VOLUME 2

Chapter 2: Part 4

School had ended, and I had been left in the cla.s.sroom by myself for quite a while.

The evening had faded into dusk. When I looked down at the school grounds, I could see the track team practicing, with Tomonori among them.

Was it honestly alright for a “husband and wife” duo like us to feel so little like a real husband and wife?

It was just one kiss. And it was an accidental kiss. Given those circ.u.mstances, even if she told me that I was her husband, it really didn’t feel like that at all. Well, I guess the best thing to do was to just ignore it all.

“Ayumu.”

I heard a familiar voice, and jumped up in surprise. “Wha-?!”

In the cla.s.sroom, a 1.45 meter tall girl was standing. She began to slowly walk towards me, her head facing downwards, her hands joined behind her back, and her cheeks flushed red.

Even though she usually didn’t wear skirts or things like that, Haruna had a pleated one-piece on today.

“What are you doing? Did a Megalo show up or something?”

Haruna’s ahoge shook from side to side.

“Is it so bad for me to come and meet you?”

She jut out her jaw like a duck. She came to meet me here? Even though there wasn’t a Megalo?

“Ah, no, well… thanks then. Oh, right, I did well on my exams thanks to you. I’m really grateful.”

Haruna’s eyes widened for a moment before she looked away and began to mumble as if she was talking with her mouth full.

“T-That’s obvious, isn’t it? If you failed the exams after that… I was going to take your brains and perform an autopsy dissection on them.”

She wasn’t as energetic as she usually was, but what she talked about was still the same.

What was wrong? Did something happen to Haruna? It just seemed that recently, Haruna had been acting strangely.

“Take this.”

Haruna was holding a mandarin orange in her hands.

“For me?”

I took the orange she offered me, and wanting to eat it right away, began to try to peel it with my thumb-

“Hey! Bayumu, that orange is a bomb in disguise-“

Missed it by just a hair. I stopped midway, the nail on my thumb barely away from digging into the orange… who the h.e.l.l was Bayumu?

“You have something against me or something?”

“N-No! It seems like Megalo are showing up in large numbers, so if you meet one before I can come and bring you Mystletainn… well… I was worried.”

Haruna was worried for me?

“I’m grateful, but it’s not like I can carry an orange around with me.”

“Ah, alright. I also have one in the shape of a pencil…”

“Let’s go with that one then. You can take the ora-… well, actually, you carrying it around would be pretty dangerous.”

“Eh? … Mm.”

She really didn’t have much energy today. If she kept this up, it was going to throw everything out of whack.

I took the pencil-shaped bomb she held out to me and put it in my pocket.

“If you take the eraser off, it’s going to explode, so be careful.”

“Got it… ah, right, Haruna. Do you want to go to an arcade?”

“Arcade?”

“It’s a place to have fun. Want to go?”

Nod. Haruna nodded without making a sound… was she really alright?

“Hey, Ayumu… the words ‘thank you’ are pretty strong, aren’t they…?”

“Huh?” Once again, she had said something strange. And please, stop your ahoge from looking so lonely. For some reason, it makes my chest ache.

“It’s too strong, it’s way too strong, and I can’t use it well… like Ayumu can.”

So that was it? She just wanted to try it out?

“Haruna, you look really cute in that outfit.”

“Eh? Really? That leaf woman picked it out for me.”

I had tried to give her an opportunity to say “thank you,” but…

Well, her response was pretty like her, so whatever.

“If we’re going to an arcade, then it would be more fun with more people, right?”

“Eh? … Mm.”

I took out my cell phone, and Haruna nodded, seeming a bit sulky.

TRANSLATOR’S NOTES