An Introvert's Hookup Hiccups: This Gyaru Is Head Over Heels for Me! Volume 8 E-Book

Yuishi

• Herausgeber: J-Novel Club
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Serie: An Introvert's Hookup Hiccups: This Gyaru Is Head Over Heels for Me!
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 349

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

As summer melts into fall, Yoshin and Nanami gear up for their high school culture festival. Meanwhile, the class rep’s transformation into a gyaru is spurring on rumors about a “Misumai Harem.” Nanami can’t help fretting even though she knows the rumor is untrue. To combat the gossip, our couple decides that Yoshin should throw himself into the festival prep and get to know his classmates better. To their shock, however, the class gets a little too carried away and votes to put on a cosplay café. Fortunately for Yoshin, all his hard work will be rewarded with an unexpected surprise from Nanami! Anything is possible when there’s cosplay involved at the lovebirds’ first culture festival together!

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Prologue: A Wonder Lasts but Nine Days?

Chapter 1: Temptation and Reason

Interlude: To Squeeze and Be Squeezed

Chapter 2: Just a Slight Bit of Effort

Interlude: Falling Asleep, Stealing a Peep

Chapter 3: Moonlight and Bunny

Interlude: Two Maids

Chapter 4: Even a Carnival Has Its Limits

Epilogue: How to Make Friends

Afterword

Color Illustrations

About J-Novel Club

Copyright

Landmarks

Table of Contents

Color Images

Prologue: A Wonder Lasts but Nine Days?

Harem.

It wasn’t a word we heard often in our daily lives, but many people probably knew it regardless.

The word referred to an environment in which many girls were around a particular boy—specifically, when many girls liked the same guy.

Multiple guys liking the same girl was called a reverse harem, as in the reverse harem ending of an otome game.

In any case, the word “harem” described a situation of one-to-many.

How many people, then, knew that this word originally meant something else?

I wasn’t terribly familiar with the word either and only knew what little I learned when I looked it up. It seemed, though, that it was first used to describe a specific place—a forbidden place or territory. That, apparently, was its original definition. So how did it come to mean “multiple girls” or “multiple guys”?

Japanese people were probably just good at changing things up like that. I’d heard something before too, about stuff like ramen, curry, and sushi; Japan took in elements from other cultures, assimilated them, and built upon them to make something new. That unique trait—a transformative ability some might even call grotesque—was probably the essence of what could be called Japanese culture.

That I was proud of such a country...wasn’t what I was trying to say here at all. I was just trying to escape reality, looking up the etymology for a word I wouldn’t normally be interested in.

The truth was that there was currently a very questionable rumor going around about us...or, rather, about me.

I’ll have to explain the rumor in more detail later, but to start: I only learned about it in the first place because my homeroom teacher told me about it. Although, given the word “harem,” you could probably guess what kind of a rumor it was.

The story actually went back several days. Specifically, just a few days after the class rep...er, Shirishizu-san turned into a gyaru, I was called into the faculty room.

I hadn’t been called there since around the time I started going out with Nanami. Back then, it was because the teacher had been worried about me. This time, though, it wasn’t me that the teacher was worried about.

“So, you’re saying that the class rep’s sudden change is just a makeover?” the teacher mumbled.

“Um, yes. I think that’s probably all it is,” I replied.

The teacher sighed in relief; he had brought up Shirishizu-san with me with quite the concerned expression. It seemed that her transformation had been quite a shock for him.

It had surprised me too; I mean, I couldn’t even tell that it was the class rep at all at first, so I completely understood how he felt.

I could, but...then I couldn’t understand why he was asking me about it. As in, why did he call me in, when he could’ve just called in the class rep to ask her directly?

“Sir, don’t you think you could have asked her instead of me?” I asked.

“Oh, come on. There’s no way that a male teacher can ask a female student, ‘So, I noticed you changed your style. Is something up?’ People will claim it’s sexual harassment,” he muttered in despair.

“Really? I mean, if you’re only trying to give students some guidance, wouldn’t it be allowed?”

“I think so too, but the school’s always telling us to be careful about stuff like that,” the teacher grumbled, grimacing slightly as if remembering something unpleasant. Mussing up his hair, he sighed, this time in exasperation.

I guess it’s tough being an adult too.

But then, maybe it also depended on the student. In fact, if it was Shirishizu-san, it probably would’ve been okay. She didn’t seem like the type to make a fuss about a teacher pointing out her makeover and claim she was being sexually harassed.

