Confession

Along the way, the two seemed to have fallen into an eerie silence, neither speaking a word as they walked on and on, following the path of the streetlights.

Before long, the two arrived at the dormitory elevator.

Just as Onizuka pressed the button for his own floor and prepared to press the button for the 12th floor for Sakura Airi, he suddenly seemed to hear Sakura mumble something in a small voice.

"Tsukasa-kun, could I go to your room and sit for a while?"

The voice was extremely faint; had they not been in the confined environment of the elevator, he surely would never have heard it.

Without considering the possibility that he might be hallucinating, Onizuka immediately canceled the button for her floor.

With only the button for the 4th floor left glowing lonely on the elevator panel, the two stared straight at that warm yellow light, speechless for a moment.

At this, Onizuka could only feel Sakura Airi's hand in his palm becoming increasingly hot.

If I looked at her face right now, it would definitely be bright red, right? Though, there's a greater chance I'd just get kicked out of the elevator, Onizuka thought to himself.

Onizuka had ridden the elevators in the student dormitory more times than he could count, but never had he felt the time it took to ascend to the 4th floor to be so agonizingly long.

"Ding!"

With a chime, the elevator doors slowly slid open.

Yet, the two remained motionless for a long time.

"Shall we go?" Onizuka broke the silence first.

Seeing that Sakura had no intention of resisting, Onizuka pulled her out of the elevator and headed toward his room.

Onizuka noticed that after stepping out of the elevator, Sakura Airi was acting like a thief, sneaking around, and he couldn't help but chuckle.

"You don't have to be so nervous, just act natural. You know, Horikita-san and Kushida-san from our class visit Ayanokoji-kun's room quite often~"

"Eh? Really?"

Hearing Onizuka say this, Sakura was clearly shocked, her spirit of gossip instantly overpowering her shyness.

Seeing that the effect was good, Onizuka added more fuel to the fire.

"Yeah, the two of them even have the magnetic key card to Ayanokoji-kun's room."

With that, Onizuka tucked the magnetic key card to Ayanokoji's room, which was in his own pocket, even deeper.

"Eh eh eh???"

Overthinking the situation and unable to process it, Sakura Airi's head began to emit white smoke, and she let herself be led through the hallway by Onizuka, her entire body flushed red.

Watching Sakura like this, Onizuka felt he was truly sinful, and he couldn't help but press his palms together in his heart, bowing toward Ayanokoji's room.

Surely Ayanokoji-kun wouldn't mind such a small matter, right?

However, Horikita-san and Kushida-san might be a different story; if this were leaked, they might temporarily cooperate to tear him apart first.

Of course, they would never have the chance to find out about this, absolutely not!

Soon, the two returned to Onizuka's room without incident.

Onizuka set Sakura Airi aside; clearly, Sakura, who was temporarily in a state of being "hosted," didn't react at all to the fact that she had already arrived in Onizuka's room.

Afterward, Onizuka took a slightly chilled drink from the refrigerator nearby and, with a mischievous sense of humor, pressed it against Sakura Airi's neck.

"Eh eh eh?????"

Please provide the text you would like me to revise. I am ready to translate it into natural, punchy English while strictly adhering to your formatting requirements.

Realizing she had been teased, Sakura Airi blushed, looking at Onizuka, who stood to the side, with puffed-up cheeks.

You're using this to test a cadre? Which cadre could withstand such a test?

At least, Onizuka couldn't...

He apologized very submissively and handed the drink in his hand to Sakura.

"Sorry, sorry, drink some water and calm down."

Sakura took the drink he offered and sat down on the chair Onizuka had moved over for her.

"Airi, is there something you wanted to tell me? You even specifically chose the dormitory for it."

Seeing Onizuka sitting opposite her with a serious expression, Sakura took a few deep breaths and gradually calmed down.

"Tsukasa-kun, that... actually, I previously had a part-time job as a gravure model online, and my screen name is 'Shizuku'."

As she said this, Sakura took off her glasses and smoothed out her hair.

Now, the image of Sakura that Onizuka had seen in the special building was revealed before him.

Looking into Onizuka's eyes, Sakura smiled gently.

"Tsukasa-kun's eyes have always been so clean."

What? Clean? Me?

Onizuka was momentarily baffled; no matter how you looked at it, his eyes couldn't be described as "clean," could they?

Ignoring the bewildered Onizuka, Sakura Airi continued her story.

"Back in middle school, I had the same personality I do now—introverted, afraid to interact with classmates."

"However, I understood that doing this was wrong, and I tried to change myself. So, I registered for a part-time job as a print model online."

Her tone gradually became firm, as if she were recalling those times spent working hard.

"At first, I only hoped to change my personality through this identity. I wanted to show a more confident version of myself in front of the camera, to try to communicate with others and integrate into a group."

"However, as the identity of 'Shizuku' became more and more popular, the sense of disconnect between me and 'Airi' became increasingly severe."

She lowered her head, her fingers unconsciously playing with the hem of her clothes.

"Whenever I smiled in front of the camera, enjoying the praise others gave me, I felt increasingly lonely in private."

"'Shizuku' seemed to be constantly absorbing my radiance, while the real 'Airi' was forgotten in a corner."

Her voice gradually lowered, revealing a hint of helplessness.

"Sometimes, I wonder, which one is the real me? Every time I see those enthusiastic comments and support, I feel happy, but more than that, there is a panic deep in my heart."

"And now, this sense of panic is becoming even stronger. Especially when I face you, I don't know how to present myself."

"Perhaps, I have been running away, running away from my true thoughts, my true feelings."

"Tsukasa-kun, the Tsukasa who saved me twice, can you save me one more time?"

Having said that, two lines of tears streamed down Sakura's face.

Onizuka didn't know what to do for a moment, so he pulled Sakura into his arms.

"It's alright, we can take it slow. There's still plenty of time, isn't there? If one year isn't enough, we have three years; if three years isn't enough, we have the future."

"Don't be afraid, I will always be by your side."