* * *[ Friede and Hilde ]* * *
Confessions from men are unpleasant.
Women are a bit better.
These two sentences Hilde uttered gave Friede a joyful certainty. The certainty that she had a chance.
What kind of chance? There’s no need to say it explicitly. Since returning to her original body, there was only one thing Friede desired.
‘It worked…!’
Friede smiled, pulling up the corners of her mouth. She couldn’t hide her overflowing joy.
The thing she feared most – the worry that Hilde might not consider the same gender as a romantic interest… no, even worse, that she might be averse to it – had been completely dispelled.
‘Thank goodness. I’m so relieved…’
Relief.
Friede didn’t show it outwardly, but she felt deeply relieved inside.
It seemed she could now discard the ‘last resort’ she had engraved in a corner of her mind in case Brunhilde abhorred romance with the same gender.
Although she had kept it in mind as a precaution, that method was something Friede herself wasn’t very keen on. It was a method she would only choose as an absolute last resort.
What Friede wanted was to naturally develop a tender relationship with Brunhilde, not to cause trouble first and then demand responsibility, or to lock her up and paint her in her own colors.
That’s why, even though she thought it might be the quickest and easiest method, she had tried not to think about it as much as possible, calling it a last resort.
However, now there was no reason to keep such a violent and extreme method in mind anymore.
Because Brunhilde had unconsciously confessed. That she preferred women to men. The path to mutual love had opened wide.
Moreover, Hilde hadn’t said she wasn’t interested in either men or women, but answered in a way that suggested women were a bit better. Friede couldn’t help but be overjoyed.
Even if a woman doesn’t feel aversion to love between women, it doesn’t mean that woman herself likes women.
If Hilde’s attitude had been closer to indifference rather than aversion, it would have taken a lot of time and effort to turn that indifference into interest and preference.
But when the lid was opened, it turned out she already had an interest in that direction.
In other words, Friede’s original plan of ‘casually increasing physical contact to make intimate skinship the norm’ was no longer necessary.
‘Actually, it was embarrassing to even call it a strategy.’
Intimate skinship sounds nice, but even after several days since reuniting, the progress had only reached the level of lap pillows.
And even that was closer to being laid down like a child. It was a plan with a long way to go.
But now.
Friede realized she no longer needed to approach in such a roundabout way.
Hilde had merely said that women were a bit better than men, but in Friede’s mind, this statement had already been reinterpreted to mean that Brunhilde loved women.
Therefore.
“…Hilde.”
After much deliberation, Friede finally opened her mouth. To let her hear the words she had been holding back in her heart.
“What do you… think of me?”
Words that, once spoken, would inevitably change their relationship into something completely different.
A fragment of her innermost feelings that she wouldn’t have uttered at this point if not for her elated mood and the effects of alcohol.
“Uh… well, um, what do you mean…?”
Had even Brunhilde, who was strangely oblivious to such things, finally started to notice something?
Seeing Hilde stammer in a strangely flustered manner, Friede unconsciously let out a small chuckle.
Was it because of the alcohol? Her head felt light as a cloud. The slight anxiety of possibly being rejected was being erased by hopeful expectation.
Friede swallowed hard once and then answered in a resolute tone, as if she had made up her mind.
“About me.”
What do you think of me?
It was her best attempt at self-promotion in her own way.
You might say, wouldn’t it be better to just confess your feelings directly rather than beating around the bush like that?
Friede herself used to think that way too.
Until she directly witnessed, from a third-party perspective, what kind of situation a hasty confession could cause, back when she was active in another city.
A man holding out a bouquet to a woman in her prime, confessing his love in the middle of the street.
Friede thought this was truly a romantic scene and hoped she would have a chance to use it later… but the disaster that followed changed her mind.
‘He was really harshly rejected. She said, what’s with this nuisance from a complete stranger?’
It was still vivid in her memory.
