Chapter 9 Chapter 9 A Bite
It was half an hour later when I got out of the elevator.
After Jinpei Matsuda thanked the maintenance personnel, he noticed that Airi Momozawa was still keeping her head down.
Momozawa Airi had just been crying for a long time and finally calmed down.
As a result, he kept his head down and never raised it again.
Because of the height difference and the other person's long hair, Matsuda Jinpei couldn't see Momozawa Airi's expression at all.
“…”
Jinpei Matsuda turned his head and glanced at her as if nothing had happened.
Are you still crying...?
Thinking of Momozawa Airi crying, Matsuda Jinpei subconsciously raised his hand and touched his chest.
...The tear stain that had stained a large area not long ago has dried up.
Jinpei Matsuda always felt that that place was burning as if it had been burned by fire.
As his memories deepened, the flames slowly spread from his chest to spread across the prairie.
“…”
It’s suddenly so hot.
Jinpei Matsuda fanned himself casually, but still felt very hot.
He finally stopped, bent down slightly, and looked at Momozawa Airi.
"Are you...still crying?"
The first time is unfamiliar, the second time is familiar.
At this time, Jinpei Matsuda had already become proficient in lowering the volume and tone of his voice when speaking to Momozawa Airi.
No one answered.
When he got closer, Momozawa Airi lowered her head even lower.
It seems that he is still trembling slightly.
Matsuda Jinpei: “?”
Are you really crying?
Matsuda Jinpei paused, then leaned forward a little, trying to keep eye contact with Momozawa Airi: "...Don't cry, we're out now."
——But I am not very skilled in using words to comfort people.
Then, Jinpei Matsuda watched as Momozawa Airi's head lowered a little more.
Her chin was almost touching her chest.
Matsuda Jinpei: “…”
He, who had always been free and unrestrained, suddenly felt a little at a loss.
How to comfort a girl who seems to be crying?
The two happened to pass by an ice cream shop.
When the confused Jinpei Matsuda saw the colorful store advertisements, it was like he had found a savior.
"...How about I treat you to ice cream?"
Without waiting for Momozawa Airi's reply, he stood up decisively and walked to the door of the ice cream shop.
What flavor should I buy...
Forget it, let’s have some.
*
After confirming that the strong presence emanating from Matsuda Jinpei was no longer around her, Momozawa Airi covered her face with her hands.
She felt the scorching heat gradually spreading from her cheeks to her palms, and she wanted to escape underground.
“…”
Momozawa Airi had stopped crying a long time ago.
Just now in the elevator, after slowly calming down from her fear, the first thought that came to Momozawa Airi's mind was——
She! Actually! Leaned! On! Songtian’s! Flat! Chest!
Not long ago, she still called Matsuda Jinpei "not very familiar" -
chest!
And he also said a lot of things that were really hard to read!!
Momozawa Airi was at a loss, and the temperature on her face rose rapidly.
She quickly lowered her head and pretended to be dead, silently shrinking into the corner of the elevator.
...and then he has been pretending to be dead until now.
Just now, as the other party suddenly bent down and moved closer to her, an overwhelming aura quickly swept through Momozawa Airi's mind.
Fresh.
vitality.
And a little bit of publicity.
And a little bit of ambiguous hormones.
It's like soda in midsummer, or fireworks at a summer festival.
It was the aura of Jinpei Matsuda.
Memories and reality are intertwined, and Momozawa Airi, whose brain has crashed, is helpless. She is ashamed to let the other party see her red cheeks and ears, so she can only lower her head and escape.
But the other party was getting closer.
…until ice cream shops came along.
Feeling the temperature on her face gradually cooling down, Momozawa Airi let out a long breath and released her hands that were covering her face.
She raised her head and looked at the crowd in the mall silently.
Although she didn't pay much attention to what Matsuda Jinpei was thinking just now, she managed to remember... some of it.
For example, some worried and embarrassing thoughts.
Like some random, confused thoughts.
For example, some thoughts that want to comfort her.
for example--
My hands are wet.
My clothes are wet.
[She's so cute even when she cries...]
I hugged her.
[…This force shouldn’t be too strong!]
Momozawa Airi: "…………"
She felt as if the burning heat on her face was coming back again.
Momozawa Airi slapped her face in despair, turned around to face the guardrail, and looked down at the panoramic view of the shopping mall below the seventh floor.
Her gaze was fixed on a restaurant with a long queue, and she tried to calm herself down with the simple and unpretentious atmosphere of life around her.
…and saw a couple feeding each other.
They still feed me ice cream.
The girl took a bite of ice cream and was patted on the right shoulder by the boy.
The girl turned around, and the boy took the opportunity to move to her left and take a bite of the ice cream.
Then he accepted the girl's coquettish beating with a smile on his face.
Momozawa Airi: “…” Can’t you buy two?
The ice cream was quickly eaten.
The couple began to hug.
...Their posture was exactly the same as the one she and Jinpei Matsuda had just hugged in the elevator.
Momozawa Airi looked at them with a complicated expression.
Until the couple started kissing.
Momozawa Airi suddenly felt guilty and panicked: "..."
She looked away quickly.
But the image of the couple kept lingering in her mind.
