Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/822139845923627658/episodes/2912051595365011880
The school after classes.
Amidst a bustle that feels different from the daytime, I walk alone down the hallway.
“Oh, it’s Kita-cchi~”
On my way back to the classroom, Hase came up to me, shouting, “Yay~!”
“What are you doing out at this hour… wait a sec.”
“Hm? Is something wrong?”
“No, it’s just… why are you grinning like that? Seriously, it’s creepy. To put it mildly.”
“So ‘mildly’ is still creepy, huh…”
I wonder what would happen if I didn’t hold back. Not that I want to know.
“Did something good happen? Oh, maybe with Mashiron…”
“…Actually, someone confessed to me.”
“Mashiron⁉ Oh, Mashiron! Mashiron, huh~. Yeah, yeah, Mashiron, Mashiron.”
“Listen to what I’m saying.”
I cleared my throat and continued.
“Do you know Awara Sayuri? From Class A.”
“Oh~, that brown-haired beauty from the tea ceremony club?”
“Well, I guess you’re right.”
“Huh~”
Hase stared blankly for a moment, then after a while,
“Wait, that Sayuri⁉ …confess⁉”
“Y-yeah. I’m surprised too.”
“She’s so demure~ and super polite~, and she’s really popular, right? Sorry, but why Kitacchi? I mean, sorry. Uh, sorry.”
“You’re apologizing so much it’s actually painful.”
Overcompensating backfires.
“No, I mean, we’ve known each other since first year through the Beautification Committee, and I think we were pretty close… but, you know, there were rumors recently that Iwas dating Mashiro, right?”
“Rumors? It’s a fact, isn’t it?”
“How long are you going to keep bringing this up? Anyway, at that time… well, it seems she realized she had feelings for me.”
“Huh.”
“Since the rumors cleared up right then, she apparently figured she had no choice but to confess.”
“Huh… I see… So, did you say yes?”
“No, well…”
“I knew it. I mean, Kita-chan is dating Mashiro, right? Cheating is a no-no. Yeah. Cheating is a no-no!”
“I told you, we’re not dating!”
Just how much do you want to insist that Mashiro and I are dating?
“It’s embarrassing, but… I haven’t been able to give her an answer yet. I said I was surprised by how sudden it was and wanted to think it over properly… Well, she’s waiting for me. It’s really embarrassing, though.”
“Huh… So you’re keeping her on the back burner?”
“No way.”
Just as I was making that remark, the classroom came into view.
“Hm?”
A head would pop out from the classroom door every now and then.
It would look around nervously, then duck back in, only to pop out again.
Then it would look down, muttering something to itself…
“You’re late… For someone like Kensuke, what are you doing… Huh! N-no way, you’re not just doing it behind the school building… W-well, it’s possible for Kensuke… After all, he’s a p-p-p… pervert who can’t control his sexual urges enough to come on to me that hard… It really gets on my nerves… Why do I have to do something like this… b-but, just in case, even if there’s a one-in-a-thousand… no, even a one-in-a-hundred chance that something like that happened…!”
Her lustrous black hair swayed.
…Wait,
“M-Mashiro?”
“Huh⁉”
Her eyes widened in surprise, and she hurriedly crossed her arms over her chest.
“……W-what?”
“No, that’s what I was going to say… but this is unusual. You staying after school?”
“Huh! W-well, that’s…”
She faltered.
“Oh, I see. You were waiting for Hase?”
“! Y-yes. I have plans with Yae after this…”
“I see. So that’s why Hase is here this late, too…”
“Huh? I don’t have plans with Mashiro, I was just drinking tea in the infirmary~?”
“‘…Huh?’”
Hase and I both turned our gaze toward Mashiro.
“Uh, well… I mean, why are you drinking tea in the infirmary?”
“I’m tea buddies with the kids who come to school at the infirmary. Plus, the tea there is delicious.”
“I didn’t know that.”
Huh? Then why was Mashiro still there?
She always goes straight home…
Once again, our gazes turned to Mashiro.
“! D-don’t look at me…”
“Could it be, Mashiro… that you were waiting for Kitachi~?”
“Huh⁉ No, no way! Why would I have to wait for Kensuke? He’s not the one who gets waited for—he’s the one who keeps waiting for me and never actually shows up, right? It’s the other way around!”
“Why am I the one waiting?”
That’s a total waste of time.
She snorted and turned away, looking sulky.
However, she didn’t walk away from me. After a while, she started mumbling something.
“…So, K, Kensuke, um… what happened?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“W-well… um… didn’t she… confess to you?”
“Ah, if that’s what you mean—”
“Kitachi didn’t just say ‘okay’—he went and stuck his tongue right in her mouth right there on the spot, apparently~”
“Wha!!!>>>>”
Mashiro was clearly flustered.
She didn’t even have the composure to cover it up; she looked somewhat panicked.
