CH 5

Kasuga Hina Wants To Be Assaulted

It was a usual Friday, the 30th of April, and my only time of peace and freedom, lunch break, arrived. That’s right, I can finally go to the library!

“Did something happen recently?”

Sitting down at my usual place, two seats away from Akizuki, she suddenly gave me that odd kind of greeting. Eh, what is this? What is she asking about?

“I don’t quite grasp the intention of your question.”

“You didn’t come here to the library room during lunch break only four times during this year, and last year.”

“I’m shocked you remember that well.”

“~~~! S-So, why?”

“The day before yesterday, Kasuga captured me. Well, since it’s not my duty to read books here, I didn’t think too deeply about it.”

Although I had the loner lunch with Kasuga on the 26th, that naturally wasn’t enough to satisfy Kasuga. The day before yesterday, the 28th, she once again took me with her. By the way, I was free on the 29th, yesterday.

“…I see. Well, you have no duty to be here, it’s your own choice.”

“Why are you so angry now?”

“I’m not angry.”

No, you most definitely are. Also…it almost seems like you’re sulking.

“But, Kasuga actually showed some level of consideration today, and didn’t chase after me.”

“What happened?”

“A while back, Kasuga tried to have me mix with the normie squad, and she only had good intentions with that, but I just…how do I say this…couldn’t handle it.”

“Even good intentions can result in bad actions, I see.”

“So, today she’s probably trying to be nice but with a different approach.”

“I see.”

“Maybe I should thank her during the club later.”

“Is there even any meaning in gratitude that isn’t recognized? Also—”

“Hm?”

“According to what I heard from Kasuga-san, there aren’t any club activities today, right?”

****

I left the classroom in order to head home, surprised at the fact that Kasuga didn’t come chasing after me. Remembering what Aramiya told me before, there wouldn’t be any club today, so I might be able to actually go home in peace for once. Hell yeah. I walked down the hallway, down the stairs, left the school building, and stepped outside of the school gate—

“Shizuki-kun!”

“Woah! That surprised me.”

“Let’s go home together?”

“Ahh…So you took a shortcut to the school gate instead of chasing me…”

“Yup!”

S-So dazzling…It’s like I’m looking directly at a smile, that’s how bright her smile felt to me…

“Ah, over there, isn’t that Ooba-kun?”

“Eh, ah, looks like it…”

“Heeey! Ooba-kuuuun! Let’s go…Mgh!?”

“Kasuga, what are you doing?”

“Puha! I was going to ask him if he wanted to go home with us.”

“Don’t you remember how that ended last time!?”

“Ehhh? Come on, I gave it some thought, okay. Since eating lunch inside the school was no good, I figured that walking home from school should be fine.”

“No no no, the location isn’t the problem, okay. Whenever other people are around, I end up secluded, nervous, and I lose all my freedom.”

But then, from a bit further away…

“Kasuga! Sorry, I have club activities today, so I can’t go home yet!”

“Okie~!”

—Thank you, Ooba. I’m sure that he must actually have club activities, but his words saved me.

“Is he gone?”

“Eh? Yeah, he already left.”

“I don’t think you should bring up proposals like that anymore.”

“Eh? Why?”

“Why…I mean, it’s going to sound insulting, but it must be exhausting, right? Even if you don’t take my opinion into consideration, at least think about Ooba.”

“You really think so?”

“Human beings, more or less, treasure their own freedom, free time, and free space. Of course, it depends on you being more outgoing or not, but…”

“But?”

“Even if you’re a normie, you still treasure your own freedom, so whether it’s Ooba, or girls from your group, they probably don’t want their time to be stolen by me.”

“I’m totally fine though.”

Now then, just standing around in front of the school gate won’t do us any good, so let’s just head home.

“Alright, Kasuga, there is one thing I realized.” I said while walking.

“Yep yep?”

“Going home together in a large group is far too normie. That’s why, I’m glad that Ooba and the other guys didn’t join us, but…”

“Yup yup?”

“Going home together like this still feels like youth and it makes me feel like puking cubes of sugar.”

“Ehhh!? But then, I can’t even go home with you!?”

“That’s why we’ll do the same as we did before during lunch break. We’re not going home together, but rather act as two people separately going home, coincidentally ending up close together.”

“Hmmm…It does sound familiar, but why are you this resistant towards appearing like a normie? Not to mention that 90% of what you said doesn’t make any sense.”

“This is just about me, but even if I took you as my girlfriend, I wouldn’t want to even set foot into a territory that normies inhabited.”

“Do you dislike outgoing people that much?”

“Of course, I can’t even look at them without having trouble breathing.”

