Chapter 27 – Are You Kidding Meeeeee!!!

“Phew… I wonder if he’ll be arriving soon?”

In the kendo club dojo on a day off, Kaoru was constantly checking the wall clock. During lunch break today, she had approached Shinta while he happened to be alone and asked him to come by the kendo dojo again after school.

The reason she had invited him to this dojo once more was by no means for a rematch. What was the reason, then? It was—

“Ugh, m-my chest feels so tight. But… I will definitely convey these feelings to you♡”

—Because she intended to confess her love.

Until now, she had lived in an environment where she was never allowed to show weakness to anyone. He had treated that version of her as just a normal girl, and furthermore, he had lent her his chest, telling her to rely on him when push came to shove. For Kaoru, who had almost zero experience being supported by anyone until now, Shinta’s existence was a massive salvation. She had learned just how joyous it was to have someone she could cling to when things got tough, and she had fallen head over heels for his manliness in treating her exactly the same even after witnessing her ugly true nature.

“Still, confessing after knowing each other for such a short time… won’t he think I’m lacking in modesty?”

Even as she said that, she herself understood that postponing it here would be meaningless. On Friday night, after developing clear feelings for him, her chest had hurt so much that she couldn’t get any food down her throat or sleep properly even after returning home. From then on throughout the weekend, Shinta had constantly occupied her mind. For Kaoru, continuing to suppress such intense emotions was an impossible task. To be frank, the hurdle of enduring the stress she had been bottling up until now was far lower, which was exactly why she made her decision. Even if he thought she was a woman lacking in modesty, she was going to convey her feelings to him clearly.

“Umm, excuse me—”

Just a few minutes later, the person she was waiting for arrived at the dojo. Hearing Shinta’s voice from behind, the words caught in her throat, delaying her response. Even so, she collected herself and turned around, trying to welcome him with the best smile she could muster.

“You came, Kamiji-kun. Thank you… so… much…”

Turning around to confirm Shinta’s figure, the smile rapidly vanished from Kaoru’s expression. Standing right next to him on both sides were two female students she immediately recognized. They were the girls who had tried to stop her when she took Shinta to the disciplinary committee room to ask for an explanation of his circumstances previously.

“If I recall, you are… Chikai Miina and Arai Ichizu, correct?”

“Ah, as expected of the Disciplinary Committee Chair~. You even have our names memorized~.”

“It’s been a while, Nakamura-senpai.”

In stark contrast to Kaoru, whose mood had instantly plummeted, Miina spoke to her with her usual frivolous tone. As for Ichizu, her eyes weren’t smiling in the slightest, just like before. Furthermore, the two of them simultaneously linked their arms with Shinta’s, almost as if doing it to spite Kaoru. Through that action, Kaoru instantly realized that these two had come to completely obstruct her from being alone with Shinta.

“Nnh, I apologize for making you come all this way, Kamiji-kun. By the way, I feel bad for the two of you who tagged along, but I have an important matter I need to discuss with him now. I know you just got here, but could you excuse us?”

“No.”

“H-Hey, you two…”

Shinta involuntarily tried to scold his friends for instantly rejecting their senpai’s request, but his voice caught in his throat under the freezing gazes the two directed at Kaoru. Not losing out to those two in the slightest, Kaoru was also directing a gaze just as thoroughly chilled back at them. In this instant, Shinta was struck by the sensation that the temperature inside the dojo had dropped below freezing.

(Hey, hey, hey, why is it turning into a development like this? Actually, why are they baring their hostility at each other in the first place?)

Unlike Shinta, who couldn’t keep up with the situation, Ichizu and Miina saw Kaoru’s reaction and clearly understood that their intuition had been correct all along. The blatant look of a nuisance she gave them, and above all, that lovestruck smile she had initially shown Shinta—there was no mistaking it, considering they themselves unconsciously directed that same face at him.

Radiating an aura that screamed they wouldn’t back down against this new rival, the two of them unconsciously tightened their grips on the arms linked with Shinta’s. Seeing that sight, Kaoru’s expression twitched for a moment.

“You’re certainly quite intimate. Should I take that… as a declaration of war?”

“Eh, declaration of war?”

Shinta, still left completely in the dark, asked back without understanding the meaning, but paying him no mind, Ichizu and Miina flanking him shot back clearly.

“You can take it that way.”

“Heh heh, is that so… But unfortunately for you, now that I know I have worthy rivals, I won’t hold back either.”

Saying that, Kaoru stood up right there and walked over to the three of them. When she had been waiting for Shinta alone in the dojo, her chest had felt like it was going to burst from nervousness, but being blatantly provoked like this actually put her mind at ease. A fire was lit in her heart, and she became determined to make her feelings bear fruit no matter what.

Not willing to surrender the spot by his side, Kaoru came right up to the front of the three and looked at Shinta with eyes that seemed to adore him.

“Umm, what is it, senpai? Also, what exactly did you need me for… Ngu!?”

It was a complete surprise attack, not just for Shinta, but for Ichizu and Miina as well.

“Wha!?”

“Wait, what are you doing!?”

It was only natural that the two of them were violently dismayed. After all, they never dreamed that the lips of the person they loved would be stolen right in front of their eyes. Pulling her lips away from Shinta, who was now left behind in a completely incomprehensible situation, Kaoru issued an order to her two romantic rivals with a fearless smile.

“It’s an order from your senpai. Will you leave me alone with him right now?”

“Are you kidding meeeeee!!!”