Cinderella forgot to take her panties with her
"So basically, there was a love letter waiting for you on the table when you returned to the room."
With a voice that fit his beautiful face, the good-looking, jersey-wearing male student summarized Keiki's explanation. This student's name was Akiyama Shouma, and just like Keiki, he was in class 2-B. As the ace of the tennis club, he was indeed quite popular with the girls. Little did they know that he was only interested in girls of a certain age range. To be more specific, he was a lolicon.
This handsome man and Keiki were friends. Currently, they were having a meeting in the tennis club's clubroom.
"And here I thought that you came here for morning practice. You really were just making me listen to your boasting again, weren't you?"
"I do feel bad that I had to interrupt your training."
"I don't mind. I'm happy that you came to talk to me about it," Shouma said as he showed Keiki a smile. "So you finally received a love letter, I see… although the girl added a pair of panties to it."
"Yeah, I was really surprised, too," Keiki took out said pair of pure white panties, and Shouma responded with a small gasp of surprise.
"Wow, that's really brave of you to bring those back to school."
"It's not like I could just leave them at home…" After all, that pair of panties was Keiki's only clue to finding the sender of the love letter.
"Just out of curiosity… are they used?"
"No, it seems like they're completely new. They don't even smell like laundry detergent or anything."
"So you actually smelled them?"
"Well, if they really were used, I'd wash them just in case." It's better safe than sorry, after all. "Hey, Shouma. What do you think these panties mean?"
"Maybe the person who sent you the love letter panicked and just happened to drop them?"
"How much would you have to panic in order to just 'happen' to drop your panties?"
Believe it or not, people make the craziest mistakes when they panic. No matter how unbelievable it sounds, there might be an actual reason why something like that could happen on accident.
"Still, why didn't the girl write her name on the letter?"
Exactly. This was the main part that Keiki was struggling with. There was no name anywhere on the love letter he had received. Everything else was already weird enough, but that was the most confusing part of it.
"It really is a mystery, yeah. I doubt that she simply forgot to write it…"
"Or could this whole thing just be some elaborate prank?"
"That might be true as well. Still, I don't think that there are many students who would play pranks like this. We are in high school, after all."
"Yeah, you're probably right about that…."
In the end, the two of them couldn't come up with anything. Just the panties alone were a complete mystery. Not to mention the girl's name.
"In the end, just thinking about it won't help. How about we call the girl 'Cinderella' for now?"
"Why 'Cinderella?'"
"Instead of her shoe, she dropped her panties."
"What kind of reason is that?"
But Keiki could see why Shouma had thought of that. Him not knowing the girl's name was very much like how the prince of the story didn't know Cinderella's.
"Well, name and panties aside, the best place to start would be trying to figure out who could have actually been able to leave the letter in that location."
"That's the thing. But… you know…"
I've been thinking about that constantly ever since I found the letter.
After everyone had left that day, Keiki was in the room the entire time, except for ten short minutes when he had left to clean the bucket. With that in mind, the number of possible culprits was very small indeed.
"Yeah, there's probably not many people it could have been," Shouma seemed to agree with Keiki's reasoning.
"I'm not assuming that it can't be someone from outside the club but… No one except for the girls present at that time should've known that I was staying behind. So just leaving the letter in the calligraphy club like that would be too risky, I think. The logical conclusion is that Cinderella was there yesterday when we are all cleaning up."
Seeming to agree with Keiki's line of thinking, Shouma asked, "And who was there when you were cleaning the room again?"
"There were—-"
The big-breasted Senpai, Tokihara Sayuki.
The honest and cute Kouhai, Koga Yuika.
His close classmate, Nanjou Mao.
Keiki's little sister, Kiryuu Mizuha.
"Leaving out Mizuha-chan because she's your little sister, that leaves you with three girls. One of them should be the Cinderella that wrote you the love letter."
"S-So you think so as well."
"You're face is getting red, Keiki."
"But, you know…" Keiki fidgeted.
"Can you not squirm around with a red face like that? It's frightening."
"I-I can't help it, right? This is the first time I've gotten a love letter, after all….."
"So the minor detail about the panties isn't important to you at all, it seems."
"Leave me alone, okay?"
