Hey, Best Friend. How About A Kiss Today Too? - Chapter 43:  "C-comrade?!"

 “C-comrade?!”

With reflex, I open the nearby door and step inside, finding myself in the computer room.

It seems the computer club is on break as the lights in the room are off, and there’s no one around. The room is filled with numerous computers arranged at regular intervals.

“……I-I’m so, so sorry…! I didn’t mean to take a peek! I swear, it wasn’t intentional, it was just an accident that I saw it, I couldn’t help but take sight of it, it was beyond my control…!:

“Ah, s-sorry…”

Kusakabe cowered in the corner of the computer room, clearly frightened.

It was my fault for suddenly dragging her into this room against her will, so her reaction was understandable.

“However… to be honest with you… being pushed into a room like this with no chance to resist… it was a little… exhilarating…”

“…”

Kusakabe seemed timid, but perhaps she was tougher than she appeared.

“But… even though you’re not dating Yakumo-san, she is still your partner… why?”

“…Let’s just sit down for now.”

“T-Thank you…?”

I pulled Kusakabe to sit on an expensive-looking chair nearby, and I sat next to her, facing each other.

Her hands were smaller and more delicate than Sagiri’s.

“…”

“…”

Silence. Sitting face to face with a classmate in the dimly lit computer room, silence.

It was incredibly awkward.

Far more than it had ever been with Sagiri.

“Kusakabe.”

“Hyaaa….!?”

She straightened up, startled as if she were scared.

I felt a bit hurt by her reaction, but considering the situation, it was entirely my fault.

“…Did you say that you saw me and Sagiri kiss?”

“Y-Yes…”

“…When was that?”

“Um, well, it was… when Sagiri… f-fell during PE class, and… you went to the infirmary… a-and you two were on the bed together…”

“That’s enough…”

“O-Okay…”

It was a long time ago.

So, Kusakabe had known for quite some time that Sagiri and I had been kissing.

It might be too late. No, it was too late.

But my course of action wouldn’t change.

“Please, Kusakabe! Don’t tell anyone about this!!”

“C-comrade?!”

――I did dogeza before her.

“U-um…! P-please, please raise your head! I won’t tell anyone, I promise!!”

“R-Really?!”

“Y-Yes… I… I don’t have any friends anyway, so…”

“…I’m sorry!”

“dogeza twice will just hurt you more, you know?!”

Well, I mean… I hurt her because I apologized, right?

“Let’s just calm down for now…! Um, can you stop kneeling? Or should I kneel too? It feels more like me to do that instead, right…?”

“C-Calm down, Kusakabe! That’ll just make things more confusing!”

Facing each other in the dimly lit computer room, classmates of opposite genders kneeling to each other was a scene I didn’t want to imagine.

I calmed down Kusakabe, who was prone to steering things in strange directions, and we sat back down on the chairs.

This day had been exhausting for my heart, starting with waking up to find Sagiri in my bed.

“…I have something to ask you,  Kusakabe.”

“U-um, yes?”

Uh?

Her “um” before answering caught my attention, but I gathered my courage and continued speaking.

“Do you think best friends would kiss each other?”

“I… I don’t have any friends, so, um… that’s a bit…”

“I’m sorry…”

“P-Please, no more kneeling!”

Even though… I’ve already hurt her so much in this short time, she won’t even let me kneel to ask for forgiveness…

“I think I understand Hasegawa-kun’s assessment of you as a foolishly earnest person…”

“He said that?!?”

“U-um, yes… I sometimes eavesdrop on your conversations in class…”

“Eavesdrop!?”

“I-I’m sorry, I’m sorry! But my seat is right in front of yours, so… Hasegawa-kun is often there, and I have nowhere else to go…”

“…I’m sorry.”

“K-Kneeling won’t help, you know…?”

As I tried to get off the chair, I was stopped by her hand.

It seems that in this short time, she has learned to anticipate my actions.

I’ll have to talk to Hasegawa firmly about this later.

“Kusakabe…”

“Y-Yes?”

“Would you be willing to hear about my relationship with Sagiri…?”

“I-I don’t think anyone could refuse in this situation…”

Kusakabe replied nervously.

“B-but, having to listen to someone’s story after having your freedom taken away… T-that might not be… okay…?”

Her lips loosened as if to say ‘that might be a bit much.’

Maybe I’ve inadvertently opened a new door for her.