Chapter 1300 It's Just A Hug

I kind of expected that Hana would ask to come with me. That’s why rather than continue our high-key interaction ever since she arrived in our class this morning, I escaped by pinning her to Chii whose eagerness to bring her to our side outweighed the sense of rivalry she’s carrying.

Besides, knowing those two, I was positive that, if anything, Chii’s clumsiness wouldn’t be a hindrance and Hana’s angelic mask would just fall out, revealing her true face to the girl.

I left some advice to her but whether or not she was going to follow that, I had no idea. I even mentioned earlier that I was now different from the Ruki she envied. Yet, while she stopped approaching me for the rest of the class, she never showed hints that she was already giving or she had a change of heart.

Perhaps, she’s not only holding onto the past that we shared. There’s more to it that she hadn’t revealed yet.

Anyway, who’s to say that Hana discarded the few days that the three of them shared together? From the few times I brought up Hifumi and Chii to her during those emailing sessions and messaging each other, she’s just always running away from the topic.

Hopefully, Chii could find success today. I guess I’ll have to check on them later.

Upon arriving at the Club Building, Aya’s mentor, Otsuka-senpai was already waiting right at the entrance.

As soon as that long-haired senior saw me arriving with Aya, her large purple eyes instantly twinkled like the stars in the night sky. Her excitement to see me suddenly jumped through the roofs.

With a huge grin plastered on her lips, Otsuka-senpai seemingly entered a state of having an adrenaline rush. Her slender feet carried her, closing the distance between us in less than a few seconds.

Noticing the girl’s intention, I reflexively put Aya behind me before planting my feet on the ground to receive her.

However, instead of welcoming her in my embrace like I usually did with my girls and Misaki, I grabbed both of her wrists, stopping her forward momentum.

“Boo! Why did you stop me, Onoda-kun?” Otsuka-senpai pouted her lips, acting upset.

“Senpai, I don’t know what has gotten to you but… We’re in public, you know? Don’t you care about your image?”

Or so, I said. But I was aware that this girl didn’t really care about it. In her case, what we see is what we get. The only distinction between the Otsuka-senpai that I know and the Otsuka-senpai that the public knows is that girl’s interest in sex. Other than that, she’s the quirky and energetic girl that nobody will even think of hating. Ah. She could annoy the hell out of someone though. Especially when her curiosity failed to be sated.

“Eh… It’s just a hug. Besides, Ayase-chan won’t mind it. Am I right?”

“Uhm… I won’t. But Karen-senpai, tell Ruki first. Not like that.” Answering that, Aya peeked from behind me, shook her head, and corrected the girl’s notion.

Yeah. Otsuka-senpai getting close to me was something Aya already accepted. And since the two of them had been a Mentor and Mentee for more than a month now, the curious girl had already become one of Aya’s close friends along with Wakaba and Kashiwagi.

For sure, it’s not just once or twice that I became their topic. Sometimes, Aya would also tell me about the fascinating conversations she had with Otsuka-senpai. But more than that, she’s also strangely interested in the girl’s quirk of being too easily taken in by her curiosity. She even mentioned how she’s like a character in a story she read before.

Accepting Aya’s words, Otsuka-senpai nodded a few times before facing me again. The twinkle in her eyes never disappeared and in fact, it shined even brighter as she took another step forward.

“Then, Onoda-kun, let me hug you. Can I get a hug from you? I miss it.”

Sure enough, there’s no backing down in this girl’s dictionary. She might keep on denying it but Otsuka-senpai was definitely gradually leaning forward to liking me. Not just an outlet to satisfy her curiosity but in a romantic sense. She’s just not aware of it or she’s in denial.

Anyway, rejecting was an option but to quickly move on from this, I let go of the girl’s wrist and let her cross the remaining distance.

Like the last time, she leaned in closely, enough for me to feel the softness of her whole body. To fully satisfy her, I put my arms around her, returning them.

A few seconds later, Otsuka-senpai stepped back, satisfaction brimming on her face. She then glanced up and whispered as if to assure me, “Don’t worry, Onoda-kun. This isn’t my curiosity acting up. I won’t demand more from you.”

“That’s good to hear. I won’t need to remind you, right?”

Even without pointing it out, Otsuka-senpai understood what I meant by it.

“Un. I’ll immediately contact you if ever… my curiosity to do more with you passed a certain threshold.”

“That sounded a little odd. You can measure it?

“Un. Call it a skill I developed after getting entangled with you.” Like flaunting some kind of special skill, Otsuka-senpai did a cutesy pose that made even Aya giggle. Following that, she closed in once again, and with a hint of embarrassment, she whispered once again, “By the way, I won’t settle with just seeing it next time… Previously, we stopped before I could touch it so… that might be what will be needed to calm it down. Or maybe more. For example, letting you see me in the same state.”

Otsuka-senpai’s face reddened with shame before she carefully peeked at Aya. Most likely, she’s checking if the girl heard her whispers.

Luckily for her, it’s low enough for her voice to be heard by the girl.

“Alright. Let’s stop this conversation before your curiosity meter breaks from our topic. Please take care of Aya, senpai.”

“Hehe. You’re right. It just went up a few levels. My imagination ran wild there.” With a silly smile on her lips, Otsuka-senpai lightly hit her head and did a klutzy pose.

Seeing that, Aya tilted her head, wondering what happened. She didn’t get the chance to ask though. Otsuka-senpai stepped away from me and grabbed Aya’s hand to continue to their destination.

I waved my hand to Aya and escorted them with my eyes until they disappeared to the second floor of the Club Building.

At this point, students had already started streaming from outside so… I also stopped standing there and went to my destination.

Unlike Otsuka-senpai, Arisa or Izumi-senpai had yet to arrive when I entered the abandoned clubroom.

That’s why the same as before, I took my seat and fiddled with my phone while waiting for whoever was going to show up.

Entering the messaging application, I checked our class’s group chat once again and sure enough, their topic was still about me and Hana.

There’s this one particular message that caught my attention…

“Uh. I think it’s possible that Onoda-kun was not joking with his confession before. Not counting his closeness to Rindou, what Andou did earlier was an eye-opener. Can you imagine the courage needed to kiss someone in public? She’s already in love with him. Then there’s also Mori and the transfer student…”

Looking at the name of the sender, it’s none other than Shimura. As for the replies sent by the other participants on that topic, they all partly agree with it but no one claimed that it was correct. Either they didn’t want to get ahead of themselves or they still had some reservations.

They still needed more evidence that I’m serious about all of them before it settled on their mind.

In any case, that’s a positive outlook for me. Maybe there’s a chance for them to just accept that I’m dating everyone without thinking that it’s outrageous.

Yeah, that's wishful thinking.