The Heroines Want to Confess.

At night, Sakurai and Nino ate a few types of convenient food like compressed biscuits.

Under these conditions, wanting to eat something else was very difficult.

For the time being, there were no ingredients. There seemed to be some in the kitchen, but it was on the first floor.

If they wanted to go down and get them, they would probably have to fight dozens of zombies along the way. Sakurai Saki would be fine, but Nino was another matter. Right now, even in the student council room, she didn't dare to leave Saki's side for even half a step.

Night fell.

"Sakurai-san, you're still there, right?"

(｡Ó﹏Ò｡)

Nino's voice came from the warm bathroom. This was a school built specifically as a shelter, with very complete facilities. On the rooftop, there were solar power generators, and they could even take hot showers.

The daily necessities left behind by the survivors were also plentiful; they simply couldn't take everything with them.

Among them were also some change of clothes. Of course, there were no men's clothes, only women's.

"Still here."

Sakurai Saki stood at the door, holding a shovel, keeping watch for her.

Actually, this area was very safe. If not for the fact that the school gate couldn't be closed, Sakurai would have even considered clearing all the zombies in the school in one go.

The surviving schoolgirls didn't dare to fight hundreds of zombies, but Sakurai Saki wasn't particularly afraid.

The body of an Esper was immune to all kinds of poison—except pollen allergy.

A few minutes later.

(｡Ó﹏Ò｡)

"Sakurai-san, you're still there, right?" Nino asked.

"Still here."

Sakurai Saki replied.

Girls really took a long time to bathe. With hair as long as Nino's, it must take a lot of work.

"Sakurai-san, if you're getting impatient, do you want to come in and bathe together?" Nino teased when she heard his weak voice.

After no longer considering Sakurai Saki as a romantic interest, Nino actually felt a bit more at ease.

The relationship between the two was now much more equal.

"Umu, I'll come in right away." Sakurai Saki said seriously.

Inside, Nino immediately panicked.

"I was just joking!"

Σ(°ロ°)

Sakurai Saki continued waiting a few more minutes, then saw Nino hastily step out, wrapped in a bath towel.

"You're that afraid of me?" Sakurai chuckled when he saw her.

Before today, if he had taken the initiative like that, Nino would have welcomed it.

"I've already given you my first kiss. My body, though, I can't let you see it. I have to save it for my future boyfriend." Nino blushed and explained, then went into the changing room next door.

"Future boyfriend?" Hearing those words, Sakurai Saki frowned slightly.

A few seconds later, he sighed.

Sure enough, it still felt unpleasant.

[You've already stolen her first kiss, what are you frowning for?]

Sakurai Saki set the shovel aside, preparing to bathe.

[You rejected her before, now you regret it? You're really strange, ka ka~ A man's pride and possessiveness… what's that saying again? You only cherish something after you've lost it.]

Don't sulk with a kid, Sakurai Saki reminded himself inwardly.

"Nino, I'm going to bathe now. You can head back first." He called into the changing room, then stepped into the bathroom.

Halfway through his bath—

Sakurai Saki noticed someone trembling at the door.

Too timid.

"If you're scared, come in."

Nakano Nino replied softly, "Wouldn't that… be a bit improper?"

Nino: (⸝⸝⸝> ▵ <⸝⸝⸝)

"There's a partition here, what are you afraid of?"

"That's true." Nino stepped in.

Then she saw Sakurai Saki with his upper body bare.

Nino: (⸝⸝⸝OДO⸝⸝⸝)

She looked for a few seconds before realizing her behavior was somewhat perverted, but… it was really hard to look away!

'Sakurai-san really has a good figure.' Nino reluctantly turned her face away.

'No, no, I don't like him. No matter how handsome he is, it has nothing to do with me.'

Nino felt like she had been a "dog-licker" for too long, and her mood was somewhat hard to adjust.

'But… he really is handsome.'

(,,¬﹏¬,,)

But all the suffering she endured before—was all caused by him!

'But he really is my type…'

But, but still!

