You Were Experienced, I Was Not: Our Dating Story 8th Date (Light Novel) (eBook)

Makiko Nagaoka (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025
250 Seiten
J-Novel Club (Verlag)
978-1-7183-0988-3 (ISBN)

Infos

Ryuto and Runa's old friends couldn't have called at a worse time. Not only does the promised fun never come, now Runa wants to wait until marriage! It goes without saying that Ryuto is pretty bummed out at this development, but how could he go against Runa's wishes now after having once made up his mind to never do so? But it seems like Runa herself isn't entirely satisfied with the state of things either...
Meanwhile, Maria's struggles to find love continue. This time, it's Kujibayashi Haruku-Ryuto's wacky, brainiac friend at school-who steps up to the challenge. The epitome of social awkwardness, this oddball could hardly be any further from landing himself a girlfriend, at least on his own. But Ryuto promised to help Maria find a boyfriend, and given his extremely limited circle of friends, it's time for desperate measures! Does this bizarre pairing even stand a chance?

Textauszug

I knew it wasn’t necessarily as big of a deal as it seemed in the moment, but the timing of it hurt so much. My grief knew no bounds. I wanted to turn back time. Had I known that tonight would turn out like this, I would’ve gone for it yesterday, ignoring how sleepy I’d been—I would’ve even put toothpaste in my eyes to wake myself up if I had to.

Feeling empty inside, save for an overwhelming amount of sheer regret, I continued to listen in a daze.

“I guess if all four showed positive...that means you probably really are pregnant...” said Runa with a serious look on her face.

“We can’t be sure yet, right...?” Icchi sounded like he was trying to stubbornly cling to a last shred of hope. His voice trembled. “You know that whole thing about false pregnancies...?”

“It may not be very convincing coming from a humanities major like me, but I’m pretty sure somebody’s imagination can’t produce the chemicals that would yield a positive result on a pregnancy test...” Perhaps my reply was too levelheaded, but that was how dejected I was at the time.

Icchi was persistent. “You can’t know that! The human imagination is a powerful thing!”

“But you guys didn’t want children, did you?” I asked. Judging by their panicked state, it was hard to believe they wanted children badly enough to imagine Tanikita-san being pregnant.

“By the way... Did you guys use protection...?” Runa asked hesitantly.

I remembered that back in high school, Icchi would say that even total introverts should always have a condom on hand, just in case.

“We did... But one time, it tore while inside...” he replied.

“That’s why I asked if it was really gonna be okay!” snapped Tanikita-san. “Because it looked like it could tear—but you told me it was fine!”

A fierce and graphic debate began to unfold on the other end of the line.

“Well, that’s why I’ve been carrying around my own box since then! So we didn’t have to use the ones at the hotel!”

“It’s too late now that the tests are positive! It’s gotta be from that time!”

“You were the one who said you wanted to go for another round just before that!”

“What?! You were totally raring to go too! You should’ve just said you couldn’t go for more because we were out of L-sized condoms, and the rest were too small!”

“You’re my first girlfriend! How was I supposed to know it would rip while we were going at it just because it was a bit small?! Even you said it was probably fine! If you were so worried, why didn’t you take one of those pills?!”

“Why is this on me now?! This happened because you didn’t think about the size of your thing, and somehow I’m to blame?! You can only get the morning-after pill at a clinic, you know?! Do you have any idea how crowded women’s clinics are in the city?!”

Left out of the conversation, Runa and I exchanged blank looks.

Incidentally, the first and last time I’d seen Icchi naked had been on a school trip in our first year of high school when we’d had to stay the night somewhere. He’d still been overweight back then and had a lot of fat in that area—I hadn’t noticed that he’d been that big.

“Guys, calm down...” I said. “Like Icchi said, these were just tests from the store, so you can’t know for sure. Why don’t you go to a hospital together tomorrow?”

“I have work tomorrow,” Tanikita-san replied glumly.

“By the way, did you go looking for a job after we graduated from high school?” Runa asked. It seemed like she’d only remembered to ask now. “You don’t post about work on Instagram, so I was curious. I’m sure you’ve been busy with Ijichi-kun, but you haven’t stayed in touch with us since then. Maria said she doesn’t know either.”

“I didn’t. One of my seniors at my technical school does image consulting. I manage her appointments, write materials for her, deal with clients—stuff like that.”

“So it’s like a part-time job?”

“Yep. But she’s currently mega popular on Instagram, and she’s booked out a year ahead and sees a ton of clients every day. She’s real busy,” Tanikita-san explained. “I learn a lot watching her work with all kinds of people. It’s fun.”