But what the teacher might have thought is if Shirishizu-san’s appearance had changed, maybe her personality might have changed too. At least I knew what was really happening, so I didn’t reach that conclusion.

I tried to see it from the teacher’s perspective: if I had a serious student suddenly turn into a gyaru right after summer break...

Yeah, I guess it is kind of awkward to try to ask her directly.

That was probably why, in order to put a safe distance between himself and Shirishizu-san, the teacher asked me instead. That made sense.

“Don’t worry. Shirishizu-san hasn’t changed on the inside,” I said, trying to convey to him that Shirishizu-san’s transformation only involved her appearance. I couldn’t tell him anything more specific, though, so he would have to ask Shirishizu-san directly about her actual state of mind. The only thing I knew was that Nanami was the one who’d coordinated the class rep’s new outfit and style.

It suited Shirishizu-san well—I wanted to give Nanami a solid two thumbs-up. I couldn’t say that to the teacher, of course; it would just sound like I was bragging about my girlfriend.

Wait, was it even okay in the first place to compliment another girl who was wearing an outfit that my girlfriend picked out? It probably was, but since I wasn’t completely sure, I should ask Nanami the next time I got a chance.

It seemed like my meeting with the teacher was over. But just as I stood up to go, I heard the teacher murmur something.

“I see, so it’s not that she’s become a member...”

“A member of what?” I asked without thinking, in the way anyone would when hearing something unexpected or unrelated to the conversation.

But as I did, I noticed the panicked expression my teacher suddenly made, the kind of expression one makes when they said something to someone they weren’t supposed to say.

“What do you mean? A member of what?” I asked again.

I had to say, looking back, that it was absolutely the right decision for me to have followed up with this question.

In some situations in life, ignorance was bliss. There were, however, just as many instances where not knowing could lead to something that couldn’t be rectified.

Now was probably the latter.

It was good for me to ask, after all; I was able to hear about something that was happening to me totally without my knowledge. “Well, uh, so,” the teacher began, scratching his cheek a bit as he deliberated on how to answer me. Rather than rush him, I simply waited for him to continue.

He eventually made up his mind—he moved forward in his seat, spreading his knees apart and placing his hands on them in a serious, yet dramatic pose. Slowly, he opened his mouth and said, “Misumai, I want you to listen to me calmly, without getting upset.”

“Okay,” I said with a nod, even though I had a very bad feeling about what he was about to say. The teacher seemed relieved by my initial response, because he nodded several times himself before he continued.

“Misumai, are you aware there’s a rumor going around about you right now?” he asked.

“Rumor? No, I’m not. Is it about me and Nanami again? I don’t tend to pay attention to weird stuff like that,” I replied.

“The rumor says you’re making a harem for yourself,” the teacher said.

“Excuse me?”

That’s right. That was how I found out about such a dishonorable rumor about me.

According to the teacher, it went something like this:

Yoshin Misumai—dissatisfied with just Nanami Barato—made a move on Kotoha Shirishizu when the two of them were taking supplementary classes together during summer school. Thus, Kotoha Shirishizu’s gyaru transformation was due to her falling for Yoshin Misumai during summer break, and as a result, the membership of the Misumai Harem increased to four: Nanami Barato, Hatsumi Otofuke, Ayumi Kamoenai, and Kotoha Shirishizu.

Those were the three main strands of the rumor.

There were other vicious elements as well, but since they were mere variations on the above three, they didn’t need to be spelled out.

I didn’t even know where to start, but the main issue was clear: people were accusing me of building my own personal harem.

The Misumai Harem.

Though it seemed more like defamation personally, this was the rumor about me that was currently going around. Okay, so maybe I wasn’t sure if I was using “defamation” correctly, but that wasn’t really the point here.

I never thought that a word I only saw in manga and whatnot would ever be used in association with my own last name.

Just who in the world came up with that name? Even the teacher knows about it too...

“I’m only dating Nanami. I only like Nanami,” I murmured.

“Well, yeah. The fact that this is how you respond in front of a teacher just proves how unfounded the rumor is,” the teacher said, somewhat exasperated. I was always trying to be careful not to say things that suggested just how much I liked Nanami, but that was precisely what I ended up doing.

Still, it was important to make things very clear: I only liked Nanami, and Nanami only liked me.

Both Otofuke-san and Kamoenai-san had boyfriends as well—they probably didn’t have eyes for anyone else. Including them in my fictitious harem was just rude.

