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‘…Senpai, you smell really nice.’
‘…Senpai, you smell really nice.’
‘…Senpai, you smell really nice.’
No matter how many times I reread it, the text written in the book never changed.
Yuzu senpai, are you out of your mind?
Are you trying to make me say this line so you can get some leverage on me?
I mean, I definitely was thinking it, and I’ve been thinking it like crazy nonstop, but isn’t the timing just a bit too spot-on?
“S-Senpai, this…”
“Ehehe, Koichi-kun is a little bit of a scent freak, but he’s such a good kid! In the second half, thanks to this scent-fetish thing, he realizes the loop… n-no more spoilers, or it’ll ruin it!”
Yuzu senpai’s face, talking with gleeful excitement, is right in front of me.
Cute.
Yuzu senpai getting so carried away and almost spilling important details is so cute.
It must be nice for Koichi-kun to be called by his first name…
I was called by mine just once, but that was when she was sleeping…
“Okay, so I’ll do the narration and Nagi-chan’s parts, and you read Koichi’s lines!”
“Eh, ah, yes!”
A reflex-like, total affirmation.
I never had any intention of refusing, but I need some mental preparation.
“Bathed in the twilight, the figures of Koichi Shindo and Nagi Hiiragi stood upon the rooftop.”
It started.
Without any time to mentally prepare, Yuzu senpai’s lovely voice echoed through the club room.
“The two of them rested their hands on the wire mesh, silently looking down at the school grounds.”
Yuzu senpai is amazing.
She really memorized the entire contents of the book.
That posture of closing her eyes and fluently weaving the story like a storyteller, right in front of me… no, right on my lap.
“This was a secret place for just the two of them, a world belonging only to them. A special, quiet solitude shared by just the two of them.”
This literature club is also a world belonging to just Yuzu senpai and me.
It’s not a secret, exactly, but there’s no doubt it’s special to me.
…What is Yuzu senpai feeling, I wonder?
“The rooftop.”
The rooftop.
Rooftop.
Two kanji characters. Five hiragana characters.
In that word, spoken as if gently pushing someone from behind, was poured Yuzu senpai’s feelings packed into this book.
Just that alone conveyed how much she truly loves this book.
“Today, right here, Koichi would confess his feelings to Nagi.”
Koichi-kun, whose name is being called by Yuzu senpai.
He’s a character in a story, but he has the courage to confess to the person he loves.
If I had courage like that, could I get my name called and become more than just senpai and kouhai?
Even though we’re sitting in a chair right now.
“…Kido-kun? Your lines, your lines.”
“…Eh? Ah!?”
I hadn’t prepared mentally at all!
Ugh, but if I don’t say it, it’s going to get awkward… K-Koichi-kun, lend me your strength!
“S-Senpai, you, y-you smell really nice…”
“Hyaaa!?”
Yuzu senpai jerked.
She shuddered with a start and bounced on my lap, putting her weight onto my right arm, which I had wrapped around her from behind.
D-Did I get brushed off…?
“S-S-S-S-Sorry… You whispered it, so it startled me…”
P-Please kill me…
Koichi-kun, kill me right now…!!
“I-It must have felt creepy, I’m sorry! If you hate it, I’ll stop right—”
“N-No!”
“…Eh?”
Squeeze.
Both my hands, which were about to let go of the book, were pressed down from above by Yuzu senpai’s small hands.
“I-It’s club activities, after all…”
Averting her face, I faintly heard Yuzu senpai’s voice, which sounded like it was about to vanish.
That profile, flushed bright red all the way to the tips of her ears, was right in front of me.
“D-Don’t stop… I don’t want to.”
—Covering both of my hands was a definite, palpable warmth.
“…Understood.”
I hated my own uselessness just a little bit.
Yuzu senpai brought this book she loves so much to enjoy it with me.
Yet, because I half-assedly got embarrassed and spoke in a weird way, I ended up startling Yuzu senpai and falling into self-loathing all on my own… that’s not right.
Yuzu senpai wants to enjoy the rest of this book together so badly that she’s trying this hard, even holding down my hands.
What kind of a fool would I be to get in the way of those feelings?
I am in the literature club.
Kido Kakeru, a junior in the literature club and a member of the club.
But for right now, I am Koichi Shindo, the protagonist of this book.
“…I’ll do it! I’ll make sure to play the part of Koichi-kun!”
Here I go, I—no, Koichi-kun!
Embrace Koichi-kun’s feelings and confess to senpai… confess to senpai…?!
‘…Right?’
A quietly blowing breeze gently swayed Nagi’s long hair.
To Koichi, that everyday sight looked profoundly mystical and beautiful.
She had always been like that.
No matter what anyone said or did, she let everything roll off her like the wind.
Koichi had fallen for that side of her before he even realized it.
Or perhaps, right from the very beginning.
Unchanging, yet continuing to swell up inside him, these feelings—now.
Koichi was going to fling them at the person he loved in this special place called the rooftop.
‘…I’m in love with you, senpai. Please go out with me.’
Wait.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!!
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