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 42

Chapter 42

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

“Ah, come to think of it, Natsuki-san. There was something I wanted to ask.”

“Hmm? Sure, sure! Ask me anything!”

Blending into the crowd, Sorato walked beside Kaon and voiced a question that had suddenly crossed his mind, thinking it might make for a topic of conversation.

“So, about being paired up on the Ferris wheel this time… Were you really okay with being paired with me, Natsuki-san?”

“I was totally fine with it, you know? …Eh!? Did I maybe give off some kind of unpleasant vibe!?”

The muttered comment Sorato let slip was, at this point, the lingering anxiety and worry he had felt about the Ferris wheel pairing. Hearing that, Kaon assumed she must have done something wrong and became flustered, panicking badly.

“No, no. It’s not like that at all, but how should I put it… Even if it was to pair up Hiiragi-san and Kohaku together, I kind of wondered if you might have hated being alone with a guy like me.”

However, the more deeply one listened, the more Sorato’s concern sounded reasonable. No matter how friendly someone was, no matter how they smiled at everyone, in the end they were still human. Even if it wasn’t to the point of hatred, there were surely people they weren’t good with, or people they preferred not to get too close to.

In the end, I’m nothing more than a temporary bandage to patch up a momentary anxiety for her.

Sorato’s self-perception and Kaon’s misunderstanding of how significant “Sorato Suzuya” had become to her since that incident rubbed against each other, giving rise to unnecessary worries. Even so…

“…It’s true that to pair Saki with Natani-kun, Kaede paired up with Kudou-kun first, and naturally I ended up with Suzuya-kun. But you know? I was genuinely happy, from the bottom of my heart. I can’t explain it well, but I knew you were kind and would listen to my selfishness, so I thought, ‘I finally get a chance to interact with him!’”

“…You say ‘a chance to interact,’ but Natsuki-san, you talked to me completely normally, didn’t you? That thing during P.E. too… It was really bad for my heart.”

He said that while averting his eyes in embarrassment, but when Sorato was stared at intently, he responded without any particular agitation, his face serious.

“Ah, you knew that I was doing it on purpose, huh?”

Kaon wore an innocent smile like a child whose prank had been discovered. She probably tried to cover it up with poor acting, but it was easily seen through.

“Ehehe, I just couldn’t hold back. And besides, Sorato-kun, you were really good at volleyball, you know?”

“Well, I am experienced, after all.”

Being straightforwardly praised by Kaon after she doubled down, Sorato felt a faint embarrassment and replied curtly, in a way unlike his usual self.

“Ah! I knew it! No wonder you were so good… Oh, hey, hey, Suzuya-kun, should we head back soon?”

“Yeah. I wouldn’t want us to get separated because the timing’s off, so let’s head back a bit early.”

It had only been a little over ten minutes, but learning yet another thing about each other made their hearts feel warmly at ease. There was some lingering reluctance, but keeping everyone waiting would cause a significant loss of time at the amusement park.

“Ahh! Before that, I want to try that just once!”

“Oh, that sounds good. Since we’re here anyway, let’s do it.”

Kaon found something, her eyes sparkling as she pointed, and Sorato eagerly joined in. The place the two hurried toward was…

〜・〜・〜・〜・〜・〜・〜

“So, you really did manage to get it.”

“Seriously, while we were lining up and working hard, you two were flirting together? Must be nice, huhhh!? Heyyyy!?”

“Ah, ahaha… Sorry…?”

The moment Sorato and Kaon rejoined everyone, an incredibly fired-up Kohaku was waiting for them, his expression twisted like a hannya mask. According to Kaede and the others who had been waiting, Kohaku’s group had returned almost at the same time and had been waiting for the two of them ever since. And after all that waiting, what Kaon was holding when she came back was a fluffy stuffed bear mascot from the theme park, so large it covered her entire face from her chest upward.

“Wah! It’s so fluffy! Let me hug it later too~!”

“It’s my turn right now, so wait just a little longer… Mmm~ so fluffy.”

What she held so dearly was the prize from the game-style stall called the “Carnival Game” that Kaon had suggested they visit last. The game they played was based on a pirate attraction, where you used five small palm-sized balls to knock over a large wooden barrel.

At 2,000 yen per try, it wasn’t exactly cheap, but since they were making memories, they challenged it without aiming for the prize from the start. As a result… Kaon narrowly failed to knock down the barrel, but Sorato somehow succeeded on his third ball and splendidly won the stuffed bear.

“And then, since the prize turned out to be a bear plushie, I gave it to Natsuki-san.”

“I got it~♡”

“How can you pull off such a protagonist move like that!?”

“Kohaku, calm down.”

“That’s wonderful, Kaon.”

“I’m happy for you, Kaon-chan!”

“…Alright, sorry we ended up taking so much time just the two of us, but let’s head to the second attraction right away.”

“To begin with, everyone was worried about your condition. And then when we come back, we find you two flirting with Natsuki-san over and over and over and over and—”

Sorato, whose condition had finally fully recovered, forcibly dragged along Kohaku, who kept grumbling nonstop, and the group headed for their second attraction: the “Coffee Cups.” Along the way, if they had time to spare, they looked for other rides they wanted to go on and took photos with mascot characters in full costume, fully enjoying the amusement park.

Their amusement park field trip had only just begun.

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー