Today, as always, I’d come to visit my girlfriend. My pathetic little contractual girlfriend, to be precise.

That’s right.

Our relationship was based on a weird agreement: For the next six months, we’d be inseparable; we’d get to be as toxic as we wanted to be, and we weren’t allowed to break up.

It was very weird, wasn’t it? But Anthea and I were, in fact, weird people. We’d started dating just a few days after we’d started talking, fueled by our shared interest in “toxic yuri” manga and our admissions of depravity.

But I couldn’t bring myself to care.

“Anthea, it’s meee~” I called out.

I’d just rung the doorbell, and it felt like not even a second passed until the door swung open. Had she been waiting for me?  

I smiled.

Anthea didn’t look me in the eye, but I immediately grabbed her hand. Today, too, her face reddened as soon as we touched. 

“Ah… Welcome back. Let’s go,” she said.

“Yep!!” I said.

She started leading me to her room.

It was a routine I’d already come to be well-accustomed to: We’d walk past her parents, who’d stare at our hands suspiciously, and I’d smile and say “Thanks for having me over!” We’d walk past her little sister, who’d stare in confusion. “Huh? Since when does Anthea have friends?” We’d walk through this neat, organized house — only to end up in Anthea’s mess of a room.

Just by looking at it, you could tell there was something wrong with her. Trash lay scattered all over the floor. Books and random items, too. Plus, this room stank like hell. She always said she didn’t notice the smell, but I found that hard to believe. 

Granted, I’d seen worse on the internet, and I wouldn’t call Anthea’s room “disgusting” per se. But still...

I let go of her hand, which had started sweating by now.

“Aww! You still haven’t cleaned your room, huh?” I said.

She shook her head and chuckled awkwardly. 

Then she walked over to the bookshelf, inspected it as though looking for something, and grabbed a manga volume I hadn’t seen before. Judging by the cover, which depicted a guy and a girl holding hands, it was probably some generic straight romance. So she’s not exclusively into yuri, huh?

She plopped down on her bed and got comfortable.

Meanwhile, I frowned. I’d often come over and we’d just do our own things, but today I’d been intending to do something together. There wasn’t anything in particular I wanted to do; I’d just been bored all day, and I needed some sort of distraction.

“Ah, no! Let’s do something together,” I exclaimed.

Anthea just sighed.

“But I’d been really hoping to finish this manga today,” she said.
For a moment, I felt dejected. Then, remembering our agreement, I smiled.

I’m allowed to be rude, right?

“Don’t be selfish,” I said.

She laughed. Still, I could tell my statement caught her off-guard.

Her eyes promptly shone with newfound determination, though.

“Oh, you’re evil. But you’re being selfish too, so I don’t care,” she said.

“C’mon, c’mon! You can’t just say ‘I don’t care’ like that. You’ll make me sad.”

I gave a pout.

“No,” she said firmly.

Oh.

My smile faded.

If Anthea was one thing, she was stubborn. Despite her obvious social anxiety in most situations, once she was comfortable she had a tendency to be blunt and at times plain rude. I mean, I was kind of the same, but only around her. I assumed Anthea also behaved in this odd, rude-ish way even around her family and close friends — if she had any. 

I didn’t know a lot about Anthea, now that I thought about it. I knew about her love for yuri and manga in general, and I knew about her weird behaviour in private. She’d told me about some secret fantasies, and we were dating, sure, but at the same time all this felt like surface-level stuff.

Peacefully unaware of my thoughts, she continued reading her manga.

I looked over at her now and then, pretending to be busy using my phone. Really, My thoughts were focused entirely on her.

Eventually I adjusted my position to peek more comfortably at the manga panels she seemed so absorbed by.

I wanted to chuckle at what I saw. But I kept quiet.

The characters were naked throughout all of the four pages I caught a glimpse of.

She was easily flustered, but really she was perverted at heart — or so she’d described herself the day I’d proposed we’d enter this relationship. And yet I’d never seen this “pervertedness” of hers in action before.

I was overcome by the sudden urge to do something.

And so I plopped down on her lap.

“H-Huh?” 

As expected, she blushed heavily, and the manga fell shut beside her.

Admittedly, I was a little caught off guard as well. Time seemed to slow down, and I felt every inch of Anthea’s body. Despite her skinniness, her thighs were squishy, warm, and comfortable. Actually, her whole body was warm. It felt good. Really good.

“Mai, what’s up?” asked anthea, squirming underneath me.

It made my own skin tingle uncomfortably as well. Still, I gave a chuckle.

“Hehe~ I’m way better than that boring manga~” I said.

“Ugh…”

She frowned. 

I tapped her nose with my finger.

Despite her “perversion” and probably owning multiple of those pornographic manga, she’d never kissed me or even initiated hand holding. Even when I initiated it, she was shy and reluctant. Now, too, she was extremely ucomfortable with me sitting on her lap. And, yes, we’d only been dating for a few days, but considering the terms of our agreement all this was just tame and disappointing.

I craved more. Way more.

“Seriously, Anthea, you never show me any affection,” I whined.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“What do you mean, she says…”

I made a point of groaning theatrically.

“We have been holding hands often, haven’t we?” she asked.

Looking at her face, I could tell she was genuinely confused.

I whined, “Well, yes, but… for example, you never tell me you love me!” 

It was true. She hadn’t said it once.

“I— Hey, I don’t even say that to family.”

“Really!? Well, I should be your top priority — even above family. So it shouldn’t be an issue.”

“… It’s not an issue,” she mumbled defensively.

I hummed.

A pause followed. I still felt her squirming beneath me, and since it was making me feel restless too I adjusted my position to be more comfortable.

“So… Why don’t you just tell me you love me?”

“It’s awkward.”

“Aww, don’t be like that.”

Another pause.

Her eyes darted around, looking everywhere except me.

“I love you.”

She said it quietly and quickly, as though just getting those words out was physically taxing.

Still, my heart skipped a beat.

That was the first time she’d said “I love you” to me. And I’d make sure she’d say it many more times. After all, I wanted to savor that expression on her face. I had no idea why, but seeing her look so utterly uncomfortable was exciting to no end. 

“There we go! That wasn’t so hard, was it?” I asked.

“Yes, it was,” she muttered.

“No, it wasn’t,” I said.

“It’s a matter of opinion,” she said.

I sighed. Stubborn, stubborn Anthea…

But at least I had a feeling things were about to get interesting. I wasn’t about to let Anthea get away with half-assing our relationship.