Imaizumi, Aren’t You Going to End Up Begging Me Anyway.

“Locked inside?”

The smile on Shioyaki Lemon’s face had not completely faded yet.

At this moment, however, it stiffened at the corners of her mouth.

She blinked those eyes that looked especially bright after exercising and repeated, “Eh? Locked inside?”

“Yeah.”

Imaizumi Keita nodded and forcefully tugged at the door handle again.

The heavy iron door let out dull clang clang sounds, but the lock still did not budge at all.

“Looks like the door was accidentally locked from the outside.”

“E-eh-eh-eh-eh?!”

Shioyaki Lemon finally understood their current situation, and visible panic appeared on her face.

“Th-then what do we do?! We can’t get out?”

She rushed to the door in a single stride and copied Imaizumi Keita’s actions, gripping the handle with both hands and pushing and pulling with all her strength, but the result was naturally futile.

“Don’t waste your effort.”

Imaizumi Keita looked at her and leaned against the nearby equipment rack, speaking in a calm tone.

“This is an iron door. There’s no way we can force it open.”

His composure formed a sharp contrast with Shioyaki Lemon’s panic.

“Th-then are we just going to be locked in here the whole time?”

“Not necessarily.”

Imaizumi Keita shook his head, walked to the only small window, and stood on tiptoe to look outside.

At this time, the students who had been freely moving around on the field had mostly dispersed, heading toward the school building in small groups.

“There are still people outside. If we shout loudly for help, someone should hear us and come over.”

“Shout for help?!”

Shioyaki Lemon shook her head, a mixture of worry and resistance appearing on her face.

“N-no! Absolutely not!”

Imaizumi Keita ignored Shioyaki’s refusal and directly called out to the outside, “Hey! Is anyone there! Someone’s locked inside the equipment room!”

Shioyaki Lemon’s brain completely shut down at that moment.

Her body reacted on instinct faster than her thoughts.

“Don’t shout so loudly!”

With a short, flustered cry, she suddenly lunged forward and leapt up from behind Imaizumi Keita.

Her long, strong arms wrapped tightly around his neck, while her other hand firmly covered his mouth.

“Mmph…!”

The sudden attack made Imaizumi Keita stumble forward instinctively.

He could clearly feel Shioyaki Lemon’s legs clamping tightly around his waist, her whole body hanging onto him like a giant koala.

As expected.

Just like he thought, Shioyaki Lemon was completely a tomboy.

Imaizumi Keita once again confirmed his assessment of her in his heart.

“Hey, Shioyaki…”

He managed to speak with some difficulty from beneath her palm, his tone full of helplessness.

“Get off me first. Let’s talk properly.”

“I won’t!”

Shioyaki Lemon refused without hesitation, tightening the arms around his neck even more.

“Unless you promise me you won’t call anyone!”

“In this situation, is there really any other option besides calling for help?”

Imaizumi Keita felt his patience slowly being worn away.

“If you keep clinging to me like this, and there really isn’t anyone left outside later, then we really will be stuck here until tomorrow morning.”

“Th-then…”

Shioyaki Lemon’s voice took on a sobbing tone.

“Our class had P.E. together with Mitsuki’s class. If you call out, Mitsuki will definitely find out that the two of us were alone together…”

“If he misunderstands, I won’t even know how to explain it to Mitsuki…”

Looking at Shioyaki Lemon in such a confused state, Imaizumi Keita sighed and muttered, “Weren’t you just saying earlier that you two are just ordinary friends…”

“Eh?! That’s because…”

Shioyaki Lemon shyly fiddled with her fingers, her embarrassed 모습 making him feel that she was rather cute.

Unfortunately, that shyness wasn’t because of him, which was a real pity.

If there were a chance later, he really would like to interact more deeply with Shioyaki Lemon and feel the difference between her and Yanami.

Sigh.

Scumbag.

Imaizumi Keita sighed again and used his free hand to take his phone out of his pocket.

He unlocked it with one hand and, relying on memory, tapped on that familiar profile picture.

“Alright, loosen your grip first.”

Imaizumi Keita’s voice came from beneath her arm, sounding much gentler than before.

