CH 20

Pastel-colored furniture, cute accessories, and cardboard boxes lying on the floor.

In Himeko’s room, the Kirishima siblings have been on the warpath since morning.

“Wake up, Himeko, wake up! I said get up! It’s already past eight o’clock!”

“Ngh~, cold shabu-shabu salad udon…”

“All right, I’ll make it tonight, so wake up!!”

“Sesame sauce~.”

“Himeko!”

Himeko sometimes oversleeps a lot.

When that happens, Hayato is always the one to wake her up, but today she was extremely stubborn.

She didn’t show any signs of waking up, even when he called out to her and shook her, and finally woke up with a “fugyaa~!” when he slammed the whole futon on the ground.

After that, the two of them got ready in a panic and ran out of the house together like bullets.

“My hair is all messed up! I’m so hungry! I’ve been sweating all morning!”

“That’s! What I told you! Go to bed early last night!”

“B-but!!”

The reason was Himeko’s late sleeping tendencies.

Hayato had urged her to go to bed early several times, but the sound of the phone ringing from the next room did not cease until midnight. It was completely Himeko’s own fault.

(Damn it, next time I’ll put fresh tomatoes in our dinner and force her to eat them!)

Hayato vowed to get revenge by at least serving Himeko something she didn’t like for dinner.

◇◇◇

Hayato ran into the classroom just before the school bell rang.

“Hey, Kirishima. Did you oversleep?”

“It’s not me, it’s my little sister, Mori.”

“Oh, you have a sister? How old is she?”

“One year younger. She’s in third grade… What’s that?”

“Hmm, that’s hard to explain.”

Hayato and Mori were looking at a scene where their classmates were visiting a girl like a pilgrimage.

Haruki was the subject of the visit, and her face was tinged with a hint of melancholy. Everyone was calling out to her in turn, looking concerned.

“Nikaido-san, are you okay?”

“Tell us if there’s anything wrong, okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine. I just had a hard time sleeping last night…”

However, even though Haruki responded with a quiet smile, her swollen eyes made her look like she was having a hard time, but she was acting tough, which made the people around her anxious.

(…That girl!)

However, from Hayato’s point of view, it was only because of the late night conversation with Himeko. He couldn’t help but put his hand over his brow.

“…Ah.”

At that moment, Haruki’s phone unexpectedly announced a notification. As soon as she noticed it, she fidgeted to read the message and let out a chuckle, which had enough destructive power to shake the people around her.

“She couldn’t sleep last night… But she looks so happy right now… No way!”

“Wait, paradoxically, wouldn’t it be more unnatural if he hadn’t been there before?”

“The new student… Where’s Kirishima? Hang him! If the phone shows up, he’s guilty!”

Some of the boys, in particular, even started to kill, and formed a clique to pursue the truth from Hayato.

“…Ah.”

Finally, Haruki realized how her words and actions were creating misunderstandings around her. Her eyes met with Hayato’s, her willow eyebrows forming a mountain between her eyes.

“(W-What should do I do?)”

“(…Good grief, you owe me this one!)”

Hayato looked at Haruki, who gave a small nod, let out a loud and deliberate sigh, and went to his seat.

“Good morning, Nikaido. You’re looking pretty happy, did you get a girlfriend?”

“G-Girlfriend!? No, that’s not it, though… it’s just, Kirishima-kun…?”

“No, you see, you seem to be so happy about your first girlfriend… It’s like meeting someone you’ve been waiting for, or rather, someone you’ve missed.”

“Ermm…”

Haruki was taken aback by the sudden turn of events. The people around her looked at Haruki with bated breath and paid attention to her as if they wanted to know what she was talking about.

Hayato looked at Haruki and closed one eye meaningfully. After a few moments of staring at each other, Haruki understood Hayato’s intentions and smiled and showed him the screen of her phone.

“Yes, that’s right! Here it is― isn’t she cute? We haven’t seen each other since we were kids, and last night we had a great time reminiscing…”

“Oh, yeah, she’s cute, huh? That girl.”

It was a picture of the two of them taken last night when they were at Hayato’s house. At that time, Himeko was wearing a date outfit and makeup that she had put a lot of effort into to go to the convenience store. The picture didn’t look too bad, and even if you discounted the favoritism of Hayato’s relatives, she was still a very pretty girl.

That’s because of the positive comments coming from next to and behind Hayato: “Oh, she’s cute,” “You guys get along well,” “What school is she from?”. Apparently, Himeko’s appearance is highly regarded by the public.

The people around them became more interested in Himeko, and before they realized it, the disquieting atmosphere around Haruki faded away, and right after that, came the “Shut up and take your seats.” from the homeroom teacher.

While taking attendance, Haruki, sitting next to him, moved her lips toward Hayato.

“(Thank you.)”

If one would look closely at her face, they could see dark circles under her eyes, although she is smiling. It’s a sign of last night’s late-night exchange.

―Ah.

He was going to say something. “Idiot”, or somewhere along the lines of that.

―But then he suddenly remembered Haruki’s house in the dark without lights last night― and he couldn’t say anything. It was unacceptable. Because of that, he didn’t know why his heart ached.

“(…In moderation.)”

And then he only replied softly.

Haruki laughed back, feeling awkward and embarrassed.

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