Your Slice-Of-Life story begins

Consciousness returns to you as sunlight peaks in through the window. Slightly opening your eyes, you are initially confused by the strangely girly decor before the memories of last night flood back to you.

I can’t believe it. I...actually did it. Like, with a real girl.

Still not fully believing it, you turn your head to the side and see the girl whose room you had more or less invaded last night, sleeping soundly with her rhythmic breaths just barely audible. Still hazy from waking up, you instinctually move your hand to brush Emiru’s cheek, as if you wanted to confirm she wasn’t an illusion.

“Mmm…” Emiru reacts as she feels your hand on her warm cheek. Shifting slightly, her eyes open slowly to look at you.

“Oh...I’m sorry, I did not mean to wake you.” You pull your hand back and apologise.

Emiru shook her head. “No...actually, I’ve been awake for some time. My eyes were just closed.”

She spoke without even hesitating. You can’t tell whether she was feeding you a white lie or not.

For a while, the two of you just lie next to each other, unsure what to say. There’s a feeling of uncertainty in the air, though that’s hardly a surprise considering what happened last night. And then there was the matter of what led up to it...

“Emiru,” You eventually speak up, cutting through the awkward silence. “Are you...OK?”

“What do you mean?” She asked softly.

“I was just thinking about last night,” You respond. “What you said to me...did you mean it?”

Emiru cringes slightly and looks away guiltily. You expect she’s having her own flashback right now.

“Hey,” You reach over and touch her shoulder lightly. “I’m not angry. But when you said those things, I felt...worried.”

Emiru’s eyes flick over to meet yours. “Worried...?” She whispers.

You sigh and stare at the ceiling, trying to put your thoughts into words.

“After I left the clinic, the one I was most worried about was you,” You say slowly. “I thought that you would...you would hate me for what I did.”

Emiru sits upright suddenly and looks at you in horror.

“H-Hate you? N-no, you’re wrong! I could never-!”

“I know that now. It was silly of me to think that of you. And that’s why...” You say as you turn to face her. “That’s why...I don’t want you to blame yourself either, OK?”

Emiru listens intently to you as you speak. She takes a moment to consider your words as you finish.

“I understand...and I’ll try,” She eventually responds. “It’s just…”

“What?”

“It’s just...even though I did it to help you...I ended up enjoying it.” She barely manages to whisper through a luminous blush.

You almost laugh at that. “I think that’s great,” You respond with a smile. “I’m happy that you enjoyed it.”

Emiru finally returns your smile, and you both let silence settle over you again. Part of you wants to lean in for another kiss, but you feel a little too awkward for that. Instead, you just enjoy the moment, laying there with her. You can’t stop thinking about last night, and the way Emiru snuggled into bed just like this, and the thing that she said…

Wait, what was it again?

“Hey Emiru, one last thing…” You ask

She peers at you curiously.

“I think you said something to me last night. As we were going to sleep. I’m sorry, but I didn’t quite hear it properly. What did you say?”

Surprisingly, Emiru immediately flushes bright red and gets flustered.

“Oh! N-Nothing! I didn’t say anything important,” She responds quickly. “Come on, it’s early. Let’s just...sleep in today, OK?”

And so, she turns away from you, wrapping herself back up in the blanket as she does.

You blink in abject bemusement. You have no idea why she got so worked up, but you decide that it’s not worth pursuing. Following Emiru’s lead, you curl back up in the covers and close your eyes. The bed was so warm and the ambience so tranquil, there was really no reason to disturb it now…

…

“Oh shit! School!”

After you hastily throw on your old clothes and rush back to your room, you begin your preparations for the new day; washing your face, doing skincare, and preparing your bag with everything you need for school. You finish off by changing into your school uniform, provided by the school to the Fukadas prior to your arrival in Japan. It was styled as a rather typical Japanese high school uniform, featuring a white shirt with black coloured pants and gakuran embroidered with the school’s logo. Buttoning it up felt surreal; you felt like if you looked yourself in a mirror, you’d just see a typical Japanese student staring back at you (albeit, one a bit taller than the average student).

You then make your way to the dining area of the household, where you see Mrs. Fukada’s already in the kitchen. Mr. Fukada didn’t seem to be around, so you guess that he went to work early. You immediately start to salivate as you catch whiff of something cooking, your stomach rumbling as an uncomfortable reminder that you didn’t have dinner last night.

“Good morning, Ken-kun!” Mrs. Fukada chirps. “Did you sleep well?”

You open your mouth to respond, but then the memory of what happened with Emiru last night gave you pause for thought.

“Well...yes, I did,” You end up saying, trying your best to sound natural. “Thank you for asking.”

“That’s good. And how do you feel? You don’t need relief right now, do you?”

“Uh, n-no I don’t,” You respond quickly. “I feel...fine?”

You only notice just as you finish your sentence, but you feel miles better than yesterday morning. No nausea, no dizziness, not even a raised temperature.

“Ah, that’s good. Though, I suppose it makes sense, given what happened last night…”

You felt like a dagger of ice was stabbed through your heart.

