Mandarin Orange, Kotatsu, And A Found Cat

Chapter 55 The Cat And Heart Rate

“M-My bad. Mashiro…
“N-No…”

By a slight accident, I unintentionally put myself in a position to hold Mashiro, and I apologized to her.
I could directly feel her body heat after her bath from where I touched Mashiro, I felt my own cheeks heat up as her body heat propagated to me.

As I’ve said many times before, Mashiro’s current attire was just a shirt. When I’m in such close contact with her, I can feel a lot.
I felt it when we held hands, but a girl’s body really was soft. The texture is so fine that it seems to disappear as soon as you give it a little shock.
I was feeling it with my body right now, and I couldn’t keep my cool, so I did my best to just say the words.

Fortunately, Mashiro had already put the cup in her hand on the desk, so it didn’t turn out to be a disaster.
If she would just get back into position and move away, this uncomfortable situation would be over.

…She should have, but for some reason Mashiro didn’t move at all. As long as she doesn’t move, there’s nothing I can do about it, but she stayed in that position as if time had stopped.

“Mashiro…?”
“…”

Earlier she had been returning my words, but finally even that was gone and she gave me a silent reply.
She rested her head on my chest and just closed her eyes quietly. She doesn’t seem to be injured in any way, which only made me even more confused about Mashiro’s behavior.

The only thing I could hear was the ticking of the clock hands and her slow, faint breathing as I stayed in close contact with Mashiro.
By the time I lost count of how many times the long hand of the clock had gone around, my confused brain had cooled down considerably.

“Can I ask what you’re doing right now?”

I finally came up with the question and asked her in my arms in the calmest tone possible.
When she heard this, she snuggled up my clothes and put more of her weight on me, pressing her ear against me.

“…I’m listening to the sound of your heartbeats…”

At these words, my chest jumped as Mashiro touched me. My heart, which had started to calm down a little, became restless again.
Could it be that the heartbeat I was trying so hard to hide was obvious from the start?

“Now it’s a little faster.”
“Please don’t tease me…”

What an embarrassment…I thought she was unusually quiet, but she was checking my heartbeat with such a serious look on her face.
The reason for this, of course, was probably the program we were watching earlier. The topic was the difference in heart rate between cats and humans, and she was comparing it to her own heartbeat.

“Just to let you know, it’s pretty uncomfortable to be like this all the time….”
“Yes. I know.”
“Then I’d appreciate it if you’d step away…”
“No.”
“E-Eh…”

Mashiro’s face was still nuzzled into my chest, and she was adamantly refusing to move. I hadn’t expected her to refuse so firmly, and I was baffled.
The fact that our skin was touching each other was quite troublesome, but the fact that she can feel it in real time through my heartbeat was more embarrassing than anything else.

“But it doesn’t seem to make much difference.”
“You mean your heart rate?”
“Yes, I think I’m faster when I’m a cat, but I don’t think the difference is twice as great.”
“I wonder…”
“?”

Mashiro herself doesn’t seem to be aware of it, but her looks are quite high. Even though I don’t have much experience with women, I’d say she’s at least above average.
It would be foolhardy to expect me to maintain a normal heart rate in such close proximity. If she had been asking me this all the time, of course I wouldn’t feel like there was that much of a difference.

“I think you should be more aware of your own attractiveness, Mashiro.”
“? What do you mean?”
“I mean, if it wasn’t for Mashiro, I wouldn’t be so thrilled.”
“What does that mean…”

Mashiro looked up as if to confirm the meaning of what I had just said. She didn’t say anything more, but she turned her face away.
Seeing her reaction, I guess she understood what I meant, and her cheeks gradually turned red and she started to blink.

“I-I’m sorry…?”
“You don’t have to apologize, but…well, it would be helpful if you could get off”

I told her the same thing as before, and this time she complied. She tried to pull away, embarrassed even after all this time…

“Ouch…”

Mashiro’s head never left my body, and I felt my clothes being pulled towards her with a small sound.

“Ah, my hair…”

When I heard Mashiro’s words, I checked my chest and saw that her beautiful silver hair was unnaturally fluttering towards my clothes.
The end of it was caught in my chest — the button of my nightgown.

“Are you okay, Mashiro?”
“I-I am. I’m sorry…”

Mashiro looked flustered and tried to unhook her trapped hair, but she was having a difficult time because it was too close to her face.
She had attached herself to me of her own volition earlier, but when I tried to pull away and she prevented me from doing so, her cheeks turned redder and her eyes rolled back in her head.
I couldn’t stand to see her like this, so I held her hand as she wandered from place to place.

“There’s no need to be in such a hurry. It’s not that I don’t like it.”
“But, you…”
“I’ll do the unknoting for now.”

I then gently removed Mashiro’s hand and slowly untied the silver hair that was wrapped around the button.
She was trying to get as far away from me as possible with an extra apologetic look on her face, but she ran out of steam in the process and gave herself up again.

“I’m really sorry. I’m so sorry for the trouble I caused you.”
“Don’t worry about it. I don’t think you’re causing me trouble.”

In all the time I’ve spent with Mashiro, I’ve never once felt that way. It’s not her fault.
I respect what she wants to do and her will more than anything.
I’m ashamed to put it into words, but if she wants to touch me, I’ll do my best to make it happen…

“…I feel safer when I’m with Satou-san.”

As I was silently concentrating on the buttons while thinking about Mashiro, she suddenly said those words to me.
She whispered to me, gently brushing her cheek against my nightgown as she had done before, and my heart beat faster than I could speak.

“…I feel safe with you too, Mashiro.”
“Really?”
“It’s true. I would never lie to Mashiro.”
“…Could you say that again, please?”

…After all, it was not fair for her to ask that…
I managed to say something back. And yet, she asked me to say it again.
And yet, when she looked up at me like that, I couldn’t think of anything else.

“…It makes me feel safe, having Mashiro next to me. No lie.”
“…Yes.”

Mashiro nodded as if to think of my words. I couldn’t help but look away when she showed me her happy face.