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Today, Rentarou is walking home from a wonderful date with four of his girlfriends (unfortunately, the rest of the family was busy or had other things come up).
He’s still a little shaken. It was another horror movie, themed around Japanese history and youkai, and though Iku had simply been delighted to be joined by other members of the family this time, it appears that not even that whole haunted house fiasco from a few weeks back (is that how time passes in this manga?) has fortified his resistance to spooky creatures and jumpscares.
Still, he thinks to himself with a typically lovestruck smile, it was all worth it to hear Rin gushing all about it afterwards! The way she folded her hands and leaned forwards all propriety forgotten, eyes sparkling with delight as she described the way those youkai mutilated their victims…! There isn’t a sight in the world more precious, truly.
And it wasn’t as though Rentarou had endured it alone. The first time he jumped Iku laughed in that refreshing way of hers and offered a hand; ‘here – if you need something to cling on to, I’ll be right here! C’mon, no need to be shy!’ Kishika, likewise, had questioned quietly whether he wished to leave early; her stalwart presence had been invaluable, and her praise afterwards of his strength of will in facing his fears still left him puffed with well-deserved pride.
(He still doesn’t understand Yaku’s reaction afterwards, though… She praised the realism, but when Rentarou questioned whether she watched a lot of horror movies, she simply grew quiet and mumbled something about ‘the horrors of war, indeed…’)
Well, they’d all enjoyed themselves is the main point – even Yaku, once Rentarou managed to cheer her up with some old-fashioned amezaiku. As always it was sad to say goodbye at the end of a date, but he insisted on walking them to the train station (and would have gone even further had Kishika not assured him that she lived close enough to Rin to act as escort herself), so now there’s nothing left to do but return home.
...but with those youkai still fresh in his memory, being alone is a little scary. And so Rentarou soothes his nerves with thoughts of his beloved girlfriends!
It’s a shame not everyone had been able to come, but he totally gets why. Uto had offered a characteristically philosophical counterpoint regarding schedules and ‘feeling the moment’, but he hadn’t needed Karane’s tsukkomi to know she just isn’t too great with jumpscares. Which is super cute in and of itself!! He loves Uto’s serene and independent demeanour, but he loves equally greatly how adorably flustered she can get whenever something startles her! That blushy, speechless Uto is the absolute pinnacle of pinnacles of cuteness!! And so is the normal Uto!!!
Abruptly, Rentarou’s pace halts. The Wayfarer Cafe…!
Was this place always so close to his house? But then again, he did travel pretty far to the train station, and he wouldn’t normally take this route back. That in and of itself is a very Uto-like experience to have had, he realises, and that makes him so happy he just can’t resist popping in to see if his adorable girlfriend happens to be passing through as well.
(And, well. Though Uto might value her solitude… Rentarou would really kind of appreciate her mellow vibes right about now.)
He dresses just as he had the last time and scans the park (room?), but there’s quite a crowd here today – who knew the bard lifestyle was so popular?
“Hey,” he offers to any and all nearby, “has anyone seen…”
But he can’t ask for Uto. That’s not how this place works – as Uto would put it, it’s a haven for strangers to pass but briefly ‘fore their paths diverge in a wood ever more. Or perhaps not. Point is, nobody’ll know her name.
“Er – a girl? The most beautiful girl in the entire world, if not the very universe itself?”
A friendly man approaches, faithfully kitted in bardly attire. “Ah – a most marvellous quest, if I may say so myself. I wish you all the luck in your star-crossed pursuit.”
“Uh, no. I mean a specific girl. She’s actually my girlfriend already.” Something which Rentarou still can’t help but blush over. “She likes to come here a lot. She’s usually wearing a hat, with a feather? And a big poncho, and an ocarina, and…”
Yeah like literally everybody hear is wearing those things.
The man squints. “You may need to be more descriptive…”
Well, if there’s anything Rentarou can do, it’s list off the wonderful qualities (read: all of them!) of his girlfriends. “She has the most gorgeous fluffy hair imaginable, a deep blue green like the ocean and sparkling like seafoam, and it’s so soft and light it flutters even without the wind and it covers one eye in this super mysterious way – did I mention she has eyes of the absolute deepest darkest black like you could drown in-”
“Okay, um,” (“them, and I almost forgot her dorky little ahoge which just suits her perfectly-”) “I get it! Okay! I think I know who you’re talking about.” He gestures further afield; the crowd parts, and there indeed she is. “He’s right over there.”
