Chapter 241: Between Good Bros, That Kind of Thing Is Not Allowed

By the time the two of them walked out of the school clinic, the sky outside had begun to dim. It was torn in half, one half a deep indigo, the other the dark yellow afterglow of a sun about to burn out. The evening wind carried a chill as it brushed past.

Crunch, crunch!

Kamuro stepped onto the campus path paved with fallen ginkgo leaves. Clenching her fists, she strode forward with a furious momentum. The soft crackle of dead leaves beneath her soles startled the sparrows returning home, sending them flapping toward the distant school building.

"Damn Sakayanagi. How dare she play dead and mess with me. I should have just left her in the cafe to die earlier!"

She had actually said, "Because Kamuro-san's flustered look was so cute, I decided to play along and close my eyes."

Go die, you bastard Sakayanagi!

"Exactly, exactly!" Fuyuji jogged along half a step behind her, nodding vigorously, speaking with righteous indignation. "How dare she deceive my bro! We should have seized the moment when she was faking it and snuck in two slaps while everyone was distracted. Then she would have woken up on her own. Bro, you try it next time."

"You're no good either!" Her purple half-ponytail fluttering in the air, Kamuro kept walking forward without turning her head. "You didn't tell me on the ambulance. When we get back, I'm pulling all your quartz."

"Hey, hey!" Fuyuji quickly quickened his pace, catching up to walk side by side with Kamuro. "Don't do that. I was planning to save them for the next event. It's just that I'd only just angered her unconscious. It wasn't a good time to push further. What if I actually angered her to death?"

"Then she dies. Tomorrow I'll go visit her grave!"

Fuyuji: "..."

If she actually died, you wouldn't be happy about it.

"Forget it, forget it. Calm down, bro." Fuyuji patted Kamuro's back, trying to change the subject. "What did she call you in for? To express her thanks? Did her chairman father not gift you a million or so private points?"

Kamuro suddenly turned her head sideways. The setting sun outlined the delicate contour of her profile as she looked at Fuyuji, a cold smile playing at the corner of her mouth.

"She asked me to jump ship and join her side."

"As I thought, that woman Sakayanagi should just go die already!"

Fuyuji's expression changed in an instant. His voice turned cold and sharp, dripping with killing intent as he spoke.

"Bro, when do we make our move? I'll lend you a hand. I guarantee no one will be able to investigate it, and anyone who does investigate will die too!"

Let me, the god of the new world, personally write the final sentence on that ungrateful woman's life!

Kamuro choked at his words, squeezed her eyes shut, and threw caution to the wind. "Next time, next time I'll absolutely kill her!"

With that, as if trying to escape this absurd conversation, she put power into her toned, firm thighs, quickened her pace, and nearly broke into a sprint, wanting to shake off the lunatic behind her as fast as possible.

But unexpectedly, halfway there, Kamuro suddenly realized she couldn't hear the familiar footsteps that habitually followed behind her. She hesitantly turned back.

"Huh? You... what's wrong with you?"

Fuyuji stood rooted in place. After a moment of gathering himself, he straightened his back and spoke with perfect righteousness.

"Anyway, I'm jealous!"

"Huh? Which nerve of yours short-circuited this time?"

Kamuro raised an eyebrow, her half-ponytail tracing a graceful arc in the air. She crossed her arms and stared at him with exasperation.

"I'm clearly your superior, your master, your partner, your bro... and you've never said that kind of thing to me."

Fuyuji replied with a face full of resentment. "She's just a mere defeated opponent, a perverted loli, and she actually dared to try and steal my bro away. I also want you to give me that disgusted look and a tender, caring scolding meant for a loser."

"..."

Kamuro's lips quivered twice.

Tender, caring scolding? Do you even hear yourself?

Also, do you have any idea why Sakayanagi fainted in the cafe?

I went to take care of her because of you!

Kamuro felt her temple throbbing. A cold glint flashed through her eyes. She pulled out a smile that was not a smile.

