I’m an Introvert, but After Taking Care of the School’s Most Beautiful Girl Who Lives in an Apartment When She Was Sick, She Became Attached to Me and Started Inviting Me Over to Her Place! - Chapter 16

Chapter 16

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“Ah, but in this case, wouldn’t it be kind of bad for the two of us to be alone in your room, Natsuki-san…?”

“Geez…You were so cool just a moment ago. Why do you have to chicken out right there…?”

Suzuya accepted Natsuki’s earnest plea for affection in the best possible way. Hearing his clear, unclouded reply, the tension that had twisted her expression—and the tightly stretched thread that had refused to loosen—came undone with surprising ease.

However, as Suzuya slowly turned back toward the bed where Natsuki lay, he suddenly stopped in his tracks. As if he’d come back to his senses. He regained his sense of the distance he ought to keep. Natsuki tossed out a sulky complaint, and after a short pause, Suzuya let out a wry smile.

“Just kidding, just kidding. I’m joking. I was just happy that you finally showed me your true feelings, Natsuki-san.”

“…Since when did you notice? That I was hiding something?”

This time, Suzuya properly sat down beside Natsuki as she cutely leaned forward from under the covers. At Suzuya’s unexpectedly frank words, Natsuki’s expression wavered for a moment.

No way… He actually noticed?

She must not have thought that her true feelings, which she believed she’d hidden so well, had been sensed in a form so close to certainty. She immediately lost her words and could only lower her gaze. Like a child whose lie had been found out, her voice grew smaller and smaller.

“Hmmm, I can’t say there was a specific moment. If I have to pick one, it’d be the dark look you sometimes get, Natsuki-san. Whenever that happened, you always talked about being ‘lonely’ or ‘alone.’”

“Suzuya-kun, you really pay close attention to people, don’t you?”

“Ever since I was little, noticing those little details has kind of been my strong point for some reason.”

As he said that, he unusually brushed aside his long bangs with one hand. The eyes that usually only peeked faintly through the gaps now looked straight into Natsuki’s.

“…!”

I think this might be the first time I’ve really seen his face clearly…

The face that was usually hidden behind his jet-black, beautiful long hair was now fully exposed, unobstructed. His slightly drooping, double-lidded eyes were calm and warm, like spring sunlight. The smile that had always been hidden in the shadow of his long bangs was now vividly burned into her vision.

“Why are you staring at my face like that?”

“No, it’s just… Your face is usually hidden by your hair, Suzuya-kun. Being able to see your face feels kind of fresh somehow.”

From atop the bed, Natsuki studied his face closely. Meanwhile, Suzuya noticed her gaze and smiled with a slightly troubled look, lowering his eyebrows.

“…Ah, this? My bangs have been getting annoying, so I was thinking it might be time to cut it.”

“Oh? Then everyone’s going to see your face now, huh?”

“It’s not like I was trying to hide it. Things just piled up, and I didn’t have time to go get it cut.”

Natsuki’s true feelings, murmured quietly in her heart at that moment, were lost among her nods and never reached him.

Hmph. Here I was happy thinking it was something only I got to see…

It felt like she’d discovered a side of him that only she knew, and her chest rustled restlessly as a gentle warmth spread through her.

“…Alright then. I’ll stay nearby, Natsuki-san. So if anything happens, just call out to me.”

After saying that softly, without noticing whatever was smoldering inside her, he once again sat cross-legged a short distance from the bed, just like before. Turning his back lightly toward Natsuki on the bed, he opened his novel with a quiet hum.

“……”

After a while, even the humming stopped. Suzuya’s back, having been quickly absorbed into the world of the novel, grew as still as the surface of a calm lake. Natsuki lowered her gaze to the novel he’d lent her and gently traced it with her fingertips. Because Suzuya wasn’t looking at her now, emotions began to well up.

With every conversation, she caught glimpses of his words and gentle actions, and her heart loosened again and again. If it was him, someone who affirmed everything about her, she felt like she could talk about anything with courage. Without thinking much, she couldn’t help wanting to play a little prank on his quiet back. She slipped one leg out from the bed and brought her hand close enough to touch him.

