Childhood Friend Heroine V1 Chapter 8
Chapter 8: Holiday Edition
The day after the tumultuous school camping trip had come to a close.
Since the trip had taken up the entire weekend, today was a substitute holiday.
“Zzz…”
Even though it was past nine in the morning, Saito was still lost in dreamland. It was understandable, really. Yesterday had been a mental marathon, from the chaos of Akashi’s incident to the bus getting stuck in a traffic jam on the way home. By the time he’d finally walked through his front door, it was already past nine at night.
From there, he had eaten dinner, taken a bath, brushed his teeth, and then tried to sneak his dirty jersey into the washing machine, only to be caught and lectured by his mother. By the time all was said and done, he hadn’t gotten to sleep until after one o’clock—a full two hours past his usual bedtime. It was no wonder his internal clock was completely out of whack.
Click.
The sound of his bedroom door opening pulled Saito’s consciousness back to the surface.
Who is it?
His eyelids still heavy with sleep, he wondered who the intruder could be. Normally, no one ever entered his room in the morning. Why? Because Saito was an early riser and was usually long gone from his room by this hour. No one would bother visiting an empty room. Besides, his parents had a laissez-faire attitude and generally left him to his own devices on non-school days, even if he overslept. They certainly wouldn’t come to wake him.
Maybe Dad came to borrow some manga… No, wait. Isn’t he at work today?
His brain, still sluggish from sleep, recalled that his father had recently taken to borrowing manga from his room. But on second thought, today was a weekday. His father was at work and wasn’t home.
Then who is it?
With that question hanging in the air, Saito finally peeled his eyes open.
He was met with a pair of eyes like beautiful sapphires.
Faced with those clear blue eyes that had no place in the Minazuki household, Saito blinked several times in rapid succession.
Finding his reaction amusing, the girl with the sapphire eyes let a smile grace her lips.
“Good morning, Saito.”
“Morning,” he replied, then added, “Why are you here, Lily?”
After the morning pleasantries, he cut straight to the point, asking why his childhood friend was in his house. As far as he could remember, he hadn’t received any message from her last night about hanging out, so the question was only natural.
She put on a mischievous expression and declared, “Just felt like it. I came over on a whim.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
This had never happened before, and Saito groaned, unsatisfied with her answer. Lily just giggled, clearly amused. Looking at her now, it was obvious she had acted on impulse just to surprise him. Normally, having someone show up unannounced would be annoying, but his mother, Yahana, had a particular soft spot for Lily. Even if Lily appeared out of the blue, she would drop whatever she was doing to welcome her with open arms.
What a free spirit.
While inwardly exasperated at his childhood friend’s antics, Saito crawled out of his futon. He stretched his stiff body with a great yawn, and his stomach let out a loud growl.
“Sorry you came all this way, but can I eat first? I’m starving.”
“Sure,” she said. “I’m the one who barged in. Just do your usual thing.”
“Thanks.”
It felt wrong to ignore his childhood friend who had made the effort to come over, just so he could eat. A tiny pang of guilt pricked at him, so he had asked for permission, even though he knew she would allow it. As expected, Lily gave her assent, and Saito left his room to find the breakfast presumably waiting for him in the living room.
“Time to eat~”
“Yes, please enjoy.”
When he entered the living room, his mother, who must have let Lily in, was nowhere to be seen. She had probably gone out shopping. Lily answered in place of Yahana, who would normally be the one to respond.
“You didn’t make this.”
“Do you really think so?”
“Huh, wait—did you make one of these? The octopus wieners, the miso soup, or the green onion tamagoyaki?”
Just as he was about to dig in, Lily’s meaningful comment made him pause his chopsticks. Looking down, he saw that the spread was indeed quite elaborate today. He examined the dishes carefully, wondering if Lily had actually prepared one of them.
“Nope, just kidding~! There’s no way I could’ve made anything. The trains weren’t even running when Yahana-san was making breakfast.”
“Damn it! You totally got me!”
But it was all a lie. Not a single dish had been made by Lily. Having been thoroughly played, Saito bit his lower lip in frustration. As he plotted his revenge, the home gaming console in the living room caught his eye.
This is it!
An idea sparked in his mind—a brilliant plan to get back at his childhood friend, who was sitting there with a smug grin.
“Hmph hyah myah.”
Once the idea took root, he acted immediately. After wolfing down his breakfast, Saito placed his dishes in the sink and declared, “Alright, Lily. Let’s play Mari○!”
“Okay.”
