Our Dating Story: The Experienced You and The Inexperienced Me - Volume 4 - Chapter Ep

Epilogue

After that, we returned to Harajuku at Runa’s request and headed to a shop with photo sticker booths that Runa often went to.

It was located underground, but it was brighter than daylight inside due to the fluorescent lamps and the light leaking out from the photo booths. The plastic covers that wrapped around the booths bore photos of women who looked as trendy as they came. The sight of the photo booths stretching across the room in a long line was incredible.

Most of the customers were young, ranging from teens to college students. Some booths had long lines of people in front of them. There were couples here and there, but the vast majority of customers here were girls.

I was overwhelmed. It was my first time at a place like this. Had I not been dating Runa, I might’ve gone my whole life without coming here.

“Which one should we go in...? I guess something more natural that doesn’t do too much to how you look is the best choice when you’re with your boyfriend...” Runa said as she walked around, evaluating the booths.

I couldn’t tell the difference between them at all.

Runa looked like she had an idea. “Okay, let’s go with this one!” she said, getting in line at a booth.

Our turn came quickly. First, we had to use the screen’s menu on the outside to select a background and the number of people going inside. The countless colors and designs were too much for me to wrap my head around, but Runa promptly chose things on the screen using a stylus.

“That should do it! Let’s go, Ryuto!”

“O-Okay...”

With Runa pulling me by the hand, we slipped through the plastic cover and entered the booth. The inside was pure white. As I stood there absentmindedly, the photo session began right away.

“Strike a pose, Ryuto!”

“Huh?!”

“You can just follow the examples!” she said.

“Okay?!”

Upon closer inspection, I saw some example poses shown on the screen in front of us.

“Move up a bit!” Runa told me.

“Huh?!”

“Wait, that’s too close! You won’t be fully in the frame!”

“Whaaat?!”

“Hurry, hurry!”

While I panicked, the machine began its countdown—“Three, two, one...” was followed by a camera flash.

Then it was time for our next pose.

“C’mon, Ryuto, hold your hand out,” said Runa.

I looked at the screen and saw that, in the example pose, two people each held up a hand in the middle to form a heart.

Th-This is so embarrassing...!

“Ryutooo, hurryyy!”

It was cramped in the booth, and it was full of Runa’s scent. Standing before me, she was holding out her hand and looking at me with upturned eyes.

“Like this...?” I said, hesitantly holding my hand out too, at which point Runa positioned her fingers securely over mine.

My heart was racing so much that I was worried I might make a weird face.

We went through a similar process several times. By the time we were done taking pictures, I was completely drained in more ways than one.

“Wow...” I said.

Do all girls do stuff like this?

And it’s not like they’re all models either. I’m surprised they can strike pose after pose like that without getting embarrassed...

As I stood dumbfounded—half impressed, half astonished—Runa was doodling on a screen with the stylus with incredible speed beside me.

“Hey, this bear is so cute! You can have it, Ryuto! I guess I’ll go with the cat! Oh, this looks amazing!”

She was talking to herself, and quickly at that. Runa added all kinds of stickers and decorations to our photos. To me, it seemed like she was some new kind of hacker with the way she skillfully used the stylus. And the more I looked at it, it even started to look cool to me.

She’s a gyaru, all right... A genuine one... She must have a mountain of photo booth stickers from the past that made her so masterful at this.

And as I stood in awe of Runa’s extrovertedness, like I’d once used to...

“All done!” she exclaimed, pushing the button to indicate she was finished.

Thus, the first photo booth stickers I’d ever taken were ready.

“Wow, these are so great! They look so much better!” Runa said excitedly once she saw the printed stickers. “You’re cute too, Ryuto!”

I checked them myself. My face looked more handsome in them than it did in the mirror, my lips were tinted red, and my eyes had gotten bigger. It was embarrassing that, overall, I looked more like a girl than a guy.

Runa, on the other hand, was exceptionally cute in the photos. Her expressions and poses matched, and she looked like a perfect beauty that’d been made with computer graphics.

I used to dislike how girls’ faces were edited in stickers like these since I thought they looked unnatural, but when a girl who was actually cute took pictures of herself like these, I couldn’t help but think she was unrealistically cute. Though, of course, I preferred the real Runa.

“These are nice...”

Unable to say anything else, I went quiet after that.

All of a sudden, Runa looked at me with concern. “So, how was it, Ryuto? Your time in that booth didn’t go so smooth? Oh, wait, that kinda rhymes. I should ask Nicole what she thinks about that one.” Smiling a bit, Runa then assumed a serious look again. “You know how I once said, ‘I’m a gyaru, and I wanna do all the things that gyaru do’? I figured you wouldn’t be interested in any of it, though, so I didn’t wanna make you come along too much.” Looking uneasy, Runa pursed her lips for a moment and paused. “But this is me... I actually wanted to go to a photo booth with you sooner...but I thought it wasn’t your thing, so I held back. Was it too much...?”

I recalled what Runa had said to me before the cultural festival.

