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498 – “Like You, and I’ll Say It Countless Times”
🕑 Added 2025-09-05 15:35:14 +0000 UTCEven though the smile on Kyousuke’s face was so gentle, Shouko still panicked and wanted to avert her eyes.
Her gaze flickered nervously to the side, only to be drawn back to Kyousuke’s face again.
Her round, dark eyes would slowly, painfully drift away, then dart back in an instant, locking onto the face she adored more than anything.
Her eyes shifted between timidity and determination, her emotions changing a hundred times in the span of a heartbeat.
The street was bustling with people.
‘Thump… thump… thump…’
Conversations and music blended into a noisy night, yet Shouko could still clearly hear the pounding of her own heart.
Why was her heart racing so fast? Why did it pound so hard?
Her body, tense with nerves, instinctively wanted to clench her fists for strength—but the moment her small hand tightened, she realized Kyousuke was still firmly holding it.
‘Oh no… did I squeeze too hard? Did I hurt him?’
Her chest tightened.
Then she scolded herself, Idiot!—and only grew more flustered.
She had just impulsively kissed Kyousuke-kun without asking, kissed him for so long too.
Were his lips burning the way hers were?
Did his tongue still feel strange?
Was her saliva still in his mouth?
If he swallowed it, would it give him a stomachache?
…
A thousand frantic questions spun in her head, turning her usually quick wits into sluggish mush.
She even forgot how to breathe.
Finally, like tangled Tokyo power lines that somehow found a single connection, her thoughts settled on one question:
‘Kissing me… would that trouble Kyousuke-kun?’
Her heart was still blazing, but her reason had returned.
Shouko eyes evasive and uncertain, now fretted over whether her first kiss had become a burden to the boy she liked.
After all—Kyousuke-kun had kissed Sakura yesterday.
That meant the two of them were probably confirming their relationship.
And here she was, before they even announced it, suddenly stealing a kiss like this. Wouldn’t Kyousuke feel guilty toward Sakura?
She would have to confess to Sakura later and apologize, but even if she explained it was all her fault, how could Sakura possibly accept that?
'Yesterday he kissed her, and today… i kiss him…'
‘Ahhh—'
‘I really messed up this time…’
Kyousuke-kun belonged to Sakura.
On that point, Shouko had never doubted.
Mitsuha, Eriri, Miki, or it didn’t matter who else.
Shouko only ever acknowledged Yamauchi Sakura.
If it were Sakura, she might allow Shouko to stay by Kyousuke’s side… That thought had been in Shouko’s heart from the very beginning.
But now—ahhh, why had she been so reckless?
‘Shouko, you really have to apologize properly this time. If it comes to it…’
“Shouko.”
The sudden voice pulled her scattered eyes back into focus.
Her long lashes trembled as she lifted her gaze to Kyousuke, helplessness written all over her face.
“Kyousuke-kun…”
Her voice was low and fragile.
For Shouko, who cherished every hard-won word, speaking was never casual.
She always spoke with clarity and determination, afraid of being misunderstood.
It had taken years of training at the voice acting academy to soften that habit.
But now… she hadn’t sounded this “weak” since she first learned how to speak.
“What’s wrong? Are you upset because I took your first kiss?” Kyousuke asked.
“No way! It was me who—” Shouko blurted out, only to be cut off.
“Or is it that being kissed in public made you feel embarrassed?”
“Well, it was embarrassing, but that’s not—”
Seeing that he misunderstood, Shouko grew so anxious her eyes brimmed with tears.
“Or maybe… you realized that even though I like someone else, I still kissed you, and now you think I’m just a scumbag and you’re disappointed in me?”
“That’s not it! I already—”
Panicking, Shouko reached up, desperately trying to cover Kyousuke’s mouth to stop him from saying more ridiculous things.
But before she could—
“Mmph…”
Her lips were being kiss again.