For Keiki, the fact that he had gotten a chance to get a girlfriend was more important now. Also, all of the possible candidates were people he knew. All of them were women with plenty of charm. His face continued turning red with the thought that one of them held romantic feelings toward him.
"So currently, you have the panties of one of those three girls."
"That's putting it too bluntly, so can you please keep that off-record?"
It ruins that sweet feeling from before.
"But you're right. In the end, it comes down to me finding out who these panties belong to."
"Don't act like the prince from the Cinderella story did. It's easy to ask girls to try on shoes to see if they fit. Panties are a different matter."
"It sounds like you're having fun, watching me struggle…."
"Then do you want to give up? You can also choose to not search for your Cinderella."
"No, I'll do it! I definitely will!"
"Well at least you're not lacking in motivation. Where'd that change come from?"
"Hmph, that should be obvious," Standing up, Keiki struck a do-or-die pose with one hand in the air and exclaimed, "Even I want to have a cute girlfriend!"
That was the one phrase that probably every adolescent boy had thought to themselves at least once.
I want to be all lovey-dovey with a cute girl.
Indeed, this was one of the primal wishes of a young boy.
Although the girl's identity was unknown, the feelings she had for Keiki were as clear as day. To put it simply, finding out her identity would result in getting a lover. It's as simple as that, Keiki thought. Of course, it was a rather straightforward conclusion, but that was more than enough for a lonely virgin like him.
The girl that wrote the love letter was the Cinderella who dropped her panties. Steeling his resolve, the prince lifted the curtains on his weird search for Cinderella.
Having separated from Shouma, Keiki was on the way to his classroom when he ran into Tokihara Sayuki.
"Ah, good morning Cake-kun. Your name sounds as delicious as always."
"Good morning, Sayuki-senpai. My name isn't Cake, you know? It's Ke-i-ki."
"The pronunciation is almost exactly the same, isn't it? You won't ever be popular if you sweat tiny little details like that, you know."
"Isn't it too early for you to be insulting me like that?"
"For example, think about when there's a delicious cake for your birthday or something. You're the kind of person who'd be disappointed if his slice were even a tiny bit smaller than everybody else's."
"Actually, I'm more disappointed by what you're saying this early in the morning."
"Nice comeback, Keiki-kun," She said with a giggle.
With a pen she took out of nowhere, she scribbled something on Keiki's cheek.
"Can you not just draw graffiti on my cheek like that? …And what did you even write?"
"I wrote 'Officer, it was me.'"
"What exactly did I do?!"
Sayuki took out a small hand-mirror and let Keiki have a look. It was just a childish prank, but she still looked like she was having fun.
She might've seemed like a weird person, but Keiki didn't dislike being pranked by her. On the contrary, he rather enjoyed it. No boy would ever claim to dislike being close friends with a beautiful senpai like her.
"That reminds me, our cleaning operation yesterday was a lot of work, wasn't it?"
"It was only a lot of work because of Senpai, though."
"I'm reflecting on that. I don't regret it, though."
"Senpai, you really learn everything the hard way, don't you?"
"But it's Keiki-kun's responsibility to look after the room, isn't it?"
"Excuse me? Why is that?"
"Even though you're such a cleaning fanatic, you didn't come to the club for a whole week, so of course the room would end up like that."
"That's the first I've heard of that. It's true that it's mostly me who cleans up the room, though…."
To be honest, Kiryuu Keiki wasn't exactly a full-fledged member of the calligraphy club. Although he was registered as a member, he was a real amateur when it came to calligraphy. He neither went to the club room on a regular basis nor actually practised writing. You might even go so far as to call him a ghost member of the club. The only reason that he got involved with the calligraphy club in the first place was because he was charmed by Sayuki. Rather than calling it affection, it was more like he looked up to her. While she was writing, she looked really cool. So cool that he would almost forget every unfortunate aspect about her. Of course, her being an interesting person to be around was also a big part of that. The day he first met her, he wasn't nervous like a normal boy his age would be around such a beauty. Instead, she seemed childish to him, and he could be more intimate with her than with other girls.
"But wasn't it Senpai who told me 'I want to focus for a bit, so could you leave me alone?'"
"Eh? Did I really say something like that?"
"Yes, you did. Do you not remember that?"
"I do remember having lots of work to do and being annoyed about it."
"It's fine…..Ah, here. The key to the room."
