Chapter 23 – It Was Supposed to be My First Kiss…

(Damn it, how am I supposed to stop this rampaging woman?)

Deflecting the bamboo sword raining down like a torrential downpour, Shinta continued searching for a way to stop the wildly rampaging Kaoru.

“Come on, come on, come on! Fight back properly already!! Don’t tell me you’re holding back unnecessarily on my account!”

The sludge-like emotions she had been storing away daily had finally overflowed, and Kaoru’s ability to regulate herself was no longer functioning. She wasn’t thinking about anything right now, not even caring if a teacher or classmate witnessed this scene. Her brain was completely consumed solely by the act of spewing her accumulated stress at the opponent right in front of her.

“There, this time your torso is mine!”

“Tch!?”

Dodging the god-speed blade by a hairsbreadth, it grazed Shinta’s flank, causing pain to gradually accumulate in his body. At this rate, maintaining this passive stance would undoubtedly end with him getting beaten to a pulp.

(I have no choice. Don’t think badly of me…)

Realizing he had no option but to stop her by force, Shinta clenched his fist tightly. He really didn’t want to punch a woman’s face, but this was already in the realm of legitimate self-defense. Telling himself that, he resolved to swing his fist at Kaoru, but in that instant, a scene flashed through his mind.

What floated into his thoughts were the figures of his two friends, Ichizu and Miina, smiling at him.

If he beat his senpai to a pulp here, it would become a huge ordeal. If that happened, the classmates he had finally gotten used to would definitely fear him and distance themselves again. Furthermore, if he messed up, those two might disappear from his life as well, and in the worst, most despicable way—by instilling them with sorrow and fear.

“I’d… hate that…”

Catching a downward swing of the bamboo sword, Shinta leaked his true feelings in a quiet voice. Those two had brought color to his lonely, isolated life, and he didn’t want to do anything that would sadden the friends who had welcomed a troublemaker like him. Above all, he didn’t want to let go of the everyday life he finally possessed.

(Yeah, settling this with force is a no-go. But what else can I do…?)

“You look quite distracted. To be lost in thought in this situation—aren’t you getting a bit too comfortable!?”

“Wha—crap!?”

Even if just for a second, Shinta had taken his attention off Kaoru, exposing a fatal opening. Mistaking this as being looked down upon, Kaoru, fueled by anger, unleashed a high-stance strike aimed straight at the crown of his head.

(I won’t make it in time to dodge. Then this is my only choice!)

Faced with the approaching bamboo sword, Shinta intentionally did not choose to take evasive action, because even if he forced his posture to dodge here, he would end up taking the next strike head-on. That was exactly why he chose to dive forward.

“Ngh, don’t underestimate me!!”

With a roar, Shinta kicked off the dojo floor and accelerated forward. By leaping straight in, he ended up pushing the Kaoru in front of him down in a tackle-like form. Completely caught off guard, a voice of agitation escaped Kaoru’s lips for the first time.

“Wha—!?”

“There, let go of that thing!”

“Like I’d… let you!”

Shinta’s original aim was to push her down and snatch the bamboo sword right out of her grip. But even while losing her balance, right before she completely collapsed onto the floor, Kaoru tangled her legs with the closely pressed Shinta’s to break his posture.

“Whoa, close!?”

“Kya!?”

Swept off his feet while grappling, Shinta lost his balance while still gripping Kaoru’s gi. Naturally, Kaoru was pulled along, breaking her posture as well. The two collapsed onto the floor in a form resembling a tight embrace. As a result, Shinta ended up pulling her gi open and pinning her down. Moreover, they landed in a posture where his lips were pressed firmly against hers—meaning, they were in the middle of a kiss.

“~~~~~!?”

It was an unexpected emergency for both of them, causing their thoughts to short-circuit. For Kaoru in particular, having her upper underwear exposed and suffering the shock of locking lips with the opposite sex seemed to be too intense. Her entire face flushed as red as a ripe tomato, and her eyes spun in dizzy circles.

“W-Whoa, my bad! I never thought it’d turn out like this!!”

Shinta immediately tried to pull away and explain himself, but she wasn’t listening at all.

“Fuwawawawa… I-I kissed a b-boy. And while exposing myself like this… a-afaa…”

Kaoru, who had been possessed by madness, had already returned to her normal state, or rather, she had fallen into even deeper confusion.

“It was supposed to be… my first kiss. Fu-fukyuu…”

Kaoru had been letting out voices of dismay for a while, but her consciousness finally cut out. With her face completely bright red, she fainted right there on the dojo floor.

“Umm… well, all’s well that ends well… right? No, more importantly, I gotta get her gi back on her!”

In any case, having succeeded in subduing his rampaging senpai, Shinta breathed a sigh of relief, but his head ached when he thought about how to deal with her when she woke up. However, her reaction upon waking would turn out to be completely unexpected.