"You can't kiss me can you?" When I accepted my childhood friends challenge, she unexpectedly softened and is acting like a love-struck girl [Dropped] - Chapter 19 - Study Session which turned Spicy!

On a Sunday afternoon.

Two young men and women were gazing at each other.

The boy with refined features had a serious expression, while the golden-haired girl looked slightly puzzled.

“Um, hey… Can we, like, stop already?”

The girl said this while looking up at the boy.

On the other hand, the boy vigorously shook his head from side to side.

“No, it’s not okay.”

“But, still…”

“You were the one who suggested this in the first place.”

With that, the boy firmly grabbed the girl’s shoulder.

The girl’s expression twisted slightly.

“Open your mouth.”

“N-No, I mean, come on…”

With a slightly flushed face, the girl said this, trying to avert her gaze shyly.

Meanwhile, the boy stared straight at the girl…

“Hurry up and open it.”

He said urgently.

And…

“Hold it in your mouth.”

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Now, let’s go back in time a bit.

“Hey, hey, I don’t really get this answer even when I look at it…”

“Yeah, that part is a little hard…”

In Airi’s room, the two of them sat facing each other at a desk.

Reference books were spread out in front of them.

In other words, they were studying for an exam.

“Oh… I see.”

“Do you understand?”

“Yeah, probably… If I don’t get it, can I ask you again?”

“Sure.”

Ibuki distanced himself from Airi and started studying on his own.

And after a while…

“Oh, I got it… You really are the smart childhood friend I should rely on.”

“…If I could be of help.”

With a cheerful smile, Airi said that, and Ibuki nodded vaguely.

Being praised as “smart” wasn’t exactly unpleasant, and he did take pride in his decent grades. But he wasn’t narcissistic enough to simply respond with a smug to such praise.

“By the way…”

“Yeah?”

“Ibuki-kun, you’ve been quite enthusiastically reading the health and physical education textbook for a while now… Are you really that interested in lewd stuff?”

“Getting excited about health and physical education, are you still in junior high, or what?”

Ibuki wasn’t a child to get excited over mere health and physical education.

And Airi was the same age as Ibuki – they even shared the same birthday – or so it should have been.

“Well, but… don’t you have anything else to study?”

“I’m focusing on the core five subjects… the ones needed for university entrance exams, you know. I’ve been working on them consistently.”

On the flip side, he hadn’t been doing anything for the subjects he wouldn’t need.

That’s why, in the lead-up to the exams, he was cramming health and physical education.

“Ibuki-kun, you’re kinda subtly diligent, aren’t you?”

“…Well, even so, I wouldn’t say I study for long hours.”

It had been over an hour but less than two.

Although it couldn’t be said that more than an hour was a short time period, it also couldn’t be said that less than two hours was long either.

“Definitely a lot more than zero hours, compared to me with my zero study time. Ibuki-kun, you’re probably studying decently,” Airi said.

At Ibuki’s high school, they never received assignments.

So, it wasn’t unusual for someone like Airi to have zero study hours in a day.

In fact, zero hours might be the most common thing for them.

Of course, it was rare to have zero hours just before the test.

[T/N : Sometimes, I really hate to see the same thing repeated in multiple lines.]

“Ugh, I really hate studying…”

Airi said that and began to roll around on the carpet, looking like she was already bored with studying.

…Come to think of it, they hadn’t even been studying for two hours yet.

“Only three days left for the exam. Hang in there a bit longer.”

“Well… honestly, I might be more curious about the results of the practice exams we did before than the upcoming regular test… The results should be out soon, right?”

Both Ibuki and Airi were already second-year high school students.

And it was autumn… the time was approaching when they would start worrying about, or rather, they’d have to start worrying about university entrance exams.

“Ah, now that I think about it, I’m getting even more anxious… Oh right, was the math section difficult?”

“Here we go again.”

“But still…”

“It was tough. Since you struggled, it’s likely that most others did too, so the average won’t change. Don’t worry.”

Ibuki reassured Airi as she sighed in relief.

This exchange had already happened several times.

“Well, make sure you can solve the questions you couldn’t solve before, for next time.”

“Wow, that’s something a model student would say. You know what? Most people, like me, can’t do that, you know?”

“…Don’t just give up like that.”

Ibuki sighed, then decided to get back to his own studies.

Whether to study or not, that was up to his childhood friend.

