Chapter 5
From that day on, Luna stopped
sending me LINE messages in the morning and in the afternoon. Every time I sent
her a message, she ignored it unread.
When I met her at the flyer
committee meeting, she seemed a bit cold.
This went on for days, and I
finally lost my temper.
“In that case, I'll hold
another meeting when I get the sample booklet. Thank you for your hard work.”
After today's meeting, we
finally had a draft booklet ready to submit. According to Sensei's order, we
all dispersed immediately and got ready to go home.
I quickly grabbed my bag and
went out into the hallway to catch up with Luna, who had left the meeting room
first.
It had been more than an hour
since dismissal, only students with club activities were still at school, and
the hallways were quiet. The sound of the band practicing could be heard in the
distance.
“Shirakawa-san...”
She didn't want to turn around.
“Shi.... Luna!”
Luna suddenly stopped with a
jerk. I quickly approached her to catch up.
Luna slowly turned around. When
she looked at me, her face showed a sad expression.
“Look, I...”
I leaned in close to speak in a
low voice so she could hear me.
“Ah!”
Luna suddenly reached into her
skirt pocket and pulled out her smartphone. The screen lit up and began to
vibrate. The only thing on the screen was a number, but Luna pressed the call
button with a surprised face.
“Sorry, I have an important
call, see you later...!”
After saying that quickly, Luna
put the smartphone screen to her ear.
“Yeah, right... Huh, right
now!?”
Luna turned on her heel and
with her back to me, walked quickly down the hallway.
“...I don't mind, yeah, yeah,
then I'll be right there!!”
I wonder who was on the other
end of the phone? Since Luna used polite language, it definitely wasn't her friend.
Maybe someone older?
I wondered if the caller was a
boy or a girl... as I thought about it, I noticed that my heart was pounding
restlessly.
She said it was an important
call. Normally, I could casually ask, “From
whom?”
Walking down the hallway with
her back no longer visible, I had no choice but to leave the school alone and
go to my cram school.
◇◇◇◇
Unlike usual, Sekiya-san was
not in the study room today. The tutoring schedule for high school seniors on
weekdays was at noon, so I would almost certainly run into Sekiya-san if I went
there after school.
When I checked my smartphone. I
noticed that a LINE message had come in a few minutes ago.
[Sekiya Shuugo]
Today,
I went to the Shibuya school with the substitute teacher and just arrived in
Ikebukuro.
Because
I wanted to meet someone first, it took a while before I could go to the study
room.
“How strange.”
I didn't expect Sekiya-san, who
always runs away from everyone he knows, to meet someone.
Since Kurose-san had found out,
Sekiya-san and I would always take a break while snacking in the lounge before
going to the study room when I arrived at the cram school. I had no choice but
to go to the lounge by myself because I had already bought some sweet buns at
the convenience store with the intention of going there again today.
Well, even if Kurose-san comes,
she's always with her friend from girls' school T ... That's what I thought
when I opened the door.
Then I saw Kurose-san sitting
alone on a chair by the window in the lounge.
Although I was the first to
leave the meeting room, I stopped at the convenience store to buy something, so
it's only natural that she got here first.
Kurose-san was sipping her
drink and reading a book.
So
beautiful, I thought. A plastic tea bottle looks like a
teacup with a saucer. What set her apart from Luna was the elegance and grace
of her demeanor, similar to that of Ojou-sama.
“.....”
She hasn't noticed my presence
yet.
Since her seat wasn't near the
front of the entrance, I pretended not to notice her and sat near the entrance.
But...
“...Kashima-kun.”
As I was finishing my bread, I
noticed that Kurose-san was already standing in front of me.
“It's unusual to see you alone.
Usually, you're always with your friend, that tall guy...”
“A-Ahh, yes..."
My gaze wandered, uncomfortable
at being approached by Kurose-san and amused at Sekiya-san being referred to as
my "friend".
“Ku-Kurose-san herself is the
same, how strange that you're alone. What about your friends from T School?”
“It's fall break this week, so
not everyone is coming.”
“Fall break?"
Is
there such a thing at Ojou-sama's school? ... It's really enviable, when I
thought that, Kurose-san laughed at me.
“Ah, yes, T-school has a
two-semester system. Instead of calling it fall break, maybe it's more like a vacation after exams? They just finished the first semester finals.”
“Eh, two semesters? Your first
semester ended in October?”
When I asked back because I
didn't really understand, Kurose-san pulled out a chair and sat down in front
of me, probably thinking that the conversation would go on for a long time.
“Yes. It's just a matter of
division, and the only difference between the 2-semester system and the
3-semester system is that there is a fall break.”
“Hee~... that's good.”
“It's good, isn't it? I... used
to really like T-school.”
A dark shadow came over
Kurose-san's face.
“When I left T school, I asked
my mother to let me go to a cram school instead. I have a lot of friends who go
to K school, and there are some good friends of mine at Ikebukuro school. If
it's just a standard English course, I thought it would be cheaper and I could go
to the study hall every day.”
“You go every day? That's
amazing.”
Even though she's still in the
2nd grade of high school. As expected, even I couldn't afford to go every day.
Kurose-san smiled and looked at
me when I said in an impressed tone.
“It's not as great as it
looks... I just ran away.”
“...Running away?”
When I asked out of curiosity,
Kurose-san replied with a faint smile.
“My grandfather has dementia.
He got it many years ago... My grandmother takes care of him, but it's getting
harder and harder for her...”
“Ah... I see, huh.”
I had no idea. By the way, I
heard that Luna's maternal grandmother asked Mao-san to take care of her
parents, Sayo-san, because she couldn't take care of them herself, but I didn't
hear about any circumstances that made that happen.
“I left home when Mom
remarried, and I've been away for the past few years... but when I came back
after their divorce, Grandpa's symptoms only got worse.”
I didn't know what to say because
the content of the conversation was so serious, so I just listened quietly and
nodded.
“My mom was working and I knew
I was supposed to be at home helping my grandmother, but... I didn't want to be
in the same place as my current grandfather... so I ended up coming here ....”
When I heard that, I thought... oh yeah.
“...Kurose-san, did you come
here last summer vacation? I took a summer course here...”
“Really?”
Kurose-san's eyes widened in
surprise.
“During the summer vacation, I
stayed in the study hall building because there were so many people there.
Also, I often go to my aunt's house to play, so I'm rarely in the main
building.”
“Is that so...”
No wonder we never met.
“When I come here, I can meet
up with my friends. Besides... I want to go to college.”
Kurose-san said with a happy
smile.
“I can go to college with a
scholarship. I want to go to the college that my friends from T Women's School
are going to, so I can see everyone on campus again.”
“I see....”
Ojou-sama's school image is
often associated with an escalator system school that leads to college, but
since T Women's School is said to have a high deviation score, it may also
include a preparatory school.
Kurose-san's pleasant
conversation continued.
“Since I like manga... I
thought it might be fun to be an editor or something. Being the editor of a game
magazine would be fine, too.”
“Hee~..."
So she really likes it, huh.
“Then... why don't you just
become a mangaka?”
Kurose-san smiled a little at
my simple question.
“I don't think I'm cut out to
be a creator. When I read manga, I think 'If
the plot is like this, it will be more interesting', but I don't think 'Then I'll draw it myself!”
“Is that so...”
I also like to watch live-streaming games and give my opinion on them, but that doesn't mean I want to be
like them. I guess it's the same thing.
Kurose-san suddenly looked at
me while thinking about that.
“What do you want to be,
Kashima-kun?”
