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 80-81

Chapter 80

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“—————”

“—————!”

“————————?”

This is a good movie…

What was playing on the television was a human drama film that Sorato had said he wanted to watch. It was about a protagonist who lost his wife in an accident and returned to his past self to start over. It had become a bestseller not long ago, and he had been curious about it for some time. About an hour into the movie, the depth of the story and the words spoken by the characters pierced his heart in a strangely profound way.

“Wow…”

“……”

Sorato briefly shifted his gaze away from the images playing before him and looked at Kaon, who was sitting adorably on his lap. As the visuals and beautiful soundtrack washed over them, she too let out a soft murmur. On the table were two large bags of popcorn spread open and glasses filled with carbonated soda.

…Right.

Seeing that, something flashed through Sorato’s mind. He stretched out his hand slightly, picked up some popcorn from the table, and slowly brought it toward her lips.

“Nom.”

Ah, she ate it.

Without a moment’s delay, the firm texture of the popcorn disappeared from his fingertips, replaced by the soft, pliant touch of her lips. Perhaps because the room was pitch-dark except for the light from the television, Sorato managed to remain relatively calm despite behavior from her that would normally have flustered him.

One more time…

Almost out of habit, he kept lifting more popcorn and bringing it to her mouth. The way she munched away was like feeding a small animal, giving him a mysterious sense of superiority and satisfaction. Then, just as Sorato felt satisfied and stopped feeding her, Kaon spoke without looking at him, her voice so soft it nearly vanished beneath the sound of the television.

“I want more…?”

“…Haha, sure. Here—say ahh.”

As Sorato reached for more popcorn and carried it to her mouth to answer her cute request—

“Mm.”

“—!?”

She bit down on his finger along with the popcorn. The warm breath brushing his fingertips and the far stronger sensation of her lips compared to before violently shook Sorato’s composure.

It’s dark so maybe she can’t see and that’s why it happened but judging from how she just asked for more maybe she did it on purpose to make my heart race and if that’s the case then if I get flustered here it means I’m playing right into her hands which means the best possible action I can take right now is to stay calm and not lose my composure (super fast)—————

He hurriedly tried to resolve it within his own head, but he couldn’t process it properly. On top of that, the lingering sensation of her lips on his finger kept interfering with his attempt to calm down. Then Kaon slowly licked her lips and said,

“Mmm, delicious♪”

Ah, she’s totally doing this on purpose.

Seeing the way she was clearly watching his reaction with amusement, he understood he had been completely targeted. However, having entirely lost the composure needed to fix his expression, Sorato could only grit his teeth helplessly.

“Thanks for the meal~ Was feeding me fun?”

“I-it was fun… y-yes…”

“Fufu, this movie’s interesting, isn’t it~?”

“It is… was it supposed to be this emotional?”

“I want us to get married too.”

“I just don’t want us to be separated like in this movie.”

“I’ll make sure I never let Sora-kun go, so we’ll be fine!”

“Isn’t that supposed to be my line…?”

Gradually regaining their composure, Sorato and Kaon naturally returned their gaze to the movie playing on the television. Right then, the protagonist—having changed the past—had returned to the future and was passionately kissing his now-safe wife upon their reunion. Watching that scene, the two of them exchanged those words.

“…Then make sure you hold on to me properly, okay?♪”

“Of course. I’ll hold on tight.”

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Chapter 81

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That day started out like any other morning. As usual, Sorato made Kanau’s lunch, then saw his younger sister off as she left for school. He locked up the house himself afterward and walked alone, with no particular plan to meet anyone. Then…

“Hey! Suzuya!”

“Huh?”

Hearing someone call out his last name from behind, Sorato reflexively turned around. The person waving broadly at him hurried over, then firmly grabbed Sorato by the shoulder.

“…Tsukada-kun? W-what’s up?”

The person wearing the same uniform—Tsukada—was in the same class as Sorato, but was the kind of classmate Sorato rarely interacted with, even compared to Kohaku and the others. He was the type whose name you knew, but nothing more. Up until now, aside from group work in class or the rare errand, Tsukada had never really spoken to him. So Sorato was completely confused by him suddenly running over like this.

“Well, it ain’t like I got some big reason or nothin’. But after seein’ that yesterday, I kinda wanted to talk to ya.”

That Kansai accent is as intense as ever…

Yes. That Kansai dialect was exactly why Sorato didn’t usually try to talk much with him. Apparently, Tsukada had moved from the Kansai region when he entered school, and instead of adapting to standard Japanese, he had embraced his Kansai dialect as part of his identity. With his unique humor and comedic sense, he supposedly had a very wide circle of friends.

That reputation was easy enough to believe if you watched him in class, but Sorato had once been aggressively confronted by a hardcore Kansai guy in the past. Ever since then, he’d developed an inexplicable sense of unease around Kansai accents.

“……….”

“Huh? Got somethin’ on my face?”

“N-no! Nothing at all… um, but what do you mean by ‘that’ from yesterday?”

“Well, when you say ‘that,’ there’s only one thing it could be, right? Yesterday’s lunch break! Man, you really stood your ground! If it were me, I’d be way too scared to face a scary-lookin’ upperclassman like that.”

