Taking the form, Sasaki thanked Takamine Ayako and left the staff room.
The next two classes were as uneventful as he had expected.
However, it seemed there was a subtle change in Yasui Sara's attitude towards Sasaki.
She wouldn't really ignore him, but after the second class, her glances towards him always seemed to imply she thought he was a pervert.
In her eyes, while Sasaki did help her, she was not an ignorant girl who didn't understand anything.
After some time, she quickly figured out that the massage for the cramp in her stockinged feet didn't need to last half an hour.
Since it didn't require that much time, then what about the half hour he spent caressing her feet...that extra time spent must mean he was toying with her, right?
Although his intentions were good, his subsequent behavior was egregious.
What's more, who would hold a girl's feet for half a class? Didn't he find it smelly or dirty?
Although Yasui Sara knew that her feet were neither smelly nor dirty, Sasaki didn't know but...he...
After the bell rang at the end of the fourth class, Sara Yasui, who had packed up and was ready to go to lunch with her friends, cast a sideways glance at Sasaki, who was coincidentally looking in this direction.
Her cherry lips parted, and she muttered in a low voice:
"Pervert!"
Although her voice was so low that even the girl standing next to her couldn't hear what she was mumbling, but Sasaki Fuyumi, who had keen senses and could understand the shape of her mouth, knew exactly what she said.
With black lines on his head, Sasaki opened his mouth to explain something, but the girl did not give him a chance.
After uttering that word, she squinted her eyes, hummed lightly, then swung the pair of her bouncy light-pink pigtails and walked out of the classroom.
Scratching his face, Sasaki laughed helplessly and was about to stand up when he noticed Tsukimi Chifuyu, who was still lying on the desk, not yet gone for lunch.
Seeing her wilting look, the boy glanced at the classroom where there were not many people left, then patted her little head and took the seat in front of her.
"Aren't you going for lunch?"
He watched her sit up suddenly, her face lit up with excitement, then seeing it was him, he saw that expression fall into disappointment.
Guessing what was on her mind, Sasaki asked.
"Waiting for someone, huh?"
Although the sentence seemed like a question, the tone of speaking was affirmative.
Chifuyu Tsukimi, who knew what he had discovered, lay on the table, wrapped her hands around her two small..cough large watermelons, rested her small chin on them, and nodded gently.
"Boyfriend." Seeing her unusually disappointed look, Sasaki raised his eyebrows.
Although it had long been speculated that a beautiful girl with such a timid personality might already be taken, but looking at her like that, there was still a hint of annoyance in his heart.
As a teenager, there's no such thing as not liking a beautiful girl, and although he had Otome, a gentle and beautiful girl, greed is human nature.
So, feeling a bit of disappointment and irritation upon learning that this delicate, deer-like girl had a boyfriend was quite normal.
Of course, that was just unhappiness; Sasaki wasn't mean enough to actively break them up. At most, he would just curse in his mind, 'What a lucky pigheaded.'
But when Chifuyu Tsukimi heard this, her reaction was even greater than he imagined.
She sat up as if a spring had been released, her fast and swift movement so sudden that even the melons in front of her couldn't react in time, quivering three times.
Her fair and delicate face turned a sudden shade of blush, making her already cute little face even more charming by threefold.
But at this time, she just waved her little hands in panic and denied in a low voice.
"No, no...he's just a classmate with whom I have a good relationship."
Sasaki Fuyumi did not tease the girl, who seemed so embarrassed she could almost smoke.
Feeling the vibration in his pocket, he took out his phone and saw a message from Otome asking him to join her for lunch in the cafeteria; then he put away his phone and looked towards the girl whose fair neck was tinged with pink.
"Even if you're waiting for someone, you can go eat first. It won't look good if you lose weight due to hunger."
Without pointing out the real reason for the girl's disappointment—because her sweetheart couldn't come—Sasaki Fuyumi scared her a bit with his comment and then stood up to leave.
After he left, Chifuyu Tsukimi, who had just recovered from her shyness and nervousness, clutched her growling stomach.
Thinking of Sasaki's words just now, she decided to stand up and go to eat.
But thinking of her lover's reply to her for missing the appointment because he was having dinner with friends from the club, she leaned on the table again with a sad face.
"Takagi-san..."
______
Arriving at the cafeteria.
Looking at the noisy crowd, Sasaki Fuyumi, who was about to look around for Otome, saw the pink-haired girl waving to him from the dining table not far away before he could even move.
Walking over quickly, he looked at the Okino brother and sister who were already eating, smiled and said hello.
"You came so quickly, Kazuki, Rinka."
Pulling out the chair and sitting next to Otome, he pretended not to notice Kazuki's extremely lost and decadent look.
'Don't you even dare to ask? '
He looked for a second, then turned his head and stopped paying attention to the absent minded boy.
"You're so slow, Fuyumi-nii."
Contrary to Okino Kazuki's lost expression, Okino Rinka, who finally waited for Sasaki to wake up, stuffed a mouthful of rice and winked at the boy with a smile.
Although she felt sorry for her lost brother, this pain was necessary in order for her brother to notice her.
'I will definitely make up for it doubly after my brother accepts me.'
Decided so in her head, the girl touched her brother, whose eyes were blank.
"ah?"
Kazuki suddenly came back to his senses.
Looking at Sasaki sitting opposite him, he made an ugly smile with a stiff face.
"Hey, Fuyumi."
Looking at Kazuki's pitiful look, Sasaki Fuyumi nodded in response.
But he felt an inexplicable irritability in his heart.
He didn't understand who Okino Kazuki was looking like this for..
Was it for Otome? Hoping that she would change her mind and choose him instead?
This kind of behavior of handing girls the choice but not taking the initiative at all... is so cowardly that it is disgusting.
He would rather Okino Kazuki angrily grab his collar and question him than this nauseating display.
Even if an angry reaction might seem irrational, at least it would be more manly, showing a willingness to fight for what he wanted..
But for him to behave like an abandoned little animal in front of everyone was so childish and disgusting.
Does he really think that he doesn't have to do anything and everything will fall into his hands naturally?
Who does he think he is? Protagonist?