If You Cheat, Just Don’t Tell Me - Chapter 6

Just me and Freya at our usual meeting spot.

Motorcycles were the vehicles with the best balance of convenience and speed among all those humanities had developed so far.

Air-filled tires and spring mechanisms that absorbed shocks from the ground. The horsepower and roaring engine sounds produced by burning fuel fluid captivated many people.

While you couldn’t say it completely transformed the lives of people who had previously relied mainly on horses for transportation.

Still, people like us who owned personal motorcycles and used them daily were becoming increasingly common.

“I want to ride your motorcycle.”

“…What are you talking about?”

This had become a regular occurrence – my after-school time with Freya whenever I attended school.

Freya, who hadn’t shown much interest in my motorcycle until now, suddenly said something like that.

“Do you have a license?”

Motorcycles weren’t something you could just ride around freely. Well, actually I often rode around freely, but that’s beside the point. Officially, you needed a license to ride one. If the patrol guards caught you riding without one, you couldn’t complain about being arrested.

I doubted Freya didn’t know that, but did she actually have a license?

“I don’t have one, and it’s not like I want to drive it myself.”

“Then how were you planning to ride?”

“Well obviously, I’d ride on the back with you.”

“Hah…?”

Her words left me speechless, my thoughts freezing for several seconds.

On the back of my motorcycle?

“An unmarried girl shouldn’t say such indecent things!”

Riding together on a motorcycle meant our bodies would be pressed close together! That’s not something a proper young lady before marriage should be saying!

My shouted words, filled with that sentiment, were completely ignored by Freya who showed no concern at all.

“Why are you, a man, the one who’s concerned? We’re engaged anyway, so there’s no problem, right? It’s fine, really. Besides, I heard commoners do this kind of thing normally, among your friends.”

“Damn it, who taught you that?!”

I pictured the faces of those guys who always gathered at our meeting spot. Any of them might have told her, but Alta was definitely the most likely culprit. I’ll remember this tonight.

I resisted letting her ride on the back for a while, but eventually Freya’s persistence wore me down.

Normally the roles should be reversed in this situation.

“You’ll give me a ride tomorrow! That’s a promise!”

“…Sigh. Fine.”

I couldn’t help but wonder why I had to.

But watching Freya smile brightly like a little child, I didn’t feel particularly bad about it.

Somehow, I didn’t dislike that part of myself either.

That day, I skipped school. I hadn’t been riding my motorcycle at night since Freya mentioned it. So if I was going to ride, it had to be during daytime.

There wasn’t much time after school anyway, and I didn’t ride my motorcycle to school in the first place. The teachers were annoying about it, and there was no place to park a motorcycle.

I was used to skipping school, and I never bothered to notify the school when I did. If I notified them, that would just be a regular absence, not skipping.

But for Freya, who was serious and well-behaved (or so people thought), skipping school was normally unthinkable. So, Freya had also taken the day off using some excuse like feeling unwell.

If she rode on the back of someone as noticeable as me, that lie would be exposed immediately. She’s smart, so why doesn’t she think about these things?

“…This is my first-time skipping school.”

“Then should we call it off even now?”

Just me and Freya at our usual meeting spot.

Being here in broad daylight was normal when I skipped school, but having Freya here gave me an indescribably awkward feeling.

“Of course not. It’s just I feel like I’m doing something bad, and it makes my heart pound.”

“Well, you are skipping school, so you are actually doing something bad.”

“Quiet, I know that! But that’s not all.”

I handed Freya a helmet. It was a simple one that you just put on your head and fastened with a chin strap, but if you weren’t wearing one in town, the patrol guards would arrest you. Outside town, nobody would say anything.

Freya properly put the received helmet on her head. That part was definitely model student behavior.

Then I got on the motorcycle first. Turned the key to start the engine, put both feet on the ground for balance, and kicked up the stand.

When I turned the handle without shifting gears, the engine revved and an ear-splitting roar came from the exhaust.

“—Come on, get on.”

I urged Freya, who had been so startled by the motorcycle’s roar that she forgot to continue speaking, to get on the back. I usually had a bag tied there for carrying things, but I had removed all unnecessary items and installed a two-person seat specifically for Freya to ride.

“…Isn’t it indecent to spread my legs and straddle it?”

“What kind of stupid thing are you saying now? That’s just how you ride a motorcycle.”

Well, noble women were the type to say even riding horses was indecent. So, it made sense that Freya would think that.

But Freya was the one who said she wanted to ride the motorcycle. It was too late for such comments.

“That may be true, but…”

“Sigh… Hey, balance yourself.”

“Eh? Wait—”

Growing impatient with Freya’s hesitation, I somewhat forcefully grabbed her hand and lightly pulled her onto the back of the motorcycle.

Even someone as incompetent as me could easily lift a person using magic.

“Eek! …Really, you’re so forceful!”

“That’s because you wouldn’t get on yourself.”

With Freya on the back, the motorcycle gained the weight of another person. The different balance gave me a strange sensation.

Freya was riding behind me. I could feel something I’d never experienced before growing in my heart.

“Hold onto my waist properly. You’ll fall off.”

“O-okay…”

Even as she said this, Freya only modestly grabbed my waist with both hands, so I forcibly wrapped her arms around my stomach. If I didn’t, she might really fall off when I leaned the motorcycle.

No matter how much of a genius Freya was, that was only within the realm of human physical capabilities. There was no way she could maintain proper balance at speeds she’d never experienced on a motorcycle she’d never ridden before.

Whether she understood my intention or not, Freya tightened her grip on my waist herself. To anyone watching, it would look like Freya was hugging me from behind.

“Let’s go. Hold on tight.”

“…Yeah.”

I shifted gears and turned the handle. Another roar came from the exhaust, and the motorcycle’s wheels began to turn.

At the roaring start, proper conversation was impossible. So even though I felt like Freya, who was hugging me, was saying something, I couldn’t tell what it was.

“The reason my heart is pounding is because I’m on a date with just you. Idiot!”