Chapter 05
Kaname is Confused
“Kaname, a lot of things moved forward yesterday.”
“Mm, tell me.”
The next day, as usual, I sat in my classroom seat and decided to share with Kaname what had happened yesterday.
I had talked quite a bit with Yumi yesterday, but the first thing I thought I should tell Kaname was the part that actually concerned her. So I started explaining.
“…It’s gotten a little troublesome. To put it simply, if Yumi finds out that you and I are involved with each other, it’ll be bad.”
“Eh…? What’s that supposed to mean?”
I explained the whole situation to Kaname.
Yumi thinks there aren’t any girls around me right now—that’s the only reason she hasn’t been aggressively going after me. But if she realizes there’s a girl near me, she might think that girl likes me and then come at me even harder.
That’s why Yumi mustn’t find out about my connection with Kaname.
After finishing, I added one last thing.
“Sorry. I know you don’t like me in that way, but still, it’s really not good if Yumi finds out we’re close.”
“….”
Kaname didn’t move a muscle—not her body, not even her gaze—so I called out to her.
“Kaname?”
“…Sorry. Um, in short, it’s fine as long as she doesn’t find out we’re connected, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
She seemed a little off for a moment, but quickly summed up what I’d said and responded like that.
…Even so, having to hide our connection could be a mental burden, so I tried to reassure her.
“But you know, even when we’ve gone out together before, Yumi’s never found out. It’s not that easy to get caught.”
“Mm… then, does that mean I can’t go to your house anymore?”
“My house…? Ah, yeah, unless Yumi happens to be out for some reason, it’d be tough. I mean, it’s not like we’ve ever hung out at my place before, and honestly, I can’t imagine you coming over in the future either.”
“Right… yeah, that makes sense… What is this even…”
Kaname placed a hand over her chest, clearly confused.
It didn’t look like she was in pain, but still…
“You okay? If you’re not feeling well, I can take you to the nurse’s office.”
“My body’s fine… thanks for worrying about me.”
Kaname said that with a gentle smile. She normally didn’t make expressions like that, but when we went out together she often showed me a bright side of herself. Spending time with her was always genuinely fun for me.
But just as I thought I felt something strange… Kaname pressed her hand on the desk and urged me forward.
“Anyway, can we talk about something else? If we keep on this topic, I start thinking weird things.”
“…Really? I don’t get it, but if that’s how you feel, then fine. In that case, there’s something else from yesterday’s talk with Yumi that I didn’t mention—it’s kind of a complicated matter.”
“What kind of talk?”
I recalled the conversation from yesterday.
“…If, hypothetically, I looked at Yumi—at her body, or her figure—and started having dirty desires or emotions, would that be considered impure?”
The moment I asked that, Kaname immediately replied.
“Thinking that about your little sister? Of course that’s impure.”
Naturally, I thought the same, so I nodded and finally brought up the part I hadn’t been able to answer yesterday.
“Then, if Yumi were to—”
“Hold on.”
Before I could continue, Kaname cut me off, her expression serious, and asked me:
“Hey, if it’s impure for you to feel that way about your little sister Yumi-chan… then what if—just sometimes, not always—a friend wanted to hold hands with another friend, or hug them… or maybe even wanted to do more than that? Would that be impure too?”
