Even after skipping PE in the infirmary I couldn’t focus the rest of the day. I don’t even remember what I talked about with Kenji, Shou, and Kaito after homeroom.
I did some kind of chatting, but zero of it stuck. I needed to switch gears before school life cratered.
(Jamming a finger and zoning out in class — already cratering.)
“Yuito, I’ve been waiting.”
”…Why are you here today too?”
Kano stood at the front gate, smiling. I must have looked deeply stupid right then. She’d never done two consecutive days before — I’d let my guard down.
“Of course I want to see the person I love every day.”
“That’s an unbelievably embarrassing line to say in public.”
“Well, I’m beautiful.”
She said it confidently. The terrible part is she’s actually beautiful, so it’s not even narcissism. She forcefully looped her arm through mine.
“Let’s go.”
“Wait — please don’t suddenly grab my arm like that.”
“Don’t you like it?”
“It’s not that I don’t, but…”
“Then it’s fine.”
Saying anything more was probably useless. As we started walking, I noticed unusually many people on the commute route.
Finals weren’t here yet — why the crowd? As I was wondering, Kano stopped.
“Yuito, is the smell of another girl on you imaginary?”
”…Probably imaginary.”
I had an idea what she meant, but I tried to deflect. Suzuno and I had had brief contact — that shouldn’t be enough.
“Hmm — smells like Suzuno’s scent to me.”
“R-really?”
“Asking again — is the smell of another girl on you really imaginary?”
”…It’s not imaginary.”
Under her stare I confessed. I felt strongly that hiding would end in catastrophe.
(I’d had what — a single second of full-body contact with Suzuno — how could she smell it? Kano is genuinely terrifying.)
“Hmm — so you tried to lie to me.”
“I’m sorry…”
“Big sister can’t quite let this one go without some kind of punishment.”
She had that reproach look. I wanted to punch the version of me from five minutes ago who thought he could hide this.
”…A gentle punishment, please.”
“Punishment to be decided later. First — why do you smell like Suzuno? Oh, and if you lie or hide, more punishment.”
“At the infirmary, see —”
”…Don’t tell me you dragged Suzuno into the infirmary and tried to bed-in with her?”
“What? No. We just happened to run into each other there.”
What kind of ero-manga reality was she living in? That doesn’t happen in real life.
“Then how is her smell on you? You’d need close contact to transfer.”
“Clumsy Suzuno tripped on the doorsill and almost fell — I caught her from behind. That was it. Nothing gross.”
I said it openly. She puffed up. Doing a good deed shouldn’t feel this guilty.
“There!”
“H-hey?!”
She tackle-hugged me on the spot — no warning. On a busy street. Hugged for an extended period.
“Um — we are being very looked at — could you let go?”
“I’m in the middle of overwriting your scent with mine — endure a bit longer.”
She held on for a while longer. My face was going to catch fire.
“Forgiven, this time.”
“So that was the punishment, deal.”
“What — that wasn’t part of the punishment.”
“Of course that was the punishment.”
“Getting a hug from a beauty like me — that’s a reward.”
Getting publicly mortified like that and not having it count as punishment was unjust. But arguing with her was a waste of breath. I just had to hope no classmates had witnessed it.