“You yourself might lose interest in me at some point. I’m a gyaru, and I wanna do all the things that gyaru do.”

So this was what gyaru did.

I felt like something deep inside me that had been bothering me just a little had gotten washed away.

“No, it’s okay,” I replied. “It was pretty surprising since it was my first time, but it was kinda fun.”

Runa’s eyes widened. “What? Really?”

“Yeah.”

“So if we see a nice-looking photo booth when we’re on a date, would you join me for couples’ stickers?”

“Sure... If you’re okay with me,” I replied without any confidence.

“Of course I am!” Runa replied, showing me a big smile. “The only couples’ stickers I can make are with you, Ryuto. Now and forever.” With her cheeks reddening a little, Runa gazed bashfully at me. “So I wanna make them with you.”

“Runa...” Moved, I felt an urge to embrace her delicate body. “Yeah... Let’s make a lot together,” I said on an impulse.

Runa brightened up in the face. “Really?! Wanna go take another one now, then?!”

“What?! O-Okay...”

Since I’d just offered to make more, refusing wasn’t an option here.

Runa began to walk around, inspecting the options again. “I wonder what we should go with next... Oh, yeah!” she said, stopping in the center of the shop. “Hey, Ryuto, do you like cosplay?”

“Huh?”

Looking over, I saw a poster on a nearby wall advertising free cosplay rentals. Apparently, they were lending cosplay outfits to people taking photos in the booths.

“N-Not really... It’s not something I have any special interest in...”

I was cautious in my reply—she might’ve already had me pegged as a pervert after what she’d asked me earlier, so I couldn’t afford to let on any more than I already had.

“Ehh...? Weren’t you into Maria’s cosplay, though?” Runa said, pouting. She didn’t seem pleased with my reaction.

She must’ve been referring to that time Kurose-san had shown me photos of her cosplay during a meeting of the pamphlet subcommittee.

“I wouldn’t call it... I mean, that was just because I knew the character she cosplayed.”

“Really...? Well, I’ll leave it at that, I guess...” said Runa, looking unsatisfied. Then, she seemed to recall something. “Oh! Speaking of Maria, she showed me one of KEN-san’s videos! The one where Ijichi-kun appears.”

“What? Really?”

“It was amazing... There was, like, a castle. You can make that in a game, huh? I guess Ijichi-kun has talent.”

Runa sounded genuinely impressed. I knew full well how amazing Icchi was at building things, but I got a little miffed at her praising him.

“Yeah, well, there’s plenty of Kids who make even crazier stuff,” I said.

Runa gazed at me for a little while and an expression of wonderment appeared on her face. “Oh, are you...getting jealous?”

For some reason, she looked happy.

“Oh, n-no, it’s not like that...!”

I realized my reaction was childish, and belated shame came over me.

But seeing me lose my presence of mind made Runa smile. “Heh heh, now we’re even!”

It didn’t feel quite right to me, but apparently, this was how things were.

“So, what do ya actually think? About cosplay,” she asked again.

“Well...”

At this point, I had no choice but to tell the truth. My face grew hot. “It’s not like I’m particularly into cosplay...but I do want to see a girl I love in it.”

“You mean...”

“I really want to see you in a costume,” I said shyly.

When she saw me acting this way, Runa’s cheeks grew red too.

“Come on... You can’t do that! It’s against the rules!” she said, blushing and sounding a bit angry.

She was really cute like that.

“So, what kinda cosplay do you wanna see me in?” asked Runa.

“Huh? Well...”

We started picking out an outfit for her. After borrowing an album from the staff, we looked through the photos of outfits inside.

“I guess a cop or a nurse would be safe choices? We always wear uniforms too, so...”

“Yeah...”

I was wavering really badly here. Frankly, I wanted to see her in all of them. I wanted her to wear every single one in the book. I’d never thought I was so passionate about cosplay.

It was probably because it was Runa we were talking about. I really thought she’d look good in any of them.

That said, I had to make a choice. Just one outfit. And if I had to pick one thing I wanted to see Runa the most in...

“Um...” I could tell my ears were getting red from embarrassment. “This...would be good...”

I pointed at a maid outfit. It was a perfectly standard one—a black mini dress, a frilly white apron, and over-the-knee socks.

Man, I’m such an otaku!

I was aware that this outfit was the choice of a virgin otaku. But it was the one I wanted to see the most. No matter what I chose here, she’d suspect I had some fetish, so there was no point in putting on airs and choosing something else.

“Ah, I knew it!” said Runa, her face lighting up. “I knew you’d say that!”

“What?!”

“You wanted me to work at a cake shop, yeah? With uniforms that have frilly aprons, right? Aren’t those close to maid outfits?”

“Oh...”

I recalled that had been something we’d talked about when we’d just started dating.

“I just thought about how a uniform from a cake shop would suit you,” I said.

So I exposed myself that early... It’s already far too late, huh.

“I’m surprised you remember that...” I added.

It had been just a small part of a trivial conversation we’d had so long ago.

