CH6
Kissing in Public

The time has finally come.

I held myself from running away and faced reality.

My childhood friend was standing in front of me, wearing a pure white wedding dress. She looked nervous and tense, her face slightly red from the embarrassment.

“It feels like a dream come true that I’d end up marrying you like this.” Somehow, I managed to spit those words out even as I felt like dying of embarrassment.

My childhood friend, on the other hand, shook her head from side-to-side.

“It’s not the end. It’s the beginning. From now on, we’ll be together forever… right?” She said in a lady-like and refined demeanour, different from her usual cheeky tone.

I nodded, sensing her awkwardness.

“Ah… I suppose that’s true.” With that said, I placed my hands on my childhood friend’s shoulders.

I lifted the veil on her head after we got closer. Revealing her radiant eyes and plump lips.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Having declared our love to each other, we slowly moved our faces closer, and so our lips…

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“After the couple happily kiss, they commit suicide… huh? Wait, there’s a kissing scene?! No one told me about this!!” Airi shouted loudly, having just finished reading the script.

Her face was totally red.

I, Ibuki Kazami, couldn’t help but feel adamant about this part as well. However, I tried to stay cool and composed about it.

“...I wasn’t aware of anything like this, either.”

I said to the scriptwriter… who was responsible for writing the play that we would perform at the festival.

Our school holds a cultural festival around every November. In this event, the first years would perform a musical, while the second years would perform a traditional theatre-style play. Each class would do one performance.

The third years, on the other hand, weren’t made to do anything since they had their plates full with the university entrance exam preparations.

Everyone in the class had a role to play, such as costume designing, handling stage equipment and casting the actors, among others. Airi and I were casted to star as the main characters.

Of course, I didn’t actually want to be such a big part of the play.

However, Airi got the part of the heroine when a classmate put her to it. Unlike me, she was a show-off and someone who was weak to flattery. 

And so, Airi then forced me to take the role of the main character to act as her partner.

—Let me get this straight, I didn’t accept the role because I felt uneasy about some guy other than me acting as my childhood friend’s lover, or anything.

“I mean, why not? After all, you guys are already a couple…”

““But we’re not going out!!”” We said in sync, completely denying it.

Our classmate, however, gave us a surprised look in return.

“But, I saw you guys kissing in class after school…”

““Th-That was because of Airi (Ibuki-kun)!!”” Our voices overlapped once again.

When I turned to give Airi a glaring look, she was doing the same. But even so, this wasn’t the time to be fighting.

“A-anyway, I know we’re supposed to kiss in front of the audience… but that’s too much of a high hurdle… Besides, I don't think that would be considered appropriate.” Airi said, clearing her throat.

“I mean, I’m not saying that we need to be alone to do that kind of thing but, uh…” She said in record pacing, trying to provide a reason with her face a deep crimson.

Despite no one else seeming to have a problem with it… I was with Airi on this one.

“I’m also against it. Having to kiss Airi and whatnot…”

“What’s up with that? What do you mean you’re against it?!”

Airi began to get angry, her eyes flaring wide open.

‘Doesn’t want to kiss me = Doesn’t find me attractive’, is that what she’s thinking?

I didn’t mean it in a negative way, but won’t getting mad about it just give the classmate in front of us more reason to misunderstand?

“I didn’t mean it like that… don’t get all pissy about it.”

“I-I’m not…”

Airi’s facial expression shrivelled up in an instant. She started to fidget about, but I just decided to leave her be while I asked my classmate some more questions.

“This scene, is it really necessary? Seems to be a little over the top for us high school students…”

Since it’s a high school play, shouldn’t it be more family-friendly? Is what I was trying to say.

Just then, our classmate who wrote the script gave us a big nod.

“The audience would get more excited this way. Besides, don’t you guys want to win?”

“But, to go that far…”

“C’mon, it’ll be fine. It’s just a stage kiss.”

““...A stage kiss?”” Airi and I tilted our heads in confusion.

“Yeah. A stage kiss. …Wait, were you guys planning to do it for real?” Our classmate cupped their mouth with a hand, eyes wide open in shock.

On the other hand, my and Airi’s faces were completely flushed.

“N-No way… I knew from the beginning that we would be doing a stage kiss!”

“M-Me too… I knew it was gonna be a stage kiss!”

Airi and I said in panic, trying to cover up our embarrassment.

Our classmate looked at us in reproach, but her expression quickly turned into a smile.

“Well then, we’ll be counting on you two. As the couple ending their lives in a double suicide.”

“Oh, yeah… of course!”

“W-We got it from here!”

Airi and I nodded nervously.

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After school.

