Chapter 17

「Good morning. Senpai, please give me sweets.」

「Ha?」

「Starting from October is Halloween, right? You have to give me sweets, or else I will prank you.」

「Even if you tell me to give you sweets, I don’t have the habit of carrying sweets around.」

「I doubt it. Everyone will at least have one or two candies with them… Ah.」

Yeah. I don’t like candy.

That’s why I could never understand people’s custom to ask「You have candy?」casually, and I also didn’t get the joke when one will lose if they get mint flavour in Sakuma Drops 1. It felt like I was losing out on my life somehow.

「What will senpai do if you suddenly want to eat something sweet in the downtown then?」

Ehhh.

「Is it something that happens a lot generally?」

「It doesn’t really happen to me, since I will have some candies ahead.」

「That’s what is considered happening, though. To replenish your sugar ahead, are you a mountain climber?」

When someone was climbing a mountain, they would drink water a mouthful at a time, and it was often said that drinking before the throat dries was good.

Also, if they tried to chew on the water at that time, even a little bit of water would be very satisfying. I learnt it in elementary school.

「If candy is no good, then… Ah, there’s gums. But it’s somewhat different… Then, what will you do, senpai?」

「I bought a dorayaki at a convenience store recently.」

The moment I said ‘dorayaki’, Kouhai-chan heaved a big sigh.

「How sombre… So it’s Japanese sweets, huh. Well, it suits senpai quite well.」

For some reason, even though she didn’t say anything bad, her way of talking was like she was making fun of me.

＊　＊　＊

Dorayaki, huh?

Japanese sweets generally have mild sweetness after all. I hadn’t eaten those recently.

「That means, since senpai didn’t give me any sweets, I’ll do mischief on you, senpai.」

「Wait, we’re still talking about that!?」

「Our conversation just got interrupted just now. Well then, senpai, please turn behind.」

「Hey, Kouhai-chan. What is『behind』?」

Senpai suddenly made a serious face, and he immediately pulled out an electronic dictionary from his back. After turning it on, he began speaking again.

「In dictionary, the meaning is『the front side of the object; the opposite of the front』, so in conclusion, this is what considered as『behind』, right?」

Still facing me, senpai pointed to his back over his shoulders.

「Yes.」

「But then, if I rotate my body 180 degrees in this state, I certainly will face『behind』from my initial position, but then, my『behind』will change into Kouhai-chan’s front, right?」

「Senpai used too many pronouns, it’s hard to understand.」

「What I was trying to say is, if I turn『behind』, my『back』is no longer my『back』.」

「It’s even harder to understand.」

「The main problem is, how can I turn『behind』without changing what my『behind』is? I can just turn my body without changing my view.」

Senpai finished his explanation by twisting his neck so he could see『behind』over his shoulder.

「In other words, it will be like this.」

Senpai tilted his face a little, and since I was looking from the opposite side, he was currently making the same pose as the『Fireworks』movie illustration that we watched some time ago.

It seemed like he didn’t want to show me his back that much.

＃　＃　＃

If I removed my sight from this girl, of course she would prank me ruthlessly. Since she even informed me that she would prank me beforehand, this would most definitely be merciless.

That’s why I tried to avoid the disaster with the so-called「Shaft」pose.

「Alright. Did you stall enough time already, senpai? Well then,『Please turn your back towards me.』」

Hold on, this is not going to be just a speculation, but a reality!!

「In the first place, why should I follow Kouhai-chan’s instructions?」

I was about to easily go with the flow like usual and turn my back towards her, but when I thought about it, I was sure that we never said that I should obey her words.

「Isn’t it because senpai didn’t give any candy, that’s why senpai is obliged to follow my instructions?」

「Isn’t that ‘If you don’t give me candy, I’ll prank you’ thing an agreement between adults and children on Halloween, and the adults can only receive the punishment when they haven’t prepared the candy on the day of Halloween? Since I didn’t know that today is also treated as Halloween, I don’t have the obligation to do it.」

「But, I said it yesterday already, right? And I’ve been sending pumpkin stickers on LINE too recently.」

Uwuwu.

「No way. Since Halloween starts during October, there’s still a long way to go. That’s why, at least let me off just today―」

Kouhai-chan interrupted me before I finished my pleading.

