I'm in a Messed Up Situation that I Couldn't Care More. - Chapter 13 A Simple Question

Chapter 13: A Simple Question

(What the heck is a groin guard, and what’s a groin anyway?)

I was wandering around in the storage room where the armor was kept, looking for something called a “groin guard.”

Suddenly, I heard a rattling noise, and the door to the entrance opened.

I turned around to see Aoi-chan standing there.

“Oh, Aoi-chan!”

I smiled at her, happy to see her.

“Do you know what a groin guard is? Vice-Captain Sato told me to bring it to him.”

Aoi-chan didn’t answer my question; instead, she silently walked towards me.

“You damn weakling. I’ll expose your true identity.”

“Huh? What’s wrong?”

Aoi-chan placed her hands on my shoulders, pushing me back against the wall of the storage room.

She leaned in close, pressing her hands against the wall on either side of my head to trap me.

(… Is this a ‘Kabedon’?!) 

My heart started pounding.

Aoi-chan is small.

There was a significant height difference between us.

So, she was doing her best to stretch her arms and prevent me from escaping.

That sight was irresistibly cute.

“Aoi-chan… you’re so cute.”

I blurted out, unable to help myself.

“Don’t say creepy things!”

And I got scolded.

Her hands reached for my face.

…Could she be… going in for a kiss!?

My heart raced even faster.

But instead of a kiss, Aoi-chan wrapped her hands around my neck and started choking me. 

I felt her hot breath on my neck as she squeezed tighter.

“Ah… Aoi-chan… If you choke me that hard, I… Ahh!”

I gasped, feeling my consciousness slipping away.

“Don’t make weird noises, you weakling.I told you not to call me by my name so casually.

Why are you so persistent with me when it’s clear that Yamaguchi-senpai is the one you’re trying to seduce?”

“So… g-gasp… that… g-gasp…”

*********

I really wanted to talk to Aoi-chan more, so I kept asking her out on dates. 

She kept telling me, “It’s impossible.”

But I couldn’t give up, and every time we had club activities, I would talk to Aoi-chan nonstop.

As a result,

“Why are you so persistent with me?”

I seemed to have invited this question.

Aoi-chan loosened her grip on my neck when she saw that I was coughing and struggling to breathe.

“There, now you can breathe.

You insect! Don’t think you can breathe properly in this world, Worm!”

“Worm! Oh, that’s right! I’m not a Worm!

I just simply like you.

It’s that simple. I like you. It was love at first sight.”

“You’re lying.”

When Aoi-chan heard my words, she twisted my wrist.

“Ugh!”

Is this the “reverse kote” that we learned in club activities the other day?

I winced in pain as a sharp pain shot through my wrist, and my legs felt weak.

At the same time, I felt a strange sense of pleasure wash over my body.

“What are you plotting?”

“Nothing. I’m not plotting anything. I just like you, that’s all. Why are you so guarded?”

“Then let me ask you this.

If you like me, why did you confess to Yamaguchi-senpai? You’re trying to seduce her to pull her away from her fiancé, aren’t you? Hmm?

And if you can’t have her, you’ll go after me instead? Are you trying to confuse me?”

“… C-confuse…? What do you mean by that?”

Just then, we heard the sound of the storage room door opening.

“Koichi! How long are you going to keep looking for that groin guard?”

It was Vice-Captain Sato, who had come to check on me.

Aoi-chan quickly let go of me and said,

“Oh, yes, the shin guards are over here. And the groin guards are up there, I think?”

She pointed to the upper shelf.

“Kashitani-kun, I saw you didn’t know where the equipment was, so I came to help.”

“Oh, I see. Thanks.”

Aoi-chan had switched back to her usual gentle self, as if nothing had happened.

It seemed that her fierce true nature only emerged when we were alone…

This was our little secret.

(It’s okay. I won’t tell anyone about this… Oh, wait, I did tell Mamejiro…) 

I thought to myself as I rubbed my wrist, still feeling the lingering pain from Aoi-chan’s twist.

From that day on, whenever Aoi-chan and I were alone, she would call me a “weakling” and choke me or apply various joint locks on me.

As I spent more time talking to Aoi-chan, I began to understand her better.

Firstly, it seemed that she wanted to protect Yamaguchi Yuuka-san from me.

Secondly, she suspected that I was a “Worm” and believed that I was trying to seduce Yamaguchi-senpai.

Both of her assumptions were wrong.

But as long as she suspected me, Aoi-chan would continue to pay attention to me.

I found myself enjoying being treated like a Worm by Aoi-chan.