CH 74

“I have a gift for you.”

When I opened the small box, there was a silver ring inside.

It was a sufficiently valuable item by student standards, but perhaps not as much by those of a working adult.

Still… after much consideration, I settled on this gift.

Sakuramiya-sensei’s eyes widened as she caught a glimpse of the ring.

“…Eh, a ring…!?”

“Yes. I asked around at various shops and finally decided on this one. Will you accept it?”

“… uhh… of course…”

Sakuramiya-sensei blushed so deeply it seemed steam might rise from her face. She looked away from my gaze and down towards the floor. Her voice was so quiet it seemed like it might disappear altogether, but I heard her clearly nonetheless. I took the ring out of the box.

“May I put it on you?”

“Ah… ah, sure.”

Sakuramiya-sensei seemed visibly shaken and taken aback. Perhaps it was because she was more nervous than I was, but my own nervousness had dissipated entirely by this point.

I gently lifted her left hand and slipped the ring onto her ring finger.

“Huh, it’s a bit big…”

“What is it, Minato-kun?”

“Sorry, maybe the size is too big…”

“Um, is this the right finger to wear it on?”

I was corrected on the placement of the ring.

But I hadn’t intended to make a mistake.

“I didn’t mean to put it in the wrong place…”

“Huh? B-because it’s a ring… isn’t that like…marriage…?”

“What?!”

“Huh?!”

I was stunned, my mouth wide open in disbelief. Sakuramiya-sensei’s expression mirrored my own.

After a few moments of silence, I realized that we had created an incredible misunderstanding, and I began to explain myself.

“T-that’s not it! It’s just a gift…it doesn’t mean ‘please marry me’ or anything like that!”

“Really? If you get a ring as a gift from your lover, isn’t that equivalent to marriage?”

“That’s too much of a leap! Rings are often given as gifts between couples!”

“Is that so? Wow, being in a relationship is amazing!”

“Yes! Being in a relationship is amazing!”

“Then… you should have told me that earlier!”

“I didn’t think it would cause a misunderstanding!”

“You’re underestimating my lack of romance skills! You should have told me clearly, or I’ll just misunderstand!”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t use enough words. Wait, then what did you mean when you said ‘of course’ earlier?”

“Um… let’s not bring that up again! You’re just making fun of me for being a weird girl!”

“…..”

“I think it’s unfair for you to stay silent like that… I’m sorry. I’m bad at reading between the lines, and I don’t know anything about love…”

“No, it’s me who should apologize. I’m sorry.”

As I became aware of it, despite it being Christmas Eve, we found ourselves in a situation where we were both apologizing profusely with our mouths full.

Both Sakuramiya-sensei and I were blushing furiously. It was unbearable.

Suddenly, I noticed that a silver ring on Sakuramiya-sensei’s index finger looked like it was about to come off.

It seems that there was an error in the size information provided by Kiyoka-san for Sakuramiya-sensei’s finger.

I decided to take off the ring before it got lost.

“Why are you taking it off?”

“Well, it looked like it was going to fall off. Can I try putting it on another finger?”

“Um… sure. How about the ring finger?”

“But…”

“Is that not okay?”

“No, it’s fine.”

Trembling, I held up Sakuramiya-sensei’s left hand.

As I tried to put the ring on the ring finger, I stopped.

“…No, I think I’ll stop there.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Well, when you put a ring on the left ring finger, you want it to be something proper that you received…”

I swallowed my embarrassment, but conveyed my feelings clearly to Sakuramiya-sensei. She blushed more than ever before, and looked down, her eyes swimming left and right.

My body temperature was also increasing at a rapid rate

A sudden gust of wind blew. As a result, the hat Sakuramiya-sensei was wearing flew off and her black wig came off.

“Ah!”

“Oops… are you okay?”

I quickly grabbed the hat, and Sakuramiya-sensei picked up the wig from the ground. We didn’t lose anything valuable in the strong breeze.

“Um, do you think there’s anyone we know around here?”

“I don’t think so.”

Just to be safe, I looked around. It seemed okay.

Sakuramiya-sensei, now unmasked, had her usual bright hair color. She looked good with black hair too, but I still preferred her usual look.

I also took off my glasses and held Sakuramiya-sensei’s right hand as usual.

“Is this okay? You were in disguise…”

“Well, for now, I think it’s okay to act as usual.”

Passing the silver ring onto her right ring finger, the size was perfect.

“Thank you, Minato-kun.”

“I’m glad you’re happy.”

“But wasn’t it expensive? You always tell me not to waste money.”

“Is it wrong to spend money on a gift for someone important?”

“…That’s not fair! Minato-kun, I can’t keep track of your ‘dere’ cycle.”

“What’s a ‘dere’ cycle? Please don’t use strange words.”

“And, of all times, I didn’t even spend any money on this…”

“But I was really happy about the scarf. Did you make it in a rush?”

I had secured the promise of Christmas Eve five days ago. A hand-knitted scarf wasn’t something that could be made quickly.

“No, I was making it little by little for a while now. I was thinking of giving it to Minato-kun regardless of our Christmas plans.”

“Sensei is the one who’s not fair. Being so kind… really not fair.”

“Oh, you called me sensei again.”

“Ah, sorry.”

No good. Whenever I let my guard down, I blurt it out immediately.

I can’t change how I address her, and I definitely can’t call her “Yumi-san” or anything like that at school.

What should I do?

That’s what I was worrying about.

Sakuramiya-sensei grabbed the hem of my coat.

“I’m not Seigawa-kun’s teacher today. I’m Minato-kun’s girlfriend.”

“I understand. I won’t make that mistake again.”

“Do you really understand?”

“I do. I won’t make that mistake again.”

Sakuramiya-sensei smiled softly when I affirmed it.

“In that case… if I said I don’t want to go home tonight, what would you do?”

She whispered it in a voice only I could hear, as if she were hiding her embarrassment.

Her warmth transferred to me, and I felt my body heat up. I knew I had to say something.

…No, maybe there is no need to say anything.

I reached out to Sakuramiya-sensei’s cheek and kissed her on the lips. Without caring about the people around us, I kissed her passionately and deeply.

When our lips separated, we faced each other with our breaths still ragged and uneven. I brought the scarf up to cover my reddened cheeks.

Then I grabbed Sakuramiya-sensei’s right hand and declared,

“I won’t send you home tonight.”

And so we didn’t return home until the next day, around noon.

☆☆☆☆☆☆

Next is the final episode which will be released in two parts! (・ω・)ノ