“Huh... That does sound like something you’d be into.”

“Sorry, what’s ‘image consulting’?” I asked quietly enough so that only Runa could hear.

“Image consultants can tell you about your personal colors and body type, right?” Runa replied.

That prompted a supplementary explanation from Tanikita-san. “Yeah. The girl I work for also has certificates in makeup and etiquette. She calls herself an ‘all-around assistant, making women’s everyday lives more radiant.’”

“S-Sorry, what’s this about ‘personal colors’ and ‘body types’...?” I asked again, apologetically.

Runa shot me an awkward smile—my reaction seemed to be within her expectations. “Basically, she can tell people what colors suit them, as well as what kind of clothing shapes are good and the overall feel, I guess?”

“Yep. Also, a lot of people—especially women—have this mental image of how they want to look. More often than not, the types of clothes and accessories that suit their figures and features don’t match their tastes. At times like that, an assistant like her works with them closely to find a compromise between what fits them and what they like—find some common ground, I guess. And once they’ve found that direction, they can go shopping with her and she’ll pick out an outfit for them. It’s kinda like what stylists do, and it looks fun. I never knew a job like that existed. I hope I can do image counseling for others one day too, so for now, I watch that girl work every day and learn from her.”

As Tanikita-san talked about this, she sounded so lively, even over the phone. It was clear she liked her current job. As an old friend of hers, I felt relieved, especially since she’d had a sugar daddy at one point.

“Then again, if I’m pregnant and have a kid, I’ll have to give up on that too...” she added, her voice turning gloomy all of a sudden.

“Um, Akari...” Runa began hesitantly. “If you really are pregnant...do you want to have the baby?”

It was the same question I’d asked earlier.

“It’s not that I want to... It’s more like abortion isn’t an option...” Her voice was dark, as though it came from the depths of despair. “I mean, I love Yusuke. I wanna be with him forever, and I want kids someday too...”

Since all I really knew about these two was how they’d been in high school, I couldn’t hide my surprise. The same seemed to be true for Runa. After both our eyes wandered the room wildly, our gazes eventually met for a moment. It was funny, despite the situation.

“It’s just, now isn’t the best time...” Tanikita-san said. She was in low spirits, and the stifling mood returned as she spoke. “I finally found my dream job, I get paid to do what I like, and I feel fulfilled every day... There’s still so many things I wanna do while I’m young—go on trips with friends, go on thrill rides, have afternoon tea in fancy cafés...” It was clear from how she sounded that she was crying. “Runy... If I go to the hospital and find out I really have a baby inside me, what should I do...?”

Her sobbing seemed to have affected Runa—she now had tears welling up in her eyes too. She stared at the phone with sorrow all over her face. “Akari...” she uttered.

Icchi had been silent for a while, but he must’ve been still there with Tanikita-san. I tried to imagine how he must’ve felt.

***

In the end, no solutions were reached, but at least we learned about our friends’ situation over the phone. We suggested they go to an OB/GYN next weekend and said that we’d come along.

Runa and I were quiet for some time after we got off the phone with them.

“Pregnancy, huh...” Runa let out. She was still sitting on the bed, lost in thought. “I guess there’s always a risk of getting pregnant no matter how thorough you are with contraception, and even if you have sex just once, the chances aren’t zero...”

“Yeah...”

My reply didn’t seem to have registered with Runa—she kept hanging her head.

“I really never thought very hard about these things before going out with you...” She sighed. “Maybe you shouldn’t have sex until you not only want children with your partner, but you’re ready to actually have them right now...”

Hold on a second...

“I’ll be starting technical school next month so I can chase my dream of becoming a nursery school teacher... But if I got pregnant now...that would really put me in a bind.”

That went without saying. But I had to consider the meaning of her bringing that up now.

As I sat confused, Runa looked up at me and spoke with a look of unease on her face. “You know, we’ve come this far... Think we might as well get married first while we’re at it?”

The mention of marriage made my heart skip a beat.

“Wouldn’t it bring both of us peace of mind if we only started doing it after building the...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 2.9.2025
• Reihe/Serie: You Were Experienced, I Was Not: Our Dating Story
• Illustrationen: Makiko Nagaoka
• Übersetzer: Makiko Nagaoka
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• Schlagworte: Coming of Age • first girlfriend • Gyaru • high school drama love story • Light Novel • modern day romance • the experienced you and the inexperienced me
• ISBN-10: 1-7183-0988-0 / 1718309880
• ISBN-13: 978-1-7183-0988-3 / 9781718309883