Ch.215Date and Training (2)

Daily life at school passed peacefully.

And after school.

“What? You’re having a duel with Kana today? Ugh…”

Taiga, who had managed to win rock-paper-scissors and secure the next date slot after Eri, clicked his tongue in annoyance.

“Yeah. Let’s have our date tomorrow.”

I had no choice but to say that. A prior commitment was a prior commitment, after all.

“Fine. I have some preparations to make anyway.”

Taiga said.

Oh. That sounds interesting. I was curious about what kind of date Taiga was planning.

“Come back quickly. And win if you can.”

Taiga added.

Anyway, after school, I headed to the meeting place.

Japan strangely had shoe lockers in the hallway. Ah, sorry. I unconsciously pretended to be a normal person again. Actually, it wasn’t strange at all. My brain had been so pickled in otaku culture that I found it completely natural.

It’s a common scenario, right? Putting love letters in shoe lockers, or sharing an umbrella on the way home.

Kana was waiting there.

A few brave boys were trying to hit on her.

“Get lost.”

Kana drove away the boys circling around her with a terrifyingly firm tone.

She was rude, but… maybe it was the aura she gave off? Even her cursing somehow seemed dignified.

Then Kana spotted me.

“We’re in the same class. We could have just met in the classroom and gone together.”

I said.

I was curious why we needed to meet specifically by the shoe lockers.

“Just wanted a change of pace.”

Kana replied.

“So… did your heart race? Since I changed things up.”

Kana asked.

What kind of question is that all of a sudden?

“Yeah!! My heart’s racing at the thought of beating you in our duel!!”

I shouted loudly.

Honestly, this technique should be quite useful. The key point was that the sword was invisible. If I thrust it out suddenly, I might be able to win. I had that expectation.

“No… that’s not what I meant.”

Kana muttered with a complicated expression.

“Anyway!! Let’s go!”

Kana said.

“Okay… so we’re heading straight to the dojo, right?”

I asked.

“No. There’s somewhere I want to stop by first.”

Kana said.

“Stop by?”

“You don’t have the right to refuse.”

Kana stated firmly.

“I suppose not…”

She was being incredibly domineering, but somehow it suited Kana. Should I say even rudeness becomes charming? Anyway, beautiful women were so unfair.

Swish-!

Kana reached her hand out toward me.

Fwooosh-!!

I immediately took a battle stance.

“NO!! WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO FIGHT?! I’M JUST TRYING TO HOLD YOUR HAND!!”

Kana yelled.

“Oh. Is that what it was?”

I felt a bit embarrassed.

I immediately took Kana’s hand. But… does this have anything to do with our duel?

I walked alongside Kana, holding her hand.

“………”

A strange silence fell as Kana suddenly went quiet.

Fidget-! Fidget-!

Kana was oddly fidgeting with her fingers, which gave me a ticklish feeling.

“Kana… your hands are really sweaty.”

I blurted out without thinking.

“DON’T MENTION THAT!!!”

Kana hurriedly tried to pull her hand away. But I held on firmly.

“Why, why are you so calm about holding hands?! Why am I the only one…”

Kana seemed frustrated about this.

“Well… I hold hands with my girlfriends all the time.”

By now, holding hands with girls didn’t really excite me anymore. I guess my threshold for stimulation had become too high.

“That’s… somehow unfair…”

Kana didn’t seem to like that.

“But… is holding hands part of your reconnaissance?”

I asked Kana.

“I-I can tell what kind of training you’ve done from the calluses on a swordsman’s hand!!”

Kana exclaimed.

“Oh…”

So that’s what it was!! I see!!!! Our Kana had a plan all along?!!

“Sigh… what a blockhead…”

I heard the voice of Kana’s friend from a distance. Blockhead… what does that mean?

“Anyway!! You don’t have the right to refuse!! You have to keep holding my hand!”

Kana shouted.

“Sure. It’s nice and cool with all the moisture.”

I casually replied.

“You’re just pointing out my sweating again!!!”

Kana glared at me.

“Sweating is a blessing!!!”

I immediately responded passionately.

“When I was young… I saw a documentary!!! About someone who accidentally ate rat poison and couldn’t sweat…!!”

It was truly a horrifying video. Without the ability to sweat, they couldn’t regulate their body temperature. They had to turn on the air conditioner even in the dead of winter, shivering in the cold. Naturally, they couldn’t go outside during hot summers!!

“Kana… your sweat is a blessing!”

I declared.

“No!! Stop talking about sweat!!! It’s embarrassing!!”

Kana shouted.

“By the way, the composition of sweat includes…!”

“I said stop talking about sweat!!!”

Only after Kana’s outburst did I stop my rambling. Darn. I wanted to talk more about sweat.

———

Afterward, Kana took me somewhere.

“Hey… Kana. Wouldn’t it be better to tell me where we’re going?”

Being dragged along without knowing the destination felt too much like a horror movie.

“Never mind that, just follow me.”

Kana led me with determined strides. Yet it was cute how she tried to match her pace with mine.