Yesterday after school, he had borrowed that key from Sayuki. Her expression was the same as always. When their hands touched, there was no reaction at all. Keiki saw no difference from her usual behaviour. Would she really be able to calmly interact with Keiki if she was his Cinderella?
"….Oh?" Seemingly catching on to something, Sayuki came closer to Keiki's face.
"W-What is it?"
"Keiki-kun, you have bags under your eyes."
"There's no way that that's the case," He answered as naturally as possible.
"Of course it's the case. Why would you tell such a blatantly obvious lie? …Did you not sleep well?"
"Well, uhm… I couldn't fall asleep."
He was too busy thinking about the identity of Cinderella, which made it impossible for him to calm down enough to fall asleep. It was his first love letter, after all, so there was no way he could remain calm about that.
"Then how about you go to the clubroom and take a nap?"
"That sounds really tempting, but I can't just skip classes like that, so I'll have to pass."
"That's a shame. I was even planning on taking a nap together with you," She let out a teasing laugh.
Seeing her cute smile, Keiki was entranced for a moment and found himself staring at her.
"Hmm? What is it?"
"N-No, it's nothing. I'll excuse myself now."
"Ah, wait, Keiki-kun."
"What is it?"
"I think that it would be a good idea to erase that writing off your face. It makes you look like an idiot, you know?"
"Senpai was the one who wrote that!"
He had completely forgotten the writing on his cheeks. He was about to wipe it away with his sleeve, but Sayuki took out a handkerchief.
"Here, hold still."
"….Okay." Being so close to her face, Keiki felt the blood rushing to his head.
"There, it's gone."
"T-Thank you very much…."
I still don't know if Tokihara Sayuki really is my Cinderella.
However, his heart throbbed at the possibility.
It was lunch break and Keiki was currently in the library. He was sitting behind the counter, surrounded by countless books and computer workstations. Next to him was the short-haired blonde girl who was currently on duty as a librarian.
"Thanks for yesterday. Yuika-chan really helped us out a whole lot."
"Yuika is glad that she was able to help."
Yesterday after classes, he had run into her in the hallway after he was called over by Sayuki. After telling Yuika the circumstances, she offered to help clean the clubroom. Since Keiki and Yuika were often together at committee meetings, they were pretty close to each other. His impression of this girl Koga Yuika was that she was an honestly cute kouhai.
"Oh, someone is ready to check out."
"Ah, Yuika will do it," she said as she turned towards the girl that came in with a book.
Moving the mouse with her small hands, she scanned the book and handed it back to the female student. "Here you go. The deadline for returning it is two weeks from now."
Perfectly polite customer service with a smile until the end. Even though she had only been working at the library for about one month, she performed her job flawlessly.
"You look like you're having fun."
"Yuika really likes books, after all. Even though she doesn't look the part, Yuika actually is a real bookworm."
"A bookworm, huh? Do you read any books from overseas?"
"Not all that many, no. Yuika might look foreign because of her blonde hair, but her English isn't very good."
After adding "I don't read anything unless it's translated into Japanese," she let out a laugh. Although she looked a bit like a foreign princess, Keiki always found her very easy to talk to.
"If I recall correctly, your grandma was from England, right?"
"Yes. Yuika's grandmother's daughter is Yuika's mother and her father is fully Japanese. That makes Yuika a quarter British, I guess."
They were always talking like this when they were on duty together. Since they were in the library, though, they had to keep their voices down a bit.
"Keiki-senpai lives alone with his little sister, right?"
"Yeah, since both of our parents work so much, they aren't home all that often."
"Yuika's parents also come home fairly late. When she was a kid — before her grandmother passed away — Yuika was often at her house. She had a lot of books there that she would read to me…" Reminiscing about the past like that, she looked at the books on the counter. "It's Yuika's dream to write children's picture books."
"Ohh, that sounds really cool."
He imagined a grown-up Yuika drawing picture books, and he thought that it really suited her.
"By the way, Keiki-senpai?"
"What is it?"
"Does Senpai like big breasts?"
"Cough?! E-Excuse me?!"
"Senpai, keep your voice down."
"S-Sorry…..that was because you said something so weird out of the blue," Keiki protested, this time in a quieter voice.
"So, does Senpai like big breasts?"