...For a few seconds, Momozawa Airi even felt that her subconscious seemed to be replacing the couple's heads with her and Matsuda Jinpei.
Momozawa Airi stared blankly at a point in the void, her thoughts gradually diverging in strange directions.
...It was just a hug that wasn't even a hug in the strict sense. She and Jinpei Matsuda were both as flustered as two groundhogs that had just been beaten up.
If we kiss, wouldn't that be...
“Ah…”
Momozawa Airi covered her face with her hands again, wishing she could press her face against the cold guardrail to wake herself up.
What should I do? If I'm alone with Jinpei Matsuda again...
She might explode.
*
When Jinpei Matsuda came back holding a huge ice cream, he found that Momozawa Airi, whose eyes seemed to be glued to the ground just now, suddenly raised her head.
She stared at him with a very complicated look.
Matsuda Jinpei: “?”
He observed calmly and found that Momozawa Airi looked red all over.
Matsuda Jinpei recalled for a while and remembered that when Momozawa Airi cried, her whole body was also red.
So he concluded that Momozawa Airi must have been crying with her head down just now.
Jinpei Matsuda pretended to be calm as he approached Momozawa Airi, thinking that there was an ice cream shop nearby that he could use to appease her, and he carefully handed an ice cream in his hand to Momozawa Airi.
"Now we should be a little more familiar with each other than before."
By the way, he also responded to Momozawa Airi's refusal of his invitation to dinner with the words "We are not very familiar with each other".
Then he pretended not to care but actually observed Momozawa Airi's reaction with a little nervousness.
Momozawa Airi looked at the ice cream cone in front of her, which had at least seven or eight scoops of it piled on top. "...?"
She paused, trying to keep her tone calm: "...Is this too much?"
Matsuda Jinpei looked at the rather exaggeratedly large ice cream and blinked sincerely, "I didn't know what flavor you liked, so I took it upon myself to choose it for you."
Momozawa Airi murmured "oh" and carefully took the ice cream.
When handing over the ice cream, she focused all her attention on her hands——
Finally, he managed to take the ice cream without touching Jinpei Matsuda's fingers.
...She was in no condition at the moment to process what Jinpei Matsuda was thinking.
Almost every word the other person said could cause her emotions to fluctuate greatly in a short period of time.
“…”
Matsuda Jinpei watched Momozawa Airi's actions calmly, thinking that no one noticed.
Are you unwilling to have physical contact with him?
*
Walking on the road in the mall.
Momozawa Airi slurped her ice cream.
Suddenly, she said, "Senior Matsuda, why don't we not discuss the topic today..."
Momozawa Airi didn't dare look at Matsuda Jinpei's expression. She mustered up her courage and continued, "Thank you for your kindness, but I suddenly remembered that I have something else to do today..."
Because it was a lie, Momozawa Airi felt more and more guilty the more she spoke.
“…”
Matsuda Jinpei's steps paused for a moment, then he continued smoothly, "It's okay."
His tone was very natural, as if he was completely unaware of her awkwardness.
Momozawa Airi breathed a sigh of relief in her heart.
...Her emotions were so volatile today that she felt she couldn't handle anything related to Jinpei Matsuda anymore.
My brain capacity is about to explode.
After receiving the other party's affirmative answer, Momozawa Airi's steps became a little lighter.
Jinpei Matsuda took in all these subtle changes.
“…”
The hand in his pocket unconsciously pinched the phone.
After a moment, let go.
Jinpei Matsuda took his hands out of his pockets very naturally and casually adjusted his hair.
...I feel inexplicably confused.
Momozawa Airi was completely unaware of the other person's change of mood, and instead lowered her eyes to look at the huge ice cream that was steaming.
She had just eaten the pink strawberry ice cream ball on top.
The next ball is also pink, I don’t know what it tastes like.
Momozawa Airi thought it might also taste like strawberry.
She had just eaten a strawberry flavor one.
Momozawa Airi looked at Matsuda Jinpei's empty hands and blurted out, "Didn't Matsuda-senpai buy his own share?"
Matsuda Jinpei's voice was a little dry: "Hmm...? No, I don't really eat sweets."
Momozawa Airi, who had been taught to share since childhood, seemed to have lost sight of her mouth as it sprinted 100 meters. "So, Senior, do you want a bite of mine? The next ball looks like it's strawberry flavored too... This ice cream tastes delicious."
Matsuda Jinpei, whose mood was fluctuating greatly, said: "?"
Momozawa Airi: "..."
Momozawa Airi looked at the ice cream that she couldn't share properly and politely: "…………"
The image of the couple feeding each other suddenly flashed through her mind.
Hmm... I feel like patting her shoulder and then taking a bite of her ice cream... I think Jinpei Matsuda could totally do that...
Momozawa Airi: "..."
Momozawa Airi: "…………"
No! Why did she imagine her flirting with Jinpei Matsuda?!
Momozawa Airi blushed and walked away quickly with her head down: "...Yes, yes, yes, I'm sorry!!! Since you don't really eat sweets, just ignore what I said!!!"
Matsuda Jinpei secretly pondered for a while what to eat and said, "......?"
...Flirt and run away?
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