The Girl sitting next to me is playing with my '--hing' though... - Chapter 28: A Confession

A Confession

“What is that now, were you again following me around just because you wanted something from me?”

“Well, yeah, something like it. K–Keeping that aside, what do you mean by hotel?”

“It’s nothing for Iori to worry about.”

“eh…..”

When I spoke to Iori like that, her eyebrows lowered, but that was only for a moment’s time, and this time, lifting up her eyebrows, she came in between the conversation taking place between me and Minamisawa.

“I would obviously worry about that normally! If a word like ‘hotel’ comes up in conversation between a boy and a girl, even if I don’t like it, I will … umm, ahh, it’s just, I will think they are associating themselves, I guess.”

“Arra~ what do you even mean by associating? Speak more clearly and specifically~”

“E–Even I don’t say that aloud obviously you understand it! Since it’s you after all!”

“Nope, not at all, if you don’t put it into words, there’s no way I can understand that.”

Minamisawa, who pretended to be ignorant, grinned eerily towards Iori, who was blushing and trembling in embarrassment. It was plain and clear that she was teasing her.

“This, this ….”

“It’s fine to be angry, but don’t just abandon your explanation, okay?”

“It’s, IT’S NOT LIKE I AM ANGRY, and I’m not abandoning my explanation as well!”

“I’m glad if that’s the case. Because, even though I don’t look like it, I am a type of person who can’t give up until I know everything about something I had become interested in after all. I’m going to chase you to the depths of hell,… so if you are planning to run away, just be prepared for that, okay?”

“Kukk–”

Iori had a face that looked like she had swallowed a bitter bug, but her expression immediately changed to a majestic one, and she pointed strongly at the person in front of her.

“What I am getting at is that, you two might go and continue the same thing that you had started out in this morning!”

“A~h, so that’s what it is. Yes, yes, I understand very well now. But, you do like to say things in a way that can cause misunderstanding now, don’t you?”

“Just how.”

“It’s not ‘you’ — it’s ‘we’ isn’t it. After all, even you were also having fun with us, didn’t you.”

“tha, that’s …………”

Just as Minamisawa had said, even Iori herself had joined in.  Considering the fact that she herself restarted using the toy herself after I stopped her, there is no excuse for her at all.

Iori’s face went pale as she looked down at the ground. Looking at her figure there, Minamisawa signed and had a face saying ‘Maybe I took it a bit too far’ that to me.

“Why not tell her … what we are about to do together later on.”

Minamisawa said this to me with only her eyes after turning toward me, to which I expressed my disapproval by shaking my head.

As if seeing this, Iori suddenly raised her head and snapped at me.

“Why? Why won’t you tell me? You don’t like me? Can’t you trust me? That’s why Hayataro won’t tell me? Hey — Answer me!”

“… It’s not like I like you or dislike you. I just don’t feel the need to say this to Iori, just that.”

“Then what should I do? What will make you, Sotaro speak that to me?”

” …. Don’t care about ……. And on the other hand, I will also not care about the “toy” that Iori, you were carrying with yourself.”

“…………”

Iori was glaring at me and biting her lower lip lightly. For some reason her eyes looked wet, as if seeing someone without a heart.

The next moment Iori opened her mouth, was after the second hand had gone halfway round the clock.

“If I …… confide in you why I had that thing in me in the first place, would Sotaro also tell you …… can I interpret it in that way, right?”

“——-that’s how it’s going to be, I guess.”

The one who answered the question of Iori without a pause was not me, but rather Minamisawa.

“What are you playing now?”

“Nothing much, just putting forth what looked fair.”

Saying that Minamisawa stepped away from the stage as if she was going to be removed from the present scene of the play.

When I looked back, Iori was shedding continuous tears. I guess she had stopped trying to hold back her tears.

” ……… at fault”

“Eh?”

“Without moving much of her mouth, Iori spoke. I was not at all sure what she was saying, and so, when I asked her back, as to what she said, she widened her eyes open and wiped away her tears.

“Everything —- It’s all ‘Sotaro’s’ fault!”