Kurose-san's big black eyes
looked straight into mine, and for some reason, I became nervous as I replied.
“M-Me? well ...... I don't
know, but for the time being, I plan to go to college.”
“Literature? Or science?”
“Probably literature... I'm not
very good at science subjects.”
“Hmm~...”
Kurose-san then seemed to think
about something a bit.
“If it's Kashima-kun, you'd probably
look good as a teacher.”
“Ehh? Teacher?”
It was the first time anyone
had said such a thing to me.
“Yes. If you want to continue
your studies, you might be able to get a job that requires a college degree,
right? I think Kashima-kun can be a good teacher who can consider the feelings
of each of his students.”
“...I never thought about it. I
thought I'd go apply to some companies normally.”
“Isn't that a good choice too?
Which company do you want to apply to?”
“Ehh, no, I haven't thought about
it yet...”
After all, I was only thinking
about the best company I could......, the highest paying company I could get
into with my skills.
“If you want to apply to a
company, maybe a consulting company would be good? Because Kashima-kun is a
very caring person.”
When Kurose-san told me that,
my eyes lit up.
“Co-Consul...?”
“I don't know much about it myself,
but I was told that it's a job where you would give advice to customers about
their work."
"Hmm...?"
I've never heard of such a
thing before.
“Kurose-san seems to know a
lot about this type of company, right?”
“Not really. I just did a
little research recently. Because I thought that if I wanted to tell Mom, 'I want to go to college,' I should
explain what kind of company I wanted to work for. That's why I thought that
working at a publishing company might be a bit fun."
Kurose-san explained with a
slightly blushing face.
“If I don't look up the
recruitment data of a certain company and explain that college graduates are
more favorable, my request will be less convincing, right? But my mom also felt
the difference in job treatment based on education, so I am glad that she
readily agreed more easily than I thought.”
“So that's how it is...”
My parents are college
graduates and my older sister also went to college, so it felt like the default
route to go to college, I never thought about convincing my parents to go to
college.
———Luna
is indeed very mature.
Kurose-san said something like
that the other day.
But in my opinion, Kurose-san
also looks very mature now.
A different type than Luna...
she is also a very special girl.
“Teacher or counselor, huh...”
I muttered to myself that day
as I walked down the street to the train station after leaving the study room.
It was the first time that the
vague picture of an uncertain future became concrete.
Teaching seemed to offer a
stable income, and management consulting seemed to be one of the most popular
jobs for students at the University of Tokyo.
“Heh~... it sounds like it has
good salary prospects.”
I muttered as I walked and read
the page that came up in the search on my smartphone.
“I wonder what Luna will do?”
As usual, Luna's career hopes
were still uncertain.
——Living
in the present. For the sake of living, I live life without looking back. Just
like I've been doing. Will Ryuuto still love me?
Of course, I will.
That feeling has not changed at
all. So I won't ask too insistently...
Still...
How can I talk to Kurose-san
alone when my relationship with Luna is still awkward?
What's more, the time I spent
was precious and fun... and now I was struck with an overwhelming feeling of
guilt.
“Damn it, it's all Sekiya-san's
fault and T School's fall break...”
I knew that this was a
misguided resentment, but I couldn't help but want to blame someone.
Tomorrow, we'll talk to Luna
again.
And I'll make her understand
how I feel.
With this determination, I
walked resolutely toward the gate where the hordes of people were heading.
◇◇◇◇
The next day when I went to
school.
“Kashima-kun!!!”
I was walking from the school
gate to the entrance when hurried footsteps approached me from behind and
called my name.
When I turned around, the
person who called me was Tanikita-san.
“I have something to talk to
you about, thank goodness I can meet you here!”
Tanikita-san walked back and
forth left and right as she said that.
“..Lunacchi, she’s not coming
with you, huh. Come with me first for a moment!”
Tanikita-san then dragged me to
the teachers' parking lot behind the school building. There I called Luna and
confessed my feelings.
“Ta-Tanikita-san? What exactly
happened...”
“Actually... I didn't want to
shock you."
Tanikita-san looked at me with
a straight face. The tension in her large eyes was frightening.
“...Lunacchi, she's probably doing paid dating with an old man.”
“...Paid dating...?”
The tension I had been feeling
collapsed all at once.
I felt relieved.
Thank goodness. I still trusted
Luna. I thought Luna wouldn't do something like that.
I didn't know what the story
was until I asked her, but Tanikita-san has a very arbitrary nature, so I'm
sure she just misunderstood.
“Paid dating is... that, right?
Where young girls get paid to have a cup of tea with older men, right?”
“Yes, that kind of paid
dating.”
Tanikita-san nodded with a
straight face.
“...Lately I think it feels a
little strange. At the committee meeting the other day, Luna brought a Gucci
bag. It was the first time I had ever seen that bag. And when I saw her last
Saturday, she was carrying a Dior bag this time!”
“E-Ehh...?”
When she mentions a famous
brand that even I've heard of, I'm sure it's quite expensive.
“It's about 300,000 yen, you
know! It could be even more, depending on the collection and size! That's not a
price a normal JK girl can afford!?”
“Ye-Yes....”
Since I was never interested in
fashion, to begin with, I never bothered to look at the brand of Luna's clothes.
“But she probably borrowed them
from her grandmother, right? Because she's a very fashionable person.”
Luna's paternal grandmother,
who lived with her, seemed to have quite modern hobbies, such as learning to
hula dance and buying a waffle maker, so it wasn't surprising that she owned a
branded bag or two.
“Ehh, but isn't it strange that
she suddenly started borrowing designer bags all the time? Lunacchi is only
interested in cheap bags, you know?”
“Re-Really...?”
I never talked about the bag
issue with Luna, so I felt a little overwhelmed since Tanikita-san was both a
girl and wanted to go to fashion school, so she probably talked a lot about
fashion with Luna.
“Why don't you ask Shirakawa-san
directly why she can have branded bags?”
“Yeah, that's impossible. If I
ask, it will look like I'm jealous of her. However, if Lunacchi herself bragged
about it, I might be able to answer with a joke and ask at the same time.”
Is that
the case? I don't know if that's how girls respect each other or if it's
just the relationship between Luna and Tanikita-san.
“...Then if it's just about the bag, it's
still okay. But yesterday I saw something...”
“Sa-Saw what?”
Tanikita-san's tone turned tenser, it made me nervous too.
“Yesterday I went to the K-POP
building in Ikebukuro to sell VTS merchandise. On my way back, I saw Lunacchi
in front of the station, and when I went to greet her... I found her walking
with a guy. And this guy was an older guy.”
“Ehh....”
Hearing this reminded me of the
phone call Luna received yesterday.
——...Huh,
right now!? ...... I don't mind, yeah, yeah, I'll be right there!
The person who called her
turned out to be a guy... and my guess that the caller was an older guy was right.
“....”
Not that I have any doubts
about paid dating services. But my heart was beating faster than ever.
“That older guy... isn't this
person?”
With a glimmer of hope, I
showed Mao-san the photo I could find on my smartphone. It was of the three of
us when I was working at the seaside house during the summer.
“No, not that one.”
Tanikita-san shook her head
endlessly.
"This guy looks younger.
Probably a college age.”
“College student... a paid date
with an old man... Old man? Can’t the college’s guy still be called old man?”
Tanikita-san tilted her head at
my simple question.
“I don't know? If he has money
from a part-time job, it's possible, right? Maybe he's not a college student,
but a working adult.”
It could be ...., but that is
not an answer that should be considered here.
Luna
.... Going on a paid date .... with a man... that kind of thing... there is no
way... right?
