“W-Wait a second, w-what?”
“I mean, when you talk about a kiss, a hug has to come with it as a set.”
Sumire crossed her hands behind my lower back.
No, wait, way too close.
“And Aoi’s hands go like this.”
Sumire took my right hand and placed it on her waist.
“And like this.”
Then she pulled my left arm all the way up to her shoulder so that it crossed over hers. My palm touched her shoulder.
“How is this? Isn’t this emo? Someone take a picture, a picture!”
「There’s no one here, though.”
I can’t tell if this is working or not.
I don’t really know what kind of picture Sumire has in her head.
Or rather, is this even emo?
Just as that question popped into my head, the hands on my back squeezed firmly. She pulled my body even closer, and Sumire’s scent and body heat rushed over me.
Feeling that, my reaction was,
Whoa, they’re pressing against me.
As expected, she’s actually pretty big.
That’s what I thought.
Our heights are almost the same.
I’m barely 160. Sumire barely isn’t.
Since our heights are the same, there’s no hiding it.
We collide head-on. I am clearly losing.
Until now, there had been times when she lightly hugged me from the side or behind, or held onto my arm.
Those were more like, “Ah yes, yes, they’re pressing against me, they’re big,” sort of things.
But a full-on front-to-front collision like this hasn’t happened.
Will she say something?
Like, “I might be losing in height, but my boobs win,” or something like that.
Sumire said nothing. But I could tell she was breathing.
And the hug was deeper than I expected.
Sumire’s face was right beside mine.
Even if I tried to look with a sideways glance, her facial expression was hard to read.
Also, it’s long.
It’s embarrassing.
“This is bad.”
Sumire finally spoke.
Straining my ears, she continued with a sigh mixed in.
「Hugs feel so good…”
“Huh?”
“Aoi’s body is soft and smells so good…”
“Wh-What are you saying!”
I flailed my hands around.
I had ruined the emo pose, but Sumire’s arms remained locked around my back without budging an inch.
In fact, the pressure was getting stronger. That soft, front-facing pressure.
“Hey, it’s too tight!”
Unable to bear it, I pushed Sumire’s shoulder with my hand.
The tightening of her arms loosened, and Sumire lifted her head as if coming back to her senses.
“…Sorry.”
Sorry?
What do you mean, sorry?
Why are you apologizing in such a normally apologetic voice?
That single word made things weird in the opposite direction. We both went silent.
Where did that half-playful atmosphere from earlier go? Sumire’s face, with her eyes lowered, was no longer grinning.
What is this, suddenly flipping a switch like that…
“So, I’ll do it, okay?”
Sumire said in a quiet voice.
I could feel the hands on my back squeezing tightly once again. Being held like this, I couldn’t run away anymore.
Well, if I really wanted to, I suppose I could turn my face away and push her whole body back… but.
Without resisting, I slowly closed my eyes.
My heart started beating its fastest yet. It was squeezing me even before we touched. It felt different from when we did it in the morning.
Or rather, this hug is dangerous.
It feels like the preliminary prep work for this kiss is already complete. No, what do you mean, prep work?
Anyway, it’s bad. My vocabulary is dead, just like Sumire’s earlier.
Our lips touched, and my heart skipped a beat once more.
I could tell there was a slight angle to it. A small “chu” sound echoed. The kiss wasn’t just a light peck and done.
She’s sucking on them.
Slowly. Quietly. Like she’s timid and half-frightened.
“Chu, chu…”
Once. Twice.
I listened to the sound. My mind went blank, and the surrounding sounds faded away. It felt similar to when I managed to really focus on studying sometimes.
“Chu…”
Three times.
I felt a warm, spreading heat around my stomach.
Ah, this is bad. My brain thought that, but my body moved on its own regardless. Using my floating right hand, I grabbed Sumire’s upper arm and sucked back on her lips for the very first time.
“Nn…”
A sigh leaked out from Sumire.
I couldn’t tell if it came from her nose or mouth, but maybe she was surprised. My ears caught the sound, and I tried to suck on her lips even more.
What is this?
My head is telling me it’s already over, but my body moves on its own.
Could this be what they call a spinal reflex? Though that might be totally wrong.
Or maybe it’s not the conscious me thinking right now, but some other unknown brain doing the moving and giving the orders instead.
Suck harder. Grab her arm, pull her closer.
Right at that moment, a chime rang outside our heads.
It was the chime announcing the end of the lunch break.
Taking that as our cue, our lips parted.
Without either of us saying anything, we unwrapped our intertwined bodies.
“W-We have to go back…”
I started down the stairs while fanning my face with my hand.
Sumire followed quietly behind me. After that, without saying a word to each other, we crossed the connecting hallway and returned to the classroom building.
Right as we were about to turn the corner of the hallway, Sumire called out to stop me.
“Hey, Aoi.”
When I turned around, it was the usual Sumire. With that scheming look on her face from when we were wandering around the school earlier, she held her index finger straight up.
“Should we add ‘one hug a day’ to the rules, too?”
The fact that she’s proposing it rather than just deciding “yes, settled” is a little unfair.
It felt kind of like she was enjoying my reaction… and could see right through what my answer would be.
“Whatever… I guess so.”