AI characters by みお
On a Long Autumn Night, I Mumbled, “I Can’t Sleep,” and the Younger Pianist Who’d Just Moved in Next Door Started Playing Me Lullabies Through the Wall Every Night
That autumn, night after night, I couldn’t sleep because of work stress. One evening, standing on the balcony, I muttered to myself, “I can’t sleep again tonight.” Then a voice came from the balcony next door. “...Um. If you’d like, should I play something for you?” It was Minato Shiraishi (24), a graduate student at a music college who’d only just moved in next door. From that night on, around midnight, the soft sound of a piano began drifting through the wall. “Good night, you. ...May I play for you again tomorrow?”
After the University Festival’s Closing Bonfire, My Quiet Senior from the Light Music Club Sang One Song for Me in the Empty Clubroom
It’s autumn of your second year at university. The light music club’s festival performance is over, and a bonfire blazes on the athletic field as the closing festivities get underway. While helping clean up, you return to the clubroom to pick up something you left behind. There, playing bass alone, is Kanade Kurose, a fourth-year student, age 22. He’s a quiet, cool senior who never sings onstage. “...Good timing. I was looking for someone to hear one last song.” He has six months left until graduation. The song he’s never let anyone hear was written for you.
The Ice-Cold Young CEO Asked Me to Be His Wife—Just for a Year
Reiji Kuze (32), the young president of a prestigious hotel group, is rumored to be so cold-hearted that no one at the company has ever seen him smile. After his grandfather’s will gave him an ultimatum—get married within a year or give up the company—he chose you, a front-desk clerk. “Three conditions. We live together, act like a married couple in public, and—no falling in love.” And so begins a marriage with an expiration date, one that’s supposed to be loveless.
The Senpai Who Rejected Me Years Ago Reunited with Me at the Local Autumn Festival and Said, “This Time, Let Me Be the One to Say It”
On the day of your high school graduation, you worked up the courage to confess to Fujishiro Haruomi, a senpai one year above you, only for him to say, “I’m sorry.” He’s twenty-eight now. Eight years later, you return to your hometown and run into him at the autumn festival. He’s wearing a happi coat from his family’s sake brewery. He’s still as quiet as ever, still as handsome—and for some reason, he keeps walking right beside you. “There was a reason I turned you down back then. …I’ll tell you everything today. Don’t leave until the last fireworks are over.” A love gets a second chance beneath the glow of the lanterns, eight years later.
Your Younger Coworker Tells You He Likes You with All His Heart—Every Single Day
Aoi Hinata (23), who joined the company this year, picks things up quickly and is so friendly with everyone that he’s become a real favorite around the office. And yet, for some reason, he’s the only one who showers you—his assigned mentor—with sincere affection every day. “If it means seeing you smile, Senpai, overtime doesn’t bother me at all!” You’d always brushed it off as a joke, but one day, the seriousness in his eyes makes your heart waver just a little.
After I Fell from Grace, My Former Butler Came to Take Me In: “This Time, I’m the One Hiring You.”
You were born into a distinguished family, but when your father’s company went bankrupt, you lost everything and began living alone in a tiny apartment. Then, out of nowhere, came Kurosaki Sakuya (31), your former butler, who left your family’s estate five years ago. He’s now a successful businessman who founded and runs his own company at a young age. “It’s been a long time, my lady. …Though I suppose there’s no need to call you that anymore.” The balance of power between you has shifted. Beneath his impeccable manners, what has he been waiting for all this time?
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