"﻿Question." "﻿Why am I sprawled out here on the floor right now?" "﻿I'm going to freaking destroy him!" "﻿It all happened half an hour ago." "sobbing so bitterly..." "﻿he just won't be parted from my side." "don't mind the noise." "I'm looking ﻿after my neighbor's Pomeranian." "hold on a second!" "He's just getting ﻿started and'already he's making up weird crap!" "Niichan's always had to look after me." "bursting into tears." "﻿I did no such thing!" "of course I would take care of him!" "﻿Takahiro." "You have to consider Misaki's feelings." "﻿You know how that boy is." "He's constantly putting on a tough face." "he just wants you to be happy." "he told me I was the only one he could talk to about this." "﻿Quit slipping in little self-plugs!" "holding onto me... ﻿When exactly did I hold onto you?" "!" "let me stay here!" "tears trickling down his cheeks." "﻿Don't just make shit up!" "﻿Misaki did that...?" "you idiot Not even Niichan is going to fall for this charade." "I... ﻿See?" "The game is totally up oh I don't know what to say!" "I'm so moved!" "﻿I had no idea Misaki cared so much about me!" "let him stay here." "﻿But he won't be a bother to you?" "﻿Not at all." "Misaki has proven to be a significant ﻿source of material for my inner muse." "really?" "﻿Then I guess I have to go with Misaki's feelings on this one." "I'll keep on taking extra good care of him." "﻿Usagi" "﻿Takahiro!" "I'll be on my way." "﻿Okay." "Drop by again once you've settled in." "huh?" "﻿What part of that went well?" "!" "﻿Shh!" "He's still close by." "﻿You just spun the most blatantly self-serving tale I've ever heard!" "I didn't lie." "﻿That's not the problemhere!" "that's all that matters." "﻿Congrats." "﻿Huh?" "﻿I just dropped by the professor's office ﻿and they were talking about it on TV... ﻿Usami-san winning the Kikukawa Prize." "He's really something." "﻿Kikukawa Prize?" "﻿Didn't you know he'd been nominated?" "oh... ﻿He doesn't talk to you about that kind of thing?" "﻿Um... ﻿Bet the media's having a field day right about now." "﻿Is it that big of a deal?" "I read the novel he won the prize for." "I guess." "﻿Was it interesting?" "﻿Yeah." "﻿But I still hate his books." "﻿So it was boring." "it was quite good." "I didn't like this one at all either." "why do you bother to read them...?" "﻿They're going to cover his press conference ﻿on the news tonight." "I'm sure." "doesn't he?" "﻿I'm really looking forward to watching it!" "﻿What is it about Usagi-san that Senpai's so keen on seeing...?" "this is seriously amazing!" "but ﻿even I've heard of the Kikukawa Prize." "it would have to be a recent one." "﻿The books he's published recently are..." "Misaki-kun!" "Welcome back." "squirt" "﻿S-Squirt?" "!" "I heard Usagi-san won a prize... ﻿He sure did!" "﻿Here!" "I expected it all along." "thank God." "It's a normal book." "that's enough." "unplug the phone cord." "that's all right I'll answer it thank you so much for your help!" "﻿Why do publishers I've never even worked ﻿for feel the urge to call me?" "﻿Just think of it as a perk of being a successful author." "it's really going to get busy from here!" "got it?" "﻿Don't try to squirm your way out of this like last time." "Every ﻿last minute of your schedule will be managed by us." "﻿Could you not decide my life for me?" "of the Naomori ﻿Award?" "I've still got a grudge to settle." "as long as you can sell." "selling is how I put bread on the table!" "Misaki-kun?" "I haven't quite yet.." "you haven't read it yet?" "that's not it" "﻿I mean..." "I... but I start getting these strange heart palpitations then I feel dizzy ﻿and my arms and legs fall asleep... have you." "anyway." "﻿You're just being humble!" "that's right" "﻿Don't make any plans for the day after the award ceremony." "﻿Our company will be hosting a party for you." "﻿Don't bother." "﻿It's too late!" "All the arrangements have already been made!" "﻿I've learned a thing or two after all these years of working with you." "﻿I'd love nothing more than to put an end to our little relationship." "﻿Oh." "Speaking of ends to relationships... invited him to the party too." "﻿Haruhiko?" "﻿You don't know him?" "He's Akihiko's older brother." "﻿Usagi-san's older brother...?" "﻿I've never even heard his name before." "﻿What part of "mind your own business" do you not understand?" "you're such a... and traffic's always bad around now." "do excuse all the hustle and bustle." "﻿We'll be borrowing Sensei for a bit." "sure." "Take care!" "﻿Oh man." "I haven't even congratulated Usagi-san." "﻿The right moment to say it just kind of slipped by..." "﻿I think I might be a huge jerk." "but someone else had ﻿to tell me that he'd received an award" "I don't even know what the book's about" "﻿If I'm any kind of proper boyfriend ﻿I should at least know that much" "﻿Boyfriend" "I can ﻿still pull something together for him." "I couldn't afford anything expensive... something ﻿that would make him happy... but." "I have ﻿a feeling there's a 99% probability he'd say... ﻿You!" "right...?" "I am not doing this!" "I have to calm down!" "What the hell am I thinking?" "﻿I'll make dinner!" "That's a good start!" "what should we have to eat.." "﻿What should I