On the other hand, Airi, rolling around on the carpet, continued saying, “I can’t find the motivation…”

Every time, she glanced at Ibuki, as if hoping for his attention…

But Ibuki was already focused on his textbook, not even bothering to shift his gaze towards Airi.

“…..”

Seeming to have grown tired of rolling around, Airi slowly got up and…

“Can you pass me the phone to me.”

“…Alright.”

And she casually picked up Ibuki’s mobile phone.

As if it was the most natural thing, she unlocked it with the password―the password was their shared birthday. Ibuki and Airi had the same birthday―and then she began to tinker with it.

Ibuki also paused his studies as he asked Airi.

“What are you doing with someone else’s phone?”

“Checking the history. Just making sure there’s nothing embarrassing in there that others might see.”

“At the very least, there’s nothing accessible to you that you’d need to check.”

Ibuki replied, and Airi’s lips curled up slightly.

“Oh, so that means there’s something on here that you wouldn’t want me to see?”

“What kind of content do you think I wouldn’t want you to see?”

As Ibuki flashed a mischievous grin and asked…

Caught off guard by the unexpected counterattack, Airi averted her gaze.

“Um, well…”

“What is it?”

“Childhood friend scenario, perhaps…?”

Having spoken those words, Airi seemed to realize her slip of the tongue and hurriedly waved her hands in front of her face.

“N-No… what I meant by being ‘troubled’ is just in terms of how to respond. It doesn’t mean anything like a romantic interest in a childhood friend.”

“Respond, huh?”

“Yeah, that’s right… I mean, being troubled is only about how to handle the situation, you know?”

“Handling, huh.”

“Yes, exactly… For me, childhood friends aren’t romantic interests. So, there’s no way I’d develop feelings for someone like you, Ibuki-kun.”

“…Rest assured. I also couldn’t possibly develop feelings for you.”

Both of them declared to each other as if it were a matter of fact.

However…

‘Saying there’s “no way”… that’s a bit rude, isn’t it?’

‘Saying that it’s “impossible”… isn’t that a little disrespectful?’

They each swept their own statements under the rug and felt a slight annoyance at each other’s words.

“…I wonder. Ibuki-kun, you’re quite bashful. When someone gets close to you, you turn into a shy boy who blushes. Aren’t you actually conscious of it?”

“No way. As for you, didn’t you seem pretty embarrassed when you were pressed against the wall before? Remember that time?”

Ibuki and Airi locked eyes, an air of tension settling over the scene.

In a slightly strained atmosphere, they continued.

“It’s not like I was embarrassed. And do you really need to bring up the same conversation again? Weren’t you supposed to reflect on that?”

“That’s a different matter altogether. I’m just stating facts.”

“But that’s not true. Besides, weren’t you the one who said you wanted to kiss? Remember that time?”

“I said that was a lie, didn’t I?”

“Oh come on, is that really true? You weren’t secretly hoping for it? Ibuki-kun, you’re quite the lecher, after all.”

“That’s more like you, isn’t it? You pervert.”

“Shut up, you molester!”

“Quiet, you nympho.”

“Introverted virgin!”

“You’re a virgin too, aren’t you? Forever sulking on pointless things.”

Ibuki and Airi exchanged glares.

And then…

“…Let’s not repeat the same mistakes as before.”

“Right. Arguing won’t lead anywhere, and the truth won’t change.”

“That’s my line, isn’t it?”

Halting their negotiation for a truce, they seemed ready to resume their verbal showdown.

However, before the battle of words could continue, a higher authority intervened.

“No, let’s stop. Words won’t do any good.”

“Then should we settle this with a different method?”

“That’s a good idea. …But do we have any options?”

“Oh? Can I decide?”

“I’m not planning to lose to you.”

“Is that so? Just don’t start barking and scratching.”

Saying this, Airi contemplated for a moment.

Then, she picked up a stick-like snack from a plate.

“Ibuki-kun, do you know about this?”

“Isn’t that Pocky?”

The snack consisted of a stick-like cookie covered in chocolate.

“Exactly. Have you heard of the game that uses this Pocky, passed down since ancient times?”

“A game?… No way not that one.”

With a sly grin, Airi laughed and said…

“Let’s settle this with the Pocky game.”

[T/N : Now this gives me Aishteru game vibes, that whole scene was diabetes!]

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TL : Zenon#4120