The collective exhale in the room was almost comical. The girl who’d been fiddling with her hair tie nearly dropped it.
Furusawa-senpai smoothed her skirt again and forced a smile. "That’s it? No citations?"
"Hmm? No. Should I write you one, senpai?" I teased, pulling out my pen. The Track Club president stiffened before letting out a nervous laugh.
"Of course not! Just making sure we’re cleared."
Behind her, the two senior girls exchanged glances again. This ti, sothing darker flickered in their eyes.
I pretended not to notice, stepping back into the hallway. "Right. Well, enjoy your festival prep. I’ll look forward to your booth this weekend."
The door clicked shut behind too quickly. The muffled whispers erupted before I’d even taken three steps but I didn’t care about it anymore. They’re probably telling the other mbers to keep their mouths shut.
Halfway down the corridor, my phone buzzed. Kaede’s ssage, “How did it go, Onoda-kun?"
"Oh. Don’t worry. I didn’t even ntion you, but I probably scared them enough. Maybe in a few days, soone will co to and confess." I replied to Kaede while walking away from the Track Clubroom.
I’ll be more surprised if it’s the Club President herself or those close to her who step forward and confess to what they did. But given how guarded they were, I doubt it would happen.
With that done, I continued on my patrol, my footsteps echoing through the now-empty hallway as most students were holed up in their clubrooms.
Upon exiting, I rounded the corner to continue on my usual route towards our Potato Clubhouse.
However, perhaps because I was occupied with how to deal with the Track Club President, I nearly collided with soone.
To my surprise, it was a familiar figure.
It was An-rin. Having bumped into accidentally, she naturally bounced off and plopped down the ground.
Her expression imdiately turned to a scowl as she looked up but upon seeing who she crashed into, the scowl cracked into sothing, "Geez, perv lord, watch where you’re going."
The audacity to tell that. Isn’t she the sa? In any case, I wonder what she’s doing here. Shouldn’t she be with Chii and Kushii? They should’ve returned to the clubroom by now.
"You... Were you following ?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at An-rin as I extended a hand to help her up.
The gyaru reluctantly grabbed my hand, gripping it as hard as she could.
"Pfft, as if!" She rolled her eyes, acting as though she was unbothered. "Just happened to be passing by."
"Passing by, huh? You three are almost inseparable by now, so I can’t buy that explanation."
"Y-you. Like, seriously?" An-rin’s grip tightened around my fingers, her nails digging in just enough to sting without breaking skin. "Who says I gotta be glued to ’em 24/7? Maybe I wanted fresh air!"
"Fair enough." I shrugged, "But aren’t you too worked up for soone who just wanted fresh air?"
An-rin’s cheeks puffed out like an irritated hamster. "Ugh! You’re really. Fine, I t a friend, ’kay? She borrowed my hair extensions, and I ca to get ’em back!"
She yanked her hand away, crossing her arms defensively.
I tilted my head. "Hair extensions? Oh. Now that you ntioned it... Your hair isn’t as long as usual."
Her fingers twitched toward her noticeably shorter bob cut, still stylish, but lacking the dramatic length she usually flaunted. "Duh. That’s why I said it, genius."
"Alright, I believe you now. So, are you going back? Why not co with then?" I smirked, looking at the usual chaotic gremlin trying her best not to act flustered.
Gyaru or not, ever since that sleepover, she’s now acting like this around . Well, I wouldn’t bla her. After all that happened, only a shaless guy like wouldn’t be bothered.
An-rin’s cheeks flushed pink, but she recovered quickly with an exaggerated scoff. "Hah? Like I’d follow you around like so lovesick puppy!"
The girl rolled her eyes again and tried to turn around. Nevertheless, I caught up to her right away and matched her pace.
"I never said you are one. But are you sure? I’m going to the clubhouse. No one was there, probably. But it’s already my routine to check it. That’s a place for us to hang out, after all." I casually said before widening my strides to walk past her.
