Author: Suisei
Translator: Rinkage

Character page: Here

It was a long journey to reach this point. I just wanted to take a moment to express my heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of you. Coming back after a two-year break wasn’t easy, and I wasn’t sure if anyone would still be here. But seeing familiar names, and knowing you’re still following my translation means more to me than I can put into words. Your patience, support, and encouragement have given me the motivation to continue, and I can’t thank you enough for that.

-Rinkage

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Chapter 152 – I became … with the girl I like

The sudden, unexpected move by her made the usual light-hearted mood disappear in an instant. It felt as though time had stopped. But Cecilia didn’t seem to mind my reaction.

“Let’s talk about some old memories. To be honest, when I first met you… I was scared. I had been defeated and found myself abandoned in a village. I didn’t know what my opponent was thinking, I didn’t know if I could win, and the fear of the unknown overwhelmed me back then.”  [Cecilia]

Cecilia spoke as if she was reminiscing, and it seemed that our first meeting had left an utterly negative impression on her. Considering I was on the Demon Lord’s side, it was understandable that we were enemies.

“It must have been about a month later. When I was told to stay behind alone, I prepared myself for death. I thought that after showing off my skills for a month, you would eventually torture and kill us off one by one.”  [Cecilia]

“You thought I was such a ruthless demon!?”  [Youki]

“That’s how I felt at first, but…”  [Cecilia]

“Ah, could you maybe stop there?”  [Youki]

I’d rather she not talk about what happened next, as it was embarrassing. Even though I was a demon, I confessed my feelings without thought, ignoring the lack of common ground, the fact that we were enemies and even the barrier between our races. I knew what happened back then led to our present situation, but still…

“Hehe, understood. And that’s how I ended up carrying a ticking time bomb, that was you, Youki-san. Please don’t take offence. I was always on guard, wondering when and how something might happen… but that worry soon disappeared.”  [Cecilia]

“So you were on guard around me, Cecilia… I didn’t know. And so soon, too? Why did you let your guard down so quickly?”  [Youki]

“As we spent time together and talked, I saw many sides of you. You became friends with Raven-san, accepted Duke-san and the others, helped Gai-san and Tiel-chan, and even improved the relationship between Mikana and Hero-sama.”  [Cecilia]

“I met Raven by chance while Duke and the others forced themselves on me. As for Gai and Tiel-chan, well, Tiel-chan ended up behaving strangely. Mikana and Yuuga… they’re more like parallel lines than anything.”  [Youki]

I didn’t think I did anything particularly significant when I came to Minerva. I had always been a bother to Cecilia, causing her trouble, making her worry, getting scolded… Did I ever really have a moment to shine?

As I wandered through these negative memories, Cecilia shook her head in denial.

“There are so many people who were able to move in a better direction thanks to you, Youki-san. Sure, it might be rare… or, well, not exactly rare. Um, it’s not like you always do it, so…”  [Cecilia]

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m the guy who gets overtaken by my chuunibyou personality about once every week!”  [Youki]

“No, probably not once a week… more often, perhaps.”  [Cecilia]

“So, you’re not completely denying it, huh.”  [Youki]

Well, it was true that I had chuunibyou tendencies, and Cecilia couldn’t exactly lie about it, so it was understandable.

Here I am, acting all sulky in front of the girl I like – pretty pathetic for someone my age.

Cecilia looked at me and started laughing, and I laughed along with her.

“But that’s who you are. I often find myself at a loss because of it…”  [Cecilia]

“Sorry.”  [Youki]

I tried to hold back, but I couldn’t help it. Sadly, there was no cure or medicine for such a ‘disease’.

“I can’t just leave you alone, but when it really matters, there’s no one more reliable than you. To me, you’re someone irreplaceable, without a doubt. And…”  [Cecilia]

“And?”  [Youki]

What she said made me really happy, but it was also embarrassing at the same time. I had never felt this way before, so I wasn’t sure how to react. If I were a man, I’d stand tall – Duke would probably say that – so I decided to brace myself.

