Hoshino Miru hadn't thought too much about it. The reason he took Mikazuki Fuka away was because chatting in the hallway was too conspicuous.
When Hoshino Miru stopped and turned back, he found the girl slightly lowering her head, allowing Hoshino Miru to hold her small hand, as if no matter where he wanted to take her, she would keep following.
"There shouldn't be anyone coming here." Hoshino Miru released her hand. No matter when, holding hands openly between a man and woman was a privilege reserved only for couples.
Mikazuki Fuka nodded blankly. Her palm had become slightly sweaty from nervousness, warmly emanating heat—probably the warmth Hoshino Miru left her with, making her somewhat shy, wondering if Hoshino Miru had noticed this small detail.
Actually, her small hand was very soft. Holding it only made one feel its softness and delicacy. Girls' hand bones were usually very small, and squeezing them slightly gave a soft, squishy feeling. Hoshino Miru quite wanted to continue holding it.
However, doing so would be somewhat inappropriate, making him seem impatient.
"You looked so bold yesterday, but today you seem kind of dazed?" Hoshino Miru extended his finger and tapped her small nose. "Did no one teach you how to deal with me today?"
Mikazuki Fuka instinctively shrank her little head back, hurriedly saying: "No-no one taught me what to do. Yesterday was my own idea."
"Your own idea? Were you carrying that remote control around all day yesterday?" Hoshino Miru glanced at her sideways. Her reaction became even more embarrassed.
"I asked you to come over, then secretly put it on in the bathroom..." Mikazuki Fuka said softly. If it were Eriri, she would definitely deny it to death, but she would obediently comply while tearfully protesting.
She looked particularly dejected, as if she had been bullied by Hoshino Miru again.
"Do you know what the consequences of doing that kind of thing are?" Hoshino Miru leaned closer. "I remember we're supposed to be good friends, right?"
Mikazuki Fuka was startled. She almost touched Hoshino Miru's face and quickly retreated several steps, only to bump into the wall behind her.
"I-I-I-I..." Mikazuki Fuka panicked somewhat. She had clearly planned to question Hoshino Miru, but unexpectedly it was Hoshino Miru questioning her instead, and her momentum immediately weakened.
Seeing the girl stammering, Hoshino Miru approached, raised his hand to give her a kabedon, adopting a posture as if to pin her against the wall.
Mikazuki Fuka's face immediately turned red. With her back against the wall, she wanted to lower her head, but Hoshino Miru hooked up her chin, looking into her eyes.
The two gazed at each other. The girl's cheeks grew redder and redder, her heartbeat chaotic like a novice clumsily drumming on a drum set, finally accidentally knocking the drums over—a complete mess.
"No one really forced you?" Hoshino Miru suddenly said.
"Eh?" Mikazuki Fuka paused. Wasn't he planning to discipline her here?
"Fuka, I'm not criticizing or warning you, but some things should not only be done with someone you like, but also come from your own heart." Hoshino Miru said, "Because we're good friends, even if you did something bad, I won't take advantage and threaten you. But I hope you'll think it through."
"What do I need... to think about?" Mikazuki Fuka could barely suppress her heartbeat, because she could tell Hoshino Miru was concerned about her.
"You know Eriri is my childhood friend, right?" Hoshino Miru released her chin. "Not just Eriri—I also have a little sister."
Mikazuki Fuka bit her lips tightly, her face somewhat pale. She thought Hoshino Miru was planning to reject her.
Sure enough, Hoshino Miru said the words she hated most.
"I care about the two of them very much, care so much that..."
"I like you!"
Before Hoshino Miru could finish, Mikazuki Fuka raised her face high and interrupted Hoshino Miru's voice with a slightly louder tone.
"They all said I gave myself away too easily, but everyone has always only asked me to do various things. Classmates doing classroom duty often ask me to substitute for their work, teachers see me and ask me to help, friends in the gardening club ask me to water plants, the library manager also directly assigns tasks to me..."
