The situation before him had clearly gone beyond what Makoto anticipated.
He had expected that Nino might get flustered and run away after realizing he'd been pretending to sleep, or perhaps boldly confirm her feelings.
But this? He hadn't predicted this outcome at all.
The girl was sitting at the edge of the bed. The sleeves of her cute pajama top had slid up, revealing her slender white arms.
Because of the pajamas' loose and breathable design, even without a bra, nothing was visible at her chest.
Her proportionate, long legs were hidden beneath silk pajama pants, and her bare feet rested on the floor—her round, full heels and dainty toes neatly aligned like little pearls.
Her body was trembling slightly, her eyes filled with mist, her expression full of shame and distress.
What had just happened pushed her embarrassment to the limit, so much that she even forgot to flee and instead sat there with teary eyes, looking like she had just given up.
Girls in adolescence are always sensitive—whether it's their pride or their self-esteem, both need to be handled gently.
Although tonight's incident was technically caused by her swapping places with Miku…
Now that it had come to this, there was no way Makoto could just sit by and do nothing.
"Here, wipe yourself first."
Makoto pulled out a tissue and handed it to her.
Nino felt even more humiliated, and the tears started streaming down her face.
Makoto reached out in front of her. "Don't overreact. I meant to wipe your tears. Then we'll talk this through."
"Talk it through?" Nino blinked in surprise.
"Yes. Talk about how to resolve this." Makoto gave her a reassuring look. "But you can relax—I've already thought of a solution."
Nino's face was bright red. She lowered her head and bit her lip. "But I…"
"I'm not going to tell anyone, and you don't need to overthink it. Most importantly, I have a really bad memory sometimes."
He tapped his own head and added, "By the time I wake up in the morning, I'll probably have forgotten everything."
Of course Nino knew he was trying to comfort her.
But her mind was in complete chaos, unable to think rationally at all.
So all she could do was accept the tissue from Makoto and ask in a tearful voice, "What are you going to do?"
Makoto picked up the teacup on the table beside him. "Watch."
Nino, still blushing, looked up stiffly like a puppet and saw him tilt the cup, letting the tea spill onto the bed.
She froze instantly.
Makoto gave a mischievous smile.
"By morning, before Ichika or anyone else even says anything, I'll take the initiative and apologize.
I'll say I stayed up playing on my phone and accidentally spilled the tea because I was too absorbed."
Nino stared at him, speechless for a moment.
It was actually a good plan.
But the problem was, if Makoto did that, he'd be taking the fall for her.
Even if her sisters believed he didn't wet the bed, they'd still use it as an excuse to tease him.
She could already imagine how Ichika would mock him.
"All right, wipe your face first. Since we have a solution, you don't need to worry anymore," Makoto continued.
Nino didn't dare look at the stain on the bed. She was both touched and embarrassed. "But if you do that…"
"You're worried Ichika and the others will laugh at me, right?" Makoto picked up her concern immediately.
Nino nodded.
Makoto gave her a confident look.
"If that's your worry, then you can really rest easy. I can't promise everything, but with Ichika and the others' little tricks? They won't score a single point off me.
It'll backfire, and they'll end up handing me the win."
Nino understood.
Seeing him so confident and even exaggerating a bit helped calm her down. She quietly said, "I understand."
Makoto was relieved too.
By now, it was clear to him that Nino had finally stabilized emotionally.
He waved a hand and said, "We're friends—helping each other is what friends do."
Before she could reply, he gave a regretful sigh. "The only pity is… I wasn't fully awake earlier and totally missed out on what it felt like to hold you."
Nino didn't respond. She quietly wiped away her tears. After a while, she muttered, "I'm going to take a shower first…"
"Okay, get some rest afterward."
Nino quickly left the room.
Makoto got out of bed, removed the bedsheet and duvet cover, and placed them on a chair.
He had to wait for Nino to finish her shower before putting them in the washing machine.
That way, they wouldn't run into each other, and she wouldn't have to face the embarrassment again.
Standing alone in the room, he thought to himself that tonight had definitely gone off the rails.
Not only did he not catch Ichika, but he also accidentally saw Miku wander into the wrong room—and just when he was figuring out how to handle that, Nino pulled off her own "body double" stunt.
Too bad her swap wasn't quite successful—she ended up leaving her own mark in the guest room…
After a while, he heard noise from outside.
He thought Nino would go straight back to her room—but the footsteps came closer, and the girl, now in a fresh set of pajamas, appeared at the door.
"Why aren't you sleeping?" Makoto noticed her glance at the bedsheet and took the initiative to speak.
Nino quickly looked away without answering, simply standing at the doorway watching him.
She had just showered, and her cheeks were tinted with a red hue—whether from embarrassment or steam, it was unclear.
Her hair wasn't wet, suggesting she'd tied it up beforehand. Her fair neck and the skin at her collarbone still glistened with water droplets, slowly trickling down.
Two seconds later, she suddenly walked over to Makoto.
Before he could say anything, she threw her arms around his waist tightly.
"Thank you, Makoto."
As the sweet scent from her freshly showered body wafted over, her voice sounded unusually gentle—shy and trembling in a way unique to girls her age.
Makoto said playfully, "Does this count as making up for the hug I missed earlier?"
But Nino didn't respond to his teasing.
Instead, she looked up, her radiant, flushed face filling his vision.
She parted her lips, emotions flickering in her eyes. "Actually… the one lying in your arms earlier wasn't me—it was Miku."
Then, under Makoto's surprised gaze, she simply told him everything.
Makoto wasn't particularly shocked.
After that embarrassing incident, she had probably realized the situation needed to be clarified.
Otherwise, it would seem like she'd tried to sneak into his bed on purpose.
Nino let go of him.
Though it had been a sudden and intimate hug, this time there was a different emotion in her eyes—one that hadn't been there before.
Makoto noticed it. Right now, she wasn't acting as bashful as usual.
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