192 Going Outside (2/2)

”...Hello.”

”Hello...”

A period of silence fell between them.

”Er... Sensei, I feel that your current appearance... is quite nice.” Seiji gave her his honest praise.

It was definitely much better than last time!

”Thank you...” Mayuzumi lowered her head and clenched her hands.

Seiji didn’t know if she was being shy or anxious.

‘She’s probably nervous and anxious, since she has androphobia and I’m a male,’ Seiji thought to himself. ‘I need to be as considerate as I can.’

”If you’re ready, let’s go.”

”Okay...”

Seiji walked in front of Mayuzumi.

When he reached the elevator, Seiji turned around and instantly felt rather helpless.

She was literally walking four meters behind him!

This distance made it seem like they were perfect strangers.

”Sensei, could you walk a little closer? At this distance... we wouldn’t even be able to get on the same elevator.”

”S-Sorry...” Mayuzumi slowly walked closer.

She stopped at a distance of approximately one meter from him.

Was this the limit for her? Okay, this seemed fine.

The elevator arrived quickly.

When the elevator arrived, there was a jacket-wearing middle-aged man already inside.

Even one meter apart from her, Seiji noticed that Mayuzumi stiffened.

”Sensei... is it alright?”

‘Should we wait for the next elevator?’ He asked that question using his eyes.

”I-It’s fine.” Mayuzumi forced herself to say that even though her muscles were stiff and tensed.

‘Is everything really fine?’ Seiji was rather worried.

But since she herself said it was fine, they at least had to try.

He walked into the elevator.

Mayuzumi also slowly entered.

The jacket-wearing middle-aged man felt that something was a little strange and shot an inquisitive look towards her.

Mayuzumi instantly froze over completely!

‘So scary, so scary, so scary!’

She was about to tremble when she saw a tall figure block the middle-aged man’s line of sight.

It was Haruta-kun.

”Sensei, it’s fine—just relax.”

Seiji figured out that this wasn’t good for her and instantly moved to block the middle-aged man’s line of sight as he talked as gently to her as possible.

”Mmm... Mmm.”

Mayuzumi nodded as she retreated into the elevator’s corner and did her best to loosen her tension.

The tall Haruta-kun not only blocked the other man’s line of sight, he even completely blocked out the other man’s body from her own line of vision.

This indeed helped her to relax.

Even though Haruta-kun was a boy as well... he was special!

Mayuzumi believed in this and made an effort to increase her belief in this point.

Otherwise, she would be unable to accept even his help.

The elevator stopped.

The jacket-wearing man exited rather quickly. Perhaps he was in a hurry to begin with, or maybe he felt that the boy and woman riding together in the same elevator were rather strange.

”Sensei, are you alright?”

”I-I’m fine.”

”That’s good, then.” Seiji flashed a gentle smile. ”Sensei, you’re working hard. There's no need to rush—we can take things slowly.”

There was no helping it; after all, it was a legitimate phobia.

It was good that she wanted to conquer her fear, but there was no need to challenge herself too much either. Slow steps were fine.

As long as she made steady progress, it was certain that she would eventually overcome her phobia.

Seiji smiled in an attempt to transmit such a message.

Mayuzumi seemed to feel something from his smile as she also smiled back at him.

”Okay...”

The two of them exited the elevator and walked out of her apartment. It was a nice and sunny day.