I Thought It Was a World Where Chastity Norms Were Reversed, But It Turns Out I Was Just Surrounded by the Overly Intense Girls in My Class - Chapter 25: Not an After-School Date

Chapter 25: Not an After-School Date

Yukimi-san joined the shogi club.

Now there were two members. We still needed two more to officially start the club.

That was why I planned to invite Kagurazaka-san.

It should have gone that way…

“Did something happen with Yukimi-chi?”

On Monday after school, after the weekend had passed.

While Yukimi-san was away for disciplinary committee activities, Kagurazaka-san was grilling me hard.

I did not even get a chance to recruit her for the club. She just kept pressing me.

Seriously, how did this happen?

“Something definitely happened. The vibe between you two was weird today.”

Kagurazaka-san grabbed my shoulders and pulled her face close, giving me a suspicious glare from point-blank range.

Her eyes were sharp, like a judge’s.

“Vibe? I thought it was the same as always.”

“It was totally a couple’s atmosphere. You kept glancing at each other during class, and when you stared silently, your faces turned bright red. You’re totally doing it.”

“We were just talking on scraps of notebook paper.”

“That’s pushing it. Even having a conversation on notebook scraps is weird. It’s seriously not normal. You know this is during class, right?”

“…Sorry.”

I had no choice but to apologize for that.

I knew it was my fault too, barely listening to the lesson while exchanging notes with Yukimi-san.

But if I did not reply, she would follow up. I had no choice.

It was like getting bombarded with stamps if I left her on read. That was how Yukimi-san was.

So please stop looking at me like I was trash. I did not want to do that either. I wanted to think about shogi during class.

“…I’m really sorry.”

“So what happened over the weekend?”

My apology did not stop the questioning. Kagurazaka-san fired the next question right away.

What happened over the weekend was…

“I was invited to Yukimi-san’s house.”

“Huh? Unforgivable.”

When I answered honestly, she glared at me hard.

That was not enough for her. She grabbed both my shoulders firmly and shook me while interrogating.

“Baba-chi, you didn’t get attacked, right?”

“There’s no way I’d get attacked.”

“A fait accompli? There seriously wasn’t a fait accompli, right?”

“There’s no way something like that happened.”

I only went to recruit her for the shogi club.

Nothing happened that would reverse our sense of chastity.

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

“Super seriously?”

“Super seriously.”

When I answered honestly, Kagurazaka-san let out a relieved sigh and stroked her chest.

“I’m really glad Baba-chi is Baba-chi.”

“Isn’t that an insult?”

“It sounds like an insult but it’s a compliment.”

While saying that, she slapped both my shoulders and stood up, grabbing her bag.

I tilted my head, wondering if she was leaving, but while putting her indoor shoes back on, she said.

“Baba-chi, hurry and get ready.”

“Ready? For what?”

“Getting ready to go out, obviously.”

“But shogi club activities aren’t over yet…”

“Just hurry up and come on.”

She yanked my arm.

She seemed serious about this.

“Go where?”

When I asked, Kagurazaka-san smiled and said, as if it was obvious.

“Where else? On a date, duh.”

“Eh?”

Ignoring my stunned reaction, she headed lightly down the hallway.

Her hand still firmly held my arm—

“Shogi date?”

“After-school date, duh.”

And so I ended up being half-forced out of the clubroom.

※

After leaving school, we came to a bookstore. A small one on the second floor of the station building.

Though small, it supposedly had the best selection in town, and the new release corner especially had books from all kinds of genres lined up.

“If it’s a date, it has to be a bookstore.”

That was Kagurazaka-san’s suggestion, but honestly, I was totally fine with a bookstore too.

Being surrounded by that unique paper smell calmed me down.

By the way, I left the clubroom without saying anything to Yukimi-san. Was that really okay?

The aftermath scared me, but being wrapped in the smell of books let me escape reality for a bit.

“I’ve been curious about this one.”

Kagurazaka-san stopped at the new releases and picked up a horror novel, her eyes sparkling.

Despite appearances, she really loved books and came to the bookstore every month when new ones came out.

It was hard to imagine from her usual self, but thinking back, she paid attention in class and answered confidently when called on.

She was probably more put-together than me, at least.

But when it came to books, I was confident I read just as much.

I read chess books, of course, plus light novels and general literature—I was a pretty avid reader.

Horror was outside my specialty, though…

“This one. Oh, and this one I was curious about too.”

Kagurazaka-san kept picking up books one after another. She seemed to plan on buying them all, more than she could carry in one hand.

“Want me to hold them?”

“I’m fine. Baba-chi is buying some too, right?”

“I’m just getting one.”

I planned to buy a Murata System chess book, nothing else.

But Kagurazaka-san looked dissatisfied with that attitude.

She was buying a bunch herself, yet the person with her had no intention of buying much. She probably felt sad about the difference in enthusiasm.

I understood the feeling. I felt shocked by the gap when no one around me played shogi.

“Anything look interesting?”

Since we were here, I figured I’d ask for recommendations.

When I asked, Kagurazaka-san’s eyes lit up as if she had been waiting, and she said.

“Let’s see, this author and this author never miss, so they’re definitely good. This one is a genre I personally love, and oh, there’s the sequel to this one too…”

Her eyes sparkled like a different person from when we were in the clubroom, picking up all sorts of books.

She talked fast and did not stop.

“Ah, I’m seriously torn. I’m in the mood for mystery, but summer’s almost here so youth stories would be good too, right? I always struggle with this—do I go with something that matches the season or follow my current mood?”

“I get that. In summer I want to read summer-ish stuff, and in winter winter-ish stuff.”

“Seriously, seasons are super important.”

She giggled while flipping through a new mystery release.

Come to think of it, this was my first time casually chatting with someone in a bookstore while browsing new releases.

We did not usually get many chances to talk slowly like this, but I thought this calm time was not bad at all.

Maybe she felt the same, because when our eyes suddenly met, we quietly smiled at each other.

“You absolutely have to read these two.”

“Thanks.”

After that we each picked books—I got three, Kagurazaka-san got five—and headed to the register.

While waiting in line to pay, Kagurazaka-san muttered.

“I really love books. Way more than Baba-chi probably imagines.”

“More than I imagine? I already think you’re pretty into them.”

“This is nothing. In middle school I bought twice this many every month.”

“Seriously?”

“Super seriously.”

Ten books a month was impressive. Even using all her allowance would not cover it.

“You grossed out?”

“Not at all. If anything, I feel closer to you. I love books too. Honestly, most of my allowance goes to books.”

In that sense I was the same. The kind of otaku who went broke buying too many books.

“Good. Baba-chi is Baba-chi.”

“Isn’t that an insult?”

“It sounds like an insult but it’s a compliment.”

She smiled, then went to the register first.

Watching her back, I suddenly thought.

Kagurazaka-san was more of a normal girl than I had imagined.

Unlike the girl whose sense of chastity had flipped and short-circuited her brain, she might have perfectly normal sensibilities in the good way.

Yeah, I really should invite her to the shogi club.