Chapter 320

"Matsu... sunbae-nim..."

At the sluggish drawl trailing from behind me, I turned my head and hunched my shoulders.

Hiyori wiped her nose with an apricot-colored handkerchief and spoke, sounding hurt.

"My cold isn't contagious...!"

"That was pure instinct. How could I not be startled when you sneak up and call my name out of nowhere? I couldn't help it."

"If someone sneaks up on you, you're just supposed to turn around looking confused, not recoil like you're afraid of germs..."

"That depends on the person. Anyway, did you go to the Nurse's Office?"

"Yes..."

"Did she say you have a fever?"

"A little... I'm going to take my medicine and rest where sunbae-nim told me to..."

"That place is full of dust, so it'll probably just make you worse. Didn't the nurse tell you to rest in bed?"

"She did..."

"Then you should've just stayed in bed. Why did you even come out?"

"Because I need to eat..."

"They give out food in the Nurse's Office too. They usually have someone bring it, don't they?"

"Ah, really...? Now that I think about it, the nurse might have mentioned something like that..."

She must have been too sick and out of it to hear her properly.

It was truly pitiful seeing the normally energetic girl drooping like a dying old dog.

She'd go right back to acting up once she healed, but I should be nice to her for now.

"Hurry up and go back inside."

"By myself...? All alone...?"

"...Follow me."

As I took the lead, pretending to be reluctant, Hiyori trailed right behind me.

Thinking her sniffles sounded rather cute, I glanced back at Hiyori and asked.

"What about Mitsushima?"

"She said she's on her way out of the classroom..."

"And your other friends?"

"Same..."

"Contact them and tell them you'll be in the Nurse's Office."

"Okaay..."

Arriving at the Nurse's Office with Hiyori dragging her feet, I knocked. Upon hearing a voice tell me to come in, I opened the door.

"Hello."

"If it isn't Matsuda-kun. Hello. Did you get into another fight?"

Hm, hm. The nurse was teasing me.

A paizuri punishment would be necessary.

"No. I'm just bringing back a runaway student."

"A runaway student?"

"Right here."

Stepping aside from the doorway, I revealed an utterly exhausted Hiyori.

The nurse widened her eyes, looking back and forth between Hiyori and a sectioned-off corner of the room.

"Student Asahina Hiyori? When did you slip out?"

Just as I thought, she had snuck out.

Then again, there was no way the nurse would have let a sick student drag herself outside.

"About ten minutes agooo... to get some food..."

The nurse narrowed her brows at Hiyori's slightly cowed answer.

"I told you someone would bring you food, but you must not have heard me. Go lie back down. Sanitize your hands first."

"Yes..."

Bowing to the nurse, Hiyori limply shuffled toward the partitioned area.

Weakly pulling back the curtain, she squirmed up onto the bed like an earthworm and pumped some hand sanitizer from the bedside table into her hands.

She was certainly obedient. If only she acted like that with me.

"Good work. Thank you for finding her."

The nurse expressed her thanks.

Giving a sheepish smile, I answered.

"Don't mention it. I'll be going now."

"All right. Come straight here if you ever feel sick."

Hm, hm. It was an unbelievable remark coming from the normally businesslike nurse.

Along with how she had jokingly asked if I'd been in another fight earlier...

I had given her vitamin drinks during the winter semester as thanks for taking care of me, and I made sure to bow politely whenever we crossed paths, so I wondered if that had earned me some good marks.

"Understood."

I glanced at Hiyori and was about to leave the Nurse's Office, but she beckoned me over from the bed.

I trudged over to her and asked in an annoyed tone.

"What now?"

Hiyori threw a cautious glance toward the nurse, then whispered softly.

"What did she mean about you getting into another fight...?"

Her memory was needlessly good.

Clicking my tongue, I kept an apathetic expression as I pulled the blanket right up under Hiyori's chin.

"You don't need to know. I'm leaving."

"Bye-bye..."

She raised a hand above her head, pressing her thumb firmly against her temple.

It reminded me of the Hiyori I had seen waving goodbye to her friends on the way to the kendo tournament.

Back then, the day I'd finally meet Hiyori had felt so far away, yet here I was, facing her and having a conversation.

It felt incredibly surreal.

Sticking a thermometer in that tiny mouth would make her the perfect sick heroine out of a classic rom-com... It made me want to try it.

"Yeah."

I pumped some of the hand sanitizer Hiyori had used and vigorously rubbed my hands together, ignoring her whines about whether I was really that worried about catching her cold, and stepped out.

"Fufufu..."

Chinami stepped out of the coach's office, letting out an incredibly suspicious laugh like a villain plotting a conspiracy.

As she walked while staring intently at the paper in her hand—bump.

"Gah!"

