Shikiya Yumeko came before Keita and looked up to ask him in a somewhat low-energy tone.
When her eyes, wearing white-colored contacts, looked at him from up close, it gave the illusion of being sucked in.
“Ah, that’s me.”
Keita nodded, responding in an equally concise tone.
After receiving an affirmative answer, Yumeko also nodded, as if wanting to confirm something.
Yumeko opened her mouth to say something more, but before the words could come out, her body suddenly went limp.
She swayed and leaned weakly against the wall behind her, looking as if she were about to slide down the wall and sit on the floor.
Seeing this situation that exceeded his imagination, Keita instinctively glanced at the other two people behind him.
Anna was watching this sudden uninvited guest with a face full of curiosity, having no intention of coming forward to help resolve the situation.
On the other side in the corner, Chika had curled into a ball long ago, wishing she could turn herself into a part of the bookshelf—it was impossible to count on her to speak up.
So, in this kind of situation, was he the only one who could handle it?
What kind of literature club is this…?
Although he had joined voluntarily, he clearly shouldn’t have come today…
Keita sighed helplessly in his heart.
He looked at Yumeko, who was leaning against the wall and even seemed to find breathing a bit difficult, and asked tentatively:
“Um… Senpai, are you okay?
Do you need me to… support you?
The wall is a bit cold; it’s not good for your body to lean against it for too long.”
Yumeko tilted her head slightly to think for a moment, then slowly nodded.
“…Leaning against the wall… will make the body… sick…”
“…Trouble Imaizumi-kun… to support me… for a bit.”
She actually accepted it just like that.
Keita was somewhat surprised, but since the other party had already requested it, he couldn’t hesitate any longer.
He stood up, walked to Yumeko’s side, and carefully reached out to support her arm.
Upon contact, he felt that her body was even more slender and light than he had imagined.
A scent different from Anna’s sun-like shampoo smell, a fragrance with a slight sweetness, drifted faintly into his nose.
This unfamiliar scent caused a subtle, barely perceptible stir in his senses, which had become exceptionally sharp due to the ‘Incubus Aura.’
“…Thank you.”
Seemingly finding a more comfortable support than the wall, Yumeko rested against his arm for a moment, her voice sounding just a tiny bit stronger than before.
After a brief silence, she seemed to switch back into ‘Student Council Mode’ and mentioned the purpose of her visit again.
“Sorry, Imaizumi-kun, because of… the Student Council’s requirements, I need to… investigate the activity contents… with you…”
Yumeko paused and gazed at Keita with those white eyes.
“…What does the… Literature Club… usually do?”
“Um… basically we just read books.”
Keita thought for a moment and gave the safest answer.
He pointed his finger at Chika in the corner, who was about to blend into the background.
“Just like that.
Komari-san is currently engaged in a very typical club activity.”
Being suddenly named, Chika’s body trembled, and she almost dropped the paperback book in her hand.
She looked up in terror, found everyone’s eyes focused on her, and, with flushed cheeks, hid herself behind the paperback again.
Seemingly feeling that ‘reading books’ sounded a bit too thin as activity content, Keita remembered his previous conversation with Tsukinoki-senpai and added a supplement.
“Besides reading, club members also write some things to circulate among each other and give their thoughts and impressions.”
“…Writing things… I see.”
Yumeko nodded to show she understood.
She took out a notebook and a pen from her pocket and, with her head lowered, fluently wrote down a few lines.
Keita inadvertently caught a glimpse and found her handwriting was unexpectedly beautiful and neat, forming a sharp contrast with her lazy temperament.
After finishing the notes, Yumeko breathed a small sigh of relief.
She looked up at Keita again, a slight fluctuation of emotion appearing on her face as she requested.
“… Imaizumi… do you have anything to eat?”
“Eh?”
Keita didn’t react to the sudden jump in the topic for a moment.
Seemingly seeing the confusion on his face, Yumeko added feebly.
“…Ate too little… for lunch… feeling… low blood sugar…”
Low blood sugar?
Keita looked at her face, which indeed had no color, and a natural human concern surfaced in his heart.
He turned his head to look at Anna, who had been watching the show from the side since just now.
“Yanami.”
“What?”
Anna was cupping her face and watching with great interest, having no intention of actively helping.
“In your pocket, don’t you always keep some snacks?
Take some out.”
“Eh?!”
Anna immediately showed a dissatisfied expression, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Those are all prepared for me to replenish my own energy…”
While saying this, her eyes drifted toward Yumeko, who was leaning on Keita, her gaze carrying a hint of obvious alertness and scrutiny.
Keita sighed slightly, feeling Yumeko getting closer to him as she lost her strength, and said in a flat tone, “This is serious business; stop messing around, be good…”
“Ugh… who, who’s messing around!
I’m just considering food safety issues!”
Anna looked at Yumeko getting closer and closer to Keita, only feeling a hint of unpleasantness surfacing in her heart.
This guy Imaizumi, he clearly didn’t have much luck with women before…
Maybe his first close contact with a girl was even with her…
Anna was thinking dissatisfied thoughts, but she still pulled out four fruit candies wrapped in cellophane from her pocket and slapped them on the table.
“Seriously… this is all I have!
I was planning to eat them on the way home…”
Keita picked up the four candies and, ignoring Anna’s complaints, handed them to Yumeko.
“Senpai, eat these first to replenish your sugar.”
“…Thank you.”
Yumeko took the candy, slowly tore open the wrapper of one, and put the candy in her mouth.
With the candy in her mouth, her complexion seemed to improve slightly.
“Then… today’s investigation… ends here…”
Standing up from Keita’s support, Yumeko walked toward the door with a more stable pace than before.
As the wooden door was gently closed again, this beautiful but strangely behaving senpai finally left.
The club room fell into silence again.
Before Keita could say anything, Anna reverted to her old ways, ignoring Chika, who was secretly peeking out.
She walked up to Keita and looked him up and down with a gaze full of strong dissatisfaction and disdain.
“I say, Imaizumi.”
“What now?”
“What was that just now?
Taking my candy to please that pretty gyaru senpai?”
Anna put her hands on her hips in a posture of interrogation, her tone carrying a hint of sourness that she hadn’t even noticed herself.
“This act of yours, giving someone else’s gift as your own, is too practiced, isn’t it?
Do you usually do this often?”
Notes:
Reward for Losing Heroine fic~