Shirishizu-san...clearly wasn’t interested in me like that. Plus she wasn’t really comfortable around guys in general.

“Yeah, well, since that was what I thought too, I made sure to deny the rumors among the teachers at the very least,” he said.

I had assumed that he was the only teacher who knew, but it seemed that the other teachers on campus had asked him about it too—about whether I was in inappropriate relationships with multiple girls.

Isn’t this situation pretty serious, then?

I mean, maybe it was pretty normal for rumors about students to be the topic of conversation in the faculty room, but even then, I didn’t feel comfortable having those rumors be about me.

“Still, I wonder why a rumor like that would have such legs. It’s so clearly baseless,” I muttered.

“Huh? Misumai, don’t tell me you don’t realize it,” the teacher said.

Not realize what? The expression on his face, though, didn’t seem to be one of discomfort; he seemed genuinely surprised.

“Misumai, you only ever hang out with girls,” he said.

In that moment, my brain froze.

Um...what? Only with girls? No way. That can’t possibly...be the case, can it...?

Shoot, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t recall ever really talking to other guys. At best, it was a brief exchange of pleasantries in the classroom.

I mean, I didn’t have friends to begin with, so that was to be expected. I really only spent time with girls at school.

Looking at it that way made me seem like a really gross dude. Or a major player.

As I sat there reviewing my recent behavior, the teacher continued. “If a guy in high school doesn’t spend any time with other guys his age and only hangs out with girls instead, then of course other folks will get jealous and start talking about how he’s trying to make a harem. I remember that stuff happening back in my day too.”

His words—so logical that I couldn’t even argue with them—stabbed me in the chest. The last bit of hope I had about the situation being a simple misunderstanding vanished.

It all made sense: if people saw me as not having any guy friends, and then Shirishizu-san suddenly turned into a gyaru and started talking to me, then it seemed inevitable for people to think I was starting a harem.

I guess I was simply reaping what I sowed.

“At the least, leave the faculty room to me. I’ll try to clear up things with the rest of the teachers,” he said.

“Is there possibly a way to stop this rumor?” I asked helplessly.

“Once it’s spread like this, it’s a bit tough,” he murmured.

That was true. I should probably be grateful that at least I had a teacher on my side.

Speaking of—somehow my teacher sounded as if he had experience with this kind of thing, more than just what was going on with me now. Did he, perhaps, have something like this happen to him? It would be helpful to have someone who might know about this stuff firsthand.

But if that was the case, would it be possible that he didn’t let the rumor slip to me accidentally, but rather mentioned it offhand on purpose? Of course, he must have wanted to ask about Shirishizu-san too, but even so.

Still, what could I do to make this rumor go away?

“Maybe I really should make some guy friends,” I muttered.

I knew that alone wouldn’t dispel the rumor, but I couldn’t stand the thought of people continuing to misunderstand me. For now, this was about the only solution I could come up with.

In terms of guy friends too, the only person I could name off the top of my head was Shoichi-senpai. That was it. Plus he was the captain of the basketball team, set to graduate next year. I should probably take the news of this terrible rumor spreading as some kind of divine intervention.

Maybe I was thinking too idealistically about things, but it was certainly better than being negative about the situation.

“That’s probably not a bad idea. There’s no need to force yourself to make friends, but our class trip is coming up too. It’d be a fun time to hang out with some guy friends,” the teacher said.

Class trip. That’s right. I totally forgot about that. What did I do when I was in middle school? I feel like I just went around by myself. It wasn’t all that fun, so I don’t really remember.

It’d be nice to get to be in the same group as Nanami, but it’d be a little sad if I couldn’t. Yeah, it’s probably a good idea to make some friends. I don’t feel like forcing myself, but even then...I should probably make some kind of effort. Now, the only problem is...

“How exactly do you make friends?” I murmured.

I had no idea how I was supposed to go about doing that. What did I do when I was younger?

The teacher, though, looked at me with a wry smile and said, “I don’t think I’ve ever heard that from a student with a girlfriend.”

“Really?”

“I mean, I do hear it from guys who have friends, but no girlfriend, that they want a girlfriend,” he added.

Right—that was probably true.

Even though, as usual, I felt like I was doing things out of order, I still had to wonder if I would actually manage to make any guy friends. At this point, though, that was something no one could tell.

Chapter 1: Temptation and Reason

While I was at the teacher’s office, Nanami waited for me in the classroom like she usually did. In other words, I didn’t tell her to go on home without me. In fact, I had suggested to her myself that we go home together.