"Eh? We're continuing that?"
"Yuika wants to use it as a reference."
"What kind of reference would that be….?"
"So, what's your answer?"
"…No comment."
"That tells me everything Yuika needs to know."
"Then why are you even asking me?!"
In the end, there was no way out of the situation for Keiki.
"Yuika wonders why all boys like big breasts," She said, casting a sidelong glance at said boy sitting next to her.
Being cornered by his kouhai, Keiki felt cold sweat forming on his forehead.
"Yuika is sure that Keiki-senpai is gradually becoming ensnared by Tokihara-senpai's breasts. How lewd…"
"You're wrong!"
"Really? You came running to her aid just because of one phone call, after all. You're basically acting as her yes-man at this point. Didn't you enter the calligraphy club just because of her breasts?"
"No, not because of that. You're definitely wrong about that!"
He certainly didn't join the calligraphy club because of such a half-baked reason.
"And why can't you just get along with Sayuki-senpai?"
"Big breasts are the enemy of every flat-chested girl."
"Why does this sound so convincing coming from you…?"
"Yuika thinks that it's cheating for Tokihara-senpai to both be beautiful and also have big breasts."
"I really have to agree on that," Nodding in agreement, he suddenly realized that a cold stare was coming from his side.
"….So you really do like them on the bigger side."
"Ah…" He realized too late.
And the more he tried to talk his way out of it, the colder the gaze of his cute kouhai became.
"This isn't good. At this rate, my status as a trustworthy senpai will….."
"You never had such a status from the beginning."
"Seriously?!"
"It's Senpai's fault for comparing breast sizes."
"...."
He didn't mean to compare anything, but it's true that he liked them on the larger end of the scale. Seeing his kouhai hang her head down in defeat, a sudden feeling of torture assaulted Keiki. As he shrank down with his whole body like a dog getting scolded, Yuika raised her voice once more.
"Hey, Senpai. There's no need to be so depressed about it. Yuika was joking after all."
"Eh, joking?"
"Yes, Yuika just wanted to tease you a little bit. That's why you don't have to feel bad."
"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa… T-Thank God."
"Sorry. But, seeing Senpai react like that, he looked really cute."
"Please don't tease me just for that reason…"
Seeing his reaction, his kouhai started snickering.
Her laughing face was unbearably cute, and seeing her small body slightly shake in laughter, he felt the urge to just hug her right on the spot.
In that moment, a sweet, mesmerizing voice started whispering to him.
"Hey, Senpai. Did you know?" Her lips looked so sweet and soft. "Girls, you see. They don't tease boys that they don't have any interest in." That phrase reverberated inside Keiki's chest.
"…W-What exactly do you mean by that?"
"Fufu, I wonder…?" She chuckled. He wondered how much of that she meant as a joke.
The blonde-haired girl kept everything a secret as she showed a beautiful smile to Keiki.
"Now then, lunch break is just about over. Let's prepare to close up the library."
"A-Ah, yeah," As he said that, Keiki thought to himself, Maybe Yuika is actually Cinderella, after all.
She was a beautiful girl with foreign charm and a natural, honest cuteness. If she were to become his lover, he probably wouldn't need anything else in life. To think that an angel-like presence like her could be in love with him— Thinking that, just like the time with Sayuki, his heart started pounding in his chest.
Later that day, Keiki was in P.E, his last class for the day.
Since boys and girls were split up into separate groups, the boys were having a match of basketball while the girls were playing volleyball. Keiki and Shouma were sitting against they wall as they watched their classmates play. They were, as one would expect, still talking about the love letter.
"So, did you manage to gather any clues?"
"No, nothing as of yet. Both Senpai and Yuika-chan aren't acting any differently from normal."
"Well, I don't think that it would be too weird if one of them was Cinderella. I mean, both of them seem to be quite fond of you, after all."
"I don't think that they hate me or anything, but…"
"But?"
"Thinking about it, there's no way that a beauty like Sayuki-senpai or a cute girl like Yuika-chan would fall in love with me, right?"
"Why do you have no confidence in yourself, Keiki…?"
"Why, you ask… There's nothing about me that would make girls fall in love with me. My grades are average, I'm not particularly good at sports, and there's really nothing that makes me stand out from other guys."
And I'm not handsome like Shouma either.
