Chapter 1406 Reward (3)

The story Eguchi-sensei told me was quite straight to the point. Since it concerned her trait of being bad at dealing with the opposite gender, Eguchi-sensei didn't hold back at all while continuing to channel courage from me.

I attentively listened to all of it, digesting every word she uttered. In that way, I didn't need to raise more questions to her, preventing the prolongation of her recollection.

I summarized it in my head and picked out the most important parts of it.

As she said, she encountered a molester. And that encounter, no matter how short it was, traumatized her.

Yeah. She mentioned that it was certainly a traumatic experience. I don't know if I should put this up as a good thing but I guess it is. Apart from touching her, enough to almost slip his hands inside her clothes, nothing else happened.

It just so happened or perhaps too coincidental that the way I grabbed her earlier was exactly the same way the molester did it. Hence, she froze a lot and the memories of that time came flooding into her mind.

Fortunately, though, she still got a grip on the present that I'm the one with her and not that molester, Eguchi-sensei managed to hold herself back from pushing me away or entering a weakened state due to fear.

Apart from that, she admitted that that incident was only half of the reason why she eventually became too averse to men. When she asked me if I wanted to hear the other half, I instantly rejected it, telling her that it could wait for the next time.

If it's the same horrible experience, I shouldn't let her relive that in her memory after recalling that molester incident.

And now, a few minutes already after Eguchi-sensei asked me to continue holding her. With our hands still connected and our bodies as close as they could be, I used the moment of silence to convey my intention to continue being someone she could rest her back on.

Despite having no words exchanged between us, the two of us communicated through our eyes until the invisible tension disappeared.

When I finally saw her lips stretching into a beautiful smile, I put a hand on her cheek, moved my thumb to her lower lip, and candidly caressed it.

Although puzzled at first, the comfort it brought Eguchi-sensei allowed me to get away from it before completely resting her head on my left shoulder. By doing that, we could finally stop straining ourselves at finding the right angle to stare at each other.

"Say, Onoda-kun. Did I ruin your reward?" She eventually asked. It became her chosen words to break the silence between us.

Although the TV was still broadcasting the laughter of the audience as well as the goofy voices of the hosts of the noontime variety show, we had long stopped caring about it. We somehow managed to slip into our own world.

Anyway, that's a valid question. I'm supposed to be rewarded with a rather intimate hug from her but it was interrupted.

I have to say though… It's far from ruined. In fact, it actually became more than that.

And so, my answer started with a shake of my head, "Don't worry about it, sensei. I believe I received more than that. You told me something you never told anyone else. If I was expecting silver coins, you actually awarded me with a brimming chest filled with gold bars."

I might've exaggerated there because that made Eguchi-sensei laugh. I put on a silly smile that further improved the mood around us.

However, as soon as her laughter calmed down, I tightened my grip on her hand and put on the veil of seriousness.

"That aside, I have a request, sensei." I started.

"Request?" Eguchi-sensei probably had a hunch about what I was about to say because she quickly adapted to my change in countenance.

But that's fine. It's actually better that it didn't bring her confusion.

"Yes. It might be presumptuous of me but here it is. Can you allow me an attempt to…" I paused for a moment here, preparing myself for whatever reaction she'd show once I completed my sentence. A few seconds later, I lowered my head – reminiscent of a respectful bow – before continuing, "... to replace those unpleasant memories of yours?"

Right. I decided to use the same approach that I used on Shio, Satsuki, and Mina's unpleasant memories of the past, Making new memories to replace them.

But in this case, since she admitted that it's kind of a trauma for her, I had to be more forward about it.

Eguchi-sensei's first reaction to it was pursing her lips before tightly gripping onto my collar. Obviously, she understood what I meant about replacing her unpleasant memories. She has to prepare herself from receiving my touches…

"Onoda-kun… Are you sure?"

"Mhm… I am. Didn't I become your Student Assistant for this?"

That's right. The reason why I also became her assistant was to help her. This was just an extension of it.

Alright. I admit. It's also driven by my growing interest in her.

"T-that's…" Understanding that she couldn't really deny that, her words became a little broken as she opened and closed her mouth a few times with no words coming out of them.

Eventually, under my heated gaze as well as my hands that were busy giving her a sense of security, Eguchi-sensei dropped any thought of rejecting me.

"If Onoda-kun insists… then please do so."

"Thank you… But sensei, let's also count this as my reward. Is that okay? As the only student that could be this close to you, I feel really privileged, making me think that I might've been taking advantage of you. That's why…"

"I understand, Onoda-kun…" Pushing her pointer finger against my lips, Eguchi-sensei stopped me from continuing. "This won't just be your reward. It will also be mine."

Upon saying that, Eguchi-sensei's hand slipped away from my grasp but a second later, she guided my hand to grasp her navel; the same part that made her freeze earlier.

Although she grimaced and started shaking again, she pressed my hand deeper and held it steady there.

Really, she's just trying to make me feel better by claiming that it's also a reward for her.

But I better not point it out and properly deliver what I intended to do.

"Sensei, leave it to me. Also, please forgive me for doing this…"

As I said that, the other hand that was still caressing her cheek slid down to her chin, holding them tightly to prevent her from turning her head to the side.

And while my fingers started getting their grip on her body, I pushed in and pressed my lips on hers.

To replace an impactful memory such as that, the best thing to do is to create another impactful memory; such as… kissing her.