CH 193

They met their first obstacle immediately.

“So the bus will be the first level…” Seiji rubbed his chin.

On their way to the bus stop, he had noticed Mayuzumi’s obvious trepidation.

There weren’t too many people waiting for the bus at this time of day, but of course there were still some people which obviously included males.

He felt sorry for how she was acting like a scared rabbit.

Should he call for a taxi?

His wallet would take a huge hit!

For a part-time worker like him, the taxi fee from here to Genhana High School would cost quite a lot.

But seeing how she currently was… Sigh.

“Sensei, let’s take a taxi instead,” Seiji said while mentally apologizing to his wallet.

“There’s n-no need,” Mayuzumi refused. “People… men… there aren’t very many; I can do it…”

She was very afraid.

Her body wanted to escape, but that was no good.

She needed to build up her courage and try her best to face all difficulties!

The bus eventually arrived.

Everyone lined up in an orderly fashion and began getting on the bus.

“Sensei…”

“Yeah…”

Seiji walked in front and got on the bus.

Mayuzumi followed him and also got on the bus, albeit a little slower than him.

There was still an empty seat.

Seiji let Mayuzumi sit down and stood an appropriate distance away from her.

Mayuzumi felt a sense of relief as she sat down and saw how considerate he was. He stayed neither too close nor too far away from her.

Her body wasn’t as tense as before now.

She looked out the window as the bus began driving.

She hadn’t taken the bus for quite a long time.

She didn’t need to go out very often for her work, and the few times she did, she would usually take a taxi.

To be honest, she really wanted to take a taxi this time as well and was on the verge of bringing it up herself.

But she actually rejected Haruta-kun when he brought it up.

She didn’t know what exactly she was thinking either, but… it was great that she wasn’t running away!

That was what Mayuzumi honestly believed.

The first two stops passed by without incident, but many people suddenly got on the bus at the third bus stop!

They were all young people wearing business attire… were they going to an interview together or some type of group activity?

No matter what, this was a bad situation for her.

Seiji shot a glance at Mayuzumi and noticed that her face had become ashen pale; she seemed like she was about to begin trembling.

He could only get closer to her so that he could use his own body to block all those men and women that just got on the bus… well, mainly to block the men that were all strangers.

A large crowd squeezed onto the bus.

Seiji was pushed by the crowd right next to Mayuzumi.

“Sensei, how are you?”

Mayuzumi didn’t respond; instead, she curled up and attempted to make her body appear smaller.

‘Just what should I do in this situation?

‘Should we get off the bus at the next stop? No! When the bus is this crowded, it’s certain that she’ll have to have physical contact with other men in order to get off, which will be terrible for her.

‘Sensei will just have to bear with it for a while… I hope that all these people get off before the bus stop close to Genhana High School.’

“Sensei, just hold on for a little while. Everything will be alright.” He tried to speak in his gentlest possible tone.

Mayuzumi slowly looked towards him and nodded with an expression that seemed like she was about to cry.

The bus continued on its path.

It was a long period of discomfort for her.

Seiji, who was observing Mayuzumi all this time, could tell that her mental condition was deteriorating.

This large group of men and women didn’t get off the bus anywhere.

And finally, just as Seiji was feared, the large group was still on the bus by the time they arrived at the bus stop closest to Genhana High School.

He didn’t really want to do this, but… should they give it a try?

“Sensei, it’s our stop. Shall we… try getting off?” Seiji asked her cautiously.

‘Get off the bus… and squeeze my way through this crowd of people?’

Just thinking about it caused Mayuzumi to begin shivering.

‘No, impossible—I can’t do it!’

She didn’t verbally respond and continued retreating into herself on her bus seat.

Seiji could tell the answer just by looking at her.

“Okay, there’s no need to worry,” he said in a gentle voice. “We don’t need to get off now. We can wait and get off the bus after this large group of people leaves.”

The bus drove on past Genhana High School.

The tortuous time continued for Mayuzumi.

The large group of men and women that had got on the bus together finally exited the bus three stops later.

By this time, Mayuzumi was completely curled up into a ball. She was shivering with both hands covering her face and crying softly.

Seiji was overcome by guilt upon seeing this sight.

Some passengers noticed the situation and were looking questioningly in their direction.

Seiji didn’t care about what others thought. He just hoped that nobody would do something like call the police, as that would be awkward…

‘We should have taken a taxi after all!’