In no way did I assume that she would wait for me. That bit was probably important.

What was different today was that Shirishizu-san was there as well, along with Otofuke-san and Kamoenai-san.

The four of them seemed to have waited for me...or, rather, the other three were here to probably make sure Nanami wasn’t left by herself.

Just as I was about to rush over to Nanami, what I’d heard from the teacher a moment ago suddenly crossed my mind.

“A harem, huh?” I grumbled softly, making sure that no one else could hear me.

I reexamined my situation objectively. One guy, rushing toward a group of four girls. I really did seem like the protagonist of a harem manga.

Of course, I only seemed like one; I wasn’t actually the protagonist of a harem manga.

I wasn’t, but...maybe others couldn’t help seeing me that way. That was a total blind spot. Wait, could I really call it a blind spot?

For starters, I was the type of guy who, in a manga, would obviously be a background character. I was someone totally unsuited to be the main character. I just so happened to be having some very interesting experiences as of late.

As long as I’m Nanami’s protagonist, then that’s all that matters, I thought, embarrassing even myself. I couldn’t help wanting to kick myself for even thinking that.

“Thanks for waiting, Nanami,” I said as I approached her.

“Oh, welcome back, Yoshin! What did you talk about? More supplementary classes? Maybe we can do another study session,” Nanami returned.

“No, it wasn’t about supplementary classes.”

Nanami let out a disappointed “I see.” If I did need supplementary classes right after having some over summer break, then I’d be in real trouble. Even so, I said, “But we can still have a study session though.”

Nanami’s face lit up at my remark. Her smile was so bright that I felt I had to squint. Wow, what a blindingly beautiful smile. Did Nanami wanna have a study session that badly? Wait, she’s talking about what she should wear. Um, is that really necessary for studying? Huh? The next costume?

Otofuke-san and the others were now chiming in with their own opinions about a potential costume. Wait, what’s a whip for? Excuse me? Why would a tutor have a whip?

I felt somewhat sheepish, being right there while all the girls were giving raunchy hints regarding Nanami’s outfit. I couldn’t help suspecting that cosplaying would become one of Nanami’s new hobbies.

What kind of a costume is she going to tutor me in though? Damn, I hate myself for getting my hopes up.

“And? What was it you talked about with the teacher?” Nanami suddenly asked.

“Oh, uh...”

We’d finally made it back on topic, but I wasn’t sure if it was the kind of thing I could bring up in the middle of the classroom. I took my eyes off of Nanami for a moment and glanced over at Shirishizu-san, who only tilted her head and returned my look.

Shirishizu-san was wearing the new gyaru-style clothes that Nanami put together for her. Half of the guys in class were very happy with the transformation, while the other half wanted the original version back. When she had shown up at school with her new look, it caused quite a commotion. It was a post-summer makeover reveal, albeit a day late.

Given that I didn’t really remember what Shirishizu-san looked like before—back when I used to refer to her as “class rep”—I had to admit I didn’t find her current look to be terribly unnatural.

I really only met her for the first time during summer break. The only thing I had to say about her new look, therefore, was that it suited her just fine.

Of course, I never expected her transformation to stir up such a weird rumor.

“Could it...have something to do with me?” Shirishizu-san asked.

“Well, that too,” I responded reluctantly.

I guess she would notice that something was amiss. Shirishizu-san then sighed and looked down at her clothes. Tracing them with both her hands, she looked over at me again and said, “I thought so. I’ve caused you more trouble again.”

She then continued to trace the outlines of her body, this time with a more sensuous gesture. She probably figured out that my conversation with the teacher had something to do with her appearance. I had to admit that she was pretty astute.

The hint of sexiness in Shirishizu-san’s movement made Nanami turn slightly red. The fact that Shirishizu-san was doing that without realizing what she looked like made it even worse.

Nanami often did things without thinking about them either, but Shirishizu-san did so in a different way. I had to be sure to keep a lid on my thoughts when I looked at Shirishizu-san.

“I guess dressing like this right after summer break would get people talking, huh?” Shirishizu-san said as she pinched the hem of her skirt and lifted it. I couldn’t see anything from my angle, but it was enough to make me look away.

“Kotoha-chan?!” Nanami yelped.

“Whoops, sorry. I did it again,” Shirishizu-san said. From the corner of my eye I saw her let go of her skirt. I really should’ve completely turned my back instead.

