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 52

Chapter 52

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Ding~ Dong~

The pure white marble floor carried the fragrance of a luxurious hotel. Glancing sideways at the security guard standing in front of the automatic doors of the entrance hall, I slipped past and stepped into the descending elevator, pressing the “23rd Floor” button.

The doors closed, and the empty, solitary space began to rise slowly. The high school we attended, the familiar station—through the gradually expanding view from the first floor upward, my restless feelings still refused to settle. This time felt strangely long.

Ding~ Dong~

2301. Here I am.

Along with the familiar mechanical voice, the doors of the viewing box opened. A gentle breeze brushed past my cheek, feeling oddly pleasant again. The open view and the blue sky spreading beyond it—this clear scenery unique to high floors always loosened my tension, even if only for a moment.

“Phew… Alright, let’s g—”

“Ah! Suzuya-kun! Welcome!”

“Whoa?! …Th-that scared me…”

After getting off the elevator and standing in front of Room 2301, Sorato finally steeled himself and slapped his cheeks. Just as he reached for the intercom, the front door suddenly opened. Kaon burst out with a bright smile, and Sorato instinctively jumped back in surprise. Naturally, she had changed out of her school uniform into casual clothes.

Instead of the neat, refined outfit she had worn on the recent school trip, she was dressed in relaxed home wear—a gray hoodie and navy denim jeans. Her toned, emphasized figure made it hard for his eyes to know where to look.

“Sorry! Did I surprise you?”

“I thought my heart was going to flip over, but other than that, I’m fine…”

“Hehe. I couldn’t wait, so I came out to welcome you~♪”

She stuck out her tongue playfully and winked, leaning her upper body out through the doorway just like the first time he had visited, as if eagerly awaiting his arrival.

“Are you a kid or something…? Ah, right. Here. It’s just a small gift, but I bought some shortcake at the convenience store.”

“Oh! How thoughtful~! Come on in, come on in~!”

Once they actually faced each other, the pointless anxiety from earlier vanished as if it had been a lie. The small tremors in his limbs stopped, and his cold fingertips gradually regained warmth. When he handed her the plastic bag with the cake, she smiled happily and beckoned him inside.

For a brief moment, his heart still raced at the sight of her in casual clothes, but her usual easygoing way of pulling him along made him feel as if she were telling him, “There’s no special feelings.” For the first time in a while, it felt like he could breathe deeply again.

“Excuse me for intruding.”

“Yup~ Welcome in~!”

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“Alright, go sit on the sofa over there! I’ll portion out the cake!”

“Ah, then I’ll help too.”

“No, no, it’s fine. You’re my guest, so let me treat you, okay? Come on, sit, sit!”

After seating Sorato on the sofa in front of the TV, Kaon went to the kitchen and divided the cake onto small plates. Even though sitting still made him uneasy, every time he tried to help, she brushed him off with a cheerful “It’ll be done soon.”

“…Haa. Alright. I’ll behave and accept the hospitality.”

“That’s the spirit~!”

Though he relented, Sorato was struggling just as much to maintain his composure in a room filled with her sweet scent. Ever since he arrived, a soft, syrupy, soap-like fragrance drifted through the room whenever she moved. It was so strong, as if she were always right beside him, that even leaning back against the sofa felt difficult.

This was his third time visiting the apartment, but this was the first time he could relax in such a calm atmosphere and bask leisurely in the sunlight streaming through the open curtains.

Last time the curtains were closed, so I couldn’t see it, but the view from here is really beautiful.

Both times he had visited before, the curtains were drawn, so this was the first time Sorato found himself captivated by the high-rise scenery. Then, along with the soft scuff of slippers, Kaon set a tray down on the table with a clink, placing teacups atop it. The gently rising steam and faint aroma of tea leaves made his tense body relax.

“Here you go~ I made some black tea too, so drink it if you like! I don’t know if it’ll suit your taste, though.”

“You went through the trouble of making it, so I’ll have some. I don’t usually drink fancy stuff like this, so I’m curious.”

