Kicked Out of the Bottom Soccer Team, I Found My Strength Thanks to My Beautiful Junior Manager. What Began as a Simple Act of Kindness Turned into Her Coming Over Every Day.

Chapter 24: I Ended Up Grabbing the Beautiful Underclassman Manager’s Butt.

Kana’s hand slowly and gently stroked through Takumi’s hair.

She didn’t say a single word, and the atmosphere didn’t feel like one where he could easily speak to her either.

Naturally, the situation had evolved into one where he was silently having his head patted by his underclassman girl for an extended period.

(What is this embarrassing play…!?)

By Takumi’s internal sense of time, dozens of minutes had passed—though in reality only a few minutes had gone by—when Kana finally stopped her hand.

Takumi slowly lifted his face.

Her cheeks were still slightly flushed, puffed out in a pout.

“…How does it feel?”

“It’s incredibly unbearable…”

“Right? Now you understand how it feels to suddenly get it done to you out of nowhere.”

“Yeah… sorry.”

Takumi bowed his head deeply.

“…Only when I ask for it.”

“Huh?”

When Takumi asked her to repeat herself because he hadn’t caught it, Kana’s cheeks turned bright red again as she shouted,

“That’s why I said you can only pat my head when I ask you to! Sudden surprise attacks are strictly forbidden, okay!?”

“…Haa.”

Wondering whether there would even be times when she asked him to do it, Takumi ended up giving a rather half-hearted reply.

Kana’s gaze sharpened.

“—Senpai?”

“Ah, yeah. Got it!”

Takumi nodded vigorously several times.

“Good. And if you ever pat me by surprise, I’ll get to do whatever I want to Senpai for twice as long.”

“W-wait, you’ll just pat me back, right?”

“Of course not. I’ll tickle every single one of your weak spots until you can’t take it anymore.”

Kana wiggled her fingers threateningly.

Takumi’s lips curved into a small smile.

“That’s fine, but my armpits aren’t ticklish, you know?”

“Liar. I saw it before. You were rolling around laughing when Kongou-senpai and Momose-senpai tickled you.”

“…So you saw that.”

His bluff had been seen through, and his past embarrassing moment had been witnessed.

Takumi felt a double dose of shame.

“Senpai, you’re turning red. So cute~!”

Kana poked his cheek.

Takumi snorted and stood up from the sofa.

—The very next instant, Kana’s hand smoothly slipped into his armpit.

“Take thaaat!”

“Wahahahaha! Sh-Shirayuki, wait—wait, stop!”

Just as Kana had witnessed earlier, Takumi was extremely weak to having his armpits tickled.

“I won’t let you escape—Whoa⁉︎”

“Shirayuki⁉︎”

Kana had chased after Takumi as he tried to escape by falling onto the sofa, but she seemed to have slipped as well and lost her balance.

Takumi caught her in his arms, and the two of them tumbled onto the sofa together.

A sweet yet refreshing citrus scent brushed against his nose, and both of his hands were met with a soft, yielding sensation.

What Takumi was touching… was Kana’s butt.

Because it had happened so suddenly, he had ended up firmly grabbing it with both hands.

(Whoa, so soft… Wait—no, no, no!)

After a brief moment of involuntary admiration, Takumi hurriedly pulled his hands away.

“—Ah.”

Kana, who had ended up straddling him, let out a tiny sound.

Her cheeks rapidly turned a deep shade of red, like a color gradient spreading across her face.

Her gaze was locked onto Takumi’s lower abdomen.

“S-sorry!”

Startled by Takumi’s panicked voice, she seemed to snap out of her daze and quickly jumped off him.

Once she had put some distance between them, her cheeks flushed redder than a perfectly ripe apple, she kept stealing glances at him.

(W-what do I do…!?)

Cold sweat broke out all over Takumi’s body.

He had simultaneously enjoyed the scent of a girl and the feeling of her butt, and his body had reacted accordingly.

And Kana had seen it.

(That’s the lowest… She’s definitely going to hate me now…!)

More than shame, panic and fear dominated Takumi’s heart.

Still, he knew he had to apologize first or nothing would get resolved.

“I-I’m sorry!”

Both of them bowed their heads at exactly the same time.

““…Eh?””

Even their surprised reactions perfectly overlapped.

Takumi and Kana looked at each other and burst out laughing at the same moment.

The heavy atmosphere instantly lightened.

“That timing was incredible.”

“Right…? Senpai, I’m really sorry again. Um, that… I’m not bothered by it at all! You were only trying to catch me, and I know that guys sometimes… can’t help those kinds of reactions!”