“Whoa… this is intense…”

The place Kana brought me to was an extremely girly café. It was a flashy café selling sweet desserts and coffee.

Every design element was fluffy and round. Indeed, it wasn’t the kind of place dark-clothed boys would typically go.

“Won’t men get kicked out of places like this?”

I asked seriously.

“What are you talking about?! There’s no such rule!”

Kana replied, seemingly dumbfounded.

Anyway, we entered the café.

———-

Kana immediately ordered what she had prepared for. Two massive parfaits.

“Here you are! Two Fluffy Parfaits!”

A waitress in a cute uniform brought two beautifully presented parfaits to us.

“Kana. Weren’t we going to the dojo?”

I asked Kana.

“This is also training.”

Kana said.

“No… calling this training is a stretch.”

I couldn’t help but object.

I never thought I’d be questioning Kana’s logic. I had let my guard down because she was usually the only sensible character…

“Here. Aahn.”

Kana scooped up some parfait with a spoon and held it out to me.

“F-feeding me?”

This is… something couples do, isn’t it?

“You can see it, right?”

Kana said with a reddened face and a triumphant smile.

“Ah… I see!!”

Kana had scooped the parfait with exquisite balance. The parfait sat on the spoon in an inverted pyramid shape, with a cookie precariously placed on top. Yet, the parfait on the spoon didn’t move at all.

This was only possible because she perfectly understood the structure of the parfait. Kana had wielded the spoon like a sword, precisely cutting out the portion she wanted.

“Now, if you understand, eat up.”

Kana said, her face flushed.

“Sure.”

With a beauty like her feeding me parfait directly, there was no reason to refuse. I immediately took the spoon into my mouth.

“Oh. Should I change the spoon? My saliva got on it.”

The sweet consideration that followed was a bonus. Wow. Amazing.

“I-it’s fine?”

However, Kana quite firmly held the spoon that had been in my mouth, as if protecting it. Huh? Did I choose the wrong option?

“Kana… if you do that often, you could get infected with Helicobacter bacteria.”

I advised her seriously. In this moment, I was Dr. Show.

It was a disease that commonly infected East Asians with shared meal cultures. It spreads through saliva and proliferates rapidly!!!!

I saw it in a yogurt commercial when I was young and cried from fear!! I suggested eating separately at the dinner table from then on, and my father immediately slapped me…!!!

“Helicobacter bacteria my ass! It’s fine!”

Kana shouted.

“Helicobacter bacteria… pfft.”

Soon after, Kana chuckled as if finding my words funny.

“Anyway, Shota. It’s your turn. Scoop it well like I did.”

Kana said, running her hand through her hair.

“Hmph. Watch this.”

I slightly charged my breath of flash strike.

“Hnnnngh…!!”

Thanks to the breath of flash strike, I could see the flow of the parfait. Shining lines appeared in the parfait. Now I just needed to cut along those lines with the spoon.

Fwooosh-!!

I balanced an even larger inverted pyramid on the spoon.

“Not bad.”

Kana said with a smile. Hmph. Was she acknowledging me?

“Aahn~”

I immediately held out the spoon toward Kana.

“O-okay…”

The act of feeding seemed to embarrass her. Kana opened her pretty mouth with a reddened face.

“Zoom zoom! Here comes the airplane!”

I twisted the spoon like an airplane.

“Puhahaha!! Stop being so funny!!”

Kana burst into laughter.

After that, we continued feeding each other parfait as if competing.

Before we knew it, the parfaits were empty.

“………”

“………”

Belatedly feeling embarrassed, Kana and I remained silent with reddened faces.

“W-was the training helpful?”

Kana asked me.

“Ah… yeah. But it’s a bit embarrassing.”

Somehow… I felt like romantic feelings for Kana were starting to sprout. Suddenly, Kana looked incredibly beautiful.

“T-then it’s time for the next training!”

Kana immediately stood up.

“Oh! Before that!! Bathroom!!!”

I quickly got up from my seat.

“Ah… okay.”

Kana nodded hurriedly.

“This is what I call the poop training.”

I said in Kana’s style. It was about labeling everything as training.

“You!! You’re making fun of me!!”

Kana immediately got angry.

Hehehe. Teasing Kana is so much fun. Recently, my best friend got a girlfriend and stopped hanging out with me, so it felt like I was getting satisfaction from Kana instead.

Anyway, after using the bathroom, Kana and I headed to our next destination.

“I’ve… never been here before.”

Kana pointed to a place hesitantly.

“Ah…”

It was an arcade. A common date spot, actually.

“We’re going to train our reflexes here!”

Kana exclaimed.

“Kana… you just want to go on a date with me, right?”

At this point, I couldn’t help but notice.

“N-no I don’t?!!”

Kana shouted, her face turning red.

“If you keep lying… can I do the ‘going home’ training?”

I immediately tried to make my exit.

“F-fine!! It’s a date!! It is!!!”

Kana finally admitted with tears welling up in her eyes.

Hehehe. She really is such a fun girl.