Chapter 284: I Like You
When Sakurai Saki entered the student council room, he found two more girls inside.
He and Shijo Maki were very close and always had great conversations, but recently Maki had given up on romance and focused on studying, which took away a lot of Saki's fun.
As for Kashiwagi Nagisa, she was like a yandere who clung to Shijo Maki—pretty scary!
Not only that, even knowing that Maki once liked Tanuma Tsubasa, she still crazily bragged about her own love life right in front of her best friend!
A woman like that is truly terrifying.
"Sakurai-san, good afternoon." Kashiwagi Nagisa greeted him.
Sakurai Saki and Tanuma Tsubasa were on very good terms, and more importantly, he was also very close to Shijo Maki. That was a key reason why Kashiwagi Nagisa wanted to close the distance with him.
"Saki-chan, long time no see!!!!" Shijo Maki shouted and rushed over to hug Sakurai Saki's neck tightly, squeezing hard.
"Let go, I can't breathe~"
Sakurai Saki's voice sounded like he was about to suffocate.
"Good friends do stuff like this, it's totally normal, right?" Shijo Maki went even further, using the same strength she normally used when bullying her younger brother.
Maki: ⎛⎝(˵˃ ᗜ ˂˵)⎠⎞ᵐᵘʰᵃʰᵃ
The corner of Sakurai Saki's mouth twitched.
Normal, my ass. How is this normal?
But then again, what she said wasn't exactly wrong.
Sakurai Saki had never really treated Shijo Maki as a girl anyway; a "good bro" headlock was perfectly normal, wasn't it?
Shinomiya Kaguya watched the two of them being so close and blinked.
Kaguya: ∘ ∘ ∘ ( °ヮ° ) ?
She quietly asked Kashiwagi Nagisa, "Is it normal for friends to hug that intimately?"
"Uh… not really." Kashiwagi Nagisa also didn't quite understand how those two interacted.
In her view, pure friendship between a boy and a girl simply couldn't exist. Unless both were ugly—but Sakurai Saki and Shijo Maki were anything but ugly. That left only one possibility: not enough time had passed.
Given time, someone would refuse to stay just friends. Kashiwagi Nagisa had read plenty of psychology books.
As soon as someone "breaks the window," there will be someone who wants to open the door, throw trash inside, or scribble all over it—this is the broken-window effect.
(Note: what?)
"Oh." Shinomiya Kaguya let out a slightly disappointed sound.
Kaguya: ; (◞‸◟)
Nagisa: (ಠ_ಠ)
Shinomiya-san, what are you disappointed about? Don't tell me you also want to hug Sakurai-san?
Wait… could the "pervert" you mentioned actually be Sakurai-san? But that doesn't make sense—Sakurai's overall behavior at school was always gentle and kind; how could he possibly have done those things?
Sakurai Saki hid it well, still maintaining the image of a "sunny boy." At most, during the sports festival, he left an impression of being a little impulsive. But to many girls, that wasn't a flaw—if anything, it was a plus for being romantic.
"Last time I ranked first, got anything to say?" Shijo Maki released him, planted her hands on her hips, and huffed: "Hmph, this lady finally climbed to the number one throne! Saki-chan, your first place only lasted two months, how pitiful~"
"Before the exam I still had to take care of my girlfriend…"
"Don't even start." Shijo Maki's Anti-love Radar instantly activated, cutting off Sakurai Saki before he could brag further.
To avoid being bombarded, she even dragged Kashiwagi Nagisa out of the student council room.
Bragging and then running away—only Shijo Maki would do something like that.
Sakurai Saki's face darkened; he had absolutely no idea why that girl came here. Just to flaunt her final exam score? Infuriating!
After closing the door, he sat down on the sofa.
"Why isn't the heater on today?" he asked.
"Forgot." Shinomiya Kaguya had planned to finish talking with Kashiwagi Nagisa and leave, so she hadn't bothered to turn on the heater.
"You're so smart, huh." Sakurai Saki gave her a sharp look, then turned on the heater.
The warm air immediately swept away the surrounding chill.
Sakurai Saki realized that today the side effects of the superpower weren't as serious as expected, just a small probability—he could still talk normally.
The two stayed silent for a few seconds.
Shinomiya Kaguya suddenly asked seriously: "Sakurai Saki-san, how do you see me?"
"Friend."
Shinomiya Kaguya pressed on: "Is it like or dislike?"
