Lunch at the rooftop

"Sasaki-kun~Sasaki-kun~"

Hearing the call at his ear, Sasaki, who had somehow ended up lying on the desk, opened his eyes.

Looking at Haruno Ayato standing next to him, he looked at the mostly empty classroom, then rubbed his eyes and asked, "Is the class over already?"

"Class over?"

Looking at Sasaki, who seemed to have woken up confused, Haruno Ayato took out his phone, showing him the time.

"School's already out, it's time for us to head to the rooftop."

"???"

"Why do I feel like we only had one class..."

Standing up, Sasaki stretched his neck with a crack.

"Sasaki-kun, did you stay up late last night?" Seeing him get up without the listlessness and fatigue typical of sleep deprivation, the boy, recalling his sleeping through the morning, wasn't sure if he had actually stayed up.

"Um... kind of."

After thinking about the teachings he had made to Otome all night last night, Sasaki mumbled with a strange look on his face.

Haruno Ayato just asked and had no intention of pursuing the question.

So after their talk, the two made their way to the rooftop.

Though it was overcast today, there wasn't much wind.

Moreover, the rooftop was also kept very clean, and there was no sight of any debris flying around.

Finding a clean spot and sitting on a piece of paper, the two boy's chatted about everything under the sun.

Despite Haruno Ayato's feminine looks, he was still a guy after all.

The hobbies of boys are pretty much the same, nothing more than games, girls, sports, food, and drink, among others.

Coupled with some interesting things in class or convenience stores, the two of them would never run out of topics to talk about.

After chatting like this for a while.

Dressed in the school's standard white blouse and red pleated skirt, Haruno Kasumi appeared on the rooftop.

Her soft black hair at shoulder length carried a faint fragrance, and her delicate face, with light makeup, looked even more exquisite and charming.

Her eyes, curved with a beauty mark under the tail, gave off a gentle feeling, and the hidden allure made it hard to look away.

Because the weather was not good today, and the temperature was slightly lower, so Haruno Kasumi wore a light yellow sleeveless cardigan issued by the school on top of a white shirt.

Although the towering snowy peaks were not visible, the form-fitting wool sweater accentuated the shape of her rounded dumplings, making them even more distinct.

Because her legs were more plumper compared to Otome's, so she didn't wear the shiny pure white silk stockings like she did.

Instead, she opted for black thigh-high stockings that were more alluring and appealing to the male gaze.

The pure black soft and shiny stockings fit tightly against the plump and white long legs.

Making the exposed section of her fair skin under the hem of her skirt even more conspicuous.

Looking around, Kasumi Haruno found the two hiding and chatting in a corner and walked over to greet them.

"Ayato, Sasaki-kun, sorry I'm so late."

Standing up and taking the lunch box offered by the girl, Sasaki smiled and shook his head,

"We just arrived too. It's actually me who should be bothering Kasumi-chan for taking care of my meal."

Spreading the prepared meal cloth and kneeling on the ground, Kasumi Haruno, seeing Sasaki's unchanging expression, blushed and shook her head.

"I should be the one thanking Sasaki-kun for taking care of Ayato at school, and also... for the help yesterday..."

"Ayato is my friend; it's not a matter of taking care or not."

Knowing that she was still shy about what happened yesterday, Sasaki didn't bring it up.

Watching the harmonious and amicable atmosphere between the two, Ayato Haruno sat quietly on the side, without any intention to speak.

After softly saying, 'Let's eat,' he quietly began to eat his lunch.

And Haruno Kasumi, who noticed that her younger brother was being ignored, hurriedly handed over the juice she squeezed this morning.

Eating the sumptuous bento made by the girl, Sasaki praised it while chatting with the two.

After eating almost everything, Haruno Ayato, drinking his juice, casually inquired about Kasumi Haruno's recent situation.

"Sister Kasumi, are Anjou and the others still harassing you these days?"

Glaring at her brother for bringing this up at such a time, Haruno Kasumi shook her head while feeling warm in her heart.

