Chapter 3 - Poolside Taboo (2/6)

He had thought he was alone, but someone was standing behind him and he nearly fell from his seat.

The other person also cried out in surprise and opened their eyes wide.

"…K-Kurikara-san? You really scared me."

"No, you scared me. Why did you suddenly shout like that?"

His usually noisy classmate Kurikara Saya had appeared silently.

"What's going on? You don't often stick around afterschool."

She was friends with everyone in the class and knew a lot about them all. She tilted her head as she asked her question. She also tilted her entire body, which was childish and cute.

"I'm waiting for Ange. This is the day for those who can't swim to stay behind, remember?"

"Oh, yeah."

A charming smile covered her face.

"That was really surprising. Ange-chan is so athletic, but she can't seem to make any progress when it comes to swimming."

"Ah ha ha. That's right. You're always sticking with her during swimming class, aren't you? Sorry she's so much trouble."

"Think nothing of it."

She sat on a nearby desk to continue their chat.

"What about you, Kurikara-san? Don't you have to get to your club activities?"

"I'm about to. I was hungry after class, so I stopped by the school store and they had a wholllllle bunch of discount pudding. I ended up eating too much. Eh heh heh."

"Try not to eat so many snacks."

"Mhh. Don't say that."

Mutsuki did not have many female friends because he was fairly shy at the core, but he could hold a conversation with Kurikara who got along with all of their classmates.

But now that he thought about it, this was his first time alone with her.

She had a plump feminine build and a smile that suited her bright personality.

In the reddish light of the setting sun, she looked somehow mature.

"Are you okay like this?"

"Eh?"

"Are you okay being away from Ange-chan?"

She almost seemed like another person entirely.

"…Okay? Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, the two of you are always together, so I thought maybe there was a reason why you couldn't be apart."

"…"

She was still smiling, but she stared directly at him with a somehow sharp look in her eyes.

There was indeed a reason why they could not be apart. Ange was his bodyguard, so she was normally with him at all times. However, no one else should have known about that.

"Not really. W-we're relatives, so we just happen to be together a lot."

He stumbled over his words a little. The class had found out he and Ange were living together, so they had explained it by saying they were relatives.

"Hmm," she said while staring at him with a knowing look. "Relatives, you say?"

A somehow depthless giggle escaped her throat.

He usually got along with her better than any other girl in the school – even Ange – but for some reason he felt a chill run down his spine.

"By the way."

It may have been the reddish sunlight, but her usual friendly expression had transformed into an oddly bewitching smile as she glanced over to the seat behind the boy.

"You get along well with Satowa-kun, don't you?"

"Well, yes, I suppose I do."

"Well enough that he would come for you if you called for him?"

"N-not that well."

"I see, I see."

She giggled again with a somehow probing look on her face. Only then did he realize that she no longer had the bright eyes of his classmate.

Her eyes were angled sharply upwards like those of a wild animal eyeing its prey.

The twilight of late spring entered the classroom.

As that setting sunlight washed over him, a warm sweat began pouring down his back.

"Hey, is anyone still in here?"

A sudden voice broke the thread of tension.

Katsue-sensei, their homeroom teacher, poked her head in from the hallway. She frowned suspiciously when she noticed a boy and a girl alone together.

"I'm about to lock up, so head on home."

"Oh. Okayyy!"

In that instant, Saya returned to being her usual eternal optimist self. She turned around with a bright expression on her face and ran off.

"Bye, Fujita-kun. See you tomorrow♪"

"S-see you."

His strength left him and his chair creaked below him. The teacher was still looking his way, so he gathered his things to leave.

At that point, he heard the quiet sound of a bell once more.

Saya left the classroom without looking back.

Mutsuki could not remain in the school building. He had a feeling that being alone was a bad idea. That bad feeling led him to the pool so he could wait for Ange to finish up.

The swimming lesson was being led by volunteers from the swim team. Nearly thirty students from Megutono Academy's elementary, middle, and high schools who had trouble swimming were doing their best with a kickboard in one hand.

Incidentally, anyone could choose to join in even if they did not have any real trouble with swimming.

"Ahhh! Mutsuki-kun❤"

As he peered in through the fence, Ange's was not the first familiar face he spotted. Or rather, that he was spotted by.

"Lucia-kun."

Mutsuki was surprised to have his name called so loudly and the demon boy in swim trunks immediately ran over like a puppy. He had no trouble with swimming. In fact, he had broken the school's records for the crawl and the butterfly. He was apparently just having fun.

"What is it? Are you here to swim? …Or did you come to see me?♪"

He brought his face close to the fence. He had his usual bewitching attraction that affected both sexes equally, so he gathered gazes from the pool behind him. Mutsuki shook his head with a bitter smile as if embarrassed to be taking all of the boy's friendliness for himself.

The pool was packed full of people, but he quickly found who he was looking for. He could see a drowning redhead in the practice course for the (mainly elementary school) students who could not swim 25m with a kickboard.

Lucia pouted his lips in displeasure.