Next to a cute heroine should be a cool man. Someone with good grades, someone who's athletic, someone who's cool-looking, or someone like a hero. Men like that are way more popular with the girls than your average Joe. Just like the prince charming in the story about Cinderella.
"I'm no prince charming."
He did receive a love letter, but he had no idea what made the girl fall in love with him. It would honestly be easier for him to understand if it were some sort of prank or accident. No matter how much he tried, he couldn't see a charming girl like Sayuki or Yuika head over heels in love with him like that.
"Really, Keiki's as hopeless as always."
"Shouma?"
"I know, okay? You joined the calligraphy club for your senpai's sake so that it wouldn't get shut down. You looked after your kouhai, who was having trouble making friends because of her foreign appearance."
"Shouma…"
"Why were you so kind to Tokihara-senpai and Koga-chan?"
"Well, it's normal to help girls when they're in trouble, isn't it?"
Girls really are the cutest when they have a charming smile on their face. It was only because of that single reason. He just couldn't stand seeing a sorrowful look on their face, so he had to help them.
"That's what I mean. Those are the points that make you special."
"Eh, what do you mean?"
"Exactly that. Because you're an idiot like that."
"Shouma?!"
"Ah, I meant it in a good way."
"How can I be an idiot in a good way…?" That being said, Keiki understood that Shouma didn't mean it as an insult.
"You might not realize it, but you really are a man that girls could fall in love with. I can guarantee it. And you did in fact receive a love letter, didn't you?"
"That… might be the case… but…"
The words written on that love letter were 'I love you,' so there should be girl out there who has feelings for him.
"There really is a girl out there that feels that way about me…?" Just thinking that made his head feel numb.
"…? Huh?" In that moment, Keiki felt someone's gaze upon him.
On the other side of the hall, the girls were lined up against the wall, waiting for their turn to play volleyball.
"…Nanjou?" It might've been from far away, but he felt like their eyes met.
Also— he could barely tell, but he thought that her cheeks looked slightly flushed.
As he tilted his head in confusion, a voice screaming "Watch out!" entered his ears.
"Eh?" He looked towards the voice.
In that moment, his vision went black and a sudden heat-like pain exploded from his face.
"—Gufu?!" He had been hit by a stray basketball, probably because of a missed pass. The sound of the dropping ball mixed with the sound of a collapsing human.
...…
...…
.....
A long silence followed. He didn't move, which made it look like time had stopped. As the one closest to the collapsed Keiki, Shouma froze up. Since Keiki showed no signs of getting up again, Shouma let out a scream that shook the whole gym hall.
"K-Keikiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii?!"
When he opened his eyes, Keiki found himself lying on a bed in the nurse's office.
"Oh… that's right, I was hit in the face by a ball…"
I was probably carried here by some other students.
"Taking a basketball straight to the face….what is this? A manga?"
As he let out these words, he met the eyes of the girl sitting on a chair next to his bed.
"Mornin'. School's already over, Mr. Sleepyhead."
Closing the book she had in her hands, she put it down on her thighs. Unlike Keiki, who was still in his gym clothes, she had already changed back into her usual school uniform. Stretching out from underneath her short skirt were her healthy-looking legs—
"…Wait, huh?!"
"Kiryuu? What's wrong?"
"N-No, it's nothing…" He couldn't exactly tell her that he got aroused by her beautiful legs.
I wonder why high school girls always have to wear their skirts so short. Yet they always get mad when the boys happen to see their panties. I really don't get it.
"Is your head okay? Does it still hurt?"
"Ah, no. I feel much better now that I've taken a little rest."
"I'm glad to hear that. Akiyama was here until just a little while ago, but he had to go to his club activities. The nurse also had to leave to attend a staff meeting."
"That explains why there's nobody around… But, why are you here?"
"I didn't have any plans today…..and I thought it'd be better if someone stayed behind to watch over you."
"I see. So Nanjou can actually be kind if she puts her mind to it."
"Shut it. It's not like that." Seeing her act like a real tsundere, Keiki let out a small giggle.
Maybe because she was aware of that, she said, "You cheeky little—" and poked his side.
"Still, did something happen today? You were spacing out a lot, Kiryuu."
"Did it really look like that?"
"Yeah, it did. Just like when you took that ball to the face."
