At this moment, should he say "long time no see"?
Kaoru Mitoma thoughts flickered for a moment, but he didn't risk saying it, as things were a bit awkward between them now.
"Do you need help?"
Amikura Mako was holding a pile of corn in her arms, her long hair tied into a high ponytail, with fine strands falling from her ears.
Her pretty face was inexplicably smeared with dust, her fair neck stained with mud, and her short-sleeved shirt was filthy, making her look like a piglet that had rolled in the mud.
Not only that, but her arm was also scraped, with bright red blood seeping from her fair skin.
Seeing his gaze, Amikura Mako instinctively tried to protect her corn, then remembered her injury and tried to block his view.
However, as soon as she moved, a few pieces of corn fell.
Seeing this, Amikura Mako quickly bent down to pick them up, but in doing so, more corn fell from her hands.
She kept picking and they kept falling, leaving her teary-eyed.
It wasn't because she looked silly, but because her arm really hurt.
Kaoru Mitoma silently crouched down and picked up the corn for her.
"I don't need your help, I can do it myself" Amikura Mako whispered.
"In that case, this corn is mine now. After all, it fell on the ground, and I picked it up" Kaoru Mitoma said, his eyes glancing at the girl chest a few times as he finished picking up the corn.
"This is food I found!" Amikura Mako tightly guarded the remaining corn in her arms, glaring at him with dissatisfaction.
"Give it back quickly, or I'll report you to the school for stealing other students' belongings."
So, Kaoru Mitoma returned the corn to her.
Amikura Mako instinctively reached out to take it and then all the corn in her hands fell.
She was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help but get angry.
"You're doing this on purpose, aren't you!"
"Isn't this what you asked me to do?" Kaoru Mitoma ignored her reaction. "Now that all these corn cobs have fallen to the ground, what proof do you have that they're yours?"
Amikura Mako retorted "They are mine! It's not like you found them!"
"How do you know I didn't discover them?"
"You're lying! I found these corn cobs with Himeno-san and I never saw you around!"
"Now it's just you here. Can you at least come up with a more convincing excuse?"
"It's not an excuse!" Amikura Mako was furious. "Because we didn't plan to take all the corn, she… she went back first…"
As she spoke, her voice gradually softened, as if she realized Kaoru Mitoma was trying to fish for information.
"So, that's how it is. You accidentally fell on your way back, so you let Himeno-san go ahead. Then, unwilling to wait alone for help, you decided to tough it out."
Hearing this, Amikura Mako was stunned.
How did he know her situation?
She fell silent for a moment before murmuring "Running into you is just my bad luck."
"Did I upset you?" Kaoru Mitoma asked.
Her aggressiveness reminded him of someone—someone full of awkwardness and gloom but who would never speak up directly.
If you happened to cross paths with them, you might just end up in their line of fire.
In any case, something was definitely off.
"Why would I be angry? Did you do something wrong to me? Probably not. We're not even close, so maybe I accidentally gave you the wrong impression. My bad."
Amikura Mako lowered her head nonchalantly, picking up her corn cobs one by one. Her expression was unreadable, but her tone felt strange.
She was feeling agitated and the worst part was, she didn't even know why.
Honestly, she wasn't really angry.
Amikura Mako had no plans to pursue a relationship with the opposite sex. Her impression of Kaoru Mitoma was simply that he was a very handsome guy.
So, even when she saw him out shopping with Sakayanagi Arisu, she didn't say anything.
After all, who he dated was his own business.
It just irked her a little that, despite already having someone, he still brought her along to the gym.
"Though it might be presumptuous of me, Sakayanagi-san and I are just friends. She wanted to recruit me as her subordinate at the time and I couldn't refuse."
For some reason, Kaoru Mitoma suddenly felt the need to explain himself.
Amikura Mako pursed her lips. "You're such a self-absorbed guy. I don't care about your business."
"But I care about you. If you don't treat your wound soon, there's a risk of bacterial infection." Kaoru Mitoma thought for a moment.
He had once drawn some healing items, but most of them were hard to explain to a girl.
After a brief pause, he simply picked up the remaining corn cobs and even snatched the ones from the dazed girl's hands.
"I'll help you take these corn cobs back. At a time like this, you really shouldn't be thinking about saving points. The guide has plenty of medicines you can buy."
Amikura Mako stared at him, her expression complicated, and softly uttered two words.
"Thank you…"
She wasn't particularly arrogant.
When faced with someone kindness, she couldn't bring herself to reject or ignore it.
Moreover, since Kaoru Mitoma had already spoken to this extent, it wouldn't hurt for her to agree.
Amikura Mako stood up, her gaze fixed on Kaoru Mitoma in front of her, silently watching his back as they walked back to Class B camp together.
"Later, I started going to the gym often. Honami-chan thought I was becoming a recluse, so she kept me company there. But I knew I no longer cared about Class C."
She blurted out something seemingly out of nowhere, making it hard for anyone to respond.
"I liked your Instagram posts."
The school prohibited students from sending messages to the outside world, so the students had resorted to creating alternate accounts, adding only their classmates as friends and updating their statuses, much like a social media feed.
Kaoru Mitoma had come across posts from Kushida Kikyo, Ichinose Honami, and Koenji Rokusuke more than once.
"I did notice your likes…"
"Maybe you'll develop abs and be able to punch through sandbags."
"I'm not some super-strong girl!"
Just as Kaoru Mitoma was about to continue teasing her, he heard a muffled voice from behind.
"I'm sorry… I shouldn't have just walked away back then…"
Kaoru Mitoma stopped in his tracks.
Amikura Mako, not expecting it, bumped into his back, covering her nose as tears welled up in her eyes.
"Why did you stop?"
"I thought I heard something just now. Do you know what it was?"
"No!"
Amikura Mako, flustered and annoyed, simply walked around him and ran ahead.
She didn't need him to lead the way anyway!
Kaoru Mitoma clicked his tongue.
If it had been Kamuro, she would have probably given him a cold sidelong glance, always seeming uninterested no matter what he did.
Girls should be a little easier to coax—that's what makes them cute.
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