For the first time, Shouko learned the simplest way to silence someone is to cover their mouth with your own.
Too bad she wasn’t bold enough to do it herself.
The boy in front of her, however, had no such restraint.
She instinctively drew in a deep breath, bracing herself like a soldier before a battle.
“Nnnh… Mlln… Mwah❤️… Mmh… Mmmph”
“Ahn… Nnh, fwahh…”
She was “experienced” now, after all—she knew Kyousuke would greedily steal every bit of air and warmth from her.
‘But… if he keeps sucking, won’t my lips have mark on it…?’
Her heart ached sweetly with the thought.
The anxiety in her eyes melted into tender, trembling affection.
But then, just when she’d only used up a third of her breath, Kyousuke suddenly pulled away.
“Eh…?” Shouko’s puzzled little voice slipped out.
“Hm?”
Seeing her expression that saying ‘Why did you stop?’ makes Kyousuke froze for a second.
Then his brow arched, and before she could speak, he bent down again, claiming her lips once more.
‘Damn it, Shouko—you’re being this bold with me?!’
Kyousuke already made a decision.
He would teach her why he and Mitsuha could spend an entire night just kissing.
A kiss wasn’t just the exchange of saliva—it was addictive bliss.
“Nnh… nngh… Hff… fwah!”
“Mmh—hhg! Nnggg… aaah! MMph—Mmm, Mwah❤️….”
What began as a brief kiss stretched into something long and breath-stealing.
Back when he first kissed Mitsuha, people doubted it was really his first.
He could insist then that it truly was.
But now? He’d leveled up.
Mitsuha and Sakura aside, Utaha-senpai was practically a succubus in disguise.
At first, she’d been clumsy, faking her boldness—but she improved terrifyingly fast.
Each time, she tried new techniques in his mouth until she mastered them with ease.
And Kyousuke… was greedy.
Utaha’s skillful kisses thrilled him, but lately, whenever they kissed, he couldn’t help but wonder:
‘This beautiful little mouth… this nimble tongue… what if…’
In short, though Kyousuke was once a naïve, inexperienced with the help of three very different girls,
He had grown into something else entirely, but one who could make a girl loosen her clothes with just a kiss.
Shouko’s dazed eyes, almost like a silent challenge, only firmed his resolve.
He’d show her—at least one percent of his power as a proper lesson.
If they weren’t standing on a busy street, he’d even bring out two percent!
At last, their lips parted. This time, the silver strand connecting them seemed even thicker, shimmering faintly with a sinful glow.
“Ha….haa….ha…..”
Kyousuke gazed at the girl’s flushed, peach-pink face and smiled.
“I like you Shouko.”
“Eh?”
Shouko still hadn’t caught up after that fierce kiss, letting out a silly little sound.
For such a pure-hearted girl, the fake-innocent kiss of this so-called “inexperienced” man was simply too overwhelming.
“I like you (すき).”
Kyousuke repeated clearly, each syllable crisp, his lips forming the shapes perfectly—just like when he first taught Nishimiya Shouko how to speak.
“Ah—!”
At last, Shouko’s brain managed to catch up. This time she heard it.
He said it. How could she possibly mishear?
'He said he love me.'
How could she not understand?
It was the word she was best at saying.
The word tied to her dearest memory.
She remembered it clearly— when they're little at second semester of sixth grade, third week, second P.E. class.
———————————————————————
Kyousuke had just run himself ragged, panting like Momotaro after a marathon, but the moment the bell rang, he pulled her aside to teach her how to speak.
That day, the word he taught her… was I like you.
“I (す).”
Shouko touched Kyousuke’s face, watching his lips stretch back slightly as he formed the sound.
Because she was shy, her hand only hovered timidly against his cheek.
But he wouldn’t allow half-heartedness.
Kyousuke immediately grabbed her hand and pressed it firmly against his face.
Then he took her other hand and guided it to her own cheek, letting her feel the difference in vibration between the two.