Unaware of his scheme, Lily carelessly agreed.
Fool. You fell for it.
Saito smirked internally as he turned on the TV and booted up the game. He handed her a controller, and the two of them sat side-by-side on the sofa, facing the screen.
‘Mario~ Ka~rt!’
As he selected the software, a mustachioed man gave an enthusiastic title call.
“150cc to start?”
“Sure.”
“Punishment game as usual—loser has to do whatever the winner says.”
“…Okay.”
While adjusting the settings, Saito proposed their usual punishment game. Lily, who had been wary of his expression, looked taken aback. After all, their record in this game was 58 wins to 59 wins—practically even. Thanks to years of playing, there was no discernible difference in their skill or knowledge, so neither could guarantee a victory. Yet here he was, suggesting a punishment game. Was he really that foolish?
That’s what you’re thinking, right?
However, this was exactly the reaction Saito had anticipated. The real trap lay in the Grand Prix selection that followed.
“Alright, today we’re going with the Ultra Mash Grand Prix. Race start.”
“Ultra Mash…? I don’t know this stage! This wasn’t here before—what’s going on!?”
When Saito selected the Grand Prix and started the race, the screen switched to an unfamiliar course, and Lily’s face contorted in shock. Her earlier composure was gone, replaced by genuine panic. Seeing her react so perfectly, Saito couldn’t help but smile.
“Kuhaha, they added new downloadable content for the first time in five years just a week ago. Oh, and by the way, I’ve already run it several times, so I’m perfectly prepared.”
“That’s cheating!”
And then came the reveal. When he told her it was a brand-new stage that he had already practiced, she complained like a child. Of course, she would. What she had assumed was a fair match was, in fact, completely skewed in his favor. However, this was something she could have easily discovered with a quick online search. It was her own fault for neglecting her information gathering and accepting the match so carelessly.
“Come on, you’d better look at the screen, or you’ll mess up your start dash.”
“Grr! Mind your own business~! I’ll show you I can win even on a course I’ve never seen before.”
“Hah, give it a try. I don’t think you can, though.”
He teased his glaring childhood friend, and Lily’s agitation visibly mounted. The composure she’d worn while teasing him earlier had vanished completely; she was dead serious now. It seemed he had successfully gotten under her skin. Saito was satisfied with that alone, but not wanting to be forced to eat snacks through his nose, he decided to play seriously.
“Why!? The first lap went right, but the second lap goes left—that makes no sense!”
“That’s just how the course is. Give up.”
“Why are there cars driving there!? That’s a traffic violation!”
“Don’t expect laws in a game.”
“If I get first place in the final race, that’s a billion points and I win, right!?”
“No way.”
“What~!? Then I’ve definitely lost!”
“Too bad.”
When all was said and done, it was Saito’s overwhelming victory. The new course was more complex than Lily had imagined, and she was completely overwhelmed. By the third race, she was spouting elementary school-level complaints, but with a punishment on the line, Saito wasn’t about to go easy on her. He raced normally and secured his win.
“Hmm? What should I make you do for the punishment game?”
And so it was time for the punishment, but Saito found himself scratching his head.
“…You suggested it yourself and didn’t think of anything?”
“Well, I had been thinking about it,” he admitted. “But I won so easily that it’d be pretty cruel to make you do something harsh.”
The stare from the girl beside him was piercing, but it was her own fault for giving him that look. Since she had threatened to make him eat snacks through his nose—a truly demonic suggestion—Saito had prepared a countermeasure of his own. But the one-sided match had drained his enthusiasm.
“I see… So what were you thinking of?”
Perhaps sensing she wouldn’t suffer too badly, Lily asked out of curiosity what he had been planning.
“I was thinking of having you eat one Bertie Bott’s bean each of vomit and rotten egg flavor, since I have some. Or maybe eat a spoonful of death sauce.”
“That’s harsh!? That’s way too harsh for losing one Grand Prix!”
“Right?”
When he told her his original plan, she recoiled, saying it was too much. Either choice would have been hell, and rightly so. If he went with something milder, it would be something boring like a shoulder massage or buying juice. As he mulled over his options, he suddenly remembered something he had found in the washroom.
“Oh, how about wearing a maid outfit? I just happened to find one in the washing machine yesterday.”
Late last night, when he had gone to wash his jersey, he had discovered a maid outfit inside the washing machine. He had never seen such a thing before and had eyed it suspiciously, but he tried to pretend he hadn’t seen it and put his jersey in anyway. That was when Yahana had caught and scolded him. She had been quite displeased that her favorite clothes had been handled so roughly, and the lecture had dragged on for quite a while.
