Not all boys have girlfriends. It is a very sad fact that no one can change. But let us analyze that fact if it is really a sad truth. Do you know that boys with girlfriends always have to budget their allowance to the point that they sometimes have to skip lunches? Do you know that boys with girlfriends couldn’t concentrate fully on their studies? Do you know that boys with girlfriends have to spend their precious holidays with their so called ‘love of their life’? I am not yet prepared for those sad facts about having a girlfriend! But…it is just a world in Meryl’s mind so I can still keep up with this love crap. If this is the real world…I will never bother to do this.

Since I confessed to Meryl, she tried her best to avoid me. If our lines of visions meet, she will immediately avert her gaze as fast as she can. Right now, the final subject for the day ended so I am now putting my books back to my bag.

Did I pick the wrong choice? Then, what should I do?

Once again, my cross flashed a red light and formed these words:

[Say to Meryl that what you’ve said the other day is just a joke.]

[Confess once again.]

[Go home for today.]

This is really like a dating sim alright. Anyway let’s first analyze each choice.

If I picked the first choice, I will just be a jerk to her. Why is it even included in the choices? The second one will be a risky choice. By confessing again, she might become more distance to me. If that happens, it will be over before I know it. But if I succeeded, I can say some lines that might help me get a favorable answer to my confession. The third one means that I will just be waiting for her answer. If she rejected me after waiting for so long, it is surely my lost. But her answer may be a good one so waiting is not that bad either. Risk…let’s gamble.

“Second,” I whispered as an answer.

After the word disappeared, I went before Meryl’s seat. Surprised by my sudden action, she couldn’t move an inch.

“Let’s go to the rooftop. I have something to say,” I said to Meryl.

“S…sure,” she whispered nervously.

The main building of our school has a roof top that even students can access. Because it is fairly wide, some students go there to eat their lunch but once the dusk comes, no one can be found there. That is why after we arrived there, all we can hear is the sound of the zephyr. The beautiful scenery of the sunset and the bright orange sky are also there but because of the current situation, I didn’t manage to enjoy watching these two like usual.

We are now standing face to face with around one meter of distance between us. I have to say it.

“Meryl...what I’ve said to you last week…” I started.

Her shoulders twitched because of my sudden words.

“I will not say that you should forget all of it,” I followed with a serious expression. “It’s true that I want to go back to our former relationship compared to this but…I don’t want that to happen because there is something more important than that and that is...my feelings for you. My love for you will never disappear nor change. I don’t want us to be just friends. What I want is...for you to look at me the same way as I do.”

Prepared for the worst case scenario, I braced myself for any words that I will hear. Because of those words, I am sure that this is the turning point. Is it…over already?

After a while, she clenched both of her fists and said, “T-then...it is fine...if we started dating.”

Those words echoed throughout my head because I am really not prepared to hear those words. It is because I am only prepared for the worst case scenario as I mentioned earlier and that is the words of rejection.

When I came back to reality, I immediately replied, “W-what...did you say?”

“Should I really repeat it?” she asked shyly.

“O-of course! What if I heard it wrong?” I replied with a flustered face.

“Then, repeat what you’ve heard from me,” she followed with flushed cheeks.

“That...it is fine to start dating me.”

“Correct,” she whispered.

“For real?” I once again asked with slight widened eyes.

She then nodded to answer my redundant question. Now she has a smile, very different from her nervous and flustered face earlier. Because of that, I chuckled for a second and after a while, I laughed very loudly. It is the same as how overlords laugh in the movies so even I became surprised after finishing.

“Wha...what kind of laugh is that? Don’t tell me that...you’re planning on doing something indecent to me,” she asked after hiding her chest using both of her arms.

“I-indecent? You...you’re wrong. That is really my real laugh. I am not thinking of something lewd or anything!”

She then chuckled and said, “I know. That is how you normally laugh after all.”

“Huh? How did you know?” I asked, surprised from that sudden follow-up.

“This happened when I was going to school one morning,” Meryl said and started reminiscing about a certain event in the past.

One day, there is a little girl around the age of five crying in the middle of a road. I decided to approach her but suddenly, a boy around my age talked to her.

“What’s wrong?” he asked to the girl after kneeling on the road.

“My mom…*sob*...I got lost...*sob*...I can’t find her...” the crying girl explained.