“I’m not used to the skirt being so short, so I can’t help flipping it,” she added.

“How does that make any sense?” Nanami muttered, totally bewildered. I had to agree. If the skirt was too short, wouldn’t she feel compelled to cover herself up with more layers? Regardless, I elected to keep looking away as I continued talking.

“I just told the teacher that you had a fashion makeover, that’s all,” I said.

“He really should’ve just asked me himself,” Shirishizu-san replied.

“He told me he was scared of sexual harassment accusations,” I explained.

Shirishizu-san as well as Nanami and the others let out a collective “ahhh,” as if that made complete sense. I guess that’s a common interpretation, then.

“So, what else did you talk about?” Nanami asked.

“Huh?” I let out.

“I mean, you said ‘that too’ earlier,” Nanami said, sidling closer toward me. Maybe because I’d glanced at Shirishizu-san earlier, but Nanami was now very close to me despite us being in the classroom.

Since it was after school, there was no one around but us. But Nanami’s proximity still embarrassed me. Just then Nanami moved to link arms with me, as though to show off how close we were.

Should I really tell Nanami what I just found out when she was acting like this? I mean, it was a given that I would tell her, but this classroom probably wasn’t the place to do it.

“Not here,” I finally mumbled.

Unfortunately, though, I couldn’t think of somewhere better. I wanted to talk about it with everyone who was involved, but I just didn’t have any good ideas for an alternative.

“Is it something that’s hard to talk about at school?” Nanami asked.

“Kind of,” I murmured in response.

I didn’t have the guts to say out loud here that there was a rumor going around about me trying to build a harem—even if there was no one around to hear me.

After that conversation with the teacher, though, I couldn’t bring myself to go to a karaoke box with everyone either. Going to karaoke with a bunch of girls right now felt like it would just strengthen the rumor even more.

Yeah, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this really was all my doing. Like, of course people would think I had a harem; I had the gall to go to karaoke with just me and three other girls.

Still, being unable to come up with any other place to talk, I was about to suggest a karaoke box anyway when Nanami intervened.

“Then how about we go to your work, Yoshin?” she suggested.

“Huh?”

“I haven’t seen Nao-chan since we visited for my birthday. Plus I wanna be able to introduce my friends to her,” Nanami explained.

I didn’t expect her to suggest that. She had seemed hesitant about going to my workplace before, so I was surprised that she would bring up the idea herself. I recalled, though, that she and Nao-senpai had become friends after we had last visited the restaurant on our date.

Hmmm. They’re a restaurant, but it’s okay to just get tea and stuff too, right?

As I went back and forth in my head, Otofuke-san and the others began clamoring that they wanted to see where I worked too. Perhaps they had heard something about it from Nanami.

A café did seem like an easier place to chat about this. Plus, people from school probably wouldn’t go there.

Oh, shoot. We can’t.

“Nanami, I forgot that they’re closed right now for break,” I said.

“Really? Oh, I see. What a bummer,” she replied.

Although she was clearly crestfallen, there wasn’t anything we could do about the restaurant hours. We couldn’t go bother them during their precious free time, after all.

We would have to visit my work some other time, but the general idea of going to a store was a good one. We could probably chat about things at a coffee shop.

To get things started, we all made our way out of the classroom in order to head to a better location to talk.

As a side note, I was to be scolded by Nao-senpai regarding this incident at a later date. When I told her about it, she became incredibly upset.

As she put it: “Four gyaru girls?! Why didn’t you bring them?! I could have had a seriously relaxing break!”

She sounded just like a high school guy.

I had no idea Nao-senpai would complain about such an unexpected issue. After all, I was way more preoccupied trying to figure out just exactly how I would explain the rumor to everyone.

That was why I didn’t realize that there was someone watching me—or, rather, us—at that moment.

Even if I hadn’t been preoccupied, though, I still doubt I would have noticed it. Considering how things went later, we should have just stayed in the classroom to talk.

Had we done that, we probably wouldn’t have been met with any weird misunderstandings. In the end, our precautions totally backfired on us.

It wouldn’t be long, however, before I found out just who exactly was watching us.

♢♢♢

Question: If you told a group of people that they were rumored to be part of a new, scandalous harem, how would they react?

Answer: Any number of ways, as I was witnessing right now.

Nanami fumed. Otofuke-san and Kamoenai-san laughed. Shirishizu-san...had no particular reaction.

Otofuke-san and Kamoenai-san were laughing so hard that they were slumped over the table, clutching their stomachs. Since we were at a café and didn’t want to disturb the other people inside, they were trying their best not to be too noisy.