I can hardly imagine it.
Anyway,....
——Even
Ryuuto must be getting fed up. Because I'm a Gyaru girl, so I want to do
everything a Gyaru girl would do.
I remembered what Luna said
that rainy day.
“Do gyaru girls usually go on
paid dates?”
“Huh?”
Tanikita-san's eyes widened
when I asked that.
“That... depends on the person,
right? I think there are some girls who would do it even if they look like
serious, innocent girls. I have an idea that there are a lot of gyaru girls in
cabaret and paid dating places, but whether it's cabaret or paid dating, I
wouldn't think of doing it.”
“I-I see...well, it's true,
isn't it?”
I felt confident.
“...In that case, what do you
think is meant by 'things a gyaru girl
does'?”
"Eh~ What the heck is
that? Doesn't it also depend on the person? I'll just do whatever I want to
do.”
“I see....”
Indeed, “it depends on the person” is the truth. It applies to almost
everything in the world.
Although I understand that, the reason why I still ask Tanikita-san is probably that I still don't know
much about Luna.
'What
you like, what you want to do, what you think .....'
It feels really sad to think
so...
.... But I'm sure that she
wouldn't do paid dating. That's all I want to believe.
“...does Tanikita-san think
that Luna is the type of girl who would be doing paid date?”
Tanikita-san looked a little
surprised as she asked the question from a different perspective.
“...I’m not sure either...”
Her expression looked a little
awkward.
“Lunacchi is a very nice girl,
but there's a part of her that's a little dangerous, isn't there? Seems fragile
or something... And lately, her relationship with Kashima-kun has been a bit
tenuous, right? I heard it from Nikorun, though. Lunacchi's ex-girlfriends
aren't all nice guys, and the problem with Kashima-kun is making her
unstable... so maybe she's feeling desperate and is doing that as an escape.”
“I see...”
I understood a bit about Luna
from Tanikita-san's view. I still wanted to believe that Luna wouldn't do paid
dating, but there were some things I could agree with.
“When I told Nikorun that
Lunacchi might be doing paid dating activities, she just laughed it off and
said, 'There's no way she'd do that.'
But I've only been friends with Lunacchi for 2 years, so I'm not sure you can
trust her that much... ...because maybe I still don't know anything about
Lunacchi.”
Tanikita-san said glumly, as if
looking for an excuse, and then looked at me.
“I hope this is just a
misunderstanding on my part, but if she really did... I can't help but feel
uncomfortable, and I think I should tell Kashima-kun right away.”
“All right, I understand.”
I was the one who listened to
this story and decided what to do.
“Thank you for your concern,
Tanikita-san.”
When I said that, Tanikita-san,
who had been looking uncomfortable with a worried expression on her face,
looked a little relieved.
I had mixed feelings when I
realized that she really wanted to tell me out of the goodness of her heart.
To be honest, I was really
shocked.
I didn't think it had anything
to do with paid dating activities, but no matter what the situation was, Luna
walking around with another guy was an undeniable fact.
I wanted to know the situation
earlier and feel relieved. There was a possibility that it was a cousin, her
sister's boyfriend, or something else.
However, the reason I was not
at all comfortable with this thought was that there was one possibility that
was more realistic than paid dating.
Her ex-boyfriend.
Earlier, Luna said that when
she broke up with her ex-boyfriend, she would delete her entire LINE account.
But if the other party knows and remembers Luna's cell phone number... the
incoming call screen just shows a phone number with no registered name... isn't
that how people call unregistered numbers?
But what will she talk about
when she meets her ex-boyfriend who should be far away from her? Venting......?
Or maybe complain about me?
I wanted to confirm this with
Luna as soon as possible. But what should I tell her?
I didn't tell Luna that I was
with Kurose-san myself, do I have the right to ask her “You were with another guy last Saturday, right?” in an
interrogating tone?
At least in the current
situation, it would only make things worse...
What
should I do? ..... I walked towards the classroom while thinking
about it.
“Oii, Kasshi!”
In the hallway, Icchi
approached me. Behind him was Nisshi.
“Morning.”
But neither of them returned my
greeting.
“What did you talk about with
Tanikita-san?”
“I saw them earlier. Kasshi and
Tanikita-san were whispering in the parking lot.”
When Icchi said it with a scary
expression, Nisshi added with a scary expression on his face.
“Umm, that's...”
Because the content of the
conversation was too sensitive, I was a little hesitant to answer right away.
“It-It's about
Shirakawa-san...”
“Kasshi, you've really changed,
huh.”
Nisshi interrupted my words
with an angry tone.
“Even though you already have a
girlfriend named Shirakawa-san, you're also trying to get close to
Kurose-san, and this time you want to target Tanikita-san too?”
“I can't forgive you... Have
you stopped being human!? Did you have no common sense when you were a human!?”
Probably because of
Tanikita-san, Icchi brought his face closer as if to extend his hand to me.
“No, I told you it's about
Shirakawa-san...”
“What about Shirakawa-san?”
“.......”
“Told you, you can't answer
that, right! Don't try to make any excuses!”
I clenched my teeth as Icchi
continued to press me.
My head, already messed up from
other problems, felt like it was about to get even more messed up.
“Sorry. Please leave me alone
for a while...”
I wanted to talk to someone
about it, but it seemed like Icchi and Nisshi wouldn't listen to me anymore.
If I talk to a girl here, the
situation will be even more difficult, so I can't even ask Yamana-san to listen
to me. Kurose-san herself could be a disaster in many ways.
There's only one person I can
rely on to help me with this problem.
“...This is indeed a big
problem.”
In the lounge of K's Cram
School, the place I went to after school, Sekiya-san crossed his arms and
groaned when he heard my story.
Today, there was no activity of
the Pamphlet Committee, and I went there right after school, so the lounge still
looked deserted. There was no sign of Kurose-san either.
“So, what do you want to do?”
“I....”
I replied while thinking.
“I want to make up with her...
and ask about the guy she met.”
“If you ask after making up,
won't that make things awkward again?”
“....”
“First of all, you want to know
the identity of this guy, right? If that's the case, let me ask her.”
Sekiya-san said with a smile.
"Eh!? A-Ask her .....
means Sekiya-san will meet her in person!?"
“Well, that's probably the best
option. A phone call would be very suspicious.”
“.......”
There was a slight conflict
about letting Luna and Sekiya-san meet. I realized that this was because of my
own inferiority complex towards Sekiya-san who was tall, handsome, and really
cool (at least before he became a ronin), and I felt a little resentful towards
myself.
“...Alright, I understand. I’m
counting on you.”
I replied while clutching my
stomach which felt pressured.
“But how...?”
“Ah~ If I'm not mistaken, next
week your school will hold a cultural festival, right? Invite me. I want to
change the mood once in a while too, so I was hoping that you would invite me
there, that's all.”
“Ehh!?”
To my surprise, Sekiya-san
enthusiastically offered to help me.
“And if you find her at school,
you must tell me immediately. Then I pretended to be stupid and said, ‘Ah, you're that girl who was walking with
that other guy in Ikebukuro the other day, right!?'”
“...if Sekiya-san is the one
saying it, it sounds like a new method to courting girls...”
"But if I'm with Yamada,
people won't suspect me, right? If her boyfriend's friend said that right in
front of her, she'd have no choice but to explain it, right?”
“That's right....”
Although it seems unnatural and
too forced, now I have no better idea than this.
“Now I can finally see Yamada's
girlfriend. I'm really looking forward to it... But walk around Ikebukuro, huh.