“Don’t cry. I’m sure that we can find your mom in no time,” he said with a serious face.

“But…” the girl whispered, still with tears in her eyes.

“In times like this, you should just laugh so you can stop crying. Try it.”

“...*sob*...*sob*...”

“It looks like I have to show her how to laugh. How should I laugh again? I think...it goes like this....”

Suddenly, he laughed very loudly but that laugh is no ordinary one. It sounded exactly as the antagonist in the horror movies. It is indeed...disturbing.

“There. Just imitate me,” the boy followed after laughing.

Because of that, the girl suddenly laughed very happily.

“What kind of laugh is that...hahahah. It is too creepy...hahahah.”

“R-really? Jeez. So Sylph is really right. Well, how do you feel now?” he asked with a smile.

“I’m fine now,” the girl replied with a smile.

“Now, let’s go and find your--”

“Marie!” a middle-aged woman suddenly shouted.

The boy stood up and asked, “Is this kid your daughter?”

“Yes. Marie, where did you go? I told you that you shouldn’t leave my side no matter what, right?” the mother said with a very worried face.

“Sorry,” the little girl said with an apologetic look.

“Jeez. Don’t you ever do that again, do you understand?” the mother said to the girl.

“Yes, Mom.”

“Did you two go to the market?” the boy asked.

“That’s right. Because there are many people in the market, she disappeared before I know it. Thank you very much for staying here with my daughter.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Marie, thank him.”

“Thank you, Mister,” the girl said with a smile.

“What is your name, boy?” the mother asked.

“Orel,” he answered.

“Thank you once again, Orel. It’s time for us to get going so...”

“Then, take care. Marie, don’t ever do that again,” the boy reminded to the little girl.

“Yup. Bye, Orel,” Marie said as she wave farewell to the boy.

“That boy is no other than you...OT,” Meryl continued.

“So you saw all of that,” I whispered with my usual squinty eyes.

“On second thought...is that really you? Isn’t that really out of your character?” she said with a teasing smile.

“Jeez. I have a little sister so I am quite used on handling kids. Also, if my little sister is in that situation, I want others to do what I exactly did so...jeez, you get what I want to say, right?” I explained while trying my best to hide my embarrassment.

“That is also the reason why...I like you,” she said with a sudden charming smile.

“Meryl…” I whispered, taken aback with those sudden words.

She then looked at me with a puzzled expression because of my sudden silence.

“You will never regret this decision of yours,” I said with a serious expression.

She then lightly chuckled and replied, “I’m looking forward to it, then.”

So anyway, did you ever experience a sleepless night? That’s right. We’re entering a monologue again so bear with it. I mean, it’s quite short for one chapter if I ended it in that scene where Meryl finally agreed to be my girlfriend so let’s extend this for a bit longer. Anyway, these sleepless nights don’t choose their target. Sooner or later, it can even come to you before you know it. That is why different people invented different ways in order for them to catch some sleep and those are counting imaginary lambs, doing some exercises that are extremely tiring before going to sleep, eating a satisfying amount of dinner before sleeping and many more. Unfortunately, no matter what you do in those given examples, you can never catch a sleep if you are thinking about the unexplored world of “No girlfriend since birth” boys. Jeez. I didn’t know that having a girlfriend can bring me this kind of trouble.

“Ohayou, onii-chan, asa dayou. Hayaku okinaitou ji--[1]” my alarm clock said in an attempt to wake me up.

“Five more minutes. I’m still sleepy…” I said and stopped it by pushing the button.

After closing my eyes for five seconds, I lifted my upper body upright and whispered, “Time to get up.”

Well, as you can guess, it’s now another day. For now, let’s skip some daily scenes and go to the time where I am now at the school.

For some reason, I am way earlier than my usual time when I arrived at the gate of our school. That is why I decided to wait for Meryl to arrive. Fifteen minutes before the start of the class, Meryl finally arrived.

“OT?” she said with a surprised expression after seeing me.

“Good morning,” I greeted with my usual serious face.

“G-good morning,” I replied with a serious face and we started walking towards the school.

“O…T,” Meryl called after minutes of silence while we are still walking in the long pavement.

“Hm?” I reacted.

Before I even return her gaze, she suddenly averted her gaze to the road for an unknown reason. What is she trying to say?

