If Shikime Natsu had made up his mind at this moment and refused to budge, then with the meager strength of someone like Kushida Kikyou, there was naturally no chance of her dragging him so much as an inch.
After all, earlier in the cabin, even when Morishita Ai had — in a fit of shame and fury — slammed her head into him with all her might, she hadn't managed to budge Shikime Natsu in the slightest, let alone now, with nothing more than Kushida Kikyou tugging at him.
Of course, Shikime Natsu didn't resist. Instead, he let his gaze fall on Kushida Kikyou's slightly tense little face, and retreated together with her into a relatively secluded spot at the edge of the deck.
Calling it a "secluded spot" was generous — in truth, they had only stepped back into a metal corner that led toward the lifeboat area.
However, since the lighting on the cruise ship's deck had been designed to be soft and dim to begin with, and on top of that, this very corner happened to sit on the shaded side, just out of reach of the wall lamps' glow —
So even though they had only ducked into such a simple little corner, under the cover of night, it had already produced a more than adequate visual blind spot.
The moment the two of them came to a stop in the shadows.
Kushida Kikyou immediately whipped her head around, raised that delicate little face, and let those dewy eyes of hers sweep over Shikime Natsu.
She raised one pale, slender index finger, pressed it to her own rosy lips, and made an extremely emphatic "shh" warning gesture at Shikime Natsu.
And it was at precisely this moment.
The owners of those sudden footsteps finally emerged from the stairway and appeared up on the deck.
Peering through the gap in the corner, Shikime Natsu saw that it was a few girls from Class C.
These girls had clearly just come up from the cabin below as well, and were now gathered in twos and threes around a rest area in the middle of the deck — chattering and laughing as they enjoyed the sea breeze.
Judging by their high spirits, and the fact that they had even brought several bags of snacks out with them, it was clear that this little late-night tea party belonging to the girls was absolutely not going to be over anytime soon.
Having confirmed the situation outside.
Shikime Natsu pulled his gaze back, and let his eyes settle, in offhand fashion, on Kushida Kikyou's face — right there, mere inches away.
"Well now?"
He deliberately lowered his voice and, in a tone laced with a touch of mockery, asked softly into her ear.
"Judging by the look of it, they're going to be chatting out there for quite a while. Kikyou, surely you don't intend to keep hiding in this pitch-dark corner together with me forever?"
On hearing that openly teasing remark.
The sweet little mask on Kushida Kikyou's face couldn't hold any longer. She shot Shikime Natsu a furious glare.
"Obviously!"
She bit out the words through gritted teeth.
"How could I possibly let anyone see me — alone, in the middle of the night, in a place like this — with a thick-skinned bastard like you!"
Inwardly, Kushida Kikyou was roaring like a madwoman.
If those big-mouthed Class C girls outside caught even a glimpse of this scene, then by tomorrow, the entire first year would probably be abuzz with some ridiculous bit of gossip like, "Class D's Kushida Kikyou and Class A's Shikime Natsu were having a secret late-night rendezvous on the deck!"
And if that happened, the "pure angel" persona she had so painstakingly maintained for half a semester now — one of treating absolutely everyone with the same kindness — would utterly come crashing down!
"So you, shut up! Don't make a sound!"
Kushida Kikyou snarled the warning at him once more.
"If they discover us, I swear, I absolutely will not let you get away with it!"
Faced with this little wildcat who had bared her claws.
Not only did Shikime Natsu show not the slightest restraint, he actually looked at Kushida Kikyou with a faint, almost-smile.
"Oh?"
He tilted his head down a little, his pale golden eyes flickering with a dangerous light in the darkness.
"Now that's something I'd be very interested to hear."
"Kikyou — exactly how do you plan to… 'not let me get away with it,' hmm?"
Upon hearing this thoroughly provocative and utterly shameless response from Shikime Natsu.
Kushida Kikyou took a deep breath, feeling her blood pressure shoot relentlessly upward.
She knew it now, beyond any doubt.
That nasty, foul mood Shikime Natsu sometimes fell into had clearly flared up again at the worst possible moment!
If she went on letting him steer the conversation, she was guaranteed to be infuriated to the point of vomiting blood on the spot by this silver-tongued bastard.
So Kushida Kikyou very wisely chose to shut up.
She had no intention of further entertaining Shikime Natsu's provocations. Instead, she turned her head away outright and kept her gaze fixed past the corner, on the few Class C girls still chatting away leisurely out on the deck.
