Chapter 317: War, Mashiro is Serious!
Chapter 317: War, Mashiro is Serious!
“Ms. Kasumi, what readers? Stop joking, this book has no readers at all…”
Himekoji gave a bitter smile.
“Oh? So you know that too? Hmm, I’ll just be direct then. I, well, won a special prize lottery at the school store yesterday. A two-person luxury Onsen Inn accommodation ticket…”
Two-person?
The moment he heard that, Himekoji sensed trouble brewing. He immediately spoke up to interrupt:
“Ah, congratulations, Senpai! Please be sure to enjoy it with your family!”
“Hmm, let’s set the time for next Saturday then,” Kasumigaoka on the other end of the phone seemed to completely ignore him and continued talking to herself. “You should be free, shouldn’t you, Himekoji?”
She tacked on a symbolic question about Himekoji’s opinion at the end.
“Can I say I’m busy?”
“Reason?”
“I don’t want to go to an onsen. I’m allergic to water.”
Himekoji held his phone, his expression deadly serious.
“Then I will cure you of it.”
However, Kasumigaoka showed no awareness of being the cause. She puffed out her chest and spoke grandly.
“It’s precisely because of you that I’m allergic!”
“Oh? Is that so? That’s a thing? Then it’s perfect. You know about desensitization therapy, right? It’s that thing where the more allergic you are to water, the more water you should… drench yourself in…”
“Wait!”
Himekoji frowned and interrupted,
“Weren’t we talking about soaking in the onsen? Just soaking, why use the word ‘drench’?”
“Soak, soak… doesn’t that turn into drenching? Remember back in Wagou City, who was it that gulped down a whole bathtub of water…”
“Stop! Halted, halted! I beg you, don’t say it!”
Himekoji suddenly felt a headache coming on.
“Alright then, we’ll discuss the details later.”
“Huh? Wait!”
“Beep… beep…”
Himekoji couldn’t even stop her before the busy tone sounded from the other end.
This…
She really hung up just like that?
That was cool, but could she at least give him a chance to retort?!
Winning a “two-person luxury Onsen Inn accommodation ticket” in a lottery? That sounded completely fake! Since when could such a fancy thing come out of a school store?
Himekoji would rather believe he could drink a whole bathtub of water again than believe Kasumigaoka’s ridiculous lie.
However, when Kasumigaoka extended such an invitation right now, Himekoji truly couldn’t refuse. After all, she had just done him a huge favor.
“Sigh.”
Lying in bed, throwing his phone aside, Himekoji tossed and turned thinking about various things before finally succumbing to sleepiness and drifting off.
……
The next day was Monday.
It was time to report to school again.
Nanami, trying to push herself and go to school, was pressed back onto her bed by Himekoji.
“I already took care of getting you excused. Since the doctor said you need to rest well, do as he says. Going to school one day late won’t hurt. Getting yourself properly healed is the important thing.”
“Yeah, fine.”
“See, here you go again, Aoyama. I told you, don’t always try to be tough. Sometimes…”
“Eh? Wait… fine?!”
Clearing his throat, ready to launch into a long speech of persuasion, Himekoji suddenly stopped mid-sentence. He realized something was off –
Today, Nanami actually said ‘fine’?
She’d uncharacteristically listened to him!
……
Prompted by Himekoji, the girl obediently lay back down on the bed.
She took off her shoes, slipped under the covers, grabbed the blanket with both hands, and pulled it up to cover most of her face. Only her eyes were visible, blinking as she stared fixedly at Himekoji.
The intense stare made Himekoji really uncomfortable…
“Ahem, ahem… Good that you’re resting. Good that you’re resting…”
For a moment, he didn’t know what to say in that atmosphere.
Luckily, he suddenly heard Mashiro calling him then.
“Well, I’ll go see what Shiina wants first.”
……
After Nanami moved into Himekoji’s place, the duty of looking after Mashiro naturally passed from Himekoji to Nanami.
It wasn’t that Himekoji had stopped worrying about Mashiro’s daily life because she’d learned to be independent, but because all those troublesome little things had been completely taken over by Nanami instead.
Schoolwork, her part-time job, Seiyuu practice, plus taking care of Mashiro…
Maybe Mashiro couldn’t escape blame for why Nanami was so exhausted and fell ill.
