Chapter 35
Clang- Clang-
‘Oh, shit!’
After being so absorbed in each other, the two were thrown into a panic.
It was good that someone had come. They had been trapped, after all.
But after making up, now that things had turned out like this, if someone suddenly came by—
-As expected, it's locked.
-Of course it's locked; it's after school.
-You said you brought the key.
“Wh-what do we do…?!”
Vita grew frantic.
If the door opened right away, they'd be in trouble.
From why the two of them were in the storeroom at this hour to what they'd been doing.
In principle, unsavory activities on academy grounds were prohibited by school rules.
‘We can't even make an excuse…’
To make matters worse, the two of them were both disheveled. Vita bit her lip.
In the race against time, Carlisle looked around inside.
Fortunately, since it was the gym equipment storeroom, there were all sorts of things inside.
A fairly large vaulting horse, or a cabinet big enough for two people to fit inside.
Clack-
Carlisle took Vita's hand and led her inside it.
They were almost unbelievably lucky. After the two hid, the storeroom door opened.
“…!”
Vita tensed up.
To make matters worse, she hadn't properly put on the underwear Carlisle had nearly stripped off her.
‘If we get caught like this…’
I'd just want to die.
As expected, people came in.
-Hmm, what's this? Isn't it kind of hot?
-Yeah, I guess so?
-It just feels that way.
Judging by the conversation, they seemed to be students from the same school.
And they were all male students.
The surprisingly perceptive remarks made both of them flinch slightly.
It was a cramped, dark space. And being inside a cabinet left them feeling disoriented.
Her head was spinning.
“…Hang on, just a little longer.”
Carlisle whispered.
Their bodies were already completely pressed together. Vita was nearly on the verge of losing her mind.
“Ngh…”
It was hot and suffocating inside the enclosed space.
She was so tense at the thought of being discovered.
And beyond that tension…
‘…Am I insane or what?’
She felt aroused.
Perhaps because Carlisle had practically pinned her down, or because she was being held so tightly, Vita found it difficult to breathe.
With her vision darkened, her other senses had grown more sensitive, which only made things more difficult.
It wasn't simply that they were holding each other.
Since they were pressed together in a cramped, dark space, their upper bodies were touching.
From Carlisle's perspective, it was quite hard to hold back with the sharp yet cute face before him flushed like a tomato.
Thus, when Vita suddenly felt a distinctly obvious presence near her lower abdomen, her face grew even hotter.
‘…It's practically going to break through.’
It was absurd and utterly flustering, but even more than that, he was getting heated along with it.
The air inside was hot.
“Ngh… hnn…”
Strictly speaking, the two of them were in a state of incomplete combustion. And they were pressed together like this in that state.
It was difficult to endure. Both of their heads tingled, to the point that they felt dizzy.
Naturally, their gazes met, and Carlisle, unable to hold back, gradually brushed his lips against hers.
‘Wh-what are you doing…!’
Vita was flustered, and even knew it was crazy, but still ended up being swept along.
“Mmm—hnng…”
It was as if Vita were completely bound by Carlisle.
They were embracing while holding each other's hands. Their fingers were even intertwined.
She already knew in her mind that this was ridiculous.
‘Still, something this minor…’
Wouldn't it be okay?
Somewhere in both their minds, they had thoughts like that.
Sometimes human reason malfunctions.
Even if they were discovered, their brains already felt completely saturated with heat, making it difficult to stop.
Still, conscious of the situation, they were very discreet and slow, focusing on what was happening outside.
Their lips overlapped, and Carlisle's hand once again touched her soft breast.
‘Ah, I shouldn't…’
Just as Vita was thinking that and her mind was beginning to grow hazy—
-Hey, though.
Suddenly, voices could be heard outside the cabinet.
-It's surprisingly spacious in here. There's even a suitable mat.
-So what?
-At this point, couldn't two people practically do it here?
-Ah, you bastard. I was wondering what you were talking about…
Snickering laughter.