"So you saw my receive, huh….."
"Fufu, just remembering it makes me laugh."
"Hey?!"
Now that I think about it, it felt like our eyes met before that ball hit me….
Maybe she was watching Keiki because she was worried about him.
"Well, Kiryuu is always in his own world, but today it was worse than normal… Hey, were you looking at a girl that piqued your interest or something?"
"....Eh?"
Because of her different, more direct choice of words, Keiki didn't know how to respond.
"Eh, really? There really is a girl like that?"
"No, you're wrong. I was just lost in my thoughts or something."
"That so? …This sounds fishy."
"N-No, there's nothing fishy about it at all."
"What's wrong? Your face is turning red. Do you have a fever or something?" Mao stretched out her hand towards Keiki's forehead.
There wasn't any special meaning behind it or anything, it was just a little bit of skinship.
"….Eh?"
"Ah….."
However, maybe because he was having trouble keeping his usual composure, he unconsciously found himself grabbing her hand as she stretched it out.
Her slender arm with delicate fingers. A body temperature that was a little bit cooler than Keiki's.
Normally, he only saw her as a normal friend, but right now, he was embarrassingly aware of her as someone of the opposite gender.
"Hey, Nanjou….if I really had a girl like that, would you support me?" Before he realized it, Keiki had already spoken these words.
He was sure that she would say yes. However, her reaction wasn't anything like he had expected.
"…I kind of don't want that… I probably wouldn't be able to honestly support you."
"Eh…?"
"It's nothing… Sorry, Kiryuu, I'll be going now," With these words, she dashed out of the nurse's office.
"What was that about…?"
Alone in the room, Keiki pondered Mao's words. His heart was still beating like crazy. The reason for that was the face that the girl made as she ran away. It looked like she was upset that he was talking to other girls, almost like she was pouting. She had a 'girly face' that he had never seen on her before.
"Don't tell me….is Nanjou my Cinderella?"
Somewhere deep in his heart, his opinion of her had changed. Just like Shouma, he had met her after he became a high school student when they happened to end up in the same class. They had only known each other for about a year, but he still thought of her as a good friend. Because being with her was so comfortable, he didn't see her as a potential girlfriend.
Since she was also a member of the cleaning operation, the chance that she was the sender of the love letter wasn't zero. Keiki realized that even Nanjou Mao was a candidate to be his Cinderella.
After changing back into his normal uniform, Keiki left the school building behind him. As he walked past a park near the school, he spotted a beautiful black-haired girl.
"Sayuki-senpai?"
"Oh, Cake-kun. Your name sounds delicious as always."
"We've had that discussion this morning already. And also….."
Keiki had to look downwards at her to meet her gaze. The reason for this was because she was kneeling down. She was petting a huge white dog as she looked up at Keiki.
"….What's up with this gigantic dog?"
"I happened to meet him here. I've decided to call him 'Vegetarian' for now."
"He's definitely a carnivore, though…"
This giant dog clearly didn't look vegetarian at all. If you were to put meat and vegetables in front of him, he would definitely pick the meat.
"Anyway, he's clearly someone's pet. He has a collar, after all."
There was a dark red collar securely fastened around the dog's neck.
"He probably ran away while he was on a walk. It'd be nice if his owner was somewhere nearby…"
Looking around, Keiki couldn't see anyone that might've been the owner.
"Hey, Vegetarian. Do you know where your owner went?"
"Woof!"
"How troublesome, Keiki-kun. It looks like he can't speak Japanese…."
"That'd be a real problem if he could!"
With that, the two of them decided to look for the owner of 'Vegetarian' (temp), but it didn't take them very long. As soon as the dog spotted his owner, he immediately ran towards her. Said owner was a young girl in her early twenties. After taking the leash back and bowing down countless times to Keiki and Sayuki, she scolded her dog (whose name wasn't 'Vegetarian,' of course) with a "Really, you can't do that!" Looking over at Sayuki, Keiki noticed that she had a sort of lonely expression on her face.
Even after they returned to the park, Sayuki didn't say anything, and seemed to be avoiding Keiki's gaze.
"…Sayuki-senpai? Is something wrong?"
"Ah, well. I was just a bit envious, is all…"
"Hm? So Senpai likes dogs, huh? Can't you keep one at your house?"
