Chapter 46 – Hayasaka Ai JUMPS IN
Lunchtime ended.
After school.
In Class 2A.
Hayasaka Ai looked at the warm afternoon sunlight outside the window, then turned to look at Sakurai Saki who was cleaning the blackboard at the front.
He had a focused expression, casually raised his arm, and wiped away the chalk marks on the board.
'Kaguya-sama actually made him blush?'
(≖_≖ )
Regarding the email from Shinomiya Kaguya, at first, Hayasaka Ai didn't believe it at all.
Because, come on, we're talking about Shinomiya Kaguya here! Someone named Shinomiya Kaguya could absolutely never make a guy feel shy. If she were scaring someone half to death, that'd be more believable.
Any guy who gets glared at a few times by her would be shivering in fear—Shinomiya Kaguya is exactly that kind of strong-willed beautiful girl.
Ishigami: (ó﹏ò｡) Umu umu
Unfortunately, the evidence was clear. In the photo, Sakurai was blushing so hard he had to use his phone to shift attention away.
Even Hayasaka Ai had never seen him so flustered before.
'Looks like I need to play my hand.'
Dragging this out won't do any good.
If she don't make a move now, am her supposed to wait until he already has kids to swoop in?
Ai-chan's not interested in men who already have families, thank you very much.
As she thought about how to confess, she moved the desks and chairs, arranging them neatly—today the two of them were on cleaning duty.
Only she and he were left in the classroom now—a perfect chance to confess.
When it comes to love, Hayasaka Ai is very straightforward. She doesn't care who confesses first, or who loves more.
As long as you already like someone, don't give up. At the very least, try once—if not, you'll regret it!
You'll definitely regret it!
Humans are creatures that are really good at [regretting]—
Regret not working hard when you were young, regret love that slipped away, regret missed opportunities…
Almost everyone has something they regret.
Hayasaka Ai didn't want to grow old and regret.
When that time comes, with gray hair, no longer youthful, sitting alone on a swing and watching the sunset, thinking—[If only that afternoon, I had thrown away all thoughts, not worried about the future, and just focused on the present, how great that would have been.]
[If only back then, he and I were together, sharing happiness, living out the rest of our lives.]
[How wonderful that would have been.]
Hayasaka Ai didn't want a future like that!
( ｡ •̀ ⤙ •́ ｡ ) 🇽NO
The more she thought, the more hesitation built up.
Hayasaka Ai didn't want to wait any longer!
Whatever happens with the Shinomiya family, whatever happens with the maid-and-bodyguard job, none of it matters.
After he had seen her true self, after he had seen that side of her, after he had witnessed that deepest, rawest desire inside her…
And still stood by her side…
Hayasaka Ai felt—maybe, aside from Sakurai, there's no one else.
Resignation or anything else can wait—there's still a long future ahead for the two of them.
Sakurai Saki finished wiping the board. He turned his head and saw the girl lost in thought:
"What's wrong, Ai-chan?"
( ╹ -╹)?
Hayasaka Ai snapped back to her senses, and caught sight of his smile.
Just in that instant, her pale pink cheeks flushed slightly like cherry blossoms, and her heart beat faster.
A girl in love. Her whole heart was hanging on the person she liked. She wasn't thinking about anything else at all.
Just like how Sun Wukong had the golden headband tightened, girls become weaker, but also more bashful and adorable than ever.
Sakurai Saki sensed that she had something to say.
"Do you want to tell me something, meow?"
He said while tidying up the items on the teacher's desk.
Putting the chalk back in place, his voice was casual:
"If it's about tonight's game, I actually found a new co-op game yesterday that we can play online…"
Hayasaka Ai slowly walked toward the teacher's desk.
Sakurai didn't pay too much attention, so he didn't notice her steps were very slow, nor did he realize how much courage it had taken her to get to this point.
To Hayasaka Ai, this was an incredibly important moment—the moment that would lead her life into a new phase.
As for Sakurai Saki, this might've been the first time someone (Human) directly confessed to him—he just didn't realize it yet.
"That rain this morning, I thought it'd last till evening meow, but didn't expect it to clear up by noon. Now it's all sunny outside, the sports clubs have already started warming up and training on the still-damp tracks and grassy fields meow..."