-There must be people who do it even in a storeroom like this.
-Well, maybe?
Vita had once been a man, after all, so lewd jokes like that fell within the range he could understand.
But the next words left her flustered.
-Someone like Carlisle, for instance. Don't you think handsome guys like that have tried it here?
The sound of a ball bouncing lightly, as if they were putting away the balls they'd brought.
-Ah, more importantly. Have you seen the girl he's been dating lately?
-You mean Bianca Shamal?
-Yeah, the transfer student. She was really hot and cute.
The conversation had turned to her. Vita flinched.
‘Huh… all of a sudden?’
It was, well…
She was terribly flustered.
***
-I wonder if he did it with her, too?
At the next words, Vita nearly stopped breathing.
She was flustered and shocked, though her lips were still being swallowed by Carlisle.
But Vita soon realized one thing.
Twitch-
Carlisle's brow furrowed. Not only that—he actually pulled his lips away.
‘Those bastards…’
Carlisle's expression could be described in exactly those words.
At the same time, Vita hurriedly had a thought.
If he reacted to this situation now, they'd actually be discovered. But if it was Carlisle Schultz—if it was this crazy bastard—it wouldn't be strange for him to react in anger.
‘Is he going to walk out?!’
Surely not. I mean—
Out of the cabinet?!
Vita couldn't simply stand by and watch that happen.
So, almost in a fit of anger, she covered Carlisle's mouth. To keep him from thinking of anything else.
Mwah-
Like that.
Probably for the first time, she took the initiative.
When she squeezed her eyes shut and gave him a stolen kiss, Carlisle, who had been displeased, widened his eyes.
He knew there was a purpose behind it, and that she was doing it to tell him to calm down, but…
“…Damn, this is driving me crazy.”
Carlisle muttered quietly.
The displeasure he had felt vanished in an instant. In the darkness, Carlisle's eyes held only the other person's presence.
Disheveled Bianca Shamal—the girl he liked—was earnestly mouthing a sentence.
‘Don't do anything stupid…?’
A hollow laugh escaped him.
Well, fine.
If Bianca Shamal was telling him that, then he would obediently follow her words.
Other things were more important to Carlisle Schultz right now.
The lace bra strap that had slipped below her shoulder, the strands of hair clinging to her cheek.
The sweet scent of her body and the supple curves of her feminine form. All of it was in his arms right now.
For someone like her to act coy like this was driving him insane.
If she pleaded with him not to get angry, he had no choice but to hold back. If one looked at it strictly, this was a situation where he had to restrain himself anyway.
In any case, a faint smile formed at the corners of Carlisle's mouth.
Really, absurdly enough,
he was quite satisfied with the situation in its own way.
-Hey, let's go.
Apparently, they were done.
Only then did the two of them realize a certain fact anew.
‘But after they leave…’
‘How are we getting out of here…?’
They exchanged glances.
“They'll lock it again before they leave…!”
At Vita's urgent whisper, Carlisle nodded too.
“…You stay here for a moment.”
His actions were quite swift.
It wouldn't matter if people talked about him. As long as Bianca Shamal wasn't discovered, nothing else mattered.
So, only after deliberately waiting until the footsteps had receded toward the door, Carlisle Schultz went out.
Creak-
And then,
holding on to the storeroom door that was about to close, he poked his head out.
“Could you give me that key?”
“Oh, Carlisle…?”
The other students were flustered, but who was Carlisle Schultz?
No one could match his shameless nature.
“I fell asleep for a moment while doing what the teacher asked. I was behind that vaulting horse over there.”
“Oh, really…?”
And that was how it happened.
A short while later, Carlisle returned to the front of the cabinet.
“There, all done?”
Waving the key in his hand, he wore his characteristic carefree smile.
“H-how…?”
“I didn't really say much.”
He told them he would finish up and lock the place himself before leaving, then gave them a pointed look, so they handed over the key and left.
