Chapter 381: Suspect? (2)

Feeling her fingers pressing on my palm, I noticed how her grip was currently weak and shaking.

Even after noticing that she's now holding onto my hand, Arisa-senpai didn't loosen her grip. Instead, she stepped forward, closing the distance between us to a mere few centimeters.

"Senpai?" I couldn't help but ask her. At this point, I was clueless as to what's going on in her mind.

Her suspicion about me wasn't easing up but now, she's not letting me go.

Is it really not easing up? I don't know. Her suspicion was right anyway.

Even after a few seconds passed, Arisa-senpai didn't respond to me.

Because of how close we were, I could only continue observing her.

At this moment, Arisa-senpai was biting her lips and her eyes were slightly trembling, the same way as her shoulders.

When our gaze met she immediately averted it as her head gradually lowered. Her mouth also opened and closed a few times but no words were coming out of it.

This girl… She wanted to say something to me but at the same time, she's restricting herself to do so.

"I understand. You don't need to say anything, senpai." I raised my free arm and held her cheek just like how I did it with Hina.

When she felt my fingers caressing her cheek, the girl is seemingly woken up from her stupor.

"W-why are you…?"

Even if she failed to complete her question, it's easy to guess what she's asking.

Why am I caressing her cheek? Why are we suddenly this close together?

As her eyes sought me out for an answer, I shook my head before claiming responsibility for what she did. "I'm sorry. You were in deep thought. I couldn't help it upon seeing you that troubled."

"Huh? No. I did this, not you." Her eyes moved and seemingly pointed down. Both at her feet and our connected hand.

After that, Arisa-senpai took a deep breath to calm her seemingly unstable emotions down.

Did she become like this because of what I said? I don't know. Either way… I was thoroughly pleased with this situation.

Holding her hand, cupping her cheek and standing this close to her… If it's not for me restricting the devilish thoughts lingering in my mind to escalate the current situation, most likely, she would already be held in my arms while she's in deep thought.

A minute later and after a few deep breaths, Arisa-senpai tightened her grip on my hand.

And with a determined voice, she addressed my words earlier. "That's not it… I'm not suspecting you. I only wanted to hear the real truth. Because Hina was crying, Onoda-kun. You just happened to be the one near--"

Cutting off herself on her own, the girl probably realized that what she's about to say was what she just denied.

Because I happened to be nearby, I became her target of suspicion.

I noticed her free hand moved as it grabbed onto the hem of her skirt and clasped it tightly.

Whatever was on her mind, I could only guess. Perhaps she's reprimanding herself for thinking like that.

I guess it's time for me to stop being this passive.

"Senpai, don't beat yourself over it. It's fine for me to be suspected. I ruined my image by confessing what's on my mind to you after all. However, with this, you need to be your own self as you judge things. Currently, I'm sure there's one common thing between us." I paused for a bit and this time, I boldly reached for her other hand. Removing it from her skirt and clasping it in mine. Afterward, lifting our connected hands to our chest level before continuing."When it comes to those close to the both of us, I guess we're still of the same mind. We both wanted to protect them."

Using my thumb to gently caress her own, I put on a rather sincere smile.

Upon hearing my words and noticing what I just did, Arisa-senpai released a sigh.

It's a deep sigh as if she's trying to exhale what's weighing inside her. In the end, her shoulders drooped before her head gradually leaned onto my shoulder.

"Onoda-kun, what are you? After all this, you're still like that… Don't make this become about us, alright? You're correct with your last sentence. We're on the same page about protecting those close to us." As her head gradually took the comfort of my shoulder, she pulled her hands out of my hold and placed them on my chest. "Thank you for taking care of Hina and I'm sorry. Instead of thanking you, I didn't think twice to put you out as a suspect. That was immature of me."

"Alright, I'll confess. It's also partly my fault that she ended up like that."

Since it has already reached this point and she would surely hear about this if she asked Ogawa later, it's a lot better if she heard this from me.

"What do you mean?" Arisa-senpai raised her gaze while continuing to rest her head on my shoulder. Her hands on my chest were now clutching onto my uniform.

Although her suspicion was about to resurface again, she slightly shook her head to stop it.

"I was the one who urged Hina to confess to him and I was there when she demanded him for an answer…"

"I see. So it's like that. Then can I reprimand you?"

"Go ahead. I deserved it."

"Haa. Reprimanding you will not do any good now. It already happened and… You're the one who calmed her down. Thank you for being there to see it happen. Leave Ogawa to me."

"Must you confront him?"

"We're a circle, Onoda-kun. You see. That's possibly one of the reasons why no one ended up becoming a couple. The circle will be ruined if someone from our group begins dating each other. Nonetheless, it didn't stop some of them from liking someone in the group." Arisa explained the dynamics of their group.

A circle. If two points of that circle broke out of it, there won't be a circle anymore…

But then, because of my appearance. That circle broke. Now they're scattered. Izumi-senpai and Hina began trying to appeal to Ogawa. Tadano possibly changed to be like that because what he's expecting to happen didn't happen. And for Nami, she began caring for me more than her circle…

While Arisa-senpai was continuing to explain to me, my hand naturally moved and slowly enclosed her. The hug that she slapped away from this Monday was finally completed.

And although she felt my hand enclosing her body, Arisa-senpai paid it no mind.

"Do you think we can still be complete as a circle just like before?" Ending that explanation with a question that she wanted me to answer, Arisa-senpai's hands moved from my chest as it slipped below my arms to copy what I did, enclosing me in her arms.

"Do you want to hear my not-so-good honest answer or a hopeful lie?"

"Hopeful lie, huh? I see. So it's impossible anymore."

"Un. And I'm sure you already deduced this. I'm the culprit why it became impossible."

"Izumi is right. Instead of you learning from me, now I ended up learning from you. Onoda-kun, I honestly can't accept that confession of yours. You might be alright with it but… it's immoral. However, I can tell you what you wanted to hear from me. My story."

Despite us hugging each other like this, she mentioned that accepting my confession was immoral. Well, perhaps, like me, she's only making use of this situation. To feel each other’s warmth.

"Then senpai, I'm all ears."