CH 15

“Do you like books, Shimizu-san?”

As they walked along the hiking course, Takayuki was talking to Shimizu-san in a natural manner, as if he was talking to a friend from before.

“Huh? What, why?”

However, when Shimizu-san was suddenly asked such a question by Takayuki, he was blatantly confused.

“No, you see, you always read in class, right?”

“Umm, yeah……. You know that huh…….”

“Yeah, well, we’re classmates!”

Perhaps embarrassed by the fact that she was being watched in her normal state, Shimizu-san looked down with her cheeks slightly reddened.

However, Takayuki didn’t care about Shimizu-san’s condition at all and smiled, “Next time, let me know what book you recommend!” He smiled.

I still haven’t even been able to have a proper conversation with Shimizu-san, but Takayuki’s ability to get along with everyone without distinction has always been one of the things I really admire about him.

As I walked along, watching their conversation from a step back, Saegusa-san, who was walking next to Shimizu-san, gradually slowed down her pace and walked right alongside me.

Both Shimizu-san and Takayuki, who were right beside me, didn’t seem to notice Saegusa-san, who naturally moved next to me as if she were disappearing from the scene.

–The theory that Saegusa-san was actually a ninja arose in my mind.

Saegusa-san came up next to me, smiled but did not meet my eyes, and said awkwardly, “Hey, hey!”

“The weather is nice today!”

“Yes, it is.”

“It’s a good day for hiking!”

“Yes, it is.”

“The shade of the tree feels good!”

“Yes, it is.”

“……”

Saegusa-san spoke to me in rapid succession, but I didn’t know what to say due to my nervousness and lack of material to talk about, so I just replied, “Yes, it is.”

As a result, Saegusa-san suddenly stopped.

Thinking it was a bad idea, I looked back at Saegusa-san who had stopped.

And there she was, her cheeks puffed out like a hamster’s, her hands clasped in a goo, looking blatantly disgruntled as she stopped.

“What’s wrong, Saegusa-san?

“……”

I tried to call out to her, but she remained silent and puffy, refusing to move.

Hmmm? What should I do in such a case?

For now, what is clear is that this situation is very bad and must be resolved quickly.

This is because, when I looked around, I saw people from other groups looking at me to see what was going on.

Shiorin, the super idol, was staring at me, puffed up, as if to say, “What did he do to her?” I could not help but wonder too.

This was not good.

I had to solve this situation as soon as possible.

So I thought, Let it happen! I grabbed Saegusa’s arm and started walking fast, pulling her arm to get away from this situation.

However, I immediately realized that I had made a terrible mistake.

—It’s worse to be walking while pulling Saegusa’s arm, isn’t it?

I looked ahead and saw Takayuki and Shimizu-san, who had noticed us stopping.

And their expressions showed a strong hint of surprise.

Giving up in the face of their expressions, I quickly let go of Saegusa’s arm and said, “Sorry! Saegusa-san!” I apologized and turned around.

I had no choice but to apologize, wondering what I had been doing by myself earlier.

However, when I turned around, Saegusa-san, who I thought was angry, was not angry.

Instead, there was Saegusa-san looking down in embarrassment with her face bright red for some reason.

“Oh, um, …….”

“Ha! Huh? Oh, I’m sorry! We should go!”

When I said this to her, she looked shocked and started walking again with an embarrassed smile on her face as if nothing had happened.

I was relieved to hear that she was not angry.

I regained my composure and started to walk along with Saegusa-san.

Then, Saegusa-san came to stand next to me again.

And then.

She whispered in my ear,

“I don’t like it if you don’t talk to me properly next time, okay?”

When she whispered this in my ear, I saw a devilish expression on her face as she stuck out her tongue in a mischievous way, and it was foully cute.

After walking for a while, we arrived at a square in the mountains, the destination of our hiking course.

“Okay, The first team that arrives will be free until 1:30 p.m. I want each group to have lunch by then, okay?

“””Yes.”””

Thus, it was finally time for lunch.

“Shall we eat around here?”

“Yes, ……. No, …….”

I was about to take Takayuki’s suggestion, but immediately stopped myself.

The reason is because I noticed that the other class members were watching us closely, as if they were trying to eat their lunch near our group.

It’s okay to have them eat around you, but the question is whether or not Saegusa-san will accept it.

When I looked at Saegusa, she looked a little tired of being surrounded by people even though she had come on such an excursion.

Seeing Saegusa, I looked at Takayuki and Shimizu, and we nodded at each other and started walking.

Saegusa-san follows us, looking unsure of what we’re doing.

Then, when we were some distance away from them, I grabbed Saegusa’s arm again.

“What? What!?”

I smiled and called out to Saegusa-san, who was surprised to be suddenly grabbed by the arm again.

“Saegusa-san! I’m going for a run!”

Then we ran off at a run towards the back of the square.

The rest of the group, caught off guard by us, hurriedly tried to run after us, but as soon as they realized that would mean they were blatantly following us, they gave up and stopped.

“All right! You got it!”

“Whoo, yeah!”

“Oh my God! You all start running so fast, you scared me!”

“Sorry, Shion-chan.”

When there was no one around, we stopped, a little out of breath.

And then the four of us laughed together as if we were blowing up, because such a situation suddenly became kind of funny.

“Okay! Let’s get some lunch!”

“How about the shadow of that big tree?”

Oh, that’s nice!

So we decided to eat our lunches together in the shade of a big tree, away from everyone else.