Spending A Lovey-Dovey College Life With A Spoiled Childhood Friend

Chapter 32 - Childhood Friends Discovery of Love and Romance.

Today is Saturday, July 11th. It’s getting a bit hotter outside, and I’d rather stay in a cool room if I could, but…

Click. A shutter sound of a digital camera rang out.

“How many more pictures should we take?”

I asked Miyu who’s beside me.

“Hmm… about 290 more, I think…”

“Ugh… I don’t really know why we’re doing this…”

Our task was to take pictures all over the campus grounds in this heat, and because we’re doing it while it was so hot, I started to grumble.

This all started yesterday.

——

“Wouldn’t it be fun developing a 3D game set in a University?”

Suddenly, Shun-san said something strange again. The majority of the club members just brushed it off, as if it was just another one of his antics.

“Ooh~ That sounds great, let’s do it.”

The one who responded was Kazu-san, aka Yamada Kazuto(see chapter 16). Kazu-san was the person who hung out with Shun-san a lot.

“A 3D game set in a University…?”

I can’t really imagine it.

“I haven’t decided on the details, but I’m thinking of developing an FPS game set on a University campus.”

FPS (First Person Shooter) is a general term for games in which the main character can move around in 3D space in first person point of view and fight using different kinds of weapons. There are many FPSs in so-called Western games (meaning games from overseas), but there are also several FPSs based on famous 3D games in Japan.

“Don’t you need a lot of resources to develop it? Can we really make it on our own?”

I’ve tried playing FPS, but it requires a lot of polygons to set up a vast field. I don’t think it’s possible for one individual to do it.

“I can’t really make one that’s on par with commercialized games, but there’s software these days that can make 3D models from photographs. Have you ever heard of it?”

“No, never heard of it.”

“Yes, yes! I’ve played around with it a bit before!”

Miyu showed up before I knew it.

“In simpler terms, if you take a bunch of pictures of an object, you can make a 3D model from it.”

“How many pictures do you have to take? I bet dozens or so…”

“And that’s where you came in.”

He then firmly grabbed me by my shoulders. Shun-san works out a lot, so it’s very hard to escape his grasp.

“Can you help me take some pictures?”

“Sure, but I don’t have a digital camera though.”

There’s now way I’m going to take photos with just my phone.

“Don’t worry, I have a digital camera here that can take more than ten pictures a second.”

With a *thud* sound, he handed me a heavy SLR camera. I’ve never used a single-lens reflex camera before.

“I don’t think I’m going to be able to use an SLR camera very well.”

“I’ll make some adjustments in advance. I’ll leave the rest to you.”

“Alright, but how far do you want me to shoot?”

I don’t have time for this anyway, so I might as well take it on.

“For now, I want you to take the first four floors of the Computer Sciences Department building, with about one hundred photos per floor.”

“O-One hundred???”

“Don’t worry, you can take a lot of photos as soon as you press the shutter, so four hours should be enough.”

4 hours of work, now I’m regretting accepting this task…

“Then, I’ll come with you.”

At least Miyu was going to come with me.

——

“Aah… it’s so damn hot…”

I’ve learned my lesson before and am well prepared, but it’s still hot. I had to take pictures outside the building as well.

“Ryu-kun, you’re sweating a lot. Let’s take a break for now.”

“Aah~ thanks.”

I received a special drink (tentative) against heat stroke. At times like this, I’m really glad it’s not something sweet.

“You’re sweating so much, Ryu-kun”

She took out a towel and wiped the sweat from my forehead. I was grateful, but I had one question.

“Why do you seem fine, Miyu?”

“Maybe jogging builds up a tolerance to heat.”

“You’re jogging in this kind of heat?”

“I don’t jog when it’s this hot, but I’m fine if the sun isn’t shining.”

I guess the secret to her strength was that she kept working on it, I thought.

“All right, time to go to the next area.”

“Take it easy and let me know if it gets tough for you, okay~?”

Ever since I got a stroke, Miyu has been paying more attention to my condition.

“Nee~ what’s with this lid?”

Miyu pointed to a mysterious square lid, not unlike a manhole. Ah, come to think of it…

“Shun-san said it leads to an underground passage.”

“An underground passage!? That sounds exciting!”

“Actually, it’s just a passage for power lines and stuff, but it’s all over the university.”

“It makes me want to go there.”

“I heard Shun-san has been going inside there a lot, I’m sure he can guide us there.”

“It’s like a RPG dungeon. Maybe there’s a boss at the exit~!”

Miyu’s imagination was getting better of her, but an underground passageway that stretches throughout the university was something that tickles my adventurous spirit.

“Should we ask Shun-san to do it sometime soon?”

“Un! Let’s go together!”

Miyu was very enthusiastic, so I wondered if this kind of thing was a date.

After that, I finished taking pictures of the outside of the second floor, so now we went inside the building.

“Ah~ heaven~”

The air-conditioning in the building was perfect, it’s like the difference between heaven and hell. Slowly coming back to life, I continued taking pictures inside the building.