Airi and I decided to practise our lines together back at my place.

“It feels like a dream come true that I’d end up marrying you like this.”

“It’s not the end. It’s the beginning. From now on, we’ll be together forever… right?”

“Ah… I suppose that’s true.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

““...exhale.””

Both of us let out a small sigh after we finished taking turns reciting our lines.

Memorising this part wasn’t too hard but it felt a little embarrassing saying those lines.

“The lines they’re having us remember is such a pain.”

“I know right. Now we just have to act it out…”

Our acting skills weren’t very good, but it’d be even more embarrassing if we were to be made fun of for acting like robots.

But the lines I had to say to my childhood friend were not something I enjoyed. Telling her “I love you” was so unbelievably embarrassing… what a pain.

“But when you think about it…This can't really be considered a happy ending, can it?” Airi said, implying that this scene in particular was contradictory.

I nodded in agreement.

“Well, with this theme of being together with one’s lover forever, can’t a double suicide be seen as enjoying their final moments together? Or do you not like stories with tragic endings?”

“Hmmmm… it’s not that I dislike it. In fact, I prefer it ending in this way…” Airi answered, her chin snugly resting on her hand.

“Oh, really? But I thought you’re not the type to like love stories in the first place.”

Airi nodded.

“Well, that’s true. But the thought of me running away with a prince does sound appealing.”

“...Is that so?”

“But, I wanted a Cinderella ending, not a Romeo and Juliet ending. After all, I want my character to have a happy ending, I want her to be happy after being swept away, that’s what I would want…”

After having said something deep, Airi suddenly had an unexpected look on her face. However, she quickly covered her face with her hands.

“I mean, all of this is just a made-up story, right?”

“Well, obviously. If you want to be kidnapped for real, you’d have to be an actual pervert.”

“A perv… I wouldn’t go as far as calling them a pervert.” Airi frowned.

…Wait, could she actually be hoping for something like that to happen to her? 

Assuming she did, maybe the word “pervert” wasn’t the best thing I could have said.

“Anyway, going back to the kissing scene… What do we do about it?” Airi blatantly changed the topic.

I was trying my best not to think about it either, but it still left me feeling concerned.

“There’s nothing we can do… so why not just do it? After all, it’s just a stage kiss, so it should be fine, right? Let’s be mature about it.”

“...That might be a problem. To put it simply, doesn’t the audience have to be convinced that we’re actually kissing?”

“Yeah, I know… And?”

“How are we supposed to do it?”

“Well…”

I presume the audience will be facing my back while my hands are on Airi’s shoulders.

Then I’ll pull her closer to me.

“Huh, hey, w-wait…”

To the point where my own forehead is pushing against hers.

This way, it’ll look as though Airi and I were kissing from the audience’s point of view.

“What if we do this…? …Airi?” I asked her, failing to receive an answer.

When I looked at her, Airi had her eyes shut, her face beet red and her body completely stiff.

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It was all so sudden.

“Well…”

How are we supposed to do it?

As I tried to answer my own question, Ibuki-kun placed his hands on my shoulders and pulled me closer.

He did so with a force way too strong.

“Huh, hey, w-wait…”

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He’s gonna kiss me!!

As Ibuki-kun’s face got closer, I immediately shut my eyes. My body had gone stiff, but I had prepared myself for this moment.

Then I felt a bump, our foreheads now against each other.

“What if we do this…?”

But no matter how long I waited, “that” didn’t happen.

What’s taking him so long…

“...Airi?” Ibuki-kun kept calling out to me.

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Something’s off.

“...I-Ibuki-kun?” I nervously opened my eyes.

What met my sight first was my childhood friend, so good-looking that it instantly made me look away.

…But didn’t he have a girly face not that long ago?

“O-Oh… y-you mean like this?”

“This is what we should practise. Doing the stage kiss… It’ll look like we’re kissing with my back facing the audience.”

Ohh, now I see… so that’s what he meant!

“Y-You idiot!!”

You led me on!!

I then pushed Ibuki-kun away with both hands.

“Idiot? Why am I an idiot…?”

“Y-You should’ve explained it better! Otherwise you’ll make me confused!!” I shouted, covering my lips as I did.

When Ibuki-kun finally realised what I was talking about, he quickly backed off, slightly turning his embarrassed face away.

“Y-You’re an idiot! I was always planning to do a stage kiss… that’s what we were doing!”

“That’s not what I meant!”

“Even if I was gonna kiss you, I’m not gonna do it out of nowhere!”

“Y-You don’t get it!!”

“Get what?”

“I mean, you said so at that time! If you were to feel that way…”

-It’ll be fine to kiss, right?

