Lemongrass and Kase-san

Chapter 15 picks up where 12 ended – Kase telling Yamada that she wanted to date her officially, and not just kissing. Yamada suddenly realises her hand is still on Kase’s boob (and how soft it is) and lets go. Kase hesitantly asks if Yamada was unwilling to “do it” with her. Yamada’s heart starts beating really fast and she thinks to herself, things beyond kissing?! But we’re both girls, what do we do beyond kissing…? Kase kind of ends up staring at Yamada’s boobs, Yamada notices that and they’re both blushing… Kase’s gaze moves lower and she starts looking at Yamada’s thighs… [Note: they’re both lying on the bed at this point in time)

Yamada curls up into a ball and asks Kase what are you thinking of doing…? Yamada says that she’s not completely unwilling to do it because she also wants to date Kase officially, but she’s not really clear about what they should be doing. Yamada adds that she feels that they can follow the “free style” way that Kase is thinking of. (This conjures an image in Kase’s mind of the both of them about to do freestyle swimming… lol.)

Kase looks at Yamada and suddenly she sees Yamada as all sparkly and shiny. [Note: I guess possibly alluding to Yamada’s innocence?] Kase stands up but starts to deflate a little. She apologises to Yamada, saying that this was out of her expectations… and really, it swayed/tempted her. Kase says that “to think Yamada would actually say those things, it’s almost making me cry”. Yamada is confused and thinks, what did I say?? She starts blushing furiously as she wonders what Kase will do, and as Kase leans in for a kiss, she wonders what Kase would do beyond kissing…

As they’re hugging, Yamada notes that Kase’s heartbeats are really loud… before she realises that it might be the sound of her own heartbeats. She starts noticing Kase’s scent and how she smells good, and wonders what scent it is, before thinking that it’s lemongrass. [Note: this is page 10 – there’s a Yamada POV shot of Kase’s cleavage as her shirt’s open…]
They continue hugging, and Kase makes a move to touch Yamada’s boob, which results in Yamada being shocked and she puts her own hands over her boobs and thinks “what, my boobs….!?” Kase asks if Yamada hates it, making Yamada into a blushing, nervous mess.
Yamada: It’s okay, but… [Thinking to herself: that really gave me a shock]
Kase: But….?
Yamada: That is… [Thinking to herself: It can’t be, she also wants to touch mine….?]

And then they get supremely cockblocked because Yamada’s phone rings. Yamada explains to her mum that she has a friend at home, who brought cake…. that they have already finished the cake, and that she would settle dinner herself. Yamada tells Kase that it was her parents, and that they said they would be back home soon. Kase starts laughing and said it scared her to death because Yamada’s phone was so loud and asks if Yamada had turned up the volume of the ringer. Yamada says she did, and there’s a bit of an awkward silence…

They look at each other, not quite sure what to say before Kase pats on the bed and asks Yamada to sit down, which Yamada does. Kase bumps her head against Yamada’s and pushes her down on the bed again, with a playful glint in her eye, and says let’s try and do it again next time, okay? She holds Yamada’s hand and says she was really lucky that she got to leave school earlier today, because the time was spent very happily, and that she might not be able to sleep that night.

Yamada is all “Kase-san……..” before she says that Kase was exuding a scent that smelled really good and asked if Kase had applied anything and if not, was it her shampoo or something because her room smelled the same. Kase hides her face in the bed and apologises for often having the smell of sweat on her, and says that she is so embarrassed she felt like taking a shower right now. Yamada exclaims that it was not anything like that, and that Kase actually always smelled good! Kase is confused and is all but I don’t apply anything? Do I smell good??

Yamada insists that it smells good and that it smells like lemongrass. This gives Kase a brainwave and she pulls out a bottle of lotion and says that it’s probably this, as she uses it after her track activities. Kase asks Yamada to stick her hand out and applies the lotion to Yamada’s arm, to which Yamada responds that it feels really cool and that it was the scent that she was talking about. Kase then kisses the inside of Yamada’s wrist, before moving to her neck and then cuddling Yamada on the bed. Kase then asks Yamada if she could stay like this for a while…

The chapter ends with Yamada thinking, the scent of lemongrass also lingered on my body….