"...If Hachiman-kun wants to hug me, I don't mind... You can hug me."
Hiyori's statement, explosive enough to rival a nuclear bomb, turned the surroundings dead silent with overwhelming force. As a result, the sounds of Class C students playing around in the distance became clearly audible instead.
"Hehehe, what's wrong, Hikigaya? Aren't you going to hug Hiyori here? If you want to, you can borrow a tent. I'll even clear everyone out for you."
The only one who hadn't frozen, Ryuen cheerfully laughed and leaned closer.
After barely rebooting my brain...
"I'll pass. Even if Hiyori says she doesn't mind, crossing that line like this wouldn't be right."
Honestly, it wasn't that I didn't want to hug Hiyori. We weren't officially dating, but we lived together already. We slept in the same bed every day, fell asleep in each other's arms, exchanged goodnight kisses on the forehead, and sometimes I really did feel the urge to take things further.
But if I crossed the line now, I would definitely regret it for the rest of my life. If Ryuen got something on me... So I refused his offer.
"Tch. I was hoping to see serious Hikigaya."
"You just want to watch it live, don't you?"
What an outrageous thing to say. If someone actually saw us, I'd voluntarily drop out, damn it.
"Whatever. Since you came all this way, go spend some time with Hiyori. That way, she'll stop giving off that annoying low-pressure aura."
How strong was Hiyori's resentment for Ryuen and those two from earlier to say that? Did she really want to see me that badly...? This was bad. The corners of my mouth were about to rise on their own.
Anyway, Hiyori clearly wasn't going to leave my side, so I might as well accept