Chapter 9: TS Girl Chrome and Her Childhood Friend Elecia Lovelibert (Part 1)

This is a continuation from the previous post. It's from the childhood friend's perspective.　

TS Girl Chrome and Her Childhood Friend Elecia Lovelibert (Part 1)

"Hmm..."　

I groaned and looked up at the ceiling of the room.　

Lately, I've been doing this all night in my room. The fact that I've been doing this pointless thing so many times makes me realize that I must be pretty damaged.　

"Hmm..."

I couldn't help but sigh.　

Hmm, I wonder how it all ended up like this. I've always thought I was good at self-control, but it seems I was mistaken.

I'm such a helpless person, I lost control at a crucial moment and this is what happened.　

"Uhhh..."　

I play with my long blonde hair, which I am proud of, twirling it around with my fingers.　

This is a habit I have when I'm thinking seriously about something, but recently I've been finding myself doing this unconsciously more and more often.

That means I've been thinking about it for a long time, but I just can't come up with a solution that feels right.

Usually I can come up with solutions to things right away, but I guess I'm just mentally exhausted right now.　

"Hmm..."　

Groaning like this, I, Elecia Lovelibert, have been wasting my time in my dorm room for the past few days, meaninglessly producing nothing in particular.

Born into the Laveribert family, one of the most prestigious aristocrats in the country, and with such versatile talent that I can do anything, I've even been called a once-in-a-decade genius, so it's quite embarrassing for me.　

However, no matter how much I think about it, I can't come up with a good idea, so there's nothing I can do.

No matter how much I think about it, my brain just can't come up with a solution.　

Oh, what should I do really?　

How can I make up with my beloved childhood friend, Chrome?　

Seriously... it's so difficult that it's a headache.

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I, Elecia Lovelibert, have one childhood friend.　

Her name is Chrome Alleo. She is the only daughter of the Alleo family, a prestigious aristocratic family in the country, just like the Lovelibert family.　

Our parents got along relatively well, and we were the same age and came from the similar noble family, so Chrome and I were always together from a young age.

Rainy days, windy days, the two of us spent all our time together.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that Chrome is now as important to me as my family, if not more so.　

However, recently Chrome has started to avoid me a lot.　

When I call out to her, she looks frightened for a moment, and when I invite her to eat with me, she gently and indirectly declines.

Even when we were lucky enough to enter the magic academy together, whenever she saw me she would lower her head and run away, and eventually we even started going home from school separately.

We go home to the same dorm. We've always walked to and from school together.　

I'm currently feeling depressed because my childhood friend, who I've been with since we were little and whom I really care about, has acted like that.

At school, I acted as usual on the surface, but inside I felt like a hollow shell, and I spent my nights holed up in my room thinking about how I could get my relationship with her back together.　

"Ugh... Chrome..."　

What is the reason that this happened in the first place?

No, actually I have a certain idea.

I think the reason she's avoiding me is because I've been getting unusually more physical contact with her recently, and she feels unsafe.

I honestly can't believe that this happened because my love for her exploded after I realized my feelings.　

To be honest, I like her - Chrome Alleo.

Not as friends, and not as family.

I love her dearly.

It's the first time I've ever loved someone this much, so I don't know if this is what people would call love, but I'm sure I'm feeling something similar.

It was only recently that I became aware of my feelings.

About a month ago, I spotted a young nobleman bullying a commoner at school, and I threatened him to never do it again...or rather, I warned him, but the young nobleman got angry and almost punched me, and Chrome, she risked her life to protect me, which was the direct reason why I became aware of my feelings for her.

I was really touched that this girl, who is usually timid and always hiding behind me, mustered up all her courage and tried to protect me the moment I was about to be hit.

I guess this is what they call gap moe.　

Well, I had been asking her for love advice about a fictional person I liked who didn't even exist, just to see her reaction, so I had probably been feeling that way for a while, but the direct cause that made me clearly realize my love for her was that incident.　

By the way, the young nobleman who punched Chrome when she tried to protect me was punished so badly that he went numb and couldn't stand up just by hearing my name.

It's only natural that I would do that, since he had caused even a small scratch on Chrome's adorable little body. In fact, he should be grateful that I was able to let it go.

"It's painful, Chrome..."　

Anyway, ever since I realized how much I loved her, I began to feel an unusual amount of affection for her.

Now when I see her, I want to hug her, pamper her, and kiss her.

I want to feel her warm body temperature on my skin. I want to know her smell. I want to wrap my whole body around her small, soft body. I want to see her cute face up close. I want to hold her hand. I want to feel her lips. I want her to reflect only me in her eyes. I want her. I don't want to give her to anyone.

My selfish feelings for her grew stronger with each passing day, and now when I saw her I could no longer contain myself and ended up getting too close to her.　

However, as a result, she started to distance herself from me and we ended up having less contact than before, so it was completely backfired.

Normally, I would have easily noticed this, but it seems that when it comes to Chrome, I suddenly become stupid.　

"Hmm..."　

Seriously, what should I do?

It's true that she has distanced herself from me, but what hurts me most is that I was unable to control my selfish desires and must have scared her.　

Of course it's scary when a childhood friend you've been with all your life suddenly comes at you with their desires exposed.

It's something that you can understand with a little thought, but why can't I do something as simple as controlling my emotions?　

I wonder if Chrome is hurt. If she develops social anxiety or something, I'm not sure I'd be able to forgive myself.　

I really want to apologize to her right now or something, but even if I were to go and apologize for everything that's happened, she would just avoid me, and even before that, I can't bring myself to do anything because I'm worried that by getting close to her I might end up scaring her more than necessary.

Usually, I would act immediately if I had an idea. I wonder when I became such a coward.　