Rentarou beams. “Thanks, I really appreciate it!”
“But just so you know…”
Rentarou raises an eyebrow. The guy looks a little apprehensive, but then pushes on.
“Sorry to tell you, my friend… but that’s not a girl. It’s a guy.”
“No, she’s a girl.” This is a first, but he can’t blame him. “She really does look androgynous though, doesn’t she? That boyish appeal really is one of her best features!”
The guy huffs and Rentarou’s blood immediately grows hot; is he laughing at Rentarou’s girlfriend?! Does he think it’s weird or funny or embarrassing that she isn’t some super girly girl like everyone else?!
“Dude, I’m not assuming. He literally told me he was a guy ten minutes ago.”
Rentarou stares. A little further away – though not, he thinks, out of earshot - Uto’s figure shifts.
She looks… nervous?
“Sorry you had to find out like this… but, y’know. It’s better to know.” The guy claps him on the shoulder. Rentarou… somewhat understands, though the protective part of him continues to mentally hiss. But mostly, he wants to be there with Uto right now so she doesn’t have to feel worried.
As much as he knows that he himself might be the cause of her anxiety right now.
Uto’s smiling the same as ever when he approaches, but he knows her well enough by now to tell that she’s shaking where she sits.
Her eyes flick roughly behind him. “A-ahhh…” A quaky voice that should never fall from Uto’s so-confident mouth. “You were speaking to that server over there just now, were you not…? A man of many tall tales, he is… I myself believe not one word of his boasts…”
She’s not looking at him.
...no. He can’t think like that.
Rentarou doesn’t understand, yet, what’s going on here. He’ll need to, rapidly, because he’s never seen Uto so look so vulnerable before and he’d rather die than see any of his girlfriends get hurt because of him.
But Uto, upon entering this place, had given herself – himself – as a man. Whatever the reason might have been… Rentarou will honour that wish.
“He did talk about you, actually,” Rentarou says simply, sitting down beside – him. “But only after you’d already caught my eye. I’d definitely have remembered if I ever met a young man like yourself here before…!”
Uto chokes.
He’s still not meeting Rentarou’s gaze. On his lap, his hands are trembling, but past the hanging strands of curtained hair, Rentarou can see the red staining at his cheeks.
“I-I see.” He hums, eyes flicking only momentarily in his direction; Rentarou smiles back, and the blush darkens. “That is… not surprising, that we have not yet met. I have marked my life as nought but a wandering minstrel, following no path save the wind through the trees.”
At last, Uto’s head raises; he stares out, unfocused, above the fire before them and beyond.
“And…on that measure – to what extent can any being state with confidence that they ‘know’ another…?” He murmurs, eyes dark and voice soft. “Is it so external, that thing which allows us to define ‘ourselves’…? Perhaps, the belief that one can fully comprehend even one’s own self may be mankind’s greatest act of egotism…”
Oh.
He gets it.
It’s all...making sense, now, for Rentarou. This role-played lifestyle of isolation and anonymity; Uto’s sense of separation between himself and the reality around him. The almost unpuncturable mellowness. The philosophical lack of faith in the concept of knowledge in itself. The really big poncho he’s literally always wearing over his chest and waist.
This isn’t just a character Uto is putting on for the day.
Ironically… despite everything Uto’s just said, he’s never understood him better.
“Well…” Rentarou considers his words. “Even if this ‘knowing’ is all fake in the grand scheme of things, or whatever… I’d still love to hear from you some more. I’ve already really enjoyed the time we’ve spent together here, today.”
Uto chuckles. “Curiosity killed the cat, or so they say…”
“Well, if you don’t want to talk any further, that’s fine, too.” Rentarou smiles. “I’m happy just spending time with you in silence, if that’s what you’d prefer. But… well.” He shrugs. “Like I said – you caught my eye. So I think it’s fair to say that I like you already!”
Uto squeaks.
It really is just the cutest thing in the world. He wishes so badly he could reach over right now and take his hand – reassure Uto that everything is okay, that Rentarou isn’t judging him or angry or hurt or anything at all. But that’s just Rentarou’s own selfish desire to be helpful. Uto has never been comfortable with too much physical contact.
Huh – come to think of it, maybe this is a ‘why’ for that, too?
“Yet, you…” Uto breathes, eyes so abnormally wide, “your reputation precedes you, fellow traveller…”
“Does it?”
