Chapter 59: Chapter 59 - Who Makes Your Heart Beat Fastest?

Kuro Kurogane’s existence has now become a subject of experimentation.

Incredibly illegal experimentation.

Because apparently all of the girls involved collectively agreed on "Let’s mess with Kuro and see how he reacts."

And unfortunately, they are all taking it completely seriously.

It started on a Monday morning, when Kuro goes into the kitchen thinking he is going to get breakfast.

Only to find that Aoi is standing there cooking with an apron, calmly preparing his food as if this were a normal, safe environment.

Then, she turns to him and says, "Good Morning."

He replies with an awkward, " Morning".

Then, all of a sudden, Aoi takes a step towards him very close.

And gently adjusts his collar with both hands.

Kuro freezes instantly, because Aoi’s fingers have brushed against his neck, her face is now hovering dangerously close to his, and she smells like vanilla tea.

The worst part Aoi is completely calm while doing it!

"You forgot to fix this," she says.

"T-thanks," Kuro says back so weak, that it’s really kind of pathetic.

After adjusting his collar, Aoi looks at Kuro’s now-red face and smiles slightly a small, but victorious smile.

"Cute reaction," she says.

Critical damage before he even has had a chance to eat breakfast.

And at school, Akari immediately goes into her own attack mode.

During the lunch-break on the roof-top.

The moment Kuro sits down, Akari drops down next to him dramatically.

Then she lays her head right down on his lap.

Again.

Publicly.

Kuro had just about reached an elevated state of being.

"...AKARI."

"What?"

"People are looking."

"Okay, let them see."

Crazy.

In the meantime, some of the students who were witnessing them started openly staring at them, filled with jealousy and despair.

They were completely ignored by Akari as she lazily looked up to Kuro.

"Your heart is beating really fast."

"You’re crushing my organs."

"You’re a liar."

She poked his chest, just above his heart.

"...It really is fast."

And then they fell into silence Kuro immediately turned away.

For the simple reason that she was spot on.

Every contact from her now affected him.

Especially when she smiled at him softly.

Not to tease. Not to put on a show. But simply happy to be close.

Somehow that honest, simple display felt like danger to him.

And so they went to school and when school was over they completely went out of their way to destroy Kuro’s life.

Kuro made a disastrous choice by walking home with Mina, who had clearly prepared to devastate his emotional state today.

"Mina, stop.

"What?"

"Couples hold hands."

"We’re not couples."

"Minor point."

Then suddenly she grabbed his hand without hesitation.

Kuro’s brain lost all ability to function.

Her fingers lightly touched his.

Completely warm. Completely natural. Completely comfortable.

Unbelievably comfortable.

Meanwhile, Mina also suddenly lost control.

Although she acted confidently, her heart was racing like crazy.

However, she smiled smugly anyway.

"Your hand is so sweaty."

"I hate your face."

"I love your face, too."

"You shouldn’t be so casual with your words."

Mina blinked once.

And then she suddenly slackened her teasing.

Quietly she said, "Maybe I don’t want to be casual anymore."

Kuro was shocked it was as if she was going to kill him emotionally.

He almost did not finish taking his next step.

For one instant, Mina appeared truly vulnerable.

She seemed to hope that he would understand what the subtle meaning was.

And he unwittingly did.

After a difficult night’s sleep for Kuro, his brain replayed over and over this moment:

Aoi adjusting his collar

Akari leaning on him contentedly

Mina grasping his hand

Each girl affected him differently.

And now his mind could not keep up with how quickly his body betrayed him.

Kuro suffered at the hands of his physical reactions.

Nervousness, heart racing, feeling warm.

Kuro dramatically buried his face in the pillow.

"This can’t be good."

It wasn’t.

The day after was worse than the previous night as the girls compared their analysis results to Kuro.

Just like at lunch, they compared their analysis results in front of Kuro.

Why, of course they were going to compare their results.

Akari proudly announced, "Kuro had the fastest heartbeat when I was with him."

Mina quickly countered, "False he literally short-circuited when I held his hand."

Aoi quietly sipped her cup of tea.

"Kuro’s breathing was irregular when I fixed his collar this morning."

Silence.

Kuro died.

"Why are you doing this?"

Mina replied, "It’s scientific romance."

"There should be some kind of therapy for this house and this school."

Suddenly Rika spoke up from very close

"...You are all bullying him."

Everyone turned to face her she calmly closed her book .

Then turned her head toward Kuro and said

"...Though it looks like he is very affected,"

Kuro didn’t respond at all.

"...What about you, saionji-senpai?"

Rika then turned away from Kuro as if to not pay attention

her face slightly blushing.

" How do you act around people you trust?"

The atmosphere became a little more mellow.

Unlike all of them Rika’s comment was soft.gentle.

Somehow Kuro felt comfortable around her again different type of risk-taking .Rika recognized that too and her heart began to race.

Rika saw Kuro relax around her and felt hope.

Clearly having a great time Mina smiled evilly, "Hmm... Let’s ask directly."

Kuro immediately felt something was off.

"Please don’t."

Rika had already said what she thought about it.

Akari came up against his computer screen.

"Kuro".

"Don’t."

"Who do you like?" Silence held sway over everyone on the roof.

All of a sudden, even the wind just stopped as Kuro continued to look at all four of the girls who were now staring right at him.

Akari had bright hopeful nervousness.

Aoi was calm but focused on him very intently.

Mina was hiding genuine fear behind her playful smile.

Rika had the quiet curiosity of a child with the softness of compassion.

Kuro’s heart beat with complete chaos.

The frightening reality for Kuro; he was affected by all the girls.

All differently.

Very deeply.

Very honestly.

And he had no clue as to what it all meant.

He finally said, weakly "I’m going home."

Instantly, cowardice took over.

Kuro stood up and ran off the rooftop as fast as possible with the girls all watching him go.

Total silence.

That is until Mina burst into laughter first.

"Did he really just run away?"

Akari groaned as she exclaimed, "YOU USELESS MAN."

Meanwhile, Aoi was quietly sipping her tea and smiling softly with knowing amusement.

And even though he ran away Kuro never denied he had feelings any longer.

And that alone changed everything.