Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/822139845923627658/episodes/2912051596177119746
――Morning.
“I’m off!”
“I’m going.”
I stop right after stepping out of the house and glance next door.
Because I’ve felt this sensation countless times before,
“”……Ah.””
I happened to make eye contact with her as she came out of the house next door.
“……Good morning, Kensuke.”
“Good morning, Mashiro.”
We naturally start walking side by side.
“It’s gotten even hotter lately, hasn’t it?”
“Yeah. Plus, maybe it’s because Kensuke is nearby, all excited about seeing me first thing in the morning, but it feels even hotter. I feel like I’m going to get heatstroke.”
“Why are you assuming I’m excited…?”
Just how horny does she think I am?
“……But if you’re going to say that, Mashiro, you’re pretty hot yourself, aren’t you? Aren’t you the one who’s been getting excited just from looking at me since this morning?”
“Huh?! ……Are you just being self-conscious? That comment is just plain creepy, you know.”
“But you said exactly the same thing, Mashiro……”
“It feels completely different coming from me than it does coming from you. Know your place.”
“I guess you’ve got a point on that one…”
Once I came to my senses, I felt incredibly embarrassed. But this only applies to good-looking guys, right?
As I walked along, reflecting on my actions, I heard a voice calling out “Mashiro~!” from the distance.
There were a few girls from our class there, waving at Mashiro.
Mashiro smiled and waved back, and the girls just kept walking.
And every now and then, they’d glance over at us,
“You two were walking to school together this morning!”
“You guys are so lovey-dovey!”
“I’m so jealous—I want a boyfriend too!”
They were all giggling and getting all excited.
“Is that okay?”
“What do you mean?”
“That we didn’t go join them.”
When I said that, Mashiro suddenly turned her head away.
“……It’s fine, really.”
Gripping the handle of her bag tightly, she blushed slightly and murmured in a voice only I could hear.
“Because… right now, I’m walking to school with Kensuke.”
Those words pierced my heart.
“……Can I hug you?”
“Huh⁉ No, of course not⁉ Not here……”
“…………”
“…………”
“……Ah, you were just hoping I would, weren’t you?”
“Hah! I wasn’t! You idiot!”
From time to time, we walked along the way to school, bickering as usual.
Time flew by as I talked with Mashiro, and before I knew it, we’d arrived at school.
When I got to the shoe rack, I made eye contact with Hase, who had just tossed his indoor shoes onto the floor.
“Oh, it’s Kita-cchi and Mashiro, isn’t it? Good morning~”
“Good morning, Yae.”
“You’re full of energy first thing in the morning, aren’t you?”
“Nah, not as much as you two… right~?”
“What’s with that look?”
“……Heh. I was just thinking, ‘They’re already lovey-dovey this early in the morning, aren’t they?’”
Hase looks back and forth between me and Mashiro with a teasing gaze.
“And Mashiro, you’re grinning, aren’t you?”
“I’m not grinning at all. Kensuke doesn’t have enough humor to make me smile.”
“Hey, why’d you say I wasn’t funny just now?”
“It’s true, Kita-cchi has no sense of humor!”
“Don’t go along with that, don’t go along with that.”
Seriously, Hase is always on the side of the funny one.
Well, that’s why she’s hardly ever been on my side, though.
“A-n-d… your skin looks so radiant? You’ve gotten even cuter over the last few days?”
“Huh?! N-no, that’s not true!”
“No, no, it totally is~. I can totally feel that ‘certain’ vibe that’s unique to couples coming off of you two~? Like a special connection? Like you’re two peas in a pod? Hmm… I can definitely feel it~…”
“Why are you suddenly being so stingy?”
“This outfit is expensive, you know… It’s a bit of a stretch…”
“I can see why you’d hesitate.”
“……And what about your sense of humor?”
“Yae gets 100 points, Kensuke gets minus 100.”
“You’re letting your personal feelings get in the way of your grading.”
Seriously, Mashiro really likes Hase.
We change into our indoor shoes and walk down the noisy morning hallway.
Hase is a little ahead of us, and when she casually looks back, she says nonchalantly.