I might run into her somewhere.”
While feeling a little anxious
about Sekiya-san who looked happy and cheerful, I thought back about the school
festival next week.
◇◇◇◇
And then, it was time for the
opening day of the school festival for the public.
Since the pamphlet committee
had already checked the cover samples a week ago and had submitted the delivery
schedule to the receptionist, it had no work to do on the day of the event.
Therefore, I should have gone to help the other committee members only when I
was called.
I don't know what Luna and
Kurose-san are doing today. They might be helping each other with other staff
members or have some free time.
Sekiya-san had a schedule at a cram
school in the morning and could only come in the afternoon.
Around one o'clock in the
afternoon, I was asked by the chairman of the organizing committee to stand
guard at the tent at the headquarters next to the reception desk, I
occasionally checked my smartphone for people passing by the reception area.
Because I had just received a LINE message from Sekiya-san saying that he would
be here soon.
Then at times like that...
“Look, look, doesn't that guy
look cool?”
“Ahh~ totes~. Aya really like
that kind of guy.”
When I heard the first-year
girls guarding the reception desk start whispering to each other, I looked over
to see if it was Sekiya-san who appeared.
“Yo~”
Sekiya-san passed by the
reception desk, found me at the committee tent, and came straight to me.
Then almost all the students at
the reception desk and the committee tent looked at us.
“...Ehh, is he an acquaintance
of that Senpai?”
"I didn't expect that...
Ahhh, but if I'm not mistaken that person is Shirakawa-san's boyfriend from
class 2.”
“Ah, I see. If you have such a
pretty and sweet girlfriend, your friends must be high spec too~.”
The whispers of the girls at
the reception table earlier rang in my ears, which made me feel even more
embarrassed.
Right at that moment, I got a
change of duty, and since I had some free time, I started walking around the
school with Sekiya-san.
I felt the eyes of the girls
wherever I went. They all glanced at Sekiya-san and then looked at me in
surprise.
“.......”
Somehow it felt a little
embarrassing...
Although I often felt the same
stares when I was with Luna, in Luna's case, the ratio of men and women staring
at us was almost equal, so it felt very embarrassing to be stared at by girls
alone. For an introverted person like myself, I still wasn't used to it at all, no
matter how many times I experienced it.
I
wanted to find Luna soon and achieve my goal. ....
While thinking that, I wandered around the school looking for her.
My relationship with Luna was
still tenuous from then on. Since I suspected a secret meeting with her
ex-boyfriend, I also somehow tended to avoid her.
Unlike when we first started
dating, I thought I gained more confidence as Luna's boyfriend during the
summer vacation.
But in reality, when the shadow
of her ex-boyfriend flashed around Luna, my confidence was temporarily shaken.
To be honest, I was afraid to
confirm it.
But I definitely didn't want to
just disappear.
I wanted Luna to understand my
feelings of wanting to continue dating her rather than Kurose-san, and I wanted
to end the deadlock.
In order to fulfill that goal,
I also had to know the truth about her ex-boyfriend's alleged secret meeting.
With that in mind, I dragged my
heavy feet and wandered around the school.
“......”
Sekiya-san was unusually quiet
today. With a tense face, he kept staring at the surrounding area as if he was
looking for someone.
“...Seriously... but there’s no
way, this uniform...”
“... Something wrong,
Sekiya-san?”
When I asked what he was
muttering, Sekiya-san hurriedly replied, “No,
nothing...”
That's when something happened.
"Ah, Kashima-kun~!!!"
A petite girl came running from
the other side of the corridor.
It turned out to be
Tanikita-san.
Even after telling me what
happened, Tanikita-san still treated me as one of the committee members as
usual. She seemed to have a refreshing personality, the type that was a little
scary for someone like me.
"What a coincidence~! The
decorations in the gymnasium are slightly peeling off. With my height, I can't
reach it even if I use the stairs. I can't find any male members of the
decoration right now, so would you mind helping me for a while?”
“Huh, o-okay...”
As I looked at Sekiya-san to
ask his opinion, Tanikita-san also joined me in looking at his simultaneously.
“Ahhh!”
For a moment I thought she was
mesmerized by Sekiya-san's good looks, but that didn't seem to be the case. Her
expression was filled with surprise.
The next sentence she said made
my body stiff.
“Kashima-kun, this guy! This is
the guy who was walking in Ikebukuro with Lunacchi...!?”
“...!?”
I couldn't say anything.
What
did you say?
Sekiya-san
is the one walking with Luna...?
What
kind of relationship does he have with Luna?
Perhaps...
he is her ex-boyfriend?
But come to think of it, it's
not surprising at all.
He seemed to have had a series
of dating relationships during high school, and even if he dated for a few
months with Luna, whom he met somewhere, and broke up... He once told himself
that he played with girls so much that he failed his entrance exams, and it was
possible that he was dumped after his double or triple relationship was
discovered.
“Things like that...”
I felt happy to be friends with
Sekiya-san. Although he had a handsome face, he was easy to talk to, and he
always took good care of me, I thought that he was a good senior in my life.
Even so...
Ex-boyfriends who have hurt
Luna by playing with her feelings and who tried so hard to make their boyfriends
happy. If he's one of those people, then...
I won't forgive this person
.......
“...Huhh! really? Seriously!?
Is it possible that your girlfriend's name is [Shirakawa Luna]!?”
“...!”
He even knew Luna.
As expected, this person was...
her ex-boyfriend.
“I wondered if she was a
student of this school. I saw the girls' uniforms and thought they looked
familiar. ...I didn't think you were from the same school because the uniforms
were very different from Kurose-san.”
If he was her ex-boyfriend, his
words were very frivolous. He didn't even remember the name of his own
ex-girlfriend's school.
"Sekiya-san... you're
really...”
My shoulders began to shake
with a mixture of anger, humiliation, and disappointment.
“To be honest, I don't want to
meet Luna's ex-boyfriend for the rest of my life... because I will inevitably
hate him.”
I clenched both fists and
glared at Sekiya-san.
“But it turns out that Sekiya-san
is her ex-boyfriend...”
Then, perhaps startled by my
expression, Sekiya-san opened his eyes and shook his head.
“Huh? No, no, no, you’re
misunderstanding!”
“It's useless for you to deny
it now...”
I had already considered the
possibility that the guy Luna met that day was her cousin or her older sister's
boyfriend.
But if that guy turned out to
be Sekiya-san.
The only thing that could be
considered as ‘ex-boyfriend’.
“I told you I’m not her ‘ex-boyfriend’, so calm down first,
okay!”
Sekiya-san grabbed both my
shoulders and looked straight into my eyes.
“Please listen carefully
first.”
I don't want to hear any
excuses from you ....... As I was thinking this while staring at him,
Sekiya-san said to me.
“'Shirakawa Luna' is not my ex-girlfriend.”
“Then what...?”
“She's a friend of my
ex-girlfriend.”
After hearing that, my train of
thought immediately stopped.
“Your ex-girlfriend's ....
friend...?”
“If you think I'm lying, you
can ask my ex-girlfriend directly... she went to school here too, so you should
know her already, right?”
“Sorry, I don't understand what
you're talking about at all, but what's the name of Sekiya-san's
ex-girlfriend...?”
When I asked, Sekiya-san looked
away and spoke hesitantly.
“Yamana Nikoru. Isn't she the
best friend of 'Shirakawa Luna'?”
“Ehh....”
Yamana-san......?
Being told something I never
thought of, made my brain go haywire and I had a little trouble analyzing it.
