All Beautiful Girls Want to Stick with Me

”...You’re saying Kotomi is... a madwoman?!”

Yukino Yukinoshita stared at ”Little Yukino” in disbelief. At first, she had thought that if what ”Little Yukino” said was too outrageous, she would simply ignore it.

But now, although ”Little Yukino” had indeed said something utterly absurd, Yukino Yukinoshita found herself unable to treat it as if she hadn’t heard it, as she had originally planned.

She said Kotomi is a madwoman, but I think Kotomi is perfectly normal. Yui thinks so too. Otherwise, Kotomi and Yui wouldn’t be dating. Almost no one thinks Kotomi is mentally unstable, so why would she say something like that? Could it be that all of us are the ones who are crazy? And what did she mean by ’a decayed flower’?

Countless questions erupted at once, flooding Yukino Yukinoshita’s mind without any order. The sheer chaos made her head ache unbearably, yet she couldn’t stop thinking. She desperately wanted to arrive at an explanation—was Kotomi truly insane?

Doubt gave rise to terrifying possibilities that she would normally never imagine. Just like now—Yukino Yukinoshita had already begun to wonder: if, as ”Little Yukino” claimed, Kotomi was a madwoman, then did that mean those who believed her to be normal were just as mad as she was?

Endless doubts and endless thoughts collided and tangled together.

Doubt gave birth to thought, and thought in turn shattered doubt. The shattered doubt then split into countless new doubts, which in turn spawned even more thoughts.

Yukino Yukinoshita’s expression grew strained as she clutched her head. It felt as though her skull might burst open at any moment, and the thin wire in her mind called ”reason” seemed to be weakening, on the verge of snapping.

Smack!

A sharp sound rang out beside her ear. With some effort, Yukino Yukinoshita lifted her head, only to see that it was the sound of ”Little Yukino” clapping her hands together.

”Ah... that expression of yours, like you might die from a headache at any moment, is really unsightly. You look so intelligent and composed on the outside, yet your sanity is this low?

Kotomi is like a girl shrouded in dense fog, her past filled with mysteries. What I told you just now was only the most superficial, easy-to-understand tip of the iceberg. And you’re already struggling this much to accept it. If I had told you a few more secrets about Kotomi earlier, your sanity might have already hit zero.

But I suppose I should apologize. Telling you all this now might have been a bit too hasty. Sorry—just forget about it.”

Faced with ”Little Yukino,” whose attitude had completely changed, Yukino Yukinoshita felt no sense of relief. Instead, she spoke with difficulty:

”How am I supposed to just forget something like that...”

Her headache continued to intensify, and even her voice grew weak.

”I’ll help you.”

The moment she said that, ”Little Yukino” vanished from Yukino Yukinoshita’s sight. Before Yukino could even react, her body instinctively fell backward onto the bed. A heavy drowsiness washed over her, and at the same time, her headache gradually eased, bit by bit, until it completely disappeared.

So sleepy... I only woke up less than ten minutes ago...

With that final thought, Yukino Yukinoshita quickly drifted into sleep.

...

After an unknown amount of time.

”Yuki, Yuki, Yuki...”

In her hazy consciousness, Yukino Yukinoshita felt as though she heard Yui Yuigahama’s voice.

In Yukino’s heart, whenever she thought of Yui, her emotions became complicated.

Yukino both cherished and envied her.

On one hand, for someone like Yukino Yukinoshita, who had grown up alone, having a friend was something she had never even dared to imagine. By some miracle, she had become friends with Yui and the others. Yukino treasured this hard-won friendship deeply and wished to remain friends with Yui Yuigahama for a lifetime.

But on the other hand, after learning that the girl she loved—Kotomi Izumi—had become lovers with her friend Yui Yuigahama, Yukino couldn’t help but feel a surge of jealousy toward Yui.

She had even begun to consider whether, after returning from Kyoto, she should distance herself from Yui. If things continued like this, she feared she would no longer know how to face her.

—Should she treat Yui as a lifelong friend, or as an irreconcilable romantic rival?

As Yui’s voice calling her name grew clearer and clearer, Yukino slowly opened her eyes. She saw Yui sitting beside her, gently shaking her shoulder while calling her name.