“So, have you kissed yet? Where are you in the ABCs? Or, have you already gone all the way~?”
“You really have no tact!”
That’s not something you ask a couple who just started dating.
“Come on~, tell me~. Mashi-ron~”
“Look… Haa, it’s only been a few days, you know?”
“But Kitachi’s such a prude, right? You’ve gotta have a strong sex drive, right?”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“……I see. So even from a distance like Yae’s, you can tell. It’s just obvious, isn’t it… By the way, I won’t deny or argue with anything you say about Kensuke being a prude. Too bad for you.”
“Deny it, will you?”
That’s basically the same as admitting it. And don’t admit it, okay?
“Tell meee~”
“No way.”
“Come on~”
“No.”
“Waaah~”
Mashiro brushes off Hase’s worst kind of pestering.
“at least held hands, right~?”
“No.”
“What about hugs? Hugs~?”
“No.”
“A little physical contact is fine, isn’t it~?”
“No.”
Seeing Mashiro’s stubborn refusal, Hase sighs in boredom, “Eeeh~.”
However, to me, it didn’t look like Mashiro was just saying no.
“Give it a rest already… seriously.”
Mashiro looks perfectly calm, but her face is slightly tense.
In other words, she’s trying her best to hide it from Hase.
Well, of course.
Mashiro and I haven’t just held hands, or hugged, or even kissed… we’ve done it twice before that.
Watching her try so hard not to let her figure that out, I can’t help but think—even though it’s pretty low of me—
……Damn, she’s cute.
Seriously cute. She’s really cute. My girlfriend putting on a tough act—she’s the cutest.
She’s so cute… really. Way too cute. Is she okay? No, she’s not okay. Because she’s cute. Yeah, she’s cute.
“……Hmph.”
“Kensuke, you’re grinning too much.”
“Damn.”
But she’s still cute.
Lunchtime.
As I was walking along the covered walkway facing the outside, a female student I recognized came walking toward me.
When our eyes met, she came running over.
“Good evening, Kita-kun. I mean, good afternoon? Wait, which one is it? Oh well, either one’s fine. Good afternoon and good evening~”
“Your thought process is still completely out in the open, as usual… Awara-san.”
At my words, Awara-san chuckled softly.
“Speaking of which, I heard a rumor? I heard you started dating Kamikurokawa-san, Kitakun~?”
“Um… y-yeah.”
“You did say it back then, Kitakun. That you had a crush on someone. So that was Kamikurokawa-san, huh~”
A awkward smile slipped out under Awara-san’s gentle gaze.
Then, Awara-san smiled brightly and said cheerfully.
“I figured as much~”
“Huh?”
“I mean, Kamikurokawa-san is pretty much the only girl around Kita-kun. Besides her, there’s just the girls who stand out visually and me? But honestly, you can tell just by watching.”
“I-I see…”
“That’s great. Congratulations.”
Even though I turned her down in the worst possible way, she’s still congratulating me… Seriously, Awara-san is an angel.
“Thank you, Awara-san.”
I replied with as much sincerity as I could muster, and Awara-san’s expression softened.
And then—she threw a right hook.
“……Huh?”
Awara-san’s right fist grazed my cheek.
W-what just happened……?
“You know, I’ve decided that someday I’m going to make you cry, Kita-kun.”
“Ah, Awara-san?”
“So right now, I’m just training. Before long, you’ll take the full brunt of my best punch!”
“You’re way too scary when you smile, Awara-san⁉”
Just as I was trembling in fear, two female students burst out from behind Awara-san.
“Hey, Sayuri! You can’t make him cry physically!”
“Huh? Then how are we supposed to make him cry?”
“Well, mentally, or by showing him how happy we are…”
“Oh, that way, huh~. I almost signed up for that gym in front of the station~”
“Whoa, that was close… Sayuri was about to get physically strong…”
The two female students grabbed Awara-san by the arms and dragged her away.
“See you later, Kita-kun~”
“O-okay…”
Awara-san really is a bit of a weird one, isn’t she… Maybe I should join the gym in front of the station too… For self-defense, of course.
