Hey, Best Friend. How About A Kiss Today Too? - Chapter 23: “...Wanna do it?”

“…Wanna do it?”

“Huh, ha, ho!”

In the end, I couldn’t consult with Yuzuru. Well, it’s not like I could. She was right there, sticking to me as if we were in a crowded train.

I struggled to divert the conversation desperately, making it ambiguous, and shifted to talking about Yuzuru’s supplementary study plan. It was quite exhausting.

However, the cause of my worries, Sagiri, who had asked about it, inexplicably became my ally halfway through.

Now, my childhood friend, whose thoughts were completely unclear, spoke.

“Hey, wait, whoa, wha, what the heck!? Ah… I’m dead…”

Under the sunset sky, we were playing the game of ‘if you fall from the white line, you die’ on the way home. Is this girl in elementary school?

“You shouldn’t fall.”

“Renji, it’s already too late to say that.”

“Why are you so proud…?”

Her level of smugness was at a level where it wouldn’t be embarrassing even if he went outside. Many male students have fallen for her due to the gap with her mysterious appearance.

“Good for you, it’s on the way home now.”

“Hmm, what are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about you.”

On the way home through the residential area, a trivial conversation continued. Sagiri was completely normal now unlike earlier.

Skipping the morning class, behaving as if I wouldn’t think he was hiding and kissing.

Am I just overly concerned? No, that can’t be the case. The more I think about it, the more I realize that I don’t understand my childhood friend, who should be the closest.

Even now, although he was walking in front of me, he was swaying off the path…

“Renji! Let’s take a little detour!”

“Hey, wait! … Geez.”

As soon as Sagiri said that, she started running, but the destination was right in front of us.

A small park in the middle of the residential area.

That park where I always wait for Sagiri.

“Number one! Renji’s loss!”

“Since when did the match start?”

Standing in the center of the small park, my childhood friend pointed his extended index finger towards the sky. Maybe it’s embarrassing to do it outside after all.

“So, that means I’ll give a present to the loser Renji from the winner me!”

“Isn’t it usually the other way around… I mean.”

Taken out from the shoulder-strap school bag was a purple can of juice. It was grape juice, the one I always drink when waiting for Sagiri here.

“Hehe, you like it, right?”

“Ah, yeah…”

Looking down at me from below, that smiling face made my heart race. Involuntarily, I turned my face away.

“Take this!”

“What the…!?”

I was targeted at that moment. A chilled can of juice was pressed against my neck.

“Haha! Take that! Because!”

“You, you… what are you doing!!”

My chest was pounding for a different reason as my childhood friend laughed, mimicking me excessively. Yeah, I was genuinely startled.

“It’s payback from the morning, you know? How was it? How did it feel?”

“W-what do you mean…”

Sagiri approached with a smirk, and I felt a different kind of excitement. My heart was pounding continuously, and my gaze was inevitably drawn to those pale pink lips.

“Huh? Your face is all red?”

“S-shut up! It’s, it’s because of the sunset…!”

“Renji says that, huh?”

It doesn’t matter who said it. Oh, damn. This girl really doesn’t know anything about taking a hint about other people’s feelings… Other people’s… My feelings, what are they?

“…Wanna do it?”

“…Huh?”

By the time I asked for clarification, it was already too late. My tie was already being pulled.

“Mm.”

“Mm.”

In the middle of the park illuminated by the evening sun, we kissed. It was an unexpected kiss as usual, but for some reason… I just accepted it naturally.

“…Huh?”

My slight but significant change seemed to have conveyed itself to Sagiri through the lips. Our lips parted, and her face, looking up at me from such a close distance, was getting redder and redder.

“…W-what… just now?”

Covering her own lips with her hand, my best friend’s face, who had bowed down, stayed in my mind.