"Ehh, Yamana-san's
ex-boyfriend...? Huh, eh, the guy she dated for two weeks when she was in the
2nd year of middle school...?”
“Yes.”
“Sekiya-san replied by nodding
his head.
“The guy who likes to listen to
sutras...? Ehh? That chuunibyou boyfriend?”
I blurted out the words
reflexively and Sekiya-san lightly glared at me.
“I told you, that's me.”
The blushing Sekiya-san glanced
to the side and looked at Tanikita-san.
While on the other hand,
Tanikita-san looked at both of us with a relieved expression on her face.
"...In other words, she
didn't do any paid dating activities, right? Ahh thank goodness~!”
“Huh? Paid dating? ... You guys
really have strong imaginations.”
Sekiya-san could only smile
wryly, then alternately looked at me and Tanikita-san.
“We have something we need to
talk about, so sorry, can you just find someone else to help you decorate?”
Sekiya-san told Tanikita-san,
He then looked at the surrounding area and called out to someone by gesturing.
"I just happened to see a
guy who has a tall body. Let's come here for a moment."
Unexpectedly, the person
Sekiya-san called was Icchi as he approached us with trepidation.
“I-Is there anything you need
with me...?”
“Ahh, Ijichi-kun! Just in time,
please help me for a moment!”
Icchi who had been looking at
me and Sekiya-san with a suspicious expression, suddenly brightened up when
Tanikita-san spoke to him.
“N-No problem...!”
Tanikita-san and Icchi, who ran
towards the gymnasium together, looked like a small animal and a bear running
in the forest.
◇◇◇◇
Sekiya-san and I entered the
classroom where the first graders were running the coffee shop.
Although lunchtime had already
passed, the customers inside were still bustling and almost full. By the way,
at our school's cultural festival, each class wasn't required to do something,
so my class didn't participate because not many people wanted to.
Sekiya-san spoke straight to
the point as I nervously accepted the drink I randomly ordered.
“If I'm not mistaken... last
Sunday? When I left home to go to a cram school, there was a girl I didn't know
who stopped me in front of the station. She was 'Shirakawa Luna.'”
I just kept my mouth shut and
listened.
"Since it was a reverse
situation, I thought again that it was lucky to be approached by such a cute
girl, so I tried talking to her. She then said 'I'm Yamana Nikoru's best friend from high school. Nikoru still hasn't
forgotten you, so would you mind meeting Nikoru one more time?". She
was on her way to Yamana's house to play, and she recognized me because she had
seen my picture, so she came over and called me.”
I remembered Luna's face as she
listened to Yamana-san's love story after playing Savage the other day.
I think that really describes
Luna's nature. Maybe she happened to see the ex-boyfriend that her best friend
was still thinking about in town and called out to him reflexively. No matter
how important my friends were, I couldn't do what Luna did. I would definitely
lose time because I'd only see her in photos and think about what if I was the
wrong person or something.
“On that day, I had an
interview with the staff of the cram school. When I told her I'd be late
because I had an appointment, she took out a receipt from her purse and wrote
her phone number with something that looked like eyeliner, then handed it to
me, saying 'I'd like to talk more, so
please call me again when you're free.'”
I'm starting to get the
picture. I'm sure she felt desperate. Because it's all for Yamana-san's sake.
Luna is really adorable.
“Then I forgot about it for a
few days, but when I reorganized my bag, I found the receipt paper and started
to remember, 'Oh, right'. Although
she's a gyaru girl, but she has a sweet and cute face, so I thought I'd contact
her even if it's just to meet her.”
Sekiya-san noticed my exasperated
gaze and smiled wryly.
“Don't be so angry. At that
time I still didn't know that she was your girlfriend.”
“I'm not angry at all, really.”
If this was the extent of my
anger, I wouldn't be Luna's boyfriend.
... No, I was just a little
annoyed.
“Then we made an appointment to
meet in Ikebukuro.”
On that day... Luna got a call
from someone after the meeting. By the way, I started to remember that
Sekiya-san also came late to the self-study room.
“Nikoru, regarding Nikoru, she really only talks about Yamana. Even though I said ‘Our relationship is over,’ she replied ‘But in Nikoru's mind, it's not over at all!" with great
tension. She said that she'd make an appointment if I wanted to meet Yamana,
but I wasn't in the mood for that, and we didn't come to an agreement. That's
all.”
Raising his hands as if to show
his innocence, Sekiya-san finished his story.
“...Why didn't you want to meet
Yamana-san?”
I recalled Sekiya-san's words
when talking about his first girlfriend.
——
If only I could do it all over again from the beginning of the first year of
high school, ...... I probably wouldn't have dumped her at that time.
I'm sure he still harbors
feelings for Yamana-san for making him say that.
“There is no way I ever meet
her, where will I put my face? The reason I dumped her was that I wanted to
play around with other girls, and after having fun with them, how could I say 'As I thought, I like you more', selfishness
knows its limits too.”
“But....”
Yamana-san still couldn't
forget her ex-boyfriend, Sekiya-san. If the two of them are still thinking
about each other, can't they start all over again?
“... Because I've hurt Yamana.”
While I was thinking about that
question, Sekiya-san said in a gloomy tone.
“During the first grade of
middle school, Yamana was a plain and inconspicuous girl. She had black hair
and was quiet. She didn't have many friends because of her sharp eyes, just
like me.”
Narrowing his eyes with a
nostalgic look, Sekiya-san began to tell the story.
“However, she was very caring
and loyal to the person who opened her heart to her. We were both shy, so it
took a while to get to know each other, but she was a good junior and a great
manager.”
Ah
I see, I thought.
She stood in line with Luna to
buy me a limited edition smartphone case, she gave her devilish advice to keep
Luna from staying up late ...... that kind of caring attitude hasn't changed at
all.
“And then, the two of us start
going out... but after breaking up with me, Yamana's behavior got worse. It
just so happened that at the same time, her father was having an affair and her
parents was always fighting. She also consulted with me a lot before we
started dating...”
I had heard from Luna that
Yamana-san's mother was a single mother, but did they divorce around that time?
“When we started dating, things
were a little calmer. I even thought that they might not get divorced.”
After saying that as if it was
an excuse, Sekiya-san continued.
“Since leaving home with her
mother, Yamana started dyeing her hair blonde, getting piercings all over her body,
and hanging out with delinquent... We haven't been in touch since we broke up,
so I was quite surprised when a junior told me about Yamana's changes.”
Sekiya-san clenched his hands
tightly on the table. While looking at them, Sekiya-san began to mutter.
“I should be the one to support
her... I wanted to do that. But what I did was the opposite...”
If
you really like her, it's better not to break up with her...
I've said that before. Sekiya-san must have felt the same way, and I don't
blame him at all.
“...So you don't have the
courage to meet Yamana-san?”
Sekiya-san could not answer.
Probably because my words hit the nail on the head.
It's really annoying.
——Just
so you know, I already did. ...... To the point of kissing.
Because I saw Yamana-san's face
like a maiden in love.
——That's
stupid, right? I still can't get over the guy I dated for two weeks in 2nd
grade. But what the hell, he was the first guy I liked...
——Thanks
to breaking up with her, I was able to date several pretty and sweet girls, but
...... later I realized that my first girlfriend was still the best. After I
realized that, I couldn't do anything else.
You both still have feelings
for each other.
Then... Isn't it too late
to start over?
“...Sekiya-san may have hurt
Yamana-san, but ...”
Sekiya-san and Yamana-san
started dating cleanly after fulfilling their first love for each other....
