A Lonely S-Rank Explorer, Returning to His Student Days to Redo His Youth—It Seems the Strongest Loner Is Being Genuinely Loved by the Most Beautiful Girls in the School - Chapter 17: Sniff Sniff

As Yuito stared blankly in the direction where Satou had been taken, Kirika and Hakari approached him.

“I was offering a prayer for a somewhat noble sacrifice…”

“What? Did Satou-kun die?”

“Maybe…”

“We lost a precious person, didn’t we?”

“Hakari-chan, you definitely don’t mean that…”

In the first place, Satou is not dead.

Satou, who was taken away, is sitting in seiza surrounded by girls.

Apparently, there are people who are envious of that. Some boys were looking at it with envious eyes.

Perhaps Satou is feeling happy too… maybe.

Since it was pointless to worry about it, Yuito set aside his thoughts about Satou for the time being.

“Are you two about to do the ‘physical ability test’?”

“Yes. We are just getting started.”

Hakari, responding like that, was in short sleeves. It was as if she was worried, rubbing her arm.

“…Hakari-san, what happened to your jersey jacket?”

Today is a pleasantly warm day, but most of the girls are wearing jackets.

It seems she’s hiding her skin because she’s worried about UV rays.

He is touching her arm as if he is also concerned about Hakari, but she is not wearing a jersey.

“I’ve had a bit of bad luck…”

“When I tried to use the faucet, water started gushing out. It seems like it was broken.”

“So that’s why your jacket got wet?”

“That’s right… I left my wet jacket in the classroom…”

The faucet is broken, and water is spraying everywhere.

It’s a scene he has only ever seen in anime.

“That was bad luck for you… Oh, if you want, I can lend you mine?”

“Is it okay?”

“I’m not going to use it anymore today.”

Yuito lowers the zipper of his jacket.

If a friend is in trouble, lending her his jersey jacket is the least he can do.

Besides, borrowing and lending forgotten items feels youthful and nice.

However, as he took off his jacket, Yuito noticed.

“Oh, but I might smell a bit because I sweated a little…”

Since he took it off when exercising, it hasn’t absorbed that much sweat.

However, he has heard that women are sensitive to smells.

She wouldn’t want to borrow a guy’s sweat-stinky jersey, would she? He made an unnecessary suggestion.

“I don’t think you need to worry about it. If it’s not too much trouble for you, could you lend it to me?”

“Really? If it smells bad, you don’t have to force yourself to wear it, okay…?”

“No, I’m really grateful.”

Yuito handed the jersey top to Hakari.

“I’ll wash it and return it to you,” Hakari smiled.

◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇

After Yuito left, Kirika cast a sulky glare at Hakari.

“Hakari-chan, what are you planning to do with that jersey?”

“What do you mean by ‘what to do’… is there any option other than wearing it?”

“Huh, you don’t smell it or anything?”

“Huh!? I-I won’t do it!? What are you talking about!?”

Hakari retorts with a bright red face.

The idea of sniffing it never crossed Hakarima’s mind.

She was just happy to be able to borrow her crush’s belongings.

“Eh, really?”

“Of course. I’m not a pervert like Kirika-san.”

“What!? Did you just call me a pervert!?”

“Only a pervert would come up with the idea of smelling it, you know?”

“Is that so… Am I just too influenced by the two-dimensional world…?”

“Face reality. There’s no good that comes from sniffing around.”

“Hmm…”

It seems that Kirika is not satisfied. She casts a dissatisfied glance at Hakari.

“Well then, why don’t you give it a try and smell it?”

“Huh?”

“Can you show me a real girl’s reaction?”

“…”

With a grim expression, Hakari alternately looks at Yuito’s jersey and Kirika.

Smelling the jersey borrowed from the guy.

What if… just hypothetically, what if she ended up getting excited by that?

It’s exactly the kind of pervert that Hakari herself criticized.

“Oh dear, are you perhaps getting scared, Hakari-chan? So you think you’re a pervert for getting excited by the smell?”

“I’m not scared or anything!”

“Then go ahead and smell it.”

“Grrr… Fine. I’ll do it!!”

She was swept up by Kirika and ended up making a declaration.

Hakari stares at Yuito’s jersey.

It’s nothing. She will just sniff it a little and argue with Kirika.

Hakari makes up her mind.

She brought her face close as if to hug tightly and took a sniff.

To prove that she’s not a pervert!!

“――Kari-chan!! Hakari-chan!?”

“Huh!? W-What am I…”

“You were really focused on smelling it.”

“――Tsu!?”

She was a total pervert.

The moment she smelled Yuito’s scent up close, her reason flew out the window.

Hakari knelt down, her ears flushed bright red. She stared at the ground with a look of despair.

“Wh-what… I was a pervert…”

“I was surprised too. Well, everyone has their own fetishes… so don’t worry about it, okay?”

“Kirika-san… I’m sorry for calling you a pervert. I was wrong…”

When she looked up at Kirika, she had a smile like that of the Virgin Mary.

The favorability rating from Hakari to Kirika has increased.

“Yeah, yeah… By the way, what did you think of the smell?”

“Being enveloped in Yuito-kun’s scent… it felt like being tightly hugged, and my heart raced.”

“Oh… hey, could you lend it to me for a bit too?”

“Subletting is bad manners, so it’s not allowed.”

“Eh… are you really worried about that here…?”

After that, Hakari was wearing an oversized jersey as she participated in the class looking quite pleased.

As a result, a rumor spread that “Hakari seems to have a boyfriend who lends her his jersey,” and it is said that many male students shed blood tears.