My imaginary crush is hard to satisfy.

  “It’s weird."

  “Y-you said it will s-suit me.”

  “It does, you look incredibly cute with your hair like that and you should start styling it more. But I always say that and you never agreed before so start acting like yourself again.”

  How can I say no to that face? It was already perfect before it got buffed by me catching feelings. I’ll admit it, Ami made the right choice by becoming a narcissist.

  “I-i am.”

  “No, you are being weird Mai. I told you, you don’t have to feel guilty about that dream.”

  I’m not feeling guilty… It was just a whole lot harder to say no to her than usual, especially since she kept saying how cute I would look. Apparently I’m a very simple woman, who knew?

  The girl I like asks me to do something and I end up looking ridiculous out in public.

  I’m counting this as proof that my original defensive tactic of avoiding all human contact was absolutely right and necessary.

  She is even making me spend my money on buying crazy things like food and groceries. Truly a cautionary tale about the dangers of associating with such beauties, imaginary or not.

  Well, I can’t really say any of this out loud without also getting an intense urge to walk into traffic because of the embarrassment, so I’ll just let my hair down and hope I end up looking a little less weird.

  “What are you doing? You’re ruining it.”

  You just said it was weird, make up your mind…

  “Y-you just said i-it’s weird.”

  “No, I said it was cute, so don’t touch it. You are acting weird though, you better start fighting back again instead of just doing whatever I ask. It feels more like an accomplishment when you finally give in that way.”

  Is manipulating me a game to her?

  Well, I probably would be mad too if a game I was playing randomly switched to easy mode.

  I don’t know if what I’m feeling towards her is love or just a crush. Maybe it’s simply an inevitable response to being around someone so gorgeous for extended periods of time. But it’s obvious I’m not emotionally mature enough to deal with this situation, so where do I need to hit my head for a factory reset?

  I’ll start back as a baby and mess up my life all over again from there. I see no other way to go back to how I acted before.

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  “Mai, is that the store?”

  It is, and it means I missed my chance to hit my head on a tree. Oh well, it wouldn’t have worked out anyway. I need to at least get hit by a car for this plan to have a chance..

  “Y-yes.”

  “You didn’t loop around and bring us back home?”

  A decision I deeply regret, but no I didn’t. I wonder if it's too late to do so now.

  It probably is too late, all I can do is nod.

  “Are you really that hungry? Don’t worry, I won’t say anything even if you eat uncooked sausages there, just do what you have to do to survive Mai.”

  I’d rather starve than do that in there. Actually I’d rather starve than go in there at all.

  Why am I doing this again?

  I can’t afford to risk going through another of Ami’s weird revenge plans, but all I want to do right now is run back home.

  “D-d-do we h-have to?”

  “You can take as much time as you want, but… You have to eat Mai.”

  She really is putting too much importance on food. I think humans are capable of surviving for a few months on water alone. I should be able to hold out for a few more weeks. Even my stomach is growling with fighting spirit. My legs however, are completely unwilling to move

  “Why are you crying?”

  “I-i can’t d-do t-this.”

  “I don’t believe that for a second. But you have already done a lot for today, so just try your best and if it really is too much for now, we can go back.”

  “L-let’s go back.”

  “That’s not trying your best Mai. don’t just give up the moment I give you the option. Let’s just walk around more so you can prepare yourself.”

  The result is already obvious, I just tried to save us some time.

  “F-fine.”

  “But try to be quick about it. We can finally watch our shows and you spent most of the morning calling my bluffs and being weird.”

  She could have just let me keep my dream a secret instead of trying to force it out of me, if that was her goal.

  “W-we can j-just go and watch now.”

  “We can’t, you will just be distracted because you are hungry and there will be no point. If you can’t concentrate I can’t watch tv either you know.”

  I wonder about that. She says she can see based on what I see, but she is also calling me cute every so often which makes me think she is blind. At least I don’t have to worry about her finding out about my feelings because she suddenly finds herself being prettier than before. Even if our perception is shared, Ami wouldn’t question that development for a moment.

  If we keep walking this way, we will make it back home in a few minutes. I want to just keep going, but I doubt she will accept this.

  “W-we should turn around.”

  “Are you finally ready to go in?”

  “N-no.”

  “You think too little of yourself. You can do this. You even went straight to the store this time rather than circle around a few times. You know, If you stop taking us all the way back on the way to school, we will be able to get like forty extra minutes for ourselves every morning.”

  I only managed to do that because my head short circuited from her calling me cute over and over again, same reason as why I ended up with this horrible hair style. But if she ever finds out about that little trick, she will use it to make me start a religion in her name, or worse, get therapy. The horrors…

  “I-i’ll try.”

  I don’t think it will work, either going into the store or getting to school quicker, but I’ll try.

  “You can do it. For television!!!”

  “Y-yeah.”

  If I’m going to do it for anything, it will be for her. But she doesn’t need to know that.