Actually, There’s Someone at Your Workplace Who Likes You ~ I’m Being Transferred to a Sales Office Filled With Only Beautiful Women!?

“Alright then. I guess that makes us best partners.”

I said it half-jokingly.

But for some reason, Kozakai-san suddenly started flustering. Her soft, chestnut-colored hair bounced as her reddish-brown eyes wavered.

“So… so what you’re saying is, Hirabayashi-kun, you want us to be best partners, huh? Ahaha… but you know, it’d be a problem if you suddenly fell for me or something!”

“Huh?”

What was she talking about?

What did she mean by “falling for her”?

Hikawa-san even said it was just as colleagues.

“R-r-right, okay. Well… i-if you really insist, then I guess I can let you call me your best partner.”

I didn’t know what was going on, but…

Why was she suddenly acting all high and mighty?

Still, seeing Kozakai-san all flustered like this was amusing, so I decided to go along with it.

“Alright then, if you insist. I’ll be counting on you.”

“I-I see… If you say so, Hi-hi-hi… Hirarin, then I’ll allow it.”

“Yeah.”

…Wait, what?

Hirarin?

Well, I’d been called that by plenty of friends before. It was probably just easier to say.

She must be saying it in a friendly way, so whatever.

But seeing Kozakai-san this flustered was new. She’d always had a sharp, spiky personality, so this was kind of refreshing.

“If you’re calling me Hirarin, what should I call you? Hono-chan?”

“Hono-chan…? Ugh, no way. That sounds like something Director Reika would call me.”

“Then I guess just Honoka?”

She was so flustered that I couldn’t help but tease her a little.

“What!? W-w-why are you suddenly calling me by my first name without honorifics!? Who do you think you are, Hirarin!?”

What did she mean, “Who do you think you are, Hirarin”?

…Oh. Did I make her mad?

Maybe that was too much?

“Uh, well… I meant it as a sign of friendliness, but… sorry.”

Even as a joke, maybe I took it too far.

I probably upset her.

Time to reflect. Deeply.

…Huh?

Rather than being angry, Kozakai-san’s entire face was bright red.

Wait. Was she okay? Did she have a fever or something?

If ssh was sick, standing around chatting like this was a bad idea.

“Kozakai-san, are you feeling alright?”

“Huh? W-what do you mean? I’m totally fine!”

Kozakai-san was probably just pretending to be fine so that I wouldn’t worry.

But with her face this red, she definitely had a fever.

“Don’t push yourself too hard.”

I placed the palm of my right hand gently against Kozakai-san’s forehead.

Yeah, she was burning up.

“Hya…!?”

Her flustered, panicky movements suddenly stopped.

She stared straight at my face, her eyes glossy and damp.

“Hey, you really do have a fever, don’t you?”

Her forehead was noticeably hot.

Her teary eyes were probably also because of the fever.

This wasn’t good.

She was seriously burning up.

“Umm… it’s not ‘you’, it’s Honoka.”

“Huh?”

What was she talking about at a time like this?

That didn’t matter right now.

More importantly, I needed to take her to a doctor.

But if I ignored her and she got upset, that’d be a hassle too.

She was probably just saying weird things because of the fever, but… fine. I’d go along with it and call her Honoka.

“Alright, Honoka.”

“Y-yes!”

…What? That was an oddly enthusiastic response.

“Are you really okay, Honoka?”

“Yes!”

There it was again. That energetic response.

She looked fine…

So, was she sick or not? Which was it?

“You seem to have a fever. Should we go to the doctor?”

“N-no… I-I’m fine! I’m totally fine, so let’s just go back to the office!”

“If you’re feeling bad, don’t hesitate to say so. Are you sure you don’t need to see a doctor?”

“Yeah, I’m sure! I’m really fine. We need to get back to work!”

“Ah… alright. If you say so. Let’s head back to the office, Honoka.”

“Yes!”

Another energetic response.

Hmm… I really didn’t get it.

But I had figured out one thing—calling her “Honoka” got a funny reaction out of her.

She didn’t seem to hate it.

It was kind of entertaining, so maybe I’d keep calling her that. Hahaha…

Still, Honoka seemed fine now, so I felt a little relieved.

For now, we should head back to the office.

Aido-san was probably worried and waiting for us.

With that in mind, we each got into our respective company cars and drove back to the office.

＊＊＊

As expected, when we returned, Aido-san greeted us with a concerned expression.

“Ah, how did it go?”

“Oh, yeah. I properly apologized, and Hikawa-san forgave me.”

I answered, but Aido-san still looked worried.

“But Hikawa-san is supposed to be a really strict person. You must have gotten scolded pretty badly, right?”

When Aido-san turned a worried gaze toward Honoka, she just laughed. “Ahaha~” What a carefree person. Wasn’t she feeling sick just a moment ago?

“Actually, Ruka-tan, by the time I got there, Hikawa-san and Hirabayashi-kun were just chatting away like good friends!”

“Huh…? Really? That’s amazing, Hirabayashi-san!”

Aido-san’s already beautiful eyes widened even more as she looked at me in surprise.

—No, no, it was really not that shocking…

“Ah, well, it turns out Hikawa-san used to be the manager of her high school’s soccer team. She happened to know about me from back then, so that helped. It’s not like I did anything special.”

“Oh… right, Hirabayashi-san, you were in the soccer club.”

“Huh…?”

—Wait a second.

“Did I ever tell you I was in the soccer club, Aido-san?”

“Eh? Ah, um… didn’t you?”

“No, I don’t think I ever mentioned it.”

“Oh! Is that so? I must have just assumed that from the conversation. Or maybe I mixed it up with someone else’s story. Ehehe. Ahaha.”

Yeah, that must be it.

I really didn’t remember ever telling her.

Still, Aido-san, who was usually so composed, was acting strangely flustered…

“S-Soccer club guys are pretty cool, huh, H-Hirabayashi-san?”

“Ah, well. I guess it might seem cool in general, but I wasn’t really anything special. I was terrible at it. Hahaha.”