Chapter 11

After finishing my meal, I stood up and headed to the kitchen to wash the dishes.

I can’t keep relying on her more than this.

Come to think of it, it’s been a while since I last washed dishes—probably not since elementary school when I did it for allowance money.

“…Huh? Wait a second…”

When I glanced over at Rinka, I saw her smirking while holding a doujinshi in her hands.

This is bad—that’s the doujinshi Keita left behind. I thought I had shoved them all deep into the closet, but it looks like I left one lying around somewhere.

“Whoa… This is that game character… No way…”

Saying that, Rinka started flipping through the doujinshi. A wave of embarrassment surged through me.

“Uh, sorry, that’s a doujinshi I forgot to put away… I’d really appreciate it if you handed it over…”

I set down the dish I was washing and reached out to take the doujinshi from her hands, but Rinka dodged me with a playful laugh.

“Huh?”

“Fufufu. If you want it back, you’ll have to catch me first~”

Speaking in the same teasing tone as Lily, she skillfully avoided my grasp again and again.

As expected of the athletic princess—her evasive maneuvers were top-tier. But this was no time to admire her skills. I needed to get that doujinshi back… or my dignity wouldn’t survive.

“Wait, aren’t girls supposed to turn bright red and get embarrassed when they see something like that?”

“You’re asking the wrong person if you’re looking for a ‘normal’ girl~”

As we exchanged words, an impromptu game of tag broke out in the room.

No good, she’s showing no intention of giving it back…

How the hell is she reading while dodging my hands at the same time…?

“W-wow…!! So this is Kazuya-kun’s taste, huh? How bold! How bold~!”

“Seriously, this is embarrassing! Just give it back!”

Just as I thought I had finally reached Rinka’s shoulder, I lost my balance and slipped on the floor.

“Whoa!”

“Huh…?”

I ended up falling straight on top of Rinka, pinning her beneath me.

Silence filled the room. My heart pounded so loudly it echoed in my ears.

Rinka, her face as red as an apple, stared straight into my eyes.

This is bad. I totally ended up on top of her… Even if it was an accident, what the hell am I doing…?

“S-sorry!”

Panicking, I quickly got up and bowed my head repeatedly.

“U-uh… it’s fine. Don’t worry about it, okay? Are you hurt, Kazuya-kun?”

“Somehow…”

“Here! I finished reading it, so I’ll give it back!”

As if nothing had happened, Rinka cheerfully handed me the doujinshi before turning back to rummage through the bookshelf again.

“T-thanks…”

At least things didn’t get awkward. I’d better stash this deep in the cupboard…

“Hey, hey, is this Sketch?”

After I finished washing the dishes, Rinka pointed at the gaming console sitting in front of the TV.

“Yeah. Wanna play something?”

“Then let’s play Super Smash Bros! I’m really good at this game.”

With a confident grin, Rinka handed me a controller.

Super Smash Bros is a game where you launch your opponent off the stage. Each player has three lives, and whoever loses all of them first loses the match. It’s a game of pure skill, with no luck involved.

If she’s this confident, she must have played a lot.

“Get ready.”

“Oh, you’re on. I won’t hold back either.”

When it comes to competitive games, we have an unspoken rule—no holding back, no mercy.

Since she was taking this seriously, I decided to go all out too. But then…

“Eh? Kazuya-kun, you’re… kinda strong…?”

“H-huh?”

I can’t believe I won without losing a single life… No, no, that must have been a fluke.

“One more time! That was just practice! I’ll get serious now!”

“O-oh… sure…”

We kept playing several more matches, but I kept winning every single time. Eventually, Rinka clutched the controller to her chest and pouted.

“This is no fun! No fun at all! I don’t wanna play this game anymore!”

“S-sorry… Um, how about we play Makio instead?”

“…Okay…”

Maybe I was a bit too ruthless…

Feeling guilty, I swapped the game out for Hyper Makio, an action game.

Hyper Makio is a co-op game where two players work together, defeating enemies, solving puzzles, and overcoming obstacles to progress.

The first stage went surprisingly smoothly. I took the lead, fighting enemies, while Rinka stayed back, collecting items and deactivating traps. Our teamwork was better than I expected.

However, as we advanced, the difficulty spiked. The screen filled with enemy projectiles, and the puzzles grew more complex. With the tension rising, we naturally started coordinating more closely.

“There’s a trap here. Rinka, can you press that button for me from the back?”

“Got it! Leave it to me! Oh, Kazuya-kun, be careful—those enemies get back up even after you stomp them!”

“Whoa! You’re right!”

The moment Rinka pressed the switch, I barely managed to clear the trap, making it to the next area by the skin of my teeth.

“Phew… Finally, the boss…”

“Kazuya-kun, don’t let your guard down. I remember this boss being pretty tough.”

Just as Rinka said, the boss fight was brutal. It had unexpected one-hit kill attacks, and landing hits on it was harder than I expected.

But with Rinka throwing items to distract it and me taking advantage of every opening to land combos, we kept pushing forward. After nearly getting wiped out several times, I finally landed the finishing blow…

“W-we did it…!”

“Phew… That was close, but we managed to win!”

As the words [Stage Clear] appeared on the screen, we both let out deep sighs of relief. Our eyes met, and we couldn’t help but smile.

“Rinka, you were amazing. Honestly, you really helped me out.”

“Fufu, right? I carried you, so you better be grateful~”

Her proud expression seemed softer than usual, revealing a different side of her from the dignified noble lady she usually was.

“Hey, let’s just go ahead and clear the whole game!”

“Good idea. Let’s not stop at clearing it—let’s go for the secret stages too.”

With our excitement at its peak, we kept playing late into the night.