Inwardly, she prayed silently that those girls would not stay there talking for too long.
However, while Kushida Kikyou was still in the middle of her prayer, that maddening voice of Shikime Natsu's drifted into her ear once again.
"Say, Kikyou."
Shikime Natsu's gaze dropped to the space between the two of them, his tone carrying an obvious note of amusement.
"How much longer do you plan on holding my hand?"
Hearing Shikime Natsu's words.
For a moment, Kushida Kikyou simply stared blankly.
Then, following Shikime Natsu's line of sight, she lowered her own gaze — and only then did she suddenly notice.
Because she had ducked into hiding in such a hurry just now, her right hand had, all the way up until this very moment, still been clinging tightly to Shikime Natsu's wrist!
Kushida Kikyou hurriedly let go, and then, as if she were shaking off something filthy, flicked her hand off to one side.
Immediately after, that adorable face of hers — without even bothering to disguise it — took on an expression of utter disgust, as though she had just touched some kind of virus.
Watching Kushida Kikyou look so thoroughly grossed out by him, Shikime Natsu couldn't help letting out a low chuckle.
"Hey now, Kikyou, you really don't have to look that disgusted, do you?"
He drawled the words lazily.
"After all, just now, you were the one who grabbed it of your own free will. I certainly didn't force you."
At that point, Shikime Natsu deliberately paused.
His gaze in the darkness drifted slightly downward, settling on the impossible-to-ignore swells beneath the front of Kushida Kikyou's shirt. His voice grew a touch deeper, as though heavy with implication.
"And besides… come to think of it..."
"I seem to recall that not long after the school year began, Kikyou — you also took my hand on your own initiative, didn't you?"
"Back then, you certainly didn't show this much disgust."
When she heard that this bastard Shikime Natsu was actually bringing up what had happened that night — coupled with noticing how his gaze had drifted slightly downward — even though Shikime Natsu hadn't laid out in full why she had grabbed his hand back then, Kushida Kikyou had already understood.
Back then, she had been trying to get this bastard Shikime Natsu's handprint, and as a result — instead of succeeding — she had ended up letting him cop a feel.
Her cheeks flushed bright crimson in an instant; a furious, indignant sense of having been violated surged straight up into her chest.
"Pervert!"
Kushida Kikyou clenched her teeth and cursed him viciously in her head.
She had come to realize that ever since this bastard Shikime Natsu had acquired several girlfriends, the entire man seemed to have grown even more brazen and even more shameless!
His face had grown thicker than a city wall!
No.
Kushida Kikyou corrected herself inwardly.
It should be said that, from the very beginning, this bastard had never known what the two characters for "shame" even meant!
Even though, inwardly, she had already torn Shikime Natsu apart with a thousand cuts countless times over.
On the surface, Kushida Kikyou still pulled out a sweet little smile, looking at Shikime Natsu, and then addressed him in that honeyed voice of hers.
"Natsu, saying such perverted things to a girl like that…"
"Aren't you the slightest bit afraid that those adorable girlfriends of yours might overhear?"
Faced with Kushida Kikyou's painless little threat.
Shikime Natsu merely gave an indifferent smile.
"Not in the slightest."
He replied without a hint of hesitation, even with a touch of swagger.
Upon hearing this textbook-scoundrel response from Shikime Natsu.
Kushida Kikyou's mood took yet another sharp turn for the worse.
She simply could not understand it!
Those several girlfriends of Shikime Natsu's — whether it was Kamuro Masumi or Shiina Hiyori — what on earth was in their heads, paste?!
How could they possibly indulge this bastard to such an extent?
They already had boyfriends, and yet they were watching their own boyfriend openly fool around with this girl and that one — even going so far as to flirt with girls from other classes — and they had absolutely no reaction whatsoever?!
Kushida Kikyou could not, for the life of her, understand this kind of behavior.
What was more, this bastard Shikime Natsu's private life was chaos to the absolute extreme!
He had already openly had three girlfriends to begin with.
And then, supposedly during the Deserted Island exam, he had added one more girlfriend. And of course, that wasn't even the end of it — among the other classes, there were quite a few girls who shared an ambiguous relationship with this insufferable bastard Shikime Natsu as well.
For example, Class B's Ichinose Honami, and even...
Even Class D's own Horikita Suzune, who normally kept everyone at arm's length, that haughty woman who looked down on the whole world!
After some time spent in each other's company, Horikita Suzune had actually gone so far as to become friends with Shikime Natsu. And after this round of the Deserted Island exam, Kushida Kikyou could also see clearly that Horikita Suzune — that proud woman — had grown even softer in her attitude toward Shikime Natsu.