“Indeed.” Uto grimaces, one hand finally leaving his lap to gesture theatrically. “The companion to all womankind, it is said…! There are none in the world enamoured so highly of the female form and mind, nor more virulently equipped to defend!… O-or perhaps...not. But – not. Not-not.”
A far cry from the Uto who’d dished out tongue twisters as easily as breathing.
An earnest question demands an earnest response. “I… suppose I can understand why some would say that,” he admits. Hadn’t he said much the same, once, while reassuring Yamame?
And it had felt true at the time. He probably wouldn’t even have thought to question it if not for Uto’s questioning.
He thinks of his girlfriends. Karane and Hakari; Himeka and Matsuri. All entirely different from one another, yet united in one special, undeniable quality. One that Uto, no matter how Rentarou thinks of him or how he sees himself, holds every bit as tightly.
“It’s certainly true that I am deeply and entirely in love with all twenty-seven of my girlfriends. I would do anything for them - would push myself to the ends of the earth if it would please them.”
Uto’s eyes are shining as brightly as his hair.
“But if it ever comes down to a choice between them and another woman… I’ll choose them, every time.” He thinks, then nods. “So… I can’t truly say that I’m a defender of all women, really. Because my girlfriends will always, always come first.
“That’s who I am. I don’t love my girlfriends because they’re women, but because they’re them. Because they’re the people I’ve fallen head over heels for, the people who make me unbelievably happy every single day, the people I’ve promised to devote myself to just as much as they do so for me…”
Rentarou swallows, fist pressed tightly to his chest. “So if I could be known for anything… that’s what I’d want to be: a man who cares for one thing more than anything else in the world – the happiness of my girlfriends, and whatever I can do to achieve it.”
A breeze blows whispers past them; Uto really never looks more beautiful than when he’s swept so by the wind, like a spirit come down to earth.
Come for Rentarou, specifically. How could he ever reject something as magical as that?
Uto sniffs; Rentarou’s never seen him cry until today. He doesn’t need to read into small gestures or trembles – Uto is laid bare before him, nakedly emotional and yearning.
Rentarou thinks he might understand this, too. He loves Uto, and Uto loves him – but had that truly been Uto, before now?
Rentarou offers his hand; after only a moment’s thought, Uto takes it, gently.
“Though I don’t yet know your name…” Rentarou remarks softly, pleased when Uto’s trembling lips perk just a little. “I have already fallen for you. Would you do me the honour of going out with me?”
Uto flings himself forwards.
“Yes,” he mumbles, in between sniffs. “I’m… I’m Uto. And I love you, too.”
They hug for a long while. Rentarou kisses his forehead; Uto wriggles cutely, which makes Rentarou sorta want to just cling so hard Uto can never escape but that’d probably just make him feel really constrained so he doesn’t, and kisses him again, and then Uto pulls back and kisses him on the lips, and Rentarou keeps saying this, but this time it’s true: he’s never in all his life been happier.
(They stay there for so long, in fact, that time escapes them, and all of a sudden it’s dark and Rentarou suddenly remembers every detail about that movie he watched, but maybe it’s not so bad if they have to keep huddling close while they walk home.)
(Not even when they both insist on walking the other – ‘Is it not the duty of a boyfriend to ease the worries of his beloved?’ ‘I mean, sure, but… objectively speaking you’re a lot more vulnerable than I am.’ ‘Haha – perhaps, or perhaps not…’ - until Uto’s dad suddenly shows up complaining about curfews and drives them both home himself.)
*
“And so, due to how things panned out…”
The family stares.
Rentarou swallows thickly. No matter how many times he finds himself in this situation, it never gets any easier. If even one member of his beloved family of girlfriends – and now, he really should say, his boyfriend – were to raise an objection, he could not rest until he had—
“Ain’t that just Uto?!” Karane’s screech soundly interrupts his internal monologue. “Like we haven’t done enough of these already without doubling up?!”
“Oh, deary me…” Yaku’s furrowed brows are far too concerned. “You’re far too young to be be growing senile yet…”
Uto doesn’t speak. Eurgh: Rentarou’s definitely messed this one up already… “No, uhh…”
Before he can continue, Kishika leaps acrobatically over the crowd to slam a terrifying clasp over Kusuri’s shoulder. “Did you not say you disposed of it – that memory tonic…?!”
Kusuri shivers right about the same way Rentarou had the previous afternoon. “No, no – I swear it wasn’t me this time…!”