****

I made my way to the nearest train station from school, which took about a minute of walking, and took the train from the Renbou station to the Sendai station…Naturally, with Kasuga sitting next to me.

“Shizuki-kun, if you’re listening to music, you won’t be able to talk with someone on your way home, you know?”

I took out my earphones.

“Of course? Exactly because I don’t want anybody talking to me, I’m listening to music, and showing off to the people around me that I won’t hear them even if they talk to me.”

“Wanting to be in your own world rather than talking to somebody else sure feels off to me…”

“Ah, hold on. We’re not going home together right now. We’re two people who just happened to sit next to each other.”

“Ah, can I just ask one last thing?”

“What is it?”

“I thought of listening to some music like you are, but I don’t have any earphones.”

“What…did you say!? You don’t have this magic item that completely shuts out all outside noise!?”

“That’s why, can we share your earphones today?”

“No no no no, not happening, impossible, never ever. If we did that, we’d look like a lovey-dovey idiot couple.”

“Please! I’ll bring my own pair with me next time, so just this once.”

What should I do about this…To be perfectly honest, I don’t feel too comfortable about sharing earphones like this. But, since she actually held back today, I guess I have to give her something in return. It’s the same as always. Rather than being aggressively against everything, I should take a step towards her, and end everything quickly. That’s my manual when dealing with Kasuga.

“—Only for today, alright?”

“Yay!”

That’s why I offered one side of my earphones to Kasuga.

“Ehehe~”

“——”

Now I went and did it. If we want to share my earphones, we have to sit close enough for our shoulders to touch.

“That reminds me, whenever we’re acting like two loners, we try not to look at each other, which is impossible in a train, but we can’t talk to each other, right? Wait, I’m just talking to myself, don’t mind me.”

Like hell somebody would speak to themselves like this. However, if I reacted now, I’d basically break the rules myself.

“Then, how about this?”

What? I don’t really get it, but I have a horrible feeling about this.

“There!”

You’re kidding, that damn Kasuga just started holding my hand! Not to mention while resting her shoulder against mine! From an outsider’s perspective, we must look like a total couple, doing something like this inside a train. Anyway, I need to warn her—

“This is just me talking to myself again, but I can’t call out to anybody like this, huh. A certain S-kun really disliked having his…territory…invaded…or something like that. Well, there’s no way that this very S-kun would break his own rules, right? Ahaha.”

Don’t grin like that, you’re making me feel like I lost. I mean, not like I ever had any competition with her to begin with. But, at the same time as I felt like a sore loser, a desire to resist was born inside of me. Alright, I’ll just use the notepad function on my phone to convey my current feelings.

“Hey now.”

“~~~!”

Kasuga tried to steal my phone before I could open my notepad. As if I’ll let her steal my phone at such a crucial moment.

“Hmpf!”

This time, she pushed her body forward in an attempt to steal it. Damn it, her chest keeps hitting me…But she herself doesn’t care about that at all, and I can’t have her distract me at such a crucial moment!

“Hey, hey, Mom! Are those two people a couple?”

“They probably are, look at how close they sit together.”

Eh, seriously? I was so desperate to not make it seem that way, but the people around us already took it as an established fact?

“This is just me talking to myself, but what will happen if you keep up the rule that we can’t talk to each other? Even if you try to write a message with your notepad, I’ll just steal your phone from you, and everybody around us will just think that we’re flirting around, right?”

“…! Alright, I lost. Let’s just talk normally.”

“Ehehe~ That’s why I love you, Shizuki-kun.”

****

Alright, it’s time to switch trains. We got off at Sendai, and walked towards the JR. Of course, without holding hands.

“Now, Shizuki-kun.”

“Yes?”

“I have a tiny but important request…”

“What’s up?”

“—Can I come to your place today?”

“My place?”

“~~~!”

When I returned a question, Kasuga blushed furiously like a maiden in love, and only faintly nodded. Really, this late into the game? She went and hugged me, even kissing me, on the very first day we started dating, not to mention in public, and yet she’s not hesitating to visit my place?

“Is there something we needed to do there?”

“Eh, I can’t visit Shizuki-kun’s place without having a proper reason?” Kasuga faintly tilted her head.

“Weird. A loner can walk around the school without any proper reason just fine, but when I don’t have any driving force, I don’t see why I would invite my girlfriend over.”

“So you were aware of it.”

“At the same time, a normie and outgoing person wouldn’t need any reason or urgent matter to invite people over, and if we were two normies, then we would probably be on our way to my place.”

“Then.”

“Yes?”

“I’d like to continue my request—As I want to become Shizuki-kun’s ideal girl, I need to visit your home and understand more about your living rhythm so that I can use that as a reference!”