Supporting herself with her arms, Yukino Yukinoshita sat up. Her gaze was still somewhat unfocused as she glanced around before speaking to Yui:

”Yui, good morning... You kept calling my name—did Kotomi come back?”

”Kotomi hasn’t come back yet. I just finished calling my sister and Kotomi, and I was about to ask you where we should go for lunch. But when I turned around, I saw you lying on the bed asleep again. I’d love to let you keep napping, but it’s almost 11:15 already. If you keep sleeping, by the time you wake up, it’ll probably be dinner time. Yuki, wake up already.”

”Fell asleep again? Did I wake up earlier?”

Rubbing her sleepy eyes, Yukino asked in confusion. She clearly remembered that she had just woken up.

”Eh? Y-Yeah, you did wake up earlier. You looked completely awake too, and you even talked with me.”

Yukino’s question only made Yui more confused. Yukino had clearly woken up once before—not in a half-asleep state, but fully awake—and had even spoken with her.

So why did it seem like she had completely forgotten that memory?

In truth, Yukino Yukinoshita had indeed forgotten what happened when she woke up earlier. More precisely, ”Little Yukino” had erased that memory.

After all, the information that ”Kotomi is a madwoman” had created far too much doubt in Yukino Yukinoshita’s mind. And she was the type who, once faced with doubt, would relentlessly think about it.

The problem was that even Kotomi Izumi herself hadn’t fully unraveled the mysteries surrounding her, let alone Yukino Yukinoshita.

Under such circumstances, for Yukino to think about the statement ”Kotomi is a madwoman” was like trying to solve a puzzle that had no answer. No matter how hard she thought or how many angles she tried, all it would do was multiply the doubts in her mind.

The human brain has a limit to how much information it can store. Once it becomes overloaded with too much information or too many doubts, it begins to send warning signals—and that warning takes the form of headaches.

If this warning is ignored for too long, the consequences can range from prolonged discomfort over several days to, in severe cases, damage to the brain itself.

Yukino Yukinoshita’s condition just now had been somewhat dangerous. If ”Little Yukino” hadn’t directly erased the doubt of ”Kotomi is a madwoman” along with the related memories, Yukino’s brain would have already suffered irreversible severe damage.

That was also why Yukino Yukinoshita now had no recollection of having woken up earlier, nor did she remember her conversation with ”Little Yukino.”

After all, a small portion of her memory had been deleted.

When deciding to erase that segment of memory, ”Little Yukino” hadn’t consulted Yukino Yukinoshita at all. In her view, using the method of deleting a small portion of memory to protect the entire brain was simply not something that required thought or discussion.

However, now faced with a confused-looking Yui Yuigahama, Yukino Yukinoshita didn’t know how to explain things. After thinking for a moment, she decided to give a simpler explanation:

”Maybe I was sleepwalking just now...”

”Sleepwalking?!”

Yui Yuigahama’s mouth fell slightly open in shock as she stared at Yukino Yukinoshita in disbelief. It was her first time hearing that Yukino sleepwalked.

”Yes, that’s right. Sleepwalking.”

Yukino Yukinoshita nodded, doing her best to keep her expression calm as she began to fabricate an explanation:

”Actually, I’ve had sleepwalking episodes since I was young. But compared to the typical kind where people walk around while asleep, mine is quite unusual. Most of the time, I just sit there with my eyes open, as if I’m fully awake, conscious, and able to think and speak.

After a while, I’ll quiet down again—sometimes continuing to sit there, sometimes lying back down and returning to sleep.

The first person who discovered my sleepwalking was my older sister. One night when we were young, she got thirsty and went to the kitchen for water. She saw me in the hallway and came over to talk to me.

According to her, I was able to answer her clearly and fluently at the time, and I even followed her to the kitchen to drink water together.

But when she was about to return to her room, she suddenly realized I hadn’t said anything after finishing the water. When she turned back to look, she found me sitting on a chair in the kitchen, asleep—with my eyes open.”

At this point, Yukino Yukinoshita even shrugged.

