How to Befriend a Witch (6)

.

In other words, I decided to become a little 'creepy.'

Why, sometimes, even though you used to sleep in every morning, you might start showing up at the bus stop early enough to catch the person you like on their way to school.

Or, even when you receive a present you don't particularly like on your birthday, you might smile brightly and say that you're even more grateful for it than the other presents.

Even though you don't particularly share any hobbies, you might blurt out, 'I like that too!' without thinking.

Isn't there a kind of creepiness like that?

The kind where you desperately struggle to win the other person's favor somehow.

My first meeting with Neria had been the worst, but put another way, that also meant it would be difficult to sink any lower than this.

In her mind, I was probably still 'a civil servant desperate to ejaculate inside a witch,' so for now, I decided to aim for having at least one positive description attached to me.

'A lowly species, yet he has tastes similar to mine.'

'He's a pervert, but at least he's kind.'

'My obedient pet.' That wouldn't be entirely bad, either.

After poring over the various comic books in the room for quite some time,

I was eventually able to produce one brief research finding.

"Isn't there way too little consistency between the genres?"

I had examined the bookshelf hoping to get even a little grasp of Neria's tastes, but contrary to my expectations, the comic books were far too diverse.

One was a romantic comedy. Another was a mystery. Yet another was a typical mainstream shonen manga.

That alone was dizzying, but there were even sports manga mixed in.

At this rate, rather than getting a glimpse of Neria's tastes, it felt more like someone had casually moved an entire bookstore display shelf in here.

Thanks to that, my head began to throb.

"Phew."

Still, it was too early to feel dejected.

Maybe she liked any kind of comic book.

If so, there had to be some pattern to it.

So perhaps, instead, I should show her that I was having fun reading comic books—

I was in the middle of sorting through the comic books piled beside me while thinking about what sort of scene to show Neria.

"…Wait."

Suddenly, something about the 'Neria's hobbies' I'd seen at the office began to bother me.

One was definitely games. But was the other one manga? That was the question.

After racking my brain for a while, I finally admitted that I couldn't remember for sure and took out my smartphone.

"…Here it says 'reading books.'"

Neria's personal information, which I had saved as a photo.

There was no mention of comic books in the hobbies section.

Instead, there were only vague, ambiguous expressions.

…I turned off the screen, pretending not to see the densely written list of 'things Neria hates' below it.

"Hmm."

Looking back, I had naturally assumed that Neria liked comic books and had put some of the manga she read in here as well.

Even without her explaining it separately, wasn't that the most natural assumption to make?

Otherwise, why would there be comic books in her house at all?

Like most people, she probably would have had only a few books related to studying.

But now that I thought about it carefully, she had never once said with her own mouth that she liked manga.

At most, games seemed to be true judging by her reaction, but there had been absolutely no mention of manga.

Then where had these comic books come from?

I couldn't just comfortably assume that she had created them with magic, either, could I?

…….

After sitting on the soft bed and pondering for a while,

I picked up one of the comic books I still hadn't returned to the shelf.

It was a manga about a boy who tore all kinds of demons apart with a chainsaw while going weak-kneed at the sight of women.

Unless it was someone else, I couldn't imagine Neria liking this comic book.

I looked over the second comic book, then the third, one after another.

This one was the same.

There was a subtle mismatch between it and the idea that it was a comic book Neria liked.

…….

And there was one more thing that bothered me.

I hadn't thought about it before, but the comic books were all in remarkably new condition.

Rather than looking particularly well cared for, they seemed as though they hadn't been purchased very long ago in the first place.

"I'm not certain, but…."

Once I got that far, I naturally began looking back on what my first meeting with her had been like.

Neria, whom I had spoken with through the intercom, had been kinder than I expected.

I had expected her to tell me to fuck off and get lost, but unexpectedly, Neria had merely asked me to wait a moment.

Afterward, she had looked down on me as a male prostitute, but even so, Neria had been kinder than I expected.

More precisely, that was because she had cared about my safety.

In truth, whether I got fired or not probably made little difference to Neria. Even so, she had considered a way for the two of us to coexist.

For someone described as an 'arrogant apprentice witch,' she was quite a benevolent ruler.

She had prepared a room for me.

She had told me to take a comfortable nap before leaving.

When I said I liked games in an attempt to force some sort of connection, she had held back once and told me to get the hell out to that room before she got angry.

She had even come to the room herself after about three hours, apparently intending to wake me up.

When I considered each thing one by one,

…Hmm.

This girl only had a foul mouth….

Wasn't she actually a really kind person, when all was said and done?

*****

Then the custom strategy for dealing with Neria wasn't difficult.

Nothing was a good person's greatest weakness more than other people's suffering.

A few days later, in front of Neria, I would kneel down and start by saying that I had been caught lying and was about to get fired.

Then I would add an unfortunate family background, a bank account balance that was visibly running dry, and big, fat tears, and finish with, 'Ah, fuck… I can just let you fuck me once!'