“I do,” said Runa with a smile. “It was my first time getting close to a guy like you and I wondered what kinda person you were. I’ve been collecting little bits of information about you and holding all of it dear in my head. Like things you’ve said or done.”

When I saw her happy smile as she spoke with somewhat downcast eyes, emotion filled me once again.

I felt a bit ashamed of my earlier internal conflict. Runa was trying to accept even my virgin otaku fetishes. So did this, perhaps, mean that her questions at the café earlier hadn’t been her thinking how perverted I was...but rather her trying to find out more about me?

Still, why was she suddenly gathering information about me concerning sexual matters? I’d barely ever talked to her about that sort of thing before, and while she had a lot more experience than I did, I’d thought she was indifferent to it.

And when I considered what this sudden change in her meant...

My pulse rose. Maybe the convenient place my imagination went to was off the mark, but...

Was it about time? Was it coming soon? Was she...starting to think about having sex with me?

“Okay, I’m gonna go change!” Runa said.

She took the maid outfit she’d borrowed from a member of the staff and disappeared into a fitting room, all smiles. And after a few minutes of me waiting restlessly, the curtain opened and out stepped...

“Ta-dah!”

“Whoa...!”

I unintentionally jumped back. Runa simply looked too precious in a maid outfit.

That chest, which looked like it would burst out of the dress at any moment! That waist, accentuated by the apron strings! That slender but thick patch of skin between her top and socks!

And...

“Whatcha think? Does this look good on me?” asked Runa with a smile, bringing her hand to her head.

Sitting on top of her head was a pair of pink bunny ears.

“I picked this as a head accessory instead of the headband that came with the set! Isn’t it kinda cute?”

Runa then struck a cutesy pose, folding her hands like bunny paws.

I felt like a massive arrow had just pierced my heart and set it aflutter.

“Okay, now let’s go take some pics! ♡”

Wrapping her arm around mine, Runa jauntily led me to a photo booth. And so, I ended up inside one with Runa the bunny maid.

She was cute. Way too cute.

My heart wouldn’t stop pounding as I looked at her reflection on the screen.

This photo session proceeded at the same dizzying speed as the last one.

“Three, two, one...”

As the machine sounded the countdown, Runa called out to me. “Ryuto!”

“Hm?”

With the shutter on my mind, I turned toward Runa...and found her face right next to mine.

Our lips softly touched.

By the time I could freeze in astonishment, our lips had already parted and the shutter had been released.

We’d kissed. Here, in this cramped space with a plastic cover around us. A bunny maid Runa and I...

And that had been captured by the camera.

The thought of it made my heart race.

“R-Runa?”

Although we were done taking photos, Runa wasn’t making her way over to the doodle screen. When I called out to her, she smiled in a satisfied way, her face flushed.

“I always wanted to take a kissing photo in one of these.”

I loved the bashful expression she was wearing.

Judging by the way she’d said that, this must’ve been her first time too. The thought of it made joy well up from deep inside me.

“So, Ryuto...”

“Hm?”

Suddenly, Runa moved up close to me. “What do you want this bunny maid to do?” she asked.

“What...?!”

She brought her chest near my eyes. The dress looked just about ready to rip open in that area. It made me call out in discomposure.

Runa gazed at me with upturned eyes, as though to incite my arousal. “Hey, am I sexy like this? Do I turn you on? Does it make you wanna have sex?” she asked provocatively, pushing her cleavage against the middle of my chest.

My heart pounded at the springy, soft sensation, and despite where we were, I felt like I was close to losing my reason.

“Wh-What’s with you, Runa?” I asked in a panic. “You’re kinda strange today...”

Runa seemed surprised at that and moved away from me a little. “I dunno... Something’s weird with me. Even I can tell,” she said, lowering her eyes. She looked like she was at a loss. “When I try to talk to Nicole about this, I end up bothering her... My only choice was to ask you.”

“Ask me what?”

I couldn’t tell what she was driving at.

Lifting her chin in a swift motion, Runa looked at me. “Hey, we agreed we’d share our thoughts with each other, right?”

“Y-Yeah...”

Runa had been the one who’d said it, but I wanted to abide by that too. With that in mind, I prepared myself for whatever was coming.

Then, Runa said something completely unexpected.

“I wanna get you horny... I want you to see me in a horny light. Does this mean I wanna have sex with you?!”

“What?!”

“Hey, what do you think? Do I wanna do it with you?” she asked.

Runa drew near me again, looking at me with worry in her eyes. I was close to panicking.

“I’ve never felt this way before...so I dunno...” she added in a quiet, weak voice.

The photo booth’s doodle time allotment had begun long ago—by now, the timer might’ve already run out and the stickers had been printed out. I was glad there hadn’t been anyone waiting in line behind us.

While those thoughts floated somewhere far in the outer reaches of my mind...

WHAAAAAAAAAAT?!

If there was such a thing as a contest for the loudest internal thoughts, I was sure I’d be winning it right now.

My heart pounded with incredible speed as I gazed at my bunny maid girlfriend standing before me.