She seemed to have finally tasted that feeling, the truth she had always refused to believe. Hoshino Miru had always received love letters—why didn't he have a girlfriend?
"I'm... I'm the first time someone has helped me, the first time no one needed my help. Hoshino-kun just treated me as a normal friend, greeted me when he saw me, would help share my work, sometimes even went to confront them for me. I really, really care about Hoshino-kun, care so much that I eventually even hated that you only treated me as an ordinary friend."
Why was he always so close to Eriri? Why did he only treat her as a friend, with the same attitude as most friends? Why could she only watch from the sidelines?
"This is the first time I've liked a boy. Could you not... not say Sawamura-san's name in front of me?"
In Mikazuki Fuka's eyes, Hoshino Miru mentioning Eriri's name was equivalent to directly rejecting her confession.
Her feelings were too ordinary—so ordinary that most people's first awakening of love was like this: vaguely developing a crush, vaguely falling for a boy, vaguely ending this relationship.
Mikazuki Fuka felt her eyes burning, something flowing down her cheeks. She had forgotten what her group friends had said—at this moment, she should be questioning Hoshino Miru.
But she couldn't think that much.
"Are you finished?" Hoshino Miru reached out to touch her cheek, gently wiping away her tears.
Mikazuki Fuka began trembling, waiting for him to give his final answer. She felt particularly embarrassed. After going back, her group friends would definitely laugh at her harshly.
"First, yesterday was my first kiss. I wouldn't actively kiss a girl I don't like." Hoshino Miru said softly, "Second, we're good friends. I'm very happy that Fuka likes me so much."
Mikazuki Fuka stared blankly at him. Her brain hadn't processed it yet, not knowing what he meant. Had her confession succeeded?
"However, Eriri is my childhood friend. She's very important to me, although she sometimes seems silly."
"Still... not okay?"
"It's not that it's not okay. Fuka is so cute, I can't wait to be with you." Hoshino Miru's face was completely serious. "But I promised Eriri and my sister that I would marry both of them."
Mikazuki Fuka froze. She could still understand Hoshino Miru wanting to marry Eriri, but marrying two people at once—what was that about?
"So Fuka must have misunderstood. I'm just a guy thinking about having it both ways." Hoshino Miru denied himself. "I'm not worth Fuka liking me this much."
"You want two girlfriends?" Mikazuki Fuka seemed somewhat unconvinced and wanted to confirm again.
"This isn't a deliberate excuse to reject you. I really am thinking about marrying both of them." Hoshino Miru thought for a moment. "And I'm also not sure if it's only two girlfriends."
Mikazuki Fuka's eyes widened. Just when Hoshino Miru thought she would feel extremely disappointed, she asked softly and carefully:
"Does this mean Hoshino-kun didn't refuse me?"
"I wouldn't say refuse. If possible, I'd also like to experience with Fuka what first love feels like."
Hoshino Miru smiled as if joking, thinking he was just giving the girl a way out, not yet realizing something.
He knew girls definitely wouldn't accept a harem, so he had never considered anyone besides Eriri and Kasugano Sora.
Only Eriri and Kasugano Sora were childhood friends who grew up with him from childhood. If he couldn't even win over these two, much less anyone else.
Mikazuki Fuka stared blankly at him, her mind repeatedly flashing through what her group friends had said.
「Super Beautiful Girl: If he doesn't deny it, force yourself on him directly and steal him away from that childhood friend!」
Hoshino Miru was about to withdraw his hand when the girl moved faster than him, suddenly grabbing his collar, standing high on her tiptoes, and kissing his lips.
Before he could taste what it felt like, because her movement was too forceful, just as she kissed him, she knocked Hoshino Miru down to the ground, his head almost having an intimate contact with the floor.
By the time Hoshino Miru came to his senses, the girl was already riding on top of him, her two boneless small hands pressing on his face, continuing to kiss down.
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