do... ﻿Usagi-san always spoils me." "I end up getting mad at him." "﻿And he was the one who convinced Niichan a few days ago and let him do all the giving." "﻿I have to take the initiative myself!" "first let's do a little simulation." "﻿"Congratulations on winning the award!" "﻿"I'm sure you'll keep writing excellent novels!" "so.." "a bath?" "﻿"Dinner?" "﻿"Or... me?" "coming." "﻿Hello?" "﻿Flower delivery!" "﻿It's from Usagi-san's brother!" "﻿I'm home." "﻿Huh?" "You sure got back quickly." "﻿Yeah." "you stupid bastard!" "You did the ﻿interview and went straight home?" "!" "﻿You sure it's okay?" "﻿Yeah." "﻿Just standing in that huge crowd of people makes me depressed." "﻿Some things never change." "some flowers just got delivered." "﻿They're from your brother." "﻿Somehow I have trouble imagining you with siblings." "﻿What's he like?" "Anything like you?" "﻿Not really." "﻿Don't you think you better call him to thank him tonight?" "﻿You're only going to get flooded with more stuff starting tomorrow... ﻿No." "﻿Eh?" "But.." "﻿There's no need." "you really don't talk much about yourself or your past" "I never know what he's talking about.." "but.." "of course you wouldn't know." "﻿Isaka-san's known me since we were kids." "but you could at least tell me a little" "﻿It would just make you uncomfortable if I did." "it'd be all right I'm not a little kid or anything." "no big deal." "﻿So" "﻿Be quiet already." "﻿It's none of your business." "﻿Huh?" "B-But that's not fair!" "but I don't get to know anything about you?" "!" "﻿Even about this award... you could've ﻿at least told me you were nominated!" "the first I ﻿ever heard about it was from Isaka-san!" "doesn't he?" "!" "﻿That's messed up!" "It's weird!" "﻿Why am I the only one who doesn't know?" "!" "fine." "﻿But why don't you tell me?" "!" "I think we ﻿should know a lot about each other!" "﻿Or... something... ﻿Sorry." "What am I even talking about?" "I know you're tired." "﻿Misaki... yeah!" "﻿Wait Misaki!" "huh." "﻿Say it again." "﻿Tell me why you want to know about me so much." "﻿How should I know?" "﻿Blame it on the folly of youth." "﻿I'll tell you." "and Isaka-san is his childhood friend." "my family and I don't get along very well." "﻿And so... ﻿I'm sorry!" "I didn't mean to force you to talk about it" "﻿It's okay." "You're someone I can talk about it to." "you don't have to." "and I... what do you want?" "﻿Eh?" "﻿To celebrate your award." "I can't afford anything fancy." "so it'd be great if you could wait 'til then." "﻿Or maybe you could pay for it now ﻿and then I pay you in installments... ﻿But would that really be a "celebration"...?" "would you?" "﻿I don't want you to make a fuss over this." "they ﻿ought to be celebrated properly!" "I mean it!" "So... ﻿Congratulations on winning!" "﻿W-What's so funny?" "﻿You should really organize what you want ﻿to say in your head before you talk. ﻿Thank you." "but.." "﻿this time has made me the happiest" "﻿My tongue." "﻿My Body... ﻿My breath... to celebrate." "﻿What is it?" "﻿You." "﻿I knew it!" "wait a second!" "﻿No." "this is no good!" "I can't just always ﻿let him sweep me away like this!" "﻿I have to be the one to do something!" "I'll do it" "﻿Are you serious?" "idiot!" "﻿Your hands are trembling." "﻿Shut up!" "don't stop." "Keep going." "﻿Damn it!" "﻿I just have to do like Usagi-san always does to me." "next I... next I... ﻿What's the matter with you today?" "﻿I thought the day would never come ﻿when you pushed me down yourself." "right!" "You wrote it in your book!" "﻿Eh?" "﻿I read one of your novels." "﻿You said before that it was a combination ﻿of your hobby and your fantasies..." "I figured that meant ﻿you wanted me to do tho-those kinds of things." "So I... no problem!" "you really... need to stop inadvertently seducing me." "long way to go." "from the basics on up." "that's okay." "Forget about it." "﻿I take back everything I said!" "﻿I won't let you." "you bastard!" "﻿Let go of me! all night long..." "I wasn't able to do anything myself... ﻿I hope Usagi-san talks to me about his family and all that someday." "﻿But you know it really is kind of unfair." "Usagi-san ﻿knows almost everything about me..." "﻿Gotta go make food!" "﻿Misaki." "I'll let you in on a secret ﻿but I've actually never felt the desire to act them out in reality." "﻿Eh?" "﻿But I have absolutely no reason to reproach you for using ﻿these books as references to model your own actions." "﻿Huh?" "shall we?" "Misaki." "﻿I'm giving you all of those books." "Make ﻿sure you've studied them by next time." "﻿Have I dug my own grave?" "I think lam in a lot of trouble!" "﻿Not that there's any rescue coming for me" "﻿Thus Takahashi Misaki." "It was the autumn of his 19th year." "I'm in trouble!" "﻿Usagi-san has started forcing me to do "homework"." "I'd rather have nothing to do with it" "I have a pretty ﻿good idea what would happen to me... ﻿And I really don't want that!" "﻿"...the frustration of feeling too much pleasure... psht So this is what Usagi-san wants me to do?" "﻿This is all?" "This is it?" "of course I... ﻿..." "WOULD NEVER FUCKING DO THIS!" "﻿My housemate hasn't spoken a word to me for a week." "﻿What could be the problem?" "I know it's 100% your fault."