Chapter 39
The next morning.
I drove to Miyuki's house and found her fidgeting in front of it.
She must have been terribly embarrassed by yesterday's events; even after spotting my car, she couldn't bring herself to come over.
Beep.
When I pulled up in front of her and gave the horn a quick beep, her shoulders jerked noticeably.
She carefully opened the passenger-side door and greeted me awkwardly.
“Hi... Matsuda-kun... You're early today...?”
“I told you I'd come early. Why are you looking so down? Hurry up and get in.”
“Yeah...”
She climbed in slowly and demurely placed her hands on her lap.
I let out a hollow laugh and roughly tousled Miyuki's bangs.
“Ah...! I told you not to do that...!”
I can't get over how cute she looks when she acts spoiled in that tiny voice.
“Did you get home all right yesterday?”
“Home...? I got home fine...”
“You couldn't find your key.”
“.....”
Miyuki's face instantly flushed bright red.
She merely opened and closed her mouth in that state; apparently, calling me by my name yesterday had embarrassed her terribly.
I snickered as Miyuki turned her head toward the window, just as she had yesterday, then started the car.
Once I looped around the neighborhood and entered the road leading straight to school, Miyuki asked in a puzzled tone,
“What about Tetsuya-kun...? Aren't you picking him up?”
“Yeah.”
“Why...?”
“Let's go just the two of us sometimes.”
At my indirect admission of my feelings, Miyuki suddenly gulped and pursed her lips.
After staying that way for a moment, she said,
“B-but what about Tetsuya-kun...”
She seemed to feel sorry about leaving that bastard all by himself.
We'll be going just the two of us every day rather than occasionally before long, so start getting used to it now.
And prepare yourself, because I'm going to do all sorts of things.
Slipping my hand between Miyuki's thighs as we casually passed Tetsuya would make a pretty good scene too.
Miyuki, flushed with heat, spots Tetsuya and flinches, then gets even more excited from some inexplicable sense of taboo...
This isn't bad.
“I told him. I said I had somewhere to stop by this morning, so he should go separately.”
“Did you tell him you had somewhere to stop by with me?”
“No.”
“Really...? Then he should be contacting me...”
Bzzz-!
The moment Miyuki finished speaking, her phone began to vibrate.
It was probably Tetsuya.
He'd obviously be thrilled and ask Miyuki to go with him.
I glanced at Miyuki and said,
“Is it a text? Or a call?”
“A text...”
“What does it say?”
“He's asking if I woke up...”
Miyuki reached for her phone, then hesitated.
She looked like she was thinking of an excuse to give Tetsuya.
After pondering deeply for a while, her fingers began moving rapidly.
“Haa...”
Before long, a long sigh escaped Miyuki's lips.
Apparently, she felt guilty about replying with a lie.
This time, I'd already lied to him in advance, so you couldn't explain honestly and were in a bind, huh?
I understand how you feel completely.
You may feel mostly sorry right now, but before long you'll become numb to lying.
You might even start to feel a thrill from it.
He's the guy who rejected your confession after you'd worked up so much courage.
He deserves whatever happens to him, so don't feel guilty.
I held out my palm in front of Miyuki's chest as she shifted restlessly.
“Hold my hand.”
“Why...?”
“Why do you think? I want to hold it while we go.”
“.....”
At my blunt words, Miyuki hesitantly placed her hand on my palm.
Not content with that, she interlaced her fingers with mine herself.
With our fingers interlaced, I casually lowered our joined hands onto her thigh.
Her body twitched the moment the back of my hand touched her thigh.
She seemed flustered, but showed no sign of trying to move it away.
I glanced at her briefly while driving and said,
“It's tiring to keep holding it up, so I'm leaving it here.”
“.... W-who said anything?”
“Don't get any strange ideas.”
“What strange ideas...! I-I don't do that...! You're the one who keeps thinking weird things by yourself... You really are a pervert...”
She got angry, then muttered to herself...
Having expressed her bashful feelings that way, Miyuki brought her other hand over and slipped it beneath the back of mine.
After arranging things so that both her hands cupped mine, she said,
“D-driving with one hand is dangerous... Even though you said you had a license but hardly ever drive...”
All the way to school, she muttered things she didn't mean and stroked my hand as if it were a doll.
**
“We should start getting ready for the cultural festival next week, right?”
At the words of the homeroom professor for Class 1-A, the entire class buzzed with excitement.
The cultural festival.
It's one of the signature events endlessly recycled in romantic comedies.
The classes compete by choosing activities such as maid cafés, haunted houses, plays, bands, and dances, and enjoying the festival with a heroine after the event is one of the genre's most iconic clichés.
It's also an event where the heroines get into catfights.
It's an important turning point in choosing the true heroine among several heroines... but that's a cliché that only appears in ordinary romantic comedies.
I'll make love to all three of them.
The problem is that, at present, Miyuki is the only person with whom I've built a meaningful relationship.
So this year's cultural festival is something I'll have to enjoy with her alone.
As for Class 1-A...
“Your eyes lit up when the haunted house came up last time, didn't they? Give it a try this time.”
Just as the professor suggested, the class unanimously decided to run a haunted house.
As the main heroine, Miyuki will play a yuki-onna—in other words, a snow woman—to emphasize her beauty and fair skin.
There's even a fan-service shot where her warm image is completely turned on its head, followed by a little incident.
I'll have to enjoy it my way later.
Tetsuya, meanwhile, dresses up as a Shuten-doji, which could be called pretty cool, but this time will be different.
I'm definitely turning you into a kappa, you bastard.
