Without waiting for Mischa to answer, Naomi pulled her to a bus that went to the Mall of Berlin.

If one was talking about shopping, then a mall was the answer. He had brought his card with him for this occasion.

Mischa had no chance to refuse. The next thing she knew, she sat beside Naomi on a bus that went to the Mall of Berlin.

“Hmm, it says the bus needs around 10 minutes to reach the mall. We have plenty of time to talk about something, Mischa.” Said Naomi as he looked at her.

“Eh… oh, yeah. What do you want to talk about?”

“First of all, I want to ask this thing. Why did you act strangely toward me? Even if my body has changed, I am still me.“

Naomi was honestly a bit confused. He did tease Mischa a little, but her reaction was too exaggerated.

He only teased her a little, but her face went red, and she stuttered badly. It never happened when she teased her before his body got changed.

At most, Mischa would pout and hit him. That was the case before.

Mischa looked at Naomi and tilted her head a little. She also noticed that she acted a bit strange toward Naomi.

At first, she thought it was because she had no experience talking with boys. But, it was not that. She knew that was not the case.

Even when she was brainwashed, she still had control of herself. She could talk to her classmate with no problem. But, when she talked with Naomi after she was turned into a boy, she got embarrassed rather easily.

‘What’s wrong with me?’

Both of them had no experience of normal daily lives. To put it simply, both of them were awkward.

Naomi could always keep his cool because he had learned from his mother to keep his calm if she wanted to manage a company. She also managed a company at a young age, keeping her busy.

While Mischa had no time to experience normal daily life due to her being used by the Esper Association. She was forced to train when she was young, and they even subjected her to brainwashing to keep her freedom.

Hence, both of them had no experience at all when it came to something like this.

“I don’t know. It’s just… My face was hot every time you looked at me like that. I don’t know what happened at all.”

After Mischa said that, Naomi looked at Mischa strangely.

The thing that Mischa talked about, he had read about in an article. He was curious about it since he saw a couple in the burger restaurant before the press conference, so she looked it up.

Even if he had never experienced something like normal feelings and only had Mischa as his close friend, he definitely knew what she talked about.

“Mischa…” He called out to her.

“Yeah?”

“Isn’t that… that?” Asked Naomi, hesitating. He was not sure about his question. If he were wrong, then it would be embarrassing.

“That?” Mischa repeated.

He really wanted to know about it, but he became a bit embarrassed now that he was aware of it. His face reddened a little as he looked away.

“Nevermind.”

“What? You are so strange.”

For the first time in his life, Naomi was aware of his feelings. The symptoms that Mischa explained earlier happened to him. He looked away from Mischa to hide his red face from her. He looked out of the bus while looking at the pedestrians walking on the sideway.

Some of them were couples who walked happily while holding hands. He now noticed that he had held Mischa’s hand since they exited the movie theater.

He stole a glance at Mischa, but at that time, he felt a finger poking his cheek.

“Got you.” Said Mischa mischievously.

Naomi froze in his place. He was looking at Mischa, who smiled mischievously with a surprised gaze.

“What are you doing?” Asked Naomi while trying to calm himself. He never expected Mischa to pull a little prank on her.

“Hmm? Well, I will get embarrassed if I do nothing, so… I try to pull a prank? Are you angry?”

“No… I… I am not angry. It’s just; it surprised me a little.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, well…” Naomi scratched his cheek. “But it somehow made me happy.”

Mischa looked at him with a strange gaze. She noticed that something was different with Naomi when she saw him on Mount Everest, but now that strange thing became apparent.

All embarrassment that Mischa had suddenly was gone as she looked at Naomi seriously.

“Hey, Naomi. It’s just my hunch, but… Aren’t you acting strangely? More than me, I think it’s you who’s the strange one here.”

“Huh?” Naomi let out a surprised sound. But then, after he noticed that Mischa looked at him seriously, he pushed away all unimportant thoughts and asked her. “How so?”

“How do I say this…” Mischa put her left hand on her chin. She wanted to use her right hand, but it was now still being held by Naomi. “You acted like a man. A real man.”

Once again, Naomi froze. He looked at Mischa straight into her eyes, and he noticed it too.

“I see…” He nodded his head. “That’s why it’s like that, huh? Did I do something different from the usual me?” Asked Naomi.

Mischa nodded her head.

Seeing something different in oneself was hard. Even if someone didn’t feel anything strange or anything in their behavior, usually other people would notice it.

That was why people always compared themselves with others.

One person didn’t feel that he was good enough.

The other felt better than his peers.

Those two cases were often met in the world.

However, when it was being seen by different people, the difference was clear. They could judge us better than ourselves.

“First of all, the way you are acting. You never actively tried to touch me before, even if we were both girls.”

Naomi nodded his head in understanding. He had an urge to touch Mischa at all times for some reason. He had found the reason earlier, but he didn’t tell her yet.

“Then the second, you are being too flirtatious! When I was uncomfortable, the usual, you would chuckle and stop teasing me. And yet, you continued to tease me all the time.”

“Oh, that? I did those on purpose.” Answered Naomi with a cheesy smile.

“Lastly, that!” Mischa pointed her finger at Naomi, more specifically, his face. “Your smile is too… too… How do I explain it? I mean… your usual smile is not like that. It’s like… your smile right now seems artificial to make me happy. I don’t like that.”

“I see…” Naomi then tried to change the way he smiled. This time, his lips only curved a little; it was the smile of someone who found something to pass their boredom. “Am I usually like this?”

“Yes. I love that one better… Though, you look like someone who’s bored when you put on that smile.” Mischa smiled back at Naomi.

“I can’t say anything about that.” Replied Naomi. He let go of Mischa’s hand and looked forward. “We have arrived.”

As soon as he said that, the bus stopped.

Screech–

Naomi looked at Mischa and grinned. “Well then, Mischa. I know that I somehow changed after I was turned into a boy. My thought and a bit of my personality seems to be affected by the change, but… I still want to spend time with you. This is my honest thought.”

“Yes. I know.” Answered Mischa. “I also want to hang out with you. We have no time to do that because of… all the things that happened.”

“Right. So, shall we continue our date?” Naomi grinned. It was a familiar grin that Mischa had seen a few times.

“Of course. But it’s hanging out, not a date. I don’t want to have a date with you… yet.” She added the last word quietly.

However, Naomi heard that. He chuckled and stood up.

“Then, let’s hang out. Let’s have fun today.” He offered his hand to Mischa to help her stand up.

Mischa reached out to his hand and he pulled her up.

“Yes.”

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