Momoha laughs. “Oh, don’t worry, don’t worry – I’ll fix him right up! S’one of the few things other than booze I keep on me – I’d be dead on my feet if I didn’t have my homemade hangover cure…!”
While Mai angry interrogates her on where precisely that cure might be (“why on earth would you keep medicine in the exact same type of can as all your garbage?!”), Kurumi mutters, “No, getting memory loss that bad is actually really scary… seriously, get some help…”
Rentarou claps his hands.
Uto doesn’t squeak. (He totally does.)
“I’m sorry… I don’t like to interrupt you all,” he declares sincerely. “But this is really important. I know it sounds like we’ve all been here before, but I learned yesterday that Uto’s previous introduction was fatally incorrect. So if I may humbly ask, I’d really like you to have your attention for this redo.”
The girls look at one another; in the back, Nano puts down a rather familiar-looking volume already turned to an exact page number.
They nod.
“S-sorry...” “[I’m all ears, bud!]” “Please proceed, if you will.”
“Good.” Rentarou lets out a breath. But if he’s nervous, that must be nothing compared to how Uto’s feeling…
Sure enough, he looks as serene as ever. Seriously, how does he do that?! His boyfriend is just so cool!! (Ignoring the way Uto’s hand in his is dripping with sweat.)
“Due to how things panned out…” Uto’s grip tightens; Rentarou sucks in a deep breath. “Would you guys mind accepting Nakaji Uto-kun as my newest boyfriend?”
The family stares at him once again.
“Oh!” Momoha reacts first, swaying back with a breezy grin. “So Uto’s a guy then, huh? That’s awesome! Thanks for letting us all know!”
A shout echoes over the rooftop, leaving Rentarou wincing. “Uto’s been a boy this whole time?!” Yamame cries, mouth agape. “I-I had no idea, aye…!”
“That’s not even possible.” Suu’s hands are still half covering her ears and she looks extremely irritated. “We’ve literally all seen each other in swimsuits.”
Rentarou starts to explain – “That’s not what it means—” but Momoha gets in before him.
“Nah – what I think he actually means is that he’s transgender!” She shrugs, as though half the family don’t have actual visible question marks hanging over their heads at present. “Yannow – everyone thought he was a girl when he was a kid, but he’s always had the heart of a boy, and he’s just now figured it out, or felt comfy tellin’ us!”
A hum rings out; most of the faces turn to Uto in silent questioning.
“Well…” With a deep intake of breath, Uto’s gaze casts heavenwards, a thoughtful finger pressed to his chin, and Rentarou squeezes his hand in encouragement. “One might wonder about the very nature of this so-called ‘heart of a boy’, or so on… How is it that any of us can know what it is to be a ‘man’ or a ‘woman’? After all, ‘tis said that we cannot imagine for ourselves the life of a bat – merely that of a human pretending to be a bat. At all corners of the globe we place psychological divides, sectioning ourselves into groups two or ten or thousands. But I am me, and you are you, and it is only in the unvarnished expression of oneself that any two people can experience true, unvarnished connection… or so they say.”
For a third and final time, the family stares. As one, they turn to Rentarou.
He nods. “That’s right. Uto’s trans.”
Obviously. Isn’t that what he just said?
It’s like a weight rises from the entire group; several of the girls push forward, offering their thanks and praises, though Rentarou never lets go of his boyfriend’s hand.
“Big thankies for telling us, Utocchi~ For realz, this is blowing my brains right now, haha~”
“This is so totally abnormal! I really shouldn’t have expected anything less – Sensei, is there even a limit to your amazingness?!”
“I don’t rrrreally meownd… Boys and girrrrrls arrrre all the same to kitties…”
“Izzat all? All that ain’t nothin’ between a china plate like you an’ I, ya daft berk!”
Uto lowers his head. “...my thanks,” he says simply, and judging by the smiles all around, all the family knows him well enough to understand how much such few words say.
“Y’know, I actually have a guy like you in my class at uni!” Eira pipes up with, arms comfortably crossed. But moments later, they turn more into a full-body hold. “Stuff’s pretty hard for him, though… U-ugh, I don’t like that I can’t take care of dysphoria with a kick…”
“This… fore yard?” Yaku asks croakily. “Is there something wrong with the garden…?”
Meme shakes her head. “N-no, Yaku-san, I think she’s referring to, um… t-top surgery, and things like that? That’s, um, surgery to take away b-breast tissue, for people who don’t want it…” She trails off murmuring something about ‘reductions’ and ‘medical necessity.’
