COTE: Ike Kanji - The Gremlin.

"well, should we return?" Kanji Asked.

"...Yeah."

"A ha ha... Oh, Damn, I forgot we need to trace our trail backwards."

Airi looked at him in suprised, but nodded coyly as she stood up.

Kanji on the other hand looked at his phone, and said "1:40"

Following that, Kanji pick up the dry woods they'd collected, which include half of what Airi was initially supposed to carry and loading it upon his shoulder.

"It's in a gentleman's nature to show off in front of the ladies." He teases casually and gestured for Airi to walk beside her.

While, in the process, Airi did not know what to say or do.

On one hand, she thought, 'Should I pick up some more?' and on the other, it's like, 'But if so, Ike Kun would just carry more for no reason.'

She, on her own timid way was having an internal conflict.

"Sakura san?"

"Aw, Yeah." She mumbled and just decided to walk beside him as he wanted her to.

To such a troubled Airi, Kanji said, "We can always make multiple trips, so don't be worried unnecessarily..."

Nodding, Airi send a sidelong glance at Kanji.

'Ike Kun would look better with a different hair style right?' She muses with a blush. 'Also... He has been acting weirdly.'

Indeed he did, 'but it isnt unpleasant either,' she thought.

Especially when he was patiently speaking with herself, and when he stood up for her to the class.

Though he was occasionally playful and act like a pervert, teasing her in a way that often flustered her, in his own weird manners, Kanji knew when to stop.

Airi also realises that it was his attempt to make her feel close or comfortable, though it was arguable whether that attempt actually work.

In any case, after Airi had gather a bad reputation because of how she refuses to help the class in their calamity, he was the only person who came to speak with her.

Well, not actually, Yamauchi was the guy who often came and stood up for her.

Airi didn't like him though. The boy was like a snake, making it his priority how he appeared to Airi herself instead of actually clearing things up.

Often times he makes Airi's life more difficult instead in the process.

Because she don't speak often, Airi was generally good at reading expression and their nuances, so it was not terribly difficult to see what Yamauchi was after.

Before, what she feels for Yamauchi was nothing, but, as mentioned, Airi was good at reading people and their intent.

She could see how timid the boy was to most of his classmates, but to Airi herself, he was overbearing.

And he make Airi uncomfortable, often, or in fact, all of the time.

He often behave as if Airi is indebted to him... Even though she'd never asked to be protected.

The man acted on his own initiative and as a result demanded reparation for the thing he was never asked to do.

It was unpleasant.

Although she wasn't sure if hate would be too strong of a word to describe the euphony she feels then, but what she was sure, was that she definitely do not like Yamauchi.

He was, simply put, disingenuous. The person who put a collar to such Yamauchi was this utterly ordinary boy who walk beside her now.

The boy wasn't strikingly beautiful, but he wasn't the most repugnant, awfully pungent creature either like his reputation might have suggested.

Unlike Yamauchi, who stood up for her to gain something, Kanji does simply because he wanted to.

But he wasn't good at arguing, so often times he attacked the recipients he argued with personally.

Considering all this, it wasn't that terribly odd for Sakura Airi to be attracted to Ike Kanji romantically.

To her alone, he was dazingly attractive.

"By the way, Sakura-san." Kanji broke the silence, while Airi was in her own world

"Wha-What is it?..."

"Your... Ah shit, I forgot... Spectacles?..." He trails off, "Anyway, that, that thing, there is no power right?"

"...Yes... You, realise?" She stammered. 'Ah, we hold eye contact right... For a long time' She thought, a tint of scarlet hue painting her face immediately.

"..."

Kanji, on the other hand thought, 'What the hell is wrong with her?'

He raises one brow, and asked, "Sakura san, you are not inflicted with some kind of disease, are you?"

Because he was genuinely worried. 'Because, how the hell is it normal for a person to blush this suddenly? The speed at which her face heated up is completely abnormal.'

"N-No, I, I mean, I am n, not sure."

Unconvinced, he locked his eyes strictly upon her face and analyse, 'Also, how could you ever trusted Ike Kanji, of all people to be alone with in the forest?'

Of course, he was better than Yamauchi, but that was a single person compared to the entire class.

'Even as a man, I would never be alone with Ike.' He reproach Airi in his mind.

"That said..." He murmured softly to himself, 'Do I smell?'

It was a valid question, because, from his memory, it would not have been weird if Ike, Yamauchi and the professor, whose name he had forgotten, had been awfully pungent for 24/7.

Processing all of this, he raised his free arm and take a whiff to make sure.

But again, he couldn't be entirely sure, because the brain, given enough exposure to a certain filth, often adapted to live alongside the said awful odour for better efficiency.

He frowned slightly, thinking as such.