CH 78

What Should I Give as a Gift?

Translated by HamletJr

Edited by HamletJr

“…Genghis Khan!”

………

“…Huh?”

In the morning, Ryuichi woke up with this inexplicable shout. He sat up, looked around, and muttered with a stunned expression on his face.

“…Why the hell did I shout ‘Genghis Khan?’”

He tilted his head in confusion as he muttered this question to himself. He didn’t know if he had been dreaming about something strange or if he had been asking for something, but he strongly remembered shouting that in his own voice very loudly.

“…Guess I’ll just get ready.”

In spite of the strange mood he’d gotten himself in first thing in the morning, Ryuichi got up and started getting ready. It was the middle of September, and while the hot weather would continue for a little while longer, things would turn cooler if they managed to hold out a little longer… and then, a cold winter would await them afterward.

“Man, that totally sucks.”

Ryuichi was a little depressed now, as he did not like either the hot or the cold.

“Also, the cultural festival’s comin’ up soon.”

The cultural festival was an event that came right after the sports festival. Each class in every grade prepared a variety of performances for this annual big event, and of course, Ryuichi intended to actively participate in the cultural festival as well following the sports festival.

“I’m pretty sure we’re doing a maid and butler cafe this year? Definitely better than the haunted house and cafe thing we did last year.”

Of course, Ryuichi did not participate in last year’s cultural festival, but when he was a first year, his class put on an exhibit that made no sense at all: a hybrid between a cafe and a haunted house.

It had been surprisingly well received though, and Ryuichi was secretly hoping that other classes would come up with some outlandish events this year as well.

A few moments later, Ryuichi met up with Shizuna.

“…Oh, right.”

“What’s wrong?”

Actually, Ryuichi had occurred upon a thought related to Shizuna. Namely, about how he’d been whining to her and the other girls a little bit more often these days.

“I was just thinking how it feels like I’ve been saying lots of things that make you worry for me lately.”

“I don’t think that’s true, though?”

“I knew you’d say that.”

He chuckled and placed his hand on her head. He stroked it a little roughly and then gently combed it to fix her messy hair.

“I think it’s because I’ve been spoiled by all the time I spent with you and the other girls. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, and well… I don’t think I’ll be stopping anytime soon.”

“Mmm.”

“But, I think I ought to fire myself up a bit more.”

And with that, he slapped his cheeks with both his hands. It seemed he’d used a little too much force though, as his cheeks turned red, but that pain too would serve to boost Ryuichi’s new resolve.

“…You know, you’re kind of like a tiger who’s had its fangs removed, and I think that’s adorable.”

“The heck is up with that fancy simile…”

“Stop it, stop it,” Ryuichi said as he shook his head. Shizuna giggled at this and muttered, “I wasn’t lying, though,” in a truly regrettable voice.

“I love a strong and aggressive Ryuichi-kun, and I really like it when you force yourself on me, but I also love it when you show your weak side, and I love your cute parts, too. So, please show me your weak side regularly, okay?”

“If I feel like it,” came Ryuichi’s reply.

…Actually, Shizuna aside, all the other girls are older than me. Geez, I really have to be careful or else I’m gonna get spoiled to death.

Although his life as it was now had a certain charm to it, Ryuichi still wanted to be strong. He encouraged himself to never lose heart, never let his feelings get down, and to always be strong and dignified no matter what happened.

“…Wow.”

“My, how diligent.”

When they arrived at school, the first thing they noticed was the student council doing a greeting campaign. Among them was Shinjo, who had been assigned to the school as a trainee teacher, and was apparently trying to engage with the students in a variety of lively ways.

“G-Good morning, Shishido-kun, Rindo-san!”

“Yo.”

“Good morning.”

After exchanging greetings, Shizuna and Ryuichi entered the school building. As mentioned earlier, the school festival was coming up soon, so school hours were now being used for each class to plan their exhibit. It was a dynamic unique to this time of the year.

“We’ll be doing a butler and maid cafe for the festival. Is everyone fine with that?”

“Yep~.”

“Too lazy to think of anything else, anyways.”