He sighed to himself, but there was no use in crying over spilled milk.

“Sensei, they’ve gotten off the bus already. Let’s get off the bus as well at the next stop.”

Mayuzumi sniffled and somehow managed to stop her crying as she nodded.

The two of them got off at the next stop.

After leaving the bus stop, they went to a nearby coffee café.

There were very few customers in this store at this time.

Seiji had Mayuzumi sit in a seat by the corner while he asked the male waiter for a kettle of black tea before he sat down across from her.

He wanted to say something, but stopped himself because he felt that perhaps temporary silence would be better for her.

Moments later, the waiter brought their black tea. Seiji stood up to receive it from him and placed it on their table himself.

When he finished pouring the tea and placed a cup in front of Mayuzumi, the manga author finally spoke again.

“Thank you…”

“Sensei, are you alright?”

“I think… I’m a little better.”

Mayuzumi reached out and cupped her hands around the warm teacup as she revealed a weak smile.

Her eyes were red, her face was still pale, and it was easy to see that she wasn’t feeling too good.

“You can slowly relax in here. There are very few people, and it’s pretty quiet,” Seiji said gently as he took a sip of his own tea.

‘Hmm… this tea doesn’t seem all that good. I must have had too much good tea at the president’s residence, making me pickier than before.’

Thinking about the tea’s quality and the techniques for making tea… Houjou-senpai’s figure appeared in his mind.

Seiji’s mouth gradually arced upwards.

“I just recalled someone who’s quite excellent at making tea…” He started a conversation.

This person was a maid to the current student council president, and an ex-student council president herself, plus she had the rather ridiculous nickname of “Smiling Executioner.”

Black-and-white maid attire looked perfectly beautiful on her, and she was supremely skilled at making tea as well as cooking and could even bake desserts such as red bean cakes.

‘There’s actually a girl like this in real life?’

Mayuzumi was interested in the conversation topic that Seiji chose.

As a female manga author as well as otaku lady, she was quite interested in the concept of maids. Hearing about such a person in reality would naturally catch her attention.

Seiji used Houjou-senpai as a topic to catch her interest, and after she responded, he chatted about what he knew about the maid before moving on to another topic of conversation.

And so, the atmosphere finally became less tense.

The two of them had so much fun chatting that it seemed like they were unable to stop!

After all, this was a conversation between an otaku and a female otaku manga artist.

They had common interests, so after they broke the ice, they chatted on endlessly about a multitude of different topics.

Without realizing it, they even finished their kettle of black tea, and, as both of them were still in the right mood, they ordered a new kettle of green tea.

They also ordered various confectioneries to complement their tea.

They had forgotten about their original objective of touring the school festival and lost themselves in conversation.

“Eh? It’s going to develop in that direction!?” Seiji exclaimed in surprise after learning about the newest scenario in the “Honey Candy Girl” anime.

“What a wondrous development. However, after considering it closely, there has indeed been foreshadowing for this.”

He praised Mayuzumi’s amazing story writing abilities as an author for several seconds before he realized something.

“Wait a moment—this new development hasn’t been revealed yet, right? Is it really alright to… give me such a spoiler?”

The female manga author’s smile froze solid.

“This… I just happened to casually say it, so it shouldn’t be a problem… right?” She awkwardly averted her gaze.

Seiji was at a loss for how to respond.

‘Hey, this is obviously a problem!’

“Sensei’s creation is hugely popular, and spoiling something that hasn’t been publicized yet could be rather troublesome… You should be more cautious.”

“Wah… will Haruta-kun tell other people?” Mayuzumi lowered her head slightly as she realized she had made a mistake.

“Of course not—I’ll guard the secret to my death!” An indescribable light flashed through Seiji’s eyes. “But still, it’s bad to give spoilers, so let’s not do that again, Sensei.”

“Wahh… Haruta-kun, you sound rather like Saki.”

Saki, that was Saki Yoshizawa, the editor.

Of course, Mayuzumi knew that Seiji was acquainted with Editor Yoshizawa and that they were collaborating on a story together.

“Oh, since you mentioned Editor Yoshizawa… Sensei, what type of person do you think she is?”

Seiji took a sip of tea and asked a casual question.

Mayuzumi didn’t have a chance to respond because her cell phone rang at this time.