One had to bear in mind that, given Horikita Suzune's personality, getting her to personally acknowledge anyone as a friend was harder than ascending to heaven. In all of Class D, the number of people Horikita Suzune acknowledged as friends could be counted on one hand.
And herself?
Kushida Kikyou clenched her teeth.
As one of the most popular figures in the class, she had once swallowed her pride and gone out of her way to make overtures of friendship to Horikita Suzune — only to be coldly, mercilessly shut out before she could even get a foot in the door.
The moment she remembered the stifling, humiliating sight she had cut back then — a warm cheek pressed up against a cold backside —
Kushida Kikyou's mood plummeted.
However, none of this inner resentment did she let slip in front of Shikime Natsu.
Because Kushida Kikyou understood perfectly well: in front of Shikime Natsu, who saw straight through her, voicing things laced with jealousy and bitterness was utterly pointless.
Not only would she gain no sympathy from him, but it would only hand this nasty bastard one more piece of leverage to mock her with for her own incompetence.
She wasn't about to give him that opening.
Kushida Kikyou turned her head and once again glanced at the few Class C girls outside, still chatting away with great enthusiasm.
Judging by their setup, they really did show no sign whatsoever of leaving.
In other words.
She still had to remain in this cramped little corner, and what was more, had to stay there together with this bastard Shikime Natsu. At least it wasn't some claustrophobic broom closet or the like — otherwise being pressed up close against this bastard at a time like this would have made Kushida Kikyou feel even more cursed.
Just then, a strong gust of nighttime sea wind came howling across from the other side of the deck.
When she had originally left the heated cabin to come up here — in order to give herself an outlet and kick at the railing — Kushida Kikyou was currently wearing only a rather flimsy short-sleeved summer T-shirt.
Now, under the blast of that icy sea wind.
A piercing chill instantly cut through Kushida Kikyou. She couldn't help drawing in a sharp breath through her teeth, and instinctively wrapped her arms tightly around her own slightly trembling body.
Standing off to the side, Shikime Natsu took in her pitiful, woebegone little figure in its entirety.
He showed not the slightest hint of gentlemanly conduct. Instead, he opened his mouth with a smile and teased her.
"Well?"
"So late at night, dressed in so little, running out to the windward side of the deck to kick the railing and vent your feelings —"
"Now you finally know it's cold?"
Upon hearing this gleefully gloating jab from Shikime Natsu.
Kushida Kikyou jerked her head up, and with a thoroughly displeased expression, glared at him viciously.
"Shut up!"
She bit out through her teeth.
"I certainly didn't come stand here to listen to a bastard like you spout off a bunch of useless smart remarks!"
Faced with her anger.
Shikime Natsu merely gave an unconcerned shrug.
"Now, that's a real shame."
He said with a smile, his tone carrying the easy composure of someone who held all the cards.
"Because right now, we're both stuck back here, and apart from listening to me spout off a few smart remarks, Kikyou, it seems you don't have much in the way of other options."
Hearing Shikime Natsu state this utterly suffocating truth aloud.
Kushida Kikyou's expression turned even uglier.
That sweet little mask had already shattered into pieces on the floor. If looks could kill, Shikime Natsu would, by Kushida Kikyou's estimation, have already been hacked into ten thousand pieces.
Watching her on the verge of detonating with rage.
The smile on Shikime Natsu's face only deepened.
He arched a brow slightly, his gaze sweeping over Kushida Kikyou's shoulders, faintly trembling from the cold.
"In that case..."
"Since you're so cold."
"Kikyou, how about I… do something a little more on the gentlemanly side — something that could warm you up?"
Hearing this ambiguous remark from Shikime Natsu, and combined with where his gaze had landed a moment ago, Kushida Kikyou's face instantly flushed scarlet with rage. Those dangerous purple eyes of hers fixed Shikime Natsu in a death stare.
"You — what are you trying to do?!"
"Don't tell me you actually think that just because you've cornered me in this deserted little nook, you can do whatever you please — that you've got me pinned down for good?"
She ground the words out between her teeth.
"Let me tell you — not a chance!"
At Kushida Kikyou's reaction, Shikime Natsu didn't say much. He simply kept watching her, that easy smile still hanging on his face.
As he spoke, with utterly casual movements, he shrugged off the still-warm casual jacket he had been wearing.
