(Heartfelt thanks to Yunqi Qinggu, Youcai Luobo, Antushen, and Gungun Zouzou for their tips!)
The air froze...
Staring at Nagisa, who sat before them with her eyes tightly shut, not daring to look their way after making that shocking declaration, Kotori and Yukina fell silent...
"Nagisa... chan..." Yukina carefully raised her head and forced a smile. "What you just said, if I heard correctly, was that you 'kissed the teacher,' right?..."
"Ah! Yes!" As if she had given up entirely, Nagisa shouted without hiding the volume of her voice, two tears welling in her eyes. Her voice was enough to shake the entire hall.
"A few days ago, didn't Beastmen attack the school? Nagisa got scared then and didn't escape with Yukina-chan in time, so I saw those two Beastmen..." Lowering her head slightly, Nagisa's face turned red as though she were recalling what had happened. "Nagisa was scared, very, very scared, and in order to calm me down, Teacher... kissed me..."
As soon as she finished speaking, Nagisa abruptly raised her head and clasped her hands together. "Kotori-chan, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry! Nagisa didn't mean to!"
"Th-this..." Yukina was completely at a loss. Her gaze darted back and forth between Kotori and Nagisa, and she had no idea what to say. All she could do was sit there in a fluster.
A kiss?...
And with her own teacher?...
For someone as innocent as Yukina, that was no ordinary shock...
Kotori, on the other hand, stared blankly at Nagisa for a while before giving a dry laugh and asking softly, "So, Nagisa, the reason you've been acting so strangely these past few days is because you kissed Brother and felt sorry for me, so..."
"Mm... mm!" Nagisa nodded uneasily, secretly watching Kotori as though waiting for her to scold