“Seriously! What’s with that rumor?! How rude!” Nanami exclaimed, clearly upset. It was rude indeed, and she was rightfully angry.

I wasn’t expecting Otofuke-san and Kamoenai-san to start laughing though. I had assumed they’d get upset like Nanami. Though given that the rumor was more about me, they probably found it super amusing that I was the one that people were gossiping about.

“If that’s what people think, then I’ve got to show them all that I’m the only one!” Nanami exclaimed, gripping her hands into tight fists.

“Wait, Nanami. Calm down,” I said.

Flames seemed to dance behind Nanami, and I had the illusion that the heat made her figure sway with menace. The warm weather suggested that summer wasn’t long behind us, but I felt like I was seeing Nanami through the last bit of hazy summer heat that had dissipated a few days ago.

We had left school and made our way to a nearby coffee shop. Nanami and I were sitting next to each other, while the other three sat across from us. I felt like I was in a job interview or something.

“I so am calm. In my head, I’m coming up with different ways to show the whole school just how close you and I are, so that this stupid rumor about a harem goes away immediately,” Nanami said.

Her body was swaying, but her eyes held no light. Whoa, that’s creepy. I’ve never seen Nanami’s eyes look like this. Even during summer break, she never looked so intimidating.

Even with eyes that in no way suggested any kind of flirtiness, Nanami clung to me nonetheless. Her hand gripped me with unseemly strength.

What’s going on? Nanami is right next to me, but I’m so nervous I’m sweating.

The situation had me consider, yet again, something that I had contemplated before.

Does Nanami have yandere tendencies by any chance?

I wasn’t sure if “yandere” was the appropriate term here, but I felt like we’d encountered a few scenarios like this before.

“Oh, come on. It’s actually kind of funny. We only see harems in manga and stuff anyway,” remarked Otofuke-san.

“Yeah, yeah! It’s just a rumor. There’s no way anyone’s taking any of this seriously,” added Kamoenai-san.

As they were about to continue with a laugh, though, the two of them fell silent.

The air turned viscous, as though a heavy lump of lead had been placed on our bodies. Suddenly, all of us felt as if an indescribable weight were pressing down on us.

We drew in our breaths as we turned pale, sweating profusely and trembling. Before, I had only heard of people falling silent when they were afraid, but at the moment we seemed to be modeling that behavior perfectly.

Otofuke-san and Kamoenai-san froze as well, as they glanced over at Nanami.

“Did you two say something?” Nanami asked.

“No, ma’am.”

Wow. Neither one of them is smiling now.

I’d never seen Otofuke-san and Kamoenai-san look like this. I had also never seen the smile currently on Nanami’s face before—a smile meant to dominate.

The two of them looked at me beseechingly, but there was nothing I could do either. All I could do was to take Nanami’s hand to try to calm her down.

When I squeezed her hand, I felt the air around us relax a bit.

Just as quickly, Otofuke-san and Kamoenai-san both inhaled deeply, as though they had been underwater for some time and finally made it to the surface. I loosened my shoulders a bit and exhaled—though I made sure Nanami didn’t notice. At this moment, she was acting so serious, in a way I didn’t think I’d ever seen before.

All this was to show just how much Nanami disliked the whole harem thing. And I got where she was coming from. Though I did think a fictional harem could be kind of interesting, in real life...

If I were to think through things from Nanami’s perspective—contemplate the possibility of her having a relationship like that with people other than me—it would be unbearable torture.

It wasn’t quite the same thing as being cuckolded, but I still couldn’t stand the thought of it. I would never forgive the guy.

Does Nanami like any celebrities? I don’t have anyone like that, though I do like manga characters and stuff. I wonder if that also counts as something we can’t forgive.

Wait, I’m straying here. Let me get back on topic. I’ll never get anywhere if I keep digressing.

In any case, Nanami probably disliked the idea of a harem in real life too. That was probably why even rumors of one upset her so much—though she seemed to be feeling less anger, and perhaps more discomfort.

Either way, I had to get her to calm down somehow. I couldn’t stroke her hair out in public at a café, but maybe I could at least stroke her hand.

I thus let go of her hand at once and began stroking the back of it with my finger.

Unlike mine, the back of Nanami’s hand was soft and smooth. I knew just by touching it how beautiful her hand was. It had no imperfections—I felt like I could keep touching it forever. That was how beautiful and smooth Nanami’s hand felt.

