CH 12

As soon as the principal and vice principal realized that Tatsumaki was no longer available, they left with strange voices.

What were they going to do with the Tatsumaki once they got it?

“It doesn’t really matter. ……”

I’m tired from all the things that happened this morning.

I’ve got a full stomach and I feel sleepy, so I’m going to take a little nap.

But if I go back to sleep, I’ll probably get pranked by the guys who will come to mess with me.

I turn into a ninja and climb a nearby tree.

“I could take a nap here without being disturbed.”

I sit down on a tree branch, lean my back against the trunk, and take a short nap. ……

“Leo? Where are you? Leo?”

A voice like a bell tickles my ears, and I wake up.

When I wake up and look around, I see that it is already dark.

Below me, I can see Monaka looking for me with the light of the stars.

I call out to her from the tree tops, “I’m here,” and she squirms and shrugs like she’s been struck by lightning. She shrunk her shoulders.

“What? What are you doing here?”

“What are you doing here at this time of night?”

“Oh, yes. Oh, yes. I thought I should thank Leo-kun for his help. ……”

“Thank you?”

“I want to thank you for the house you built for me. Thank you very much for the beautiful house.”

Monaka bows her head deeply.

“I’m sure you’ll be happy to hear that. If that’s the case, we could have met the next time.”

“Oh, and I brought you some dinner. Have you eaten your dinner yet?

Monaka holds up the small pot in her hands and shows it to me.

This reminds me of my hunger again.

“So, thank you, ……. What are you grinning about?”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you climb a tree, Leopin.”

“I remember when we were kids, we used to climb trees together.

Oh, Monaka, why don’t you climb up too?”

“What, me too? I’m not a tree climber!

Even when I was little, I used the ladder that Leopin-kun made for me to climb up. ……”

“I see, that’s what I was thinking.

…… Okay, hold on a second.”

I jumped down from the tree branch.

“Kya!!?” Monaka, who presses her mouth with her hand as she is startled in an elegant way, I quickly build a ladder.

Due to the various bonuses, it can be ridden by up to 10 people and will not falter.

“You have built …… the ladder in an instant?”

Monaka is dumbfounded.

I beckon to her to come up from halfway up the ladder.

“Come on, Monaka.”

I hold out my hand, but she is still confused.

“Yes, yes, ……. But climbing a tree is such a trifling thing …….

I’m going to go!”

As soon as Monaka remembers something from the past, she snorts and takes my hand.

I sit down on a branch with a pot in one hand and Monaka’s hand in the other.

Monaka is sitting a little too carefully, probably because she hasn’t sat on a tree branch in a long time, but she gets used to it after a while.

Monaka opens the lid of the pot and it is full of soup.

“Oh, how sumptuous!

I can’t believe you can get this much meat and vegetables already.”

“Oh, that’s leftovers from the party at the end of the entrance ceremony, reheated.

Everyone is having this soup for dinner today.”

“I see, that’s what it is.”

“You didn’t eat any of the food from the party, did you, Leopin?

I was going to ask you if you’d like to join my class. ……”

“Onesco and Sinobuko disagreed with you, didn’t they? Don’t worry about it.

This soup looks delicious.”

“Serve it warm. Please eat it while it’s hot. And please use this spoon.”

I take the spoon, plunge it into the pot, and gobble it up.

Monaka looks at me with the eyes of a mother watching her child.

When Monaka saw that I am done eating, she smiles and takes out a white handkerchief.

“Mmmm, your mouth is dirty. I’ll wipe it off for you.”

“Thank you. You’re starting to look like your sister, especially in the way you take care of people.”

“Is that …… so?”

Suddenly, she grabs her handkerchief and looks up at me with a hardened gaze.

“Umm… Leopin-kun …. I’d like to ask you something, if you don’t mind.” 

“What’s with the seriousness?”

“What is it?”

“I’ve been working with a female student from class 1-6 for a while now, and we’ve been working on ki- ki- kikiki- ! It’s ……!”

Monaka suddenly becomes sluggish and begins to tremble like a woodpecker pecking at a tree.

“What’s that? “ki”?”

“It’s, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s …… ……! Kyaa!?”

Monaka shakes so hard that she loses her balance and falls backwards.

Before she falls from the tree, I quickly hug her and land on the ground, catching her in midair.

…… Sta!

By the time I get to the ground, Monaka is being carried by me in a princess hug and her eyes are blinking.

“I’m sure I fell. I’m sure I just fell. …… Why ……?

Thank you very much, Leopin!”

Monaka is in a panic like a drowning sea otter in my arms.

“You didn’t cry today.”

“What?”

“When we were kids, you almost fell off a branch and I held you underneath, remember?

After that, you always cried like a baby, didn’t you?”

“Moou! I’m not a crybaby anymore!”

Monaka puffs out her cheeks and then immediately smiles shyly.

“It’s been a long time since …… I’ve been hugged by Leopin-kun like this. It feels so nostalgic. ……”

“I miss it too.”

“After Leopin rescued me from a tree branch, he always held me in his arms until I stopped crying. ……

Then he took me home.”

“Well, it’s been a while since I’ve taken you home.”

“What?” I walk through the forest with Monaka in my arms, who rolls her eyes.

At first Monaka’s eyes narrowed with nostalgia, but as we leave the forest and approachs the residential area, she suddenly begins to wince.

“What? Leopin-kun! There are other students around you!

If they see you like this, they’ll go to ……!”

“What, you don’t like it?”

“No, no, no, no. ……!　I don’t mind at all!

I don’t want to bother Mr. Leopin. ……!”

“What? Don’t worry about bothering me.”

I don’t care, I walk through the reconstructed huts.

And then my surroundings start to buzz.

“Oh, hey, look at ……!”

“What the hell is that trash doing hugging Monaka?”

“Why? Why is he doing that?”

“Could it be that the two of them are very close ……?”

“Shit! What the hell?

Akemi first, then Monaka, all those only care about him!”

The impact of the ground shaking caused the shack to fall over once again.

The living quarters are swirling with envious glances and then screams.

The next thing I know, Monaka is squeezing me and burying her face in my chest.

Only her ears are peeking out from between her long hair, which is so red that I can see them even in the dim light.

We arrive at Monaka’s house a short time later, and I drop her off at the entrance.

Finally, she turns around in front of the front door and lowers her red-hot face with a swoosh.

“Thank you so much for sending me to ……!　Good night, Leopin!”

“Oh, good night. See you tomorrow.”

That was all I say, and I leave the living quarters.