The Beautiful Girl Said, “I Have to Date You as a Punishment Game.” Me: “How long?” Beautiful Girl: “Ten years.” (Yukio)
The Beautiful Girl Said, “I Have to Date You as a Punishment Game.” Me: “How long?” Beautiful Girl: “Ten years.”
Me: “…Isn’t that way too long?”
“Ikegawa Hayato-kun. My friends told me to go out with you as a punishment game. Is that okay with you?”
“You’re just gonna say it straight out that it’s a punishment game, huh?”
After school, in an empty classroom, I was being confessed to as part of a punishment game by Saeki Chihiro-san, the girl everyone calls the prettiest in our grade.
To be honest, I was hoping, even just a little, that it was a real confession. But reality isn’t that kind.
“Well, I don’t have a reason to refuse, so sure.”
I once read a light novel where a confession from a punishment game turned into a real relationship.
If there’s even the slightest chance, a man should take that bet.
“Thank you. I thought you’d say that.”
“So, how long is this going to last?”
That’s the real issue.
It’ll probably be about a week or two.
The challenge is how much closer I can get to Saeki-san in that short time.
“Ten years.”
“…Huh?”
Did I mishear her?
No, she said it clearly.
If my ears aren’t deceiving me—
“I said, the duration is ten years.”
Yeah, she definitely said ten years.
“…Isn’t that way too long?”
“Is it? I think that’s a normal length.”
“Even actual couples hardly date for ten years. And wouldn’t you hate pretending to date me until you’re twenty-five or twenty-six, Saeki-san?”
“It can’t be helped, it’s a punishment game after all. If I don’t do it properly, my friends will get mad at me. But I might be a bother to you, so I apologize for that.”
A bother? This is more like interfering with my entire life.
“Anyway, let’s head home together right away.”
Saeki-san took my hand, fingers intertwined like a real couple, and began walking. I was pulled along behind her.
The goal was to see how close I could get to her during this punishment game, but—
It looks like I’ll have plenty of time.
And then, we arrived in front of my house.
“So this is your place. Since I’ll probably be coming here often over the next ten years, I should introduce myself to your family.”
“I don’t think my mom’s home yet, but do you want to come in?”
“Sure. Take me to your room.”
The moment she entered my room, Saeki-san started checking under my bed and scrolling through my computer history.
“Saeki-san, what are you doing?”
“Just checking if there’s anything naughty here. Oh, this site…”
Looks like she found the adult site I had bookmarked.
“I’ll just delete this for now. You won’t be needing it anymore.”
Ah, she deleted it.
“From now on, for the next ten years, you’re forbidden from watching or doing that kind of thing. Oh, and you can’t get too friendly with other girls either.”
“Uh… we’re only dating because of a punishment game, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Do we really have to take it that far…?”
So I’ve basically just been banned from sexual release and from having female friends for the next ten years.
“Of course. Even if it’s a punishment game, we’re dating.”
Saying that, Saeki-san sat down beside me on the bed.
“Kiss…”
The usually cool Saeki-san mumbled shyly.
“Huh…?”
“I mean, I want to kiss you, Ikegawa-kun. Or rather, we have to.”
“Because it’s part of the punishment game…?”
“That’s right. We’re dating, so of course we have to at least kiss.”
You’d go that far just for a punishment game?
Actually, given the ten-year duration, this doesn’t seem like a normal punishment game at all.
Could it be that Saeki-san actually… likes me?
“Alright… but if you really don’t want to, tell me.”
“Okay…”
Then, I pressed my lips gently against Saeki-san’s soft ones.
“Ah… nnh… mmm…”
Saeki-san trembled, yet she wrapped her arms around my head to keep me from pulling away.
I put my arms around her back.
Her body was slender but incredibly soft.
Her long black hair brushed against my hand.
Her face filled my entire field of vision.
A meltingly sweet fragrance spread through my mouth.
I felt as if her feelings for me were being conveyed through the kiss.
“Nn… ah… puhah…”
Saeki-san finally pulled away, her face bright red as she looked at me.
“F-from now on… we have to do this every day for the next ten years, okay?”
She whispered that softly.
After that, my mom came home, and I introduced Saeki-san to her.
“Huh… wait, Chii-chan? It’s been so long! You moved back here?”
“Eh? You know her, Mom?”
“She’s Chihiro-chan, right? She used to live near us about ten years ago. You used to play together all the time, remember?”
“Ah… now that you mention it, I kind of remember…”
Around ten years ago, there was a girl who used to come over to my house often.
But she moved far away, and I completely forgot her name and face.
To think that girl turned out to be Saeki-san.
“Hey, Hayato-kun, be Chii’s boyfriend.”
“Yeah, sure.”
We had that kind of exchange once, come to think of it.
So, could it be that Saeki-san remembered that and did all this because of it…?
“Fufu, who would’ve thought you two would actually end up as a couple.”
“N-no, that’s not it, Mother! This is just a punishment game! I’m only going out with Ikegawa-kun for the next ten years! It’s a short time, but I’ll do my best to treat your son with sincerity!”
Mom looked surprised for a moment but soon smiled.
“I see. Hayato, make sure you stick with Chihiro-chan until the very end of her punishment game, alright?”
“…Yeah, I know.”
After that, I walked Saeki-san to the station.
“Hey, Saeki-san, I’m sorry I completely forgot about what happened ten years ago.”
