July 8th, early morning.

Waking up in the guest futon at the Hoshikawa house, I looked down at the blonde angel sleeping peacefully in the bed beside me and let out a small sigh.

'...Man, last night really had me panicked.'

Last night, after the birthday cake had been eaten and the adults had opened wine in the living room and dozed off.

When I headed to Aoi's room, there she was—sitting upright on the bed, having wound a thick, bright red satin ribbon all around her body over her pajamas.

“Shizuku-chan... I’m your present. Open all of me, okay?”

The moment I saw my seven-year-old childhood friend saying such a thing with those feverish eyes, my mind as a past-life around-thirty man was filled with the shock of: "Kids these days have such elaborate games, huh!?"

A ribbon like that could strangle you if it got tangled around your neck—dangerous. So I just said, "Yeah, yeah, I got it. It's dangerous so I'll untie it," efficiently gathering up the red ribbon with a swish, and then tucked Aoi into the futon, saying, "Come on, it's time to sleep already."

Once the ribbon was removed, Aoi had squirmed with her cheeks bright red, murmuring, "Shizuku-chan undressed me... ♡" I figured it was just a relapse of her cold or something, and I fell asleep quickly too.

"Nn... Shizuku... chan?"

As I was recalling last night's chaos, Aoi sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes. Her sleep-mussed golden-thread hair swayed softly. The violet earrings I’d given her last night were sparkling in the morning light on her earlobe—she had clung to me in tears, begging not to take them off even during sleep.

"Morning, Aoi. Sleep well?"

I spoke gently from my folding chair, and Aoi leaned out of bed and hugged me tightly around the neck.

"Good morning, Shizuku-chan… Um, there's something I absolutely have to tell you."

I could feel her body heat directly. With her face buried against my chest, she said in a small but clear voice:

"I... love Shizuku-chan. I love you most in the whole world, more than anything, more than anyone. So, stay by my side forever. When we grow up... marry me."

It should have been the same kind of adorable, heartwarming declaration as a seven-year-old saying, "I’m gonna be Daddy’s bride!"—but her voice carried a strangely earnest, taut heat.

In this insane world with a 1:15 gender ratio, it’s not rare for a woman to live alone. In fact, it’s the norm. That’s exactly why Aoi must harbor such intense yearning and dependence on someone "special" like me.

'...Well, a childhood first love is that kind of thing, isn't it.'

I recalled my past-life corporate slave days, when the daughter (age five) of a senior colleague at work told me, "When I grow up, I'm going to marry you, big brother!" That classic adult phrase I’d replied back then with a laugh, together with her father.

Not brushing off Aoi’s serious feelings, but also not giving her irresponsible expectations. A perfect counter from a skilled salesman—gracefully dodging without causing offense.

"Thank you, Aoi. I really, really love you too, and I treasure you a lot."

I wrapped my arms around Aoi’s back and patted it gently.

"But you know, we're still seven, right? From now on, we’ll see a much bigger world and meet all kinds of people. You're super cute, so someday an even cooler prince than me might show up, you know?"

"No way! I don't want anyone but Shizuku-chan!"

To Aoi, who was shaking her head, I narrowed my eyes just a little and dropped my sweet, husky voice.

"...So, here’s the thing. When we grow up, if your feelings haven't changed at all by then... At that time, I'll accept all of your feelings. Promise."

With a soft smile, I hooked my pinky around Aoi’s pinky in a pinky-swear gesture. A perfect escort: affirming a child's pure feelings while setting the condition of a vast time called "until we're grown up," gently sublimating a first love into a memory.

"...Ah..."

Staring at our entwined pinkies, Aoi’s face went bright red with an almost audible pop, and she buried her face in my chest, freezing completely.

"Come on, get changed and wash your face. The moms should be waking up soon."

Satisfied, I smiled and headed to the washroom to get ready for the morning. At that moment, I hadn't noticed even one millimeter that the condition I had casually added—"if your feelings haven't changed when we're adults"—was, to a special-grade yandere, not an "evasion" at all, but the most solid possible completion of an "absolute binding contract."

* * *

[Hoshikawa Aoi’s Perspective]

The washroom door shut with a click. Left behind on the bed in the morning-lit room, Aoi stared intently at her pinky, still entwined with Shizuku’s.

Plunk. Plunk.

Deep within her emerald-green eyes, something murky and boiled down was about to overflow with the sound of pure joy.

'...I’ve secured... a verbal promise.'

Aoi’s small lips twisted into a crescent moon—warped, yet terribly sweet.

When we grow up, if your feelings haven't changed, I'll accept everything.

Shizuku-chan said that. With a kind face, she affirmed my feelings.

'...Ahah. What, isn't that something that was a "foregone conclusion" from the very start? After all, there's no way my feelings could change. Even when I’m grown up, even when I’m a grandma, even when I’m dead and nothing but bones... I’m absolutely going to love Shizuku-chan, aren't I!'

Aoi covered her face with both hands, her shoulders trembling. Not from fear. From overwhelming ecstasy, as if her brain were dissolving.

'Shizuku-chan promised to marry me. She said that if my feelings don’t change, she’ll absolutely choose me! In other words, our future together is already guaranteed!'

Until now, every time Anju or Lise had sidled up to Shizuku, she had felt like she might go insane from anxiety. Even believing she was number one, the fear that Shizuku might someday choose someone else had always been eating away at Aoi's heart. But now, it was different.

'...I'll wait. Shizuku-chan. However many years, however many decades, until we're adults.'

Aoi stood up on the bed, clasped her hands tightly in front of her chest, and silently did the biggest victory pose in the universe.

'...But just waiting isn't enough, huh. All those "kinds of people" Shizuku-chan mentioned... those filthy pests swarming around my prince. So that they don't sully Shizuku-chan before I become an adult, I'll clean them all up, every last one, nice and tidy for you ♡'

The violet earrings swayed at her ears. The star bracelet on her wrist. Stroking the marks of ownership bestowed by Shizuku, the blonde angel and joyfully began to plot her "pest extermination plan" as the future legal wife.

* * *

"Hey, Aoi—! Your mom made hotcakes for breakfast—!"

The carefree husky voice echoed from the living room. The former around-thirty guy, who had thought she'd dodged the situation with a casual condition using her past-life sales mentality, had not the slightest idea that she had just sealed a girl's life goal as "marriage to myself" and, in the process, pulled the trigger on a terrifying purge of all surrounding rivals.

"Comiiing! I’ll be right there, Shizuku-chan ♡"

Aoi flung off her pajamas, plastered the happiest smile in the world onto her face, and dashed off to the living room where her beloved waited.

A peaceful holiday morning at the Hoshikawa house. It was also the commemorative morning marking the "Holy War" over Nanase Shizuku entering a new phase.