"Then how about I scold you too? Also, what do you mean, master? I'll give you three seconds to think it over before you say that again."

"Cough cough..."

Fuyuji instinctively assumed a defensive stance, widening the distance between them. He cleared his throat and said with a serious expression, "Anyway, I don't care! I'm jealous. I'm grinding my teeth. I'm grimacing. I'm undergoing plasmolysis!"

"Then what do you want?" Kamuro rolled her eyes, somewhat amused.

The moment the words left her mouth, Fuyuji instantly perked up. He closed the distance in three quick strides, planted both hands firmly on Kamuro's shoulders, and spoke with utmost seriousness.

"We... are good bros, right?"

Looking at that face so close to hers, Kamuro suddenly felt her cheeks grow hot. She turned her face away, her tone drifting. "I guess... s-sure..."

Fuyuji's hands remained on Kamuro's shoulders. His fingertips could clearly feel the slightly tensed shoulder line beneath the fabric of her uniform.

Then, he leaned even closer, his warm breath brushing against the flushed skin by her ear.

"Since we're bros who'd die for each other... helping each other out isn't too much to ask, right?"

Kamuro jerked backward, her straight nose wrinkling. Creases appeared in her blazer uniform. She said with disgust, "W-what are you doing?"

"Kiss me. Soothe my wounded soul..."

He paused, his gaze quickly sweeping over those slightly parted lips with their natural sheen, then added hopefully.

"Preferably the lips kind."

A ginkgo leaf drifted down from the tree. Their faint breaths intertwined. After a few seconds of silence...

"Go die!"

A furious, shame-filled shout suddenly exploded beside the campus path. Kamuro's reaction was lightning fast. She raised her hand and viciously slapped away Fuyuji's claws from her shoulders while putting force into her legs and shoving him outward!

"Whoa!"

With a dull thud, Fuyuji landed squarely on his backside in the soft pile of fallen leaves beside the path, kicking up a small cloud of golden dust.

A few withered yellow leaves spiraled slowly down, landing on his hair and shoulders.

"Ow... Bro, that was way too harsh!" Fuyuji rubbed his sore backside, grimacing as he complained.

Kamuro stood over him, glaring down. Her purple half-ponytail swayed slightly from the violent motion. The red flush on her cheeks was several shades brighter than the rouge just beginning to tint the maple treetops beside the path.

Her chest heaved. The finger she pointed at Fuyuji was trembling slightly.

"You! What kind of yellow waste is stuffed in that head of yours! What kiss... kiss... That kind of thing is impossible! Say one more word of nonsense and I swear I'll stuff you down a drain and flush you away!"

"Why is it impossible? Can't good bros do this kind of thing to show how close they are?" Fuyuji clutched his chest and demanded loudly, feigning heartbreak.

"Anyway, that, this," Kamuro's cheeks grew even redder, "never mind that, it's just impossible!"

"Bro, have you forgotten the time we saved Azeroth together? And the Pan-Human History? Didn't we promise to fight side by side for a lifetime?"

Fuyuji began rambling, playing the pity card.

Kamuro pressed her lips tightly together, staring at that face silently snickering with a complicated look in her eyes.

The golden glow of the setting sun filtered through the swaying ginkgo leaves, dappling her body with patches of light. The air around them seemed to freeze for a few seconds. Only the rustle of wind through the leaves and the faint sounds of campus noise in the distance remained.

"...So annoying!!"

Kamuro suddenly let out a low roar, as if she had finally been worn down by his twisted logic and shameless behavior, or as if she had made some kind of decision.

She took a deep breath and strode over to Fuyuji, who was still sitting on the ground.

Fuyuji looked up at his bro's face, so close and so pretty despite being written all over with reluctance. His heartbeat unconsciously skipped a beat.

Kamuro didn't look at him. Instead, she quickly scanned their surroundings.

The campus path was fairly deserted at the moment. No pedestrians were passing by.

