Sure enough, it's the same size

Friendships between young children are so strange.

They were obviously arguing just now, but when they stopped, they became friends who helped each other.

"It's really too late to tell the teacher or fight back against Hasegawa and the others in class, but we can do this..."

Little Makoto Amano snatched the fresh... ahem, white indoor shoes from little Yukino's feet.

Then he handed his own indoor shoes to her.

"Among them... there are many boys who like to collect your shoes."

"As long as we exchange indoor shoes every day after school, those guys can only get my shoes!"

The people in the class may ostracize and be jealous of Yukino, but they absolutely hate and look down on Makoto Amano.

Because he is not cute at all, he is not neat enough, looks dirty, and it was revealed during the parent meeting that he comes from a single-parent family without a father.

To sum up, Amano believes that if those guys find out that they are holding his shoes instead of Yukino's, they will definitely feel extremely uncomfortable.

Continuing like this, after a while, when he and Yukino will announce the truth together, those who stole the shoes will definitely show very interesting expressions.

"How about it?"

Makoto Amano felt that this would be the best way for Yukino to "get back" at those people.

"Swap...indoor shoes..."

Yukino looked at her little white shoes that had been taken by the boy, her face slightly flushed.

"Sounds good, but you don't have any weird ideas about my shoes, do you?"

"Why would I have weird thoughts about your shoes?"

The boy had a completely bewildered expression.

Then he threw the girl's shoes into his shoe cabinet.

"No, it's nothing, I'm overthinking it."

After witnessing Makoto Amano's actions, little Yukino felt completely relieved.

This boy is indeed different from other immature kids.

"But, in this case, won't you lose your shoes often?"

Although exchanging indoor shoes every day can solve the girl's current problem, in reality, the problem hasn't disappeared but has merely shifted to the boy.

Yukino still expressed concern about this.

"It's okay, I'll make sure they receive shoes they'll never forget in their lifetime."

Little Makoto Amano patted his chest nonchalantly, then wiped the remaining snot from his nose on his indoor shoes.

"Here, put my shoes in there."

"....."

Yukino felt a little repulsed, but she still delicately held the boy's shoes with her fingers and placed them in her shoe cabinet.

"It smells like sweat..."

The girl felt like her shoe cabinet was now contaminated.

"I ran for a long time in physical education class today, so of course I would sweat."

The boy simply took it as a compliment.

"Alright…"

Though a little disgusted, Yukino couldn't help but smile at the thought of those people getting these smelly shoes tomorrow.

"Wait, but then you won't have indoor shoes tomorrow."

Last week, Yukino, whose indoor shoes were stolen almost every day, experienced the pain of not being able to find shoes anywhere and not being able to wear indoor shoes in the classroom.

And the slippers she borrowed from the teacher were too big...

"It's okay, let's buy a few more pairs of indoor shoes and put them in our school bags. When the shoes in the shoe cabinet go missing, I'll put them back on."

Makoto Amano seemed to have already come up with a solution.

"However, I don't have much pocket money, so you will pay for the shoes."

"Well, of course, this is my responsibility..."

In the past two weeks, it was the first time that Yukino closed her shoe cabinet so easily.

"Also, let me see your feet." Amano said

Not in a hurry to put on the slippers, the little Makoto Amano placed his feet in white socks next to the girl's feet and gestured for her to take her feet out of the slippers.

"What's wrong?"

Yukino didn't understand why, but she still pulled her white socks out of the shoes and stood side by side with the boy.

"Sure enough, they're the same size."

"Really."

So it was because of the plan they had just discussed...

While relaxing, Yukino leaned her feet towards the boy's feet.

Indeed, they were the same length.

It was a simple, innocent joy for them.

This unexpected discovery made both of them smile at that moment.

"But my feet are cuter than yours, aren't they?"

The boy wiggled his toes hidden in the socks and playfully pushed away the girl who was leaning over.

"Hmph, you must be blind or have something wrong with your sense of aesthetics. Obviously, I'm cuter!"

This boy with a strong personality is even more narcissistic than me.

Not to be outdone, the childish Yukino stepped on the boy's instep, puffed her cheeks, and quickly put her cute little white socks back into the shoes.

Hee hee, this way he won't be able to step on me.

Little Yukino felt like she had gained an advantage.

"Hateful…"

Sure enough, the boy opposite was very annoyed with her.

"Then let's let my mother be the judge. It's definitely my feet that look better!"

Although the little Makoto Amano couldn't step on the girl's feet, he grabbed her wrist.

"Mother?"

In Yukino's impression, her mother has always been serious and busy, often away from home.

Can her mother judge something like this?

Her young eyes were filled with confusion.

"Well, it's still early. I'll take you to her."

Just like that, little Yukino, still feeling a bit perplexed, was dragged away from school by the boy.

—— ——

"At that time, our feet were the same size..."

The high school student Yukino, sitting in the entrance halfway through changing her shoes, looked at her small feet wrapped in black knee socks and reminisced about Makoto Amano's now larger feet.

Back when they were in first grade, their feet were the same size, but now her feet are much smaller than Makoto Amano's.

But now she can only estimate visually; she can no longer take out her feet like she did when she was a child...

"Really, what am I thinking..."

Shaking her head, Yukino placed the small leather shoes she had replaced on the shoe rack in the entrance.

Then she slipped into a pair of soft slippers and walked onto the floor of the house.

"Mom, Mom, Mom?"

Surprisingly, as soon as Yukino turned around, she found her mother, who seemed to have been standing behind her for a while.

"How did you…..."

Yukino was surprised to see her mother at home, clearly waiting for her.

"I thought you were going to stay in the porch all night, lost in thought."

From a little while ago, Mrs. Yukinoshita had been observing her daughter, sitting in the entrance with her shoes halfway off.

So she couldn't help but tease her.

"I..."

Yukino's face was filled with embarrassment.

"He accompanied you home?"

"Ah... um."

The girl's face grew hotter and hotter.

"Why didn't you invite him for dinner at our house?"

Because of what happened in elementary school, Yukimother had known about Makoto Amano's existence for a long time.

She also didn't object to interaction between the two of them.

After all, the Yukinoshita family could really need a son-in-law.

And Makoto Amano, whose grades had always been better than her own daughter's, seemed like a great choice.

Especially now that he had lost his only relative, he seemed quite vulnerable.

A boy who excelled in all aspects and had been playing with her daughter since childhood, someone of the same age, it almost felt like destiny had brought him to the Yukinoshita family.

"I forgot."

It was all because that guy suddenly mentioned wanting to be a harem king or something...

Yukino had forgotten her mother's request to invite him for dinner.

"It's alright, I believe now... your sister must have 'captured' him."

After noticing the embarrassment on her daughter's face, Mrs. Yukinoshita smiled and gazed out the window once again.