“…Yahana-san does that kind of thing?”
“Apparently, she and Lucy-san have gotten into cosplay photography recently.”
“What is Mom doing~!?”
Lily’s mother, Lucy, was a professional photographer who enjoyed nothing more than dressing people up and taking their pictures. When Saito explained that his mother had been influenced by Lucy, Lily held her head in her hands. He could understand the feeling. Both Yahana and Lucy were beautiful, but they were also approaching forty. The thought of his middle-aged mother doing maid cosplay was… something else. Saito himself had been mildly disturbed when he’d heard about it.
“The washing machine probably hasn’t been run yet, so I’ll go get it. Mom’s just a bit shorter than you, so it should fit.”
“You’re trying to get me to wear it so naturally, but I’m not wearing it! The impact of that story was so crazy I forgot to say it, but I’m not wearing it!”
That said, Lily was still a teenager. It wouldn’t be cringeworthy for her to wear it, so the damage would be minimal. With that in mind, Saito started to go get the maid outfit, but Lily hurriedly blocked his path.
“Then instead, eat two spoonfuls of death sauce or eat all of the booger, rotten egg, and vomit flavors.”
“…I will humbly wear the maid outfit.”
Thinking up another punishment would be too much trouble. When presented with the choice between the super spicy and nasty flavors or the maid outfit, Lily reluctantly chose the latter.
“Hey, aren’t you done yet?”
About ten minutes after Lily had retreated to the washroom to change, there was still no sign of her. Saito called out to his childhood friend, asking if she was ready.
“Just a little longer. Really, just a tiny bit more.”
Through the door, she insisted she wasn’t done, but Saito knew it had been silent for at least three minutes.
“Even so, it’s been quite a while, hasn’t it? You’re probably done changing anyway. Come on, suck it up already. I’m coming in.”
“Wait a sec—”
Sensing she might never come out at this rate, Saito forcefully opened the door.
“What, it looks totally fine on you. It’s the kind that doesn’t expose much skin, which you like. You look really elegant, it’s super good. Why were you so embarrassed when it looks this good on you?”
“~~!?”
In the washroom stood Lily, dressed in a classical maid outfit that suited her so well there was no reason to be embarrassed. When Saito bluntly shared his thoughts, Lily covered her face with both hands in embarrassment and crouched down in the corner.
“…I knew this would happen, so I wanted a little more mental preparation.”
“Hey hey, can I take a picture?”
“Absolutely not!”
Thinking it would make for good teasing material later, Saito asked if he could take a photo, but he was flatly refused.
“Aww, then do something maid-like. Make tea or clean the windows or write something with ketchup.”
“No! The punishment game was just wearing the maid outfit. I wasn’t told to become Saito’s maid, so I won’t go that far!”
He then tried asking her to perform some maid-like duties, but she retorted that the punishment was only to wear the outfit, leaving Saito to groan in disappointment.
“Stingy~. Then at least don’t crouch there. Face this way. I’ve barely gotten a proper look at you in the maid outfit.”
“That much is fine. Just wait a little more.”
“Okay~”
If photos and maid-like actions were off the table, there really wasn’t much left to do. All Saito was allowed to do was look. However, in her current position, he couldn’t even do that properly. When he protested that he should at least be allowed that much, Lily reluctantly nodded.
A minute later, her red-dyed ears had returned to their original beautiful white as she turned to face him.
She looks like she’d fit right into an isekai fantasy.
Looking at Lily in the maid outfit again, that was the thought that crossed Saito’s mind. With her extraordinary looks, his childhood friend was as picturesque as a main heroine from a manga or anime. It was a true shame he couldn’t capture this moment in a photo.
“Stare…”
“Hey, isn’t that enough already? I’m so embarrassed I could die.”
“Wait just a bit more. I’m burning it into my memory so I’ll never forget.”
“Ugh, why did I accept that match back then? I hate my past self.”
As he gazed at her from various angles, committing the precious sight to memory in place of a photograph, Lily couldn’t take it anymore and covered her face with both hands.
Maybe now’s my chance?
The moment he saw his childhood friend’s vision was blocked, Saito’s mischievous side surfaced. If she couldn’t see, he should be able to snap a photo without getting caught. Following that inner voice, he pulled out his smartphone, and through the screen, his eyes met Lily’s.
“Ah, crap.”
