Okudera Miki: "!!!"
Hearing Rei Ao say out loud the wish she'd made, Miki snapped her head up to look at him, eyes filled with shock and embarrassment.
H-how does he know it that clearly?! He even knows the part about "heading toward marriage"?! Did the comet really broadcast her innermost thoughts?!
Seeing the all-knowing look in Rei Ao's eyes, Miki could no longer deny it. Mortified, she gave the faintest nod and, in a voice as soft as a mosquito's, whispered, "…Yes."
"???"
Miyamizu Mitsuha was dumbfounded. She wished on a comet for a husband… and then swapped souls with her?
That's way too bizarre and magical!
Wait!
Mitsuha suddenly grasped the key point. Miki's wish was for an "ideal man," and Rei Ao-kun…
She looked at Rei Ao. He was strikingly handsome, powerful and mysterious. As for his personality… well, a bit of a bad boy, but undeniably, fatally attractive. From any angle he perfectly fit the definition of an ideal type—he even exceeded it by miles!
So did Miki's wish accidentally lock onto Rei Ao? And at that moment, Rei Ao was with her…
A guess that made her scalp tingle and her face burn shot through her mind.
Gulp!
She swallowed hard. Her cheeks burned. Her gaze wavered. Her voice trembled as she finally mustered the courage to ask, "Th-then… because of Okudera-san's wish, d-does that mean you two… d-did…?"
The last words stuck in her throat, too mortified to say them.
Rei Ao, however, seemed to have zero hang-ups. He nodded matter-of-factly and confirmed, "Mm. We did."
Boom—!!!
Even though she'd braced herself, hearing it confirmed with her own ears felt like a thunderbolt from the blue. Mitsuha was fried inside and out—soul practically leaving her body.
Th-they really did!
After she blacked out, her body was being controlled by another soul…
A flood of tangled emotions swallowed her in an instant: shame, embarrassment, the strange sense of a private, personal domain being trespassed— and even… the faintest thread of loss she herself hadn't noticed?
Meanwhile, Miki practically sprang off the sofa in a panic.
"I'm sorry!"
Hands flailing, face blazing red, she bowed over and over to Mitsuha in apology. Using Mitsuha's body only made her look more pitiful.
"S-sorry!"
"Miyamizu-san, I'm really, really sorry!"
"I—It was my first time too, my mind went totally blank, s-so I just couldn't control myself…!"
"I truly didn't mean it—please forgive me!"
At that moment, guilt was practically spilling out of her.
What even was this situation!
She wished for a boyfriend… and ended up using someone else's ready-made boyfriend— with the girlfriend's body, no less. That was cuckolding squared!
But to Miki's surprise, faced with her barrage of apologies, Mitsuha—after the initial shock and petrification—didn't look angry. Instead, her expression was a complicated mix of shyness and extreme embarrassment.
Waving her hands, she stammered, "N-no, you don't have to apologize, Okudera-san. Actually… actually I'm not Rei Ao-kun's girlfriend…"
"Eh???"
Now it was Miki's turn to freeze—brain blue-screening on the spot. Not… his girlfriend? They weren't dating?!
Then what was that level of intimacy between them supposed to be?!
She snapped her head toward Rei Ao, who looked like a bystander watching a play, her eyes full of question marks and confusion.
What on earth is going on?!
…
The air in the living room congealed. Miki stared wide-eyed, her mind completely scrambled by this messy web of relationships.
Not a couple? Then that earth-shaking intimacy that made even her, a bystander, tremble—what was that? A one-night stand? Some kind of deal she couldn't wrap her head around?
"B-but…"
Miki couldn't help speaking, and because she was using Mitsuha's voice, it sounded extra soft and syrupy, thick with confusion.
"If you're not a couple, then why would you…"
She really couldn't say the last two words; two blushes bloomed on her cheeks.
The question hit Mitsuha's shame point dead-on. She was instantly mortified, eyes skittering away from Miki's. She had no idea how to explain that transaction.
Was she supposed to say that, to save her sister and the town, she traded away the usage rights to her body? That sounded even weirder!
All she could do, shy and helpless, was look to Rei Ao on reflex, her eyes carrying a plea—and a reliance she herself hadn't noticed.
Rei Ao caught her look. He chuckled under his breath and tightened his arm, pulling closer the body that belonged to Miki but held Mitsuha's soul. Lowering his head, he met Mitsuha's pale-blue eyes—glossy with nerves and shyness—head-on.
In a tone that brooked no doubt, he said earnestly, "We might not have been entirely, before—but from now on, we can be."
He paused, voice softening, and asked clearly:
"Mitsuha, will you officially be my girlfriend?"
"Eh?!"
Mitsuha was completely stunned. Her heart clenched hard, then kicked into a wild gallop. The sudden, formal confession blanked her mind.
Through this pair of unfamiliar eyes, she saw the seriousness in Rei Ao's deep gaze, the gentleness behind his strength, and all the ways he'd protected and saved her…
A joy and flutter she couldn't describe swept away all hesitation and shyness.
Almost without thinking, she answered softly in Miki's gentle, lovely voice:
"Mm… i-if Rei Ao-kun doesn't mind… I—I'd like that…"
As the words left her lips, a huge wave of happiness wrapped around her like warmth, and she almost swooned in Rei Ao's arms.
~~~
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