CH 27

The area near the student guidance office was unaffected by the cultural festival and there were no signs of people. But just in case for reassurance I checked my vicinity and when I noticed there was no one other than me, I opened the gate to enter the room.

“Ah, Segawa-kun!”

When I entered the room and saw Sakuramiya-sensei, who was already sitting on a chair with a gloomy face, broke into a smile upon seeing my arrival.

I sat down on the seat opposite to her and immediately began our talk.

Ah, well, if you’re referring to my confession earlier, that was…”

“I know, I know. You helped me there, didn’t you? Thank you.”

The ends of her mouth relaxed and she smiled cheerfully.

She is beautiful after all. And when she honestly thanked me, I was a little shocked.

“I am so grateful for your help. But, are you okay? You did something bold out there. Segawa-kun, if I remember you don’t like to garner unwanted attention right?”

She asked me worriedly with evident anxiety filled in her eyes.

I scratched my cheek with my index finger embarrassedly.

“Well, I’m not afraid of it. I’m sure they will tease me about this incident for a while. But that’s all.”

“Then why did you help me?”

“Why do you think so?”

I could have answered honestly, but I decided to be a little mean-spirited. It looks like she doesn’t know that her father had visited the cultural festival without telling her.

“Eh, well… Maybe because you really like me?”

Sakuramiya responded shyly with an embarrassed expression adorning her face.

I was staring at her with my eyes only half-open.

“No, that’s not true at all,”

“Haha, that’s right…”

“Well, I met Sakuramiya-sensei’s father; Soji-san. And we met each other at a really wrong place and time.

I then told her the whole story of how I met Soji-san.

“—Well, that’s how it happened, and I had no choice but to do it.”

“I see, my father came here huh… It looks like I caused you more trouble. I’m really sorry for that Segawa-kun.”

Sakuramiya-sensei bowed while apologizing to me. I shook my head in response as it was not her fault.

“You don’t have to apologize for it.”

The flow of my confession to Sakuramiya-sensei at the beauty pageant contest was because of the strange advice I gave to her. Looking back, I should have expected it.

“But… Ah, that’s right. Do you want me to do anything for you? If it is something I’ll be able to do then you can ask for anything.”

Seriously… Anything?!!

I wonder if she learned the basic compulsory education that she should not say these types of things to men.

In her perspective I may be a child, but that doesn’t give her the right to say things like that. Nonetheless, it is still annoying that she isn’t vigilant at all in front of me.

“You shouldn’t casually ask a guy for anything, they can make weird requests.”

“Are you going to ask me to do something that you can’t tell anyone? Segawa-kun.”

“No, I won’t. It’s just a word of advice, you should be more careful of your words.”

“Oh, so that’s what you mean…”

Wait, why does she look a little disappointed?

It would be bad if I seriously ask her to something erotic. Worst case scenario, she might hand me over to the police for being a sexual offender.”

“Ah, you know, Segawa-kun.”

“What is it?”

“Well, I was wondering if I might be…”

Sakuramiya-sensei blushed to her ears and her eyes were darting all over the place. Her hands which were on the desk were fidgeting and she was also occasionally rubbing her toes. She wanted to say something, but no words came out of her mouth.

After waiting for a while, she shook her head as she didn’t find the courage to say it and changed the topic of our conversation.

“No, it’s nothing.”

“… Is that so?”

What was she trying to say? It is something that bothers me, but I can’t force her to say it.

Sakuramiya-sensei took some deep breaths to calm her mind down, and she pulled her hands together and clasped them.

“Do you remember our promise?”

“Promise? Which one?”

“You know, the one where you said you’d let me see Shi-chan after the beauty contest.”

“Ah, you did mention something like that.”

“Mmm. Don’t forget. I was looking forward to it.”

“Then when do you want to meet her? I’ll make the meeting as per your schedule.”

“Thank you. Then, let’s see…”

Sakuramiya-sensei opens her smartphone and checks her schedule. Shi-chan and I are mostly free on the weekends, so we don’t really have any problems.”

“Then, can we do it this Saturday?

“I also checked my calendar and It was as usual; blank.

“No problem.”

“I’ll message you about the details for the meeting later.”

“Ok, got it.”

I nodded my head and made a note on the smartphone’s calendar so that I won’t forget about it.”

“The Cultural festival is about to end. Will Segawa-kun attend the after party?”

“No, I won’t. It’s troublesome and I also have to clear off a misunderstanding with Kaede,”

“I see.”

After our talk was over, I left the student guidance room. When I returned to the classroom to pick up my back, I immediately caught the attention of my classmates. It looks like the confession incident has already spreaded all over the school.

However, unlike the teasing atmosphere, I received words of gratitude and praise such as, “Don’t give up.”, “Don’t be discouraged.” and “I respect your courage.”

I was a little uncomfortable to see how they would react after I had confessed my feelings to Sakuramiya-sensei, but I was relieved to see the warm atmosphere among my classmates. At this rate, I’m sure this incident will soon die down. Even if someone were to make a story out of it, it would probably be at a class reunion or something.

And so this year’s cultural festival came to an end.