The Fourth Period Is Modern Chinese (Continued)

She raised my collar, wrapped the tie around it, looped the wide end around the narrow end once, then slipped the wide end through the loop she had made, forming a neat triangle before pinching it tight.

At that instant, my gaze met Yukino's from the closest distance we had ever been.

Yukino seemed to have only just come back to her senses. Her face instantly flushed red, and for a while, she could not say a word. Even after she had finished tying my tie and let go, she remained silent, with no sign of the blush fading from her face.

For a short while, an awkward atmosphere filled the train car.

"Ah... thanks."

"You're welcome..."

Unable to bear the silence, I thanked her, trying to fill the empty stretch of time. But Yukino still kept her head lowered. Because of that, I could clearly see the ear peeking out through her black hair, red from top to bottom.

Ah, what was I even supposed to say?! If you were going to get embarrassed, then don't do something like that! Now you've made me embarrassed too!

I had no idea whether she did it intentionally or not, but having her pull something like this out of nowhere all the time gave me a real headache.

—And the fact that I did not dislike it at all was what really gave me a headache.

DB Extra: Third Year High School Arc, New 1 Afterword

Good evening, I'm Wataru Watari.

I never imagined the day would come when I would pick up my pen and write another "afterword"...

Who could have imagined something like this...? Well, I did imagine it! More than that, I really wanted to write one. Still, being able to write an afterword like this is thanks to