When I touched her like that, I felt her body react slightly.

As the five of us continued debating what to do about the rumor, I continued stroking the back of her hand in an attempt to soothe her.

I saw Nanami steal a glance at me from time to time from the corner of my eye, so I smiled back at her in reassurance.

Right, to reassure her—or so I thought. But then Nanami turned away from me. Every time my fingertips touched her hand, her body quivered.

Hmmm? What’s with her reaction? Why are her cheeks red? What’s going on?

“Hey, Nanami, your face is kind of red. Is it too hot in here?” Otofuke-san asked.

“Oh, you’re right. You’re all red, Nanami. Are you feeling feverish? You should go home and sleep!” Kamoenai-san added.

“Huh? No, this is... It’s nothing,” Nanami murmured.

Nanami was, in fact, very red in the face. Her cheeks were flushed, she was short of breath, and her eyes were teary. She seemed like she was suddenly down with a cold.

Nanami fidgeted for some time, but she seemed to finally give up and whispered, in a voice only loud enough for the five of us at the table to hear, “Y-Yoshin...is doing something pervy to me.”

“Me?!” I yelled.

Wait, I feel like I’ve had a bomb thrown into my camp all of a sudden. Plus it’s not even the kind on a timer—it’s the kind that explodes immediately.

The three in front of us turned to me with an expression that I’d never seen before, like what they were staring at was a heap of rancid garbage. Such terrifying stares!

“Misumai...you dare do such a thing at a coffee shop?” muttered Otofuke-san.

“Wow, that’s too much, even for me... You should really wait until you’re alone,” added Kamoenai-san.

“Pervert,” diagnosed Shirishizu-san.

Oh no, their voices were lower than I’d ever heard them. The mood certainly changed from a moment ago, but I couldn’t say I was happy feeling these stares stab into me.

I had no idea Nanami was feeling that way, so her response completely blindsided me. After all, stroking someone’s hair wasn’t considered perverted, was it?

If that was the case, then stroking the back of someone’s hand couldn’t be considered perverted either...could it?

“Please let me explain,” I said as I raised my hand, then proceeded to explain what I was doing to Nanami. I couldn’t use Nanami’s hand to do so, so I used mine instead.

Once the others heard my explanation...

“How is that considered pervy?” Shirishizu-san asked, tilting her head. Otofuke-san and Kamoenai-san seemed to feel the same way, amused exasperation on their faces. It was Nanami’s turn, though, to object.

“It totally is pervy! I mean, he’s touching my hand all soft and gentle! There were times when he was barely touching me too!” she protested.

“But he’s only touching you, right? Hmmm. Misumai-kun, how about you try it on m—”

“No way!” I instinctively refused as Shirishizu-san suddenly placed her hand on the table. I had no desire to touch the hand of any woman that wasn’t Nanami.

Shirishizu-san picked up on the tone of my response, so she pulled her hand back as she muttered, “Oh, this isn’t okay either.” The person who grasped that hand, though, turned out to be Nanami.

“I’ll do it for you,” Nanami said.

“I’m sorry?” Shirishizu-san let out.

Nanami smiled brightly as she proceeded to touch the back of Shirishizu-san’s hand. Her movements seemed a lot smoother than mine. The touch of her fingertips seemed to send shivers through Shirishizu-san’s body. Paying no mind to her reaction, Nanami let her fingers crawl over Shirishizu-san’s hand. Shirishizu-san, meanwhile, pressed her other hand to her lips, as though stifling herself from any possible outcries.

Once Nanami had completed her exercise of stroking Shirishizu-san’s hand, Shirishizu-san slumped over the table. Smiling, Nanami turned and looked toward the other two.

“Now it’s your turn,” she said to them.

As though unable to refuse, the two of them slowly extended their hands toward Nanami. They were looking at Shirishizu-san over the table next to them with fear in their eyes.

Still, the two of them also seemed to be taking things a bit lightly—as though they thought that Shirishizu-san was overreacting. And yet...

Ultimately, the two of them met the same end as Shirishizu-san, with all three of them left slumped over the table in the end.

“And? Your thoughts?” Nanami asked the three of them, with a satisfied smile brimming with something like maternal affection. She carried the air of a teacher gently guiding her students through a question with an answer she already knew herself.

I swallowed hard. I didn’t know if it was from fear or from something else, but I felt a shiver go up my spine just from seeing that smile of hers.