I repeated the same words Ibuki-kun had said a while ago.

Ibuki-kun grew stiff. That reaction was surprising.

“I mean… look at me, am I not beautiful? Up until now you have been a complete gentleman… but haven’t you ever developed feelings for me…?”

“T-That’s not… possible.” Ibuki-kun said, looking away.

Are you looking away because you regretted saying that? Is what I wanted to say, but couldn’t speak out.

I knew that there was no coming back from this.

“...”

“...”

We then stayed in silence for a while.

I decided to speak up in order to break this awkward tension between us.

“In the first place… even if we were to actually kiss, no one will know if it was staged or not.”

“T-That’s what I thought, too. So then, you’d be okay with letting everybody watching us kiss? Including your mom…”

“Absolutely not!”

 I forbid it.

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I swear, this childhood friend of mine really doesn’t think twice before speaking!

“Don’t worry, I also don’t want that to happen.”

“That’s reassuring.”

I knew that Ibuki-kun too didn’t want to kiss in front of his own parents, or even act like it. That’s why we shouldn’t be acting all careless.

As a precaution, I took out my phone.

“Even if they won’t see us, they’ll be able to tell from their video recordings. Shouldn’t we kiss in a way that doesn’t make it obvious?”

“Hmm, yeah I guess… alright, let’s do it.”

“O-Okay…”

I turned on my phone’s camera, adjusting it in a way so that it’ll match the audience’s perspective.

I then had to adjust the angle of Ibuki-kun’s face countless time

“Since I’m taller, it’d be better if my back is facing the audience.”

“Good point.”

Now then, we shall begin.

I looked up at Ibuki-kun’s face, my throat devoid of words to say out loud.

Ibuki-kun then wrapped his arms around me, pulling me towards him with a really strong force.

I slowly got on my tip toes.

Our foreheads bumped into each other.

Until finally, the tip of our noses touched.

“Exhale...”

“...Haa.”

Our faces were only a few centimetres apart, that’s how close our lips were to touching.

Every now and then, a sigh would come out from Ibuki-kun’s mouth, my lips would feel it.

It felt like he was kissing me.

When that thought sprang out in my mind, it sent a shiver down my spine, like it was almost thrilling.

I could see myself in his eyes, enchanted.

I can’t take it any longer…!

“T-That’s…more than enough, right?”

“R-Right.”

He removed his arms, and I quickly moved away from him.

Trying to calm my loud beating heart. I couldn’t let him know my heart was beating fast because of him. I took a long, deep breath.

“S-So then…was it a success? Let’s review the video.”

“Alright.” I grabbed my phone and replayed the video.

Ibuki-kun was also peeking at the screen.

“T-This was…”

“A success…at least for now.”

That was “our kiss” being replayed. It came out better than we had expected.

“...”

“...”

It’s almost too realistic.

I mean, of course it would be. In any case, that was us kissing.

That kiss was a dozen times more convincing than looking at a picture of a lovely couple, who had not seen each other for a long time, kissing.

B-but we’ll have to do this in front of people!!

Well, I’m not saying it’s impossible.

After all, we had already agreed to do it. But “staging” a kiss has brought up mixed feelings that my pride would never allow me to admit.

“L-Looks like we’re quite the actors!”

“It’s perfect.” When I gave Ibuki-kun a reassuring smile to hide my actual feelings, he did the same, nodding back in agreement.

“...”

“...”

Silence fell upon us once again.

…The mood was a little off. It wasn’t bad, but it was a little weird.

That feeling, like we had crossed over an important line, would linger the longer we stayed like this.

“Why don’t we stop here for today?”

“G-Good idea.”

Following his suggestion, we then called it a day.

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After the cultural festival ended. Somewhere outside the school building.

“Ahh, that was the worst…” Airi said in a zombie-like voice.

She was crouching down, her face buried between her knees. Ears red from bottom to top.

I didn’t know if it was because of that white dress, but her skin seemed redder than usual.

“Airi, the after party is about to begin.”

“...No, I don’t want to go.”

I grabbed her arm, trying to get her to stand up.

But Airi shook her head side-to-side, refusing to move.

“Look, I know we don’t have to go but…this is our 2nd year as high school students, it couldn’t hurt to go this one time, right? You sure you won’t regret it?”

“...I’m already regretting it.” Airi said in a weak voice.

I couldn’t help but sigh.

“It wasn’t a complete failure. Everybody was happy with the results…”

“Just stop!” Airi suddenly looked up. Glaring at me with tears falling from her blue eyes.

“It was so humiliating doing that in front of people… my own feelings were caught on video, you wouldn’t understand!!”

I pinched her cheek.