—Night.
“Kensuke, grab the remote.”
“Okay.”
“Get me some snacks, too.”
“Okay.”
“Wipe away my fatigue.”
“I’m not a handyman.”
I sat side by side with Mashiro on the sofa, enjoying a peaceful moment after dinner.
Sitting close enough to touch her if I reached out felt completely natural—it had even started to feel comfortable.
“These snacks are delicious…”
Mashiro munched away on the sweets next to me.
Mashiro eating something sweet was cute, too.
As I stared at her, Mashiro noticed my gaze and shot me a sulky look.
“…Could you stop staring at me like that?”
“Does it make you blush?”
“H-ha, I don’t blush… not at this point.”
“…You’re cute.”
“Huh! S-shut up… you idiot.”
The time passing was overflowing with such bliss.
Ever since we started dating, it’s been like this the whole time. It felt so happy, it was almost hard to believe all the drama we’d gone through before.
We fight all the time, but the power dynamic isn’t too lopsided, and things are going smoothly.
Yeah. Smoothly… but.
“Hey, Kensuke. Come to think of it, yesterday…”
“Hey, Mashiro. Come to think of it, yesterday…”
words overlapped.
But it wasn’t just words that overlapped.
We looked at each other at the same time, and our hands resting on the sofa unintentionally touched.
““!!””
My heart skipped a beat.
We quickly pulled our hands away and looked away at the same time.
“Y-yesterday, I left a hair tie in the living room…”
“Oh, right. That’s it. I was just about to say that.”
I stood up from the sofa and handed the hair tie I set aside to Mashiro.
“This is the right one, right?”
“Y-yeah. Thanks.”
“Y-you’re welcome.”
After the awkward exchange, silence fell.
“…………”
“…………”
After a moment of testing the waters for the right timing,
“Uh, um…”
“Uh, well…”
voices overlapped again, and the awkwardness skyrocketed.
“Y-you go first.”
“N-no, you go first, Kensuke.”
“No, no, you go first, Mashiro…”
“No, no, you go first, Kensuke…”
And then came silence once more.
After that, we still didn’t really talk about anything in particular—we didn’t, couldn’t, wouldn’t.
As we sat on the sofa, lazing around, it was about time for Mashiro to go home, so I walked her to the front door.
“Well… see you.”
“Yeah… see you.”
We exchanged a few quiet words, and Mashiro closed the door.
But then, with a blush on her cheeks, Mashiro immediately opened the door again, waved her hand gently from the crack in the door at chest level, and said,
“…………Good night.”
“! …Good night.”
When I replied, Mashiro’s face softened with satisfaction, and this time she really did head home.
As the door closed, I instinctively crouched down right where I stood.
“She really is cute…”
Just this alone is more than enough to fill me up.
I feel from the bottom of my heart that I’m glad we’re dating.
…But what I can’t help but remember is that awkward moment from earlier.
My relationship with Mashiro is going extremely smoothly.
—Just one thing.
Since we started dating, we haven’t held hands, hugged, or kissed. Or rather, we haven’t been able to.
Whenever the mood seemed right, my shyness always got the better of me. Mashiro is especially sensitive; whenever I tried to touch her, she’d avoid me so unnaturally it felt forced.
It’s not like I need to rush things. We’ve only been dating for a few days, and she’s Mashiro, after all.
…But is it strange to want to do those things now that we’re dating? On top of that, having already experienced that euphoria, that desire was honestly quite strong.
“……It really is a strange situation, isn’t it?”
After all, even though the order is backwards, we’ve already gone all the way. Twice, even.
We’ve shared a much deeper physical connection than just holding hands.
But right now, the third time felt unnervingly far away.
It’s not like I’m lacking in happiness right now—and anyway, that’s not all there is to life.
I know that, but… just the touch of her hand made me so nervous, and I couldn’t help but feel anxious about what lay ahead.
“What am I supposed to do…”
Faced with this luxurious dilemma that arose so soon after we started dating, I found myself wringing my hands in frustration—just like any normal high school boy.
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