Kana’s cheeks colored once more.

It was obvious she wasn’t completely unbothered, but at least she didn’t seem disgusted.

(She… understood…)

Relief spread through Takumi’s chest.

“Yeah, sorry… But you really are a bit of a klutz, Shirayuki.”

“That’s rude! I only slipped a little just now!”

“You were about to fall over during practice too, weren’t you?”

“…Thank you for your concern back then.”

Kana smiled awkwardly.

When Takumi called her a klutz, it was based on solid past evidence.

“Things like this aren’t good, so maybe we should ban tickling.”

“N-no! It’ll be fine as long as Senpai stays on the sofa from the start! This is your punishment when you mess up, so I won’t back down on this!”

“U-uh… yeah, I guess so.”

(It’s a penalty, so I guess I have no choice but to accept it. But—)

Perhaps because it was already night, Takumi’s tension was a little off at this moment.

“Well, we’ll go with that then… But in return, if Shirayuki does something risky, I get to tickle you.”

“Eh…”

Kana’s cheek twitched.

“That’s fair, right? The conditions are the same.”

“…Understood. I accept.”

To Takumi’s surprise, Kana accepted the condition without much protest.

(I said that on impulse… but what am I supposed to do if something like that actually happens?)

He started to calm down a little.

He glanced at the clock. It was 7:55 PM.

Contrary to how it felt, not that much time had passed since they finished dinner.

“What do you want to do after this?”

“What about you, Senpai?”

“I was thinking of just lazing around for the rest of the night.”

“Eh, then… can I stay a little longer?”

“Of course.”

“Nice! Thanks so much!”

Kana bowed her head energetically.

Takumi felt like he had suddenly gained a little follower.

“Your parents still aren’t back yet?”

“No. Probably after ten.”

“Okay. Then you can stay until then, no problem.”

“Really!? Thank you! Oh, but please don’t hesitate to prioritize your own routine. You can treat me like a body pillow if you want!”

“That would mean tossing you into the empty space in the bedroom. Is that okay?”

“Only if you’re prepared to get pranked by me in the middle of the night. I’m way more persistent than a summer mosquito.”

“I’ll throw you out the window then.”

“Kyaa, so scary~”

Kana pretended to be frightened while smiling.

“Wait, would that be a princess carry?”

“Does the throwing style matter?”

“Of course! Being carried under the arm and being princess-carried then thrown are as different as heaven and earth!”

“Well, if I were to throw you, it’d probably be a princess carry. I don’t think I could carry a whole person under one arm anyway.”

“Ah, true. But even a princess carry feels suspicious, doesn’t it?”

“Rude. Back in middle school, I did carry a manager who collapsed from heatstroke all the way to the infirmary.”

“Eh, what is that bittersweet youth story!?”

Kana shot up from the sofa.

“I’m so jealous of that girl! I want to collapse too!”

“Please don’t. That really stressed my heart out.”

“But if we play ‘Love so sweet,’ love might start blooming.”

“It’s impressive how easily I can accept that logic. As expected of you, the soccer idiot.”

“Right~?”

“Don’t you have any favorite idols or anything, Shirayuki?”

Curious, Takumi asked.

“Not really. When I’m watching soccer, I don’t have time to chase after idols.”

“You really are a soccer maniac. So you don’t watch anime or movies either?”

“Almost nothing except soccer-related stuff.”

“That’s amazing.”

People often talk about muscle-brains, but in Kana’s case, Takumi seriously wondered if her head was packed with soccer balls instead of brains.

“What about you, Senpai? Do you watch that kind of thing?”

“Sometimes, when I need a breather.”

“Hmm, that’s a bit unexpected. What kind do you like?”

“I like pretty comical ones. Like Nezumi movies.”

“Are they funny?”

“They are. They make me feel happy.”

“I see. Do you have any recommendations?”

“Let me think…”

Takumi operated the TV and launched the streaming service. It was a subscription-based video platform that his father, Daiki, had signed up for, saying “It’ll be good for occasional relaxation.”

He pulled up one title from the history.

“This one is especially recommended.”

“I see.”

Kana operated her phone, probably taking note of the title.

“Want to watch it now?”

“Eh, is that okay?”

“Yeah. It’s less than two hours, so we should finish right around the time your parents get home.”

“Won’t it bother you?”

“Not at all. I’ve been wanting to rewatch it for a while too.”

“Then I’ll take you up on that!”

Kana’s eyes sparkled with excitement.

“Okay.”