“Sai~to. I can see you! You just told your friend yesterday that voyeurism is wrong, so what are you doing, Saito! Get out!”
He’d been caught, but it was too late. With her face twisted in fury, Lily instantly threw him out of the washroom.
“Guh!? Even after all this time, that was perfectly executed. Nice job.”
“What are you doing, Saito?”
As he lay collapsed in the hallway, casually praising his childhood friend’s technique, his mother, who had just returned from shopping, looked down at him with cold eyes. It was the kind of look one would give a criminal.
“Ah, it’s not what you think, Mom! I wasn’t peeping at Lily naked. She was changing into the maid outfit you were wearing as a punishment for a game. I didn’t see her naked or in her underwear!”
Given the circumstances, anyone would assume he had been peeping. Realizing why his mother was giving him such a cold stare, Saito desperately tried to explain. When he clarified that his childhood friend was wearing a maid outfit on the other side of that door, Yahana’s expression changed completely.
“What! Lily-chan wore my maid outfit!? I really want to see that. Saito, didn’t you take at least one photo?”
The cold look vanished, replaced by sparkling eyes full of interest. She pressed him about photos without a second thought for her collapsed son.
“I wanted to, but the moment I pulled out my phone, I got locked out.”
“Tch. Useless son,” she muttered with a serious click of her tongue when he explained he hadn’t managed to take any photos. Approaching the door, Yahana cooed sweetly, “Hey~ Lily-chan. I absolutely won’t take photos, so could you show me your maid outfit too? Please~?”
“I absolutely will not show you!”
“Aww, show me~ I want to see Lily-chan’s cute appearance. I’ll give you Saito’s allowance for this month, how about it?”
“Even if you give me money, I don’t want to!”
But Lily, unable to endure any more shame, naturally refused. Even the offer of money couldn’t sway her.
“No way~!”
“Don’t try to use your son’s allowance without permission, you old hag.”
Yahana despaired at not being able to see Lily in the maid outfit. When Saito called her out with an exasperated expression, sharp eyes flew from his ex-yankee mother.
“What! Saito, what did you just say!?”
“I said don’t try to use other people’s money without permission!”
“I’m angry about what came after that. Calling a lady still in her thirties an old hag!? It seems your education is still lacking. Sit in seiza.”
“Hell no. A mother who tries to use other people’s money deserves to be called an old hag!”
Usually, he would cower, as he was often the one in the wrong, but this time, she was clearly at fault. Saito stood his ground and bit back hard. Then, the two began to wrestle.
“Mom’s wrong!”
“Saito’s wrong!”
“Stupid!”
“Idiot!”
“Weakling!”
“Trash!”
Like parent, like child, they hurled kindergarten-level insults at each other with machine-gun speed. When Lily finally finished changing and quietly peeked out the door—
“Hah… hah…”
“Pant… pant…”
—she found them both collapsed on the spot, exhausted from their verbal battle. Lily looked at the two of them with a wry smile, thinking they really were alike.
◇
“Sigh, I wanted to see Lily-chan in the maid outfit too~”
“No matter how many times you ask, I absolutely will not wear it.”
While helping with lunch preparations, Yahana, who was cutting lettuce beside her, muttered with genuine regret about wanting to see the maid outfit. But from Lily’s perspective, she never wanted to go through such embarrassment again. She declared firmly that she would never wear it.
“But you showed Saito~?”
“That was a punishment game.”
Yahana gave her a look full of dissatisfaction, as if to say that if she had shown her son, she should show his parent too, but Lily didn’t budge. She emphasized that it was something she had been forced to do.
“I see~ Too bad. It’s really unfair that only Saito got to see it. Oh, hey hey, how about playing a game with me later? With a punishment game. If I win, you wear the maid outfit.”
“There’s no merit for me in accepting that.”
“If Lily-chan wins, I’ll do whatever you say. Please!?”
“…Anything?”
But Yahana, unable to give up on the maid outfit, suggested a game with punishment stakes, just like Saito had. At first, Lily thought it was unfair since only she would be at risk, but when Yahana said she would do anything, the tide turned. After thinking deeply, Lily said it would be fine if Yahana would do a certain something for her if she lost.
“Huh, that’s all? Sure, let’s do it right away.”
“Please turn off the stove first, it’s dangerous.”
Yahana looked surprised that such a simple request would be enough, but readily agreed. Unable to suppress her desire to see the maid outfit, she dragged Lily toward the TV. Lily looked at her with exasperation, and after turning off the stove, thought to herself that this family really was all alike.
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