Chapter 235: A Slightly Risque Ichinose

Twilight surged like a tide, slowly dyeing the November sky over Tokyo. The daytime azure had been inch by inch stained into a deep ink-blue by the thickening dusk.

The outline of the school building, in the last embers of the setting sun, was reduced to a dark, blurred silhouette.

The streetlights along the campus path flickered on. A shadow was cast onto the ground. The originally slender shadow was compressed into a tight cluster by the light. Looking closely, one could see a relatively smaller shadow overlapping onto the back of that shadow.

"Sorry, Fuyuji-kun. Am I heavy?"

A voice thick with nasal congestion and slightly hoarse, accompanied by warm breath, gently brushed past Fuyuji Mikage's ear. The snow-smooth arm wrapped around his neck tightened its grip. The girl was burying her burning cheek deep into the fabric of his school uniform jacket on his back, leaving only the tips of her ears, dyed crimson, exposed.

"Heavy..." Fuyuji said with a perfectly straight face. "My steps are still steady. Not that heavy, really. At least, carrying you is easy for me." The facts proved that his insistence on training after the sports festival had paid off.

"Mmmph--!"

The girl's arms tightened once more. The incomparable softness of the two swells against his back became even more distinct. A muffled sound of shame, anger, and breakdown escaped her.

"You paused!"

As expected, no matter how good-natured a woman is, her concern about her own weight will never change.

"Uh... okay."

Fuyuji, exposed, felt somewhat awkward. After thinking for a long while, he could only start trying to make amends. "After all, Ichinose has that kind of child-bearing build. It's not strange for her to be a bit heavier."

Through the thin fabric of her pleated skirt, Fuyuji could clearly feel the soft yet resilient curve of her buttocks. Further down were the girl's thighs, extending past the hem of her skirt, astonishingly smooth and delicate, pressed tightly against his supporting palm, giving off a feeling that made one reluctant to let go.

From this, Fuyuji concluded that Ichinose was the second heaviest girl he had ever carried, just a tiny bit heavier than his good buddy. The advantage brought by the front armor was simply too great.

"Uuu..." Ichinose was utterly sunk by the "child-bearing build" evaluation. She pressed her cheek even harder into the fabric of Fuyuji's back, wishing she could disappear entirely. "Please don't say any more. I'll work hard to exercise from now on!"

"It's not that exaggerated. Ichinose's figure is quite nice."

"..."

Behind him, a sudden silence fell.

A few seconds later, Fuyuji felt the body on his back tense slightly. Ichinose slowly lifted her head. Moonlight illuminated half of her profile. There was no sorrow or joy on it, even a trace of detachment:

"Fuyuji-kun, put me down. I think I can walk."

"Don't be silly," Fuyuji continued walking without haste, eyes forward. "If you're sick, you should rest properly."

Yes, Ichinose Honami was sick.

It was unclear whether the emotional release had weakened her body's immune system, or whether sitting on the cold concrete in autumn, crying her heart out and getting chilled by the wind, had done it.

After Fuyuji's support and encouragement, Ichinose had tremblingly stood up, only to suddenly realize that her legs were weak and she couldn't stand steady. It probably wasn't just the emotional breakdown. Her body's protest likely accounted for a considerable part of it.

After some fuss, the school doctor gave the verdict: low fever and a cold.

"Even so, you can't say that about a girl's weight," Ichinose tightened her arms around his neck, speaking resentfully. "The old Fuyuji-kun was very good at talking."

"That's because I wasn't very close with Ichinose before. We needed to keep some boundaries. Now that Ichinose has told me her most secret things, saying those kinds of polite pleasantries would feel a bit strange."

Hearing this, the grade's strongest socializer, Ichinose Honami, turned her face sideways and silently pressed closer to his back. "Then you should still say them..."

"Still, you need to rest well tonight," Fuyuji said, feeling a headache coming on as he sensed the phone in her bag vibrating incessantly. "If you take a sick day tomorrow and don't go to class, even if that scrap of a loli Sakayanagi stops spreading rumors, the scope of the rumors will still expand."