"No~ I haven't seen him since yesterday. I heard from people in the class that Anjou seemed to have led seven or eight people to block someone yesterday, but he was beaten so hard that even his nose bones were broken."

"ah?"

After receiving an unexpected answer, Haruno Ayato straightened up with a happy face and screamed in surprise.

"Anjou?"

Sitting between Haruno cousins, Sasaki ate the last piece of fried shrimp and mumbled with a strange look on his face.

Why does the person described by Haruno Kasumi look so like someone who was beaten to the ground with a stick by him...

Noticing the strange look on his face, Haruno Ayato asked softly: "Does Sasaki-kun know him?"

Wiping his mouth, the latter recalled the guy's appearance and said,

If the Anjou you're talking about has dyed yellow hair, wears earrings, is tall and skinny, with a small mustache, then I probably know him."

Facing their looks as if seeing a delinquent, Sasaki rolled his eyes, "Do I look like a delinquent?"

"Besides, the 'know' you're thinking of isn't the same as the 'know' I'm talking about."

"The person he blocked yesterday was me."

"He ended up accidentally hitting his face."

"All Eight or nine of them were hit in the face?"

Haruno Kasumi muttered something softly and felt something was wrong with this sentence, so she turned her head and asked, "How did they hit each other?"

It was hard to tell them outright that they were knocked in the face with his stick, so Sasaki looked around, searching for something.

Then, at the corner, he found a thumb-sized stone that resembled a pebble.

Under the confused gazes of the Haruno brothers and sisters, he slowly exerted force on his palms.

With a sound similar to cracking knuckles, the thumb-sized stone was crushed into several pieces.

Then, by pressing harder and harder with the palm of his hand, half of the stone was crushed into small stones the size of rice grains.

Feeling the demonstration was sufficient, he threw away the stone fragments under the dull eyes of the siblings and dusted off his hands.

If not for fear of being seen as a monster by crushing the stone into powder, it would have been much quicker with his hands together.

Sitting back on the meal cloth, Sasaki took a sip of apple juice.

"This..." Shocked and wide-eyed, Haruno Ayato, stood up, quickly walked to where Sasaki had been, and bent down to pick up the rice-sized stones, gently pinching them between his thumb and index finger.

Hmm... it's painfully sharp...

Noticing the astonished and painful look on her brother's face, knowing the stone wasn't a prop, Kasumi Haruno glanced at Sasaki's palms with her big sparkling eyes.

"Same as you, nothing special, just a little stronger."

Seeing Haruno Kasumi's curious and hesitant look, Sasaki opened his white and red palms with a smile.

"That's way too big..."

Muttering softly, the girl twirled a strand of hair by her ear and slowly leaned forward with her plump body.

Sasaki's hand was large, his fingers long and well-proportioned, fleshy but not swollen, with a rosy palm free of marks or broken skin, overall quite perfect.

Silently looking at the red palm and conspicuous lines of this big hand.

Haruno Kasumi unconsciously thought of the previous afternoon, the scene where this hand was tightly pressed against her thigh.

Hot and scorching, broad and powerful.

Remembering the sensations and details of that time.

The girl's heart thumped wildly, and the blood that surged from it slowly climbed up her fair cheeks, making them scorching hot, while her head felt somewhat dizzy.

Knowing that it was rude to keep staring at someone's hand like this, she hurriedly withdrew her gaze upon realizing this and tried to stand up to leave, to avoid letting the boy notice her odd behavior.

But she forgot that she had been sitting on the ground for a long time, which made blood circulation difficult. Suddenly standing up made her legs numb and lose sensation, causing her feet to weaken.

Therefore, before her knees could straighten, Kasumi Haruno's knees went numb, her feet went weak, and she fell forward involuntarily.

Because her hands were not holding anything.

So after discovering that her legs couldn't use any strength, she subconsciously reached forward and planned to support the ground with her hands.

But they were sitting together on a tablecloth, and the distance between them was already very close.

After standing up, Haruno Kasumi subconsciously took a small step forward.

So when she fell down, the position where her hands were stretched forward was not on the ground...