“I won’t call anyone. I’ll get someone to come and open the door.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

After receiving his definite answer, Shioyaki Lemon hesitantly loosened the hand covering his mouth, though the arms around his neck still did not let go.

“Yanami, I’m locked inside the sports equipment room. The door was locked from the outside. Come over as soon as you can.”

“Huh?”

…

At the same time, inside the classroom of Class 1-C.

Yanami Anna was chatting with a few friends she got along with fairly well, passing the idle time before class.

Ever since she had completely shaken off the shadow of being a “losing heroine,” she had returned to being the Yanami who sparkled brightly among the crowd.

At that moment, the phone in her pocket vibrated lightly twice.

She continued chatting with her friends while casually taking out her phone to glance at the message.

“What’s wrong, Anna?”

The friend beside her noticed something was off.

“Ah… n-no, it’s nothing!”

Yanami Anna immediately snapped back to her senses, a smile returning to her face.

“It’s just… I suddenly have something to take care of, so I need to step out for a bit.”

She quickly apologized to her friends and hurried out of the classroom.

The moment she stepped into the hallway, the smile on her face vanished, replaced by a grin mixed with smugness and schadenfreude.

She looked down at the slightly pathetic cry-for-help message on her phone, feeling like she was about to float.

“Heh heh heh~”

Yanami Anna couldn’t help letting out a couple of suppressed hums.

Serves you right for kissing me and then running off the other day.

Serves you right for avoiding me these past few days.

Serves you right for always acting like everything is under your control.

And now what.

Didn’t you still end up begging me.

Yanami Anna felt that all the slight dissatisfaction she had accumulated due to someone deliberately distancing himself was completely vented at this moment.

The pleasure of taking control made her steps feel lighter.

How could she possibly rush over immediately for something like this.

She absolutely had to make that guy wait inside a little longer and properly experience the feeling of helplessness.

Yes, that’s what she would do.

Only then would he deeply realize just how important and irreplaceable this “girlfriend” of his really was.

Thinking this, the smile on Yanami Anna’s face grew even brighter.

She took out her phone and leisurely replied, “Got it, I’ll be right there,” then slipped the phone back into her pocket and unhurriedly headed toward the sports equipment room.

…

Inside the storage room.

Imaizumi Keita looked at the short reply on his phone screen, then glanced at Shioyaki Lemon who was still clinging to him, and sighed once more.

“Alright, I’ve already notified Yanami.”

He put the phone back into his pocket.

“She’ll come over to help open the door soon. You can relax now, right?”

“Yanami?”

Shioyaki Lemon jumped down from him, gossip-filled curiosity appearing on her face.

“I often see you two eating lunch together at noon and walking home together after school. You two are really close.”

“Huh? You think so?”

Imaizumi Keita turned his head and looked at her envious gaze.

“Where did you get that impression from?”

“It’s just… a feeling.”

Shioyaki Lemon scratched her head.

“When you two are together, the atmosphere feels different from everyone else. And also…”

She paused and said a little embarrassedly, “Aside from the people on the sports team, I don’t really know many guys normally… except Mitsuki.”

“The atmosphere between you two feels much better than the one between me and Mitsuki…”

Imaizumi Keita nodded.

Of course it did, since they were pretending to be a ‘couple.’

Even if it was just pretending, it was still a couple.

Imaizumi Keita was about to say something to pass the time when he suddenly noticed that Shioyaki Lemon didn’t look quite right.

In this airtight storage room, baked by the summer afternoon sun, the temperature was steadily rising.

And Shioyaki Lemon, who had just finished intense exercise, now had cheeks flushed to an unnatural degree, her breathing growing rapid, and fine beads of sweat appearing on her forehead.

“Hey, Shioyaki, are you okay?”

“Hm…? I’m fine…”

Shioyaki Lemon shook her head, looking at him with unfocused eyes while wearing a silly smile.

“It’s just… kind of hot… it feels like being in a sauna…”

As she spoke, she stretched out her hand and grabbed aimlessly at the air.

“Look, Jin-kun… it looks like there are lots of little stars flying around on the ceiling… sparkling and flashing… so pretty…”