As for the rumors on the internet right now, the best approach was to ignore them. In a couple of days, they would disappear on their own.

But at this critical juncture, Ichinose had fallen ill. If she took a sick day, in the eyes of others, it would mean Ichinose had reacted to the rumors, indirectly increasing their credibility. By then, the rumors would not only fail to subside but would further intensify.

Fortunately, Ichinose only had a low fever and a minor cold this time. Under normal circumstances, a good night's sleep would recover most of her condition.

"It's fine..." A murmuring, dreamlike voice came from behind. Ichinose spoke in fragments. "That kind of thing... there's really nothing to be afraid of. I'm just afraid... of that self... deep in my heart..."

Fuyuji's lips curved slightly. He softly agreed, "Then there really is nothing to be afraid of."

"..."

Ichinose didn't reply. Her even, warm breaths fell against Fuyuji's neck. Her hair swayed gently with each step, occasionally tickling the skin of his arm. She was probably truly exhausted. She didn't even notice when Fuyuji deliberately slowed his pace in a tentative pause.

He tensed his shoulder blades to steady his posture, his arm carefully supporting the crook of her knees. The girl's calves swung slightly with their progress. The edge of her white calf socks folded into a crease. The tips of her small leather shoes traced swaying arcs in the twilight.

As they alternated steps and moved forward, the two gradually approached the dormitory building. Students on the campus path began to increase in number.

Quite a few students stopped in surprise, casting astonished glances their way.

This first-year girl of extraordinary popularity was, at this very moment, being carried on the back of a male student, without the slightest sign of resistance. It was believed that before long, rumors like "the famous first-year beauty already has a boyfriend" would stir up on the school forum...

But the person on his back was completely unaware of it all. She only mumbled unconsciously again against his neck, burying her cheek even deeper into the folds of his uniform jacket. Her warm breath seeped through the fabric and ironed against his shoulder.

The outline of the dormitory building emerged between the gaps in the ginkgo leaves. Warm light from the balconies twinkled here and there.

"We're here..."

Fuyuji said softly to the air, unsure whether he was reminding her or telling himself.

...

Advanced Nurturing High School, dormitory building, Fuyuji's room. The dim room was mostly occupied by the cool moonlight flowing in through the window.

The girl's body sank into the soft mattress. Moonlight spilled over the head of the bed, illuminating her gentle sleeping face.

The tension between her brows from the daytime had completely dissipated. The corners of her lips were slightly upturned. Her even breathing rose and fell in the quiet room, soft as a feather brushing the air. Her hair lay scattered messily on her forehead. A few strands of golden-pink curls, stuck to her temples with a thin sheen of sweat, trembled faintly with each breath.

The creases in her white calf socks still bore the marks from when he had supported the crook of her knees. Those small leather shoes had long since been placed by him at the entryway, revealing slender ankles.

Fuyuji stood quietly at the edge of the bed, his gaze sweeping over the girl sleeping sweetly on the bed. He scratched his head in exasperation. Like this, there was absolutely no way he could feel at ease leaving her in his room. At the very least, he needed to find someone to watch over her.

At this thought, Fuyuji silently turned his head to look at Ichinose's phone, which had been ringing nonstop the entire time.

Since there was no unlock password, only the lock screen page could be displayed. Even so, the chat notifications popping up on the page were clearly visible.

[Sayori-chan: Class rep Ichinose! The chemistry group's special exam needs to be checked. Could I trouble you to...]

[Amakura Asako: Honami-chan~ Which cafe should we book for the weekend class team-building? Everyone's waiting for you to decide >_<]

[Besties Group: Honami-chan, you left LINE on read! Where did you go? Everyone's waiting for your message.]

...

Fuyuji stared at the phone screen in silence for a moment, then placed the phone on Ichinose's face. After unlocking it, he sent a message to the Class B group chat: "Currently in my room organizing exam content. Might not be able to reply to messages for a while." Then he turned off the phone and shut it down.

