Chapter 37

Wait, wait a second.

Koichi, hold on.

You’re supposed to be confessing to Nagi senpai, right?

If you do that, don’t you think it’s rude if you don’t say her name properly?

“I’m in love with you, senpai”—if you say that, wouldn’t literally everyone in the country get the wrong idea!

Specifically me and Yuzu senpai, who are right here in this literature club room right now, you see!!

“…Right?”

Th-The reading started.

No, I was the one who said with absolute confidence that I’d play Koichi-kun. But do you know, Yuzu senpai?

This guy confesses almost immediately after this part.

“The… quietly blowing breeze gently swayed Nagi’s long hair…”

Wait, of course you know. Because you’re still speaking while memorizing it all verbatim right now.

Yuzu senpai is genuinely amazing… refusing to look at the book in my hands at all, continuing to weave the story like a storyteller while gazing out the window where the sunset pours in.

I almost feel like she’s looking away a little too much, but is that face looking super red just because of the setting sun?

“T-To Koichi, that everyday sight looked profoundly… um, mystical and beautiful…”

Certainly, even the Yuzu senpai I always see looks… more beautiful than usual, especially today.

Is it because cuteness is banned, or because I’m watching that sun-drenched figure up close like this? It felt like a completely new side of her.

“Sh-she had always been like that…”

Always.

Yeah, lately Yuzu senpai is always on my lap.

I figured I’d gotten somewhat used to it. But my heart is still pounding away every single time.

Right now, in this position where we’re pressed closely together from behind, I keep worrying that the sound of my heartbeat is going to leak through to her.

“No matter what anyone said or did, she let… everything roll off her like the wind…”

Ah, so that’s why.

Is Yuzu senpai’s reading also a bit clumsy because my nervousness is rubbing off on them?

What we’re reading right now is the story of Koichi Shindo and Nagi Hiiragi.

I mustn’t interrupt a pure story that belongs just to the two of them.

“Koichi had fallen for that side of her before he even realized it…”

Leave it to me, Yuzu senpai.

I’ve already made up my mind.

“Or perhaps, right from the very beginning…”

As Koichi, I will fling my feelings at Nagi senpai.

“Unchanging… yet continuing to swell up inside him, these feelings—now…”

Ah, but. But—

“Koichi… was going to fling them… at the person he loved… in this special… place called the rooftop…”

—Confessing feels crazy nervous.

“……I’m in love with you, senpai. P-Please go out with me…!”

“O-Okay… please do…”

Eh?

Wh-What… did senpai just say “please do”…?

O-O-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!

I did it! You did it, Koichi!

Your confession was a complete success!!

Wait, wouldn’t the story end on this page if it goes like this?

No, she said it was a time-loop story, so there must be a plot twist starting from the next page.

With Koichi’s confession, it’s the end of page one, so surely on page two…

Swoosh, snap.

Yuzu senpai’s hands pulled away from mine, snatched the book away, and snapped it shut.

“…Eh, senpai?”

“S-S-S-S-Sorry…! I-I guess I felt a little embarrassed after all, or something… ahaha…”

With a face bright red, Yuzu senpai kept nervously glancing up at my face over and over.

Cute.

…Cute?

“Ah, aaah!? S-Sorry! I-I kind of got carried away myself!”

“U-Um… y-your Koichi-kun… was amazing…”

“N-No! Senpai’s storytelling and Nagi senpai were top-notch too…!”

Seeing Yuzu senpai’s usual behavior, I snapped back to reality, and a sudden wave of embarrassment washed over me.

Me, I… wait, even if it was just acting, I confessed to Yuzu senpai, didn’t I…?

In this super-close-contact position, right from behind… wow, so super embarrassing!!

“T-The rest is for next time…! Ah… I-I want you to enjoy it purely, so, d-don’t go looking up spoilers… o-okay!?”

“Y-Yes! I-I’ll only read it here and I won’t look anything up!!”

My face, my face is burning.

In fact, my whole body is burning.

Is it because of the heat that doesn’t feel like June, or because I’ve been keeping Yuzu senpai on my lap pressed close this whole time, or because of that pseudo-confession… no, all of it.

“U-Um, senpai…”

“W-What is it, Kido-kun!?”

“Senpai, you really… love this book a lot, don’t you?”

That must be why.

To distract from my own embarrassment, I ended up asking an obvious question that didn’t even need asking.

“Y-Yeah…”

In response, Yuzu senpai hugged that precious Tomorrow, Fall in Love on the Rooftop!! tight against their chest with both arms.

“I love it.”

The words she whispered, and that smiling profile… continued to linger deep within my chest.