There they were, sitting face-to-face on chairs.
Her hand on his face. His hand on hers.
Like they were embracing each other’s cheeks.
“Like you (き).”
He repeated again, slowly, carefully, even opening his mouth wide first so she could see the position of his tongue.
“I (す).”
Shouko followed obediently, repeating the sound.
By then, she’d already mastered the basic fifty syllables, so they had moved on to words.
She could even sneakily split her attention—part of her focus lingering on the warmth of his smooth cheek under her hand. Healthy skin. Warm. Comforting.
Another part drifted to his much bigger hand covering hers.
Someday, it would grow even larger. Someday, Kyousuke-kun would grow into an admirable man.
“Like you (き).”
Kyousuke enunciated the syllable with serious care.
He had done this countless times already, yet there was no trace of boredom or impatience.
He could slack off, sure, but then Shouko might someday be mocked for her speech.
He couldn’t even bear to imagine her saying it to someone else, only for them to mistake it as the moon (つき). Just the thought of her being laughed at was unbearable.
Shouko concentrated now, knowing it was time to link the sounds into a word. And this word wasn’t just any word—it was special.
“I like you (すき).”
He said it slowly, explaining the key points afterward.
Hearing this word, this “never-before-heard” treasure that no one had ever spoken to her, Shouko’s docile eyes curved into a smile.
She fought hard to hide the giddy warmth bubbling in her chest, but she still opened her mouth and said:
“Moon? (つき?).”
The mistake was obvious.
The nearby students, who had been eavesdropping, burst into laughter.
“She said moon instead of like!”
“So if she likes the moon, does she say moon, moon?”
Their whispers piled up in the air.
But whether Shouko didn’t hear, or had already learned how to filter out what didn’t matter, no one could tell.
Her round little cheeks stayed smiling—bright and radiant, like a sunflower.
Kyousuke’s face didn’t change.
Not because he didn’t care, but because he refused to waste precious break time on those pests.
After school, he’d teach those brats’ parents what it meant to raise their kids properly.
But among the onlookers, one girl couldn’t sit still.
Ueno Naoka.
Hearing Kyousuke say 'I like you' to Nishimiya Shouko made her feel like needles were stabbing all over her body.
And worst of all, Shouko didn’t even get it! This idiot!
That was Kyousuke saying he liked you! And you answered with the moon!? Absolutely infuriating.
With a furious flick of her long black hair, Naoka stood and kicked over the nearest desk.
The crash silenced the laughter.
The noise startled little Shouko, her gaze darting toward it.
But immediately, Kyousuke’s hand tilted her chin back, forcing her eyes onto him again.
“Focus,” he said calmly.
There was no anger at Shouko’s mistake, no concern about anything else.
In that moment, his entire world was just one thing: teaching Nishimiya Shouko to speak.
“Tsu ki (つき ) means moon. We’re not learning that yet,” he chuckled.
Shouko nodded.
Normally, this would be when she bowed over and over, spilling apologies.
But not this time. This time she only nodded firmly.
Because Kyousuke-kun didn’t like hearing her say sorry.
He always said—Shouko never did anything wrong.
After explaining the breath and mouth placement again, Kyousuke spoke once more:
“I like you (すき).”
Hearing him say 'I like you' again, Shouko’s heart bubbled like a kitten rolling in her chest.
Warm. Ticklish.
She forced her face not to grin, and carefully said:
“Moon (つき)”
Wrong again.
Which meant Hojou would have to say it again.
He’d have to tell her I like you again!
Naoka’s temper spiked, slamming her rolled-up textbook on the heads of the other kids just to vent her fury.
Meanwhile, Kyousuke’s expression didn’t change. He simply repeated:
“I like you (すき).”
And Shouko, earnest as ever, answered again:
“Moon? (つき?)”
Wrong again.
But that only meant Kyousuke would say it once more—say I like you again.