“Surgery…?” Rin repeats, voice breathy. “By which you mean, plunging a knife into one’s chest and rearranging the bloody flesh and fat…?”
Iku raises a hand. “Wanna go?”
“Drugs, too!” Kusuri squeals over background gasps of ‘Molto violento…!’ “Drugs can do aaaaall sortsa stuff to make your body look how ya want, yep yep! Don’t worry about all those doctors, I can whip ya up something waaaaay better in the blink of an eye!”
Chiyo growls. “Encouraging people to break the law and take dubious untested substances…!”
Finally, Uto finds his voice again. “Please, girls – worry not. For now, I am at peace with mine own figure. The body, after all, is but a plaything of the soul, no?” (Behind him, Kishika nods with a strange intensity.) “Knowing that I have earned the faith of Rentarou and his family – no, my family…” Uto nods. “Makes me… entirely happy.”
And he is. His smile is more than aloof and distant and wise. It’s wobbly and big and ducked, and there are tears collected at the edges, and Rentarou has never loved him more.
“Wahoo!” Naddy leaps up, arms in the air. “That’s some darn mighty freedom if I ever done heard it!”
“Would that we could all be so honest about our deepest selves,” Rin adds, to which a now-battered Iku grins delightedly.
“The diligent pursuit of one’s goals can be considered no other than the height of beauty!”
“Yes. Conducting yourself without shame is the most efficient for the production of memories.”
“And I totally agree as well! But, uhh…” Chiyo raises an awkward hand. “Just to make sure we’re doing this properly… is this going to change anything for the family, now that we have a boy here?”
The family hums thoughtfully, broken only by Suu’s whispered remarks of “So, now it’s two boys…” And “Yeah… for so long it was one, but now, here’s two…!”
Rentarou glances at Uto, but he doesn’t appear offended. “If you would ever prefer I remove myself from such sacred bastions of femininity, I would not waver in doing so.”
But Matsuri grunts. “You wot? What kinda bleedin’ solution is that, splittin’ you off from the crowd like th’leaves of a spring onion?!”
“That’s right.” Himeka nods firmly, arms crossed. “Segregating Uto isn’t an option. That’s not what this family stands for.”
Momiji waves a hand (currently clasped around a spongy key-chain Ahko must’ve gifted her). “I mean, sure, but like… do we ever really keep the genders separate much, anyway?”
Kurumi hums. “I guess that’s true… Like, Rentarou was there for the fake drinking party we did when we all slept over, and then we went to that mixed-gender hot springs so he wouldn’t be on his own…”
“Exactly!” Hakari nods decisively. “Rentarou’s our beloved boyfriend, after all! I’m sure all of us like things best when he can be with us, too, no? What would one more boy matter? Why, in retrospect, going so far as to wear swimsuits to a hot springs seems like quite a bit of an overreaction...”
“Just try and be a little less blatantly friggin’ obvious, would ya?” Karane growls. “Which is another good point, while we’re at it… If we’re worried about ‘inappropriate behaviour’ or whatever, I feel a hell of a lot safer with Uto here than I do with these two.”
Hahari and Momiji tilt their heads blankly.
“Yeah! Like…” Ahko shrugs, tugging a little at Uto’s sleeve as she bounces. “I dunno about everyone else here, buuuut… I just sorta feel like I totally get Utocchi a lil’ better, now…? And that’s, like – the biggest of the big, for realz. That whole kind of connection between two peeps, or whatever…?”
Eira frowns a little. “Right – that’s the most important thing! So really, we should be more worried about accidentally making him feel bad without meaning to…”
“If the honoured Uto-sama has any requests, I will without hesitation strive to fulfil them…” Mei bows, perfectly precise brow just one millimetre angled down. “However… in an ideal world, I would prefer to understand your tribulations well enough to avoid any such missteps before they occur. Of course, it goes without saying that I would seek immediate punishment were that to ever happen.”
“Well, then~!” Hahari announces, one hand to her cheek. “This sounds like the perfect opportunity for a little activity I’ve cooked up recently!” More quietly, “Mei, please retrieve the contents of wardrobe number thirty-seven.”
Karane’s eyes shadow. “The wardrobes of a wealthy family…”
“After all…” Hahari giggles. “If one wishes to understand one another, what better way than to dress the part? By dressing as boys and taking an all-too-literal walk in their shoes, perhaps we may also be able to experience the world as our dear Uto-chan does – and, of course, our Rentarou-chan, too!”
