Chapter 51 - A Certain Saturday – Hiiragi-chan’s Side (2/2)

There were more males there than I thought there would be, and in the end, it became 5 on 5. Everyone was dressed quite fashionably, and if you look at it from the outside, it just looked like a mixer. There were many like Matsunaka-sensei, whose goals seemed to be getting intimate with someone else, but there were also people who just came for a mixer.

We moved to the restaurant and did a toast.

As I did the toast with oolong tea, a male teacher that sat across from me asked me, “Are you not drinking?”

He had just introduced himself earlier, but I don’t remember his name.

For me, I was told by Seiji-kun that I didn’t hold alcohol very well, so I was now aware of it, and decided to not drink outside in order to not cause anyone trouble.

“Yeah, well… I will have to refrain for today.”

“Since it’s such an occasion, wouldn’t it be fine to drink a bit?”

“Nope, it’s fine, really, I don’t need any…”

Saying that, I was somehow able to avoid it. He’s probably thinking that I’m quite the downer.

The people nearby were having casual conversation, but many of the teachers were just grumbling about their everyday work. It wasn’t fun, but neither was it boring. While eating a little bit of food here and there, I made a few interjections at appropriate places and smiled.

“Hiiragi-sensei, do you have a boyfriend?”

“Ah. Looks like she would!”

As long as Matsunaka-sensei was watching, I couldn’t say that I did…

“Umm, at the moment, I don’t…”

After that, all the talk became completely unrelated to work. I didn’t really like that, so I grabbed my shoes and went to the bathroom where I checked my phone.

A text came from Seiji-kun.

Moreover, five of them. The first one displayed a picture of the ramen he ate for dinner and his comment on how delicious it was. The next was about how the silly content of the variety show that we usually watch together. After that, it was about the movie being broadcasted on television. And after that one, he sent one-line texts.

[Watching alone, kind of makes it boring]

[You’re going until 10 today, right? Don’t drink too much, okay?]

… I’ll go home now.

It’s decided.

I want to see Seiji-kun.

I’m going home. It’s only been an hour since the first toast though.

I don’t care about the mood at all. Most likely, Seiji-kun is waiting at my house for me.

“Sorry, I have to head home right now— Ummm, there seems to be some trouble with my p-pet—”

I made a suitable lie, and then left 10000 yen on the table telling them that I’m fine without change.

As I looked at my room from the outside, I could see that the light was on.

“I’m back?”

Seiji-kun, who heard some noise, came to greet me at the front door.

“Ah. Welcome back. That was early.”

“Yeah.”

I can’t really tell him that I basically ran away from the party.

“The drinking party, how was it? Did you have a good time?”

“Nope. Not at all.”

My real feelings ended up spilling out.

“If Seiji-kun isn’t there, it’s not fun at all.”

“I see. Then, I guess it was an unfortunate drinking party.”

I was about to say something when I saw Seiji-kun smiling. Noticing that he was quite relieved, I also became happier.

“Did you not drink?”

“Yeah. I said that I wasn’t good with it, so after the first toast, I just had oolong tea.”

Seemingly unable to hold back, Seiji-kun gave me a hug. Charging me like this with Seiji-kun energy is quite fast, but I quickly end up running out. I was just like a battery with poor efficiency.

Trying to get him jealous. Who cares about any of that? Seeing a relieved smile from Seiji-kun was enough to make me satisfied.

Both of us were probably quite lonely. Seiji-kun, was probably lonely because I went out for a drinking party without him. And for me, it was also because I went out for that drinking party.

With his arms still around me, I grabbed onto both of Seiji-kun’s hands. Then, as if both of us knew what was going to happen next, we kissed.

I thought that it was just me that didn’t want to be separated, but that wasn’t the case.

——Today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and so on, I will always love him.

I put all those feelings into the slightly long kiss that we had.