Chapter 169: Mamonaka Miyao

I went to the bath area with Shouko and Minori and filled the tub for them.

“Thanks, Sousuke.”

“Won’t that make everyone wait for us...?”

Minori looked uneasy.

“We can soak later. As long as we focus on getting clean first, we’ll be fine, Minorin!”

“R-Right.”

“Then I’ll step out. I’ll clean your uniforms, too.”

“Thanks!”

“I’ll leave them to you.”

I left the bath area for the changing room. After placing their spare clothes and other things there, I went into the hall and headed for the living room.

Chiyu, Shion, Roa, and Serina were having tea around the table.

“Oh, Sousuke.”

Serina noticed me and smiled happily.

She treated everyone else the same as usual, so it felt as though this was an expression she showed only to me. That made me strangely happy.

“Mm. ‘Purify.’ ‘Advanced Heal.’”

The moment she saw me, my childhood friend cast her usual pair of purification and healing spells.

“Thanks, Chiyu. By the way, what were you four talking about?”

“Hehe. We were discussing Serina’s turn, just a little.”

Shion spoke with a sultry smile.

“Under the rules for nightly turns, a new girlfriend goes last in the current rotation. Since last night happened to be my turn, we were saying there should be no issue with Lady Serina taking tonight’s turn.”

“Mm. Of course, I’ll talk to Shouko and Mino about it later, too.”

“I-I see...”

They talked about it as if it were obvious, but a turn meant... Serina was willing to have that kind of relationship with me.

Well, I already knew that she had feelings for me.

“Sousuke... don’t want to?”

“I don’t mind.”

I made sure to be clear about that much.

I was drawn to Serina, too.

On this deserted island, I had gradually come to accept that I should be honest about those feelings... No, honestly, it was still difficult. But the resistance I had once felt was no longer as strong.

“Okay. Then I’m happy.”

“Um... let’s talk about whose turn it is later.”

“Yeah. Okay.”

Serina nodded obediently, like a well-behaved child.

“Where is everyone else?”

“Luminuss and Uru-chii are upstairs.”

They were probably each in their own rooms.

“Myao’s outside.”

Serina told me.

“Oh, Sousuke. About dinner tonight—I was thinking we should do something to celebrate establishing cooperative ties with everyone in class.”

“I see... When we celebrate something at our place, does that mean grilled meat?”

“Hehe. I thought you’d say that. In that case, we’ll gather everyone and then head outside, so could you make a few light preparations?”

Shion gave me a meaningful smile.

...Was she telling me to talk with Mamonaka, who was outside?

I rarely had chances to be alone with her, and I could not exactly say we had grown close yet.

I should make good use of an opportunity like this.

“Leave it to me.”

Even though it was just an excuse, I started considering whether I should place barbecue equipment and a bonfire outside.

When I stepped out, Mamonaka was gazing up at the moon.

“...Ah. K-Kuno.”

“Hey, Mamonaka. Thinking about something by yourself?”

“No... I just felt like getting some air. What about you?”

“Tonight, everyone decided to have grilled meat... no, barbecue, I guess? Anyway, we’re going to make and eat all kinds of things together. I’m getting things ready for that.”

“Oh, I see. Yeah, that sounds nice.”

Mamonaka Miyao.

A tall girl from the volleyball club, with shoulder-length red hair. She was beautiful, and well-endowed.

She had belonged to Shouko’s group in class, but she was not the flashy type.

We had been in the same class during our first year, but I did not think we had ever really interacted.

Still, she had shown signs of being conscious of me, and I had wondered whether something had happened.

“Hey, Mamonaka.”

“W-What is it?”

She was visibly nervous.

Maybe I should not jump straight to the main subject.

“Do you ever feel like playing volleyball?”

“Huh?”

“I mean, this is our eleventh day on the island, right? If you used to play every day in club, I thought you might miss it.”

At first, Mamonaka seemed confused by my question. Then she gave it some thought and nodded.

