“Damn it, didn’t catch them…”
She had no idea who that brown-haired figure was, but they looked pretty athletic, because by the time Yurika came tearing out of the classroom and into the hallway, the student who’d witnessed her getting all cozy with another girl was already long gone, with no telling whether they’d already bolted down the stairwell or ducked into one of the classrooms.
The realization soured Yurika’s expression instantly.
She didn’t much like being hounded to begin with, and if that student went around spreading word of what happened today, well, she could probably kiss her quiet life goodbye.
“Yu-Yurika-sama…”
While Yurika stood in the classroom doorway gritting her teeth, fists clenched in frustration, Nanahara Nadeshiko was also coming to terms with the fact that their little moment had been walked in on.
Of course, her thoughts ran differently from Yurika’s.
Nadeshiko was simply put out that the two of them had finally made some progress only to get interrupted.
So, seeing Yurika standing there in the doorway lost in thought, Nadeshiko walked over, cheeks flushed bright red.
“Forget about that person, let’s…” (You’re still planning to keep going…?) That alarming mood from a moment ago had been broken when they got walked in on, but at least it had been broken, and Yurika had no intention of letting it build back up again.
So she steeled herself, reached out both hands, and abruptly pressed them down on Nadeshiko’s shoulders.
Those soft, delicate shoulders, so fragile they seemed almost boneless, actually made Yurika lose herself for a split second, but she quickly fixed her expression into something serious, looked Nadeshiko dead in the eyes, and parted her cherry lips:
“Nadeshiko…”
“Y-yes!?”
Nanahara Nadeshiko, who’d always been called “Nanahara-san” by Yurika, was hearing Yurika call her by her given name for the very first time, and in such a gentle tone, no less.
In that instant, Nadeshiko felt flattered beyond belief, her heart suddenly tightening with nerves, her voice trembling as she replied.
“Yurika-sama, whatever you need, just say the word! I’d go through fire and water for you without a second thought!”
At least she wasn’t thinking about continuing those weird things anymore…
“Hey, Nadeshiko, about what happened today, don’t tell anyone, okay?”
Looking at Nadeshiko’s face, flushed but unusually earnest, Yurika couldn’t help feeling a pang of guilt, as though she were exploiting these young girls’ first stirrings of love.
“I don’t want anyone else to know about what happened between us today.”
As the saying goes, a man is most attractive when he gets serious, and there’s truth to that.
For Yurika, who’d always drawn girls to her anyway, the saying somehow applied just as well.
Yurika, who’d inexplicably attracted girls since childhood thanks to some quirk of her constitution, could in a sense be called a top-grade beautiful girl positively brimming with manly charm.
So right now, with that serious edge to her, she was nothing short of irresistible in Nadeshiko’s eyes.
“B-but why does it have to be that way?”
Even so, Nadeshiko was a little puzzled about Yurika’s reasoning.
The way she saw it, sure, heterosexual relationships were still the norm in this world, but at an all-girls school, the occasional same-sex couple popping up was the most natural thing imaginable, and in fact, Tokiwadai Middle School had no shortage of yuri couples.
On top of that, Nadeshiko’s way of thinking closely resembled the Yamato nadeshiko ideal of wanting one’s husband to become a successful man, so naturally she’d want everyone to know about her relationship with Yurika.
(I feel like I just inexplicably lost something really important to me as a woman…) Yurika (voiceover: the husband in Nadeshiko’s heart) felt her mouth twitch, and lifted her head helplessly, a flicker of a pained, can’t-bear-it look surfacing naturally in her eyes.
Truthfully, Yurika didn’t know why she was making this kind of face right now, but for some reason, a vague instinct told her that this expression was the one most likely to achieve her goal:
“Nadeshiko, what do you think of me?”
“O-of you, Yurika-sama?”
The moment Nadeshiko heard the question, a glint appeared in her eyes.
She thrust out her right hand and, with a thoroughly practiced motion, gave Yurika a thumbs-up, declaring excitedly,
“Yurika-sama is perfect! No matter where you go, you draw the gaze of every girl around!”
Draw the gaze of every girl… Yurika instantly felt that last shred of maidenly pride in her heart get smashed to bits.
Still, she buried the feeling deep, kept the pained look on her face, and asked in a somewhat sorrowful tone:
“Right. So, Nadeshiko, what do you think would happen if word of today got out?”
Seeing Yurika’s expression, a thread of sadness welled up in Nadeshiko’s heart too, and Yurika’s words gave her a sudden jolt.
“If it really did get out, then… a lot of people would probably come hounding you, Yurika-sama…”
“Nadeshiko, would you want to see something like that?”
Hearing Nadeshiko voice the very words she’d been about to say herself, Yurika silently thanked her luck.
Something the other person deduced on their own was naturally more convincing than if it came out of her own mouth.
“How could… how could I ever want that?”
Nadeshiko gazed at the expression on Yurika’s face, oh, what a forlorn expression it was.
Though she’d already shared intimate contact with the one she loved, she couldn’t have her wish, all because of others’ interference and the pestering of infatuated admirers.
For such a tragic reason, she could only suppress the burning romance in her heart, and with those pained, can’t-bear-it eyes, make such an unwilling request of her beloved… If she couldn’t even accept that, did she even deserve to be called a lover!?
“Yurika-sama! I understand!”
Nadeshiko’s face was filled with deep emotion as she reached out both hands to clasp Yurika’s, eyes brimming with love about to spill over.
“I won’t let those people find out about our relationship, but I also believe that this love of ours, beset by so many obstacles, won’t end in tragedy like Romeo and Juliet!”
“Eh?”
Yurika blanked.
She didn’t know why, but her little performance just now seemed to have had an effect beyond her wildest imagination.
“And that person who walked in on our forbidden love just now, I’ll use every ounce of my strength to find her!”
On top of that, Nadeshiko unexpectedly volunteered, taking it upon herself to hunt down the one who’d walked in on them at the worst possible moment.
A flash of irritated anger crossed her eyes as she ground out through clenched teeth,
“This love will not be ruined by anyone.” (Wait… wait a second, is something not quite right here?) The slightly slow-on-the-uptake Miss Yurika finally realized just how big a thing she’d done.