Why I Fell for Tiny You: Volume 1 Chapter 23

23 Even Though I Haven't Come to Like You Yet

Seven a.m.──

When I opened the door, a tiny girl was smiling at me.

"Ohachito!"

"Oha-Runaaa!"

"Don't greet me with another girl's name!?"

"It just had a nice ring to it... Oha-Sky and Oha-Nonoa didn't quite click. Oh, what about Oha-Sawa?"

"Nee's name is off-limits too!"

Koto-chan crossed her hands in front of her face to make an X.

"Don't talk about other girls in front of me!"

"Wouldn't that make you overly attached rather than troublesome?"

The two were similar, yet somehow still felt worlds apart.

Women who got that attached were a little scary. It felt like one of them might kill me.

"Well, whatever. Good morning, then. It must've been hard getting here this early, Koto-chan."

"Not at all. I walk Rou-kun and Rin-chan, so I'm used to waking up early. Actually, I rode my moped here."

"What, a moped?"

"My birthday is April fourth."

"Oh, right. You're sixteen."

"I'm already old enough to get a moped license. I got one to use as ID. People doubt my age a lot, but a driver's license is proof enough, right?"

"W-Well..."

Her student ID could prove what grade she was in, but a driver's license was more definitive.

"Look, here."

Koto-chan held up her license.

Judging by the name and photograph, it really was hers.

Her license photo was cute too. She had a perfectly composed expression.

"I have Nee's old moped. She only drives a car now."

"Oh, I guess she needs a car for work too."

"I'm getting my car license the moment I turn eighteen. I want to take the doggies for drives."

"............"

"Ah! You were wondering if my feet could reach the accelerator, weren't you!? I'll make it work somehow!"

"Y-Yeah, of course."

Even if you were a little short, adjusting the seat and things like that would probably make driving manageable.

"A-Anyway, I'm jealous. My birthday isn't until October. That's still ages away."

"You changed the subject. But your birthday's in October, huh? Good info. Got it."

Koto-chan even got the exact date out of me and made a note on her phone.

"Whoops, there's no point standing around talking. My parents have already left for work, so come on in."

"Okay. Thanks for having me."

Koto-chan gave a small bow before stepping into our house.

This made her second visit to my house.

Runa hadn't been coming over much lately, so at this rate, Koto-chan might end up being the one who practically lived here.

"Wow, coming to a boy's house really does make me nervous."

"I don't really think of you as a girl, so there's nothing to worry about."

"That doesn't make it okay at all! You're insensitive again today!"

"Sorry, sorry."

I wasn't actually so insensitive that I didn't see Koto-chan as a girl.

"Honestly... And I came all this way to improve your diet, Toochika-kun."

"You don't have to go to all that trouble when we have school too."

Right. Koto-chan hadn't come to my house on a weekday morning just to hang out.

She'd come to straighten out my diet because I ate nothing but sweets.

"I brought ingredients today so you could eat everything piping hot and fresh!"

"What? You didn't make it at home?"

Koto-chan proudly held a reusable shopping bag high in the air.

There was certainly plenty of time to cook, but...

"Leave it to me. You have cooked rice, right?"

"Yeah. Dad was unusually motivated and cooked yesterday, so there's quite a lot left."

"What a good dad. I'll make a good girlfriend too."

"No, you're not my girlfriend."

"I'm borrowing the kitchen. Oh, where's your step stool?"

"We don't have one."

No kids lived in the Toochika household.

But at Koto-chan's height, working in the kitchen might be difficult.

"Wait, now that I think about it, we do have something."

I suddenly remembered and went into my parents' room without asking.

That thing should still have been gathering dust in there...

"Found it. It's the exercise step Mom bought when she was worried she wasn't getting enough exercise."

The platform was a gaudy orange and twenty centimeters tall.

That would bring her up to 160 centimeters, which should be plenty tall enough for kitchen work.

"This is perfect. It pays to ask. Thanks."

"You're welcome. Mom's never going to use it anyway, so you can use it however you like."

"Can I stay in this house forever?"

"No."

"Cheapskate."

Koto-chan stuck her tongue out at me, then──

She happily set the platform beside the sink, thoroughly washed her hands, and began preparing the ingredients.

"Oh, I need to put on my apron too. Don't look this way, okay?"

"Are you going to wear nothing but an apron?"

"You'd scold me if I did anything indecent, Toochika-kun. So not yet."

This wasn't a matter of timing, you know?

I kept my back to Koto-chan for one minute──

"You can look now."

"............?"

When I turned around, Koto-chan had turned into a doggy.

"What do you think, Toochika-kun? As a dog lover, I want to look cute while I cook!"

"Do doggies and cooking really need to be connected?"

Koto-chan wore a headband with round ears, a cute dog-print apron, and even a fluffy tail attached behind her.

"You kind of look like a dog-eared maid..."

"Chitto isn't a maid cafe. The doggies are the stars, so the staff shouldn't draw too much attention to themselves."

