NOVEL NEXT Chapter 39
The change in Ryuichi’s mental state showed itself in a clear, tangible manner. It happened a few days after he’d gone to stay at Satsuki’s house, on a certain day after school.
“Ugh…this isn’t good. I’m going to be late at this rate.”
A female teacher passed by Ryuichi as he and Shizuna were about to head home. She was carrying a large cardboard box and her expression was very troubled and anxious.
“What’s wrong, Someya-sensei?”
“………”
She was a music teacher known as Someya, and she was quite young amongst the school’s teaching staff and quite popular amongst the students; her black-rimmed glasses served as her defining trademark.
“Oh, hello, Rindo-san…and Shishido-kun.”
She furrowed her brows when she looked at Ryuichi. The way she looked at him gave off a similar vibe to Hamasaki’s, and it put Shizuna, to say nothing of Ryuichi, in a bad mood straight away. Still, she did not take the bait and pulled on his hand, anxiously urging him to leave quickly.
“Wait, Shizuna.”
“Huh?”
He approached Someya. He may not have been that terrifying a delinquent to be feared by others at school, but when he approached her, Someya naturally stepped back a little.
“W-What is it?”
That sharp, cutting glare of hers was definitely something that shouldn’t have been directed at a student. Still, he paid no heed to it and took the cardboard box that she was holding in her hand as if to snatch it away from her.
“Where do you want this?”
“…Huh?”
“I’m asking where you want me to put this.”
“T-The audiovisual room…”
“Got it. Is this all?”
“Err…there’s actually eight more boxes like that one.”
Now that he was holding the box, he realized that what was inside was probably some kind of paper, but it was considerably heavy nonetheless. It would’ve been quite tiring for a woman to carry, and with eight more of them, she would’ve had to make at least nine trips back and forth.
“…Shizuna, could you gimme a hand?”
“Yes. Of course.”
“You guys?”
Her expression of vigilance toward Ryuichi changed into a blank, dumb one.
“You look like you’re in some kind of hurry. You’ve probably got something to do, don’t you?”
“Uh, yes. You see, my father is hospitalized. So, I was going to make time for a visit today, but I still have these to carry.”
“All the more reason why you should leave it to us and get the hell outta here, then.”
“………”
Her eyes widened even further as she stared at Ryuichi. He urged her along, telling her that she had no time to be stuck in a daze. He then carried the cardboard box in his hands toward the audiovisual room. Unexpectedly, however, the door was locked, so he decided to trust in the miracle that Shizuna would somehow bring it along with her.
“Ah, I knew we would need the key.”
“Great job. Sheesh, Someya would’ve had to make another round trip just to go get it, huh.”
With a giggle, Shizuna put down her cardboard box and unlocked the door. She went straight in and placed her box in an open spot, then headed back out to bring the rest of the boxes. On the way, she glanced back at Ryuichi and spoke.
“Someya-sensei must’ve been surprised. I kinda snapped when she’d told me you must’ve been up to something, and I told her that you weren’t that kind of person.”
“You snapped, huh.”
He gave a chuckle. Well, he had expected her to have that kind of conversation with Someya. His guess was spot-on, so he didn’t think much of it, but he had to say, the way she responded was very much typical of her in a sense.
“Y’know, I wasn’t really trying to improve my image back there, not after all this time. I just did that because, well, I wanted to.”
“…I really love that part about you.”
“Heh, thank ya.”
“Of course, I love all the other parts about you, too. ♪”
She confessed her love for him as Ryuichi carried the boxes in Someya’s stead. Just as they were down to the remaining three boxes, Shizuna started panting exhaustedly, and she lightly swung her arms around, perhaps sore in pain.
“It must be tough on you, huh. There are even stairs in between… Sorry for asking you to give me a hand; you can just stop here, okay?”
“No, I’m going to help you until the very end.”
She tightly clenched her fists, seemingly pumped up. He wondered if he should tire her out any further, but he knew she wouldn’t back down even if he tried to stop her seeing as she was so enthusiastic about it, so he decided to let her help him.
“I’ll hold one, then you stack another one on top of it.”
“Will you be okay?”
“Totally. In fact, we probably should’ve been doing this from the start.”
First, he picked up a box. Then, she placed another one on top of it. With Shizuna carrying the last one, their work would soon be over. Whilst worrying over Shizuna who was still breathing painfully, they finally managed to finish the job.
“…Phew… Haah, I’m so tired.”
“Great job. You really did well.”