“Uwah? Fukada-san, what are you talking about?” You stammer out.

“Is something wrong? Last night, you had sex with her, right?”

“Well, yes, we did...but I didn’t mean-! I mean, I should have asked for permission before I did it…”

“What?” Mrs. Fukada simply looks at you curiously. “Why would you need to ask for my permission to be with Maiko-san? She said that she just did it to make sure you were healthy.”

“Oh...yes. Yes, that’s right…”

You fight the urge to sigh with relief. Luckily, Mrs. Fukada stops paying attention to you as Emiru appears. She’s dressed in a female version of the school uniform; a white button down top with neck-scarf and ribbon, dark skirt, and knee length socks.

“Morning, Emiru-chan!” Mrs. Fukada calls.

“Good morning, Mother,” Emiru responds. “...oh, and good morning, Ken.”

You thought you noticed her hesitate a bit when greeting you, but right now you’re too hungry to wonder why. Mrs. Fukada went to the liberty of packing bento boxes for you and Emiru to take for lunch, alongside some onigiri for breakfast which you immediately start to wolf down.

“Hey now, I made those so you could eat while you walked. If you don’t leave soon, you’ll be late!” Mrs. Fukada chides.

With that, she literally pushes you two out the door, and sends you off.

“Bye, Emiru-chan, Ken-kun. I hope you enjoy your experience at school.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” you reply as you both start off. “Thank you for lunch.”

“It’s no problem at all. And Ken-kun…” Mrs. Fukada looks straight at you. “Treat my daughter well, alright?”

The question catches you off guard; you try your best to come up with a good response. “Huh? O-Of course! I definitely will.”

You exchange a wave with Mrs. Fukada before running off to catch up with Emiru.

Watching the two of you walk into the distance, a nostalgic smile spreads over her face.

“Those two. Being young is exciting, isn’t it…?”

Despite being a bit late, you manage to make it to the train station in time. Just like yesterday, you make your way to the appropriate station platform; you know you’re going the right way, since you spot a few other students in the same uniform as you headed in the same direction every now and again.

“Let’s hurry, Emiru.” You say. You had noticed her trailing a bit behind you on the walk to the to the station, and you didn’t want to lose her amid the rush hour.

“Y-Yes…” Came her response. Though she was evidently trying to act natural, you could see that she was flushed and her gait is slightly unbalanced. You couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty; didn’t you hear a rumor once that girls had trouble walking after sex?

In an attempt to steady her (and also so you don’t get separated), you fall back and take Emiru’s hand in your own and enter the train together amid the crowd. As it sets off, there’s an awkward moment where you notice that you’re still holding it, with Emiru looking a little uncomfortable, so you let go and try to act coolly.

The train ride goes by uneventfully. Whilst it’s more packed, given that you’re on a Tokyo train during rush hour, you noticed that you weren’t being stared at as much today; then again, the number of people probably made you hard to notice. Once it arrives at the correct station, you and Emiru stream out the doors and out of the station proper. As you go, the flood of people divert off to different direction until there’s just a cohort of students dressed in identical uniforms to yours, eventually congregating at the school gates. Passing through them and into the courtyard, you can already spot the signs of activity emblematic of Japanese school life; groups of students standing around chatting, student council reps bustling around, various sports clubs practicing…

All that’s missing is the cheesy anime OP.

You enter through the front doors, and find yourself at a set of shoe lockers. Emiru leads you to hers, swapping out her laced shoes for some indoor ones. You don't have a locker assigned yet, but there was a section of the lockers specifically for guests or unassigned students like yourself, complete with provided guest slippers.

“Thank you for coming with me, Emiru,” You thank her after slipping into some indoor shoes. “I have to go now.”

“Where to?” She asks.

“I believe I need to go to the teachers lounge. I need to speak to a teacher about my exchange program. They will tell me how this school works.”

“Can I go with you?”

“Why? You should be going to homeroom, isn’t that right?”

Emiru looks down hesitantly. “Well...yes, but...I just want to make sure you’re OK. I don’t...I don’t want something like yesterday to happen again.”

Oh.

“Please don’t worry. I feel perfectly fine because of you. Look, I don’t have a fever at all!” You tell her, placing her hand against your forehead in emphasis.

It was clear that Emiru could see you were fine, but despite that she still looked unconvinced.

“Still, I should-!”

“I don’t want you to skip class because of me. You should go. There will be a lot of people with me, so you don’t have to worry about me as much.” You say firmly.

Emiru opens her mouth to argue again, but doesn’t end up saying anything.

“I-I understand... I’m sorry.” She tells you, defeated.

“Don’t worry. It’s OK.”

You want to hug her or stroke her hair, but you decide against it, with so many people around. Instead, you take her hands in yours and give Emiru the best reassuring smile you can.

“I’ll see you again soon. Don’t worry.” You tell her.

The gesture is small, but you can see Emiru visibly relax and return your smile. And with that, you two part ways once again, but this time you both make sure to wave each other farewell just after you separate.