“Wh… wh… wh…”
Seeing Mashiro standing there with her mouth open, unable to speak, Hase grinned and said,
“Well, it’s a lie, though~”
“⁉”
“Like… keeping her on the back burner or something~?”
“That’s not it either. She’s just waiting for me.”
“It’s my philosophy to embellish lies and photos, you know~”
“That’s the worst philosophy ever…”
As I sighed in exasperation, Mashiro froze for a moment, and then,
“…………Phew.”
“”‘…………Phew?’””
Hase and I tilted our heads in confusion.
Mashiro’s face turned bright red before our very eyes…
“Oh, really?!”
She snapped that out, then sat back in her seat with a huff.
What was that reaction just now?
I mean, lying to me just to stay in the classroom and going out of her way to ask about the confession… Could it be?
“…Mashiro.”
I walked up to Mashiro’s desk, leaned my hands on it, and brought my face close to hers.
“W-What?”
Facing Mashiro, who was glaring at me, I declared with full confidence.
“Could it be that you were worried about the confession and waited for me? Diligently, on purpose?”
“Huh! T-That… that’s impossible, right? Why would I care about someone like Kensuke…”
“Then why did you stay?”
“W-well… it’s nothing…”
“Come to think of it, you’ve been acting strangely restless ever since I got that love letter, haven’t you?”
“Huh!! S-stop being so self-conscious. Otherwise…”
“You were worried, weren’t you? About me getting confessed to.”
“Huh!!!”
With one more push, Mashiro lowered her head and fell silent.
Her shoulders trembled slightly as she muttered in a tiny, strained voice.
“…………F-fine then… whatever…”
I couldn’t help but feel a jolt of excitement at Mashiro’s demure expression.
“Uh, well…”
“W-what’s with that reaction… You’re the one who asked, aren’t you, Kensuke?”
“Well, yeah, but… I didn’t think you’d admit it so readily.”
“Hmph! I-I didn’t admit it… I mean, I just gave in because I had no choice… Well, do whatever you want, Kensuke. …Hmph.”
Mashiro’s been really…
“…Hehe, they’re all lovey-dovey~”
“‘We’re not!!’”
Only Hase seemed to be having a really good time.
Night.
Sitting alone on the sofa, drinking coffee and watching TV.
Just as I was enjoying the peaceful evening, the intercom rang.
“Hellooo. Who is it…?”
I opened the door and was surprised by the person standing there.
Her long, black hair, tied back in a single ponytail, swayed gently like a tail with every movement.
She was wearing a baggy T-shirt and shorts, almost exactly the same outfit as that day.
“What are you staring at? I mean, stop looking at your childhood friend with those perverted eyes.”
Mashiro said, glaring at me as she stood there defiantly.
“W-wait, sorry… No, that’s not it. I’m not staring, and I’m definitely not looking at you with lecherous eyes.”
“Pretending to be tough is even more trash than industrial waste.”
“Who do you think you are to say that…”
“! …Shut up. Let me in already.”
Mashiro strode right into the house.
This was, of course, the first time Mashiro had come over since that second time.
Though, back then, it was just a rare occasion where she shared some of her dinner with me…
“W-why are you at my place today?”
“Huh? Do I need a reason?”
“It’s my house, so of course you do. Besides…”
It would be weird if Mashiro came to my place right now without a reason.
“S-snacks.”
“Huh?”
“I came over to eat snacks. That’s all.”
Saying that, Mashiro started rummaging through the kitchen as if she were at her own home.
She helped herself to snacks and even started making tea.
“O-okay…”
Confused, I sat down on the sofa for the time being.
But before Mashiro and I had slept together, this would’ve been perfectly normal.
There’s nothing strange about it. Nothing strange at all… but something is definitely off.
“…………”
As I sat there silently drinking my coffee, Mashiro came over to the sofa with a cup and some snacks.
Then, acting as if nothing was out of the ordinary—she sat right next to me.
“…Huh?”
Her white, smooth, well-rounded thighs were right there, exposed without a hint of modesty. In fact, they were even touching me a little.
“What? Is something wrong?”
It’s weird. Way too weird.
Mashiro usually doesn’t sit next to me like this.
Even when we sit on the same sofa, she always keeps a good distance between us.
“Huh!”
—I know.
If you consider Mashiro a tsundere, then as a characteristic of tsunderes, the pent-up “tsun” eventually matures over a long period into “dere.”
That means this is the beginning of what’s known as “dere”…
“—I came to my senses and realized something…”
Mashiro crossed her legs, her cheeks flushing—or so I thought.
“How can you, Kensuke, happily tell me about being confessed to by a woman you don’t even know and grin like that in front of me? —After having sex with me twice.”
She spat out the words, looking at me as if I were filth.
……Huh? Wait, that’s not what I expected.
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