"I only saw Kikyou shivering a little from the cold, and out of the most basic spirit of humanity, I was thinking of lending you my jacket to throw over your shoulders, that's all."
Shikime Natsu held the jacket up and gave it a little wave in front of Kushida Kikyou, his tone carrying a clear note of disappointment.
"I never would have imagined that Kikyou would jump to such an outrageous conclusion, and even refuse so righteously."
He looked at her flushed face, a mocking curve tugging at the corner of his mouth.
"What? Could Kikyou really hate this kind of normal, human-being-level gentlemanly gesture this much?"
"Looks like… you really do prefer the idiotic kind of behavior more, hmm?"
Upon hearing Shikime Natsu's explanation, and seeing the jacket in his hands.
Only then did Kushida Kikyou abruptly snap to her senses, and finally realized that she had been the one whose mind had wandered into the gutter just now.
A wave of indescribable mortification surged up in her chest in an instant.
But still — this wasn't her fault at all. If he had intended to lend her the jacket, why couldn't he have just said so plainly?
Did he have to use that kind of suggestive language?
"Do some gentlemanly things to help warm you up" — what was that, if not the kind of plot development you'd find in some smutty little novel?
If she had agreed to him just now, then maybe this bastard Shikime Natsu really would have rolled right along with it and gone through with it!
Either way, this absolutely had to be Shikime Natsu's fault!
And it was right then that the sea wind, as though deciding Kushida Kikyou still wasn't cold enough, kicked up another notch.
A blast of icy wind, laced with sea spray, came howling across the deck and poured straight into this dim little corner.
Kushida Kikyou, dressed in nothing but that flimsy short-sleeved T-shirt, was hit by the cold wind, and her body — already chilled to begin with — started shaking violently, beyond her control.
Her teeth were even faintly chattering from the cold.
"Put your jacket away."
Kushida Kikyou hugged her arms tightly, turned her head away, and refused to look at the jacket.
"I told you, I don't need that kind of fake concern from you!"
"Is that so?"
Unhurriedly, he draped the jacket back over his own shoulders.
"Then that really is a great shame."
"However, if Kikyou is going to insist on standing here, getting blasted by this cold wind for the sake of that pitiful little bit of pride of hers..."
"You might just catch a cold and run a fever. Of course, this isn't the Deserted Island exam anymore — even if you do come down with a cold and a fever, no class points are going to be docked from Class D. But… if the school still intends to run an exam aboard this ship, there's certainly enough time left for that to happen..."
Kushida Kikyou clenched her teeth, but in the end, she was defeated by reality.
She knew Shikime Natsu wasn't wrong. If she really did catch a chill out here, and if the school had any new exam arranged, then she would be the one dragging the class down. For someone like her, whose whole heart was set on maintaining her angel persona… that would be detrimental.
"None of your business!"
Kushida Kikyou shot him a glare, then took a step forward, making as if to charge straight out of the corner.
"Since they aren't leaving, I won't keep waiting either."
"I'll think of a way back on my own. Natsu, you can just stay back here all by yourself and enjoy the breeze!"
"In that case, then the two of us will leave together."
One man, one woman, in the dead of night, walking one after the other out of a dim corner of the deck.
If that scene were to be caught by those Class C girls outside, still busy with their gossip, then by tomorrow, it would absolutely give rise to an explosive and impossible-to-explain misunderstanding!
Now, granted, from a certain angle.
Shikime Natsu's popularity throughout the entire first year — especially within the female student population — could fairly be called extremely high.
If a girl could so much as get herself linked to Shikime Natsu, let alone become his girlfriend —
Then that girl's name would absolutely spread through the entire year level in an instant, and her own popularity would skyrocket right along with it, making her the center of everyone's attention.
But Kushida Kikyou had no need whatsoever for that kind of artificial popularity that came from clinging to a boy.
She had no wish to have her own reputation tied together with this insufferable bastard Shikime Natsu. And if she tried to force her way out, Kushida Kikyou could bet anything that Shikime Natsu would absolutely follow her right out.
Anything that would make her miserable — Shikime Natsu would have no qualms whatsoever about doing.
This bastard! He had her dead to rights!
In the face of the icy sea wind and cold, cruel reality.
Kushida Kikyou drew in a deep breath, and swallowed all the rage and humiliation back down into her stomach.
She raised her head, and onto that little face of hers, she once again tugged up a sweet little smile. Then, putting on the most pitiful expression she could manage, she looked at Shikime Natsu.
"Please, Natsu — won't you lend me your jacket?"
____
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