8 Date
Ryugo and Aira decide to return to the classroom through different routes.
At Aira’s pace, it looks like she’ll hang out with me even after school.
She has to find the right time to release her from hypnosis, but when is the right time?
Immediately after she returned to the main school building,
“Raccoon-kun”
I heard a voice from behind me and turned around.
It was Enka.
“Isn’t it unusual for you to be in another school building during your lunch break?”
“Ah, wait…”
A lie came to his mind, “I was researching something in the library,” but he immediately shut his mouth. If Enka were there, she would be found out right away.
Even though she knows she’s not good at it, she has no choice but to cheat.
“I have something to do…”
“Hmm. What?”
Enka tilted his whole body towards her and looked into her face. Ryugo’s face, reflected in those crystal clear crimson eyes, was unable to hide his agitation.
I still can’t think of anything to do. It seems that with his mediocre brain, he cannot cope with so many different events.
There’s a limit to how much he can fall in love with.
He’s Plan B.
“I was watching an erotic video in this unused bathroom.”
He ignored shame and external rumors and began to come up with some hasty excuses.
Now, Enka’s impression of Ryugo is that instead of falling to the ground, he has penetrated, passed through the mantle, and reached the other side.
“eee!?”
Enka dyed her neck and ears vermilion, and her eyes became black and white.
“Awa, ah, ah, ah, ah…wait, uh… tt-tanuki-kun! You shouldn’t be nagging like that at school! I don’t think it’s okay! No! No!”
She was waving her hands loudly, his hands were crossed to make a cross mark, and he was in a big panic.
Moreover, for some reason, it’s an honorific word.
that? Maybe you have a weakness for stories like this?
As a test, Ryugo pointed her “blank smartphone screen” at her.
“By the way, this video”
“Hyowaaa!?”
Madoka rolled her eyes, and steam rose from her head.
Apparently he doesn’t have much immunity. Judging by the way she was hunched over, it didn’t seem like she was acting.
Even Enka, who has a mysterious aura, has such a weakness.
“Sorry. I was teasing you too much.”
Grabbing her hand and pulling her up, Enka said with a sullen face.
“You idiot raccoon…”
It was a simple insult, but that’s what made it cute.
She suddenly stretched out her arm and pinched both sides of Ryogo’s cheeks with her fingers.
“Squishy, squishy… Reflect on your actions!”
“Hyah, hyah, hyamehe! Hohehehehehyah!”
“Your reactions are so cute, I’ll keep going.”
“Hyoee…”
◆
After school.
As expected of midsummer, the sun was still high in the sky.
Of course, you could argue that four in the afternoon was still technically noon, but even so, it was bright enough to make it feel like nighttime was still a long way off.
Ryogo slung his school bag over his shoulder and hurriedly left the classroom.
Next to him, Misato watched him with a suspicious expression, but she didn’t say anything. She was probably wondering why Aira and I had both disappeared during lunch break.
My careless mistake was starting to become a dull, throbbing pain.
I should have been more careful, but my brain wasn’t wired for that kind of finesse.
“Sigh… I guess I’m still level 3.”
The hypnosis I got, “I love you so much.” I have no idea how to use it. I can more or less predict what will happen with “Lover,” but this one is a complete unknown. I’d be in big trouble if the other person went berserk.
“For now, I guess I’ll just experiment on some random person tomorrow…”
As I walked out of the school gates, I thought about how dangerous that would be.
Aira’s hypnosis was still in effect, but I didn’t want her to turn hostile the moment I released it. It would be better to wait until it wore off naturally.
The students who had been scattered around the school gradually disappeared as I approached the residential area. They were probably all taking the train home.
Ryogo and Koki had chosen their high school because it was “close,” but that wasn’t the case for most people.
I listened to the sound of cars passing by as I walked down the street.
How should I level up?
I couldn’t just wander around aimlessly and expect to find someone who needed help. Maybe I should go to the station.
There were probably people there who were lost.
“Wat-kun!”
Someone hugged me from behind, and Ryogo jumped and turned around.
“Who is it!?”
“That’s mean. Leaving Aira behind like that.”
“Ugh…”
It was Aira.
She must have been running, because her face was flushed and sweaty, and her cheeks were rosy. The gap between the buttons of her shirt, which was unbuttoned down to the second button, revealed a hint of cleavage.
Aira kept her eyes on me as she caught her breath. Her gaze was sharp, like a lord questioning a traitor.
Her eyes were a dull, iridescent color, devoid of light, that would not tolerate any lies.
“What? Ugh…, I mean.”
“No…”
“Heh~. So you were running away from Aira. That’s why you left school in such a hurry and tried to go home. Heh, I see.”
Her words, delivered in a clipped tone, sent a shiver down my spine.