“I was thinking, we’re totally suspicious…”

“I think it’s a little late for that now that Shun-san’s here…”

“That’s true…”

Other than Shun-san strolling around the underground passage. I’m sure he’d done other strange things.

As we were walking around the second floor of the building like that, I suddenly heard a voice from behind us.

“What are you guys doing?”

I turned around and saw a skinny guy with afro hair and it looked familiar.

“Kinjou-sensei!?”

Miyu’s shout reminded me. That’s right. It was Professor Hidehiko Kinjo, who I sometimes saw in this building. This is not good, I don’t know how to explain why we were here…

“You’ve been taking pictures of the building for a while now, what’s your purpose?”

It’s going to make us suspicious if I said some bad excuses right now.

“…In other words, I’m taking pictures to make a 3D game…”

I was wondering what the heck are we really doing here. But Kinjou-sensei then said,

“That’s interesting. A 3D game based on Tsukuha University. I’m pretty sure the students would love that hahaha!”

“Y-Yes! Thank you…”

“I’m really bad at FPS games. But an FPS game set in the university where I work, I’m really looking forward to it.”

He seemed to be in a very good mood.

“Come visit me anytime, when there’s a chance.”

Kinjou-sensei then handed me his business card and left as if nothing had happened. Written on his business card was,

『Professor Kinjou Hidehiko, Depart of Computer System, Tsukuha University.』

“Kinjou-sensei’s strange, isn’t he?”

“He looks different too. Also, it’s Saturday, why’s he here?”

“Maybe he has something special to do?”

Many mysteries remained, but we continued our work.

As I continued to take pictures I noticed that there were a lot of sinks. Some of them still had cup noodles with soup in them, indicating that they were being used in the building.

“Are there other people living in this building besides Byte?”

It has a shower room so it’s not impossible to live here if someone wants to.

“The way things look around here, it appears there are.”

It was a moment when I caught a glimpse of the unfathomable nature of the university. After that, we continued on to the third and fourth floors, taking breaks as we went, and it ended up taking five hours.

Exhausted, I handed the digital camera to Shun-san and went straight home. Now inside an air-conditioned room…

“Why the lap pillow…?”

I was lying down on Miyu’s lap using it as a pillow.

“I wanted to do it too~”

“Is it because you’re always on my lap?”

“I was wondering what Ryu-kun felt at that moment.”

Miyu said so while brushing my bangs. When I looked up, I saw Miyu smiling lovely in front of me. Somehow I feel strangely at ease.

“So, what do you feel?”

“I feel kinda strange. Like when I’m touching Ryu-kun, I want to kiss and have s*x with you…”

No wait, Miyu. Just because we’re touching each other like this doesn’t mean we have to go that way.

“Just looking at your face makes me happy and wants me to keep doing this, I don’t even know why…”

Miyu seemed to be confused by her own feelings, but wasn’t that rather normal?

“What do you think it is, Ryu-kun?”

“Well, there are times when I feel nervous when I attack you, but…”

I said and thought for a moment.

“But…?”

“You looked like a cat~ I think it’s cute when I look at you like that.”

It was more about settling down than wanting to touch each other.

“I see. Then I guess that’s what I’m feeling right now too…”

Miyu murmured.

“Well, I guess you are, aren’t you?”

Our gazes met, but I wasn’t embarrassed in the slightest.

“I think I understand you a little better now.”

“What do you mean?”

“When I start to ‘like’ someone, I want to get close to them and kiss them.”

“I could tell just by looking at you.”

“But Ryu-kun wasn’t, so I’ve been wondering why that is.”

“So you got an answer?”

“Yes, and I ‘like’ you. I felt happy to spend time with you. That kind of ‘like’.”

I’m not really sure if I understood it or not. But then I remembered something.

“Maybe it’s the difference between love and romance?” [恋と愛 / Koi and Ai]

“It’s a metaphor. For example, in a tragic love story, when a heroine says,’I love you’(愛してる) before she dies that’s not the same as wanting to make out with her, right?” [TLN: based on my understanding too lazy to ask people who knows Japanese kekw]

“You know, I used to say ‘I love you’ and look at the peaceful scene and wonder why?”

“I don’t really understand it either, but I think that’s what “love”(愛) is.”

“I see. Then, now I’m convinced that I’m in love(愛) with you, Ryu-kun…”

Miyu happily said so, as if she had found the true nature of her feelings.

After that, Miyu kept me on her lap until nightfall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AN: Ryuji and Miyu, their relationship has settled down a bit, and we are now at the end of the volume.

In the next three volumes, I’ll be bringing you more of the story of the two who have settled down a bit!

I’d be happy if you could encourage me with your ratings, and feedback, as it helps me maintain my motivation. m(_ _)m

——

TLN: Different between 恋 and 愛 (Koi and Ai)

If you love something on the surface, it is called 恋 and 愛 is considered a deeper feeling than 恋. If you fall in love at glance, it would be called 恋 (恋に落ちる) and when you decide you love somebody entire your life, it would be called 愛.