Then, a strange sense of excitement welled up from the bottom of her heart.

With a decisiveness approaching a heroic martyrdom, Kamuro swiftly bent down.

Time stretched infinitely in that moment.

Fuyuji only saw that face, burning with astonishing heat and blush, rapidly enlarge before his eyes. Purple hair strands brushed his forehead, bringing a faint tickle. Then, a touch as soft as a feather gliding over water, carrying a girl's unique warmth and a faint, barely-there sweet scent, landed like a dragonfly skimming the surface on his left cheek.

"Mwah."

A tiny sound, almost inaudible, yet it exploded in both their ears like thunder.

Time seemed to freeze in that moment. The sounds around them gradually faded.

The crash of distant waves against the breakwater, the faint chorus of "Tegami ~Haikei Juugo no Kimi e~" drifting from the distant gymnasium, the sharp squeak of basketballs hitting the ground and sneakers scraping the floor... all sounds were infinitely drawn back, blurred, until they vanished. The world was left with only the sound of each other's breaths, so close.

The playful smile on Fuyuji's face froze. Only the fleeting soft touch remained, along with the scent coming from her, a mixture of faint soap and sunlight.

Kamuro's movement was astonishingly fast. A touch, and she separated.

As if scalded, she jerked upright, stumbling back two steps. Her entire face instantly turned as red as a ripe tomato. Even the base of her neck was stained crimson. She didn't dare look at Fuyuji again. She whipped around, leaving only a back that looked about to emit steam, and a voice that was fierce in tone but clearly trembling.

"Shut up! Don't speak! Don't laugh either! And don't mention what just happened!"

"..."

"Did you hear me!"

"..."

"Say a word about it and I'll kill you! I'll cut you into pieces and dump you in Tokyo Bay to feed the fish!"

With that, as if she could no longer endure the atmosphere and Fuyuji's teasing gaze, Kamuro took off running without looking back. Her purple half-ponytail traced a panicked trajectory in the setting sun, leaving behind only a few scattered ginkgo leaves.

Fuyuji remained sitting dumbly in the pile of golden leaves, still in the position he'd been pushed into.

After a long while.

He unconsciously raised a hand and gently touched the cheek that had just been kissed. A subtle warmth still seemed to linger there, along with... Kamuro's unique, reassuring scent.

A few seconds later, a brilliant smile slowly spread across his face, growing wider and wider...

Then, watching Kamuro's fleeing figure disappear at the end of the ginkgo-lined path, Fuyuji stood up, brushed the dust off his backside, and strode after her.

"Wait up, Masumi, wait for me!"

"Don't follow me!"

That was what she said, but Kamuro, who had already run some distance, still deliberately slowed her pace. Catching up again, Fuyuji grabbed Kamuro's soft little hand and pushed his luck further.

"Masumi, we've already kissed. Holding hands a little longer isn't too much, right?"

"No!" Kamuro shook his hand off, thoroughly uncomfortable.

"Just try it." Fuyuji took her hand again.

After several repetitions, Kamuro's struggles grew weaker each time. Her protests grew quieter and quieter, finally dissolving into a light hum thick with nasal tone, as if she had finally been worn down and resigned herself to it. She lowered her head, face red, that tightly held hand stiffly suspended in midair. She neither actively held back nor tried to break free anymore, half-reluctantly letting him hold it.

Under the dim yellow setting sun, two shadows merged together, cast onto the ground, walking together toward the dormitory building.

"Masumi, Masumi, let's play a game together when we get back."

"Huh, what's wrong with you now?"

"The kind where players can marry each other in-game. When the time comes, let's get married on there. We'll call it... the FuyuKami Combo! How about it? Isn't it--hey! Why did you run off? Let me finish!"

"Get lost, you damn bastard, stop following me!"

From ahead came Kamuro's exasperated shout, her purple ponytail bouncing in the embers of the setting sun, running farther and farther away.

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