Perhaps it's because their love
started out innocent and clean, and once they hurt someone, they thought that
they couldn't fix it anymore.
“Including hurt .... it should
be possible to forgive the past and painful mistakes in order to move forward
towards the future!”
As myself....
My first girlfriend already had
a lot of scars.
Wounds caused by irresponsible
boys who hurt her innocence.
I started dating her who was
already tattered by such scars.
I wanted to embrace and accept
each of her scars.
I thought .... that was the way
to love her.
“...Even more so if the scars
Yamana-san has now are scars inflicted by Sekiya-san himself....”
Sekiya-san looked down, but I
could tell that he was listening carefully to my words.
“I think Sekiya-san should make
her happy.”
Sekiya-san did not say
anything, and I repeated my words to him.
“I also... want Sekiya-san to
meet Yamana-san once more.”
Sekiya-san who was silent for a
while raised his face.
“I didn't expect that Yamada is
an expert in romance.”
He said it in a mocking tone,
but his awkward mouth showed that he took my words seriously.
“...By the way, what does the
current Yamana look like?”
Suddenly, Sekiya-san asked me
something like that.
“What's what she like...?”
“I mean, her appearance and
stuff.”
“Her appearance? Ummm...”
I searched through my
smartphone's photo gallery, thinking it would be quicker to show it than to
listen to my poor explanation. I then enlarged the group photo while playing
Savage and showed it to Sekiya-san.
“...Ah, I expected her to be a
gyaru girl, huh.... But she looks much more mature.”
There was a nostalgic and radiant
feeling from the look in his eyes.
“Does she still like to fight
now?”
“Fi-Fighting?”
As I was taken aback by the
disturbing words, Sekiya-san explained it clearly.
"When I was in the third
year of junior high school, I heard from a junior that she beat up twenty
delinquents from another school by the Arakawa River.”
“Twe-Twenty people...!?”
Too dangerous... What is
Yamana-san's true identity anyway!
“Do you mean the era of Nikoru
of the Central North...?”
“Ah, yes, yes, that one. I
don't know which high school she went to because I haven't heard her new nickname
since she graduated.”
Sekiya-san smiled with a
somewhat distant look in his eyes as he said that.
“...I'm always worried about
whether she'll be able to find good friends in high school. Something like some
kind of emotional support.”
He muttered that in a low
voice.
“Maybe... 'Shirakawa Luna' is that kind of person for her.”
Then she made eye contact with
me and smiled.
“The two of you are really good people.
You make a good couple.”
“...Sekiya-san...”
“Come on, make up quickly. I
want you two to be happy.”
“.....”
Even Sekiya-san deserves to
feel happy too.
Sekiya-san muttered to me
mockingly to himself as I felt frustrated.
“...I'm afraid.”
He then said with a bitter
smile.
"My memories with Yamana
are too beautiful... I don't have the courage to start the continuation of my
first love, which I thought had ended long ago.”
“Sekiya-san...”
No matter what I said, it would
only be a repetition of the same thing.
As I tried to sigh in
frustration...
“...finally found you, Kasshi!”
I looked at the classroom entrance
as I heard a familiar voice and saw Icchi standing there.
“Ehh, Icchi? The
decorations...”
“It's been finished for a long
time! More importantly, I happened to see it while returning from the
gymnasium...”
Icchi came sidling up to us as
the people in the classroom watched him. Was there something so urgent that the
introvert Icchi was willing to stand out?
“Shirakawa-san is being courted
by a group of flirty boys from another school! Are you sure don’t want to help
her!?”
“Ehh....!"
My heart started beating
faster.
“Shirakawa-san is being
courted...?”
“And Oni gyaru too. They seem
to be delinquents, and even though she has rejected them, they keep coming over
and pestering her like stalkers."
What did you say?!?
Without realizing it, I was
already standing up while pounding on the table.
“You want to go there!? That's
right, I know that there's only Shirakawa-san for you!"
Icchi looked so happy. Does he
really think that I'm trying to flirt with Tanikita-san too? Well, that's not
important right now.
“Sekiya-san too, please come
with me.”
“Eh? Ah, well...”
Sekiya-san also stood up to
follow me. I guess because he didn't know who the holder of the nickname "Oni gyaru" was, he just
followed along without thinking about anything else.
◇◇◇◇
Then, while being guided by
Icchi, we walked down the school building.
“Look, over there.”
Icchi pointed in one direction,
and sure enough, there was Luna.
At the corner of the hallway,
Luna looked troubled. Next to her was Yamana-san who looked irritated, and in
front of them were two boys in uniforms from another school. They both had
faded blonde hair and pierced ears, and they looked like a group of delinquent
boys.
“Ahh…”
Then I noticed Sekiya-san who
was next to me gasp. He seemed to have noticed Yamana-san.
“Hey~ hey~ come on, come on, it
doesn't matter right?”
“Told you, we don't want to!?”
“So bitchy!?”
“Seriously~, you guys are so
cute~ I'll die if you don't kiss me~~”
“Huh!? You'd better die alone!”
“Yep, I've received the word
'die alone' from a pretty girl who's pissed off~~!”
“Thanks a lot~~!”
The delinquent boys and
Yamana-san were arguing with each other. It seemed that their conversation was
not connecting with each other, and Yamana-san's rejection seemed to have the
opposite effect.
“Let's go, Luna!”
“Yes....”
“Oops~!?”
“Tada~! Majipane Defense~!”
When Luna and Yamana-san tried
to barge through, the two boys spread their arms and wiggled their hips
obscenely.
Those
bastards... guys like them are real jerks. I don't think I can just barge
through being blocked like that.
...... I had no choice but to
go.
Rather than feeling awkward
because I hadn't talked to Luna in a long time, or those punks looked scary, I
wanted to help her as quickly as possible because she was in trouble.
Our classmates looked on from
afar with curious glances.
But now was not the time to be
embarrassed.
“...Luna!”
Seeing me walking over, Luna
turned to me.
“Ryuuto ......!”
I looked at her who was in a
state of shock.
"L-Let's go..."
I held out my hand with
trepidation in front of the boys, Luna then reached out and grabbed my hand.
“Ehh, seriously~~ You have a
boyfriend~~!?”
“Uwaahhh! Really uwaahhhh~~”
While listening to the taunts
of the boys, we held hands and left the place.
“Ehh, wait...”
As the impatient Yamana-san
tried to catch up to Luna, the bratty boys blocked her way again.
“Eits, where are you going~~?”
“Come play with us for your
friend's share too~~”
“Huh!? Don't be silly!”
“Eits~?”
As I walked away from
Yamana-san, who couldn't come out and looked annoyed, I turned my attention
towards Sekiya-san who was standing among the crowd.
“Nikoru...!”
Luna stared at her best friend
as if reluctant to leave her.
Sekiya-san ......!
I stared at his face as if I
was pleading with him.
Sekiya-san turned away from me
and turned his gaze elsewhere.
Then, as if blowing on
something, he sighed loudly and moved from his spot.
Sekiya-san then headed towards
Yamana-san.
With his hands in his pants
pockets and a rather fierce expression, Sekiya-san arrived in front of
Yamana-san whose hands were being held by the boys.
“...Get the hell out here.
She's my girlfriend.”
Upon hearing Sekiya-san's
voice, the boys and Yamana-san looked at him simultaneously.
“Hah....”
“Ah, seriously? So-Sorry...”
The two boys immediately opened
the way with a coward mentality. Unlike my time earlier, they couldn't act like
tough guys when faced with a tall, handsome man who didn't ask any questions
and immediately told them to get out of the way.