"No, it's not that."
"…?" Keiki tilted his head at her vague answer.
"Hey, Keiki-kun?"
"What is it?"
"I'd like to be patted on the head by Keiki-kun."
"...….."
"…? Why are you keeping quiet?"
"Ah, no, I just didn't expect that sort of request… where did that even come from?"
"I really gave it my best for the calligraphy competition, you know."
"Ah, that's right. Good work."
"And I want a reward for my hard work."
"Ah, I see. So, as your reward, you want me to pat you on the head."
He said it like he understood her reasoning, but he really didn't. A request like this was really out of character for Sayuki.
"Yesterday, you pat your little sister on the head, right? I would like to experience that as well… Will… you?" She looked up at him, saying these words with a sweet voice.
"If you're fine with me, then I'll gladly do that!" Without thinking twice, Keiki accepted Sayuki's request.
He started gently stroking her hair. Although she was a third-year who was a bit taller than Mao or Yuika, she still wasn't quite as tall as Keiki, so her height was no problem for him. Since this was his first time petting the head of a girl other than his little sister, though, he did feel quite embarrassed. Of course, doing something like this in general is rather embarrassing regardless of the situation. Especially considering that they were still standing in the middle of a public park, with other people occasionally walking past.
While Keiki was having trouble keeping his embarrassment under control, Sayuki for her part was looking as calm as a cat.
"Uhm… how is it?"
"Ah, well… I don't really know why, but it feels good."
She seemed to be enjoying herself.
They only stayed like that for about ten seconds. After Keiki pulled his hand away, he smiled at him bashfully. And then, without any warning whatsoever, she suddenly kissed him on the cheek.
"This is your reward because you're always so kind," After she said these words with her usual charming smile, she turned around, her skirt fluttering.
Her face had a faint red tint to it and she murmured a soft "See you tomorrow," as her black hair slowly disappeared towards the setting sun. With his head in the clouds, and that soft sensation still lingering on his cheek, Keiki was left behind just like that. Unsure what had just taken place, he put one hand on said cheek and muttered:
"What was that…? I have no clue what's going on anymore."
The sender of the love letter, the panties that were left on top of it, that kiss just now. The only thing that he was sure of was that his heart was beating like crazy.
"…Oh, Nii-san? You're home already?"
"A-Ah, yeah. I'm home."
"Welcome back. What's wrong? You're kinda spacing out."
"N-No, it's nothing."
I can't exactly tell her that I'm still in shock because of Sayuki-senpai's sudden kiss.
Mizuha came out of the living room wearing an apron and holding a frying pan. She had already changed out of her school uniform.
"I managed to get some nice mackerel today, so we'll be having that with miso soup for dinner."
"Oh, sounds great."
"It'll be finished soon, so go ahead and change."
"I'll do that. Uhm, Mizuha. About yesterday….."
"Yes? What is it?"
"After we finished cleaning yesterday, do you know which one of you left the room last?"
After Keiki told Shouma about the love letter, Shouma had said that "The girl who left the room last has a high chance of being Cinderella."
"The last person, huh? Uhm—" He put one hand on her lips as she thought. "That must've been Tokihara-senpai if I remember correctly."
That was the name of the girl Keiki was with until a few minutes ago.
"Why do you ask?"
"Ah, it's nothing. Thanks."
After saying this, Keiki went up the stairs and headed towards his room. Unable to do anything else, he barely managed to close the door and leaned against it, slowly sliding down.
He then unconsciously touched his cheek. The place where Sayuki had kissed him.
"….So Sayuki-senpai is Cinderella?"
The possibility certainly wasn't low. She wouldn't kiss a boy she didn't have any feelings for— At least, he thought she wouldn't, anyway.
"If Sayuki-senpai really feels that way about me, I could probably crop a feel of her breasts whenever I want…" He imagined it in his head, being able to use those big melons however he'd like. "That wouldn't be so bad…"
But no matter how much he enjoyed these fantasies, they certainly wouldn't become reality unless he could prove that she is his Cinderella.
"I guess I'll go meet Senpai again tomorrow."
Deciding on that, he decided to go change his clothes… but found himself unable to do so. His body wouldn't listen, and his heartbeat wouldn't calm down either. For quite some time, Keiki was unable to move from that spot.