[TSSIM] Chapter 479: Hanayo's Hesitation

"...Mm."

After a brief silence, Hanayo gently nodded, her eyes fixed on the hand Homura was holding, slightly lost in thought.

"In that case, like Homura-kun said, no need to rush, nyaa~!" Rin exclaimed with a smile, her tone cheerful. "And if Kayo-chin is shy about kissing, Rin can join you in kissing Homura-kun!"

Hanayo: "…"

Homura, hearing Rin's bold words, twitched his lips.

"Together... Together... With Rin-chan..." Hanayo mumbled and her eyes started to spin.

Hearing her mumbling, Homura turned around, startled.

"Rin, did you brainwash Hanayo?"

"Rin would never do that, nyaa!" Rin huffed back, clearly annoyed by his accusation.

"I didn't say it literally, but Hanayo's acting like she's been brainwashed..." Homura retorted while rolling his eyes.

Rin: "..."

"Kayo-chin! Wake up!"

"Aree~? Are we home already?" Hanayo suddenly snapped out of it.

"We're almost there!" Rin nodded, paused momentarily, and then gave Hanayo a suspicious look.

"R-Rin-chan, what's wrong?" Hanayo asked while wiping away a cold sweat on her forehead.

Rin silently stared at Hanayo for a while, then suddenly leaned in, whispering something.

"Kayo-chin, let's do it..."

BOOM!

In an instant, Hanayo's face turned red, and steam seemed to rise from her head!

"Heehee... Rin knew Kayo-chin was just pretending~"

"Huh? Pretending? I don't know what you're talking about..." Hanayo retorted, pretending she didn't get it.

"Kayo-chin, you really won't give up, nyaa~" Rin shook her head with a smile. "Rin didn't say anything earlier, just said 'do it,' but your face suddenly turned super red... Kayo-chin, you were thinking about kissing, weren't you?"

Hanayo: "..."

"Rin-chan... you've changed... you've become so sly..." Hanayo mumbled.

Meanwhile, Homura, after hearing their conversation, was a little surprised.

Honestly, he didn't expect Rin to pull something like this—it was so unlike her usual behavior.

"Really?" Rin scratched her head with a confused expression. "But... Rin was serious earlier, nyaa..."

Following this, Rin began moving closer to Hanayo, who tried to step back, but unfortunately, Homura was still holding her hand, so she couldn't step back.

"Ugh..."

Hanayo eventually ended up in front of Homura, unsure if she had forgotten that she could let go of his hand, but no matter what, he wasn't going to remind her.

"Rin, my arm's about to wrap around from behind..." Homura said with a helpless look.

"Ah, I forgot, nyaa!"

Before Hanayo could even breathe a sigh of relief, Rin immediately circled around Homura and ended up right in front of Hanayo!

Hanayo: "!!!"

"Heehee, Kayo-chin, you can't run away now~" Rin said as she grabbed Hanayo's other hand, the three of them now standing in a triangular formation.

"Rin-chan..." Hanayo muttered with a pitiful yet cute expression.

Looking at the cute expression Hanayo made, Homura felt his nose starting to itch.

"I like this kind of Kayo-chin too~!"

Rin let go of Homura's hand and quickly hugged Hanayo, rubbing against her.

Seeing this scene, Homura felt his nose itch even more.

"Kayo-chin, we'll be like this for a while..."

Rin whispered softly into Hanayo's ear, and soon, they began whispering to each other.

Seeing them whispering together silently, Homura shrugged his shoulders.

He could hear their whispers clearly but pretended not to, just to spare Hanayo any embarrassment.

Anyhow, Hanayo was so embarrassed that she had completely forgotten how sensitive Homura's ears were. As long as no one reminded her, it might take forever for her to remember.

Eventually, Homura's expression couldn't help but become weird.

Was Rin really going through with this?

He felt like Hanayo was about to get tricked.

"Eh? Sh-Should we really...?"

After hearing Rin's long whisper, Hanayo didn't feel as conflicted anymore.

