on…
"Shut up, Narrator-san."
Okay…
[1] "Sou Da" (そうだ) is a versatile expression that can be translated in a few different ways depending on context. Generally, it means "that's right," "so it is," or "I heard that".
[2] "Chūnibyō," often romanized as "Chuunibyou," is a Japanese term, typically used to describe adolescents, especially those in their second year of middle school (hence "middle school second year illness"), who are overly imaginative, theatrical, or boastful, and might believe they have hidden powers or special knowledge.
[3] "Urusai" (うるさい) means "noisy," "loud," or "annoying." It can also be used as a more casual way to tell someone to "shut up" or "cut it out.".