After Takamine Ayako and the teacher in charge of the library left.
Kitou Masami who had finished cleaning up the vase fragments, approached Serizawa Yukiha.
"Ahh~ Thank you so much, girl~"
"Thanks to you, I am alright. Otherwise, I would have been in trouble. If I lose this job, I will be very distressed."
Watching the teacher leave, Serizawa Yukiha was about to return to the library when she suddenly heard the voice beside her, and was frightened like little rabbit
Turning her head to see the janitor not far from her,
The girl breathed a sigh of relief, silently took a few steps back, waved her hands with a smile and said: "It's, it's okay. It was just a broken vase, not a big deal.
If you lose your job because of this, it would be too much to make a fuss about. "
After finishing speaking, she looked at the fragments of the vase that had not been poured out in the dustpan, and waved her hand to Kito Masami: "I won't disturb your work then. Good luck with your work."
Watching the girl sway her skirt and enter the library,
Kitou Tadami stood up straight, his malicious gaze, not yet hidden.
When out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly noticed a pair of white indoor shoes appearing in the darkness at the end of the corridor.
While feeling horrified in his heart, he suddenly turned his head and looked over there.
What he saw was the male student he had encountered in front of the school's teaching building this morning.
Still that cold and hard gaze as if carved out of ice.
Feeling chilled to the bone under that gaze, Kitou Masami, pretending nothing was wrong, slowly bowed his head, gritting his teeth, cursing silently.
'Fuck, why are you standing there like a ghost? You must be sick! '
Unable to bear the gaze any longer, the ugly bastard, bent over, picked up the dustpan and left quickly.
Watching him silently and quickly leaving in a slight panic, Sasaki glanced sideways at the closed library door and hummed softly to himself
'Don't do bad things, don't be afraid of ghosts knocking on your door. '
Because the guy spent most of his time hunched over and with his head down.
So Sasaki, who was standing far away, couldn't see his facial expression.
But after he straightened up, he clearly saw his malicious gaze.
Although he really wanted to catch him, beat him up and ask him, "What are you looking at?", but...
Glancing up at the surveillance camera with red light flashing above his head, the boy stepped into the library.
.
.
After entering, he was greeted by the thick but not unpleasant scent of books and ink.
However, the beauty inside was not sitting quietly behind the counter reading a book as before.
Instead, she was bending over, sweeping the floor with a broom and dustpan.
Her graceful figure, dressed in a JK (Japanese high school girl) outfit, with her smooth hair covering her beautiful jade-like profile.
The buttons at her collar and the red and white striped bow tie were neatly tied together, not revealing a trace of spring underneath.
Although the girl's attire was very proper, the bulging hem of her garment lifted the light grey top and the white shirt underneath, creating a curvature not meant for it.
That proud tightness, along with her bending posture, swayed lightly in the boy's eyes.
The way it undulated with the movement of her arms reminded him of melons gently swaying on a shelf, moved by the breeze.
Hmm...no other meaning, he just simply craved the sweet taste of fragrant melon...
Hearing the sound of the door opening, Serizawa Yukha, who was sweeping the floor, straightened up slightly, brushed a strand of hair from the side of her face, and greeted the incoming boy with a smile.
"Sasaki-kun~"
Taking the broom from her hands, Sasaki swept the last bits of paper scraps into the dustpan and nodded at her: "Serizawa-san, I'm not late, am I?"
Serizawa Yukiha, who was covered by a big hand and had her broom taken away, felt a bit of residual warmth on the back of her hand, glanced at the unchanging Sasaki,
with a slightly flushed face and shook her head lightly:
"No, you came at just the right time. I usually come a bit earlier when I don't have duty."
"Um."
After the pleasantries were over, Sasaki pretended to be ignorant and inquired about the commotion he had heard downstairs.
"When I went downstairs just now, I seemed to hear a quarrel. What was it? Because of the vase that the janitor swept away?"
Since the library was usually quiet, Serizawa Yukiha, who was mostly there to read, quite enjoyed chatting with others.
Therefore, facing the boy's inquiry, she told everything she knew.
Hearing that she helped the handyman out of dissatisfaction with his cowering and pitiful attitude.
Sasaki looked into her innocent and clear eyes with a warm smile
"Serizawa San, is so brave, standing up for a stranger and speaking on their behalf... that's really nice~"
Serizawa Yukiha, who was talking about how Teacher Takamine was no longer upset, suddenly heard the boy's sincere praise, and was stunned for a moment, blushing slightly.
"It's not like that~"
After reacting, the milky white and soft face gradually turned a layer of crystal rouge.
