Inside Yasu's house, silence engulfed the living room as everyone refused to say a word after Takeru dropped the bombshell, and because of that the others, either didn't know what to say or to avoid making the atmosphere even heavier.
Ichiro who was also quiet, took a deep breath as he turned to look at Takeru and asked him.
Takkun… How is Nanami-san like?"
"… … … Tall, beautiful, always gentle and smiling to me, with pretty silver hair in a ponytail and… Big in certain places…"
"…" (x5)
No one said anything, but Ichiro could notice that Kimiko and Yasu were both secretly taking notes of what Takeru had just said. And then Takeru continued describing the girl that he liked.
"And today, I saw her beat the crap out of two different guys as they begged for help, with one of them even being sent flying out of a room"
"She what!?" (x5)
At hearing that, everyone asked the same rhetorical question, with different tones, but they all sounded surprised in some way. As for Ichiro, having changed the topic away from the kiss that Takeru had received from the girl, helped him in calming down, not that Ichiro had shown that he was embarrassed in any way.
So Ichiro just decided to give Takeru some motivation, as he felt a little worried that Takeru might have a fancy for a yankee girl.
"I-I see, well… Good luck with her, Takkun"
"?"
And Takeru only answered him with a confused face, before he made an expression that he had just remembered about something.
"… Ah! That's right, can I ask you something, Ichiro?"
"Sure, what is it?"
"What should I do to talk with Yu- Nanami-san without making her angry?"
"Eh? Is she angry with you?"
"I don't know, but after seeing what she did to those two guys, I'm afraid of knowing"
"Makes sense… Well… What do you think, Sakurako-san?"
Ichiro turned his head towards Sakurako who went to take seconds on the kitchen
"Huh? Me?… Well, I think you should give her some time to calm down before talking to her, I guess"
Then Cicilia joined in the conversation
"Yeah, you should definitely give her some time to calm down, and when you talk to her you just start by apologizing to her, that much should help you avoid her beating you up"
"That makes sense"
"I see, that might work"
As Ichiro, Takeru, and Cicilia continued to discuss that, Sakurako finished getting her second serving of food and returned to her previous seat right beside Ichiro, which caused her to occasionally join the discussion from time to time, since she was more concentrated on eating her food.
As for Yasu and Kimiko, they were both taking notes of everything that Takeru said. After everyone finished having dinner and felt satisfied, they all decided to end their little get-together with a movie, so Kimiko went to pick a movie and returned with a horror movie famous for being one of the scariest movies ever released.
"So what do you guys think? Wanna watch this movie?"
"Sure"
"Sounds good to me"
"Eh, why not?"
"That movie looks interesting"
"HELL NO!"
Of everyone, Cicilia was the only one who disagreed
"Too bad, Cano-chan. It was Five against one, so we're going to watch this movie"
"Then I'll be leaving!"
Cicilia got up from the sofa and made her way to the entrance, but when she was halfway through, Takeru began to provoke her. As the two looked like two cats hissing at each other, Sakurako tugged Ichiro's left sleeve to get his attention.
"?"
*Gesturing for him to get closer*
"*Whisper* What is it, Sakurako-san?"
"*Whisper* Why are Tanaka-san and Carcano-san always arguing?"
"… *Whisper* Probably because they're too similar"
"?"
"*Whisper* You see, they're both tsundere and because of that they both end up repelling the other"
"… … … *Whisper* I see"
Ichiro could only show a small smile as he looked at Sakurako, as she still showed confusion on her face since she didn't really get what Ichiro meant by Takeru and Cicilia repelled each other.
"Alrighty, everyone! The movie has started!"
With Kimiko's words, everyone sat down in the kotatsu and began watching the movie. During the movie, Cicilia had a frightened crying face as she clearly showed that she hated horror movies, and she did so as she tightly hugged Yasu's arm, who was secretly enjoying the feeling of her soft breasts on his arm with a blank face.
"…"
Sakurako silently looked at Cicilia hugging Yasu, and then looked at Ichiro, who was unfazed by the movie, just like her, then she lowered her eyes and looked at Ichiro's arm and hand. Then she looked back at Cicilia hugging Yasu's arm her face was now filled with tears as she hugged Yasu even more.
"…"
With that, Sakurako decided to copy Cicilia and began hugging Ichiro's arm.
"?"
Due to that, Ichiro looked at her and then gestured if she also wanted to hold his hand, which she did so by gently interweaving her fingers with Ichiro's fingers. The two looked at each other, and from Ichiro's perspective, Sakurako even appeared to be making a small smile, and then she began resting her head on his shoulder.
"… *Sigh*"
Still, Ichiro was aware by now, that Sakurako was incapable of showing a smile, but that didn't stop him from thinking that she had shown a small smile to him just now. So he just made a small sigh and kept his usual smug-looking smile to hide his embarrassment and excitement from having Sakurako clinging to him.
-
About an hour later
-
After the movie ended, everyone began giving their farewells to each other, with some of them returning to their homes, and in Sakurako's case, she would be returning by car, as the driver of the Kogane family came to pick her up. But before she entered the car, she looked at Ichiro and said…
"… Hmm… Ichiro-san, do you want to have a ride to your home?"
"You sure, Sakurako-san? Won't it take some time for your return home?"
"I don't think so"
"Then, I'll accept your offer, Sakurako-san"
"Nn *Nods*"
With that, Ichiro entered the luxurious car owned by Sakurako's family, and they began making their way home. During their short ride together, they remained silent, but they didn't feel awkward from the silence. And after a few minutes, the car stopped in front of Ichiro's house.
"Thank you for the ride"
"Ah! Ichiro-san"
Then just as Ichiro had opened the car's door and was about to leave, Sakurako called him.
"? What is it, Sakurako-san?"
"… Hmm… C-Could you close your eyes for a moment?"
"… Sure"
Ichiro gently smiled at Sakurako as he closed his eyes, he could guess that Sakurako was probably trying to give him a hug, but was feeling embarrassed from doing so. But instead… He felt a soft peck on his cheek
"?!"
That caused him to open his eyes and look at Sakurako with surprised eyes, Sakurako on the other hand…
"Ah… E-Ermm…"
Her face was beet red as she cutely struggled to talk due to her embarrassment.
"H-Have a-a-a g-good n-n-night, I-I-Ichiro…san…"
"Ah… Y-yes, y-you too… Sakurako…"
Ichiro struggled to keep his usual smile as his cheeks were slightly pink, then he got out of the car and closed the door. And the car began moving away, just as entered his house.
"…"
After closing the door, Ichiro kept facing the front door of his home to hide his face which was now beet red, just like the face that Sakurako had inside the car, but different from her, he had a big trembling and happy grin on his face as well, since he felt both happy and embarrassed from receiving a kiss from Sakurako. Then Ichiro slowly began crouching down as his embarrassment overpowered his happiness.