"Uuuh..."　

In despair, I collapses onto the desk.

What should I do? How can I repair our relationship without scaring her?　

No matter how much I think about it, I can't come up with a good idea.

Where on earth did my brilliant mind go, allowing me to maintain top grades at a magic academy that attracts talented students from all over the country?

My brain is pretty useless right now. I feel like it might even be inferior to the brains of the pets I keep at home.　

"I even lost my favorite books... I've been really useless lately..."　

In the end, no good ideas came out and my self-loathing just grew.　

It's been like this for a while now. If it continues like this, I'm going to end up hating myself.　

"Huh... it's already this late."

I spent the whole time just groaning, and before I knew it, it was already late at night. Time flies.　

...I guess there's probably no point in thinking about it any further. No matter how much I groan, it feels like my self-loathing will only increase.　

"Go to sleep..."

Staying up late is bad for my skin, and I have to get up early tomorrow. I'll leave the solution to tomorrow and go to bed now.　

...Every day I tell myself, "I'll leave it to tomorrow's me," but to this day I haven't come up with any particularly good ideas, so I guess tomorrow's me will probably repeat the same actions as today.

Well, even if I knew, there's nothing I could do about it.　

'Knock knock'

"……huh?"

I lightly cleaned up the slightly messy desk and was about to turn off the lights in my room to go to sleep when I suddenly heard a knock at the front door.　

Who could it be at this time of night? I don't think I had any plans to meet anyone, especially at this time of night.　

"Yes, yes."　

However, if someone does come, I can't just ignore them. It might be an urgent matter.　

But who could it be? Cecil and Jenny go to bed early, so they're probably already asleep, and Raylan and Suzuri are staying overnight at Professor Harkinston's for their triple magic class, so there's no way they could be here.

…So perhaps the dorm director had come to inform me of the new dormitory details. If so, he wouldn't have come so late at night.　

"Who the hell are you...?"　

I open the front door and check who is knocking.　

And there I found the woman I know best.

She had long, shiny black hair that reached down to her waist.

A small body that tickles the desire to protect.

She has a cute face with her eyebrows always lowered, looking unsure of herself.

There's no doubt about it. There's no way I could mistake her.　

"Chrome……?"　

Chrome Alleo.

The girl I had been crushing on for a while was standing in front of my room, looking apologetic and slightly suspicious as she looked around.　

"Um, well, what's wrong?"　

The sudden and unexpected event filled my mind with confusion.　

Why would she suddenly show up in the middle of the night like this?

I don't have any plans to meet her in particular...but even before that, she's been avoiding me lately.　

But why is she in front of my room right now, in the middle of the night?　

Maybe this is just a hallucination I'm having because I want her too much. If so, it makes sense...　

"Um... sorry for calling you in the middle of the night, Elecia."

Chrome, who was standing in front of me, raised her head and looked up at me with her beautiful eyes while fidgeting with her hands.　

Ah, so cute, I want to hug him... But, since she just said that, does that mean the Chrome in front of me right now isn't my hallucination?　

So it's really a real Chrome?　

Oh wait, this is sudden so prepare myself.

"Sorry, wait five seconds." And closes the door.

"Eh, yeah."　

Calm down, calm down, Elecia Lovelibert.

I am the eldest daughter of the prestigious and noble Lovelibert family, and am said to be a once-in-a-decade talent.　

I knew I shouldn't be upset just because the person I'd been longing for suddenly appeared before me. I was always calm, collected, and composed.

I must never take off my mask in front of anyone, even if it is a childhood friend I has known ever since they were little.　

Calm down. I can do it.

It's true that Chrome has been avoiding me lately, but wasn't she the one I was with all the time before that?

She just suddenly appeared in front of me.　

...Okay, calm down. I opened the door.　

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Chrome. You look so cute today. I want to eat you up."

"Eh, Elecia?!"

"Sorry, forget it. I was just joking."

"Hmm..."

It's no good, if I let my guard down even for a moment my love for Chrome will explode.　

I've got to be careful. I think I scared her.

If I do that again, she might say she is breaking off all ties with me this time.

Self-control, self-control. I must never show it in front of her.　

"So, what happened all of a sudden?"

"Yeah... I just wanted to talk to Elecia about something."

"?"

What does Chrome want to talk about?　

There were things she didn't understand in her school lessons - no, if that was the case, she could just ask tomorrow, and it didn't have to be me, someone she had been avoiding asking up until now.

Love advice - No, Chrome hasn't had any particular interest in the opposite sex lately. It's true that Chrome is secretly popular among some people because of her cute, small animal-like appearance, but even so, it's hard to imagine that she would instantly find a man the moment she got away from me.

So maybe... she's fed up with my recent behavior and has finally come to tell me that we're no longer friends?　

Ah, it's possible. My recent behavior towards her has even put me off.　

Ugh, I'd hate it if that were the case. I'd really hate it.

But I had no right to refuse to break off our friendship, since I had done whatever I wanted and scared her, so if that was really what she wanted, I guess I just had to accept it.　

"Well, shall we go inside for now? You don't want to stand and chat in the hallway."

"Yes. I'll come."

I invited Chrome into the room from the hallway. It must be hard for her to stand here and talk for so long.

Well, whatever the topic was, nothing could be accomplished without calmly listening.

We need to sit down in a room and have a serious discussion face to face.

Chrome had finally mustered up the courage to come and see me after avoiding me for so long.

So, no matter what the story is, I have to face it seriously. That is my duty now.

...Ugh, but...　

I hope what she wants to talk about is something more cheerful than breaking up.　

Oh, my stomach hurts.

I had planned to summarize it in one episode, but it ended up being longer than I expected, so I'm splitting it into two parts. So it will continue a little longer.