Just like yesterday, the sixth lesson ended without a hitch. Besides, with the exercises close to being perfected by them and the gains they got from it was already showing, the second half of the ten-lesson course would be their much-awaited boxing exercises.
First off, today’s lesson was about maintaining their combat stance. Like any other instructors, I taught them the orthodox stance for right-handed and the southpaw stance for left-handed.
With only small breaks in between, I had them maintain their stances while also occasionally moving sideways.
And while they’re at it, I roamed around, correcting them and giving them advice.
Once again, when it came to Ichihara-san’s turn, my eyes couldn’t help but wander around, appreciating her amazing curves.
There’s no use denying it anymore. If I could call the first instance an accident, doing it again during the next four consecutive occasions was a deliberate attempt.
In any case, I made sure not to let my eyes linger longer than normal. I was probably caught staring yesterday if I once again consider that meaningful wink that she threw at me.
For today, however, Ichihara-san was taking the lesson seriously. And in my opinion, that’s a lot better than letting our minds wander on unnecessary thoughts.
There’s that unusual reaction from her when I mentioned her husband last week. But no matter how curious I became, that’s not my place to intrude, right? But if this was before, that’s probably enough to give me the urge to dig deeper and draw up a plan to steal her from her husband.
Uh… I’m a changed man now. Hopefully. Besides, her daughter was also my student
Soon after I ended the class, I first put in some new advice for the five idiots at the changing room before going to meet Coach Ayu.
Today, I didn’t ask for her assistance and just let her sit on the side to watch on and criticize my way of instructing. Instead of her, I called for Sena when she finished her training set for today to help me demonstrate some.
That made her grumpy, sure. It’s for her anyway, she should still be resting today but here she was.
After handing me the thick envelope filled with my salary for today, Coach Ayu stayed silent and just stared at me, her expression sour.
While still maintaining my usual countenance, I stared back and tilted my head. Whether that was done cutely or not, I had no idea. My actions could be called with many words but never would it be ‘cute’.
In any case, Coach Ayu showed a reaction upon seeing me doing that. She blew air through her nose and huffed annoyedly.
“What are you still waiting for? Go now.”
“Oh. I thought you’re going to say something to me, Coach. With all the staring and whatnot. Am I wrong?”
“Yes, you’re wrong. Go on. I already thanked you earlier. I won’t repeat it again.”
“That’s not what I’m waiting for though. Well, since you say that, see you next week, coach. Take care of yourself.” I shrugged and stood up from my seat.
To say that I wasn’t concerned about her well-being was wrong. No matter what, not counting the recent development between us, I still see her as that older sister who’s taking good care of Sena.
In any case, the way she never talked about it again was saving both of us. Nonetheless, Sena’s words yesterday about not closing all doors for Coach Ayu was making me indecisive…
Right… This was entirely different than how I was before. I should’ve already come up with a decision whether to close the door or not during that first instance.
Do I like Coach Ayu or not? If that’s the question, without any other connotations, then I would say yes…
“Oh. I sure can take care of myself.” Coach Ayu also shrugged and waved her hand. But that’s clearly an act to send me away.
“Yeah, right. What happened yesterday was an illusion, huh?”
Agitated by my words, Coach Ayu abruptly stood up, her hands hitting the table loudly as it made a snappy sound. “You! Stop being too considerate! Worry about Sena, not me…”
Facing all that, I saw indignation and reluctance in her eyes. Besides with her voice lowering and trailing at that last sentence, she’s clearly in a dilemma.
This woman was torn between being considerate to Sena and her feelings for me that hadn’t subsided ever since it burst out last week.
Obviously, the sinner here was none other than me. I should’ve been the one to put a stop to all of this. It’s my indecision that placed the red button on her hand.
This was clearly different from the choice I gave to my girls about going out of our complex relationship or the choice I gave to Arisa-senpai, Izumi-senpai or even Chii.
Because in this instance, I could end all of this with only one phrase. Depending on what phrase I would use, the outcome would be different from each other.
But first…
“Coach, is it bad to be considerate of you? I mean, you’re close to being an older sister for me.”
At the same time as I said that, my feet started moving to cross the boundary called ‘her table’. When the last word dropped, I already traversed the few steps circumventing that obstacle and stood right in front of her.
Her eyes followed me but she never moved away. She even turned to face me.
“Older sister.” Coach Ayu laughed bitterly. It’s clear that hearing that from my mouth hurt as if a hammer bashed her chest.
Ah, that was probably an exaggeration. In any case, Coach Ayu staggered from where she was. If not for her hand placed on the table, she would either sit back down on her chair or fall down on the floor.
“Mhm… That’s how I see you, Coach. At least until last week.”
“Huh?” Coach Ayu’s eyes instantly widened in disbelief at what he heard. Her eyes focused on me. Perhaps wondering if she heard it right or not.
As an answer to that, I closed it and held her by her waist, stabilizing her feet. “You heard it right. Do you think it’s easy to forget and not talk about that? If you can recall it, I didn’t just sit there, I returned what you did to you…”
One of my hands then crawled from her exposed arm up to her neck and ended up pinching her chin. At this point, there was no such thing as a boundary between us anymore. It would take no effort to grab her lips with mine and vice versa.
Nonetheless, I continued with what I wanted to say. I decided to stop that indecision. Rather than wait until next week, it’s better to clear this up right now.
“Coach, I have a request. Can we both be honest with each other?” I started. “I’ll tell you what I think of you right now and you’ll do the same. Depending on what we heard from each other, let’s think of a way to solve this awkward interaction between us.”
Perhaps not knowing where to look, Coach Ayu shut her eyes. However, she moved her arms and held onto me, the same way I was holding her. And with a voice laced with different kinds of emotions, she answered, “Sure… But first, what do you think are you doing? What’s the meaning of this?”
Uh… To stop her from escaping?
Of course, that’s not it… It’s my inner perversion on the move and clearly, it’s reacting to her.