Sakura Airi was at a loss for words. She was utterly flabbergasted when Kanji asked if she was unwell so suddenly.
But after she thinks for a bit, more carefully in fact, she conclude that it was likely due to her having such a poor stamina.
She glanced down at her abdomen, where she cradled the firewood they were to used that afternoon.
Even though the bundle of sticks she carried were much lighter and their pace considerably slowed for her sake, her breathing was still far more rapid and uneven compared to Kanji's steady rhythm.
Her hands, holding them trembled ever so slightly due to the strain building in her muscles.
As a result, she smiled mockingly at herself, breathing heavily.
"A ha ha, I-I am okay, Ike kun..." She huffed, sending him a glance.
When her eyes did landed on him, Kanji was raising his free arm, looking at his rear and around in an angle where she could not view his face.
"Is... haa... everything okay, Ike kun?" she asked, puzzled, as she raggedly followed his gaze inadvertently.
But there was nothing there.
"N-No, nothing, I was just curious," Kanji stammered out. That was very unusual for him.
"Just..." He hesitated, shifting his gaze forward, then he halt his steps suddenly with a frown.
Because his actions were so bizarre, Airi's soft eyes followed his line of sight.
It was probably 13 or 20 steps away, a girl with very short blue hair lay on the moist, dirt filled ground, her attire disheveled.
Dry leaves and grime clung onto her jumper and hair, mingling with the filthy ground of which were mostly filled by decayed leaves and vines.
From a mere glance, she looks like someone who had just been assaulted, with both of her arms limply stretched out and grimy soil sticking to her fingernails.
Her eyes were also unnaturally dazed with no focus, her mouth agape, with a slight rosy swells upon her cheeks.
Her appearance, quite frankly, it was a startling sight.
Airi was utterly shocked by what she saw.
"Wha, wha, wha, w-w-what should we do, I-Ike kun?!"
"Why are you so nervous, Sakura?" Kanji asked her calmly, with not hint of hesitation.
"I, that is, I mean, s-she's a student from a d-different class, right? I-is she assaulted? What should we do?"
"She is..." Kanji wavered, shifting his gaze away from her and then directing it back to Airi with a teasing smile on his lips.
"...From a class different from ours—But why did you immediately assume she needed help? Maybe she... I don't know, just likes playing with in the rubbish..." He shrugged.
Because of his calm teasing, Airi was momentarily stunned, not knowing how to respond immediately.
"L-look at her... S-stop t-teasing me for now, s-she..."
"She?" Kanji prompted, but Airi couldn't reply, she just stared at him with an extremely uncomfortable eyes.
'Well,' He thought, exhaling briefly, 'I should stop teasing her for now...'
With his teasing smile gone, Kanji scanned Airi's body up and down.
"Okay, but take a deep breath first—You're too excited."
"Uh, um, sorry, Ike kun."
Because of Kanji's nudge, she just realized how unusually aggressive she had behaved.
Then Kanji suddenly exclaimed, gazing skywards as if recalling something. "Oh!"
"I'll test now," he muttered, shifting his eyes toward the blue haired girl.
Not even a second later, he took the load of sticks Airi was holding, combining them with his own, and carried it all to his chest.
"N-No, that is, no need, Ike kun..."
"Don't always be so flustered, I said, didn't I? Gentlemens like to show off in front of the ladies..." He said.
As if on cue, he let his eye wandered over Airi's body from the side.
Kanji smiled softly.
It was not the first time he did this, but only this time it was dofferent, Airi thought, she sense that he was paying extra attention to certain parts.
"And you~..." He said after he finish patting her, "are an extremely fine one..."
Airi couldn't help but feel as if a giant hawk was eyeing her as if to devour at any moment.
And normally, she would've felt terrible because of such gaze, but perhaps because it was Kanji, the admiration from him wasn't so uncomfortable.
She felt tingles even.
Regardless of the difference however, her natural instinct was to remain unnoticed, and that preference wasn't entirely gone.
"Wha, wha, wha, w-what a-are you saying..." she stammered, each syllable fueling her embarrassment.
Her cheeks flushed a deeper crimson, as she seemed to shrink further into herself, retreating until she felt as small as a timid mouse.
'Why is Ike-kun like this so suddenly?' she thought, lowering her body even more.
Her heart thumped so violently that she moved back slightly, subconsciously fearing the other party might hear it.