Renka will be running a skewer shop with Chinami and the kendo club, so I'll have to stop by.
I need to buy our Miyuki some yakitori, after all.
“As for the cultural festival, the class rep and vice rep will lead everyone... Let's start class.”
Booooo-!
A chorus of jeers erupted.
A vein on the professor's bald head bulged into a cross-shaped anger mark, and the students in the class fell silent at the sight.
A hot-blooded teacher—no, professor—who looks short-tempered but is warmhearted...
That's another cliché.
I suppose it's lucky there was no audible crack.
I quietly chuckled and focused on class.
When first period ended and break time began, Miyuki discussed various things with the vice class rep.
Then she came over toward Tetsuya, carrying paper and a pen.
“Miura-kun would make a good Shuten-doji. You're lanky, so I think it'd suit you.”
That was what the vice class rep said as she looked at Tetsuya's stupid-looking face.
So their earlier conversation had been a discussion about the ghost theme.
“Doesn't a Shuten-doji need to have some bulk? I think the image calls for someone intimidating.”
Miyuki immediately objected.
Her gaze was fixed on me rather than Tetsuya.
“You think so?”
“Yeah.”
I had been sitting there indifferently, but Miyuki's next words made me furrow my brow.
“Matsuda-kun, you're going to dress up too, right?”
“No. It's a pain.”
“If you're planning not to participate, I won't allow it. Unless there's something important, everyone in the class has to take part.”
“Who said I wasn't? I'll check tickets at the entrance and catch any troublesome customers who show up. Isn't that better?”
At that, the vice class rep nodded as if she found the idea reasonable.
“That might be better. Matsuda-kun is reliable... If he's at the entrance, it seems like no customers will try anything troublesome.”
The class's opinion of me is changing.
Since I listen quietly in class, and they often see Miyuki, the class rep and a member of the student council, treating me casually, it seems the others are slowly opening up to me as well.
It's about time for the jealousy-inducing cliché—a love letter—to show up...
I wonder if I need to wait a little longer.
“We can't leave ticket checking only to Matsuda-kun... If he's alone, he might abandon the ticket booth and go enjoy the festival.”
I ignored Miyuki's cheerful joke beside me, dragged my chair back with a scrape, and stood up.
Miyuki asked,
“Where are you going?”
“The school store.”
“Then get me a strawberry milk, too. And one for Makoto... I'll give you the money when you get back.”
Who even is Makoto?
Ah... That was the name of the vice class rep beside her, who was staring at me with sparkling eyes.
With annoyance written all over my face, I nodded and ambled out of the classroom, hearing Miyuki and Makoto's quiet conversation behind me.
“No matter how many times I see it, I still can't get used to it.”
“Used to what?”
“Matsuda-kun going to the school store by himself... He used to order the other students around all the time. And today, he's even getting things for you and me...”
“He's gotten a lot nicer lately. He doesn't cause trouble anymore...”
“Yeah. He seems like a different person.”
My hearing's better than you think.
I can hear every word you're saying.
**
Even during lunch and after-school club activities...
Everywhere I go, all anyone talks about is the cultural festival.
It's a festival held only once a year, so it can't be helped, and I am looking forward to it too, but...
‘I'm sick of it.’
Hearing the same thing over and over around me is exhausting.
You could just prepare quietly. Why make such a fuss?
Of course, Miyuki, Renka, and Chinami are exceptions.
“Matsuda-kun, which group will you be participating with at the cultural festival?”
Chinami asked while holding a shinai that looked relatively long because of her small stature.
After trying the forward, backward, left, and right sliding steps once, I answered.
“I'm participating with my class.”
“Really? I heard Miura-kun will also be participating with his class... What is your class's attraction?”
“A haunted house.”
“Oh...?”
Chinami looked up at me with interest in her eyes.
The height difference is over thirty centimeters, so the steep angle at which she has to tilt her head upward is comical.
But something suddenly occurred to me.
I understand that Chinami's skill is extraordinary.
But how does she overwhelm her opponents with that tiny frame?
I understand that mixed-gender matches aren't held in tournaments for middle schoolers and above,
but they say even the third-year male kendo club members are helpless when they spar with her during club activities...
Is it her technique? I'd like to see it properly sometime.
“A haunted house... That sounds very fun...! I'm intrigued...! Are you going to dress up as a ghost too, Matsuda-kun?”
“No. I'm just going to check tickets at the entrance.”
“Really? You have such a large build that I think you'd suit a ghost costume... What a shame.”
“I heard from some of the other seniors that the kendo club is running a skewer shop... When you switch shifts and go look around, come with Inoo-senpai.”
“Hehe... I'll consider it positively. Oh, right...!”
She clapped her hands as if she'd just thought of something and continued,
“Your sliding-step stance earlier was really good. Did you practice it separately on your own?”
“No. Inoo-senpai gave me a little instruction yesterday.”
“Really...? When?”
“When Master went to check the equipment yesterday.”
“I see... Doesn't Renka teach better than I do?”
“No. Inoo-senpai's instruction is too harsh. I prefer my kind Master's instruction.”
“Heehee.”
Chinami broke into an open laugh.
Placing her hands on her hips, she scolded me.
“Renka is the captain of our kendo club, so it's only natural for her to be strict. She's also the ace, so you should accept her instruction gratefully. Don't you agree?”
Even while saying that, a smile played at the corners of Chinami's lips.
It meant she wasn't exactly displeased.
I think Chinami considers Renka a good friend, but she also seems to harbor a slight sense of rivalry toward her...
If I play my cards right, I might be able to make use of this.