Animania: Everyone Loves Me

"Sleeping together… what does that mean?"

As if trying to confirm something, the blue-haired girl named Sakiko once again repeated this question, the ending tone carrying a faint tremble that was hard to notice.

"Actually… you already know the reason," Kaito only now realized that her words might have some ambiguity. After thinking for a moment, she said, "The psychological trauma left behind by Mutsumi hasn't healed yet, and only by my side can she feel a sense of security. There were also a few thunderstorms with loud thunder recently, so… don't worry, my bed is pretty big, big enough for two people to rest."

'Is this a matter of how big the bed is?', Sakiko's head buzzed loudly.

Day after day of vigilance, yet the thief inside the house is hardest to guard against.

The worst outcome still happened. The childhood friend she had always trusted unconditionally, her close confidante, her destined other half. Yet in a place she couldn't see, she was sleeping with her man every night.

"Mutsumi," Sakiko took a deep breath and looked toward the green-haired girl beside her who remained silent, her amber eyes revealing little emotion, "President, is what she said true?"

Wakaba Mutsumi: "..."

After hesitating for a while, she still lightly nodded, "Mm."

It happened too suddenly.

Wakaba Mutsumi hadn't been ready to come clean to Sakiko. Even though she had tried to think it through, in such a hurry, she didn't have time to fabricate a perfect excuse.

["What are you afraid of!"], In the consciousness space, Mortis appeared completely unfazed, even confidently patting her chest, ["With me on your side, Mutsumi… a mere Sakiko, if she dares to invade, I will surely send her back defeated."]

Wakaba Mutsumi lowered her eyes, not wanting to deal with this idiot.

She did indeed like Onii-chan, a like that made her want to walk into the chapel of marriage with him.

But she also equally cherished the friendship with Sakiko and didn't want to lose it just like that.

Things had come to this point, and trying to bluff her way through it seemed nearly impossible.

Sakiko had already raised her guard against her and would no longer believe her words easily.

However… Wakaba Mutsumi's brain spun rapidly and suddenly thought of a method.

A certain philosopher once said, if you want to unite two opposing sides, the best way is to introduce a common external enemy.

The light-green-haired girl raised her head and looked directly into the golden pupils of her childhood friend, which seemed to carry both wind and frost, and also the sharpness of a blade. She softly said, "Sakiko, I have something… I want to say to you."

———

This was an extremely plain bedroom, dominated by a minimalist style.

The porcelain marble floor was as smooth as a mirror, and the sky-blue gauze curtain was lifted by the night wind, revealing a gap. Moonlight spilled in like poured milk, flooding over the velvet large bed, on which lay several adorably clumsy plush toys. The silver glow trickled down their curled fur like beads.

Only a small lamp was on in the room. The warm yellow glow wasn't too bright, but enough to illuminate the faces of the girls sitting opposite each other. Under their long, dense eyelashes, the light cast faint shadows, inexplicably reminding one of an ancient poem — Dimly seen, ghostly lamp a thread, revealing a peach blossom face.

"President is still in the living room. If you have something to say… Mutsumi, you can start now," After a long silence, Sakiko said faintly.

She rarely ever took on such a cold, even indifferent demeanor with her childhood friend. But at this moment, Sakiko really couldn't put on a gentle smile for that familiar face anymore. How many people could face their best friend who stole the guy they liked and act like nothing happened?

Anger was only human. Cutting ties completely and never speaking again wouldn't be strange at all.

Except for those with special fetishes.

Sakiko clearly didn't have such fetishes. Having shed the aura of a former rich lady, she was just an ordinary girl. She had a temper and also a possessiveness toward the boy she liked.

Wakaba Mutsumi knew her childhood friend's personality well, so she didn't give Sakiko the chance to let her emotions run wild. She got straight to the point.

"Sakiko, you like Onii-chan."

Sakiko froze for a moment, stunned by the directness of the attack as sharp as an iai slash.

The girl instinctively wanted to deny it, but her pride stopped her from retreating, and she lightly nodded, completely unaware she had already fallen into the other's pace.

"Recently, I discovered something."

The girl kneeling opposite lowered her lashes. Her porcelain cheeks blurred under the soft glow, her features indistinct. Her cherry-pink lips parted slightly, her voice very low, yet as overwhelming as the tide, hitting Sakiko head-on like a crashing wave.

"Onii-chan… seems to have a girlfriend."

Time seemed to freeze at this moment.

No one knew how long it passed. Maybe half a minute, or maybe half an hour.

Sakiko finally heard her own voice. Like rusted gears that hadn't been oiled in ages, hoarse and dry, "That person… who is it?"

Wakaba Mutsumi shook her head, "I don't know. I only overheard Onii-chan talking on the phone with some woman."

Secretary Sakiko clutched at a strand of hope in her heart, like a drowning person grabbing the last straw.

"C-Could it be… that you misheard?"

Wakaba Mutsumi didn't refute her, only softly said, "The content of that call… was them deciding on a place to go on a date this weekend."

Sakiko opened her mouth, but still couldn't utter a full syllable.

It wasn't like she hadn't suspected Mutsumi of lying to her. But such thoughts only existed in her mind for a fleeting second before being wiped out. Not because she trusted her childhood friend so deeply, but because she was sure Mutsumi would never fabricate a rumor about the President in such a way.

"I really like Onii-chan, a like where I want to date him and walk into marriage with him," Wakaba Mutsumi said softly. At this point, she no longer hid anything, her words were completely honest, "So, I understand your feelings."

Sakiko's heart was a mess. Just minutes ago, she was certain Mutsumi had betrayed her. But now, the situation reversed drastically. What she thought was betrayal turned out to be just someone else's stepping stone. In this war called "love," they were both defeated.

At this moment, when she looked again at the silent green-haired girl, her fury had already mostly subsided without her noticing. Instead, she felt a sense of shared sorrow between two defeated dogs…

"Sakiko, do you want to quit?", Wakaba Mutsumi's voice interrupted her daze.

"Of course not…", Her brain hadn't caught up, but her body had already blurted it out.

How could one leave the sun?

That gentle, strong President who illuminated her like the noon sun. Just imagining the day they'd pass each other as strangers in a crowd, her heart felt like it was being squeezed by invisible hands, and she couldn't even breathe.

'I could endure the darkness, if I had never seen the sunlight.'

"It's okay, Sakiko," At some point, the small lamp at the bedside had quietly gone out. Moonlight like a blade pierced through the gap in the sky-blue curtains, casting a gauzy veil over the two girls embracing. Their slightly warm breaths were so close, the soft touch surging into her heart. Wakaba Mutsumi gently hugged her tighter.

Even though to outsiders, she always seemed like Sakiko's little follower, a silent echoer with no opinions of her own, Mutsumi was actually the older one. At this moment, as she wrapped her arms around the blue-haired girl's thin shoulders, she resembled a gentle older sister comforting a crying little sister.

"I'll help you. Help us obtain EVERLASTING HAPPINESS."

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