—CRACK
Was she mistaken, or did she just heard a twig snapping somewhere in the distance? She probably was mistaken, wasn't she?
Even though she couldn't see Kanji's face, Airi could still clearly sense that he was smiling at her.
But because the noise generated from her chest was so unfathomably loud, she couldn't form a coherent thought at the moment, and thus she was incapable to judge what to do next.
However, when Airi regained her senses and stared at Kanji's face to study his expression, she saw that he was mildly irritated for some reason.
'Was it because of me?' she wondered.
But after a bit of thinking, she shook her head promptly, as her intuition pompously suggested otherwise.
"In any case," Kanji interrupted her thoughts, taking a steps, "this thing seems to be more adaptable..."
The last part of his sentence was more of him talking to himself, extremely soft and quiet.
Only after he took three or four steps ahead, could Airi collected herself, easing her tensed muscle and releasing her breath softly.
She then shook and stretched her arms around as they were sore from the weight she'd carried earlier and timidly followed Kanji, who was only a little taller than her.
He walked softly and elegantly, almost reflecting his way of speaking, which she realized—He did only today. And it was very attractive.
'Why am I only thinking that?' She reproached herself, waving her arms around to scatter those immoral fantasies.
She fumbled and scratched her nails with even more heat building upon her face. 'What is wrong with me? Bad thoughts, bad thoughts.'
Soon they reached the girl lying on the musky ground, she was very filthy.
Airi looked at Kanji, not knowing what to do, hoping he would take the lead.
To her surprise however, he casually walked past the girl softly, not even sparing her a glance, like a pebble he had no care for.
"Uh, um."
"Hmm?" Noticing her stammer, Kanji turned his head with a subtle smile, "Sakura?"
"I, uh..." She again looked at the girl with dubious eyes.
"S-S-Shouldn't we h-help her?"
It was then Kanji finally spared the girl in question a glance, which immediately wiped away any amusement whatsoever that was previously there.
Airi didn't know what to do or say, as Kanji stared silently at the girl for a prolonged period, as if waiting for something to happen...
'Uh, um, right, the girl hasn't shown any reaction at all,' Airi finally realized, which she also thought was quite abnormal.
Because of such discomfort she felt, she also shifted her gaze to the girl hesitantly.
The more she studied her, the weirder she fells.
Although she couldn't exactly point out what was wrong, there was a slight tingle in her imaginary wings.
Probably because she was feeling exceptionally uncomfortable under their scrutiny, the blue haired girl finally moved her head to return the stare, still in a daze, but her eyes quickly turned sharp.
"!!!"
In turn Airi averted her eyes immediately.
She was looking at her weirdly, after all, and she was a herbivore, who was previously terrified of eyes.
"Hey, why are you just staring? Haven't you seen a girl before?!" the girl asked roughly, to Kanji.
"Pff... Sorry, sorry.~" Kanji's tone, which Airi previously considered was quite attractive, reverted to his usual high pitched one.
"You look hot, do you have a boyfriend~?" he asked with a wide smile, frowning toward the end of his sentence.
"Heh! I-Ike kun! Y-you shouldn't ask that to people you just met." Airi waved her hands nervously.
"Really?! Why~?" Kanji's voice was also annoyingly nasal.
"T-that is, because..." Airi couldn't articulate the reason, and before she could anyway, the girl interrupted.
"Tsk... Go away, you are too damn loud!"
She glared at them with a sharp vigilance, narrowing her eyes, she says no more, pressing her lips tightly together and in general she looked exceptionally irritated.
"Ss, We, we are so s-sorry..."
"Come on, come on, don't say that. You're alone, come with us to our camp~," Kanji gestured with his head, with an annoyingly wide smug.
'I don't know why exactly, but this version of Ike kun looks artificial. It was probably because of what happened not long ago,' Sakura thought.
Subconsciously, she approached Kanji, and before she knew, she was weakly tugging on his sleeve.
"I Ike kun, are you sure?"
Although Airi was the one who initially wanted to help the girl, the action Kanji suggested seemed too hasty.
"Come on, she's just one person, Hirata and Kushida wo—"
"Just go away!" the girl bellowed, making Airi flinch. "Just leave me the hell alone!"
"Ok," Kanji said easily and dismissively, like the previous suggestion was just a lie, "You heard her, Sakura, let's leave her alone."
"Eh?"
"Eh?"