“Say it. My curiosity will just kill me if you don’t say what you really want..." I followed as I look at her while we’re walking.

“Call…” she whispered.

“Huh?” I muttered, not hearing clearly what she just said.

She looked at me with blushed cheeks and said, “What should we call each other starting today?”

Jeez…it’s already time for this, huh.

“What do you want? I’m fine as long as it is not too embarrassing,” I followed with a neutral face.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are now on the phase of drum roll please….deciding and picking a pet name with your girlfriend!

“I am really not sure. It is my first time entering this kind of relationship so I don’t know what I should call you,” she replied very shyly.

Well, Sheena and I didn’t reach this far. I kissed her before all of this happened after all.

“How about you say all the common ones and we will decide what to use from all of that,” I proposed.

“F-fine,” she replied shyly.

“…”

“Darling?” Meryl firstly suggested.

“Isn’t that too common?” I retorted.

“Babe?” she continued.

“Babe…a naïve person. That is what it really means," I followed as a trivia.

“Really?” she asked, not knowing if that’s true.

Well, that is another use for that word.

“What’s next?” I asked.

“I noticed that sweet foods are commonly used. How about that?” she suggested.

“Like what?”

“Honey.”

“…”

“Don’t you like it?” she asked because of my sudden lack of reply.

“Well…” I muttered, not knowing how to explain why.

“Jeez. You rejected all of my suggestions. How about you decide?” she said with puffed cheeks.

“Well, those are too ordinary. And also, all of those are already been used.”

“Just so you know, you’re the one who suggested that,” she whispered with squinted eyes. “So you’re saying that you want something original?”

“Yeah. Something that no one can think of.”

“But what? I don’t have a clue,” she followed while in a thinking pose.

“Well, how about something that represents love?” I proposed.

“Things? Like chocolate or flowers?”

“Those symbolizes valentines but...well, it is sort of right but I’m thinking of something unique.”

“Like?”

“They say that love is eternal.”

“Does that mean that you are thinking of something that can last eternally?” Meryl questioned.

“Yes. But there is no object that can literally last eternally, you know. Even a plastic will perish after a thousand year.”

“Then, how about thinking of another saying about love.”

“Love is...blind?”

“Are you saying that I’m ugly?” she asked with sudden furrowed eyebrows.

“O.-of course not! I’m not relating it to ours,” I immediately replied with a nervous face.

“Really?” she questioned suspiciously.

“Of course,” I followed.

“Then, say that ‘Meryl, you’re beautiful. I love you’ and I will believe you,” she said with a sudden smile.

What the heck? Like I can say something that embarrassing!

“Why do I have to say that?” I asked, still surprised from the sudden task.

“Because it is the truth. Am I wrong?” she answered with a teasing smile.

Are girls really this shameless?

Suddenly, the cross emitted the usual red light and formed the choices.

[Say it.]

[Don’t.]

Jeez, are you enjoying harassing me too, cross of salvation? I just have to say it right? Fine then!

“Meryl, you’re...beautiful. I...love you,” I repeated with a very embarrassed expression.

Darn, I might die this instant out of embarrassment.

She then laughed out loud because of what I’ve said.

“You’ve really said it. I can’t believe it. It’s really out of your character!” she said while laughing.

“Tch. So you’re just making a mockery out of me,” I whispered in irritation.

“Sorry. It’s not like that. I just really want to hear it,” she explained with a genuine happy smile.

“Jeez,” I whispered to myself and scratched my head.

“Then, as a payback...Orel, I love you too,” she said and looked at me with a very charming smile.

Suddenly, my heart beat increased exponentially so I immediately averted my gaze. Wait…

I then looked back at her and asked, “Did you just call me Orel?”

“How about that? I want to call you Orel so...”

“…”

“I am always calling you OT since we met, right? That is why you don’t have to change what you call me. Meryl is fine.”

“I guess…I’m fine with that. Anyway, how about saying that I’m handsome to complete it?”

“I don’t want to,” she replied with a smile and stick out her tongue.

This girl...

“Well, hearing my real name is better than the nickname OT after all,” I said after making a smile unconsciously.

“Let’s go or we will be late, Orel,” she said and jogged towards the stairway of the main building.

“Jeez. Wait for me,” I replied and followed her lead.