كان الاعتراف بداية لعبة العقاب — 第二章 他居然点头了

Chapter 2: He Actually Nodded

He actually nodded. That fact spread through the grade even faster than the confession itself.

Someone asked Aoi, “Are you two really dating?” She said, “No.” Someone asked Nanjo, and Nanjo said, “Yes.” The two answers appeared side by side in the same day’s hallway, like two notices locked in a fight.

“Why did you say yes?” Aoi cornered him.

“Because you never said, ‘I take it back.’” He opened an umbrella—it was not raining that day; the sunlight was only too white. “The terms of the penalty game have no automatic expiration.”

“You studied the terms?”

“I copied down the spinner’s rules.” He took out a slip of paper, the handwriting neat. “Article Three: The person who accepts the confession has the right to extend the game until the other party ends it out loud.”

Aoi snatched the slip. On the back was a bento menu with the cilantro she hated crossed out. The date was last week.