109. "Absolutely Not Okay to Be Called Auntie"

On the way back to deliver firewood with Shiina, the earlier encounter inevitably came up.

"Um... that Sawamura girl… is she very close to you, Kanade?" Shiina Mahiru asked, her lips pressed together. She tried to appear nonchalant, but her tone betrayed her true feelings.

The way that girl looked at Kanade—it definitely wasn't the kind of gaze a mere classmate would have. Mahiru was sure of it.

"I guess… we're close enough?" Kanade answered after some thought. "We were in a club together before, and we worked on a game project. Eriri's really skilled at art; she's kind of famous in the industry and definitely the ace of our school's art club."

Though, that was mostly in the "hidden otaku" circles.

"Hmm…" Shiina puffed her cheeks slightly.

This was exactly what bothered her. Despite how it didn't seem like they were that close, Kanade casually called her by her first name. Meanwhile, she herself didn't get that kind of treatment… Did that mean that girl was closer to Kanade than she was?

But she'd already reached the point of being so comfortable around him that she could "sleep" in his home without reservations. What had that girl done to be so close?

"Is something wrong?" Kanade asked, noticing the angelic Mahiru's mood take a slight downturn.

Was she upset about being interrupted? He hadn't expected her to be interested in chopping wood, a pastime he thought was uniquely appealing to boys. Kind of like how finding a stick that looked like a perfect sword could captivate a boy for hours, or how skipping the perfect stone across water was an event worth celebrating.

"It's nothing… I just feel like I've been getting ahead of myself..." Mahiru admitted softly.

"Huh? What makes you say that all of a sudden?" Kanade tilted his head, unable to follow her train of thought.

"Well, think about it. I've been calling you 'Kanade,' but you've never called me 'Mahiru'..." A light blush crept up Shiina's cheeks, making her look all the more bashful. Her words exposed her inner feelings entirely.

Her statement was spurred by envy, as she recalled Kanade calling another girl by her name so easily. It felt like admitting defeat in their closeness.

At first, she had approached him with the mindset that being just friends would be fine. But as they spent more time together, she couldn't help wanting more—wanting to be closer to him than anyone else.

"Uh..." Kanade felt like he was starting to grasp something, but he wasn't quite sure what. Faced with Shiina's childlike vulnerability, he couldn't possibly refuse her.

"If it's just calling you by name… Mahiru?" he said tentatively.

It was a simple, probing statement, but to Mahiru, it was like hearing the sweetest music.

"Ah!" She trembled slightly, almost dropping the firewood she was holding. Her heart pounded erratically, like a startled fawn bounding through a forest. Even the sunlight on her face felt hotter than before.

This is unfair—such an unexpected attack…

"Uh, if it's too much, I can go back to how it was..." Kanade suggested awkwardly, seeing Shiina so flustered. Maybe it was too soon to address her so intimately.

"No! Not at all! I-I'm just not used to it yet…" Mahiru shook her head furiously, determined not to let this progress slip away.

This was a significant milestone, and she was determined to keep up.

"Well, then I'll call you…" She paused, realizing she had already been calling him by his name since their earlier reunion—long before that, in fact.

"Ugh…"

"What's wrong?" Kanade asked, noticing her hesitation.

"I'll call you… Kanade-kun!" After a moment of thought, she added her own unique touch, crafting a nickname that only she could use. Her face turned redder as she spoke, but she felt this was worth enduring.

Meanwhile, Kanade's composure was also unraveling.

"It's… really hot today, huh…" He used the excuse of wiping sweat to partially cover his face, unable to meet Shiina's gaze. He feared she'd catch on to his own embarrassment.

Kanade-kun…? That nickname sounded so bizarre! It might've suited a flashy gal, but hearing it from the soft-spoken "Angel" Mahiru was enough to make his shame levels skyrocket.

"Y-Yeah…" Mahiru replied, equally distracted. Her half-hearted responses mirrored Kanade's, as both tried to process the awkward intimacy between them.

Neither noticed the strange atmosphere that lingered between them as their private moment dissolved under the watchful curiosity of their classmates.

"Hey, the class president's back. Go talk to him!"

"Are you nuts?! I can't do that right now!"

"Just say you have something important to discuss or something!"

"Fine, I'll go..."

Back in the classroom, clusters of students chatted among themselves. One group in particular was deep in discussion, sending one of their own toward Kanade.

"President, the vice president, Shinomiya, was here earlier looking for you. She didn't say what it was about," said Tanuma Tsubasa, a classmate Kanade got along with reasonably well.

"Thanks for letting me know, Tanuma," Kanade nodded. Turning to Mahiru, he said, "It's probably student council business. I'll go check it out."

"Okay." Mahiru nodded with her usual grace, understanding as always.

Kanade headed back in the direction from which they'd come. Since Shirogane and Eriri shared a class, he figured he could also drop off the firewood and see what the vice president needed.

Returning to the chopping area, Kanade found Eriri waiting, sitting on a tree stump and swinging her legs idly. When she saw him, she quickly stood, brushing dust off her skirt and rushing to greet him.

"You finally came! I was starting to think you'd forgotten about me..."

Though it hadn't been long since they parted, Eriri's mind had blown the time out of proportion. She'd been stewing over the thought of Kanade spending time alone with an absurdly adorable blonde girl—so much so that her jealousy had snowballed.

And worse, they were from the same class. They'd have walked back together, possibly chatting or—Eriri shook her head, trying to banish intrusive thoughts drawn from her own illustrations.

The mental image of her as a tragic supporting character in a drama only fueled her frustration.

No! I can't let it end like this. If I don't take action soon, his future kids might end up calling me "Auntie"!