Chapter 234: Karuizawa Kei: A Secret Little Kiss
"Kei? Matsushita?
Why are you guys over here?
If I remember correctly, this period is English class, right!"
Hikigaya looked at the two people who had appeared at his door, Karuizawa Kei and Matsushita Chiaki, with a face full of speechlessness.
The English teacher, Mashima-sensei, was a very strict instructor. Unlike Sakagami-sensei, who indulged students in slacking off, Mashima-sensei was very responsible. He would absolutely not tolerate students pulling little stunts during his class!
"It couldn't be helped~
My stomach was hurting, so I had no choice but to ask Kei to take me to the infirmary."
Matsushita Chiaki shrugged her shoulders with a look of helplessness.
"Dormitory Room 404 is not the infirmary."
Black lines appeared on Hikigaya's forehead.
"Don't worry about such insignificant trivialities!"
Karuizawa Kei lightly skipped over the prelude plot, looking at him with a face full of concern: "Hachiman-kun, I heard you caught a cold. How is your body feeling now?"
"It's nothing major, I've already taken medicine," Hikigaya replied.
"Eh? You already took medicine?"
Karuizawa Kei, who was carrying a bag of medicine in her hand, wore an expression of disappointment.
"Haha~ I knew it. With Hikigaya-kun's rigorous style, he would definitely have a medical kit prepared in his room.
That's why I brought you food."
Matsushita Chiaki smiled and lifted up a food container.
"Sorry, I've already eaten."
Hikigaya spoke the truth.
"...?!"
The smile on Matsushita Chiaki's face suddenly froze, and her gaze drifted suspiciously toward the inside of Hikigaya's room: "Did someone get here first?"
Just as Hikigaya was about to explain, Karuizawa Kei, who was beside him, squeezed directly past him into the room.
"Excuse me! Hey, you guys go back to class!"
Hikigaya expressed his powerlessness to dissuade them.
"Eek! There's someone in the toilet!"
Matsushita Chiaki was the first to hear movement from the bathroom.
"Who?!"
Karuizawa Kei's eyes sharpened, and she was just about to go up and investigate. However, at that moment, the bathroom door opened. Ibuki Mio walked out, holding a basin of washed clothes.
The two sides stared at each other with wide eyes; the atmosphere momentarily became frozen.
"Um, everyone is classmates, so I shouldn't need to introduce you to each other, right?"
Hikigaya spoke up, trying to ease the atmosphere.
"Why is Class B's Ibuki-san appearing here?"
Karuizawa Kei was the first to speak up and interrogate.
"What you said is hilarious. What right do you have to say I can't come?"
Ibuki Mio shot back without yielding an inch.
"It is currently class time. As a member of another class, what exactly is Ibuki-san's intention in coming to Hikigaya-kun's room?"
Matsushita Chiaki spoke with hidden meaning, suspecting the other was a spy sent by Class B.
"With my relationship with Hikigaya, I can come whenever I want. Is it any of your business?"
Ibuki Mio was one against two and showed no fear at all. Then, she walked forward ostentatiously, passing between Karuizawa and Matsushita to reach the balcony, where she began hanging up the clothes of her own accord!
"...!"
Karuizawa Kei was nearly choked with anger by the other's defiant attitude. Matsushita Chiaki, however, keenly spotted the key point and pointed at the items in the basin.
"Kei, look quickly!
Those are... a boy's underwear!"
'Ah, this...'
Hikigaya also felt very surprised upon seeing this. Even though he had asked Ibuki Mio to help him wash his clothes, he had definitely not been so impudent as to let the other help him wash his underwear—that was going too far!
Back when he did housework at home, he would also wash clothes for his parents, but the latter would usually pick out their undergarments separately and hand-wash them to dry the night before; only the rest would be tossed into the washing machine. As for his younger sister's undergarments, that didn't matter.
Hikigaya expressed that he didn't mind at all!
As a classmate, or rather, a very good buddy of his, Ibuki Mio helping to wash some clothes wasn't a big deal. But washing underwear was a bit much.
'Could it be that Ibuki, she likes...'
"What are you looking at?"
"I-I'm just doing this to return a favor for Shiina."
Ibuki Mio forced herself to remain calm.
'Alright.
As expected, fantasy and reality are different.'
Hikigaya suddenly felt a sense of relief.
"..."
Ibuki Mio's gaze fixed on Hikigaya, her lips moving as if she wanted to say something but hesitated. Hampered by the presence of the two obstructive women on site, she had no choice but to swallow her thoughts.
"Oh, oh!
So that's how it is."
A strange glint flashed in Matsushita Chiaki's eyes, and she said meaningfully: "I thought Ibuki-san was a pervert who had some ideas about Hikigaya-kun's underwear."
Ibuki Mio suddenly became emotional and defended herself loudly: "I did NOT sniff his underwear!"
"Uh, I didn't actually say anything that extreme..."
Matsushita Chiaki suddenly felt a cold sweat. It seemed her imagination wasn't rich enough.
"Hmph! This person looks very suspicious!"
Karuizawa Kei stared at the latter with a wary gaze.
"I think you're clearly a thief shouting 'Stop, thief!'"
Ibuki Mio retorted sarcastically: "I wonder who it was during the summer deserted island exam that stuffed her own underwear into someone else's bag!"
"Th-that was an emergency situation... is it the same thing?"
Karuizawa Kei was struck right in her sore spot and felt incredibly embarrassed.
"Cough cough~
I say, can you stop arguing?
I'm a patient right now..."
Hikigaya had quite the headache. The three girls immediately glared over with an expression of "Who do you think's fault it is?"
"Fine, this is my fault."
Hikigaya began to feel drowsy and lay back on the bed weakly. Seeing this, the three girls on site felt too embarrassed to continue making a scene.
Ibuki Mio was the first to leave. Karuizawa Kei and Matsushita Chiaki stayed behind to clean and tidy the room for him.
"Hachiman-kun~"
Karuizawa Kei crouched by the bed, gazing softly at the sleeping Hikigaya. Her eyes scanned left and right, and finally, she glanced at Matsushita Chiaki, who was behind her with her back turned, organizing the trash bags.
'This is an opportunity...'
Karuizawa Kei's gaze fixed directly on Hikigaya's somewhat dry lips. Her heart began to self-hypnotize: I'm not stealing a kiss, I just want to help Hachiman moisten his lips!
Just as she was getting closer inch by inch and was about to succeed, a shout suddenly came from behind her: "Kei! What are you doing?"
"Ahahaha~ I was... trying to take Hachiman's... temperature! Yes! Take his temperature!"
Karuizawa Kei did a tactical lean-back, then pretended to reach out and place her hand on Hikigaya's forehead.
'You wanted to use your mouth to take his temperature, didn't you? I'm too embarrassed to even call you out!'
Matsushita Chiaki maintained her smile and shifted the topic unobtrusively: "By the way, Kushida-san just sent a message saying she didn't see us in the infirmary, and now she's frantically @-ing us in the class group."
"Tch! That meddling girl!"
Karuizawa Kei gritted her teeth, her expression very displeased.
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