Tsukada casually slung an arm around Sorato’s shoulders, closing the distance in a frankly terrifying way, and looked at him with completely innocent eyes. The memory of being cornered in the past faintly resurfaced, but judging by how Tsukada treated him, he didn’t seem like a bad guy.

“H-haha… I mean, I couldn’t just stand by and watch while my friend was in trouble…”

Well… I guess if that many people saw it, someone like this was bound to show up.

“So yeah, after that I thought, ‘Hey, I wanna talk to this guy.’ And then you just happened to show up right in front of me! At that point, I had no choice but to talk to ya, right?”

“…So does that mean Tsukada-kun likes Natsuki-san too?”

“…………”

Something about his words caught Sorato’s attention, and forgetting the tension of talking to him for the first time, he blurted out the question. Tsukada fell silent for a moment, then muttered with a look like something had just clicked in his head.

“So you are Natsuki-san’s boyfriend or somethin’?!”

“—Ah! No, that’s not—!”

At Tsukada’s words, Sorato realized his mistake—how he always lost sight of everything else when it came to Kaon—and hurriedly tried to clear up the misunderstanding. But…

“Or maybe she’s your not-blood-related little sister!? Or twins!? That’d be hot too, but there’s also the classic ‘super-close childhood friends’ angle. Can’t rule that out either… mutter mutter mutter…”

…Huh?

What suddenly burst forth was Tsukada’s rapid-fire imagination, freely fantasizing about Sorato and Kaon’s relationship. Sorato, who had assumed Tsukada would be shocked because he liked Kaon too, was left speechless for an entirely different reason.

“…Um, I’m kind of lost here too. Tsukada-kun, you don’t like Kaon-san or anything?”

“Huh? Nah, I don’t like Natsuki-san like that. I’ve got a girlfriend.”

“Oh… I see.”

“Heh~? Lemme guess… You thought I was gonna steal her from ya? I get it! Totally get that feelin’! It sucks, right? When some guy you’re not even close with is talkin’ to your girlfriend. I’m honestly super bad with that kinda thing myself, but my girlfriend’s a free spirit, so I’ve had a rough time too.”

“I mean, I get that…! But I trust Kaon! She wouldn’t do anything like that…”

“Oh! Slippin’ that in there like it’s nothin’… You totally admitted she’s your girlfriend just now! When I first saw ya, Sorato, I thought you were the quiet type, but dang, you’re pretty bold!”

“I’ll take that as a compliment, as long as you don’t mean gloomy… And I’m relieved too. You’re way nicer than I thought, Tsukada-kun.”

Saying, “I’ve always been a good guy, y’know~?” in an easygoing tone, Tsukada made it clear he had zero interest in Kaon. And realizing that Tsukada had genuinely approached him out of interest and not rivalry, Sorato found himself relaxing more than he would around other classmates, especially knowing Tsukada already had a girlfriend.

I totally thought he was gonna be like, “That girl’s mine, so don’t you dare touch her, ya punk!!” or something… This is a huge letdown in a good way.

Letting his unnecessarily tense body relax, Sorato turned back toward Tsukada. There was one thing he needed to say.

“Um, Tsukada-kun. I want you to keep this quiet. It’s Kaon’s wish and mine too. I know it might seem selfish to ask after not being upfront about it…”

Even if it meant being a little greedy, this was something he absolutely had to protect. It was a promise he’d made with Kaon, and losing her trust over one careless action was far scarier than pushing Tsukada here. But contrary to Sorato’s worries, Tsukada let out a remarkably dopey-sounding noise.

“Huh? I wasn’t plannin’ on tellin’ anyone from the start! I wouldn’t go blabbin’ a friend’s secret like that~! But in exchange, trade contact info with me! I really like ya, Sorato~!”

“Ah, if it’s just that, sure. I’m glad. I think I can get along with you too, Tsukada-kun… I’ve always been a little bad with Kansai accents.”

“Yeah, I hear that a lot. Dunno why! I’m not mad or nothin’, but folks always say I sound rough.”

“Maybe that’s how it feels if you’re used to standard Japanese? I’m fine now, though.”

“Oh yeah? That’s great then!”

By the time Sorato’s unease around Kansai dialect had gradually faded thanks to Tsukada, they were already chatting casually, just like he did with Kohaku and Tenma. Tsukada’s sense of distance and easygoing personality probably fit Sorato just right. Then, as if he’d just thought of something, Tsukada said, “Oh yeah!” and pulled out his phone, showing a QR code for his messaging app.

“Wanna exchange contacts? We don’t even gotta talk that much!”

“That’s totally fine. Hang on, I’ll open the app… Wait, what!? The time!?”

As Sorato pulled out his phone and glanced at the digital clock on the lock screen, his eyes nearly popped out of his head. It was 8:27 a.m. There were only minutes left before class started.

“Wha—!? You’re right! H-hey, let’s exchange contact info later, okay!?”

“Of course! Let’s go, Tsukada-kun! Quick!”

“You can call me Hayate, just like that!”

“Then let’s go, Hayate!”

“Gotcha, Sorato!”

Ding-dong-dang-dong…

““Ah.””

That day, the two of them ended up being a few minutes late to class.

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