Searching for a way to escape pursuit. If my brain were a rag, it would be wrung dry of wisdom, as if it were water.
But reality is reality, and there was no material to disguise it.
To begin with, why do I have to be considerate of this person?
Of course, a disdainful attitude could lead to resentment after the hypnosis is lifted, but the result will probably be the same either way.
And so, Ryugo arrived at an easy answer.
In other words, giving up on thinking.
“I want to go home by myself. Is it wrong to go home?”
“Wrong.”
“What a blunt answer…”
“Says you.”
His respectful attitude from the daytime was nowhere to be seen.
“Watanuki-kun, can’t you pay attention to me like everyone else? When Ira is left alone…”
“She dies of loneliness?”
“She forgets herself in anger.”
“Isn’t your name Ira instead of Ashura? Sorry, sorry, sorry, I apologize, so please don’t strangle me!!”
If this were a destructive violent impulse-driven tsundere, she would still be somewhat cute.
However, the one harming Ryugo is the ringleader of a bullying group who can’t take a joke and is an arrogant, self-centered jerk.
To top it off, she shows no sign of remorse, which reduces her cuteness score of a hundred points to minus one hundred million.
Ira’s arm slowly loosened from around his neck, and he was able to breathe more easily.
“Will you listen to what I say?”
“Drop dead, you damn woman!! Do you think that if you use violence, the other person will do whatever you say!? Everyone else might, but I will never give in to pain or fear again!!”
“Then I’ll give you ten thousand yen.”
“Yay!”
As expected, he is rich. Thank you.
Ryugo gave in to the money without hesitation, and Ira asked him again.
“Tell me what you’re going to do from now on.”
“…………I’m going to help people.”
He kept his real purpose hidden and uttered plausible lies.
“I just thought I’d try imitating Enka.”
“Why would you do that? Do you like her? Are you trying to get her attention by doing the same thing?”
“…No, it was just a whim. I just felt like if I helped people, I could become someone who everyone likes, like Enka.”
When he told a lie that made his back itch, Ira snorted.
“It’s amazing how you can be liked by everyone, don’t you think? Ira has never even felt irritated by you.”
“So, I’m going to go out into the city and spend my days helping people. It’s not going to be fun, but are you still coming with me?”
“Yes! I want to be with Watanuki-kun.”
What a wholesome and cute answer.
If only it hadn’t come from her.
“…But can you really help people?”
“Why would Iraq have to do it?”
“That’s right, you were that kind of girl. In this case, I’m the one who should be blamed for asking such a foolish question. I’m sorry.”
“If you understand.”
“Puuh…”
◈
Although it was a weekday afternoon, the flow of people was intense, and a feeling of heat could be sensed from the crowd that seemed to overflow with people sweating in the summer sun.
Everyone was wiping their hands with a handkerchief and fanning themselves, and the sight was enough to call forth the heat.
Eateries and convenience stores were lined up, divided by the station and the tracks, and they stared intently at the people passing by, taking them in and spitting them out.
It must be so much cooler over there.
A perfect space for seeking a cool breeze.
As the tram stop signal sounded, Renko and Ai exchanged glances.
Are there really people who are struggling over there?
It’s not like I’ve never encountered such a situation in my life, but it’s also rare enough to be considered a rare event.
This is the station one stop away from the school.
If I didn’t want the other students to see me being led away, I had no choice but to stretch my legs far away.
“Hey, it’s so hot, cotton…”
Ai lowered her thin eyebrows and glared at me with displeasure. Her hair was sticking to her forehead with sweat.
She was fanning herself with her hands, trying to send a cool breeze to the open space between her chest.
“I’m going to die…”
“I apologize. If you don’t like it, you can go back.”
“Well then, let’s go to the shade. I don’t want to get heatstroke.”
“That’s right.”
We walked to the shopping district next to the station and sought refuge in the shade of a nearby building. It looked like an apparel shop, with numerous women’s clothes inside.
The cool air from the air conditioner was wafted over us, providing a moment of relief.
Renko found a vending machine nearby and extended his hand towards it.
It was just the right time when my throat was parched.
“I’ll buy a drink, but you can also drink…?”
As I said that, I realized my own foolishness and hit my head.
“Why do I have to work for this girl’s sake? I’m an idiot.”
“Won’t you buy me one?
“I don’t want to.”
“Eh! That’s so mean!”
“Even if I hate you, I won’t be kind to you, you damn woman. Go ahead and get dehydrated and die.”
“I’ll show you my gratitude by showing you the underside of my clothes, okay?”
“What the hell? If a girl says her throat is parched, you have to move, don’t you? What the hell? That’s not fair!”
My superior rationality was defeated by lust, and a ribbon-like fanfare played in my head.