An-rin hesitated for a second before quickening her pace to catch up with . "Wait! Who said I’m not coming?"
I pretended to be surprised before grinning, "Heh. And here I thought you now hate being alone with ."
"Psh. What I hate is how shaless you are... Just d-don’t be too much of a perv lord, Onoda-han."
"Mhm. I still have to return, after all. Unless you want to stay there for a while with ?" I grinned, watching An-rin’s face flush deeper as she punched my arm too lightly to hurt.
"Idiot! Don’t say weird stuff like that! I’m not Chizuru or Kushii!” The girl grumbled before shoving her hands into her skirt pockets, acting tough.
Really, I don’t know what she’s thinking. Having known my shaless side, she’s still willing to accompany alone. Granted, the distance between us had closed since that night. However, given how she’s acting, I thought she’d try her best to evade as much as possible.
But this? Maybe that’s not truly the case.
As we walked towards the abandoned area of the school and past the dilapidated clubhouses, the girl beca unnaturally quiet but whenever I would try to tease her, An-rin would act like the gremlin she was.
In the end, she moved behind and started pushing on my back, telling to hurry up instead of playing around with her.
Of course, she was just hiding how her face had already turned crimson.
Anyway, it didn’t take long before we arrived at our destination. This ti, I went to the backyard first to check on the plots. It didn’t look abandoned now, but it still lacked the seeds of the crop I wanted to plant.
An-rin, who followed after , narrowed her eyes as she glanced at the empty plots before snickering, “Co on, Onoda-han, when will we get to harvest your potatoes there?”
“Heh. Are you also interested in gardening?”
“No way!” An-rin scoffed, kicking a pebble into the dirt. “But if it’s, like, weirdly shaped potatoes, I wanna see ‘em. Bet you’d carve ‘em into sothing pervy.”
"Weirdly shaped, huh? I’ll look into that and surprise you."
"Wah! I didn’t an–" An-rin’s protest died in her throat as I grabbed her hand and walked us into the back door of the clubhouse.
Her fingers twitched in mine but the girl didn’t try to pull away.
As expected, the place was empty.
The two of us walked in and I let go of her hand. Although she looked a little disappointed, the girl still pretended to be tough.
I grabbed the small watering can that Mutsumi-senpai left behind, filled it at the faucet, and went upstairs to water the plants by the window.
When I returned downstairs, An-rin was already sitting down on the couch, looking a little listless.
She glanced up at and let out a sigh.
"So... What now?"
"Nothing much. We can go now, but... let rest my legs first."
Upon saying that, I walked over to where she was sitting. The girl chewed her lower lip as she watched plop down not far away from her. The springs creaked under my weight and turned my head towards her.
With that, the girl shot a suspicious glare, "What? Why are you looking at like that?"
"Nothing. Just thinking how you still act like I’m gonna pounce on you." I said before poking her cheek. The girl instinctively jumped before grabbing my finger.
“Ugh. Really, perv lord?”
I shrugged, "Relax, alright? You know how I am. I may be shaless and I kinda like teasing you. But I will never want to make you uncomfortable."
"Y-yeah, right. Like I’d believe that," An-rin muttered, but the tension in her shoulders eased slightly as she let go of my finger.
A while later, her fingers tapped an erratic rhythm against her thigh. It sounded like a nervous habit but at the sa ti, a hint of anticipation for whatever was gonna happen between us.
"You’re always... doing stuff when no one’s looking." She continued.
I tilted my head, acting a little oblivious. "Am I? I only do stuff with my girls though. But let’s see, maybe I’ll also do stuff if you let or if you hint at that you secretly want to."
"Ugh, shut up! Like, seriously!"
She lobbed a throw pillow at my face, but her aim was off. The cushion didn’t even hit my face. It just landed on my lap.
An-rin scowled, but her lips twitched like she was fighting a smile. "You’re such a shaless tease!"
Mhm. I’m enjoying teasing this girl.
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