(Side) Chapter 22.5

~Kimiko's new manga~

"Ah! There's a new release"

It was a weekend, and Takeru was at a manga store looking for any new release this week. And then he saw the weekly manga magazine that his aunt Kimiko and cousin Yasu make mangas for

"… Haa…"

And he picked up the weekly magazine and put it in the basket, alongside the other new weekly magazines and new manga volumes he followed, when he had picked all of the ones that he was interred in, he went to the cashier and paid for everything, and returned to his apartment

In his apartment, Takeru picked the weekly magazine that his cousin and aunt worked for, and began reading it as he waited for his console to update. Inside the magazine the first story featured was the one written by his aunt

"…"

It was another school-life romantic comedy about a girl who just entered the school and began interacting with the handsome school prince whom all the girls in the school were in love with

The main character had shoulder-length brown hair, the classic heroine hair, but she had a single long sidetail to her right side that was of a red wine color that stood out in contrast to her brown hair. The girl also had a brown left eye and a hazel right eye while also having to use glasses, not only that the girl was quite short and her body was rather flat in those places. And to end with the cherry on top the girl was a tsundere and named Takeda Takara (A/N Notes: *Author laughing SFX*)

And obviously, Takeru noticed all of those characteristics of the girl…

"… Why does the girl feel so familiar?"

But he was unable to connect the dots that his aunt had made the girl exactly like him

Meanwhile, the male interest, had short silver-grey hair, a handsome face, and a perfect gentlemanly personality, while also being tall and good at sports, in other words, it was the perfect ikemen character and was named Ninomiya Yorikiyo. And Takeru also noticed the character similarities (A/N Notes: *Author laughing SFX intensifies*)

"This character feels like Yuriko-san… … … Haa"

When Takeru said that, he felt somewhat depressed as he was missing having those meaningless talks with Yuriko

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Meanwhile

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"Whew… Today is quite hot"

Yuriko had returned to her apartment after going out to shop for some things, which included manga, after she put all the items she bought in the proper places, she sat down on the sofa in the living room and began reading the weekly magazine

The first story it had was about a girl who just entered the school and interacted with the handsome school prince that all the girls in the school were in love with. Yeah, it was the same one that Takeru was reading, and Yuriko also noticed the girl's similarities to Takeru

"… The girl makes me think of Takeru…" *Starts tearing up* "Uuuuuuuuhhhhhhh… I want to talk with Takeru already… Why does the week have to take so long!? Pass faster! Uwaaaaaaaahhhh!!!"

… She wasn't dealing so well with ignoring Takeru, but she was also feeling necessary to ignore him so that he would apologize for ignoring her in the first place

-

Some minutes later

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*Sniff sniff* "… *Flips a page* … … … *Flips a page* … Hm?"

Yuriko had reached the page where the male interest is finally properly revealed

"… … … Why do I feel like this character is just like me? How strange"

Kimiko had by pure chance made the male interest just like Yuriko

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~Yuriko after reconciling with Takeru~

It was lunchtime, and right now Yuriko and Takeru were spending time together on the rooftop as usual

" "…" "

Yuriko was happily smiling in silence as she hugged Takeru as he sat on her lap after she coerced him to do so, while gently rubbing her cheek on his hair with her eyes closed

"… Hm, Y-Yuriko… I-isn't this already enough?"

"No"

Then Yuriko tightened her hug, only making Takeru blushing turn even redder, for a moment she opened her eyes just slightly as the thought of giving Takeru a kiss on the lips passed through her mind, but she gave up on the idea

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After School

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Yuriko was in Takeru's apartment, something that is becoming routine for the two, and right now she was having Takeru sit in front of her as she hugged him with both arms and legs, as she occasionally glanced at Takeru blushing with his eyes closed

"…"

And yet again she felt like giving Takeru a kiss on the lips, and this time she felt more tempted to do so, but she still gave up on the idea and continued to enjoy herself by simply hugging Takeru

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Later that night

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Takeru was already laying on her bed as she hugged her body pillow with a thinking face

"…" <Takeru is much more pleasant to hug, I wonder why… … …>

And once again the thought of kissing Takeru on the lips passed through her mind

"…" <Why am I keeping on having those thoughts? And they appear to be recurring way more times lately… I wonder why… … …>

As Yuriko kept thinking, she slowly began to fall asleep, until she was fast asleep

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(A/N Notes: And this is what we call in the industry as… Foreshadowing)