Chapter 45: The Angel and the Blissful Atmosphere (2/2)

“Got it.”

“…See. Are you not teasing me now?”

“I’m serious about you being innocent though.”

Mahiru was sitting next to him, and she tapped at his leg beneath the table.

She looked towards him with slightly red cutes, “Sorry sorry” once he apologized, her pretty face made a pout, which made her rather cute. However, Amane held back the urge to laugh so as to avoid angering her.

“…How do I put it, see, what we brag about is being bragged before us here.”

“Isn’t that fine? Amane’s looking a relaxed compared to usual.”

“Nn, sorry for having you cook for my parents.”

After dinner, they spent two hours or so talking, before turning in for the night. However, his parents would be sleeping in the living room, so Mahiru would be the only one returning home.

His parents were off to bathe, so Amane was the only one to see her off. There was no need to see her off, but he did so just in case, and also to apologize for his parents’ recklessness for the day.

“No, I am fine. I enjoyed myself today.”

“I see.”

Luckily, it appeared she was not displeased in the slightest.

One might say she was really joyous.

“And also.”

“Also?”

“…I have understood the feeling of happiness, if a little.”

Mahiru showed a faint smile, accompanied by a soft voice as weak as a sigh.

The fleeting smile would seemingly vanish with the wind. He could sense some jealousy in her eyes, and had a rough idea of her family situation.

He felt he could not leave her be, so he inadvertently placed his palm on her hair, deliberately ruffling it.

She did not look annoyed, merely shocked as she looked up at Amane.

“Wh-what is the matter?”

“Nothing.”

“Not nothing…my hair is all messy.”

“You’ll be taking a bath anyway.”

“You are right about that.”

“…I can’t do that?”

“N-not that you cannot…but you should have told me first.”

“I already touched.”

“You are just reporting after it happened.”

“Sorry.”

So you’re willing to let me touch if I told you, he had such a thought, but he did not voice it out. He obediently apologized, and Mahiru let out a little sigh.

“Goodness…I am fine with that, but you cannot go about touching a girl on the hair.”

“No, it’s not like I’ll go about touching others…”

At the very least, Amane knew well that the only ones of the opposite gender he could touch were those close to him. He could not do any casual skinship like an outgoing person.

He treated Mahiru as someone close, so he would be sure she would not dislike him while patting on her head. However, he would not do this to anyone other than Mahiru.

To be precise, he had no intention of touching anyone else. The most he would desire was to punish the prankster Chitose.

Once he said he would not touch anyone else, Mahiru was quiet, and did not shake off his hand.

“…Now that I look at you, I do think you really resemble Shuuto-san, Amane-kun. I can tell even though we just met.”

“In what sense? Our personalities and faces are so different.”

“…You look similar. Really.”

She sighed hard this time, and this time, he rubbed her head with some frustration, but it appeared she did not dislike it.

…Do we really resemble each other?

Well, it was true that they would be mistaken for brothers with a large age gap if they stood next to each other, but they had completely different demeanors.

Their personalities were not completely contrasting, but they were not similar at all.

One would thus have to wonder why she said they resembled each other?

He had a few questions on his mind, but it appeared she had no intention to continue talking, her eyes narrowed at Amane as she left it at that.

After he fondled enough, he let go of her head, and she suddenly reeled back, a little taken aback as she looked up at Amane.

“What, you want me to keep touching?”

He asked mischievously, “please stop” and Mahiru answered with a blushing face, so he stopped.

She appeared to be a little peeved, looking displeased as she opened the door to her house, and slipped in.

Before he could regret going overboard here, she peeped through the door gap.

“Amane-kun.”

“What?”

“…Amane-kun no, baka.”

Mahiru’s cheeks were slightly red, and she appeared to be pouting and yet fawning with sweet words, before closing the door.

…Who’s the idiot here?

It was Mahiru’s fault for causing his heart to suddenly jolt.

He let out a little sigh, and leaned on the corridor wall to cool his heated body, before sighing out a breath of white air.