“...You’re not the only one who feels that way.”

Then I thought back to what happened a couple of minutes ago.

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Airi and I, the heroine and hero, were on top of the stage about to commit an act of double suicide as part of reaching the climax scene.

We definitely couldn’t afford to make a mistake. Not in this scene.

My heart was beating so loud, letting me know how nervous I really was.

“It feels like a dream come true that I’d end up marrying you like this.”

“It’s not the end. It’s the beginning. From now on, we’ll be together forever… right?”

“Ah… I suppose that’s true.”

Once I finished saying my line, I gently removed the veil covering Airi’s face. Her face was incredibly stiff.

The words “I’m so nervous” are written all over her face.

Of course, it was possible that I also had the exact same face…

But we were already reaching the end.

“I love you.” I said, still trying to hide my embarrassment.

Somehow, I managed to pull it off.

“I love you, too.” Airi said, her voice slightly trembling.

I wrapped my arms around Airi, pulling her close.

Slowly closing the distance between our faces just like we had practised. Our foreheads, bumping into each other. Until finally the tips of our noses touch.

Our breath brushing against each other’s lips.

I could see my nervous self reflecting off of Airi’s eyes.

—We had to stay “kissing” for 3 seconds. And afterwards, both of us would drink poison and drop dead. Thus ending the script.

Three.

Two.

I started counting down the time, it was almost over.

But then, something unexpected occurred.

“Ah…”

Airi’s body suddenly got heavy.

I tried helping her get up. But she then held onto me very tightly, looking panicked.

Then we heard huge cheering coming from the audience’s seats.

“A-Are you okay?”

“I-I’m…sorry. I was feeling a little nervous.”

Luckily, we managed to get through the ending by ad libbing it.

But… Airi didn’t seem to think so.

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“I can't come to school anymore…”

“Stop exaggerating…I’m pretty sure doing the stage kiss was more embarrassing.” All she did was stumble and hold onto me.

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Was it really that embarrassing for her? I thought, my head tilted.

“The kiss was part of the script, so we should be fine.”

“I don’t even think the audience knows we messed up.”

“What about everyone in class? Like Hina-chan and Kuzuhara-kun!? My mom and dad!?”

“That’s…”

The audience who didn’t know about the script would assume the hug was all part of the act.

But the people who did know would assume it was an accident that didn’t go according to plan… and that we had to ad lib the rest of the script.

“I’m certain they’d say things like. Woah, Airi-chan’s so bold!! Or things like. What was she thinking? Hugging a boy during an important play? That sex-obsessed woman.  Or even something like. It must be tough having a girlfriend like her, I feel bad for Ibuki-kun.”

“Oh, I see.”

Airi said “they”, which probably doesn’t refer to people like Hazuki or Kuzuhara. Her parents, of course, weren’t part of the list either.

She seems to be referring to some classmates… especially the female students.

Airi has been receiving a lot of jealousy for being so beautiful.

…If that’s the case, it would’ve been better if Airi didn’t take on the heroine role.

“Putting the girlfriend thing aside, it’s true that having a troublesome childhood friend is tough.”

“...Shut up.” Airi faced away with her cheeks puffed up.

I gently grabbed her arm.

“Look… the after party has already begun.”

“...Do whatever you like. To be entertained by boring manzai duos or dancing some dumb folk dance isn’t worth my time. If you want to go so badly, why don’t you go by yourself?” Airi said as she aggressively pulled her arm away.

I sighed.

I swear… What a downer.

When she’s like this, there’s no convincing her. …I guess I have no choice.

“Fine then…” I sat down next to Airi.

She gave me a confused look.

“...You’re not going?”

“There’s no point in going if you’re not going to be there.”

“You sure? Today’s the only day you’ll get to go to an after party as a 2nd year high school student.”

“I already said I’m not.”

“...Okay then.” Airi smiled, feeling happy with my response.

She then gave me a grin and a cheeky look.

“I swear, Ibuki-kun. You’re such a loner. …I guess it can’t be helped.”

“...I’m being considerate.”

If I’d gone by myself, she definitely would have complained about me later.

I gave her a bitter smile. Then asked Airi a question.

“By the way, what made you stumble? …Are you feeling sick?”

“I…I was only feeling nervous.”

“Really?”

It’s only natural to feel nervous during the play. She must have felt overwhelmed, especially towards the end.

“...It wasn’t because my back was broken or anything.”

…You don’t have to tell me that.

Was that really the reason?

“...Wait, did you say something? Airi.”

“No, I didn’t say anything.”

Airi said that while she rested her head on my shoulder.

Her cheeks turned red as we watched the sun set.