“Stop screaming!? Wait, we’re still in public, so…”

“I understood about taking a walk inside the school, and I agreed with the loner lunch…Even today, I played a prank on you in hopes of you giving me attention, but I didn’t complain when we walked home together but separately—”

“Y-Yeah, I get it, so calm down, okay…”

“Listen? In order for us to move on to the next stage, if I learn about the daily life of a loner, there won’t be any damage done to you, right?”

“Well, that does make sense…”

“Not to mention…not to mention…you went to visit Haruka-senpai’s company, yet you won’t spend any time with me! That’s not fair!”

“Alright…Alright I get it, so stop screaming like that, it’s embarrassing…!”

Why do normies have to always scream around like that? Well, it depends on the person themselves and how loud their initial voice is, but…Maybe it’s about their hesitation, their disinterest for the people they are bothering? Maybe it’s just that normies are much more confident than loners? And, they’re probably used to it.

Since Kasuga is part of a normie group, she probably has to speak loud enough so everybody could hear her. At the same time, a loner doesn’t need to do that, and isn’t used to it either, so they often speak in a more quiet voice. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

****

Time to review my anti-Kasuga manual. First up, even if I try to object to her assertive approaches and attacks, she won’t ever bend her opinion. According to the person herself, she likes, likes me some more, and absolutely loves me, so if I break down first, it’ll save me time in the long run.

Second, besides me gaining more free time by simply agreeing to her demands right away, she might become more awkward around me, and then starts to leave me alone…although I have yet to see any results on that front…

Third, I did sort-of promise that I would tag along with her project of turning her into my ideal girl. Taking all of the points mentioned above into consideration…

“Sorry for the intrusion!”

“Then why don’t you show a bit more restraint, huh?”

“That’s the first time anybody ever reacts that way!”

A few minutes later, we got off at Kitayama station, and walked a bit longer to reach my home…Seriously? This is the first time I ever invited a girl to my home.

“I mean, nobody is home right now, but doing something so flashy is…”

“Nobody is home right now!?” Kasuga screamed in joy.

Maybe…I should not have told her about that…

“M-My room is on the second floor.”

“Yup…!”

“………”

“Ah, you’re nervous about having a girl enter your room, right? So cute~”

Don’t call me cute. But, leaving that side…

“This is my room.”

“It really feels like a boy’s room.”

Well, duh. There are no hearts on the floor, nor clovers, and the carpet isn’t pink either. I don’t have any plush toys on my bed either. Best I got were manga or novels scattered on the floor, my drawers for my games were open, so it’s actually pretty messy.

“I would have cleaned up a bit if I knew you’d come over.”

“Even though you’re a loner?”

“I mean, I still want to have my room clean when someone comes over, loner or not.”

That being said, we couldn’t just keep standing around there. I doubt Kasuga would sit down without me saying anything, and I bet she should know that my comment before was a joke as well. However, when I made the first move to sit down on my bed…

“Kasuga…”

“Yup?”

“Even if you’re a normie, I’d argue that sitting down next to a boy on his own bed is thoughtless to say the least…”

“Of course not? If anything, I sat next to you after giving it a lot of thought.”

“And what thought process was that…”

“I figured you’d be more conscious of me.”

“Alright, let’s get off the bed and do something else.”

“We don’t have to get away from the bed if we want to do something~”

No, you can just sit on the bed, alright. I just have to move the chair I’m using for my study desk, and although I have the faint urge to move Kasuga away from my bed, there’s not many other places that I could have her sit down in a boy’s room that isn’t built for a lot of people. Even if it’s Kasuga, I can’t just have her sit on the floor.

“So, Shizuki-kun, what are you usually doing when you’re at home?”

“Read books, listen to music, play games, and I’m a VIP on certain bulletin boards and streaming sites.”

“VIP!? That’s amazing, Shizuki-kun!”

“Y-Yeah…”

I can’t tell her that there’s a lot of shut-ins in that VIP class…

“So then, what will you do now with this knowledge?”

“What do you mean?”

“If you just wanted this information, then I could have just told you verbally without you needing to visit my home, right?”

“Maybe I’ll read a novel of yours?”

“Oho?”

“I’m sure that reading something you read and exchanging impressions must be fun.”

“I see…So you can tell people about your impressions after reading a book…I don’t have someone like that, so it never even crossed my mind.”

“It’s fine, I’ll be your partner starting today.”

“Before that, let alone manga, do you even read novels, Kasuga?”

“Ugh…If it’s in my modern Japanese textbook……”

“Just to let you know, but Natsume Souseki’s ‘I Am A Cat’ only has maybe five…possibly only three percent of the textbook, you know?”

