CH 21

A short distance to the right on the forked road. I saw someone crouching under a tree on a rather steep forest path.

“Kurase?”

I thought something was wrong and rushed to the person. It was definitely Kurase.

“Hey, Kurase!”

“…………”

I slowly shook Kurase’s shoulder. I was getting frustrated because there was no response, but Kurase looked up right away.

“Nn…… niichan?’

Kurase stares at me with dazed eyes.

Nii chan? Are you mistaking me for your brother? I mean, didn’t you say before that you are an only child?

Above that …………

I ask Kurase once again

“Kurase, are you okay?”

“Eh? Oh, …… good morning, Ito-kun.”

“…… yes?”

Kurase, realizing that it was me who was calling her, reacted with no sense of urgency at all. The unexpected response I got back caught me off guard.

Good morning. You were sleeping?

Unexpectedly, I sighed. So you were sleepwalking earlier?

Kurase is still staring at me with a dumbfounded expression. It seems she doesn’t seem to grasp the situation.

“I heard Kurase was lost, so I was looking for you.”

“I’m lost?…Ah”

It had been a while since I said that.

“I’m sorry for the trouble …… I’ve caused you. I’m sorry …….”

Then she apologized awkwardly.

She was totally carefree. No wonder Asagiri was so worried.

“I’m glad you’re okay, anyway.”

When a girl as beautiful as Kurase stares at you and says something like that, it makes you kind of nervous. I don’t have to be Sosuke to get the wrong idea.

It’s not possible, though.

Well, that’s a relief for the time being. That thought was short-lived.

A “~~” sound came from Kurase’s stomach.

“———!?”

“…………”

Kurase’s cheeks turned a light red. Was she hungry when she felt relieved? Should I give her something here?

“Uh, do you want something if you don’t mind? I have some chocolate or something. ……”

“T-This one’s different, okay? this was …….”

〜〜〜〜.

“Ah…….”

“………….”

Again. And longer than before.

Kurase’s face turned even redder and became like a boiled egg.

“I-It’s nothing, okay?”

“No, but…”

“It’s nothing, okay?”

“Y-yeah….”

The pressure was on.

W-well, if you don’t want me to notice you, let’s pretend I didn’t ask you. ……

Anyway, let’s change the subject.

“For now, can you get up?”

“…… yeah. I’m fine.”

Kurase frowned as she tried to stand up.

“Is your leg okay?”

“Eh?”

“Let me see.”

I quickly pulled out of my backpack a pouch containing a medical kit of bandages and disinfectant.

“I’m sorry for everything. …… I see you’re ready for this.”

“In case you’re not aware, I’m a member of the health committee. Asagiri pushed me into it.”

“Haha,…….”

This is something that is handed out to the health committee members.

The gauze is taken out of the pouch and soaked with antiseptic solution.

“It might sting a little.”

“Eh? 〜〜!!?”

I then pressed it against my bleeding right knee. Kurase makes an inaudible sound. It’s inappropriate, but a little erotic.

“…… Sorry. I didn’t think it would hurt that much.”

“B-because you did it so suddenly. It was painful.”

Her eyes were a little teary. I felt as if I was doing something wrong.

After that I prepared a new gauze and taped it over the wound.

“What’s wrong……?”

I asked, curious because Kurase was staring at me curiously.

“Ito-kun is quite handy, isn’t he?”

“Really? If anything, I find me a bit of a klutz.”

I can’t say anything witty or anything, just like what happened with Fujibayashi earlier.

“No. I think you’re pretty handy. Even now, you’re very skillful. …… And you’re helping out at the restaurant with the food and stuff, right? The manager was talking happily about it the other day, you know? They’ve added more items to the menu.”

“No, that was forced …… well, She lets me live there, for a change.”　

I was about to spill my true feelings, but somehow I managed to stop myself. To tell the truth, Ayako san has been helping me a little bit with cooking at the restaurant since then.

Usually, she serves ready-made food, but when she found out that I can cook, she started to use me more and more.

I wondered why she was serving ready-made food in a café, but it seems that the restaurant had been getting a surprisingly large number of customers up to that point.

“But the fact that you can even cook might be a little frustrating for a girl.”

“Ahh ……?”

Maybe, if not, Kurase can’t cook? It’s somewhat easy to imagine. I think she usually makes mistakes in the seasonings she puts in her food.

“Oh, you just thought I can’t cook, didn’t you?”

“N-No, I didn’t.”

Kurase’s cheeks puffed up, as if she had shown it too much.

“I can cook a little, too, you know? If you doubt me, I’ll feed you my best dish next time!”

“…… Well, if you insist that much.”

She seems awfully confident. If she says that much, she’s probably okay with it. I’m sure there won’t be any dark matter or anything like that …..right?

When I was thinking about this, for some reason Kurase was mumbling something to herself. I wondered whether I should talk to heror not.

Kurase is a bit strange after all.

“Can you stand up for now?”

“What? Ah, yes!”

“Why the honorific?”

The treatment on her leg is already finished, so she can’t stay here forever.

Kurase looked a little sore, but not so much that she couldn’t walk.

“So where is everyone?”

“………. ah …… ah?”

I look around again.

Where did I come from ……? It’s a shame …… that I’m like this after talking so highly of myself to Asagiri.

“I have an unfortunate announcement.”

“Eh?”

“I’m lost too.”

“Eh!?”

◆

“Do you want to walk anyway?”

“Yeah.”

Ito-kun said a little awkwardly.

I am sure he was embarrassed that he came to help me and that he got lost too. But I was happy just to be with him.

And for some reason I felt happy to think that I could be alone with Ito-kun for …… just a little while longer.

But when I heard the sound of my stomach earlier, I was so embarrassed that I thought I was going to die. I was relieved that I was able to fool even …… that I had gotten lost and was sleeping and even hungry.

I’ll have to be careful not to make that sound again. I’m going to punch my stomach.

Then, Ito-kun and I went down a road-like path.

Sometimes Ito-kun was overly concerned about my footing, sometimes he would gently hold out his hand to me, and sometimes he would change paths as if he sensed …… something.

When I wondered about this, something similar soon came again.

“Kurase! Over here.”

“Kyaa!?”

This time, he suddenly pulled me by the arm and hugged me.

W-What? Eh, What does this mean?

It was so sudden that my head couldn’t catch up. Oh, Ito-kun, you smell nice.

“M-My bad. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, it’s kind of calming.”

“……?”

“I-it’s nothing! What’s wrong?”

“Oh, yeah. The footing was bad over there.”

“I-I see. Thanks.”

Come to think of it, he helped me before I got separated from everyone else, just like before. It seems that Ito-kun is more capable of crisis management than anyone else.

Was it muddy again? I thought so and looked at my feet as I was told, but I did not see any muddy spots. There was nothing strange about it.

“……?”

At that time.

“Hou. I heard you were lost, but you seem to be having a lot of fun.”

Kirihara-sensei’s voice came from the front.