CH 8

The Training Camp and the Moonlight and the Palpitation (2)

The grouping is decided by drawing lottery. Basically they were male-female pairs. Yatta ne. Thank you so much, God-sama, Buddha-sama, ancestors-sama and the other gods-sama.

Even though I don’t know whether the Prince and Mitsuki will end up together, but if not for the lottery, the Prince would definitely not pair up with her. So it’s better for the pairing to be decided by lottery.

“Hai, boys please come over and line up here~”

Holding the box with the lottery slips, Yurino-sensei waved his right hand to gather the participants. Surrounded by male students, the Sensei who wasn’t a tall person disappeared within the crowd.

I’ll go last since I’m okay with anyone being my partner. With that in mind, I went to the back and waited for the line to clear.

Besides, from a girl’s point of view, rather than an average-looking guy like me, they’d probably prefer to group with ikemen like the Prince, Kaname or Soutarou. To the girl who’ll become my partner, I apologise in advance.

“Sakurai-kun’s slip is the last one.”

“A, hai.”

“Mako-chan, what’s your number? What’s your number?”

Putting my hand in the box, I grabbed onto a scrap of paper.

The number on it was 12.

“Tch~, 12, huh. It’s different from mine.”

Stealing a glance at my paper, Kaname shrugged in disappointment.

“What did you get, Soutarou, Kiritani?

“Mako, I, got number 12!”

“Ah, I’m together with Soutarou, huh.”

With a “Pa~atto”, Soutarou’s expression brightened. Overwhelmed with emotions, he approached me. While thinking that he doesn’t have to be so happy, I realised that being hugged by him doesn’t feel so bad.

On the other hand, the Prince was in a bad mood from his draw. He looked at Soutarou and I with narrowed eyes. I hope he doesn’t say stuff like wanting to go home.

“Mako-chan, what’s your number? I couldn’t find the person with the same number as me.”

The Mitsuki who was wearing a long-sleeved russet jersey with long trousers came over.

Mitsuki was holding onto a piece of paper with both hands that poked out from her overly-long sleeves, giving a moe feeling. [1] Looking at me with upturned eyes, I really couldn’t help but think that she’s an angel.

So sly. So sly and cute.

But still, her charm specs is on the low side. It’s okay, Mitsuki has the potential to grow indefinitely. I must turn her into a high-specs woman so that she can become the Prince’s princess. For bothMitsuki’s sake and my sake, Onii-chan will work hard.

I pushed my glasses up while once again experiencing Mitsuki’s cuteness.

“Ah, I got 12, along with Soutarou. You?”

“I’m number 7……”

“Kaname and Prince, what were yours?”

May the Prince have the same number. I asked the Prince while praying that he drew the number 7.

“…… 7.”

“7?! Kiritani, you got 7?”

I don’t think it was my imagination that my voice sounded strange. It can’t be helped that I feel so moved.

My wish was heard. It’s that, isn’t it, the God-sama of otome games granted my wish.

I made a victory pose in my heart the moment I heard the Prince’s number. The flow finally turned inMitsuki’s and the Prince’s direction.

“A, I’m a pair with Kiritani-kun. Please take care of me.”

“Ah.”

According to my research, Mitsuki can’t handle horror stuff.

During the kimodameshi, Mitsuki going「 To be honest, I’m bad with things like ghosts…… I’m scared-desu…… 」then the Prince replying「 Can’t be helped, you can hold my hand 」, it’s possible that something like that will happen.

Behind me, Kaname was saying something like, “Where’s my partner”, but I don’t have the time for that. Right now, I’m very busy.

“I see, Mitsuki’s together with Kiritani. Now I can have a peace of mind. Kiritani, Mitsuki can’t stand things like ghosts or the dark so lend her a hand, alright.”

“Mou, Mako-chan, stop it. Kiritani’s troubled.”

Looking at the Prince who was prompted by Mitsuki’s words, he was staring at me with his usual expressionless face.

Neither sulky nor angry, like an abandoned cat, he simply looked at me with his large, wavering eyes.

