CH 58

“O-Oh, by the way, Sei-chan, you were surrounded by girls at the party earlier, but after the game, you were still amazing, weren’t you?”

I blatantly changed the subject, but it was the only way to keep my composure.

After that game, Sei-chan was being talked to like crazy not only by the girls in her class, but also by girls from the other classes.

She’s like an idol now.

Whenever Sei-chan spoke, the crowd cheered, “Kya!” and even words like, “Wave to me!” 

“Yeah, I’m flattered but I have no clue how to react to that.”

“Haha, I guess you were a bit troubled with that.”

Sei-chan who was chatting with the girls gave awkward smiles in return.

Well, that smile was fresh and cute too.

“Well, if you said that. Hisamura was also pretty popular with the girls.”

“Eh? Me?”

“Yes, even at the party earlier. You were surrounded by girls.”

“They were just girls who helped me when I was wandering around.”

To be honest, it was a great help that they picked me up when I ran away from where Yuichi and the others were.

But I’m pretty apologetic that I still can’t match their names with hir faces.

I remember they were called Sato-san, Ito-san, Goto-san and Kato-san though.

“During today’s match, before we fought, Me and Tojoin decided on a punishment game.”

“Hmm? Is that so?”

She suddenly changed the topic… What happened earlier?

“Ah, a simple punishment game where the loser does what the winner says. So the punishment Tojoin-san wanted when she won was to have me announce my relationship with you.”

“Eh? Why?”

The nature of the punishment made me voice a simple question, too.

I wonder why Tojoin-san decided to pick that punishment.

“For Tojoin-san, hiding the fact that we’re dating doesn’t make sense. She also said that it would be easier to flirt in public.”

“That’s pretty tempting.”

I couldn’t help but mutter that at the mention of flirting.

Then Sei-chan blushed a little on her cheeks and furrowed her brow as if she was thinking for a moment.

“Of course, I won, so that punishment is gone, but I’m willing to go public with it…… if Hisamura really wants to.”

“Ehh? Really?”

Sei-chan said it would be embarrassing to make it public, so we haven’t told anyone but our closest friends that we’re dating.

“It was my selfishness that originally made me not want to reveal it in the first place. And as Tojoin-san said, it’s certainly more beneficial to go public.”

“What are the advantages…”

“You know… flirting…”

It was cute of Sei-chan to say that so shyly, but she was in a serious mood now, so I decided not to make fun of her.

“By going public I could also keep everyone else at bay.”

She said apologetically, as if she was a little depressed all of a sudden.

“I see…”

This is probably the reason why Sei is unsure about her choice to go public.

It’s very surprising, but Sei-chan was actually jealous.

The way she looked at the girl who came up to me after the baseball game, and the way she seemed to be concerned about me talking to her at the party earlier.

To be honest, I’m insanely happy that she’s jealous.

I am so happy that I can grow wings and fly around and dance.

But it’s no good if the cost of that is making Sei-chan feel bad or anxious.

I’m insanely happy that Sei-chan is jealous of me, but my absolute priority is to stop her from feeling that way.

And I, of course, would be deathly jealous, or rather insecure, if I saw Sei-chan being courted by another boy.

That’s a problem we both need to resolve.

“You don’t want to announce it, do you, Sei-chan?”

“Yes, I do. The reason I don’t want to go public is partly because I’m embarrassed, but more… importantly, I’d rather keep it carefully tucked away and keep it… to myself rather than show it off to others.”

“!!”

W-What the heck is that?

Too happy and too cute…!

I didn’t think that Sei-chan thought that way about me.

When I was exclaiming in surprise and happiness, Sei-chan also huffed and her face turned red.

“O-Oh, no, I mean… That was a figure of speech. I-I don’t think of Hisamura as a belonging…”

“I-It’s alright Sei-chan. If this continues, we’ll both collapse.”

We’ll both die of embarrassment.

Both my face and Sei-chan’s were turning red, so I took a deep breath and calmed down.

I thought for a moment as I took some deep breaths.

I finally understand what Sei-chan feels about me.

Sei-chan cares about me, and I’m very, very happy about that.

That’s why she didn’t want to tell anyone else that we were dating, she wanted to keep me to herself.

I got more happy and embarrassed as I organized my thoughts.

Relax, don’t destroy yourself, me.

Sei-chan doesn’t want to tell anyone because she cares about you.

However, Sei-chan is surprisingly jealous, so when she sees me talking to other girls, she gets anxious.

I guess Sei-chan is suffering a little from that dilemma.

I have to get rid of it for Sei-chan’s sake.

I guess that’s simple to do.

“Sei-chan, I have a suggestion.”

“What is it?”

“It’s okay to go public but we don’t need to announce that we’re dating.”

“What do you mean…?”

“So I think it’s okay for me and Sei-chan to announce that we’re dating someone, but we don’t have to say who it is.”

I think what Sei-chan doesn’t like is that I’m being targeted by other girls.

I’m not sure if they were really aiming for me or not, but I guess that’s what it looks like from Sei-chan’s view.

I definitely wouldn’t like it if I saw Sei-chan being wooed by another boy either.

Then you can just tell others that they don’t have a chance anymore.

“If you let people know that you have a boyfriend or girlfriend, you feel a little more comfortable. If someone asks me who I’m dating, I’ll just tell them it’s a secret and that’s it.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

“And if you answer that it’s a secret we also get a bonus that it’s a secret between just the two of us which is kinda nice.”

I can’t really explain it, but I like the feeling of sharing a secret between two lovers, it’s like a treasure to me.

When I say that, Sei-chan’s eyes widen, and then her cheeks relax happily.

“Yes, it is. It’s very, very nice.”

“Well, some people know we’re together, so it’s not like it’s a complete secret between us.”

“Fufu, I guess it will be a secret between us, Shiho, Tojoin and Shigemoto too.”

Sei-chan showed a cute smile as she said that.

Yeah, I still like you better when you smile like that, Sei-chan.

As my cheeks slackened at the thought, Sei-chan smiled even more gently.

“Thank you, Tsukasa.”

“Nah, it’s no big de…Wait what?”

I stopped mid sentence.

When I stare at her with my eyes round, she laughs mischievously.

“Fufu, What’s wrong Tsukasa.”

“Eh, no, my name…”

“What about your name? Your name is Tsukasa, right?”

“That’s not fair Sei-chan.”

I couldn’t help but smile as Sei-chan did me in.

I didn’t expect to hear my name called here.

I can’t help but notice that my face was turning a little red.

“Fufu, I’ve always been on the receiving end of the attacks. It feels nice to retaliate for once.”

“I see. So does it mean it’s fun to be on the receiving end too, Sei-chan?”

“No! T-That’s not what I mean.” 

“What did you mean then?”

“Ku…!”

Sei-chan glared at me sharply, but her cheeks were red, so I wasn’t frightened.

It was rather cute, is all I can say.

I still love to see more of Sei-chan’s adorable reactions.

I don’t mind being done back, though.

Of course, I’m not going to tell that to Sei-chan.