Chapter 39

Ryuichi’s shift in mindset was manifesting in obvious ways.
This happened a few days after staying over at Satsuki’s house, during a certain after-school hour.

“Ugh… This is bad. At this rate, I’m going to be late.”

A single female teacher hurried past Ryuichi just as he was about to head home with Shizuna after school. She was holding a large cardboard box, and her expression was filled with a flustered, deeply troubled look.

“I wonder what’s wrong with Someya sensei?”
“…”

The teacher, named Someya, was in charge of music and was quite young among the school’s faculty, highly popular with the students, with her trademark being black-rimmed glasses.

“Oh, Rindo-san… and Shishido-kun.”

Noticing the two of them, Someya turned her gaze to Ryuichi and furrowed her brow. That reaction gave off a vibe similar to Hamasaki’s, instantly souring Shizuna’s mood. Even so, Shizuna didn’t lash out; instead, she brushed aside her worried thoughts of wanting to hurry along and grabbed Ryuichi’s hand.

“Wait, Shizuna.”
“Eh?”

Ryuichi approached Someya. Though he might not have been feared as a delinquent throughout the entire school, Someya naturally took a few steps back when he walked up to her.

“W-What is it?”

That glare-like gaze of hers was definitely not something directed at a student. Even so, Ryuichi didn’t care at all as he snatched the cardboard box right out of Someya’s hands.

“Where are you taking this?”
“…Eh?”
“I’m asking where you’re taking it.”
“A-Audiovisual room, but…”
“Got it. Is this the only one?”
“Umm… Actually, there are about eight more of the same boxes.”

Carrying the box made Ryuichi realize that its contents were likely paper-related and had a fair bit of weight to them. It would be pretty exhausting for a woman’s strength, and with eight more to go, it meant she would have to make at least nine round trips.

“…Shizuna, will you help?”
“Yeah. Of course.”
“You two?”

The expression of wariness directed at Ryuichi transformed into a blank, goofy look of astonishment.

“You looked like you were in a rush. Don’t you have somewhere to be?”
“Ah, that’s right. Well, you see, my dad is hospitalized, right? I was planning to make time for visiting hours today, but I got stuck with this.”
“Then all the more reason to leave it to us and hurry on home.”
“…”

She stared at Ryuichi with her eyes even rounder. Deciding she didn’t have time to stand around blankly, Ryuichi hurried Someya along and headed toward the audiovisual room with the box he was currently holding. The one unexpected hitch was that the door was locked, so he decided to trust in the miracle that Shizuna would bring the key.

“Ah, of course it was locked.”
“Good guess. Someya’s bunch would’ve had one extra round trip otherwise.”

With a small chuckle, Shizuna set the box down and unlocked the door. She went straight inside, placed the box in an open space, and headed back out to carry the remaining boxes.
Along the way, Shizuna glanced sideways at Ryuichi and opened her mouth.

“Someya sensei was surprised. When I said you weren’t the type to be plotting something, she got a little ticked off, but I told her Ryuichi-kun isn’t that kind of person.”
“She got ticked off?”

Ryuichi gave a wry smile. Well, he had expected a conversation like that. Since it went exactly as predicted, he didn’t think much of it, but Shizuna’s reaction was characteristic of her in its own way.

“It’s not like I suddenly wanted to improve my impression or anything. How should I put it, I just simply wanted to do it.”
“I really like that kind of thing about you.”
“Heh, thanks.”
“Of course, I love all the other parts of you too.”

As Shizuna told him how much she loved him, Ryuichi carried the boxes in Someya’s place. When they were down to the last three, Shizuna let out a tired sigh and lightly rotated her arms as if her shoulders hurt.

“It must be tough for you, Shizuna. There are stairs along the way, too… I know it’s bad of me to ask after telling you to help, but you can stop here.”
“No way, I’m going to finish it through to the end.”

Shizuna pumped herself up by clenching her fist. Ryuichi figured working her out any further might be a bit much, but knowing Shizuna wouldn’t be convinced if he told her to quit when she was this determined, he decided to let her keep helping.

“I’ll carry one, so load another one right on top of it.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. Besides, I should’ve just done this from the start.”

First, he carried one box, and she loaded another on top of it. With Shizuna carrying the very last one, they were finally approaching the end. Mindful of Shizuna, who was still breathing heavily with apparent exhaustion, they finally managed to finish the job.

“Phew… Haah, I’m tired.”
“Good work. You really did your best.”

When he stroked her head and said that, Shizuna shyly pulled away.

“Um… My back and stuff are sweating a little right now, so I might smell a bit weird.”
“Ah, is that all? You think I’d care about that?”
“Ah.”

