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This was the infirmary.
Seiji was currently being hugged by the beautiful nurse in charge of the infirmary.
She was requesting for him to “console” her, and that he “didn’t need to take responsibility.”
Seiji felt that his head was on the verge of exploding! He had definitely seen plenty of scenes like this with nurses in both animes and with real actors and imagined various scenes involving hospitals, nurses, doctors… and other such gentlemanly content.
His sense of logic and reason almost collapsed from this.
But he managed to steady himself in the next moment.
He forcefully blocked off all the gentlemanly content from his brain and maintained his sense of reason!
Just as he was about to say something to Kaede, she giggled and released him.
“Just kidding,” said the blonde-haired nurse in a casual tone. She took a step backwards and continued: “I heard that boys like this type of… lonely teacher or something similar, which was why I played a small joke on you.” Her voice sounded rather flirtatious.
“How do you feel? Was your heart moved, Harano-kun?”
Seiji was rendered speechless by this.
Finally, after a few dozen seconds had elapsed, he sighed helplessly. “What an incredible joke, Juumonji-sensei.”
“Oh my, are you angry? Are you disappointed that it’s only a joke?”
“Of course not! It’s just… if I really did believe you just now, and wanted to forcefully do something, how would you have reacted?” Seiji glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.
Kaede’s smile remained unchanged.
“Harano-kun isn’t that type of person at all, which was why I dared to make that type of joke.” Her words were normal, but her tone seemed rather warm in a subtle way.
Seiji’s lips twitched.
‘Forget it—it was my own mistake to think of so many forbidden topics earlier.’
If he thought about it more carefully, her joke wasn’t such a big deal.
He decided not to worry about it any longer. But now, he was less motivated than earlier to keep up the conversation with Kaede.
“Although I was joking, I was being truthful about the ‘lonely’ part,” Kaede said, breaking the brief silence. “Whenever I’m bored, I hope that someone will come see me and chat with me… not an idiotic boy with strange underlying intentions, but a gentlemanly, excellent boy who truly cares about me.”
She looked searchingly at Seiji’s face while saying this.
Seiji was once again rendered speechless.
After that, only silence remained between them.
Kaede retracted her gaze and slowly sipped her tea.
Seiji also slowly sipped on his tea.
Both of them downed several cups of tea without saying a single word.
The blonde-haired nurse’s expression seemed to grow increasingly melancholy during this silence.
Just as she was truly about to become disconsolate, Seiji spoke up.
“There are various stalls at the school festival, with interesting things being sold in each one.”
His tone of voice and words were all calm and normal.
But anything he said at this moment would sound moving to Kaede right now as her eyes lit up!
“Oh? What kind of stuff is being sold?” She naturally continued this conversation topic.
Seiji calmly told her about what he saw.
And so, the two of them passed the time by chatting in an ordinary fashion.
…
Mayuzumi woke up.
She was confused and dazed when she opened her eyes. The first thing she did was to examine her surroundings
“Sensei, you’re awake.”
She heard a boy’s voice before she saw his handsome face.
Mayuzumi recovered her senses upon seeing his face.
“Haruta-kun…”
“It’s me. How are you feeling right now?” Seiji asked her concernedly.
“My… head is a little dizzy.”
“Rest on the bed for a little longer then.”
“Okay…”
Mayuzumi closed her eyes but opened them up quickly again.
“Where… where am I?”
“We’re in the school building—Genhana High School’s infirmary office, to be exact,” Seiji explained. “I took you here after you fainted. The infirmary nurse says that there are no major problems, so we didn’t go to the hospital and allowed you to rest here.”
“Oh…” Mayuzumi remembered back to what happened.
She had been touring the school festival together with Haruta-kun when she met a lost girl that had gotten separated from her guardian, and then… Shouhei Hirai!
Mayuzumi’s body began trembling as she recalled that man.
No… she shouldn’t be so scared of him.
Hirai-san wasn’t a bad person, and that incident in the past… occurred long ago and was over with already; she shouldn’t keep remembering it. There was no need for her to be scared…
Mayuzumi kept telling herself that.
But, despite this, her body remained in a tense, nerve-wracked state.
