Chapter 557

“Make sense?”

“Yeah.”

“Then let’s solve it.”

“Give it here. Hurry, before I forget the formula.”

Gesturing with his hand, Matsuda urged her to hurry. Miyuki watched him with a proud smile he didn’t quite catch, then handed over the workbook.

He snatched it up and his mechanical pencil started flying across the page.

It didn’t take long for him to return the workbook with a triumphant look. Thinking he looked rather handsome like that, Miyuki checked his answers.

Then she let out a soft gasp of awe.

“This is pretty surprising.”

“Is that an insult or a compliment?”

“A compliment. You got them all right.”

“Then why say it’s surprising? Doesn’t that mean you were looking down on me?”

“I just meant I didn’t expect you to know how to apply the formula like this.”

“Isn’t that exactly what looking down on me means?”

“No, it’s not. You have a serious persecution complex.”

“Whatever. Let’s call it a day here.”

“You want to finish already?”

“Not ‘already.’ Look outside. It’s dark.”

Just as Matsuda said, the sun had completely set.

She hadn’t even noticed the time passing while studying with him.

This would be the perfect moment to head back to his place together... What a shame.

“Hmm... Alright. Let’s wrap up. Do you have a lesson today?”

“For drums? No. Not today.”

“Want to grab dinner together before you go?”

“Sure.”

She wanted to invite him to eat at her place, but just as she’d concluded before, coming on too strong would backfire.

Yet she also felt frustrated; she wanted their relationship to progress faster than this.

Acknowledging that contradictory feeling rather than shying away from it, Miyuki quietly savored the sensation as she stood up and packed her books into her bag.

Then, she said in passing, “That comic book was pretty good.”

“The one I picked out for you?”

“You don’t need to emphasize that you picked it out.”

“What are you talking about... Sounds like you’re the one with the persecution complex.”

“This isn’t a persecution complex...”

“Shut up. Let’s go.”

“Why are you getting annoyed?”

“You think acting all indifferent is going to rile me up?”

“Rile you up? Does something itch?”

“Stop playing dumb and get up. Hurry.”

Flashing a helpless smile at his frantic gesturing, Miyuki followed his lead.

They left the classroom together and headed down the stairs.

An empty building. A chilling breeze sweeping in through a slightly open window on the stairwell.

Feeling the cold draft, Miyuki glanced up at Matsuda and asked, “Isn’t it a bit spooky?”

“Not really.”

“You’re scared, aren’t you?”

“Hardly.”

She knew perfectly well that Matsuda was a total coward.

Finding his bravado hilarious, Miyuki brought a hand to her mouth and laughed quietly.

Matsuda scowled in displeasure.

“What are you laughing about now?”

“Do I look like a ghost?”

“No... Stop trying to force me to be scared.”

“Such a teenage boy response. Did you know the Academy was built over a graveyard?”

“How old is that urban legend? Why don’t you tell me the skeleton in the science lab moves at midnight while you’re at it?”

“Sorry.”

“Well, it was entertaining.”

“So you’re not scared?”

“Stop talking nonsense and just walk down the stairs.”

“Why do I have to go first? Can’t you take the lead, Matsuda-kun?”

“No.”

“If you’re scared, just say you’re scared... Jeez...”

“You’ve been messing with me this whole time. Keep it up and you’re in for some real trouble.”

“Are you going to hit me?”

“Why would I hit you... You kidding? I was just going to tell you a shocking story.”

A shocking story? What could that be?

Hearing it from someone as generally upbeat as Matsuda made her even more curious.

Was it a story she already knew? If so, she’d have to put on a little act of surprise.

“What is it?”

“You like watching dramas, right?”

“I’m not super obsessed with them, but I’ll watch the good ones.”

“Then watch the actors’ eyes closely the next time they’re delivering lines.”

“Why their eyes?”

“They blink constantly.”

“What... That’s your shocking story? That just happens when people act.”

“Now you’ll be so busy paying attention to their eyes you won’t even hear their lines.”

Was this following the same logic as when they had hamburgers for lunch?

If this was supposed to be a shocking story, it was just Matsuda trying too hard for a laugh and failing miserably.

“I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure I’ll hear them just fine.”

“Just wait and see.”

Chuckling at his bold confidence, Miyuki changed the subject.

With an important day coming up, she needed a definitive answer from him.

“There’s a festival at the Shrine near my house soon. Want to come? My dad’s running a takoyaki stall, so you should come have some, Matsuda-kun.”

“A festival? Ah... like a local neighborhood gathering? With fireworks?”

“Right. Just wear a yukata.”

“If I have time, I’ll go.”

It sounded like a yes.