They must have had a guilty conscience of their own. It wasn't quite backbiting, but still.
“…What was that?”
Vita was a little dumbfounded, but also relieved that things had worked out.
“Anyway, it's taken care of.”
Carlisle smiled.
“Shall we finish what we started now?”
“W-what? Finish what?!”
Vita was flustered by that, but Carlisle chuckled.
“You know, don't you?”
How special an experience it was.
“It's the first day you've ever kissed me first. We ought to commemorate it properly.”
“No, that's…”
You stupid idiot?
Vita's face turned red.
She felt freshly self-loathing. She must have been crazy.
But at the time, she'd used her wits as best she could.
“I was just trying to stop you…”
That was all it was.
But this shameless bastard kept pretending not to know that.
“Oh, forget it.”
She was embarrassed to an absurd degree.
Vita once again felt Carlisle was irritating, but her body went rigid. She was in his arms again.
“It's hard to hold back today…”
“…Wh-what do you want me to do?”
Saying this made it sound like she didn't exactly hate it, so Vita pushed him away even harder.
That didn't mean they could do it here, though.
Someone might come by again at any moment, and they'd been trapped here in the first place.
So Vita first carefully checked her surroundings and left the storeroom.
“No one's in the hallway.”
“No one here either. Not by the stairs.”
In case someone saw them, or got the wrong idea.
The two of them carefully checked their surroundings together and soon left the academy.
***
After leaving the academy like that,
the two of them walked down the street, bickering.
Even though she kept saying she was fine, he insisted on walking her home.
He was even carrying her bag for her.
“No, hand it over.”
“A man should carry things like this.”
“I said, hand it here.”
“I don't understand the context…?”
As if he'd realized something in the gym equipment storeroom, Carlisle Schultz had become even more brazen.
Even though she kept refusing,
he confidently intertwined his fingers with Vita's and led her along.
Vita's room was fairly close to the academy, but she was still nervous at the thought of running into another student.
‘Why am I…?’
Vita no longer even understood why she was worried about this, or why it bothered her at all.
After all, she and this Carlisle guy were nothing to each other.
They definitely were, but…
Was she perhaps worried about how it looked?
If they were nothing to each other, shouldn't she be able to act confidently? Even if others misunderstood, it wasn't as though she needed to care.
But right now, simply…
Perhaps the reason she felt strange was that someone had come to mind.
Emily Swan.
The girl she had a crush on, who unfortunately liked Carlisle Schultz.
‘I like Emily.’
She definitely thought so.
Yet at this very moment, Vita bit her lip.
She didn't know why, but for some reason she felt strangely guilty toward Emily.
In any case, Vita, flustered and confused, was led along by Carlisle's hand.
If she had truly hated it, she would have pulled her hand away, but she was confused that she wasn't doing so.
To be honest, rather…
Her heart was pounding.
‘What is this…?’
Vita herself no longer understood herself very well.
And so, when they arrived at the familiar building before long,
Carlisle, who had been so brazen until then, suddenly hesitated.
Even though it had been hard to hold back earlier, the evening breeze had brought his reason back a little.
It probably wouldn't be a bad choice simply to part ways here.
They had finally made up, and he'd walked her home.
So Carlisle Schultz suddenly found himself hesitating.
Bianca Shamal seemed to have realized her own feelings to some extent,
but even so, was immediately pushing things forward really the right choice?
This was the first time Carlisle had truly been sincere about someone, and he didn't know what to do. But before long, he came down on the side of caution.
‘For today, this is enough. This much is plenty.’
So, as Carlisle swallowed his regret and prepared to step back,
“Go inside, Bianca.”
“Um, uh… no, I mean…”
Then she said something unexpected.
“Since you walked me this far.”
“…Why don't you come in and have something to drink before you go?”
Her fidgety manner, the way she avoided his gaze.
Carlisle Schultz couldn't help but wonder if his ears were deceiving him.