Seiji watched her tremble. “Go ahead: have a good rest and relax, Sensei.”
“Okay…” Mayuzumi closed her eyes once more.
She retracted into the blanket and felt its warmth as she made herself believe she was safe in an effort to calm down.
By the way, just how much time had passed?
Haruta-kun had been accompanying her all this time… that must have been troublesome for him.
Even though they were supposed to have fun at the school festival, she never expected that…
Mayuzumi laid there for several moments as she dealt with complex emotions within herself.
Then, she opened her eyes again and slowly sat up.
“Sensei?”
“Haruta-kun, I feel fine now.” Mayuzumi smiled faintly towards him before turning her head and looking out the window. “What time is it now?”
“It’s about four in the afternoon.”
“The school festival…”
“Is over now.”
“Ah… sorry. I…”
“No need for apologies, Sensei.” Seiji smiled gently. “It’s only for today. The school festival will continue tomorrow.”
“Haruta-kun…”
“I’ve been watching Sensei’s hard efforts, and I think you’re doing a wonderful job.” Seiji looked into her eyes. “I really had fun together with Sensei,” he said in a sincere tone. “Although we didn’t have all that long together, there’s still tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, isn’t there?”
Mayuzumi was temporarily lost for words.
“I heard that there will be some special activities tomorrow that will make this place even livelier! I’d like to continue enjoying them together with Sensei.” Seiji smiled brightly.
Mayuzumi felt a warm feeling inside her.
But she still felt apologetic towards him.
She didn’t even dare get off at the correct bus stop, felt uncomfortable with crowds of any kind, and fainted upon meeting a college classmate. Was it really alright for someone like her to ask Haruta-kun to accompany her and continue using up his valuable time?
Even if he himself didn’t mind, she minded.
This was a once-a-year school festival, and there would definitely be many girls that wanted to go see the school festival together with such an excellent boy like Haruta-kun.
The more she thought about it, the more she thought that… she was no good!
“Haruta-kun, I-I feel very tired.” The manga author decided to voice what was on her mind. “Let’s… just stop here. Tomorrow… I’d like to stay at home, and you can just go have fun at the school festival together with the girl you really want to be with.” She averted her gaze and forced herself to say that.
She suddenly visualized the handsome boy together with an unknown imaginary beautiful girl having fun together and chatting while visiting every attraction at the school festival.
Yep, that was how it seemed like it should be to her.
This was how he should pass his time. For someone like him in the prime of youth, he should be having fun dating a sparkling youthful girl and enjoying the fun things in life!
He shouldn’t have to accompany a troublesome woman like her with androphobia. It was unfair that he had to think carefully before speaking and was required to take care of her like a babysitter.
At least that was what Mayuzumi believed.
‘Yep, let’s just reject him. If we don’t continue this tomorrow, I can stay at home, and he can enjoy whatever he likes. That’s for the best.’
But… why was it that there was a pain in her chest?
Seiji looked at the manga author doubtfully.
“If that’s what Peach-sensei truly believes, then I’ll accept it. But, Sensei, you’re really bad at lying.” His next words were spoken in the gentlest tone he could manage: “There’s far too much evidence; even an elementary school student wouldn’t be fooled by you. Sensei, if you’re only rejecting me because you don’t want to trouble me, I won’t accept this kind of reason at all.
“And even if I accept, I doubt the confectionery store owner would accept. What I agreed on with her was that she would assist with my class’s project and that I would have a date together with Sensei during the school festival.
“If Sensei can’t stand me, or if you’re honestly too tired, then that’s fine. But if you simply feel apologetic because you think you’re troubling me, I highly doubt the owner would accept such a reason. She’d definitely get angry.”
Mayuzumi was rendered speechless upon hearing this.
“Of course, she won’t have the chance to get angry, because I’m going to refuse right here and now about your refusal, so she won’t ever hear about this,” Seiji informed her with a big grin on his face.
“In conclusion, your request to stop coming to the school festival has been rejected! Sensei, just take a good rest tonight, and recover your spirit, so that we can continue having fun together at the school festival tomorrow to make up for the lost time today.”
His voice sounded forcefully resolute to the point where she was unable to refuse.