CH 70

December 19th, Saturday.

Time passed swiftly, and the new year was approaching in less than two weeks. As for winter vacation, it’s just around the corner.

And today, as always, I’m here in Sakuramiya-sensei’s room… but I had a different look on my face than usual.

“Are you okay? Are you feeling unwell, by any chance?”

Sakuramiya-sensei is worried about my unusual behavior.

I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and composed myself while remaining seated on the cushion and facing Sakuramiya-sensei.

“Umm…”

“What is it?”

“Is… Is your schedule open for Christmas Eve, Sensei?”

Trying to hide my nervousness, I ask about her plans for Christmas. Suddenly, Sakuramiya-sensei also became nervous. She blushed and was fidgeting lightly, clearly showing that she was nervous.

“Uh, yes! It’s open!”

“Then… would you like to go to this?”

In fact, I hesitated whether or not to give her this.

After much deliberation, it took me a while to arrange the appointment.

“Illumination?”

“Yes. Well, it was a gift from someone… but if you’re interested, would you like to go with me?”

I scratched my right cheek with my finger.

It may be the first time I’ve invited Sakuramiya-sensei to something or more specifically a date.

Maybe that’s why I’m so nervous.

I haven’t been able to look her in the eye properly since earlier.

“I’m… happy, but…”

“But?”

“No… It’s impossible. If someone sees us, we won’t be able to make an excuse. Especially on Christmas…”

“I’ve been thinking… maybe we can use that to our advantage?”

“What do you mean?”

Sakuramiya-sensei turned her innocent eyes towards me.

She tilted her head to the side, while looking completely puzzled.

“On Christmas eve, we will go to see the illumination. With this combination, almost all of the couples will be there.”

“I think so too…”

“Then, there should be fewer people who are overly concerned about their surroundings, and the population density should be high. In that situation, doesn’t the likelihood of being discovered by someone we know seem rare?”

“Indeed… It might be true?”

“Moreover, even if it’s a nearby amusement park, there’s still some distance from our high-school area.”

“But there is still risk, isn’t there?”

“Yes. That’s where this comes in.”

Saying that, I took something out of my backpack.

“A wig?”

What I took out was a long black wig. Sakuramiya-sensei has light chestnut-colored hair, so I chose a contrasting color.

“If you put this on and wear a hat over it, you can change your appearance quite a bit.”

“Can I try it on for a moment?”

Sure enough, she immediately began to put on the wig. Sakuramiya-sensei, who had now transformed into a long-haired woman with black hair, had a different charm than usual.

If she wore a hat over it, it would be difficult to notice that it was a wig at first glance.

“So, how does it look? Do I look good?”

“…It suits you so well that it’s scary.”

“Scary!?”

Sakuramiya-sensei opened her eyes wide and panicked.

If she speaks with more inflection like this, it’s recognizable as Sakuramiya-sensei, but if she’s still, she looks like a completely different person.

Her usual hair color is light, so the transformation with the black hair is quite significant… It could be said that this is what a Japanese woman should look like.

This cute teacher of mine seems like she could make even purple hair her own… isn’t her potential too high?

“In any case, I think there’s little chance that people will notice that you’re Sakuramiya-sensei right away with this. If they stare at you for a long time, it’s a different story though.”

“Minato-kun, are you going to wear a wig too?”

“No, in my case, if I put on a wig, it feels really awkward and I’ll probably attract attention in a weird way…”

“I think you would look good with blonde hair!”

“Please go to the ophthalmologist.”

[TL/N : Ophthalmologist is a specialist in the branch of medicine concerned with the study and treatment of disorders and diseases of the eye.]

I replied with a dull tone, with my eyes half-open.

Blonde hair doesn’t suit me. Just thinking about it makes me feel full. In the first place, I should avoid standing out with my hair color. Therefore, I will keep my black hair as it is.

However, that doesn’t mean I won’t change anything.

I searched through my backpack and took out something.

“Well, I’m not the type to stand out anyway, but with this… my impression will change quite a bit from usual, don’t you think?”

I put on my glasses with a snap.

I pushed the bridge of the glasses with my index finger from below to adjust its position.

“…..”

“Uh, um, well… It’s not that I want you to be quiet, but… I mean, even I think that glasses don’t suit me.”

“Ah, no, it’s not like that! It’s just that Minato-kun seems different from usual… It’s good in a way, it makes my heart skip a beat. I-it’s cool…”

“… You don’t have to say those things!”

I turned my gaze away and blushed, inexplicably fiddling with my glasses to distract herself.

“But… yeah. It might be difficult to notice Minato-kun at first glance.”

“I know, right?”

“But, did you always have glasses, Minato-kun? And this wig… it looks pretty nice. Was it expensive?”

“Oh, actually, I wear contact lenses. As for the glasses, I just have them in case… I never use them, though.”

“I see… I didn’t know that.”

Sakuramiya-sensei was surprised.

It wasn’t that I was hiding it, but there was never an opportunity to talk about it.

“But what about the wig? Minato-kun, do you have a cross-dressing habit or something?”

“What would you do if I did?”

“W-what should I do… enjoy cross-dressing together? No, in my case, I wouldn’t cross-dress, though.”

“You’re very open-minded. But don’t worry, I don’t have that kind of fetish.”

“So, did you buy it?”

“My aunt… well, Kaede and Shii-chan’s mother works in the beauty industry and brings back trial products to our house. I borrowed it from her.”

“I see… I didn’t know anything about it. I didn’t know you were wearing contacts either or about Kaede-chan’s mother’s work.”

Sakuramiya-sensei spoke hesitantly, sounding a little lonely.

“If you say that, I don’t know anything about you either, sensei.”

“Yeah, that’s right… Minato-kun, do you know about my eyesight?”

“Is it around 1.0?”

“Too bad, it’s actually 2.0.”

“Huh? Isn’t your eyesight too good?”

“Hehe, my eyes have been good since I was a child.”

Sakuramiya-sensei and I both have so many things we don’t know. But there are plenty of opportunities for us to learn from now on. Thinking like that made me feel more positive.

“Hey, Minato-kun.”

“What is it?”

“Can I ask you something to clear up my doubts?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“Why did you invite me to go out on Christmas? It’s true that the risk of being discovered is low if we disguise ourselves. There might also be fewer people paying attention on Christmas. But it just doesn’t seem like something you would do.”

She looked at me with a slightly worried expression, looking up at me with her eyes.

It’s only natural for me to think that it’s not like me to do something conservative like that. In fact, since I started dating Sakuramiya-sensei while avoiding being discovered, we haven’t been on a single date.

But the reason I invited her to go see the illuminations on Christmas was…

“I just thought that it was okay to indulge in Christmas a little bit without having to hold back my desires.”

It was my honest, unvarnished feeling.

I want to go on a date too. I’ve been suppressing that feeling. But I just wanted to enjoy myself on Christmas, even if it meant taking a risk.

“Oh… I see. So you’ve also been holding back your desires.”

“And I can’t show too much of an opening here.”

“What do you mean?”

“That’s a story for another time.”

If I just stayed at home on Christmas, it wouldn’t look good for me as someone who has a girlfriend.

At any rate, that’s how we came to decide to go on a date on Christmas Eve.