My wife believes me; how could I be a cuckold?

She said this with a mixture of shyness and reproach, as if hoping that Asano Makoto would stop talking.

However, to her surprise, Makoto Asano not only said it, but also did it.

"I can't help it, I'm just really nervous right now. You'll see for yourself."

After saying that, he immediately turned around and approached her, then grabbed Eriko Miyajima's right hand and pulled it to his chest.

"Look, my heart is beating really fast, isn't it?"

"!"

Hearing Makoto Asano's earnest words and feeling his rapidly beating heart in her hand, Eriko Miyajima, who was forced to turn around, froze for a moment.

Although the room was pitch black, she couldn't see what Asano Makoto was like, but this inability to know anything about his surroundings only made her more nervous.

"Asano-kun..."

She subconsciously called out Asano Makoto's name, but he seemed not to hear her and abruptly changed the subject: "Eriko, I want to hug you, is that okay?"

Upon hearing Makoto Asano's request, Eriko Miyajima was taken aback. She didn't understand why Makoto Asano would suddenly say such a thing.

However, the next second, she became even more nervous because she felt that Asano Makoto seemed to be acting strangely.

"Asano-kun, I..."

So she called Asano Makoto's name again, seemingly trying to bring him to his senses and stop him from doing these things and saying these strange things.

However, because of Makoto Asano's change, her voice began to tremble, and even carried a hint of pleading.

But now, having "lost his mind," Makoto Asano wouldn't care about such trivial matters. Instead, he continued to plead, "I want to hug you, Eriko. Just hug you, really, just for a while, nothing else, is that okay?"

The current situation is different from the previous dream. In the dream, because Yamada Yuta had been dead for a year, he only needed to get along well with Eriko and then confess his feelings directly.

However, this won't work in reality. Yuta Yamada is still alive and well in real life, and he and Eriko Miyajima haven't broken up yet, so confessing won't work.

Although there is a possibility of success, it is too risky, and failure could even damage the relationship with Eriko Miyajima.

Therefore, the safest approach is to exploit her weakness of not being able to say no.

If she doesn't agree, just keep pleading sincerely, and she'll agree sooner or later.

While most people might get slapped and kicked off the bed the moment they make such a request, she might even call the police.

However, when facing Makoto Asano, her 95-point favorability rating prevents her from doing these things.

After all, this number might already be higher than her affection level for Yamada Yuta.

She might even feel a little anticipation for it, and then reluctantly accept Asano Makoto's request.

In this way, as long as you slowly break through her heart and lower her bottom line, and then gradually take advantage of her, you can successfully reach the end and completely win her over.

This is why Makoto Asano has been waiting until now.

Since it's already so late, Eriko Miyajima has no way out.

As long as Eriko can't escape, he can slowly implement his plan.

Moreover, in complete darkness, people are most prone to overthinking because they cannot see their surroundings, which made it easier for him to break through Eriko Miyajima's defenses.

This is true.

After hearing Makoto Asano's request, Eriko Miyajima remained silent for a long time.

Her brain, which had completely shut down, left her utterly at a loss for words.

On the other side, after waiting for a while without receiving a reply, Makoto Asano said directly, "If you don't say anything, I'll take that as a yes."

He then immediately hugged her tightly in his arms.

"Well--!"

Eriko Miyajima, whose mind was still not quite clear, immediately began to struggle after being hugged.

However, Makoto Asano held her so tightly, as if he didn't want her to have any chance to escape.

After a while, Eriko Miyajima, who had run out of strength, gradually stopped.

At the same time, her mind cleared up a bit, and she finally realized her current situation.

My guess came true.

Asano-kun seems a bit off right now; he's become very proactive, and for some reason, he even hugged me.

So, what will happen next...?

Thinking about what might happen in a little while, Eriko Miyajima's heart began to ache again.

She knew it was wrong and not allowed, but she didn't know what to do.

Because she was also secretly hoping for something, and she couldn't refuse Makoto Asano's request.

Therefore, although she had stopped struggling, her body was still trembling slightly.

Just then, Makoto Asano, who had noticed this, immediately spoke up: "Eriko, listen to me."

Unlike Eriko Miyajima, he has a physical attribute value of 8 points, which allows him to see the scene in front of him even in complete darkness.

Although it was a bit blurry, he could still see the conflicted expression on Eriko Miyajima's face because they were so close.

He knew very well that Eriko Miyajima was probably still not clear about her own feelings.