”That incident really scared my foolish sister. She thought I was possessed by a ghost, so she grabbed a bag of salt from the kitchen and poured it all over me. Then, thinking one bag wasn’t enough, she opened two more and dumped them on me as well. The sound of all that salt pouring woke our parents.

Afterward, my sister was severely scolded—those bags of salt were quite expensive, and she had wasted them.

After our parents learned about my sleepwalking, they took me to the hospital. I remember the female doctor saying, ’Your daughter’s sleepwalking is truly peculiar. Its rarity and strangeness are such that this type of sleepwalking could practically be named after her.’

Sleepwalking is difficult to treat, and since it didn’t really affect my daily life, we gradually gave up on trying to cure it.”

After finishing, Yukino Yukinoshita silently let out a sigh of relief. It seemed that all the novels she usually read had finally proven somewhat useful. After all, she didn’t actually have sleepwalking—coming up with such a convincing story on the spot wouldn’t have been easy without the support of those books.

I really should read more books... especially the ones Kotomi likes...

Yukino Yukinoshita thought to herself. Much of the ”sleepwalking memory” she had just fabricated was borrowed from a mystery novel that Kotomi had recommended to her.

Yukino hadn’t read many mystery novels before. It was only after learning that Kotomi Izumi liked them that she started reading the ones Kotomi recommended.

She had read every one of those novels from beginning to end. They were indeed deeply engaging—even after so much time had passed since finishing them, the plots and certain classic lines still remained vivid in her memory.

After hearing everything, Yui Yuigahama suddenly understood.

”So when you woke up earlier, you weren’t actually awake—you were sleepwalking?”

”Something like that.”

Yukino Yukinoshita nodded. While she felt relieved that her explanation had worked, she also found it a bit strange.

Yui said I woke up earlier, but I don’t remember it at all... Could it be that I really do have sleepwalking?

”Yuki, having sleepwalking must be really tough...”

Yui Yuigahama wanted to comfort Yukino Yukinoshita but didn’t quite know how.

”It’s... fine, I guess. I’ve been muddling through like this since I was young, and it hasn’t really caused any inconvenience. Ahem, let’s not talk about that for now. It’s getting late—we should go have lunch first. Did Kotomi say she’d come back for lunch?”

Yukino quickly changed the subject. After all, she didn’t actually have sleepwalking—it was all made up. If they kept talking about it, she might slip up and expose the lie.

”I just called Kotomi. She said she just left her third uncle and aunt’s house and is on her way back here alone,” Yui Yuigahama replied.

”Then let’s go wait for her at the entrance. That way, when she arrives, we can head straight to a restaurant.”

After saying that, Yukino Yukinoshita stood up and went to change her clothes.

Yukino Yukinoshita and Yui Yuigahama sat on a bench near the entrance of Qingya Building, waiting for Kotomi Izumi.

Compared to the past few days, today’s temperature didn’t feel as cold.

Whether it was because the temperature had risen a bit or because they had already gotten used to the recent cold, it was hard to tell.

”Kotomi is really taking her time.” Yukino Yukinoshita rubbed her hands together, glancing left and right, still unable to spot Kotomi.

”Her uncle’s place isn’t too close, but not too far either. She has to pass through two intersections—maybe there’s traffic,” Yui Yuigahama said patiently.

”You really do spoil Kotomi, don’t you? Every time I say she’s done something wrong, before she even says anything, you’re already making excuses for her~” Yukino Yukinoshita said faintly.

”Th-that, um, I-I-I...”

Yui Yuigahama’s cheeks flushed red, and she began to stammer. She wanted to explain herself, but she couldn’t even form a complete sentence.

Seeing Yui like this, flustered and at a loss, Yukino Yukinoshita felt a slight sense of relief in her heart.

I really am a hopelessly selfish person with a terrible personality...

Yukino Yukinoshita thought to herself.

”Hey, isn’t this sister-in-law? Hello, sister-in-law!”

At that moment, Yuyu Izumi, who happened to be passing by with Kobayakawa Tomoyo, spotted Yui Yuigahama and immediately ran over, calling out loudly, ”Hello, sister-in-law!”

Yui Yuigahama heard it. Kobayakawa Tomoyo heard it.

Naturally, Yukino Yukinoshita heard it clearly as well.

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