"Why are you suddenly asking that? If I have to say… like."
As soon as Sakurai Saki finished speaking, he felt something on the tip of his tongue.
Huh? He had clearly wanted to say [dislike]! Why did it come out as [like]?
But… it didn't really matter.
"I see." Shinomiya Kaguya felt a warmth in her heart.
Kaguya: inside: ₍₍⚞(˶˃ ꒳ ˂˶)⚟⁾⁾
"Right, I just heard about an interesting game, want to try it?" She deliberately spoke with a casual air, as if she didn't care much.
In truth, that wasn't the case—she cared a lot!
Shinomiya Kaguya cared intensely about what Shijo Maki had said earlier!
This experiment could not only test whether she might, even just a tiny bit, like Sakurai Saki, but also check whether he liked her.Not the kind of like between friends, but the kind between a man and a woman.
"Let's try it." Sakurai Saki tilted his head.
Why was it that whenever he talked with Shinomiya Kaguya, he always said the opposite of what he meant?
Had he been hit with some kind of curse? Or was some strange god playing a joke on him?
"You actually agreed, I thought you would refuse." Shinomiya Kaguya restrained the excitement in her heart.
This was the first time Sakurai Saki had listened to her like this!
Sakurai Saki said nothing.
He really wanted to refuse, but the words coming out didn't match his heart.
Damn it, this damn side effect!
But doing the experiment wasn't a big deal—he often did silly things with Chika anyway.
"Sakurai-san, do you know the staring experiment? They say if a man and a woman can look into each other's eyes for ten seconds, they'll feel like kissing." Shinomiya Kaguya repeated what she had just heard, as if she had known it all along.
Hearing that, Sakurai Saki rubbed his brow. "Kaguya-san, can I ask you something? Why do you want to do this experiment with me?"
"Because it's very interesting."
"All right then." Sakurai Saki looked at her with new eyes.
So Shinomiya Kaguya was interested in things like this.
Actually, it was normal. A few months ago she had helped Ishigami Yuu win over his crush; having an interest in the topic of love was acceptable.
If one day Shinomiya Kaguya suddenly said she liked him, Sakurai Saki would probably feel as if the end of the world had come.
Shinomiya Kaguya stood up, then sat down next to Sakurai Saki.
The two sat very close; Sakurai Saki could even smell the fragrance on her body.Not body odor—most likely the scent of laundry detergent.
Even a Jade Beauty would sweat, and sweat would smell, and she'd even go to the toilet—did that shatter the fantasy?
"Let's look at each other, Sakurai-san." Shinomiya Kaguya placed a hand on Sakurai Saki's shoulder, turning him toward her.
"Umu, all right." Sakurai Saki looked at her.
Shinomiya Kaguya instinctively looked away, then a few seconds later met his eyes again.
Very soon, the two began staring at each other.
First second.
No feeling at all.
Second second.
Heartbeat steady, but gradually rising.
Sixth second.
Shinomiya Kaguya's breath brushed his face; she could also feel his breath.
At some point, the distance between them gradually shrank.
Sakurai Saki could see her long eyelashes and those red, captivating eyes.
A few more seconds passed, and Kaguya gently closed her eyes, taking on the posture of someone waiting for a kiss.
Sakurai Saki also noticed his heartbeat speeding up much more.
"Kaguya-san, ten seconds are up."
He shifted his gaze to the sports field outside the student council room window.
'Why didn't you kiss me?'Shinomiya Kaguya didn't voice the question.
Just now, she noticed he had wavered a little.
'Looks like my charm hasn't faded~'
Shinomiya Kaguya felt her mood lift.
"Did you feel a flutter just now?" Shinomiya Kaguya asked with a smile.
"Yeah."
"..." Kaguya blinked, a bit startled.
Eh?
The air suddenly turned chilly.
After speaking, Sakurai Saki realized what he had just blurted out.
He hurried to explain: "I mean, even if I [like] you, I still wouldn't deny your looks…"
Said the opposite again!!!
As soon as the words left his mouth, Sakurai Saki slammed his forehead hard onto the tea table in front of him, producing a crisp "thunk."
"Are you okay?"
She heard his words loud and clear, but chose to pretend she hadn't.
"I'm fine."
Seeing she hadn't reacted, Sakurai Saki rubbed his reddened forehead, secretly letting out a breath of relief.
That almost caused a misunderstanding.