“Hey, hey…?”

“Hm? What’s wrong?”

Then, when she lightly brushed Suzuya’s back with her outstretched fingertips, he turned toward her without even placing a bookmark in his novel. Seeing Suzuya’s completely caught-off-guard, blank expression, Natsuki felt triumphant inside and broke into a grin.

However….

Ah, wait. This might be insanely embarrassing to say—!?

Just before the words left her mouth, an overwhelming sense of embarrassment suddenly sprouted. While she’d been staring only at his unguarded back, she’d thought of nothing but pulling off her little prank. But once he turned to face her, their eyes met, and she tried to put it into words directly, a wave of heated embarrassment surged up from her stomach all at once.

Even now, she tried to clamp her mouth shut, but once she’d started speaking, the words wouldn’t stop. Natsuki’s true feelings, tinged with that “heat,” went straight to him.

“…Is it bad if I talk to you without a reason?”

“Ah—!? N-no, not at all… Please… Feel free to talk to me…”

Averting his gaze from Natsuki’s, Suzuya flipped through the pages of the novel in his hand at random, not focusing on a single word. Because his bangs were lifted higher than usual, she could clearly see how his eyes were darting about.

Ghh—!? I’m such an idiot!! What am I even saying!?

The prank had originally been meant to fluster Suzuya, so the distance between them was closer than ever. Natsuki’s cheeks, which had been hit by embarrassment at the last second, were faintly flushed with heat. Unable to bear it, she buried her face into the futon, writhing as she failed to let out the turbulent emotions swirling inside her.

“…Huh? Natsuki-san, did you say that only to get embarrassed yourself…?”

“Hnng!? No I didn’t! …Jeez, shut uuuup! Don’t peek at my face!!”

Eventually, Suzuya must have realized he had the upper hand after watching her reactions. With a grin spreading across his face, he took a step closer to her, who was buried in the blankets. Natsuki peeked at him sideways, clutching the blanket tightly, managing only to issue weak threats in a completely non-intimidating voice. Naturally, Suzuya didn’t show the slightest sign of backing down and kept up his verbal counterattack as payback for the prank.

“Haha, you’re like a chihuahua getting mad.”

“What!? I’m serious!! …Geez, you idiot.”

“Oh dear, oh dear, calling me an idiot. Is that really something someone known as the prettiest girl in the school should say?”

“That has nothing to do with this right now!!”

Her retorts were hardly even arguments anymore, but Suzuya deliberately pulled out her nickname from school and countered with a smug grin. Completely cornered now, Natsuki looked like a small animal that could do nothing more than hurl cute little insults.

When that heartwarming exchange finally came to an end, a pleasant stillness returned, like being deep in a forest. Natsuki, having calmed down as well, slowly lifted her face from the futon and tried reading the novel she’d borrowed from Suzuya.

Ah.

Suzuya, too, held his novel with a focused expression. But this time, he sat down much closer, closing the distance between the bed and Natsuki. At that quiet sign of trust he showed her, her heart warmed as if lit by candlelight.

Ah, being with Suzuya-kun really makes me want to be spoiled…

That understated trust and kindness he showed like this felt unbearably comforting. It made her feel like he would accept anything, and just being together made her naturally want to lean on him.

Almost like family… Like an older brother…

Though she was an only child, she found herself unconsciously overlapping Suzuya’s gentle back with the dependable “older brother” she’d secretly always wished for. It seemed her heart’s candle—and even the fears from her past—had begun to melt as she truly leaned on him, someone warm like an older brother. This was probably only because she’d caught a cold. At least, just for now. Surely, by tomorrow, everything would return to normal, and this time with him would have to become something that never happened. After all, the two of them were just classmates.

“……Suzuya-kun…”

“Hm? …Ah. Sure, go ahead.”

So, just for now, she reached for his hand once more and squeezed it tightly. More firmly than in her dreams, as if to make sure the sensation was real. Suzuya’s hand, never refusing Natsuki’s wish after all, wrapped securely around hers.

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