(Note: tsk, I hate losing chapters like this!)

"Nino, your ears are all red. Are you really okay?" Sakurai Saki didn't know what she was thinking.

Both scared and embarrassed—wasn't she the one who boldly kissed him at that festival?

Do all girls have split personalities?

"No… no problem!" Nino said loudly.

Sakurai Saki turned off the water.

He was already done bathing.

Guys bathe very quickly — at most a bit over ten minutes, and if they were lazy, just a few minutes of rinsing would be enough.

Mainly, bathing in front of a girl felt a bit awkward.

'Normally in manga, isn't it the male lead who gets the "perverted lucky" moments?'

Why was it the other way around, with Nino taking advantage of him instead?

"All right, let's get ready to head back." Sakurai Saki took a towel, dried himself off, and then put his clothes on.

Nino blushed and nodded.

(⸝⸝⸝╸w╺⸝⸝⸝)

...

On the way back—

"Where are we sleeping tonight?"

"The reference room next door. I already checked it, there's a bed inside."

"Oh."

It took Nino a few seconds to react.

Then she asked, "Are we sleeping together?"

"If you don't want to, I can sleep in the next room."

"No, sleeping together would be better." Nino shook her head.

She was afraid.

Normally, when girls encountered zombies and the chaos of the apocalypse, they would definitely be scared — and Nino was no exception.

Even though there had been a night when she wished for the world to really end the next day, facing it for real now made her somewhat regret it.

"I won't do anything to you at night, don't worry." Sakurai Saki reassured her.

The beds weren't just a single set, either.

"Umu."

The two of them groped their way through the dark hallway toward the reference room.

At night, it was best not to turn on the lights — that way, they could reduce the chance of attracting zombies.

Once inside, they turned on the light. Sakurai Saki glanced at the two blankets that had already been laid out beforehand.

It was summer now; without the air conditioner, it would be unbearably hot.

But fortunately, there was air conditioning here. On top of that, the roars of zombies on all sides made Nino's whole body feel cold.

She carefully slipped under the blanket.

Then glanced at Sakurai Saki, who was going to turn off the light.

"Sakurai-san, my hair isn't completely dry yet. How about we talk for a bit?"

Earlier, she had blow-dried her hair in the changing room, but out of fear, she hadn't dared to dry it completely — though that wasn't the main reason.

The main reason was that Nino was scared when the lights went out.

"It's fine, my hair isn't dry yet either. We can talk even with the lights off." Sakurai Saki didn't notice her intention and went ahead to turn off the light.

Their beds were quite far apart.

Mainly to give Nino a sense of security.

After all, they were a boy and a girl sharing a room.

'…' Nino stared up at the ceiling.

In her ears, the roars of zombies sounded endlessly.

'How am I supposed to sleep like this? And also, Sakurai-san, why are you lying so far away from me?'

She wanted to talk to Sakurai Saki, but couldn't find a topic.

A few minutes later—

From Sakurai Saki's side came the sound of steady breathing.

'He fell asleep so quickly.'

Nino turned her head to look at Sakurai Saki, who was not far away.

"Phew~"

Even though the reference room door was locked, there was still the sound of wind blowing. This was normal — the glass in the hallway had all been smashed, and there was nothing around the school to block the wind, so it blew in easily.

Nino looked at the sleeping Sakurai Saki and thought for a moment.

Then she slipped out from under her blanket.

Nino: (⁄づ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)づ

She tiptoed closer to Sakurai Saki, then gently lifted his blanket.

Feeling the warmth beside her, Nino let out a small sigh of relief, then slowly closed her eyes.

'I'll wake up a bit early tomorrow; he probably won't notice.'

...

The next morning—

Nakano Nino's face was bright red as she hid under the blanket, refusing to come out.

"Nino, I don't mind. You just held me while sleeping, it's nothing to be embarrassed about." Sakurai Saki comforted her.

"Uuuu~"

(っ⸝⸝>﹏<⸝⸝ς)

From under the blanket came a muffled groan full of grievance.