Chapter 25

“I am so, so, so, so, so sorryyyyyyyy!!”

It was a dogeza.¹

Without needing to agonize over it, the answer was a dogeza.

Even though it was because we were in a tight spot, I used Yuzu senpai as a shield and ended up hugging her soft stomach, and on top of that she told me it was tight… committing something like this was a crime worthy of a thousand deaths.

Yet since I didn’t want to die, I went with the dogeza.

I gently asked Yuzu senpai to move, slowly stood up, stepped out from behind the counter, and immediately dropped into a dogeza.

It was, if I do say so myself, a magnificent dogeza.

I banged my forehead against the floor and it hurt a little bit.

“Eeeh!? I-I’m not actually mad at all, you know!? I was just a little startled and it was a bit tight, but…”

“No, that’s precisely why it’s a problem! Without permission, I wrapped my arms around your stomach and hugged you!”

“Y-You don’t have to say it out loud!?”

“No! While you were doing your best so we wouldn’t get caught, I indecently hugged senpai from below and found myself thinking things like ‘she’s slender yet soft,’ and for that I am deeply sorry!!”

“Y-You don’t have to broadcast your inner thoughts like that! A teacher’s gonna come back, so lift your head!”

Yuzu senpai is too kind.

Yet I mustn’t take advantage of that kindness!

“No! If I had noticed the teacher approaching just a fraction of a second earlier, things wouldn’t have come to this! It’s all my fault for getting so absorbed in petting senpai’s head that I got too happy when she petted me back! The way your hair slipped through my fingers, feeling so silky smooth and glossy, giving off the most wonderful scent every time I stroked it, making me secretly take deep breaths—the reason this happened in the first place is purely because senpai is just way too cute, and—”

“Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!”

She screamed.

Yuzu senpai screamed.

It was the loudest voice she had ever made.

Without a doubt, it was the number one loudest sound in the history of the library.

“…Hah… hah…”

Her being slightly out of breath is cute.

“…S-Sit straight!”

“Eh?”

“Kneel straight! Lift your head! Right now!”

“Y, Yes!”

“Straighten your back even more!”

“Yes!”

“Don’t look away! Look right at me!”

“I’m always looking at you!”

“Auh…”

After school, kneeling straight on the library floor.

With her arms crossed over her chest, Yuzu senpai looked down at me from above.

“…N-No saying embarrassing things!”

I was getting scolded.

“S-Specifically…?”

“A-All of it!!”

“All of it!?”

It seems I have no right to speak.

“I-I don’t mind since it’s you, but… i-if you say things like that to other girls, they’re gonna misunderstand, you know!?”

“Only to senpai!”

“T-That’s prohibited!”

“Yes!”

My name was banned too.

“Honestly, Kido-kun is really… jeez!”

She’s angry, she’s cute, what do I even do.

“I-I was super embarrassed, and yet here you are…!”

She’s trembling slightly, puffing out her cheeks in anger.

I know I shouldn’t be thinking this right now, but she’s ridiculously cute.

Wait, come to think of it, wasn’t this supposed to be an embarrassment endurance contest?

“…Got it, Kido-kun.”

“…U-Um, got what?”

“I’m going to punish you right now!”

……P-Punish!?