She bumped right into my body and let out her signature shriek.

It felt like forever since I had last heard that sound.

Her small frame teetered backward.

I quickly grabbed Chinami's wrist to steady her balance and spoke.

"You should be careful."

"Ah, I'm sorry. Were you hurt?"

"Not at all. Are you okay, Master?"

"Yes. I am perfectly fine as well."

"What's got you in such a good mood that you couldn't even see where you were going?"

"Ah, well... Some of our new members this time are quite famous prospects. There's no reason not to be happy when our team's strength is going up."

"Is that so? Who are they?"

"Junior Misumi Riko and Junior Korie Iroha. Here..."

Chinami showed me the paper she was holding.

It was just a simple application form without any attached photos, but looking at the names, they were definitely girls.

Did they join because they admire Renka? Seeing the '10+ years' box checked under kendo experience, their skills had to be impressive.

The Yeboni Academy girls' Kendo Club was already a strong team, but at this rate, they might just become the best in the nation.

Usually, a top-tier team takes on the role of the villains as a standard trope...

Well, from the perspective of other academies, the Yeboni Academy Kendo Club probably really were the villains, so whatever.

"You've got your hopes up for these members, don't you?"

"I do. But that absolutely does not mean I plan to show favoritism. I intend to evaluate their skills fairly. By the way, what are you doing here, junior?"

"The washing machine with my Training Uniform has three minutes left, so I was just taking a quick break."

"Is that so? The coach might yell at you if you linger out here, so it would be better for you to rest in the Drying Room."

"I think the President is the one who'll yell at me."

At those words, Renka, who had been correcting the members' stances and taking a drink of water, bristled and spun around.

"When do I ever yell?"

Hiyori earlier, and now Renka... Sharp hearing must be a trait shared by all heroines.

No. Let's just assume she was paying attention because she harbors feelings for me.

Raising both hands above my shoulders in a shameless display of innocence, I spoke.

"That was quite a distance, but you still managed to hear me."

"Your voice is just disgustingly loud. Stop talking trash about me."

"I think you're the one talking trash, President..."

"When did I?"

"You just said 'disgusting'."

"I didn't realize your mentality was so pathetic that you'd take that as an insult."

She had been getting a lot cockier lately.

If I pulled her aside and gave her butt a good smacking, wouldn't she get all upset and send me a message as Ino-chan?

I was going crazy with the urge to expose her secret identity as the avatar Ino-chan.

"Ahem. It's nice that the two of you are close, but I would prefer it if you refrained from using an aggressive tone in front of the club members. You absolutely must not act this way when the new members join."

At Chinami's intervention, Renka put on a wronged expression and protested.

"It's because he started it by saying I was going to yell at him or whatever...! Why are you only scolding me...?!"

"I will have a separate, thorough talk with our junior here."

"...No. You shouldn't be near him."

"And why is that?"

"Just because."

It seemed she knew that Chinami ended up all swoony whenever she was with me.

Bursting into laughter on the inside at Renka's reaction, I appeased Chinami, who was tilting her head with an unconvinced look.

"The President's hysteria seems to be peaking today, so we'd better step away."

"Oh my. Hysteria, really. You shouldn't say things like that."

"Yes. I apologize. The laundry should be about done, so shall we head to the Drying Room together?"

"Let's do that."

Just as I patted Chinami's back and opened the door to the Drying Room with her, Renka followed us inside.

I narrowed my brows at her and asked.

"Why are you here?"

"...I didn't have anything else to do, so I came to help."

"The President should be teaching the club members."

"The other Third Years will teach them."

Why couldn't she just admit she was keeping an eye on me in case I laid my wicked hands on Chinami?

A child who can't be honest needs a spanking.

In any case, it was funny seeing Renka—who had been thoroughly ravished by me—stepping up to protect Chinami.

Besides, she wouldn't even be able to say a word if I openly tried to grope her... It's great how our Renka is such a hopelessly pathetic busybody.

Or maybe Renka had followed us because she secretly wanted some thrilling physical affection from me?

Entertaining that thought, I shot a sidelong glance at Renka right behind me.

"...W-what are you looking at?"

Renka flinched, perhaps having read the lewd gaze in my eyes.

Baring my teeth in a wide grin, I spoke.

"Just looking."

"Lower your eyes...!"

She glared at me, her voice so incredibly tiny that Chinami couldn't possibly hear, but it only looked hilarious—like the final, desperate struggle of a frog right before being swallowed by a snake.

Anyway, the sequence of "What are you looking at?" followed immediately by "Lower your eyes."

That repertoire of hers never changed.

It must be Renka's own surefire winning... no, surefire losing pattern.

Since she was practically serving herself up on a silver platter, I'd have to make sure to show her a whole lot of affection.