“Hehe. ‘Fancy stuff’? Isn’t that setting the bar for tea a bit low?”

Taking the black tea Kaon had poured, he brought it to his lips and took a sip. The tea was in a clear, bright reddish-orange color. The faint fragrance of tea leaves wrapped around his nose, followed by a gentle sweetness after the astringency that urged him to take another sip.

“Mm! This is good. It’s kind of addictive.”

“Right, right~? I thought it’d go well with the cake you brought!”

Hearing his reaction, Kaon smiled in satisfaction and brought over the shortcake on a small floral plate, along with a plastic fork. He accepted it with one hand and took another sip of tea to moisten his throat.

Natsuki sat down on the sofa as well, careful to keep about a shoulder’s distance between herself and Sorato. She pressed her palms together, and said, “Itadakima~su!” before digging into the cake.

“Mmm~! So good~! Yeah! It goes well with the tea!”

“Do you like shortcake that much?”

“I like sweets in general, but cakes like this might be my favorite!”

With her mouth full of cake, Kaon answered his simple question with a beaming smile.

I see. Then next time, I should bring something from a proper cake shop—wait!! There’s no ‘next time’!? What am I getting carried away for…?

If she smiled this much over convenience-store cake, he found himself thinking he wanted her to smile even more with cake from a real bakery. He was already imagining a future visit. But when he realized he had been taking a “next time” for granted, he shook his head sharply. He knew all too well that getting carried away would only make things more painful later, so he reined in his expectations.

But why did Natsuki-san invite me over today, anyway?

That question still lingered, even now. He had thought the reason would become clear as time passed, but before he knew it, he was simply enjoying tea time beside her.

“…Hehe. You’ve got a face that says, ‘I don’t know why I was invited here today,’ don’t you?”

“! …If you noticed, you could’ve told me sooner. I was anxious about it all day, you know.”

Leaning forward and peering into his face as if she could see right through him, Kaon grinned. Her buoyant mood was like that of a child who had found a fun toy. She was clearly plotting something mischievous involving Sorato.

“…Hmm~? Does that mean you were thinking about me all day?”

“Guh!? Th-that’s not it!? That’s not what I meant—!?”

“Your face is all red. So cuuute~♪”

“Please don’t enjoy my reactions so much…”

As an impossible heat flooded his cheeks, Sorato covered his face with both hands and let out a shrill, girlish yelp.

This person really does have amazing looks, but she’s totally different from her school image! She’s such a brat now!!

At school, she was a radiant, impeccably pure beauty with a graceful smile, but while the two of them were alone like this, that image flew somewhere far away, replaced by a mischievous, little-devil-type beauty. For Sorato, who wasn’t good with the opposite sex to begin with, this close distance and her teasing were terrible for his heart. His facial muscles kept getting twisted uncontrollably, and he couldn’t keep a straight face.

“Come on, come on~? Say something back~??”

“H-Hey!? You’re too close! I have a disease where I will die if a woman gets this close!?”

“Then you’d already be dead the moment you first came to my place~?”

“So that means I already died and became a spirit…!?”

“What are you talking about? Look! You’ve got a body right here!”

“Ow!? Natsuki-san, aren’t you surprisingly strong…?”

“Maybe Suzuya-kun is just too weak~!”

As Sorato started saying nonsensical things about being dead or a ghost, she smacked his shoulder with her palm. Sitting side by side on the sofa, every one of Kaon’s movements sent the citrusy soap scent straight into his nose.

I am not a scent fetish! …But am I about to step into that territory!? Isn’t Kaon-san’s pheromone output insane or something!? It smells too good…! I’m going to lose my mind!!

Today, Kaon seemed even more alluring than usual. Her unadorned, casual hoodie, combined with a distance that forced him to be conscious of her, gave off a unique kind of sex appeal precisely because she wasn’t dressed up. This was the kind of appeal that shook him to his core as a man.

“Haa…Seriously, this is bad for my heart…”

“I knew it. Sorato-kun, you really are interesting, huh?~”

Resting her cheek on her knee as she looked at him, Kaon smiled in clear satisfaction.

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