「―Then it’s okay for me to prank senpai just today, right? After all, senpai will prepare properly starting. tomorrow anyway. Don’t worry too much, I won’t do something extreme.」

Uwuwuwuwuwu.

「Haa. Senpai really can’t be helped, seriously.」

Kouhai-chan had a little pensive look on her face, and uttered her dreadful killer pass. In this case, maybe it would be better to call it a killer shot? 2

「Then, this is my『today’s question』. But senpai, you actually think that this way is more interesting, right?」

She misused her『today’s question』just to prank me.

Because of that, I had to answer her question honestly, and sincerely.

Well, the answer was already clear.

「Yes…」

If she asked me which one will be more 「interesting」, rather than not doing anything, receiving something unknown won the multiple choices.

Of course, turning my back towards a kouhai whom I didn’t even know the name of a month ago and waited for what kind of prank would she do made me feel more excited. Somehow, I felt like my behaviour could be described with a word. To be excited because I would be pranked, I started to be a M, huh. 3

「Then, senpai, please turn behind… no, please turn your back to me.」

And then―

I could feel something moving on my back, making shivers run straight up on my nerves.

My body trembled, and my mind was filled with a subtle feeling of discomfort. I tightened my butt, and I unconsciously leaked a voice. Since we were in the train, of course I tried to endure it immediately,

Her「prank」was just tracing the middle of my back, and also the muscles along my spine.

That being said, every time her thin and chilly finger traced my back over my shirt, an unknown sensation overflowed inside my body.

I didn’t know whether it felt good, or actually uncomfortable.

What I knew was that I had never experienced this kind of sensation in my entire life.

「Eh, senpai? Your body is trembling, and your eyes are red, you know?」

「Stop it… But you won’t stop even though I said that, right?」

How long would this last?

「Senpai doesn’t look like you hate it anyway.」

「I certainly… Nnh… don’t hate it, but it feels like I will become… Nnh… hopeless…」

Stop tickling people when they are speaking already!

「Senpai is already a hopeless human, so there’s no trouble.」

「Is that so…」

Just how long more would this last?

It might be just a minute, but I couldn’t help but feel five or even ten minutes had passed. After a while, her hands finally stopped moving, as if she was already satisfied.

＊　＊　＊

「Ehhh, senpai. So your back is this ticklish, huh.」

He reacted when I whispered to his ears as well yesterday, so he might actually be someone that’s generally easy to tickle.

「Just see, I’ll get you back for this one day…」

「When you are doing it to me, please be careful not to get stuck on my bra strings, okay?」

「Oi, girls shouldn’t say those kind of things in public!」

「Ehhh, this much is normal.」

「Is that so?」

Uhn, I was not sure either.

「I’m sure it’s like that.」

「Where did that confidence come from…」

After he finally calmed down and returned to his original posture, senpai cleared his throat and said this.

「Trick or Treat!」

I already predicted that, senpai. What a shame.

「Here is Kit Kat for you.」

「Kit Kat, huh…」

「It has been in my bag for some time, so the chocolate might have melted now.」

「If it’s melted and we can’t get a break,『we’ll just get a kit to cut the bar』!」4

Senpai opened the chocolate package while saying that boring joke. It seemed like the contents was safe.

And then. senpai popped it into his mouth just like that. Male sure had it nice, they didn’t have to worry about their weight.

「Thank you for the treat.」

「No, no.」

＃　＃　＃

Chocolate… Chocolate, eh.

I felt like now was still around five months too fast to get chocolate from a girl. Maybe rather than saying around five months, it would even be better to say「around half a year」?

As a thank you for messing around with me just now, I’ll ask my today’s question with this.

「I want to ask my『today’s question』, can I?」

「You don’t have to be so formal about it, senpai. What is it?」

「Will you give me a chocolate like this too on February 14th next year?」

What will our relationship be half a year later?

The winter break is short, and I didn’t think it would be impossible for us not to meet at that time. Would we stay like this later on, or maybe we would stop arguing and talking like now?

Or maybe, in the future, we might have an even more intimate relationship.

In any case, I just wanted to confirm a little about「Will you still continue to get along with me while we are attending school?」.

「Ehehe, so you’re worried about that, senpai. Of course I will give it to you, please don’t worry.」

But her answer was outside my expectations.

「Even so, whether it is obligatory, or something romantic, it will depend on senpai♪」5