"It's not like that~"~"
.
.
.
Looking at the girl's blushing face shyly as she denied in a low voice.
Sasaki took a few steps forward and stood beside her, looking at her with gentle and sincere eyes, and asked in a warm voice: "Can Serizawa-san, do me a favor?"
"What?" She raised her rosy face, before Serizawa Yukiha could figure out how she could help him, she heard him say softly:
"I hope you can tell me when you agree to help someone or do something for them in the future."
Hearing this strange request, the girl blinked in confusion, apparently not understanding why he said that.
And Sasaki didn't mean to embarrass her.
So after the words fell, he continued: "Because Serizawa-san is very kind. Kind people deserve to be treated gently by the world. In order to prevent some bad people from destroying this kindness, I hope to protect this it.
Can Serizawa-san can help me with this?"
After saying that, a smile as warm and gentle as the spring breeze appeared on Sasaki's handsome face.
But in his deep and bright eyes, there was no trace of the anxiety of asking others for 'help'.
Because he didn't think Serizawa Yukiha would reject him.
In many cases, people who are too kind are often associated with weakness.
Because these overly kind people don't know how to refuse other people's requests, simply they don't know how to say no.
They tend to compromise their own comfort for the sake of others' requests.
In Sasaki's eyes, the girl in front of him, was such a person: kind and brave, yet weak.
She could be brave because of her kindness and she could be weak for the same reason.
These traits do not conflict.
And these people often have one thing in common.
That is, such people often assume the best in others, imagining them to be better than they actually are in reality.
So this is why Sasaki never told her the words like, 'The guy you helped may be a bad guy. You should be careful about him in the future and stay away from him when you see him. 'from the beginning.
Because he knew it would be useless.
As long as that guy pretends to be pitiful or says a few sad words, Serizawa Yukiha will soften her heart because of her kindness.
Instead of making her doubt and guard against that guy, it was better to let himself be her 'firewall'.
As long as she agreed to his request, she would feel obligated to report everything to him, driven by the thought, "If I promised, I must do it, or else the other person would be sad."
As for why he used this rather ambiguous method to get her to promise him... naturally because this method was the simplest and easiest to use.
Of course, to say that he had no personal feelings, no thoughts at all, even the dog raised behind the school would shake its head upon hearing this.
The time he and Yukiha Serizawa got to know each other was too short, and the two of them didn't meet often on a daily basis.
Compared to talking idly every day and slowly fostering feelings,
These kind of ambiguous, blush-inducing, and fanciful words are more likely to stimulate the pure and tender hearts of young girls.
As for whether this girl he was meeting for the second time would think he was frivolous and hate him, he was actually not worried.
Because the way he spoke can be interpreted in any manner.
Any girl who has read fairy tales would fantasize about the romance of a knight protecting a princess.
And even if he really tried not to be narcissistic, his appearance, words, and smile are almost exactly what a girl imagines a knight to be.
Furthermore, Sasaki used the term 'protect'.
What does 'protect' mean?
To guard and defend.
In modern times, such a phrase was hardly different from a confession.
After all, from a young age, the one who would subconsciously protect you in your heart, aside from your father, is only a partner.
Yet, it was precisely such a confession-like statement.
That made Serizawa Yukiha, whose cheeks were flushed red and who was shy to the point of wanting to smoke, unsure of how to respond.
You'd say this is a confession, right? Indeed, it sounds like a somewhat romantic confession.
But the statement is a bit too vague.
Because he said two things.
If one only listens to the second sentence, treating it as a romantic and subtle confession, there's no problem at all.
But by adding the first sentence, the meaning of the statement becomes, 'I'm afraid you'll encounter danger or bad people, so before you do anything, you might want to ask me first.'
This statement, while still very ambiguous, doesn't have as obvious a flavor of confession anymore.
After all, friends can totally say this to each other.
It's just that the words were too ambiguous.
Not knowing know what he meant.
And not hearing a definite answer,
Afraid of overthinking and getting the wrong idea, Serizawa Yukiha, with her face flushed red, was caught in a dilemma of neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
But thinking that Sasaki-kun was concerned about her,
If she refused, it might hurt him.
And indeed, he didn't explicitly say he liked her.
So, does that mean he simply saw her as... a friend?
'So if I agree...it will be no problem...right?'
With her heart kept beating with 'bang bang bang bang', feeling shy and at a loss.
Facing Sasaki's 'expectant' gaze, the girl bit her tender lower lip, hesitated for a moment, and then nodded slowly.
"Okay~"