The Saint Next to Me Who Sometimes Comes Without Wearing Underwear Tells Me What’s Under Her Skirt in Secret - 4

Chapter 4

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Early June.

“Good morning, Himuro-kun.”

“Ah. Good morning, Saotome.”

We exchanged greetings as usual. A little while later, a message arrived from her.  What color would it be today? Or was she not wearing any at all? Feeling a bit excited, I opened my phone…

『What do you think it is today?』

It was a quiz. Her question caught me off guard. Instinctively, I looked over at Saotome, and for some reason, she had a smug expression on her face.

What the hell does that mean?

『Is it something special or something?』

If she were wearing normal panties, she’d just tell me the color. And if she weren’t wearing any, she’d report that too. In other words, it was neither of those…

『Maybe.』

『You’re not going to tell me?』

『I’ll tell you after school. Think about it. Consider this as your homework.』

Hmm, what could it be…? I didn’t have the faintest clue.

And then, I spent the entire day thinking about what was under Saotome’s skirt. P.E. class—today was our first swimming session of the year, but I couldn’t concentrate at all. Before I knew it, lunchtime had arrived.

“Hey. You seem pretty close with Saint-sama lately.”

A friend said that to me.

Really?

I subconsciously tilted my head to the side. It was true that we exchanged messages, but it was mostly about what was under her skirt. We hardly ever actually talked to each other.

“I don’t think so. Why do you say that?”

“You two make eye contact sometimes.”

Hmm. Now that he mentioned it, we did exchange glances during class.

“Well, we sit next to each other. Of course we say hello.”

“Is that all? …I heard you guys looking all friendly and all after school.”

“Ah—yeah, well, I guess we did talk a bit.”

The last time I talked to Saotome after school was during the whole “no panties” incident. It was true—we’d made quite a scene since we were talking in loud voices. Luckily, no one heard what we were actually talking about.

“We end up sharing class duty a lot. It’s because of how the seating is arranged.”

“Damn it… I’m so jealous. I want to talk to Saint-sama too…!”

He glared at me as he said that. …Well, I couldn’t deny I was in a lucky position.

“You could just talk to her, you know.”

“No way I could do that. Someone like me… She’s the daughter of the Saotome family, you know.”

Now that he mentioned it… He was right. She was an ojou-sama….

****

And then after school…

“Come on, let’s finish this quickly before it starts raining.”

Saotome seemed unusually restless. Her face looked a little red, too. And for some reason, she seemed to be shielding her chest.

What’s going on?

“Saotome. About this morning…”

“Wh-what are you talking about?”

“No, I mean the quiz you sent me…”

“A-ah, yeah, that. Um, w-well… Actually, something a little unexpected happened.”

Unexpected?

I tilted my head without thinking twice.

“I’d prefer if you could just forget about it…”

Saotome mumbled as she said that.

“Ah, really? …Well, I don’t mind at all.”

After all, this was a one-sided thing. Saotome simply told me what was under her skirt. I wasn’t giving her anything in return. If she got tired of it, she could stop any time she wanted.

“I-I see. Thank you. Sorry for teasing you like that.”

“Don’t worry about it. Let’s just finish up the class duty.”

She didn’t seem to want to talk about it any further, so I ended the conversation and focused on getting our work done. And just as we were about to leave the school building…

“Whoa, this rain is awful.”

“…This is a problem.”

It was pouring cats and dogs. Sure, the clouds had looked suspicious earlier, but I hadn’t expected it to come down this hard.

“You forgot your umbrella?”

I asked Saotome, who had frozen in place. She gave me a sheepish smile and nodded.

“Yeah… I did.”

“Want to borrow mine?”

“That wouldn’t be fair to you.”

“Better than catching a cold, isn’t it?”

“That should be my line, right?”

I tried to hand her the umbrella, but she pushed it back toward me. Still, it felt wrong to just leave her and head home with an umbrella on my own…

“Come to think of it… Himuro-kun. We live in the same direction, don’t we?”

“Yeah, we do.”

“Then… If it’s okay with you, can we share your umbrella?”

“…You sure?”

“That should be my line. Or maybe… Are you worried about something?”

“…No, not really.”

Was she okay with sharing an umbrella with me? I was going to ask, but it felt awkward, and more than that, I didn’t want her to think I was overthinking it.

“Alright then. It’s settled.”

And so, we ended up walking together under the same umbrella.

“Thanks. You’re surprisingly kind.”

“The ‘surprisingly’ part is unnecessary.”

Our shoulders touched. From time to time, my elbow or upper arm brushed against her soft chest. Each time it happened, we’d instinctively put some distance between us…only to draw close again to stay under the umbrella.

We repeated the cycle—closer, farther, then closer again.

“…Did you notice?”

“Notice what?”

“…Never mind.”

Saotome turned her face away as she said that. Her cheeks looked faintly red. …That lighthearted exchange lasted only until the rain grew even heavier.

“…Sorry. I didn’t think it’d get this bad.”

“No. With rain like this, an umbrella wouldn’t make a difference either way.”

The downpour was so intense that our shared umbrella was proven to be meaningless. Soaked to the bone, we ended up taking shelter under a playground structure in the park.

“Ugh, this sucks… I should’ve just called for a ride.”

Saotome sighed as she wrung out her skirt. Her wet, white legs peeked through for a moment.

I probably shouldn’t be looking…

Thinking that, I lifted my gaze and…

“Ah…”

My eyes locked onto something. I quickly turned away from Saotome in a panic.

“What’s wrong? Ah…”

She realized it too and quickly covered her chest. Yes. Her chest. Which was in plain sight for me to see. Why? Because she didn’t wear a bra or an undershirt.

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