"You and Miss draw plenty of attention just by being yourselves."

"I can't beat the doggies in cuteness anyway, so I actually thought dog ears and a tail might work. But Nee absolutely refused to let me use this headband and tail. The other staff kept egging me on, though."

"In a way, that might actually hurt business."

Dogs were dogs, and Koto-chan was Koto-chan. Each was cute in a different way.

The cafe's customers probably wouldn't know what to do with that much cuteness at once.

"Your cold treatment hasn't changed, Toochika-kun, so from now on, I'll work on adding something extra to my natural cuteness. Oh, and if I dress sexy... only as far as it isn't indecent."

"So it's a matter of degree?"

I wasn't a lolicon, but if Koto-chan started dressing sexy, that'd be a different story, you know?

"We're running out of time, so I'll start cooking. Father, Mother, please allow me to use your kitchen."

[Illustration: p276.jpg]

After asking permission from my parents, whom she'd never even met, Koto-chan swiftly readied the knife she'd brought herself.

Humming to herself, she efficiently chopped the vegetables.

She'd fed me sandwiches before, but she truly could cook.

And her knife skills were remarkably good.

There wasn't a hint of danger.

She looked like some child cooking prodigy, but the sight of her at work was almost dazzling.

"Koto-chan, can I take a picture?"

"Nooo, that's embarrassing... Sure."

Koto-chan turned around, blushing, but nodded anyway.

I took several photos in a row with my phone, then──

"Sorry, could you keep cooking normally without looking this way?"

"Jeez, you're so demanding. Fine."

"Can I post the pictures in my friends' LINE group?"

"I said it's embarrassing. Fine."

With her permission secured, I tapped at my phone some more.

"Wait, no!"

"Oh, I already sent them."

"What are you doing, Toochika-kun!?"

Everyone seemed to be awake already, because several read receipts appeared immediately.

It was too late now.

"Oh, Runa's in this group too. She looks mad."

"Jeeez! The misunderstanding is going to stop being a misunderstanding! We'll cause another firestorm!"

"If we keep causing firestorms, won't people eventually get used to it?"

"That's naive... You're much too naive, Toochika-kun... Just sit down and wait!"

After being scolded, I decided to sit on the living-room sofa and wait.

Several messages arrived from Runa over LINE, but I deliberately ignored them.

I'd already decided I was going to stay close to Koto-chan.

So instead of sneaking around, I was going to let everyone around us see our everyday life together.

If people got the wrong idea, I didn't care anymore.

I knew better than anyone that I wasn't a lolicon.

"All done! Come on, let's eat."

"Oh, thanks, Koto-chan."

Koto-chan carried over two plates and set them on the table.

"Huh, omurice?"

"You said you'd be fine eating omurice for every meal, Toochika-kun."

"Oh, right. I did say that."

I hadn't expected to be served omurice first thing in the morning.

Mine was smaller because I had a small appetite, while Koto-chan's was the larger portion.

"Actually... Nee loves omurice too..."

"Why are you making that face?"

"I don't know. Between liking sweets and liking omurice, it annoys me that you have so much in common with Nee."

"Having the same tastes is a good thing. Miss and I both dote on you, don't we, Koto-chan?"

"...Hearing that after everything else doesn't make me very happy."

Koto-chan sat down on the living-room floor and fixed me with a flat, sulky stare from low altitude.

She was obviously sulking.

"Come on, let's eat. It'd be a waste to let it get cold."

"Okaaay. Dig in."

"Thanks for the food. Delicious!"

"That was way too fast! But thanks!"

No, seriously, this omurice was delicious.

The egg was soft and runny, the grains of chicken rice inside were nicely separated, and the slightly sweet seasoning was exactly to my taste.

"Delicious, delicious. If breakfast is like this, even I might manage to eat a proper one."

"Please eat properly even when I'm not the one cooking, okay?"

Wow, Koto-chan was completely taking care of me already.

Was she going to win me over just by feeding me?

"Oh, Toochika-kun."

"Hm?"

"There's some rice stuck to you."

"What? Where?"

"Here, right here."

Sitting beside me, Koto-chan leaned forward and reached toward my mouth──

Then she pulled her hand back and brought her tiny face close to mine instead.

With a soft mwah, I felt something faintly soft against my cheek──

No—actually, it felt like something had barely grazed my lips.

"K-Koto-chan!?"

"I just got the grain of rice off. You like older girls, Toochika-kun, so a tiny little peck from me doesn't bother you, right?"

"...Of course not."

I told a massive lie.

Liking older girls had nothing to do with how I'd react when a female classmate kissed me and grazed my lips.

And even though I liked older girls, for some reason, Koto-chan──

Better not think about that any further.

That hadn't been a kiss.

Maybe it had been ten percent of one, but even then, it was only a measly ten-percent kiss.

If a mere ten percent was enough to rattle me, what would happen when it eventually reached one hundred percent?

Naturally, I wasn't going to think about that either.