That was probably why, yesterday, Mashiro hadn’t insisted Himekoji accompany her to the bookstore. Instead, she told him to stay home and take care of Nanami.
Mashiro felt somewhat guilty too.
So, the guilty Mashiro decided that starting today, she wouldn’t cause Nanami any more trouble.
“And this is what you mean by not causing trouble?”
Looking at the messy pile of clothes covering Mashiro’s entire room, Himekoji was speechless.
“Yes. I thought about it. The way to not trouble Nanami is to throw the trouble at Akito.”
“Don’t say something so exasperating with such a proud look on your face!”
“I’m not proud.”
“Damn it! That calm face of yours hurts me more than sheer pride ever could!” Himekoji sighed. “Speaking of which, if you thought about not troubling others, didn’t you also think about handling things yourself?”
“No.”
“Don’t answer so bluntly!”
Himekoji felt like he was about to have black lines all over his forehead.
Mashiro was, without a doubt, the least usual-thinking person Himekoji had ever met.
“Because Akito is not someone else.”
“Even if you say that, I don’t feel remotely happy or moved.”
“Then Akito can do things that make himself happy and moved to me.”
As Mashiro said this, she tilted her head slightly, and her loose pajamas opened a bit with the movement of the girl, revealing pale skin, delicate collarbones, and a faint hint of curves beneath the collarbones…
Himekoji quickly looked away.
“I won’t do it!”
Feeling embarrassed, Himekoji hurried to change the subject.
“Oh, why haven’t you changed clothes yet? We’re going to be late!”
“Because Akito didn’t help me choose underwear.”
“Don’t say it like it’s my fault!”
“It is.”
Mashiro, who usually didn’t show much expression, pouted her lips a little right then.
Though her sulky look was cute, Himekoji felt like he should be the one sulking…
“This one, this one.”
Himekoji casually picked out underwear and threw it to Mashiro.
“No.”
Straight away, Mashiro refused.
“Huh? Why not? Hurry and put it on so we can go out.”
“Akito is not trying hard.”
Mashiro stared at Himekoji, puffing her cheeks to show she was upset.
“How am I not trying hard?”
Himekoji couldn’t understand what Mashiro’s problem was.
She asked him to help pick underwear, and he did it, so what else did she want?
“Be more serious about choosing.”
Mashiro made a request Himekoji didn’t get at all.
“How can I be more serious!”
“When choosing underwear, besides how it looks and feels, you need to think about my mood for the day.”
Hearing this, Himekoji felt terrible.
Seriously, what kind of hard job was this!
“Wait, has Nanami always been like this when helping you choose underwear?”
“Yes, so Akito, you still need to improve in many ways.”
“You’re the one who should improve!”
No wonder Nanami got so worn out!
With serving you like this, how could someone not be tired!
Go say sorry to Nanami!
“Anyway, this is too hard, I can’t do it!”
Annoyed, Himekoji decided to quit.
“Don’t give up, come on, if it’s Akito, I know you can do it!”
“Hah, thanks for all this extra trust!”
As he said this, Himekoji clearly didn’t mean thanks.
But Mashiro didn’t seem to notice.
“You’re welcome, Akito, you earned this. You deal with underwear often, so you can pick the perfect one.”
“Don’t call me a pervert without saying it straight!”
“Pervert.”
“Cursing directly makes me even angrier, hey!”
Himekoji was nearly angered to death by Mashiro!
“Fine, fine, I’m asking, why don’t you like the underwear I picked?”
Himekoji remembered when he first cared for Mashiro, she wore whatever he gave her…
Why after Nanami looked after her a while, she had more and more demands and got more annoying?
“Today isn’t a pure white underwear mood.”
“Then what color is your mood?”
“Red.”
“Huh?”
In his memory, Mashiro rarely wore red.
That show-off color didn’t fit Mashiro’s personality at all.
“Because it’s our first big day, isn’t there a saying ‘good start brings good luck’? So I need to wear red.”
“…”
He had question marks all over.
Himekoji didn’t get what Mashiro said at all.
“Plus, I’m pumped up and excited—it’s a red mood.”
Hearing this, Himekoji rolled his eyes—
“I can’t see you being excited anywhere!”
You emotionless girl with a stiff face!
“Red means win.”
Mashiro handed the white underwear Himekoji picked back to him, fully refusing it.
“…”
Then, Himekoji was completely speechless.
He surrendered, raising the white underwear.
…
…