Sekiya-san barged in between
the bad boys and grabbed Yamana-san's hand.
“Let's go.”
“......”
Yamana-san opened her mouth and
looked at him with a surprised expression.
“...Senpai...?”
Her voice sounded like a maiden
in love, much different from the tone she used before when cursing at the boys
earlier.
“Why?”
Something sparkling appeared in
her eyes as she looked at Sekiya-san.
“Sorry, I came late”
Sekiya-san said with a slightly
awkward and shy smile.
“Senpai...”
While walking down the hallway
with Sekiya-san pulling her hand, Yamana-san held her mouth with her other hand
and cried.
They both came up to us who
were watching everything from the corner of the hallway and stopped.
“...Senpai, why...?”
Staring at Sekiya-san,
Yamana-san burst into tears.
There was a crowd of people
around us, and they were still looking at us curiously.
“O-Oi, don't cry like that...”
Realizing this, Sekiya-san said
to Yamana-san as if in panic.
“Your character at school isn't
like this, is it?”
“After all...”
Folding her long fingernails,
Yamana-san sobbed while wiping her eyes.
Sekiya-san narrowed his eyes
and smiled when he saw Yamana-san.
It was the first time I saw
Sekiya-san's face looking so affectionate.
Sekiya-san then hugged
Yamana-san who still couldn't stop crying.
“...I'm going to do this, so
stop crying, okay?”
While stroking Yamana-san's
hair and holding her head, Sekiya-san whispered in her ear.
“...Senpai...hiks....”
Yamana-san's crying sounded
muffled, and I smiled to myself.
Thank
goodness....
That's
good for you, Yamana-san.
You
can finally meet someone you've always loved.
Just as my heart warmed at the
thought, I felt the hem of my uniform being tugged, and turned to my side.
Luna looked at me as if to say
something.
“...Let's let them take their
time alone?”
“Oh, yeah... right too.”
So we walked a little further
away from them.
“Ryuuto, do you know
Sekiya-san?”
“Uh, yes. Because he's my
friend in cram school...”
“I see.”
It had been a long time since I
had spoken to Luna directly, and the floral or fruity scent spreading from her
body made my heart skip a beat.
“...In that case, it's all thanks
to Ryuuto. You must have heard about it, right? That I was trying to talk to
Sekiya-san.”
“Ah, yes...”
I found out about all those things
just a while ago.
“I can't persuade Sekiya-san...
Thank you very much, Ryuuto.”
Luna looked at me with a shy
smile.
There was something shining a
little in her eyes.
“Luna ....”
I had to tell her.
I felt grateful for Yamana-san
and Sekiya-san getting back together, but I hadn't talked about our own
problems.
That's what I was thinking and
was about to open my mouth.
“Hyahh, I don't know what
really happened, but it's good for her huh, Oni gyaru.”
Icchi came out from within the
crowd in the hallway. For some reason, Icchi also shed tears.
“... Love is really beautiful,
right...”
Icchi's narrowed eyes narrowed
even more into threads as he saw Yamana-san and the others from a distance.
“...Hey, I was actually
thinking of confessing my feelings to Tanikita-san.”
“Ehh!?”
Because he said something so
unexpected, I got surprised
“Because when I was helping her
with the decorations earlier, she said to me. [Thank you, Ijichi-kun, for coming! I was very helpful]. What do
you think this means?”
“It is mean...”
I then thought for a moment.
“...Doesn't it just mean [Thank you for coming, Ijichi-kun, you
helped me a lot]...?”
But Icchi didn't seem to listen
to my words very well.
“To be honest, I think she has
a romantic interest. If I confess to her right now and start dating, do you think
the two of us can go to the festival together tonight? I hope so.”
His chubby cheeks looked rosy
and he said happily. This was the first time I saw Icchi like this.
“But alone, I feel very
nervous... so I want you guys to come with me.”
“Uh, you mean 'you guys'...”
“Including me too!?”
As of now, Luna who was a
little distance away from me and acting uneasy by pretending not to listen as
much as possible widened her eyes in shock.
“You don't mind?”
“Y-Yes... since Kasshi and
Shirakawa-san are my idealized images... I wish that I could be like you guys
too. That's why I decided to be brave and confess my feelings to her.”
“....”
Luna and I exchanged glances.
And then, for some reason, Luna
and I had to witness Icchi's confession.
◇◇◇◇
“I-I-I like you! Please be my
girlfriend!”
Icchi's voice echoed in the
classroom of only four people.
This room was classroom 3-D,
which served as the luggage storage for the members of the school festival
organizing committee. Bags and uniforms were scattered on the table with chairs
raised and surrounding the floor.
Icchi knew Tanikita-san's
whereabouts after parting with her, so he went to call her and told her to come
here.
Then, the confession event was
held.
“........”
Tanikita-san's face was fixed
with a surprised expression.
She stared at Icchi with her
big eyes wide open.
Then, she suddenly turned her
gaze downwards.
......
Will he be rejected? When I think so...
Tanikita-san inhaled as if
taking a deep breath.
“Ijichi-kun...”
Her face looked angry as she
started to say something.
“This kind of thing is called 'confession terror', you know?”
Tanikita-san spoke quickly to
the stunned Icchi.
“I still don't know much about
Ijichi-kun. So what makes you think that I'll accept it?”
“Uh... not that, uh...”
“Does Ijichi-kun really like
me? Why? When? What was the trigger? Where? Because of my looks? If so, do you
want me to like Ijichi-kun just because of his looks too?”
Tanikita-san's relentless
verbal attack made her shudder and tremble.
I can understand exactly how
Icchi feels. It's like how you fall in love just because you lend someone a
mechanical pencil and get a “Thank you so
much~” or because someone compliments your height with a “really cool~”. This is the tragic fate
of a virgin guy.
If such a person gets a chance
to hook up with a pretty girl, he will inevitably like her.
“I think confession of love is
something that two people who like each other do to confirm each other's
feelings. So I don't think it's something you can do easily when you don't know
how the other party feels. Of course, the person who is rejected will be hurt,
but the person who rejects you is also equally hurt, you know? Because that
person understands very well that it will hurt the person in front of him and
rejects him anyway.”
Tanikita-san's words “rejection” sounded like an incessant
lecture.
“I heard that Kashima-kun
confess Lunacchi because Ijichi-kun ordered him to do so as a punishment,
right? I heard it from Lunacchi. Lunacchi just said, ’Thanks to that, I was able to date Ryuuto’. I just thought, ‘Huh?’. Ijichi-kun, you take things too
lightly. That's why you can easily order people to do it, right?”
“Uh... Ummhhhhh...”
Icchi's face was already
deathly pale and groaning like a sick person. It looked like he had been beaten
so badly verbally that his physical condition had deteriorated.
“Confession is not a game, you
know. If it's a gacha with a one-in-ten chance, you might be able to win once
if you play it ten times, but even if you tell the same person ten times at the
same time, there's no way you'll be accepted. When it doesn't work, it
definitely doesn't work. Moreover, the real world cannot be starting over.”
Icchi's HP bar had long reached
0. The name Overkill has a limit too.
Tanikita-san then bit her lip
there.
“...If you really like me, I
want you to keep quiet now. If you keep quiet and stay friends with me, it's
possible... it's possible that I can get to know more about Ijichi-kun, and
it's also possible that I can like you. What do you want to do to confess me in a bad way, feel hurt, and even come to
hurt me too?”
Icchi couldn't answer that. He
just leaned against the wall and felt helpless.
Seeing Icchi's state,
Tanikita-san then said something with a stern expression.