When he patted her head, she shyly moved away from him.
“Umm… I’m sweating a little on my back right now, so I might smell weird.”
“Oh, so that’s what you’re worried about. Does it look like I care?”
“Ah. ♪”
At first glance, it didn’t look like she was sweating, but sure enough, he could see she was sweating to some extent on the inside of her clothes. Since he didn’t mind, he brought his face close to her neck. He smelled her scent, which seemed to make her shy but squeal with delight nonetheless. The smell of sweat wasn’t present, and what tickled Ryuichi’s nostrils was the sweet scent of her body.
“You’ve got a nice smell. I like it.”
“Ryuichi-kun. ♪”
He wondered how she must’ve felt inside, being pushed up to the wall and having his face up her neck like this. He enjoyed her scent to his heart’s content for a while longer before calling it quits and leaving the audiovisual room.
It was already 4:30, so it seemed they probably wouldn’t have the time to go anywhere.
“Aight, lemme send you off.”
“Yup. Please, and thank you.”
For Ryuichi, and for Shizuna too, it had become the norm for them to do this. As they left the school building and headed for the school gate, a member of the baseball team seemed to be just returning from a run outside. They discreetly exited the school gate so as to not disturb them, when Hamasaki appeared in front of the two.
“Rindo…and Shishido.”
He was looking at Ryuichi and Shizuna in a completely different way. They did not give any sort of response at all. Shizuna walked with Ryuichi’s arm in hers as if to say, “Let’s get home quickly,” and of course, Hamasaki spoke to their backs as they walked.
“I spoke to your grandfather, Shishido, and he didn’t seem to be very approving of your actions.”
Ryuichi stopped, though his back was still turned. As Shizuna looked up at him with concern, he reassured her that he was fine with a mutter and opened his mouth.
“Thanks to that, I managed to talk about a ton of things with him. Well, as a result, it did help me take a step forward, for better or worse. So, I do have to thank you for that, I guess.”
“Tch…what even is that?”
He started walking away with nothing more to say. Hamasaki, perhaps still unsatisfied, continued to speak further. This time, it wasn’t to Ryuichi but to Shizuna.
“Rindo, I’m really concerned for you as your teacher. I’ll be talking to your mother next. About her daughter having a dangerous relationship.”
“…Tch.”
It was then that Ryuichi heard Shizuna click her tongue for the first time. He, who was nearby, could hear it, but Hamasaki on the other hand couldn’t… However, Ryuichi was surprised by the fact that Shizuna had actually clicked her tongue.
“So even you click your tongue, huh…”
“Well, I’m a human, too. Of course I get annoyed.”
And with that, she turned around.
“Go ahead, do as you please. You’re more than welcome to try your hand at something pointless.”
“…Well, it definitely does sound like it’d be pointless.”
Ryuichi could only say that because he knew Sakie. Shizuna looked forward as if she did not want to see his face, and this time Ryuichi pulled her along as they went on their way.
“…It’s so frustrating.”
Ryuichi knew what she was talking about. It was no use worrying about such things, but he could understand her feelings because he knew that she was thinking about him a lot.
Though he knew it was impossible, if Ryuichi were the honor student and Shizuna were the delinquent, he would have thought the exact same thing with their relationship as it was.
“I’m just happy enough to have you girls who know me by my side.”
“…Then that means I’ll have to stay by your side forever. Mark my words, Ryuichi-kun: I’ll always be there for you and illuminate your heart.”
“Yup. Thank you, Shizuna.”
“Fufu, you’re welcome. Hey, Ryuichi-kun, I know it’s a little late to go into town now, but I’m in the mood to have some food!”
“Let’s go grab a hamburger then.”
“Urk… Alright! The calories aren’t going to be pretty, but I’ll eat it!”
Ryuichi smiled broadly, saying that that wouldn’t bother him at all. If he had to say, Shizuna was the kind of girl whose fat went to their breasts and not their belly. Well, he didn’t know if it was because of the food or not, but she also mentioned how her breasts had gotten a little bit bigger ever since she started hanging out with Ryuichi.
“Don’t worry ‘bout it. Well, don’t get too fat until you’re round as a ball, though.”
“O-Obviously I wouldn’t want that either!”
Thus, they headed into town together as if to forget their unpleasant exchange earlier. Incidentally, Someya thanked Ryuichi and Shizuna quite graciously on a later date. Ryuichi told her not to worry about it, but this time, he didn’t feel any unpleasant or hostile glances from Someya.