Chapter 235 - What's In Your Mind?

I followed her inside the room and stopped near the door awkwardly as she kept walking and turned back towards me while keeping her bag under a small study desk. The top of it was messy with papers and books lying around.

Her eyes narrowed as she smiled at me and gestured to me to sit on the bed which was on the right side of the room. The bed was quite messy too with her clothes and make-up equipment.

Shiraishi was quite a disorganised person.

I nodded my head slightly and walked towards the bed slowly. It wasn't the first time that I was inside a girl's room. Eventually it didn't feel as weird as it did when I visited Saki's room for the first time.

Though it was quite messy so I looked at her before touching her clothes and she gave me an affirmative nod so I grabbed them in a bundle and slid them to the corner of the bed. There was a sweet smell coming from the clothes which reminded me of her.

My eyes slightly glanced at her as she seemed to be tidying up the top of the desk. Strands of her ginger hair falling across her face, as she tucked them behind her ear and continued gathering the papers.

There was a strange vibe about her room. The dim coloured walls and lights really complimented each other. Her room wasn't really big, but it was quite small and comfortable. 

A bed, a study table and a wardrobe.

Fewer things but better utility.

I was sitting quietly with my eyes wandering around her room as I again reminded myself that the main reason to come over to her place was to study together. So I wasn't expecting to do anything crazy.

And with her little brother home, it was an absolute No No.

Though it was quite hot in her room as the heater was turned on so I rolled up my sleeves and slightly lowered my tie.

I was having a strange feeling in my gut which I couldn't explain anyhow.

"Sorry for calling you over just before the exam." Shiraishi said, walking towards me with notebooks in her hand. She took a seat next to me and scooted backwards a bit so she could sit properly and replied, "It's alright."

"Also no one is home so I couldn't make you tea." She said with an awkward smile, as I shook my head vaguely and replied in an assuring tone, "That's fine. You don't need to worry about those things."

"It's just that I feel bad." She said in an embarrassed tone and glancing at me, she added as her voice trailed off, "It's the first time… you visited me."

"I can't believe I'm group studying with a person from a different stream." I said to change the topic and she laughed softly, "Ehehe…"

"What do you find difficult in English?"

"The prose part." She opened the textbook we had for the literature and prose part and showed me the table of contents. My eyes skimmed through the page as it was time I was even seeing the book.

I was myself, guilty of not studying English at all. I only used to read the chapter summary a night before the exam and it somehow worked for me so I couldn't bother about it.

"Well you've no other option than studying it. There are no shortcuts for it unless you're cheating." I said, clearing my throat, as Shiraishi looked at me with curious eyes and asked, "You cheat?"

"I don't need to."

"Wow… I wish I had that confidence."

"You do have confidence…"

"I do?"

"...from a different perspective, that is." I glanced at her, who had a rubber band between her lips while her hair was left open. Her eyes moved towards me as she asked, "Aren't you feeling uncomfortable? This is a girl's room."

"Not really." I replied in a calm tone, as she raised her eyebrows, "Huh? Have you been inside a girl's bedroom before?"

"You phrased that sentence really inappropriately."

"So?"

Now who's going to tell her that I literally live with a girl under the same roof. 

Narrowing my eyes at her, I questioned her back, "I haven't been. Do I even look like someone who would talk with girls?"

"You don't. But you also seem to have no problem while talking with one." Shiraishi said in a taunting tone. She was probably referring to my behavior towards Moriko back then.

She is quite possessive.

"I've literally no idea how to help you with English." I said while flipping through the pages and marking a few things with the pencil in my hand. 

"You're bad at English?"

"I'm good, but I don't study at all."

"What sorcery is this!?"

Of course my English was good because of all the novels and video games I consumed. But that was a rather silly thing to tell someone.

I was skimming through the pages of the notebook because I had a rather simple but efficient way for her to cramp up the prose part. There were still a few days left for the English exam so she would've had enough time.

The utter silence was unusual and caught my attention as I shifted my eyes upwards to look at what Shiraishi was doing. She definitely wasn't the type of person to keep quiet.

As my eyes glanced up at the book, I noticed a flash of ginger coloured hair strike my face, and something weighing me down as my back hit the bed.

Shiraishi was lying on my chest.

"What do you have in mind?" I asked her, as she kept lying still over my chest without saying a single word. The sound of heavy breathing was resonating in my ear, as answered in a muffled voice, "You."

My hand navigated over to her head, as I gently cradled her hair and said in a soft yet stern tone, "You know this is not something we should be doing, right now?"

"Let me stay like this a little longer…" Her soft voice requested and trailed off, as I lied there looking at the ceiling with dead silence around me.

I saw this coming.