It would be wrapped up easily and come to an end.

"But this is a little much…."

Even though I knew exactly what I was doing, it felt wrong to commit such a nasty trick.

So I decided to leave this method as a last resort and, partly to confirm whether my guess was correct, take the long way around today.

"Hey, male prostitute. It's been three hours."

Just as yesterday, Neria knocked on the door and came in after roughly three hours had passed.

Opening the door without even waiting for an answer was very witchlike, but the fact that she still knocked before coming in was so very Neria that I nearly laughed without meaning to.

I barely managed to control my expression.

Then I closed the comic book I had left open for the sake of my performance and cautiously asked Neria, who stood before me,

"Witch. There's something I'm curious about…."

"All of a sudden? What is it?"

"The comic books you prepared in this room. Did you perhaps buy them specifically because of me, rather than because they're books you usually read?"

"Yeah. That's right. So you wouldn't get bored."

"…I see."

…But since she admitted it so straightforwardly,

I nearly found myself at a loss for words instead.

"I-I gave it a good read. To be honest, I wasn't particularly interested in comic books, but there are a lot of fun ones."

"Really? Good. I looked it up online, and apparently men like that sort of thing. I prefer novels, though. Ngh…."

So she really had bought them for whoever was going to be imprisoned in this room.

The phrase 'She's a good kid,' which I sometimes heard, might have been meant for a girl exactly like Neria.

While I was awkwardly smiling amid those stray thoughts, she approached with a light stretch and snatched the comic book out of my hands.

Strictly speaking, it wasn't really snatching, since it was her property in the first place.

"Do you like this sort of thing? Some romantic comedy or whatever…."

"It was fun once I started reading it."

"Really…?"

It was partly true that I had found it fun, but the bigger reason I had deliberately chosen that genre was….

There was no need to hide it.

It was because of Neria, right here.

To be honest, I preferred manga about sports full of sweat and passion, or manga where people were sliced apart like bugs from the very beginning.

But those genres wouldn't help me at all when I tried to talk with Neria, would they?

…Unlike those, this kind of manga would at least give us something to talk about.

That was the only reason I had been holding that comic book.

"I recommend that you read it later, too, Neria. At least the part I've read was pretty fun."

"…Are you being serious? It doesn't really match the impression you give off…. Still, when I looked it up last time, romantic comedies did rank pretty high among men's favorites."

"Haha…."

…What was that supposed to mean? Was she saying that I didn't look like someone who suited romantic comedies?

As I wondered how I was supposed to take that, Neria flipped through the comic book's pages in front of me.

If I was lucky, this chance might even make Neria curious about the opposite sex….

"Ugh. This is cringey."

…….

Guess not.

With resignation, Neria held the comic book out toward me.

She looked as though she were passing off a bag of fish-shaped pastries she could no longer be bothered to eat.

"You said this was fun, right? Do you want it?"

"I'm grateful, but I don't really have anywhere to put it at home. And if I just leave it lying around, I'd feel too self-conscious under the watchful eye of a witch, so that might be difficult."

"Flattery will get you nowhere…. Sigh. Fine. Whatever. You'll be stopping by my house like it's your everyday routine for a while anyway."

"Thank you."

As expected, I wasn't in a position to rely on luck.

Besides, I had always considered myself a rather unlucky person, so there was no reason to be disappointed.

…In any case, I could build my relationship with Neria carefully and slowly.

Surprisingly, Neria was one of the kinder witches around, despite having only a slightly foul mouth.

Even this small harvest was more than enough to be grateful for.

"Thanks to you, I'm realizing that you're much kinder than I initially guessed, Neria."

"Right? You've finally seen the light?"

"Yes. If they had been other witches, they probably wouldn't have bothered with such small things as the comic books or what you just said."

"I'm a really good witch, you know? Now that you get it, work hard on the act I asked for. Even if my master asks you directly, just say you're trying hard."

"Would it be all right if I said that you have plenty of will to get used to men, but that there hasn't been any progress yet?"

"That's right. Something like that."

"Understood, Apprentice Witch."

"Good, good. Now we're finally communicating."

As I fawned over her and bowed as obsequiously as possible, Neria nodded, apparently satisfied with the attitude of her underling, her arms folded beneath her breasts.

…Unfortunately, those were fairly noticeable breasts, so my eyes naturally drifted toward them, but fortunately, Neria was nodding happily enough that she didn't seem to notice my gaze.

If she had noticed, my evaluation in her eyes would have fallen another ten levels.

Before she caught me, I quickly recovered my gaze and tried to exchange at least one more word with her before she started throwing me out.

"Come to think of it, what kind of novels do you like…."

"Huh? I'm not telling you. If I tell you, you'll try to force some common ground with me again, won't you?"

"N-no, I was just curious."

"Yeah. I absolutely don't believe you. I'll give you ten seconds, so get out quickly. I'm about to go play games."

Unfortunately,

the harvest from the second day ended there.