The woman who had the bouquet thrust at her didn’t feel moved but clearly showed confusion and annoyance, criticizing the man point by point for committing the rudeness of confessing to a complete stranger.
‘Didn’t she say that a love confession isn’t the start of a romance, but more like a final confirmation…?’
The man couldn’t even argue back and was verbally beaten while pathetically kneeling, then hung his head while longingly watching the woman’s back as she left.
Friede, who didn’t know much about romance, was able to gain some insight from watching all the passersby mock that man.
Ah, so you shouldn’t confess like that.
A love confession is something you should only say after you’re sure it will be accepted. As a final confirmation.
That was the life lesson Friede gained that day.
Because she remembered this well, she spoke in a roundabout way asking how she was thought of, instead of confessing directly.
True to a life with no experience that could be called romantic, she didn’t even realize that this expression itself had a meaning no different from a confession.
* * *
“…”
On the other hand, Hilde was able to understand what kind of feelings Friede had for her as soon as she heard those words.
‘What do I think of you? You? Is this really meant in that way…?’
She couldn’t help but understand.
While she also had no romantic experience, she at least had all sorts of indirect knowledge she had learned before her possession.
Indirect knowledge accumulated through novels, manga, movies, and games.
Therefore, the moment she heard Friede’s words, Hilde was so shocked by the realization that the concern she had hoped wasn’t true had become reality that she couldn’t speak and just moved her lips with a blank face.
‘Friede, this child has been looking at me with those eyes…?’
Bewilderment.
“Uh…”
A sigh-like moan escaped through Hilde’s slightly parted lips.
She felt her mind going blank with a bewilderment no less intense than when Gerda had hit her on the back of the head… no, perhaps even more so.
Although it was said in a roundabout way, it was a question with an all too clear intention.
The nature of the feelings Friede harbored for her was now clear beyond any doubt.
Hilde realized.
Friede, whom she had thought of as just a reliable force and trustworthy companion, and secretly found cute… was actually hoping for more than a friendship with her.
For her, it was truly, truly something she hadn’t even imagined until this moment arrived.
‘What should I do…? How, how should I answer this?’
How on earth should she respond?
For Hilde, who rarely experienced being at a loss for words and had never experienced receiving a confession, it was a question she couldn’t answer.
“Um… what do I think of you, Friede…?”
Therefore, instead of giving an answer to Friede’s question, Hilde just parroted the question back like a parrot.
“…Yes, that’s right.”
Friede let out an incomprehensible laugh at this repeated question and slowly got down from the bed, moving towards the sofa where Hilde was lying.
‘No, why, are you, approaching…!’
Hilde unconsciously raised her upper body and leaned back against the sofa’s backrest as if burying her entire back in it.
Like a small animal backing away when cornered, as if believing this would allow her to escape from this bewildering situation.
Creak, creeeak.
Friede approached her step by step. Her small bare feet lightly pressed on the wooden floor, making creaking noises.
Hilde’s pupils shook violently. She was enveloped in tension that was completely different in direction from facing a strong enemy, but no less intense in degree.
And finally, Friede’s footsteps stopped.
Right in front of the sofa where Hilde was lying.
“…Please answer.”
Slightly unfocused large golden eyes looked straight into Hilde’s blue eyes.
Hilde thought that her own face reflected in those golden pupils looked somewhat like a frightened rabbit.
“What do you think of me?”
Friede asked the question again, looking straight at her from a distance close enough to touch if she reached out her hand.
Perhaps due to the effects of alcohol, her cheeks were flushed red, and thanks to having just bathed, a faint soap scent emanated from her instead of sweat smell.
“…Uh…”
Hilde moved her lips blankly, then answered in an almost inaudible voice, stammering.
“You, Friede, I mean… you’re a comrade…? Um, my most trusted comrade. A cute but reliable friend…”
It was an honest answer.
“…Just a comrade and nothing more?”
But it wasn’t an answer that could avoid this situation.