CH 39

After enjoying shopping at the mall, we moved straight to my apartment. It was still four o’clock in the evening. It was still 4:00 p.m., a little early to break up the party.

At the one-coin store, I bought a plastic bat and ball – and a soft ball the size of a soccer ball – in addition to the Frisbee and badminton that I had originally planned. Emepa has an athletic facility where we can play without tools, so we should have no trouble having fun.

Kohinata was walking next to me, holding my pinky finger so we wouldn’t stop and get separated, but for some reason she didn’t let go of my hand after we left the shopping center. Perhaps she didn’t think anything of it. I and Keiichi and the others did not point this out, but waited for Kohinata to notice it on her own.

She occasionally twitched as if she was tasting the touch of my fingers, but I don’t know why. “What’s wrong?” I asked, but she just shook her head. Whatever it is, it’s cute.

“Maybe someone at school saw you.”

I was totally involved in the situation, but I called out to Kohinata, who was putting her feet under the kotatsu, in a teasing tone of voice. As expected, Kohinata patted my knee in frustration and said, “Why didn’t you tell me?” Cute.

In the end, it was only when it was time to pay for the bus that I realized that Kohinata was still holding my pinky finger. What fun, she had been twitching my pinky all that time.

“Well, from the school guys’ point of view, it’s probably a little late for that. It’s probably well known that Tomoki and Kohinata are good friends. Don’t worry about it too much.”

Keiichi says this to me as he sets up his avatar in the maze of life. It’s the truth.

I’m a little embarrassed too, but I feel a lot better than when I’m getting a bad reputation. Even if someone with malicious intent tries to keep me and Kohinata apart, the student council is likely to take action. If the need arises, I must make good use of my “one loan”.

“That’s right… Ah, Asuka. Are we interrupting something? If you want to be alone with me, I’ll go somewhere with Karakusa kun”

Saejima puts her hand over her mouth and says with a smug look on her mouth

Of course she didn’t intend to do that, but it looks like she did a lot of damage to Kohinata. Her face was bright red and she was shaking with a pull.

I judged from Saejima’s expression that she was joking, so I decided to observe Kohinata.

“…………”

“Ugh, don’t stare at me like that.”

I can’t see Kohinata’s expression from me, but she seems to be giving Saejima a hard stare.

“…………”

“I-I’m just joking, okay? Asuka is even cuter than ever, so I just wanted to tease her.”

“…………”

“I’m sorry. ……”

Finally, Saejima bowed to Kohinata and apologized.

This is what you call silent pressure. …… Kohinata strong. I was surprised to see Keiichi and I looked at each other and laughed. What are you doing?

“Look, it’s Kohinata’s turn to set up. Neither Saejima nor Keiichi are leaving, so don’t worry.”

When I said that, Kohinata looked at me with a somewhat complicated expression, then turned her attention to the TV screen and began to operate the controller with a flicking motion.

She seemed dissatisfied with the fact that I was teasing her, but I guess I would be the one who would be annoyed if that actually happened.

There was only one reason: Kohinata was just too cute.

If I were to start playing with her alone, …… I’m afraid that the protective feelings I have for her would finally be converted into romantic feelings.

If I were to fall in love with her for real, I am thinking that Kohinata would be annoyed. In other words, it’s a situation where I’d be in trouble if the opposite gender, whom I’ve always considered a friend, suddenly confesses feelings. It would be enough of a trigger to break up our relationship.

Moreover, it seems that I am a kind of cure-all for Kohinata, and thanks to Kohinata, I myself am getting rid of my aversion to women. I want to be with her, but I don’t want to get too close to her.

“Tomoki, are you thinking something strange? Your eyebrows are wrinkled.”

While I was thinking about this with my eyes on the TV LCD, Keiichi was talking to me.

“……, it’s nothing.”

“You don’t look like it’s nothing.”

“It’s just your imagination.”

“Well,……, I’m always available for consultation~,”

“Yes, yes. Thank you very much.”

☆ ☆　☆　☆　☆

After we broke up a little after 7 p.m., I finished dinner and a bath and lay in bed. Incidentally, Keiichi and I had dropped off Saejima and Kohinata, respectively, at their homes.

“Hands, I was unconscious.”

I was about to turn off the light in my room when I received such a chat from Kohinata. Maybe she was embarrassed to say it on the way home.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s not that I didn’t like it.”

After the chat, a stamp of a rabbit nodding its head is sent. I’ve seen this rabbit many times and it still looks like a kohinata.

While I was thinking about how to reply to the message, Kohinata sent me another chat.

“I like Sugino’s hand because it calms me down.”

………… I almost stopped thinking.

I’m sure Kohinata’s – she doesn’t think about the possibility that the other person might misunderstand her or anything like that.

To Kohinata, she probably just said what she thought. And I am sure the reason she thought that has to do with what she said before about me being ‘like a dad.

I am very honored and happy to hear that, but I couldn’t help but pull a face when I saw that sentence.

It may be a harder mission than I thought to remain friends with Kohinata without romantic feelings. If Keiichi and Saejima had not been with me, there is a good chance that I would have already fallen.

What if this means that Kohinata and I have more opportunities to spend time together …… I’m not confident that I can properly control my emotions.