[Editor's note: This chapter has been edited to remove content that breaks our content rules.]
Saki Miyanaga’s face grew even redder.
This time, it was certainly not because of the hot spring. She was simply embarrassed.
But her reason and instincts still prompted her to step away from Sora Kageyama.
She stood up with an effort. “I really do have feelings for you, but I can’t do something that would betray Haramura…”
Sora did not stop her. Instead, he asked with a slight smile, “So, are you going to give up?”
Yet Saki shook her head. “I promised Haramura that, no matter what happened, I would explain everything to her. I’ll talk to her first before I get any closer to you.”
With that, Saki climbed out of the pool, grabbed her yukata, and ran off. She firmly told herself that she had to explain everything to Nodoka Haramura.
Watching Saki leave, Sora could only think how adorable she was.
Chapter 49: Yuki Kataoka Takes the Initiative
As Saki Miyanaga hurried away from the hot spring, the clacking of her wooden sandals against the paving stones gradually faded down the corridor.
Sora Kageyama sank the back of his neck into the hot spring. Ripples spread across the surface, while a brass bell continued to sway in the night breeze, giving off a faint, delicate chime.
When he returned to his separate room wearing his yukata, he was surprised to find the lights on.
Because he still had work to do, and because it was more convenient for everyone’s training camp, he was not sharing a room with Nodoka Haramura. However, everyone in Kiyosumi High School’s mahjong club knew his door code so they could come and find him whenever they needed to.
Sora’s first thought was that perhaps Saki had explained everything to Nodoka, and the two of them had come to see him.
But when he opened the door, a sandalwood fragrance mixed with the sweet scent of citrus greeted him. Cherry-shaped hair ornaments lay scattered on the bed, and Yuki Kataoka was waiting inside.
“Kageyama!” The mischievous girl narrowed her eyes in a sly, catlike smile. “Saki looked so cute running away, didn’t she?”
Startled by this unexpected development, Sora took half a step backward and bumped into the low table with a dull thud.
“Kataoka, don’t fool around. Are you still half asleep?”
The girls’ room was far from his. Even if she had been groggy, she would not have wandered all the way here by mistake.
In truth, Sora was simply turning her down while giving her a graceful way out.
Normally, a shy girl would have run off by now.
But Yuki Kataoka was clearly different.
“I’m not dreaming!”
Apparently, without either Sora or Saki realizing it, Yuki had seen them at the hot spring.
She had not meant to spy. She had simply grown worried because Saki had been gone so long and gone to check on her.
“There’s a limit to fooling around,” Sora said.
Chapter 50
“Kageyama, your eyes… They’re like dice made of obsidian.”
Obsidian?
Sora was a little surprised that a girl like Yuki Kataoka would come up with a comparison like that.
Outside the window, the night wind suddenly picked up, making the sheer curtains rustle. Clouds passed over the moon, plunging the room into darkness.