“I’ll be able to see the girls in maid uniforms, so I’m all for it!!”

“The boys in butler uniforms, huh… Meh.”

“Why?! Isn’t this where you’re supposed to say you’re interested?!”

“You should look at your own face before you say that.”

“………”

“So mean.”

Amidst all the giggling and laughter, Ryuichi was still alone with his thoughts. It wasn’t a bad thing that the class was getting rowdy in a good way like this; even Ryuichi chuckled at the way things were progressing. Even though it was too late for it now, the thought occurred to him once more about how dumb he had been in the past for not participating in this since he’d seen it as something useless.

“Even those two look eager.”

Makoto and Kaname seemed enthusiastic as well and were even actively participating in the discussions. Ryuichi had also been a driving factor behind their change, but unfortunately, Ryuichi wasn’t aware of that at all. 

The class had already reached a decision on the important matters, so all that was left was to relax and get ready for the big day.

“Man, that discussion went really smoothly.”

“Yeah. Well, I don’t know how it was last year, though.”

“…Oh, right. You didn’t participate last year, huh, Shishido.”

It was now lunchtime and Ryuichi was on his way back from the restroom with Sohei, both having already finished their lunch. Ryuichi could tell from what he just said that he also knew about last year’s Ryuichi, and he gave a wry smile.

“Oh, and speaking of which, it’s almost time, huh?”

“Time for what?”

“Shizuna’s birthday.”

“…Heh?”

Ryuichi’s mouth dropped open. In all honesty, he had never paid any attention to Shizuna’s birthday. In fact, he had not been aware of it at all, to the point where he wondered to himself why he had never asked her about it until now. That said, however, he did remember from the manga that her birthday was on October 10.

How am I so retarded, remembering her birthday at this point in time…

Well, in a way, it wasn’t surprising, because he’d never celebrated nor had his own birthday celebrated before. At best, Chisa would take him out somewhere when his birthday came.

…I see. So that was Chisa’s way of being considerate to me.

Ryuichi was reminded once more that she really cared about him from the moment they met. Now, Ryuichi had to make a lot of preparations.

“Shishido? You look like you’re seriously worrying about something; what’s wrong?”

“Well… I was thinking about what I should give to Shizuna as a present.”

“Ah, I see.”

“This is a really serious problem, you know,” he said before sinking into thought. He was sure that she would probably be happy with whatever he gave her, and as long as he didn’t give her anything strange, she would be fine with it. Nevertheless, he did want to show off a little bit, and he wanted to give her something that she would be truly happy with.

“Well, think long and hard about it, Shishido.”

“…That kind of pisses me off. But yeah, I understand.”

Fortunately, thanks to his part-time job, he had a good amount of money at his disposal, so Ryuichi nodded his head and said he would take his time to think about it since he still had another month until her birthday. However, Shizuna’s birthday aside, he also wanted to give something to the other girls as a gift to thank them for always supporting him.

“You’re making a nice face right now, Shishido.”

“Hmm? I’ve always got a nice face, y’know?”

Ryuichi laughed, and Sohei gave a laugh as well. 

When Ryuichi returned to the classroom with Sohei, he found Shizuna sitting in his seat.

“Oh, you’re back, Ryuichi-kun.”

“Yep.”

Ryuichi sat down as if to take Shizuna’s place, who stood up now that Ryuichi had arrived. Just as she tried to borrow a chair from the adjacent desk, he grabbed hold of her arm.

“Come here.”

That was all he said before he pulled her body toward him. He hugged her, who settled nicely in his lap, and buried his face in her hair.

“…You smell nice.”

“Ryuichi-kun, we’re still in the classroom…”

“Doesn’t matter. You’ll be staying here for a while.”

“Fufu, you’re being so aggressive. ♪”

For the time being, Shizuna let Ryuichi do as he pleased to her. While Ryuichi was enjoying Shizuna’s touch with his whole body like this, an idea for a gift he could give her came to mind.

…Yeah, I think this should be good. It might be a little too early for it, though.

Something a little early to give right now—That was the kind of gift Ryuichi had in mind.