“This is...indeed pervy,” mumbled Shirishizu-san.

“Sure is,” murmured Otofuke-san.

“Yup,” finished Kamoenai-san.

This couldn’t be happening. They were all singing a completely different tune from before.

I wasn’t sure if it was to circulate oxygen throughout their system, but all three of them were breathing heavily. They were all short of breath as though they’d just run a marathon, and they were looking at each other while still slumped over the table.

Otofuke-san and Kamoenai-san were muttering something about having someone do it for them...or doing it for someone themselves.

I’m so sorry about this, Soichiro-san and Oribe-san, I apologized in advance, inside my heart.

As I sat there, stunned by just how quickly the three of them had changed their minds, I felt something soft touch my hand. The moment I registered the sensation, my entire body jumped.

When I slowly looked down, I saw that Nanami’s hand was placed upon mine.

The hand that I always held—the hand that I’d even held with fingers intertwined—was now placed on top of mine.

“N-Nanami-san?” I whispered, reverting back to my old way of addressing her. It of course wasn’t actually old, since it had only been a few months. Still, I didn’t even have time to feel nostalgic about the fact that I used to address her with the honorific.

Taking a sidelong glance at our three companions still slumped over the table, I started trembling, as if their condition were to be my future.

I couldn’t figure out if I was trembling out of joy or fear.

With her palm still sitting on the back of my hand, Nanami whispered into my ear, “I’ll do it to you later too.”

Her words sounded so gentle and sweet, they seemed to melt into my ears. At the same time, Nanami showed me a glimpse of her tongue, like a snake about to consume its prey.

Hearing and seeing her, I shivered yet again, even as Nanami quickly let go of my hand.

I hadn’t even moved—I hadn’t even had anything done to me—and yet my breathing became heavy. Either because my reaction was just what she’d expected, or because it was amusing, Nanami laughed innocently, like a child entirely pure at heart.

Women are frightening. I don’t think I can win.

However, the atmosphere, once laden with anger and discomfort, was now completely gone. Whatever Nanami was going to do to me later, I would just have to deal with it then.

Just as we began to feel more relaxed, Shirishizu-san—her upper body still sprawled out on the table—raised her hand. I wondered if it was still quivering because of what Nanami had done to her.

“Yes, Kotoha-chan,” Nanami said like a teacher in a classroom.

“Yes, so,” Shirishizu-san began as she lifted her head slowly, as though she had been called upon. The other two remained stretched out across the table, still in the midst of recovery.

After she raised her head, Shirishizu-san glanced at me with her cheeks still flushed, then quickly looked back at Nanami and said, “I can now understand that Misumai-kun was doing something terribly pervy to you under the table.”

“There’s no need for you to understand that,” I insisted.

A terrible misunderstanding seemed to be underway, but my protests fell on unsympathetic ears. Shirishizu-san caught her breath as she continued.

“So you’re planning on doing stuff like this at school to try to disprove the rumor?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’m gonna be super flirty with him in front of...”

“You probably shouldn’t, since you’ll get suspended,” Shirishizu-san continued.

“It’s that bad?!” I blurted.

Coming from someone who served as a class rep, the comment sounded inordinately heavy and serious. It also sounded like a slight exaggeration, but the two sitting next to her were nodding in agreement.

Did Nanami really happen to have that much technique in just her fingers? Shoot, my heart is pounding already.

“How about you keep the flirting to a minimum, since it might be against school rules, and try going around the school festival together or something instead?” Shirishizu-san suggested.

This was the first time anyone ever said that something I did was possibly against school rules. I had no recollection of doing anything so harmful...at least, not in front of everyone.

It was true, though, that with Nanami in her current state, she might start talking about doing something even more extreme. Like kissing in front of everyone.

I guess there’s no way she’d go that far.

Even if Nanami did get kind of carried away, she’d still maintain a sense of self-awareness. If we went so far as to kiss on school grounds and got caught, we probably would end up getting suspended.

Or would we? The last time I checked, school policies were so vague that you could interpret them however you wanted. They weren’t so specific as to say kissing on school grounds would merit a suspension, or something like that.

Shirishizu-san’s comment, though, seemed to have gotten Nanami thinking. Now that I thought about it, she did say something that caught my attention.

School festival? What is that, again?

“That’s right, I forgot that the school festival is coming up,” Nanami remarked.

“Yeah. If you go around campus with just the two of you, you’ll probably be able to show everyone that you’re an exclusive couple,” Shirishizu-san said.