But what he didn't know and couldn't know was what kind of conclusion Eriko Miyajima would reach once she sorted out her thoughts.

So what he needs to do now is to seize this opportunity and continue to push Eriko Miyajima's bottom line down to the very bottom.

So he used his last trump card: "Trust me, Eriko, trust me, I just want to hold you for a little while, just a little while, I'll let go right away, I won't do anything."

He paused slightly, then said with a hint of disappointment, "I just want to say goodbye to you, and to those thoughts that shouldn't have been in my heart."

He didn't finish his sentence, and it even sounded somewhat nonsensical.

But that's enough.

Eriko Miyajima understood the sentence instantly.

Because she herself had the same thoughts, she had developed inappropriate feelings and was constantly troubled by them.

So she was stunned the moment she heard those words.

She never knew, and never even considered it.

It turns out that I wasn't the only one who had endured such hardship because of this inappropriate feeling.

Asano-kun is the same, and he is even stronger than I am.

Before today, he had never shown it, but instead kept this feeling hidden in his heart without revealing even the slightest bit of it.

Because she shared a similar plight with Makoto Asano, Eriko Miyajima naturally knew just how difficult and unbearable this situation was.

So the next instant, her body stopped trembling, and even the slight doubt she had about Asano Makoto because of his behavior just now disappeared completely.

"Asano-kun, I..."

Eriko Miyajima instinctively opened her mouth, wanting to talk to Makoto Asano.

However, before she could finish speaking, she was interrupted by Makoto Asano.

"Eriko, don't say it out loud, save me some face."

Makoto Asano said with a wry smile, "Right now, I just want to hold you like this for a little while, is that okay?"

Upon hearing this, Eriko Miyajima remained silent for a moment.

After a long pause, she nodded gently: "Okay."

After hesitating for a moment, she reached out and wrapped her arms around Asano Makoto's back, hugging him back.

And so, the two embraced quietly, feeling each other's body heat, and did not separate for a long time.

Then, Makoto Asano spoke calmly.

"Eriko, do you know? Actually, I fell in love with you a long time ago, probably from the day you saved me."

Faced with Makoto Asano's sudden confession, Eriko Miyajima was taken aback for a moment before slowly nodding and saying, "Yes."

"After realizing this, I was in great pain because I had fallen for a woman who already had a boyfriend, and her boyfriend was my friend... I was conflicted and didn't know what to do, so I could only keep my feelings to myself."

After pausing slightly and giving a wry smile, Makoto Asano continued, "But feelings are not something that can be easily hidden. As we get to know each other better, I've started to like you more and more."

“And every time I was with you, I would always try to attract your attention... Later, because of my lack of self-respect, we even had an argument. Do you remember that?”

"Hmm... I remember, I remember it very clearly."

Eriko Miyajima certainly remembered, because it was the first time she truly understood her feelings for Makoto Asano.

After receiving Eriko Miyajima's affirmative reply, Makoto Asano continued, "At that time, I really felt like the sky was falling. I regretted it so much. I regretted why I was so frivolous and why I said those things. Now, I have to cut off contact with you."

"But I was lucky because we reconnected later. Although we're just friends, being friends is great too. At least this way, I can stay by your side."

"So later, every time I was with you, I would try to control my words and actions, and try my best not to do anything in front of you that might make you hate me. After all, I really don't want to experience separation from you again."

Upon hearing this, Eriko Miyajima was stunned.

For some reason, the more Asano Makoto spoke, the more familiar he seemed to be with her.

Because the things that troubled and troubled Makoto Asano were exactly the same as hers.

At one point, she even felt that Makoto Asano was practically another version of herself.

Moreover, she didn't expect that she hadn't misunderstood back then; Asano Makoto really did have feelings for her.

She never expected that Asano Makoto had always placed all the blame for that conflict on herself.

His gentlemanly behavior was actually a facade, a pretense born out of fear of being disliked and losing contact with himself.

In reality, his performance at that time was not a big problem.

So ultimately, it was all because I misunderstood things on my own...

Thinking of this, Eriko Miyajima immediately wanted to explain, while also comforting Makoto Asano, who seemed somewhat upset at the moment: "Asano-kun, actually back then..."

"Eriko, you don't need to comfort me."

However, before she could finish speaking, Makoto Asano interrupted her, saying, "I'm not saying these things to hope that you will do anything in any way. I just want to tell you that I like you."

“But I can’t betray my friend. Yuta is a good person, so I have to be honest with you and make you reject me.”