“Yeah…I realized as much during modern Japanese…”

It’s rare to see Kasuga this depressed. If I remember correctly, Kasuga was floating between 20th and 50th place during the proficiency exams? We have 40 people in a single class, amassing 320 people throughout 8 classes. Despite being bad at reading novels and the like, she actually managed to rank quite high, and I guess her personality shows that she can work hard despite that. It truly is very much like her. However, I doubt she’d go that far this time around.

“Then, how about you read this?”

Things that aren’t necessary should be left untouched. Only focus on things you have to do. Before Kasuga got any weird ideas, I offered her a novel that was much easier to read.

“Huh? Wasn’t this a movie?”

“The movie was based on this novel.”

“I see, you know a lot, huh.”

That being the case, I read ‘Remote Control’ from Isaka Koutarou, whereas Kasuga read through the novel I lent her, rolling around on the bed while doing so. I still don’t know how she can be this calm when lying on my bed…Time passed—Around three hours.

“I finished reading it~!”

“And, how was it? Easy to read, right?”

“Yup! And because it was turned into a movie, I felt a lot more familiar with it than stuff from Akutagawa Ryuunosuke or Nakahara Chuuya.”

“Glad to hear that.”

I was honestly surprised. Possibly because I found a kindred spirit in reading, I earnestly said those words out loud.

“But, this once again made me realize how amazing you are, Shizuki-kun?”

“Why?”

Like, seriously. Normally, you’d admire the author after reading their book…Also, I hate myself for not refuting her…

“Of course, the author is one thing, but people reading the novel are pretty amazing.”

“You think so? I feel like it’s just a simple repetition of reading one line, and then moving on to the next one…”

“Not wrong, but if you run out of focus, you can’t continue, right? That’s why I think reading a book is actually pretty difficult, and I respect the people who can read for longer amounts of time. Not to mention…”

“Not to mention?”

“—Your face when reading was really cool.”

Even now, you’re throwing your affection at me!? Yeah, I don’t think I can ever get used to this!

“~~~! If you’re reading a book, then focus on it! Don’t look at my face.”

“Ehhh? The person I like is so close to me, reading a book, you know? Of course I’d feel jealous towards the book and look at your face all the time.”

“This is the first time I ever heard somebody be jealous towards a book…”

“Ahhh, Shizuki-kun, your face is red, you know?”

“A-Anyway? What should we do now?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, we don’t have the time to read another book.”

“Then…Hmmm, hey?”

“Yeah?”

“How about we take a nap?”

****

“A nap? Not that I mind, but that’s a step down from reading or playing games.”

“Ah, sorry, I guess I wasn’t clear enough.”

“…Am I lacking crucial information to access your request?”

Hearing my words, Kasuga seemed confident as she puffed out her chest.

“I came here today in order to understand how you act at home, how a loner acts at home, all so that I can become your ideal girl, right?”

“Yup.”

“So, I looked up that stuff online as well, and wondered if you never took any naps on your weekends. You usually sleep during recess, right?”

“I’m surprised you realized that. But, I actually don’t sleep during recess, I just act like I am.”

“Ahh, I see. So anyway, you probably get up at noon, play games, eat dinner, take an early nap, watch videos until late night, stay up late, just fidgeting with your phone, and then get up at noon on the next day, right?”

“I’m surprised, you actually did your homework.”

“I wanted to become your ideal girl as quickly as possible. So…you know?”

“Yeah, I get what you’re trying to say. You want to spend the rest of the time we have as loner as possible, right?”

“Yup! Ah, but…maybe taking a nap isn’t that much loner-like after all? I know I’m the one who brought it up, but…”

“Naive. The nuance of a loner’s nap and a normie’s nap is completely different.”

“Meaning?”

“A loner’s nap is an act of laziness within their limited time. You could literally call it an idle slumber. At the same time, a normie’s nap is more like a means of storing energy for what’s to come after, you know? Well, this is just my personal interpretation.”

“Hmm, I see, I see.”

“If you wanna take a nap, go ahead and use the bed. I can’t have a girl sleep on the floor.”

“Ah, wait a second, you can use the bed, Shizuki-kun.”

“Hm? Why?”

“In order to understand more about a loner, I want to observe you.”

“I feel like my sleeping face is pretty boring, you know…”

But, I still gave in, and laid down in my bed. I mean, it’s a bit late for a nap, but agreeing here helps me in the long run. Kasuga isn’t the type of person who would wake someone up while they’re sleeping, and once I’m out, I won’t have to deal with her. Looking back on it, I cursed my carelessness.