At a glance, it didn’t look like she was sweating, but apparently, the inside of her clothes had worked up quite a sweat. Since he didn’t mind at all, Ryuichi brought his face close to Shizuna’s neck.
He inhaled Shizuna’s scent as she let out a tickled yet happy voice. Naturally, there was no sense of unpleasant sweat at all; instead, what tickled Ryuichi’s nostrils was the sweet, pleasant fragrance emanating from Shizuna.

“It smells good. My favorite smell.”
“Ryuichi-kun♪”

Just what must be going through Shizuna’s mind as she was cornered against the wall, with his face brought close to her neck to sniff her scent? Ryuichi spent a little while enjoying Shizuna’s fragrance to his heart’s content before declaring they should finally head home and left the audiovisual room.
The time was four-thirty; there probably wasn’t enough time to go anywhere far anymore.

“Well then, I’ll walk you home.”
“Un. I’m counting on you.”

For both Ryuichi and Shizuna, doing this had become second nature.
When they left the school building and headed for the front gates, members of the baseball club seemed to be just returning from their run outside.
As they stepped out the school gates so as not to get in the way, Hamasaki appeared right before Ryuichi and Shizuna.

“Rindo… and Shishido.”

Neither of them showed any reaction to him as he directed entirely different gazes at Ryuichi and Shizuna. Clinging to Ryuichi’s arm as if to implicitly tell him they wanted to hurry home, Shizuna walked alongside him, and naturally, Hamasaki spoke to their retreating backs.

“Shishido, I had a word with your grandfather, and he seemed quite lamenting.”

Ryuichi stopped in his tracks, though he kept his back turned. While Shizuna looked up at him with worry, Ryuichi muttered that he was fine and opened his mouth.

“Thanks to that, it gave me a chance to talk things through. Well, for better or worse, it resulted in me taking a step forward. I wouldn’t mind thanking you for that much.”
“Tch… What are you talking about?”

Stating that he had nothing more to talk about, Ryuichi started walking again.
Seemingly still unsatisfied, Hamasaki continued speaking. This time, not to Ryuichi, but toward Shizuna.

“Rindo, I’m genuinely worried about you. Next time, I’m thinking of talking to your mother as well. Letting her know her daughter is keeping dangerous company.”
“…Tch.”

At that moment, Ryuichi heard Shizuna click her tongue for the very first time.
Though Ryuichi, standing right beside her, heard it, it didn’t reach Hamasaki, yet the very fact that Shizuna had clicked her tongue surprised Ryuichi.

“You click your tongue too, huh…”
“Even I’m human, of course I’m going to get irritated.”

Shizuna said that and turned around.

“Please go right ahead, and do your absolute best at wasting your time.”
“…Well, it really does sound like a waste of time.”

Precisely because he knew about Sakie, Ryuichi could say that.
Leaving Shizuna behind—who faced forward as if to say she didn’t even want to look at him anymore—Ryuichi started walking once more.

“It’s genuinely frustrating…”

Ryuichi understood what those words meant. There was no point in worrying about such things, but precisely because he could tell how deeply Shizuna cared about him, he understood her feelings all too well. Even though it was unlikely, he figured that if the roles were reversed and Ryuichi was an honor student while Shizuna was a delinquent, he would feel the exact same way under this kind of dynamic.

“It’s enough for me just having you guys who know me staying by my side.”
“Then we’ll just have to stay together forever. Without letting these words turn into a lie, I’ll be the one who illuminates Ryuichi-kun’s heart wherever we go.”
“Yeah, thanks, Shizuna.”
“Fufu, you’re welcome. Hey, Ryuichi-kun, if we head out into town now it’ll get a bit late, but I’m in the mood to eat something!”
“Wanna go grab some burgers?”
“Ah… Sounds good! Even though I’m worried about calories, I’m eating!”

Ryuichi let out a hearty laugh, figuring there was no need to worry about anything like that at all. In Shizuna’s case, he figured her fat tended to go to her chest rather than her stomach, if anything. Well, whether it was due to her diet or not, she had even mentioned that her breasts had gotten a little bigger ever since she started getting involved with him.

“Don’t worry about it. Though if you balloon up like a giant puffball, I draw the line there.”
“O-Obviously I’d hate that too!”

As if forgetting the unpleasant exchange from earlier, the two of them headed toward town side by side.
Incidentally, at a later date, Someya expressed immense gratitude to Ryuichi and Shizuna. Ryuichi had told her not to worry about it, but the Someya of that time held no unpleasant gaze whatsoever.