Chapter 12 Kiriha Kirino is Blunt
#18ZenkouSeitoKiriha Kirino is Blunt
After walking alongside Irara for a few minutes.
“This is it, huh?”
We arrived at the address we were given.
It was a standalone house, and the nameplate read Kiriha.
No doubt about it, this was Kiriha’s house, our destination.
“Alright, let’s just drop the documents in the mailbox and—”
“Wait, stop right there! Are you trying to avoid responsibility or something?”
Irara snatched the documents from me and planted her hands firmly on her hips.
She puffed out her cheeks, looking like an exasperated mother scolding her child.
“Kyogoku-kun, you weren’t seriously planning to just leave these in the mailbox, were you?”
“…I mean, that was the plan, yeah.”
“That’s not good enough! You have to hand them directly to Kiriha-san!”
“Ugh… seriously?”
Which meant I’d have to ring the intercom and talk to a classmate I’ve never spoken to before, who also barely attends school.
For someone like me, who has zero social skills, this was nothing short of torture.
“Suzaku-sensei specifically asked you to deliver the documents to Kiriha-san, right? The mailbox doesn’t count! Bad!”
Bad, she says.
Honestly, she’s pretty cute… Wait, this isn’t the time for that.
“But it’s such a hassle…”
“You can do it, Kyogoku-kun! Come on, you’ve got this!”
“…”
“You’ve got this!”
“…Alright, alright, fine.”
When I said that, Irara’s face lit up with a bright smile.
“Fufu, good boy, good boy!”
She handed me the documents while saying that.
I wasn’t rotten enough to refuse after being cheered on by such a cute girl like Irara.
“…Sigh.”
Sighing deeply, I stepped up to the intercom above the mailbox.
An unfamiliar classmate.
A girl’s—apparently cute, according to Irara—house’s doorbell… Gulp.
I hesitated for a long time, but with Irara watching me from behind, I couldn’t let her see how pathetic I was.
Screw it!
—Ding Dong
The moment the sound rang out, my heart pounded violently.
“I-I want to run away… Can’t Irara just hand it over instead?”
“No way! You were the one asked, Kyogoku-kun!”
“What if I buy you a convenience store sweet on the way back?”
“!!! …If it’s two…”
She was bribed way too easily.
And two, seriously?
Just as I was thinking that…
[—Yes?]
Kiriha’s voice came through the intercom.
For a girl, her voice was low, and depending on how you took it, she sounded pretty annoyed.
Taking a deep breath to calm my racing heart, I spoke.
“I-I’m Kyogoku from the same class. Suzaku-sensei asked me to deliver these documents.”
[…]
—Beep
“Ah, she hung up.”
“!!!”
I-I knew it!
Someone like me?
Someone disliked by the entire school showing up at her house would only be scary.
I mean, I have a scary face to begin with!
Of course, if my face showed up on her screen, she’d hang up. That’s just normal…
“…I-I want to die.”
“Don’t die!?”
Irara shook my shoulders frantically.
“It’s okay! L-look, there are like eight billion people on Earth! Even in Japan, there are over a hundred million! A hundred million people! So even if one person is cold to you, statistically, you’ll be fine! So don’t die! Live and find that one person!”
…I’ve thought this before, but Irara’s way of comforting people is pretty bad.
While her words failed to cheer me up, I noticed a piece of paper sticking out from the mailbox.
“…Huh?”
It was shoved in haphazardly, and just as I reached for it—
The door creaked open, and a girl in shorts and a hoodie appeared.
Her hair, peeking from under her hood, was mostly black with what seemed like purple inner highlights.
Her eyes were sharp, cat-like, and piercing.
Her face was well-defined and undeniably beautiful.
Even through her baggy hoodie, you could see the fullness of her br🬀🬀sts; her figure was… noticeable.
Yet she was tall for a girl and slender, like a model.
—Kiriha Kirino 桑葉桑乃.
Ah, I see why Irara called her cute.
Just as I was thinking that—
“What?”
“!!!”
She glared at me directly.
Her demeanor was anything but friendly as she glanced between me and Irara.
“Wait, Irara and… who are you?”
“I-I’m Kyogoku.”
I literally just said that.
“…Ah. You’re from the other day. But I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere else too…”
Kiriha stared at me.
This is awkward…
“Well, whatever. So, why are you here?”
“Uh, Suzaku-sensei asked me to deliver these…”
“…Okay.”
Kiriha walked over and took the documents from me.
“Thanks. Now go home.”
What’s with this person…
Blunt didn’t even begin to cover it.
Feeling like something was off, I pointed at the mailbox.
“Uh, hey. There was something shoved in your mailbox…”
“!!!”
The moment I spoke, Kiriha’s expression changed.
She hastily pulled out the paper and tucked it along with the documents into her arms.
“…Did you see it?”
“I didn’t see anything…”
“…Okay.”
Kiriha quickly opened the door and went inside.
Just before closing it, she glanced at us and said—
“…Bye.”
And with that, the door shut with a soft click.
“…What the hell was that?”
“…Yeah, no idea.”
For just a moment, Irara and I had both seen it.
Scrawled across the paper Kiriha had hurriedly retrieved was the word “S🬀🬀t”.