Gazing into those eyes, I felt like I was doing something bad. More painful than any words [2], this stabs deeply into my heart.

“Kiritani……”

“Makoto, leave Sakurai to me.”

“Un. …… N? Ue?!”

The right corner of his mouth raised as the Prince released a smile.

Because of the surprising words that came out of that very mouth, I unintentionally let out a strange sound.

Just when I thought that the situation would develop badly and that the Prince would express his desire to leave or sulk again, his words came to me in one breath.

“Don’t let out such a strange sound.”

“Because I didn’t expect you to say something like that.”

“Well, isn’t it because Makoto was worried about Sakurai?”

The Prince who asked a question with a straight face seems like of agitated.

Frankly, I wasn’t really worried about Mitsuki. Rather, I was more nervous about the Prince flirting with her.

But as expected, I can’t say such a thing.

“Un, maa, that’s right.”

“If so, I’ll protect Sakurai.”

Mitsuki who had been quietly listening to the Prince’s words started blushing. As though nothing happened, the Prince who issued such impactful words walked towards the starting point of the kimodameshi.

Hm, putting aside his face and atmosphere, it’s just like a prince to uttered such words unconsciously.

“In return, you owe me one.”

“E, ah, un.”

With his usual emotionless, serious face where it’s hard for one to grasp his expression, he lifted his index finger and appealed to me.

Being pushed by an unfathomable momentum, I reflexively nodded.

“Let’s go, Sakurai.”

“A, un.”

With my eyes, I saw off the two who were walking towards the starting point of the kimodameshi

They seems to be chatting about something. Although the Prince was expressionless, Mitsuki was smiling.

“Soutarou, isn’t it about time we went too?

“Eh?!”

As I casually patted his shoulders, he was surprised beyond my expectations. He was so shocked that it was as though 5 exclamation marks appeared one after another. His body also sprung up in a funny way.

“Why are you going “Eh”, shouldn’t we go for the kimodameshi?”

“kimodameshi…… U-Un. Let’s go.”

Soutarou was smiling so hard that his cheeks were twitching, is he okay?

Come to think of it, Soutarou hasn’t spoken a word since just now. And his voice became higher when I mentioned the kimodameshi. Could it be he was trying to appeal to me how happy he felt to be in the same group as me?

Giving Soutarou a fleeting glance, he was trembling from the occasional screams which rung out from the direction of the school building, part of the kimodameshi route. Judging from his reaction, could it be…

“Are you afraid of the kimodameshi?”

“Eh!”

“So you are afraid?”

Soutarou didn’t give a sign of assent. Although he didn’t, the face he was making revealed his obvious fear towards the kimodameshi.

While I understand that he’s afraid of the kimodameshi, if he’s like this even before we begin, then there’s no way he’ll enjoy it later on.

“You don’t have to force yourself to come if you’re scared? It’s not too late for us to go back now.”

After all, I’ve accomplished my goal. I’ve no qualms about returning now.

“Iya, I’m fine. I have a feeling I can do this if Makoto’s with me.”

“I, can’t do things like purify or exorcise spirits, you know.”

“I know. I didn’t mean it in that way.”

Holding onto Soutarou’s arm, I dragged him towards the starting point of the kimodameshi. Not resisting, he allowed me to pull him and we reached the start point.

In the end, is it really okay to participate? I don’t mind if Soutarou wants to do it, but it’s okay to stop if he’s scared. It’s not like I like kimodameshi a lot and neither am I afraid of ghosts.

But since we are here, I might as well forcibly bring him to the goal. Thankfully, I’m not really scared of spiritual or dark stuff.

“Ja, since Kiritani’s protecting Mitsuki, I’ll protect Soutarou. Or something like that.”

“……――tsu!”

It’s our turn after two more pairs.

Soutarou was holding onto the cuffs of the long-sleeved russet jersey I was wearing. The jersey will stretch if you pull so hard.

The Soutarou who was behind me finally became completely silent. What should I do. If you can’t last till the end, it’s okay to give up halfway. That’s right. Let’s do that.