Seeing the bewildered expressions on both their faces, Kanji's smile widened, looking exceptionally amused.
But after a moment, he rolled his eyes sideways toward a specific person.
"Why are you so surprised, Mrs. Blue Hair?" Kanji asked innocently
"N-nothing." With the same rough manner, the girl answered while averting her gaze.
"I see... Well then, Sakura, let's go..."
As if renewing his loft of all interest, Kanji move forward again, but his steps were deliberately slow for some reason.
Airi who was still tugging on Kanji's shirt naturally followed him.
She looks tentatively at the girl on the ground, who appeared to have an internal conflict.
"Uh, um, Ike-kun, are you sure?"
With her inquiry, Kanji sighed lightly and responded, "... I asked her nicely to come with us, and she refused... Nothing much we can do after a clear 'No.'"
With a chuckle he added, "Unless I want a sexual charge... Puff~ Besides..." He scanned the girl entirely from his peripheral vision.
"...If she were really in trouble, the teachers would come to help her, no? Look at her wrist."
She did, and she saw that there was the watch, which she remembered was some sort of tracking device according to the teachers.
"I-I see..."
But Kanji tilted his head and muttered softly, "But this... really weird..."
Then he closed his eyes briefly, and a moment later, raising his chin slightly, he stated, "If I have to guess, she probably had a quarrel with her classm—"
He knit his brows, "—Class leader most likely, and they left her here."
He paused his speech for a second, opening his eyelids slowly and he continued.
"But it's really weird why she doesn't just drop out from the exam..." He shrugged.
Kanji locked his eyes on the girl from the side with great interest, tilting his neck slowly from side to side, smiling provocatively.
Finally, he exclaimed, "Ah!"
"What is it, Ike kun?"
"Remember? There was a penalty for dropping out."
"Ah." Airi also realized.
This time, unlike the previously high pitched and obnoxious way of speaking, Kanji invited the girl again with a clear enunciation.
"You are afraid of pulling down your class, right?"
The girl, with a seriously conflicted expression, considered Kanji with side eye, choosing to snort instead of giving an answer.
"Please, come with us, you can come to our base..." Kanji's voice was unexpectedly sincere.
With sharp eyes, the girl finally moved her face to look at Kanji. "You, you are Ike Kanji, am I mistaken?"
He was taken aback. "I am, but how did you know?"
"Well..." Averting her eyes, she answered hesitantly, "You're pretty famous."
"Oh oh oh!" Kanji exclaimed excitedly.
"Is it my popular phase? It is my popular phase, right? Come on, come on, answer me."
"Tsk..." Because of Kanji's reaction, the girl made a disgusted face and groomed herself, picking the leaves and dirt that clung to her clothes.
And Airi, unable to bear it any longer, timidly tugged on Kanji's shirt again, which she had never let go of since the first time she'd grabbed it.
"Ike kun, w-we b-better hurry... It's, It's late." She suggested, and perhaps there were also some jealously mix in there.
"Oh, sorry, sorry, Sakura chan." He calmed down a bit. "So, blue haired chan, will you come with us?"
Hearing his question, the girl, for a long moment, just looked at them, and after she consider her options, she quietly stood up.
Knitting her brows, the girl inquired, "You, do you not know how serious it is if I am a spy?"
"A ha ha ha, if you were really a spy, you wouldn't have refused us the first time... Right, Sakura chan~?"
"Umm..."
"Are you stupid? You are definitely stupid, aren't you? Why didn't you think I lied?"
"Well, I just admired you for not giving up, even though your classmates have abandoned you~!" Kanji exclaimed, his eyes twinkled.
Though Kanji's intentions were probably pure, Airi felt it was subtly hurtful for the person.
So she directed her gaze upon the blue haired girl, with the latter appearing as if the vein on her face would pop at any moment now.
In a fluster, Airi pulled Kanji's shirt forcefully a few times, but he seemed not to even realize the problem, just smiling widely.
"You... You.. You..." The blue haired was about to blow up, but in the end, she just sighed and said, "You can call me Ibuki..."
With that negotiation settled, Kanji introduced both himself and his companion to the girl named Ibuki, and they swiftly returned to the campfire.
It is to be noted that Kanji never ceased speaking until they reached their destination, which, as expected, boosted the blue haired irritation to an entirely new level.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Because of the not so good stability of updates, here is a 2.3k words chapter.