Although I appeared to be calm on the outside when I reunited with Shizuku, I was most definitely not calm on the inside.

There were many questions I had for her that just weren't able to leave my mouth at the time of the meeting.

I had frozen up at the crucial moment.

Questions like...

Where have you been?

What have you been doing?

Why are you here right now?

And...

Do you remember our promise?

Those questions circulated around my head over and over, but were unable to be spoken aloud.

I had managed to keep a calm façade and an amicable smile when I talked to Shizu, but I was a nervous trainwreck on the inside.

Let's hope that I placed a good impression in her mind.

I didn't really know how to interact with her since we haven't seen each other in several years, so I automatically spoke in a formal tone with her for the rest of the day.

Shizu looked a bit miffed when I spoke to her formally and distantly, but how am I supposed to talk to her now that she was a bombshell beauty?!

When she revealed to me that she was my childhood friend, some of my past memories became just a bit clearer.

In the past, Shizu had short hair and looked like a boy.

That was why I was able to so naturally talk to her without any reservation.

Little me wasn't able to recognize her as a girl and only knew Shizu as my best friend.

Gender was a hard concept to grasp as a kid, so I can't really be too harsh on myself.

Now that Shizu had grown up and become a beautiful woman, it was really hard to interact with her like I had in the past.

Surprisingly enough, Sakura was semi-unfazed when she found out that Shizu was my childhood friend.

Rather, she looked a bit annoyed for some reason.

I had told Sakura many stories of the past that involved Shizu and I, which is why she already knew I had a childhood friend.

Of course, I didn't remember Shizu's name at the time so I just referred to her as my childhood friend.

When we went back to eat lunch with Sakura, I had explained the whole situation to her and revealed how Shizu was that very person I had told her about.

She was very welcoming to Shizu and thanked her for taking care of me in my younger years, but I could tell she was masking some of her emotions.

I'm pretty sure that anyone could tell, but Sakura had the eyes of a jealous wife whose husband was being seduced in front of her very eyes.

Why though? I couldn't tell you.

I'll just put that aside for the moment and focus on the current situation.

"So, what have you been up to?"

"T-things."

"Things?"

"Ah, something like that..."

Shizu and I were walking home together and were enjoying a very stiff conversation together.

Although, most of the stiffness was coming from me.

Sakura had to tend to her sports and extracurriculars, so she left us two alone with a displeased expression.

Right now, Shizu and I were headed back to my house together side by side.

There was a sizable distance between us two that I had unconsciously created due to my awareness of her as a girl.

Every once in a while, Shizu would try to get closer to me by reducing the distance between us.

She would inch closer and closer until we were a less than a knuckle worth of distance apart from each other, which would prompt me to nervously create some more distance between us.

It was a never-ending cycle that was luckily ended due to us finally reaching my house.

"Just like how I remember," Shizu happily mumbled.

Wow, I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult.

"Haha, I guess it hasn't changed that much in the last couple years," I wryly smiled. "Boring, isn't it?"

As if denying my statement, Shizu shook her head. "It's good that some things haven't changed. I like it when things are familiar to me, so seeing this nostalgic house makes me feel extremely happy."

She had an extremely pleased expression on her face, which was quite a surprise to me.

"Are your parents home?" Shizu asked.

Oh, I never told her, did I?

"They're off on an overseas business trip, so it's just me here," I explained.

Shizu's eyes went wide as she listened to my explanation. "It's just you... and me?"

I nodded. "Yeah, it's just us... Oh."

It was at that very moment I had realized my blunder.

I was inviting a teenage girl to my house where the only other person was me.

This sounded like an H-scenario that was R-18, which was something I was not planning on doing.

Bowing with all my might, I scrambled to apologize to her. "I-I'm sorry! That wasn't my intention! I was just trying to catch up with you, so I'm sorry!"

Seeing how I was extremely remorseful, Shizu got flustered and started waving her hands. "That's not what I meant! I don't mind if I'm alone, if it's with you..."

That expression is just unfair.

Why is that flustered expression of yours so damn cute?!

"Please don't say that to other guys, they'll get the wrong idea," I scolded Shizu.

Shizu pouted when I scolded her. "You're the only guy I would say this to..."

*Gulp*

We hadn't even entered the house yet, but I was already feeling anxious at the thought of the things to come.