"Well, at least Rin and Kayo-chin get to be together, nyaa~!" Rin patted her chest confidently.

Hanayo started fidgeting, twisting around for a while, before finally nodding with a red face.

"Homura-kun... close your eyes..."

Hanayo, as expected, made the same choice as Umi, asking Homura to close his eyes.

No need to say more, just close them!

Homura immediately closed his eyes and began to wait, feeling the breath from both sides of his face.

In an instant, he felt Hanayo's touch, but Rin's side was... nothing.

"Ahh! Rin-chan! You lie!"

"Nyahahaha~!"

Both hands let go completely, and Homura, helpless, opened his eyes to see the two of them running in circles, with Hanayo's face as red as if blood might drip out.

Hanayo was probably both angry and embarrassed since she was totally fooled, just as he expected.

Today, Rin was truly on another level—her tricks were a little too much.

Seeing the two of them still running in circles, Homura spoke up.

"Alright, we should go now. Hanayo's house is just a few steps away."

"Nyaa~! Homura-kun, I'll be right there!"

Rin rounded a corner and dashed straight toward Homura from behind.

Homura, who could hear Rin's position and speed from the sound of her footsteps, realized that she didn't seem to be turning at all.

'Wait? She jumped?!'

Homura, helpless, started to brace himself as soon as he felt Rin jump onto his back.

Rin smiled slightly at Homura's back, knowing he would never let her get hurt.

"Ahh! I can't stop!"

Hearing Hanayo's scream, Homura turned around and saw her charging toward him with a panicked expression, apparently unable to stop her run.

Homura raised an eyebrow, and as Hanayo collided with his chest, his body spun to lessen the impact.

"Phew…" Hanayo sighed in relief.

Being in Homura's arms wasn't a big deal to her since they had hugged before.

"Rin-chan…" Hanayo muttered and her body started to give off a dark aura.

"N-Nyaa... Kayo-chin, you look really scary..." Rin stuttered, her body shivered. "Alright, Kayo-chin, don't be mad, I'll make it up to you!"

With that, Rin suddenly kissed Homura on the cheek.

"Umu." Rin nodded in satisfaction.

Hanayo: "???"

Homura: "..."

Seeing Rin's behavior, Hanayo had no idea what to do anymore.

Rin had made her feel like no matter what she did, it was always wrong!

"Alright, we're here." Homura said with a sigh.

"Eh? Eh?! How did we get here?" Hanayo asked, feeling totally confused.

"I carried one of you on my back and the other in my arms. It's not that hard for me to walk while carrying both of you." Homura said with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Hanayo finally realized that her feet were not even touching the ground.

Clearly, she had been so focused on confronting Rin that she hadn't even noticed.

Realizing this, her face went red again, but this time, she felt even more embarrassed than before. Being held like this was completely different from a simple hug—once she realized it, she couldn't avoid feeling shy.

She lightly tapped Homura's chest, signaling him to put her down, but even when her feet finally touched the ground, she still felt a bit floaty.

"Kayo-chin, doesn't it feel nice being held by Homura-kun?" Rin asked with a cat-like smile, her head popped out from behind Homura's shoulder. "It'd be even better if we could change positions though..."

"Muuu..." Hanayo covered her ears, curling up in embarrassment.

"Rin, if you keep saying stuff like that, Hanayo's gonna stay red-faced forever, you know..."

Homura spoke with a sigh, then pondered.

'It's not just Hanayo being anxious... Rin's acting the same way too... it's her own kind of frustration, right? She's anxious for Hanayo.'

Rin knew Hanayo's weaknesses all too well—whenever Hanayo faced something new, she would always back off.

In the original work, it was very obvious that Hanayo joined Muse because Rin had pushed her to do it. As for Maki, that had been more of a rivalry with Rin, but regardless, Rin was still the main factor that had made them join Muse.

It was the same this time, but when it came to feelings, Hanayo clearly couldn't back away.

As a result, seeing Hanayo's hesitation, Rin started pushing her forward, just like in the original work.

Needless to say, Rin wasn't about to give Hanayo the chance to back out.