My Ex-Girlfriend Who Dumped Me, the Top Student, Is at Risk of Failing and Repeating a Year—but I’m Too Busy Tutoring a Former Shut-in Beauty To Get Back Together With Her - 24

Chapter 24: Now That You’ve Calmed Down, What Do You Think?

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Under the blue sky following the typhoon, I was on my way back to my home. My stride felt strange—heavy, yet light and airy all at once. As I walked, I desperately summarized the events of last night in my mind.

(In the end, I didn’t do anything wicked.)

This was the truth. We shared the same futon. We were in close contact. We stayed together until morning. However, we didn’t kiss, and I didn’t proceed to anything beyond that. I simply protected a student who was terrified of thunder in my capacity as a teacher, reassuring her and putting her to sleep. I didn’t do a single thing that would violate the law. Minato Kashiwagi’s rationality had maintained its ironclad defense to the very end.

“……No, the moment we started hugging, I was already out, wasn’t I?”

I came to a halt and held my head in my hands. Let’s be calm. An underage boy and girl, dressed in thin pajamas, had spent the entire night sleeping in each other’s arms. Moreover, while I was being whispered sweet words like “I like the way Sensei smells” and “I won’t let go.” The only people who could insist this was “safe” were saints or idiots living in escapism.

“……I wonder if I have to take responsibility.”

Responsibility toward whom? Her parents? Toward Kisaragi? I let out a deep breath as if to shake off the thoughts spinning in my head.

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Let’s wind back the time a few hours. It was the moment I was leaving the Kisaragi house. After being treated to breakfast (which was another exquisite Japanese meal), the mother, who saw me off at the entrance, had a truly wonderful smile on her face.

“Kashiwagi-san. Were you able to sleep well last night?”

“Ah, yes…… thanks to you.”

“Fufu, that’s good to hear. It seems Kotone was also able to sleep soundly for the first time in a long while. …Please feel free to come ‘evacuate’ here whenever you like, okay?”

The mother’s gaze spoke eloquently, saying, “I’m counting on you to look after my daughter.” It was a complete official approval. Far from just the outer moat, even the inner moat had been filled in.

“Sensei, are you going home already?”

Kisaragi looked reluctant to see me go, leaning half her body out from behind the entrance pillar. Her face was glowing, showing not even a trace of last night’s fear. Rather, she even looked satisfied, having been fully recharged with “Sensei-energy.”

“I have to go home and change for now. ……Besides, we have a lesson the day after tomorrow.”

“Mhm. ……Reply to my LIME right away, okay?”

“I’ll do my best.”

The sight of her as we waved goodbye was burned into the back of my eyelids and wouldn’t leave.

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With a click, I opened the door to my house. I called out, “I’m home,” but both my parents were out at their jobs. I entered my own room, which had fallen silent. A desolate room with nothing but a study desk and a bed.

“……It’s quiet.”

It was my usual daily life. A lonely yet comfortable space, arranged so I could concentrate on my studies. And yet…

“……It feels kind of cold.”

Even though it was midsummer, I felt a chill. It was because the warmth I had felt against my back last night was gone. There was no sweet scent of shampoo, no sound of breathing by my ear, and no sensation of someone clutching my clothes.

I collapsed onto the bed with a thud. My own futon felt strangely vast.

(I wonder which one of us is the dependent one……)

Despite analyzing Kisaragi as being “heavy” or “dependent on me,” I felt this sense of loss after being apart for just one night. Perhaps I was the one starting to depend on “being needed” by her. My smartphone buzzed. Looking at the screen, there was a message from 『Kotone』 and a stamp of a cat curled up because it felt lonely.

『It’s been an hour since you went home, Sensei. I miss you already.』

I gave a wry smile and immediately typed a reply.

』Study. I’m giving you a quiz at the next lesson.』

An immediate 』Okay! (Cat saluting stamp)』came back. Just that exchange made me feel like the hollow space in my chest was being filled a little.

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The day after next. I visited the Kisaragi house again as a tutor. I had decided that I would return to my daily routine. However, the moment I entered the room and opened the textbook, that resolution crumbled away.

“Here, Sensei. Sit here.”

Kisaragi patted the spot next to her—or rather, a position where we were almost touching. When I sat down, my left arm was naturally captured by both of her hands.

“Kisaragi, you’re too close.”

“Hmm? We’re further apart than we were on the night of the typhoon, you know?”

“That was an emergency.”

“It’s a time of peace now, but my heart is in a state of emergency because it’s constantly lacking Sensei.”

Without a hint of guilt, she rested her head on my shoulder. There was no sign of her being “scared” like before. It was a dignified attitude that completely said, “This is my special seat.” I, for my part, didn’t try to shake her off. If anything, I felt like the words in the textbook entered my head better when I had this body heat.

I had returned to my daily life. However, the baseline for that said “daily life” had decisively changed from before the stay-over. It seemed our bodies had become such that we couldn’t settle down without each other’s warmth.

In contrast to the Kisaragi house, where such a sugary-sweet atmosphere flowed… The final time bomb was about to go off in a place I didn’t know about.

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Unkempt hair, dark circles under her eyes. Rina Aikawa was smiling with hollow eyes in front of the mirror in her room.

“……Phone call is no good. As I thought, I have to meet him in person.”

In her hand was a local community newsletter. On it, the words 『This weekend! Summer Festival Fireworks Display』 were dancing.

“A yukata…… Kashiwagi, you like yukatas, don’t you.”

With both her logic and pride collapsed, she was about to make her final gamble without knowing that this summer festival would become the beginning of the end for her.

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