"...I'll help you put them in."
Sora quickly agreed.
This was a school; he couldn't exactly support Kuroneko to the restroom. If someone saw them, it would definitely trigger gossip again.
This morning at the school gate, the gyaru senpai 'threw herself into his arms'. Although he had explained it clearly, there were still many rumors and gossip flying around, which was very troublesome.
"Thank you, Sora..."
Gokou Ruri, her pretty face flushed, thanked him in a small voice.
Sora opened the shopping bag, took out the eye drops, unboxed them, and then looked at Kuroneko:
"Tilt your head up."
"Okay..."
Hearing this, Gokou Ruri obediently tilted her pretty face up.
Sora pulled over a chair and sat opposite Kuroneko.
It had to be said, Kuroneko was actually quite cute. Her small face was only the size of a palm, her nose and lips were delicate, her features picturesque. Especially the teardrop mole by her eye, it added a few points of delicate cuteness.
Their eyes met.
The blush on Kuroneko's face rapidly intensified, her eyelashes fluttering shyly, and she quickly closed her eyes in a panic.
"How am I supposed to put the drops in if you close your eyes?"
Sora, however, remained perfectly composed.
Having experienced so much "training," simple eye contact no longer caused any ripples in his heart.
"Keeping the Eyes of the Dark Night open for too long makes them a bit sore... Let me rest for a bit."
"May I ask if you are well-rested yet?"
"W-Wait a minute."
Gokou Ruri took a deep breath. Her hands, hidden beneath the desk, quietly clenched into pink fists. She shyly opened her eyes:
"Okay... Sora, be quick."
Holding the eye drops, Sora bent forward and leaned in close.
As the distance closed, the two soon reached a point where they could feel each other's breath.
Sora could already clearly smell the faint fragrance on the girl's body and could even feel the scorching heat radiating from Kuroneko's face.
"I-Idiot Sora! You're too close!"
The girl's long eyelashes fluttered in a panic again, and she subconsciously wanted to turn her face away.
"Don't move."
Sora reached out his right hand, swiftly holding Gokou Ruri's small head still. Then, his right hand slid down, his fingers gently propping open the girl's eye, while his other hand brought the eye drops closer:
"Endure it for a bit, it'll be over very soon. You wouldn't want to get it all over your face, right?"
Gokou Ruri: "..."
Idiot Sora! That line is way too terrible!
Under Sora's forceful control, the eye drops were quickly administered.
"Done. Close your eyes and rest for a few minutes first." Sora put away the eye drops, nodding in satisfaction.
"Then take out the color contacts, no rush."
"Okay..."
Gokou Ruri closed her eyes, her pretty face flushed crimson as she obediently nodded.
But less than a minute later, the sound of footsteps and laughter suddenly echoed from the hallway, heading straight toward the classroom.
"That's my classmates' voices!"
Gokou Ruri instantly tensed up. She hurriedly opened her eyes and looked at Sora:
"Sora, hurry up and hide!"
Sora looked back in confusion:
"Is there a need to hide?"
"No, if they see us, they'll definitely start gossiping..."
Gokou Ruri bit her lower lip tightly, completely unwilling to become the female lead of school gossip.
"The two girls talking outside are my classmates. They super love gossip and will definitely spread it..."
She had just had eye drops put in and looked teary-eyed. Coupled with her face still being burning hot, naturally full of crimson, no matter how you looked at it, it was highly suspicious.
"Then I'll hide."
Sora nodded, indicating he understood, and looked around:
"The problem is there's nowhere to hide, right?"
The classroom was only so big. Unless he could turn invisible, it was really hard to hide.
Gokou Ruri's voice was tense:
"Sora, you can hide in the utility closet."
There were two utility closets at the back of the classroom, mainly used for storing brooms and other cleaning tools.
Given the urgency of the situation, Gokou Ruri nervously pulled Sora toward the utility closet.
Opening the utility closet and taking out the broom inside, Gokou Ruri pushed with her hand, swiftly shoving Sora inside.
The utility closet was about two meters high, so he didn't need to bend down to fit inside. Although narrow, it was definitely enough for one person to hide.
Then, the next second, Gokou Ruri squeezed in right after him.
Bang.
The utility closet door quickly closed.
"Phew..."
With the extreme self-rescue successful, Gokou Ruri quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
The originally adequate space was instantly packed full, like a can of sardines, making it impossible to move even a little bit.
"Why did you come in?"
Sora couldn't help but ask in a low voice.
The two were currently face-to-face, their bodies pressed tightly together, completely immobilized.
"To hide, of course."
Gokou Ruri looked up in confusion, clearly not having realized the situation yet.
Sora reminded her faintly:
"Only I needed to hide. This is Ruri's classroom, you don't need to hide at all."
"Eh?"
Gokou Ruri widened her eyes, her expression blank.
After a second of staring blankly, Kuroneko finally reacted:
"Ehhhhh?!"
That's right.
I completely didn't need to hide. But my brain was fuzzy just now, and I just climbed right in!
"Why didn't Sora say so earlier?"
Gokou Ruri bit her lower lip in embarrassment.
Sora was very innocent: "I had no idea you were going to come in, alright."
"I'll go out..."
After realizing it, Gokou Ruri hurriedly tried to get out.
Unfortunately, it was too late.
Slide.
The sound of the classroom door being slid open came from outside, followed immediately by footsteps and chatting echoing in the classroom.
Gokou Ruri's right hand froze in mid-air:
"T-Too late..."
"Just hide." Sora leaned close to Kuroneko's ear, whispering.
"There's no other way now, we just have to wait for them to leave."
The warm breath falling on her ear made Gokou Ruri's body tremble slightly, and the temperature of her face rose rapidly.
"S-Sora, don't speak!"
"Okay."
"And don't breathe either!"
That's enough, don't demand the impossible!
Meanwhile.
Outside the utility closet.
"Watching the news this morning, I suddenly saw that Uchida Maaya-sensei and Ishikawa-sensei officially announced their marriage."
"The voice actor industry has really been full of drama lately. I remember Hanazawa Kana-sensei just got divorced half a month ago, right?"
"A marriage with a busy schedule and little time together is very hard, so it's difficult for voice actors to stay together for long."
"Let's clean up first, then go shopping later..."
The two girls chatted about gossip while walking toward the utility closets at the back of the classroom.
"W-What do we do?"
Hearing the footsteps getting closer, Gokou Ruri instantly panicked.
If we're found hiding in the utility closet, there's absolutely no way to explain it, right?
If a boy from the class next door appeared in the classroom, it might cause a misunderstanding. But if a boy and a girl are hiding in a utility closet, it will 100% cause a misunderstanding.
What's worse is that gossip slowly deteriorates as it spreads.
"Did you guys hear? Gokou-san from our class and a boy from the class next door squeezed into a utility closet together."
"What? They were disheveled when they were found?"
"What? It was actually utility closet PLAY?"
"What? The commotion was so big they even broke the utility closet?"
"..."
Gokou Ruri just imagined it, and her vision went dark, feeling so ashamed she wanted to explode.
No!
I absolutely do not want to become the female lead of school gossip!