“When I’m with you, it’s fun. I get excited wondering where you’ll take me next.”  [Cecilia]

“Me?”  [Youki]

“Yes. Being led around by you… I don’t really dislike it.”  [Cecilia]

I did feel a bit of regret, worrying that I was just dragging her around and being a nuisance. However, I couldn’t just leave it all to Cecilia. I needed to express how I felt, too.

“For me, chatting with you in your room, Cecilia, it feels so comfortable… There were times I wish this moment could last forever.”  [Youki]

“Forever, is it?”  [Cecilia]

“Haha… forever is impossible, though.”  [Youki]

We both looked at each other with somewhat awkward expressions. I was the one who brought it up, but still…

“But, I don’t think it’s impossible for this to become our everyday life…”  [Youki]

I tried to hint at my feelings that I wanted our time together and our casual conversations to become a regular part of our lives. It was a roundabout way of saying that I enjoyed our chats, but it was the honest truth.

“Fufu, well, that depends on how things go between us from now on.”  [Cecilia]

She gave me a slightly mischievous smile, indicating she was leaving the matter open-ended. I had never seen her like this before, which made my heart race. I could feel emotions welling inside me that I had to keep in check forcibly. There was probably some contradiction in my words, but that didn’t matter. Right now, it was all about Cecilia.

“Um, I know I’m not much, but… I look forward to being with you!”  [Youki]

I prayed that she wouldn’t respond with a puzzled look and say, “What do you mean by that?” If she did, it would crush me. Seriously. If she were to say that, that would mean that she only saw me as a friend, which would be the worst possible outcome. Based on the flow of our conversation so far, I’d like to believe that wasn’t the case, but you could never be too sure, so I was anxious.

I was afraid to see her reaction, so I bowed deeply, almost at a ninety-degree angle. But when I didn’t get an immediate reply, I peeked at her… and saw her smiling.

Ah, so she was teasing me.

When I finally stopped bowing, Cecilia cleared her throat once.

“I look forward to being with you as well.”  [Cecilia]

She showed me a bow that was far more graceful than mine. There was no way I could win in terms of bowing elegance against an active noblewoman. Cecilia raised her head and looked at me, and I looked back at her.

Then, silence fell. Even though there was an awkwardness between us, for some reason, neither of us could look away. As the man, I should probably be the one to make the first move, but I had no idea what to do. I was possibly overthinking it, but I wished someone could tell me what to do. Did Duke give me some advice? No, relying on someone else at a time like this was not right. What was possibly ‘normal’ wouldn’t suit me either because I…

“I love you.”  [Youki]

I blurted my feelings and hugged Cecilia tightly, burying her head in my chest. She had always been a source of comfort for me. This was probably not quite right, but I tried to express my best feelings at that moment.

As I didn’t want to hold on too long and make her uncomfortable, I released her at an appropriate time.

“…Phew, that caught me by surprise.”  [Cecilia]

She didn’t seem to dislike it too much, so I felt relieved, immensely relieved. If she had disliked it and it caused a rift in our relationship right away… No, I need to stop thinking like that. I just want to spend today filled with happiness.

“Now, shall we head to my room? I’ll treat you to some tea and sweets.”  [Cecilia]

“Got it. We can’t stay in this room forever, after all.”  [Youki]

Normally, we should be having a chat in Cecilia’s room, not in this guest room. This is a room for receiving guests, and besides, I feel more comfortable in Cecilia’s room.

We began to move quickly, with me following her as she headed towards the door. However, just as she was about to open the door, she suddenly stopped. Then, she gracefully turned around. Thinking that she had forgotten something in the room, I considered retrieving it for her, but what happened next made me freeze. I felt something on my cheek. For a moment, I didn’t know what had happened. When I realised it, I touched my cheek and let out a small gasp. It would probably take some time before my brain could start functioning normally again. Even the person who put me in this state turned beet red. We were motionless as if time had stopped. In the end, it was thirty minutes after this incident that we relocated to another room for our tea break.

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