“What a wonderful idea!” Rentarou gazes at his super-resourceful girlfriend with rosy cheeks. “I never knew you liked those sorts of outfits as well, Hahari-san…!”
The others seem happy to go along with it as well; Shizuka tears her eyes away from Nano to wipe her mouth before letting out “[I’m ready to roll on your orders, sir!]”
It doesn’t take long for Mei to return (sometimes it does worry him when she speeds so blatantly but he both understands and admires her passion for serving Hahari), and what follows is another in a very long line of deeply, thoroughly throb-inducing fashion show parties.
A stylish male model Mimimi! A perfectly precise butler bowing Mei! A leather-clad visual kei Himeka! An Iku who goes all-out on boyishness! A Hakari who, despite Karane’s protestations, doesn’t even try to hide her chest but that just gives a really unique and amazing appeal all of its own!!
And then, when almost all is said and done, he learns why Hahari’s eyes have looked so wicked.
“Well, now hasn’t this been an absolute delight…!” She says, and just looking at that suit makes Rentarou so ready to get taken away to some secret BDSM dungeon (platonically) and sign away his body to her via (platonic) contract! “But then, why should we girls get to have all the fun, hmm…?”
And that’s how Rentarou ends up in a schoolgirl’s outfit. Again.
Well. It’s maybe worth it when he sees how his girlfriends all ‘throb’ for him, too. No matter how embarrassing it is.
And then, from the (hastily constructed by Mei and Matsuri) dressing room, out steps Uto.
He’d wondered how Uto would dress up for this particular assignment. In theory, he should’ve been given the same kind of outfit as Rentarou… though, Rentarou had already seen Uto gal-ified during that one date with Ahko, which however treasured a memory was more than enough for him.
Uto, instead, just looks… good. Tight jeans; a nice brown leather jacket over a white t-shirt.
“True beauty, naturally…!” Mimimi whispers.
Rentarou looks him up and down; Uto flicks back a lock of hair, only half pretending in his coyness.
“You look amazing,” Rentarou breathes out.
Uto shrugs. “Compared to those surrounding me, one might say that I have barely tried at all…”
Rentarou will never get enough of that earnest little smile.
“However, after all this time, perhaps the most scandalous costume of all be simply… me.” He chuckles. “I like it.”
And, man. If Rentarou had ever felt his heart beat faster to see Uto’s liquidy eyes focused directly onto him before, that’s nothing compared to how he feels now.
“Which is to say… have we met?” Uto strides closer, with confidence, and brushes a knuckle of one finger under Rentarou’s chin; despite the height difference, he gulps. “I’m sure I’d have remembered meeting such a lovely young lady…!”
Rentarou huffs. Yeah, this girly stuff is just sorta uncomfortable. If this is what Uto’s dealt with all these years, he already understands him a whole lot better
(Once again, his wonderful and marvellous girlfriend Hahari is the true and unacknowledged hero!!!)
(Hahari, at present, is taking creepshots at a speed as yet unseen by mankind.)
But the Uto in front of him – commanding and sensual and downright seductive…
When their lips touch, Rentarou lets out a little high-pitched moan. It’s warm, and it’s real, and it’s exciting and new and it’s unveiled, unqualified Uto.
The other girls cheer. Iku and Naddy let out synchronised whoops; Hakari and Rin let out girly little giggly squeals of shared joy; Meme stares just a little too long at the point where their lips touch.
But when they part, for this one moment in time, Rentarou only has eyes for Uto.
“I’m so…” Why does his voice sound so gurgly? “Happy that you’re my boyfriend…!”
“W-wha-”
“Please don’t cry, Rentarou-kun!” Yamame calls, alongside a startled “You wot?!”
But after a moment, Uto just chuckles, patting him on the back. “It may perhaps be said that tears of joy are the sweetest of all… or perhaps not.”
“Yeah, liiiike, this is so super-duper heart-warming right nowwww~ I’m losing my mind over here for really realz, just a total mess~”
“I-I definitely don’t think he looks even more manly and handsome somehow when he’s crying and cradled by another man…!”
“[And with that kiss of true love, our fated couple did live happily ever after…!]”
Out into the city, an echo: “I LOVE MY BOYFRIEND!!!!!!!”
“Grrrrr noise disturbances on school property!”