“Volleyball... Yeah. I think I might want to.”

“Right? I thought about making a ball and giving it to you first, but... I still could not make one properly. So I made this instead. What do you think?”

What I placed in my hand was a hollow ball made by sewing together deer hide.

I gently tossed it to Mamonaka, and she caught it with ease.

“A ball?”

“I asked Minori about it, too, but apparently old volleyballs were made from cowhide... I had deer hide, at least, so I tried making one.”

Since deer hide was apparently used for kemari balls, it was not a completely unsuitable material.

“This is amazing... Can I use it?”

“It’s yours, Mamonaka.”

“Th-Thank you...”

Mamonaka tossed the ball straight up, then tapped it back upward when it fell, repeating the motion.

“Ooh. As expected from the volleyball club. You never lose control of it.”

If I tried, it would probably fly off in every direction right away.

“That’s not true... It feels pretty different from a normal ball, but... yeah. It makes me remember school.”

The soft sound of the ball—pon... pon—seemed to seep into the night.

“U-Um, Kuno?”

“Yeah? What is it?”

“Last year, we were in the same class, right?”

“Yeah, we were.”

“You probably don’t remember, but...”

Then Mamonaka began to tell me.

It had happened one day last year, during PE.

The gym had been divided in two, with boys and girls playing volleyball separately.

Two thoughtless boys watched Mamonaka play and laughed mockingly.

But apparently, I had said something to them and ruined their mood.

From Mamonaka’s perspective, I had defended her.

That was why she had come to think well of me.

“...Ah! I remember now.”

Come to think of it, something like that had happened.

I think the two of them had been half-laughing as they said things like, “She’s huge,” “Scary, haha,” and “Who’d ever want a girlfriend like that?”

If they thought that was funny, they were awful. And even if they were jealous of Mamonaka’s blessed physique and excellent play, they should have chosen their words better.

Since I had heard them, ignoring it would have left a bad taste in my mouth. So I made sure they could hear me and said, “She’s cool and beautiful. I’d be happy to have a girlfriend like her.”

Luckily, some of my friends joined in, and the two boys ended up looking awkward instead.

It was an embarrassing thing to say in retrospect, but it had been one of those moments when I needed to say it without getting embarrassed.

“I was happy. I’ve been called things like that a lot since I was little. Plenty of people told me not to let it bother me, but... that was the first time anyone had said something like that.”

“Sorry for saying something so cheesy... Remembering it now is making me embarrassed.”

“Don’t say that. Um... Kuno, y-you were really cool.”

“As long as you weren’t hurt by it, I’m glad...”

“B-By the way... um... did you really mean that, or were you just being nice?”

Before I knew it, Mamonaka was holding the ball to her chest.

The deer-hide ball lifted the two balls on her chest with a soft, buoyant bounce.

“No, I think you’re an attractive girl, Mamonaka. Those two just had no eye for it.”

“I-I see... Thank you.”

Mamonaka fidgeted, twisting the tip of her hair around one finger.

Then she looked at me.

In the moonlight, I could see the moisture shining in her eyes.

“You know... ever since that day... I-I thought you were wonderful, Kuno...”

My heart gave a sharp thump.

“Th-Thank you...”

“Ugh... th-this is so embarrassing.”

Mamonaka covered her face with one hand and lowered her head.

As I stood there, confused by this strangely youthful moment—

“I’m hungry! Sousuke, want me to help you start the fire... Huh? What’s wrong, Myao?”

“N-Nothing!”

Personally, Shouko’s timing was perfect.

I still had no idea what I was supposed to do in that sort of atmosphere.

More importantly, I now knew exactly why Mamonaka had such a favorable impression of me.

If something I had done had saved someone, that was something to be happy about.

I never would have noticed Mamonaka’s feelings if we had not been transferred to this deserted island.

Thinking about it that way, the transfer had not been entirely bad.

With that on my mind, I began preparing dinner.