Forget it. If this kept up, not only would Class B's Ichinose-mama fail to recover from her illness in one night, but the next day she would have to drag her sick body, trembling, to take care of Class B's chattering children.

"Ichinose," he gently shook the half-asleep girl. "How about sleeping here tonight? Don't worry, I'll go somewhere else at night--"

Before he could finish, Ichinose Honami's delicate, charming voice spilled from her rosy lips.

"Okay..."

Then the girl turned over, and in her daze, raised a hand to point at her milky-white ladies' bag.

"Room card... clothes... pajamas..."

Fuyuji was instantly at a loss for words. He silently swallowed the words that had been on his lips.

Strange. Are you actually asleep, or are you awake?

And also...

Fuyuji's gaze involuntarily drifted toward Ichinose's fullness, which did not belong to her age at all, a greatness that even the school uniform shirt could not fully conceal. He gulped down a mouthful of saliva, then pinched the flesh of his thigh hard, forcibly turning his head away.

'Are you sure you want me to go get it? And, if I get the pajamas, then... what about the other thing?'

Unfortunately, before Fuyuji could ask, Ichinose Honami had already smacked her lips twice, turned over to face the wall, and left Fuyuji with a graceful silhouette.

Fuyuji: "..."

In the end, after a fierce internal battle, Fuyuji chose to follow his true heart. Resolutely, he fished Ichinose's room card out of her bag. After tucking her in properly, he stepped forward and embarked on his journey.

"I'll be back soon. If you're hungry, Ichinose, there's food in the fridge. Help yourself."

With a click, the door opened in response. The light from the corridor flowed into the room, briefly illuminating Ichinose's outline for a few seconds. Then the corridor light vanished completely, and the room sank back into the clear radiance of the moonlight.

On the bed, the figure facing the wall, who had long since fallen asleep, had long eyelashes that trembled faintly under the moonlight.

Ichinose did not move immediately. She simply listened quietly to the footsteps fading outside the door, until they completely disappeared at the end of the corridor.

Confirming that he had really left, she slowly propped herself up. The blanket she had just been tucked under slid down, revealing her slightly rising and falling chest. Moonlight outlined her lovely profile, still bearing traces of a blush that had not fully faded.

The room was very quiet, quiet enough to hear her own slightly disordered heartbeat. Her gaze drifted involuntarily around her: the entryway at the door, the oversized television, the cabinets opposite, the plush toy in the center of the room. Finally, her gaze settled on the blanket covering her.

The dark-colored blanket looked somewhat cold and hard under the moonlight, but in reality, once you covered yourself with it, you discovered it was actually very fluffy and soft.

After a moment's hesitation, the girl's slender fingers, with a timid, tentative touch, gently clutched the corner of the blanket. Finally, like a thief, she held her breath and little by little pulled the blanket closer to herself.

The next second, she had the blanket in her arms. She lay back down, turned on her side, and unconsciously buried her cheek deep into it.

"Nnn..." A shy nasal sound escaped muffled from within the blanket.

Ichinose Honami seemed to have found some kind of comfort. She hugged the blanket in her arms even tighter, her whole body curling up into a small ball. Moonlight spilled over her exposed golden-pink hair and slightly trembling shoulders.

After a long while.

The girl seemed to finally realize what she was doing. Her whole body froze in place. She slowly pulled her head out of the blanket and stared straight at Fuyuji's blanket.

The next instant, immense shame flooded over her like a tsunami!

She abruptly released the blanket. Her whole body flopped onto Fuyuji's pillow, burying her cheeks--burning hot enough to catch fire--deep into the pillow that still retained his scent. Her two little feet, clad in white calf socks, kicked frantically and helplessly against the bedsheet. The bed frame creaked in faint protest.

"Uwaaaah, Ichinose Honami, what on earth are you doing?! Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!"

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