text: Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
  Chapter 14.5 (Kijima’s POV)
  “Karasawa is too careless.”
  “Huh? What’s with this all of a sudden?”
  After school that day, Karasawa said he had some chores to do at home and quickly went back first.
  So Amami and I headed to the fast food place near the station.
  The guidance counselor occasionally patrolled around the station closest to school so we had to be careful, but they never entered the stores, so we claimed a table in the far back of the second floor.
  After I ate all the delicious food from the special edition menu that came out every winter, I was unable to react to Amami, who had been weirdly quiet until now, when he suddenly started bragging about his love life.
  “Careless? What do you mean?”
  “He doesn’t do anything to protect his nape from me.”
  “Ah~ That is pretty careless.”
  I nodded as I noisily sipped from my straw. The soda had more ice than liquid left.
  Though I thought Karasawa’s self-awareness as an omega was usually weak, an omega protecting their nape from an alpha was mostly done on instinct. You could even say that it was reflexive.
  A few days ago, the two of them became lovers. The relationship between lovers and an omega’s defensive instincts are completely different issues.
  Even though I said that, if Karasawa defended himself in any way, he would’ve been outed as an omega right away. Since he was hiding his secondary gender, there was a possibility that he wouldn’t do such things.
  Or maybe, he just didn’t know much about mating bonds between alphas and omegas…
  No, things like this were mentioned even in middle school textbooks, so he should know the basics of it… right?
  “Doesn’t that just show how much he trusts you being around him?”
  “I think it’s more likely that he’s not even aware of me…”
  My attempt to reassure him backfired.
  On his part, Amami must be thinking that Karasawa became a contractual lover with him without seeing Amami as a love interest at all.
  Even though their love was actually requited, they both thought it was one-sided.
  Speaking of which, I thought that Karasawa would have realized Amami’s feelings soon, especially since Amami suggested having a male lover—but since Karasawa had always been surprisingly dense toward anything outside of his studies, he probably wouldn’t have realized.
  In fact, it was actually surprising how he was able to live until now with how dense he was.
  Karasawa grew up in a typical household, where he didn’t even have a tiger mom who would force their kid to concentrate on their academics. His parents most likely worried more about his transition from a regular middle school to a private middle school back then.
  In the end, Karasawa met his knight in shining armor, or rather, his stalker in that private middle school, so Karasawa’s parents had quite a discerning eye.
  Amami was probably trying to test how much Karasawa would let him get away with.
  And the marking process I’d only heard bits and pieces of seemed to involve biting quite the vulnerable place.
  Karasawa seemed to have no limits in accepting everything regarding that, so it actually made Amami quite flustered. If he was gonna panic about it, he shouldn’t have done anything to test Karasawa in the first place.
  “It’s worrying how defenseless he is, huh? You’re not intending to force him to be your mate, right?”
  About what happened the other day, Amami had insinuated that “Everything has been going just as planned.”
  Alphas are generally known to be superior and, to varying degrees, deeply jealous and extremely calculating.
  Once they recognized their mate, there would be no mercy.
  If Amami seriously desired to be mates with Karasawa, he could have easily made Karasawa his just by using a little force. It wouldn’t be hard to keep the people around him from making a fuss about it either.
  The only reason why that hadn’t happened yet was solely because Amami “doesn’t feel like it.”
  I knew that he was steadily cornering his precious friend, which was how things had gotten to this point, but it wasn’t like I didn’t have complicated feelings about it.
  But it also wasn’t as if Amami was pursuing Karasawa as his mate just so they could have children together.
  Above all, he wanted Karasawa’s heart.
  That was why he was taking it step-by-step.
  In the end, those efforts bore fruit. That was why I didn’t hesitate to cooperate with him.
  “But, well, from what you’ve told me, the marking is effective, right? Only you can touch him, so isn’t it fine?”
  While Amami mumbled something into the hot cup of coffee he held with both hands, I took the chance to finish off my cold soda with a loud slurp.
  In the end, this meeting was just another chance for Amami to brag about his love life.
  At least I was being treated to free food.
  “What’re you gonna do during winter break?”
  “If possible, I’d like to meet up with him, but I don’t want to get in the way of his studies… but I don’t want to miss Christmas or New Year’s.”
  “How nice, you’re sounding like an actual lover. So you’ve already thought about what to do for Christmas?”
  “Just in general… but I’m still thinking about it.”
  Since this was Amami we’re talking about, he wouldn’t suddenly prepare a ring or something, but at any rate, this will be their first Christmas together.
  I couldn’t help but think that they’d get too caught up in the mood and do something drastic.
  Besides, this was someone else’s business.
  “Speaking of which, what are you doing for Christmas, Kijima?”
  “Before you go out into the real world, I think you should find someone nice.”
  “Shut up, you idiot! If I found someone like that, I wouldn’t be lazing around in a place like this!”
  That’s right. I wouldn’t be having a romantic Christmas this time as well.
  What even was a “romantic Christmas”? [TL/N: 性夜, a blend of 性 (sei) meaning “sex” and 聖夜 (seiya) meaning “Christmas Eve”. Refers to romantic young couples during Christmas time.] Couples should just explode.
  Ah, but I’d be troubled if Karasawa exploded, so I only needed Amami to explode.
  A long-term relationship while they were still students… My parents had been nagging me about it for years, but if Amami, the peerless alpha, was struggling like this, it didn’t seem like it would go that well for me.
  It’s not like I wasn’t popular.
  After all, to me, there was nothing good to be gained from getting involved with this stupid couple any more than necessary.
  Watching over them as a friend was enough.
  “Hah~ I hope this year there’ll be a huge blizzard on Christmas so that they’ll have to cancel it.”
  “Stop that. Don’t jinx it.”
  I glared at Amami, who was logically pointing out that Christmas wasn’t something that could be canceled, as I gorged myself on the fries laid out on the table in front of me.