"I'm not blushing! My cheeks aren't hot either. Feel them if you don't believe me." Ai put her hands down, lifted her face, and closed her eyes.
"Why are you…"
Hiko originally wanted to say, '…why are you closing your eyes? Are you worried that you'll blush if you watch me touch you?' But he stopped himself before finishing.
There was no need to provoke her unnecessarily, lest more problems arise later.
"…so bold?" Hiko changed what he was going to say.
He didn't rush to touch Ai. Instead, he picked up a knife and fork, cut a piece from the chocolate cake in front of him, and speared it with the fork.
"Why aren't you touching me yet?" Ai waited more than ten seconds and still didn't feel Hiko's hand reach out. She was about to open her eyes to see what he was doing.
"Come on, open your mouth, ah~" Hiko guided her. "You open your mouth first, then I'll touch you."
"What are you doing?" Ai asked warily. "You're not going to prank me, are you?"
"How could I prank you? You really don't trust me enough." Hiko spoke in a sad tone, but the smile on his face betrayed him. "Just trust me this once and open your mouth~ Please~"
"Since you're treating, I'll trust you this once, ah~" Ai didn't open her eyes, still keeping them closed. Trusting Hiko, she slightly parted her cherry lips.
Hiko waited until her lips were open at their widest, then put the cake from the fork into her mouth.
"Mmm~ Mmm…" Ai felt the chocolate-flavored dessert enter her mouth. She reflexively closed her lips, held the cake, and lifted her eyelids, letting light return to her vision.
As soon as she opened her eyes, she saw that the chocolate cake in front of Hiko had a missing corner, and he was holding the fork that had just gone into her mouth.
Hiko saw her open her eyes and smoothly withdrew the fork.
There was still some cream and chocolate residue on it.
Because Ai had cake in her mouth, she couldn't scold Hiko. Instead, she just chewed faster.
Hiko then cut the remaining one-third of the chocolate cake, speared it, and put it into his own mouth.
"How could you do that!" Ai exclaimed after swallowing the cake. Her originally fair, pretty face turned rosy.
"Hmm? What did I do?"
Hiko quickly swallowed, pulled the fork out of his mouth, and tilted his head as he looked at her.
The fork had been licked completely clean by his lips and tongue.
"You! You!..." Ai saw how spotless the fork was, and she couldn't even speak properly.
Hiko could already guess what she was thinking.
It was nothing more than the fork, which had gone from her mouth into his, equivalent to an indirect kiss. That was why she felt so shy and embarrassed, unable to speak clearly.
Hiko understood, so he decided to change the subject before she became overly flustered. "Is the chocolate cake delicious?"
"Baka! Baka! Baka!" Ai pouted, refusing to look at him, and muttered softly, "Baka! Baka! Baka!…"
After venting for a while, she bit her straw and drank her Frappuccino.
More than ten minutes passed without either of them speaking.
Ai occasionally stole glances at Hiko, then quickly looked away, secretly feeling dissatisfied that he didn't seem embarrassed at all.
'Why am I the only one embarrassed? I have to find a way to turn the tables.' Ai thought hard about what topic she could bring up to gain the upper hand.
"Hiko! You just said I look good in a skirt, right?" Ai called him directly by his name.
"Sort of, huh? Ai, why aren't you adding '-kun' anymore?"
Hiko noticed right away that Ai suddenly dropped the suffix. "I say your name, and you only say mine. It feels so much like a couple, Ai. Don't you think?"
"It feels so much like a couple." Ai was instantly defeated by those words.
It was like dying before the battle even started.
She had just opened her mouth, yet how could she already have lost?
Hoshino Ai felt even more embarrassed and a little depressed. "Hiko-kun, how could this feel like a couple? We're not a couple."
"But we're shopping together, alone, and we're both single. In a way, isn't this a date?"
Hiko answered without hesitation.
"Hiko-kun, today isn't a date, it's you…" Hoshino Ai tried to recall the reason for today's outing… no, meeting. It seemed to be because of something that was said before.
'Never mind, it's not important. Anyway, today isn't a date, that's for sure.'
"It's really raining." Ai stiffly changed the subject, glancing at the downpour outside the window.
"Yes, it's raining. We'd better stay here and pass the time slowly until it stops." Hiko continued the conversation.
"But it's boring here. There are no books, and nothing to play with." Ai managed to change the subject, and the embarrassment gradually faded.
"Then how about we study some math?" Hiko pulled a blank notepad and a pen from his pocket.
"Why do you carry a notepad and pen around with you?" Ai complained, watching him pull things out of nowhere.
Even if he was a student, there was no need to bring them everywhere.
It wasn't like he had some special profession.
"I just make notes whenever I need to." Hiko replied calmly.
"What needs constant note-taking? It's not like we're in class." Ai truly couldn't understand what Hiko was thinking.
Should she call it the quality of a top student, or the eccentricity of a genius?
"This way I can jot down ideas whenever they come to me." Hiko explained her confusion, then asked again, "So, do you want to study? I remember everything in the book, and if you want, I'll arrange it based on your progress these past two days."
"Let's study!" Ai thought of the final exam being less than a month away.
Hiko nodded, then shifted his seat to sit beside her.
Holding the pen, he copied the knowledge from the book and wrote out problems.
"Alright, let's start studying." After more than ten minutes of copying, Hiko said, "Ask me if there's anything you don't understand. First, see if you can solve it yourself."
After that, he slid his chair closer to Ai and handed her the notepad and pen.
"Okay." Ai accepted them, carefully reading the content written down.
'It feels like the development is a little strange.' Hiko realized belatedly.
Originally, today was supposed to be about relaxing and having fun with Ai.
Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate, and the rain forced them to stay here.
'Did I miss something just now?' Hiko sipped his drink and ate snacks while watching Ai study seriously.
"I don't understand this part…" Ai moved the notebook toward him and pointed at a problem.
As she spoke, she casually picked up a snack and started eating.
"This part goes like this…"
Hiko saw that the problem was simple and patiently explained it to Ai.
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Hiko X Ai - 46: Date VI
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Hiko x Ai - 73: Lecture
Hiko x Ai - 74: Retelling
Hiko x Ai - 75: Sacrifice?
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