“Sorry for the intrusion~”

Wha…Why did Kasuga lift up the sheets!?

“Huh!? What are you doing!?”

“Ah, just to let you know, but we’re not sleeping together, alright?”

“R-Really?”

“I just want to learn from the loner nap master Shizuki-kun as closely as possible.”

“I-I see…”

“Not to mention that if I slept next to you, it’d raise my experience twice as quickly?”

“So observation and actual experience at the same time, huh.”

“Yup yup! It’s not that we’re doing anything together, it’s just that we are separately doing something in the same bed.”

“I-I…see?”

“Right? So, let’s have a loner nap together?”

Is she really fine with that? Well, it is just a loner nap, so it should be fine.

“Ehehe, come on?”

“……Alright. But, we’ll do it with a time limit.”

Really, why did things end up this way? Kasuga was grinning to herself like a child on Christmas morning, as she prepared some space for me, and I carefully entered the bed next to her, but…why does it feel like I’m partially fine with this? Is it fine because it’s Kasuga? Am I allowing this because it’s Kasuga? No no no no, even if that was the case, that would mean I have changed from before. If I had, then I should be aware of that, but that’s not even the case. However, before I could figure out my own feelings, Kasuga actually ended up right next to me.

“Shizuki-kun, turn around~”

“What do you plan on doing if I did?”

“Hug you.”

“Alright, pass.”

“Ehhh~ Alright, I have my own idea then.” Kasuga said, and…suddenly clung to my back!?

Her chest is hitting my back…! Not to mention that she’s intertwining her legs with mine…! If I attacked her now, she wouldn’t have any right to complain.

“Ahhh, this is so relaxing~”

“I really can’t relax in such a situation.”

“Ehehehe, it’s calming me down a lot…But…”

“What is it now?”

“The fact that you can’t relax is because you’re conscious of me, right?”

“I’ll take my right to remain silent.”

“Ehehe, I love that about you, Shizuki-kun.”

~~~! Don’t whisper into my ear like that! Your breath is tickling me! Like this…several minutes passed…At first, Kasuga was practically clinging to my back, but now…Hm? Weird? I feel like her strength on me has lessened…

“…Huh? Kasuga?”

“Zzzz…”

“Are you kidding me, she actually fell asleep?”

“Ehehehe…Shizuki-kun…I love you…”

“Leaving aside the fact that you’re just nonchalantly confessing your love to me in your sleep, you actually fell asleep next to a boy…I’m worried about you, you know?”

“Mmmnnn…”

“Well, whatever, I’ll just stay like this until the time limit.”

****

“Ehehe…sorry for falling asleep mid-way. But, thanks a lot for today.”

“I mean, I was a bit surprised, but it wasn’t as exhausting, so I’m fine.”

“Come on, at times like these, you can just say ‘You’re welcome’, okay?”

“That makes sense.”

“Right?”

“Kasuga, you’re welcome.”

“Yup!”

Right now, I was escorting Kasuga to the nearest train station, but…Ah, train’s here. It stopped, and after the people got off, Kasuga stepped inside.

“Alright, see you.”

“Yup. Bye bye, Shizuki-kun!”

Even after the doors closed, Kasuga still waved her hand at me, resembling a small puppy. Not that it feels bad or anything…

“Hm? A LINE?”

A new message from Kasuga came in. Texting the second we’re separated, sounds like the type of couple stuff Kasuga adores.

[HINA: Kujou Shizuki, 0 points.]

[Shizuki: Where did that come from?]

[HINA: I was rolling in your bed for a full three hours, right?]

[Shizuki: ? Sure enough, I could see that.]

[HINA: On top of that, I basically hugged you as we slept next to each other, yeah?]

[Shizuki: Correct.]

[HINA: You still don’t get it…]

[Shizuki: What exactly?]

Also, she’s grown a lot, huh. She isn’t just one-sidedly spamming me anymore…Well, just as I thought, we actually slept next to each other, yeah…

[HINA: I wanted us to sleep next to each other, and not read a book on your bed for three hours! In the end, I had to ask for it myself, but that wasn’t the goal!]

[Shizuki: Sorry, I genuinely don’t understand what you want from me.]

[HINA: You’re hurting me now! I slept next to you, okay!? I acted like I was asleep, actually.]

[Shizuki: Ah, that’s what you were on about?]

[HINA: You dummy. Dense dummy. Passive dummy!]

Oh crap…even though we’re just texting over LINE, my body feels like it’s burning up…I didn’t even need to look at a mirror to understand how much I must have been blushing.

[HINA: I request proper compensation. During Golden Week, you will be going on a date with me!]