I never thought I'd start a day with the words:
"If you don't kiss me in the next thirty seconds, I might explode."
But here we are.
It started during gym class.
I was minding my own business, doing warm-up stretches while trying very hard not to stare at Rika doing push-ups in shorts two sizes too small.
"Eyes forward, pervert," Kana muttered beside me.
"I wasn't—!"
She gave me a look.
I shut up.
But Rika was acting weird.
She was sweating more than usual. Her cheeks were flushed. Her fingers kept twitching like she was resisting the urge to cast a spell.
After warm-up, she leaned into me—literally, our shoulders touched—and whispered, "Yuuta. Help. I'm overheating."
"Did you forget to hydrate?" I whispered back.
"Not that kind of overheating," she hissed. "I'm LOVE-starved. I haven't charged since yesterday morning."
"Didn't we hold hands last night?!"
"That wasn't enough. I burned through it fighting a Chaos Beast this morning."
"Wait—you fought again?!"
"Small one. Not newsworthy. But now I'm running low."
She wobbled on her feet, then straightened up and slapped her own cheeks. "Okay. Don't panic. There's still time."
"Time for wha—?"
And then she collapsed.
Ten minutes later, we were in the nurse's office, but the nurse was out on lunch.
I stood by the bed while Rika lay sprawled across it, panting like she'd just run a marathon inside a volcano.
"Explain," I said, crossing my arms.
She turned her head toward me with the slow-motion drama of a dying anime character.
"I told you," she whispered. "I'm out of LOVE. My core is destabilizing. If I don't receive a direct charge... soon..."
Her voice trailed off.
I stared.
"Are you seriously using RPG mechanics to justify this?"
"I'm serious," she said, clutching her chest. "If my magical field collapses while I'm in this state... I could go into an emotional detonation spiral."
"That sounds fake."
"It's very real. I'll release all stored LOVE in a 10-meter radius. It's happened before. A whole flower shop got destroyed."
"You're making this up."
She reached into her school bag and pulled out a magical tablet device. The screen showed a glowing heart icon flashing CRITICAL in red letters.
Underneath:OVERLOAD IMMINENT: 2m 47s
I blinked. "Wait, is that a real countdown?!"
"Yes," she moaned. "Now hurry. Before it's too late."
I looked around the room. "Can't we just, like, hug again?"
"Not enough! I need... mouth-to-mouth LOVE infusion!"
"You mean a kiss."
She nodded, cheeks tomato-red. "Preferably passionate. With tongue. Maybe a bit of hair-pulling."
I pointed at her. "You are absolutely enjoying this."
"I'm dying!"
The timer said 2m 09s.
My sanity said: Run.
My hormones said: Stay.
My soul just wept silently in a corner.
"I can't believe I'm doing this," I muttered.
I leaned in.
"Wait!" she said.
I froze. "What now?!"
"I... I want to close my eyes first."
I resisted the urge to slam my head into the wall.
She closed her eyes. Her lips parted slightly.
I leaned closer.
The air felt heavy. Static clung to my skin. I swear the heart monitor on her device was beeping louder.
Our noses nearly touched.
I felt her breath.
"Yuuta," she whispered, "don't mess this up."
"That's not helping!"
Thirty seconds left.
I gulped—
And the door slammed open.
"Yuuta?! Are you in here?!"
Kana's voice.
Of course.
I dove away from the bed like it was on fire.
Rika blinked, startled. "Hey, I wasn't finished charging—!"
Kana stared at us.
I was on the floor.
Rika was on the bed, face flushed, skirt slightly rumpled, magical tablet glowing bright pink on the nightstand.
There was only one way this looked.
"I..." Kana started.
I opened my mouth.
"I CAN EXPLAIN!" we both yelled at once.
Kana's eye twitched.
"Explain what, exactly? Why you were hovering over a moaning girl who looks like she's about to pass out from sheer romantic bliss?!"
"It's not romantic bliss!" I said. "It's magical energy loss!"
"That's not a thing!"
"IT IS NOW!"
Kana threw up her hands and stormed out.
Rika pouted. "Well, now I have to start the whole charge-up process again."
I stood up, head spinning.
"New rule," I muttered. "We only do this stuff outside of school."
"But that's boring."
"No negotiations."
She sighed. "Fine. But next time I overload, I'm grabbing your face and kissing you in the middle of math class."
"You wouldn't dare."
She grinned.
"Wanna bet?"
That evening, back home, I flopped onto my bed and stared at the ceiling.
Somewhere, a magical girl was watching me from a rooftop, calculating the exact number of seconds before she could "recharge" again.
My lips still tingled.
My brain still screamed.
And my heart... well.
It was complicated.