Was her intimate time with Matsuda finally about to begin?

Her chest swelled with anticipation.

“Yeah.”

Returning home in high spirits, Miyuki washed her hands and feet and sat on the sofa just in time for the medical drama she watched with her mother and sister to come on.

She casually chatted with Matsuda on her phone while watching, but then her brow twitched in annoyance.

His words from earlier were stuck in her head.

Just as he’d predicted, the actors blinked so often while speaking that she couldn’t focus on their lines.

Where did he learn something so petty yet so frustrating?

He never usually did things like this... It was exasperating.

Time flowed on, unbidden.

The silver lining was that her banter with Matsuda had grown more frequent.

Like close friends, the two occasionally sat together for school lunches, studied after classes, and went to the band academy, carrying them straight into summer vacation.

And the absolute highlight of early summer vacation was the festival.

She was going to meet Matsuda at the Shrine and watch the fireworks—she couldn’t possibly miss this.

With the days passing so peacefully lately, she desperately hoped today would bring a major breakthrough in their relationship.

“Miyuki! Are you ready yet?”

Her mother’s voice drifted up from the bottom of the stairs.

Fiddling with the hair at her nape in front of the full-length mirror, Miyuki shouted back.

“Not yet! Just five more minutes!”

“Alright! Where’s Kanna?”

“In the bathroom! But she said she isn’t going!”

Calling out her answer, Miyuki meticulously checked her hairstyle in the mirror.

Matsuda had mentioned it in passing once before.

The sex appeal of her nape... No, she needed to tone down her thoughts.

If she kept letting this pent-up desire build, she really might end up pouncing on him.

Regardless, Matsuda would absolutely love it if she highlighted her nape.

Convinced of this, Miyuki put in maximum effort to tie her hair up and accentuate the back of her neck.

Come to think of it, why was that Samoyama guy so quiet?

Matsuda had said it might escalate into something big... Was it just unfounded worry?

She wondered if perhaps the Student Council had made a preemptive move and gotten rid of those people.

She hoped so.

“If you’re ready... Hmm?”

Hearing footsteps coming down the stairs, Midori looked over and widened her eyes.

She examined her daughter’s carefully styled hair from a few angles and spoke up.

“You went all out on your hair.”

“I didn’t really...”

“You’re clearly glowing with excitement. What do you mean ‘not really’...”

“I am not. Anyway, I’ll go on ahead, okay?”

“No, we should go together. Why are you leaving early?”

‘Because you’re going to drag your feet arguing with my sister who doesn’t even want to go.’

Swallowing those words, Miyuki simply said she had someone to meet and rushed out the door.

Arriving at the Shrine, where quite a few cars were already parked, Miyuki chose to wait by the entrance for Matsuda rather than heading inside.

She had just received a text that he was almost there.

Under normal circumstances, she was supposed to run into Matsuda at the Shrine—specifically, right at her dad Wataru’s takoyaki stall.

Matsuda would catch a little kid trying to steal takoyaki for the children at the orphanage, hear the boy out, and do a good deed.

That was probably when it happened.

When her entire view of Matsuda had shifted to something incredibly favorable.

Of course, she’d continue to see him in a new light time and time again after that, but this incident was likely what had first planted her affection for him.

As she was chewing on her memories, she spotted a tall young man in a men’s yukata walking her way from the distance.

Confirming it was Matsuda, Miyuki shot a hand up and waved, suddenly wondering—what if the orphanage kid didn’t show up at the stall?

If the kid had just been stealing takoyaki for himself, she would have ignored it, but she couldn’t help worrying since he was doing it for his orphanage family.

He’d resorted to a wrongful method like stealing, but... it still weighed on her mind.

If he didn’t show up, she’d just have to make a donation later.

The takoyaki rarely sold out completely anyway.

If they cooked up a delicious batch and brought it over, the kids would love it.

“Why are you just standing there staring blankly? Greet me now that I’m here.”

Matsuda offered a playful scolding as he approached while she was lost in thought.

Shrugging her shoulders, Miyuki rummaged through her memories and repeated the exact words she’d said in the past.

“Matsuda-kun, did you finally die after eating nothing but junk food all the time?”

“What kind of morbid joke is that?”

Back then, Matsuda had worn his yukata with the right lapel folded over the left—just like a burial shroud for the dead.

And the situation was no different today.

“You folded the right side over the left. You wear it like that and it becomes a burial shroud for the dead. Come here. I’ll fix it for you.”

In the past, she’d merely untied his obi and told him to fix it himself... but she wouldn’t be doing that today.

Under the guise of leaving him slightly flustered, she’d subtly feel up his bare chest to satisfy her own desires.