“It’s fine… You can make up for it by loving me from now on.”
“Yeah, you’re right…”
“W-well, it’s just a punishment game, though! But we have to act like real lovers! So love me seriously, okay?”
“Of course, otherwise your friends will get mad at you.”
“Exactly. So then… mmm.”
Saeki-san looked up at me and closed her eyes.
I kissed her lips again.
“Nnchu… nnah…”
This time, she held me even tighter.
It was a long kiss, as if she didn’t want to part.
“Nn… ah… haa… haa… I thought I was going to die…”
“It was so long you couldn’t breathe, huh?”
“No, that’s not it… it just felt too happy… Ah! N-no! I mean, it’s just a punishment game, so I actually hate it, okay!?”
“Right.”
Saeki-san, flustered beyond belief, tried to correct herself.
Her gestures and expressions were adorably awkward.
“Since it’s the first day, twice is fine, but starting tomorrow, I was told we have to kiss at least ten times a day… so be ready, okay?”
“That sounds tough, but if it’s a punishment game, I guess it can’t be helped.”
“Yeah… then, once again, let’s get along for the next ten years, okay?”
The days with Saeki-san began from the next day.
We would meet up and walk to school together, always looking close.
She even started bringing me homemade lunches.
On weekends, we went on dates, and those days continued peacefully.
Of course, we never missed our daily ten kisses.
Every time we did something together, she would say she was only doing it because it was a punishment game.
But I couldn’t help finding her unbearably adorable.
“Hey, Ikegawa-kun, don’t you think that if we keep having such fun days like this, ten years will pass in the blink of an eye?”
It was a month after the punishment game began, in my room.
Lying on my bed, Saeki-san hugged me and whispered those words.
“Yeah, so let’s make as many memories as we can in that short time. I’ll love you for a hundred years’ worth in these ten years.”
“Then I’ll love you for a thousand years’ worth.”
“I can’t beat you, after all.”
“Of course. The punishment game decided that I would love you more than you love me.”
“Nn… chu…”
And with another kiss from Saeki-san, one of so many that I had lost count, the time passed quietly.
Ten years later.
Exactly ten years had passed since that punishment game confession.
Now twenty-six, I had become a teacher at our old high school, living busy days.
And today, after finishing work, I returned to my apartment.
“I’m home.”
As always, my voice made her come running to the entrance.
“Welcome home, Hayato. Dinner’s ready.”
“Yeah, I’m home, Chihiro. Thanks as always.”
When Chihiro went to college, she said as part of the punishment game that we would live together, and we had been living as a couple ever since.
Even with her busy schedule as a nursery teacher, she devotedly supported me every day.
“Well, since we’re dating, making dinner for you is normal. But before that…”
“I know.”
I gently pulled Chihiro into my arms and kissed her, something we had never once skipped in the past ten years.
“Nn… ahn… nn… haa…”
Even after ten years, Chihiro still couldn’t help making sounds whenever we kissed.
She was truly precious.
Afterward, we ate dinner together and relaxed on the sofa.
“Hey, Hayato… actually, I didn’t prepare an anniversary present this year…”
Every year, Chihiro had given me a “punishment game anniversary” present to celebrate the day we started dating.
So every year, I gave her one too.
“I figured as much somehow.”
Chihiro took my hand.
There were faint tears in her eyes.
“Because today the punishment game ends… and we won’t be lovers anymore… I can’t bring myself to celebrate that.”
Her hand trembled slightly.
“You know, right after I first became your girlfriend, I had to move away… So when I came back ten years later as a high schooler and saw you again, I was so happy… I wanted to make up for the ten years we lost…”
“That’s why you said the duration should be ten years.”
“Yeah… I actually wanted to date you normally, but I was scared you might leave me if there wasn’t the binding force of a punishment game… And I heard that first loves never come true…”
What a pure-hearted girl she was.
“So, when I said all those things about it being a punishment game, that was all a lie… It wasn’t forced on me, it was how I really felt…”
Honestly, I had realized that from the very first day.
“But now it’s all over… Hayato, what do you want to do from here?”
Chihiro looked up at me with tearful, glistening eyes.
“Yeah… let’s stop being lovers.”
“Ah… y-you’re right… I’ve been such a bother for ten years… hic… I’m sorry for forcing you into this…”
“Let’s stop being lovers, and from now on, how about becoming fiancés instead?”
“…Eh?”
With the hand not holding hers, I took something out of my pocket.
“This is…”
“An engagement ring. I prepared it as our ten-year anniversary present.”
“Huh? Really…?”
“Yeah. It’s not a punishment or anything. It’s how I really feel. Chihiro, let’s get married. The duration will be a lifetime, but that’s fine, right?”
“Yes…! Of course that’s fine…! Of course it is…!”
I slipped the ring onto Chihiro’s trembling white ring finger.
“These ten years, I’ve never once thought of you as a bother. If anything, I was so happy that ten years felt like they passed in an instant.”
“Me too… I’ve loved you so much that I’d give my whole life to you… and that will never change, no matter what happens…”
From now on, within the time we’re given, I want to love Chihiro even more deeply, and be loved by her in return.
And together, no, as a family, I want us to live happily ever after.
“Nn… ah…”
I pressed my lips against Chihiro’s once more.
I could feel that her feelings matched mine completely.
Author: ユキオ (Yukio)