He turned back to look at the blackboard, checking for any leftover chalk marks, casually chatting as always.
The conversation was exactly the same as all their usual daily chats.
But now, Hayasaka Ai no longer had the mind to pay attention to the topic.
The two of them were getting closer and closer.
Hayasaka Ai reached out—very decisively—shoved Sakurai Saki back against the blackboard.
(｡>\\<)づ(｡· v ·｡) ?
Sakurai turned his head, surprised.
The distance between them now was less than 20 cm.
"What's going on?"
Pushing me against the wall like a kabedon?
"I have something very important…" Hayasaka Ai tried her best to suppress her embarrassment, looking straight into his face, "I want to tell you…"
Sakurai thought maybe it was payback for all the teasing he'd done to her before.
Maybe she was pulling some kind of fake-confession stunt to get back at him and make him flustered, then laugh it off?
"You're gonna confess to me or something?" he said with a smile.
A flicker of disappointment passed through Hayasaka Ai's eyes.
He wasn't taking her seriously at all.
All the courage she'd worked so hard to build up—vanished in an instant.
"No… I just wanted to say sorry for standing you up yesterday."
After saying that, Hayasaka Ai felt a strange mix of relief and disappointment.
As expected, she was just a cowardly little girl.
Seeing that she was still holding the kabedon pose, Sakurai Saki joked:
"I almost thought you were about to kiss me or something—scared the heck outta me."
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Hayasaka Ai looked at his face.
When words no longer worked—a sudden thought popped into her head.
Under Sakurai Saki's stunned gaze, she slowly leaned forward.
The warm breath from her lips brushed his cheek, and Hayasaka Ai could clearly see his eyes darting away.
"You should know what I'm thinking by now, right?" she said.
The distance between them kept closing—so close they could feel each other's breath—
Footsteps echoed from outside the classroom, growing nearer with each step.
Hayasaka Ai and Sakurai Saki, in perfect sync, instantly pulled away from each other.
"Sakurai-kun!! I finished the cleaning duty!! Let's go to the student council—Eh?"
∘ ∘ ∘ ( °ヮ° ) ?
Fujiwara Chika peeked in from the front door of Class A. The black ribbon on her head stood out vividly.
Seeing Sakurai Saki moving the chalk box on the teacher's desk, Secretary Fujiwara looked puzzled:
"Sakurai-kun, that chalk box is already in the right place, no need to touch it~"
Then she turned to greet Hayasaka:
"Good afternoon, Hayasaka-san~!"
"It's such a shame we're not in the same class this year!!"
ヾ(＾ ∇ ＾).
Fujiwara Chika and Hayasaka Ai still had a fairly good relationship—at least when it didn't involve Sakurai Saki.
"Yohallo~ Chika-chan~ I missed you so much too~!"
Hayasaka Ai instantly switched to gyaru mode, running over to Chika.
She threw her arms around the pink-haired girl, pressing her face into Chika's pale neck, grinding her teeth in frustration.
So annoying, this damn Earth Cancer!
She was literally just this close to kissing him!
This was like the legal wife catching them cheating, right!? Showing up at this exact moment!?
After hugging Fujiwara Chika for a bit, she let go.
In her head, Hayasaka Ai was still haunted by the image of the almost-kiss—somehow, her eyes drifted to Chika's plump lips.
'So soft~ If I kissed them, I bet they'd…'
Cough—what the hell are you thinking, Hayasaka Ai!? That's your love rival!!
"Since I'm done with cleaning, I'm heading out now! See you two tomorrow!"
ദ്ദി(˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧
Hayasaka Ai said as she grabbed her bag, quickly exiting the classroom through the back door.
Leaving behind a completely confused Fujiwara Chika who had no idea what had just happened.
And Sakurai Saki—who'd just been hit with such a direct assault, his brain temporarily shut down.
This man was really hopeless when it came to dealing with direct attacks like that!
--------------------------------------------
If you like this story, please leave me a comment, review, collection and power stones if you can, that really help me a lot
If you're looking for good fanfics, try reading my other books, you won't be disappointed, promise.
If you want to read 40 advanced chapters and support me to have more motivation to continue as a translator, here is my p.a.t.r.e.o.n pa treon.com/curse_heian_chef
ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧Thanks you, Have a nice day