Chapter 237: Instead, I...

"I’ve dyed my hair before. I once got in trouble in elementary school for hitting a kid who was making fun of my name. And I’ve never driven a vehicle before," She remarked, before staring expectantly at me as she waited for me to answer.Hm, she’s never mentioned dyeing her hair before, and she doesn’t seem like the type who ever had a rebellious phase, but I suppose she might have tried it out when she was younger.

And I know kids made fun of her name when she was in school, it is one of the first things she ever told me about herself, after all.

But she never mentioned hitting any of the kids who teased her. I feel like that’s the kind of thing you’d bring up...at least, I probably would. So, then, is that the lie?

As for the third one, I’m not sure...she doesn’t own a vehicle, but it’s possible that someone who does, let her try driving theirs or something. Okay, this game might be tougher than I thought.

"Alright, I’m gonna say...the first one is a lie, you’ve never dyed your hair," I guessed uncertainly.

"Hm, that your final answer?"

"Yup, locking it in."

"Well...sorry, but you’re wrong. The second one was the lie, I never hit anyone," She replied with a grin.

"That was tough, I thought this would be easier. When did you drive a vehicle?" I asked her curiously.

"Oh, I was hanging out with some of the girls at the Guild a while back, a bit before you joined, and we were at a parking lot and I happened to mentioned that I’d never driven a vehicle before. So, the girl who was driving us let me drive her car, it was kinda fun," She recalled with a smile.

"Cool, I see. I’ve actually never driven before either. I have thought about getting a bike or something, but I don’t really need one, I’m indoors most of them time anyway."

"Yeah, same here. Well, guess I win that round," She declared triumphantly.

"Is there a penalty for losing or anything?" I asked her.

"Nah, we’re just playing for fun. Okay, your turn," She prompted me.

"Alright, here goes...in my past life, I once got hit in the face with a football. I’ve never driven a vehicle in either of my lives. And I’ve dyed my hair in my previous life."

"Hey, you basically copied two of mine," She huffed indignantly, before a wry smile spread out across her lips.

"Well, we didn’t establish any rules, so yeah," I shrugged in response.

"Fair enough. I’m gonna say the second one’s a lie, I think you have driven a vehicle at some point across you previous and current lives."

"Heh, sorry, but that’s wrong. The lie is the third one, I’ve never dyed my hair," I informed her with a grin.

"Damn it, I should’ve guessed that one, considering how much you like black," She groaned.

"When did you dye your hair, by the way? And what color?"

"Oh, it was when I was sixteen. I dyed black stripes across my hair, like a tiger’s fur pattern," She replied with a sheepish smile.

"Cool, wish I could’ve seen that. But if you were sixteen, then...I don’t think I was even present in this era yet at that point," I mused uncertainly.

She’s a couple months short of two years older than me, and I reincarnated at the age of fifteen, so yeah, I probably didn’t exist in this era yet.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot that you just appeared in this era in a fifteen year old body, instead of starting over from birth," She responded with an intrigued look on her face.

The two of us continued playing the game for a while, steadily learning more and more about each other with every passing round.

I was having fun, hearing about these small details of her life than I was previously unaware of. It was getting hard to think of stuff to say though, increasingly so with each round, there really isn’t a lot she doesn’t know about me.

Eventually, several rounds later, she began acting nervous and fidgety again, a tension about her as she tried to keep herself calm...

"O-Okay, um...this might be the last round, I-...alright, I’m just going to go for it! I have...red hair. I have blue eyes. And I...I...," She trailed off, her lower lip quivering as her face turned bright red, unable to look me in the eye as her gaze darted about.

Huh? What’s with those deliberately obvious statements?

"I-I, um...," She trailed off again with a slight stutter, before taking a deep breath and letting out a slow exhale, lifting her gaze with a determined look on her face as she uttered, "And I’m...I’m in love with you."

She immediately averted her gaze, before pulling the blanket over her head, not saying another word.

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out, not a single sound. I could feel my face heating up, my heart pounding in my chest, but most of all...an indescribable sense of giddy joy rising up inside me.

How do I best respond to her? I know what I want to say, I’m just not sure how to say it.

Alright, here goes...

I lifted the blanket and pulled it over my head, glancing at her under the covers, briefly meeting her gaze before we both looked away.

I bit my lower lip to compose myself, before finally speaking and breaking the silence...

"I, um...o-okay, the lie is the second statement, your eyes aren’t blue. And now, it’s my turn...," I whispered, a look of surprise appearing on her face as she glanced at me.

"Huh?" She blurted out in bewilderment.

Don’t worry, I’m not changing the subject or ignoring what you said.

Instead, I...

"I have blonde hair. I have purple eyes. And...I’m in love with you too."

...I’m taking a page out of your book.