“Isn't it still called love not
to force your feelings on the person you love?”
After saying that, Tanikita-san
turned around and left the classroom.
“.....”
The only ones left were Icchi,
who already looked like a corpse, and me and Luna who watched the whole scene
with dumbfounded expressions.
After a while, Luna started to
move. She went over to the stunned Icchi and spoke to her.
“...I'm sorry about her,
Ijichi-kun. Akari may be talking too much and hurt you...”
Luna said in an apologetic tone
on behalf of her friend as she looked hurt as well.
“Akari's a cute girl, but
somehow she still doesn't have a boyfriend. That's why she gets confession from
guys so often. She gets depressed every time she gets confession and complains ‘If only we could get to know each other
better, something might change’.”
Icchi's gaze still looked
hollow, not really sure if he was listening or not.
“I know that Ijichi-kun is in
shock from being told something terrible, but I think Akari is just as shocked
as you are... So are you willing to forgive her?”
There was probably some truth
to that.
However, it felt a bit rude to
say that to the current Icchi.
“In that case,... I'll check on
Akari's condition first.”
After telling me that, Luna
also left the classroom.
When left alone with me, Icchi
who was leaning against the wall, fell down and slumped on the floor.
“...not forcing your feelings
on the person you love is also a form of love, huh...”
After a while, Icchi muttered
with a heartbroken expression.
“If I'm told so, my feeling of "love" for Tanikita-san doesn't
sound like love...”
"Well... yeah.”
Just like myself before dating
Luna, I think most boys' motivation for wanting a girlfriend is because they
want to make out with a girl.
“You wanted to date her right
away, so you confess to her in one try, right?”
“There is one of the reasons...
but if my confession doesn't work, I don't want to get my hopes up anymore. I
think about Tanikita-san every day, and every time I see her, my feelings get
bigger and I can't hold it in anymore....”
The decorating committee has
been gathering every day lately. It will also end today... I'm sure that was
also the factor that prompted her to confess her feelings.
“There's some part of the
corner of my heart that thinks that there's no point if I confess to her now.
But, since this is the first time I've really liked a real girl, I can't
help but risk everything in this one chance...”
Icchi's face looked lonely and
regretful.
“It's hard to continue liking
someone when we know that the other party won't accept our feelings. To be able
to keep pursuing it, one must have a lot of love. But at least, that is an
impossible thing for me right now...”
“Icchi...”
I felt sad for a long time and
tried to find words that could comfort him.
The classroom door rattled open
and Nisshi appeared.
“Oh, you guys are here, huh?”
However, Nisshi was also acting
stranger than usual.
“Nisshi? What the...”
Nisshi opened his mouth when I
was about to ask him.
“Hey... I just saw Oni gyaru
walking hand in hand with a handsome guy .... what's that....?”
“...Yes, that's meaning.”
“What if he's her older
brother...?”
“Unfortunately not...”
“........”
Ah... it turns out that Nisshi
really likes Yamana-san.
My heart ached again when I saw
Nisshi whose face immediately turned pale and almost vomited.
◇◇◇◇
“We are youthful losers...”
Then the three of us still
stayed in the classroom for a while.
Icchi and Nisshi were lying on
the floor and staring helplessly at the classroom ceiling. While I myself sat
on the floor watching them.
“Kasshi. You should take good
care of your relationship with Shirakawa-san, marry her, have many children,
and increase the population of the next generation for those of us who are still
single...”
“No, that's still too early a
conclusion, Icchi...”
Just because you get rejected
once doesn't mean you'll stay single for the rest of your life. I felt sorry
and regretful thinking that you were so mentally crushed by Tanikita-san's
words.
“No, it's not like that.”
This time it was Nisshi's turn
to open her mouth to my astonishment.
“If Kasshi has a beautiful
daughter, she will become my wife....”
“I'm not willing to do that...!”
I firmly refused and worried
about the future of my daughter whom I had never seen.
“...Haaahh. But Kasshi is
amazing, seriously.”
“That's right...”
Icchi and Nisshi's tone sounded
neither cynical nor envious.
“It's almost like a miracle
that the person I like likes me too.”
“But every couple around the
world came up with such a miracle.”
“Even an ordinary couple
walking around there can perform such a miracle...”
"I'm so lazy to get up~!”
“Me too~... Kasshi is a very
lucky person, right~.”
“........”
I thought so myself.
I'm now still on the path of
extending the miracle.
However...
——
At first, I thought that Ryuuto was a very interesting person because you were
so different from me. The more I like you, the more I am reminded that you are
a completely different type of person from me, and that makes me very uneasy. I
wonder if you'd be okay with dating me. I wonder if we can be together forever
...... I wonder if you'll always love me?
Isn't that obvious? I like her
a lot. Even now, I still love her very much.
The person I always want to be
next to is not Kurose-san, but Luna.
I wanted to tell Luna about it
again.
“...Kasshi?”
“Do you want to go somewhere?”
“Yes... I want to find Luna
first.”
I told that both of them and
left the room.
◇◇◇◇
Some time ago, when
Tanikita-san made Icchi lifeless, I recalled Kurose-san's words.
——
I still like you.
——
I know how Kashima-kun feels. Please don't reject me again and again.
——
It's just a matter of my feelings.
Kurose-san never told me,
"Please break up with Luna and date me."
At that time I still didn't
understand what she meant, so I made it ambiguous....
——
Isn't it called to love not to force your feelings on the person you love?
——
It's hard to continue liking someone when we know that the other party won't
accept our feelings. In order to keep pursuing it, one must have a lot of love.
If Kurose-san's feelings for me
are that strong,...... why would I remain unmoved by her?
——It's
not like this is just a matter of Yamada's assertiveness.
Exactly.
Even if Kurose-san still likes
me, as long as I am firm and keep my distance, there will be no problem.
Kurose-san is Luna's younger
sister and that fact will never change.
I
want to build a family with Luna... if I want that, I can't be
swayed by Kurose-san's feelings.
“....Yup.”
It
should be fine.
Kurose-san
is a beautiful girl who fits my type perfectly and has an interesting
personality. She also has the same hobbies as me.
But,
she is Luna's younger sister.
......I'll be fine. I will never feel more
than that.
If I treat Kurose-san in that
manner, I'm sure Luna will eventually understand and feel at ease.
That's why I have to tell her.
Just like before, I want her to
continue dating me.
“......Ahh!”
As I wandered around the school
building in search of Luna's whereabouts, I ran into a familiar face.
“Yo~”
It was Sekiya-san and
Yamana-san. The two of them were walking side by side while holding hands like
a couple.
“Well, this is how it will be.”
Sekiya-san showed their hand-holding
which intertwined their fingers like a couple.
“Thanks a lot.”
Hearing Sekiya-san's words,
Yamana-san lowered her head with a slightly shy expression.
“...Yes, I'm happy to see that
too.”
I really sincerely felt that.
But, what I was looking for
was...
“...Do you know where
Shirakawa-san is?”
In response to my question,
Yamana-san opened her mouth with “Ah yes”.
“She went out with Akari. She
said they wanted to redo the stage decorations.”
“I see, thank you.”
The school festival ended at 4
o'clock for the public, and from there, the students themselves started their
evening festival stage. After a joyful cheer accompanied by a song from the
volunteer band, everyone danced a folk dance around the bonfire in the
schoolyard, and after that, the entire festival event would be declared over.
Time flew by, and before I knew
it, it was almost 4 o'clock.
“I feel grateful to Yamada and
your girlfriend.”
Yamana-san looked confused “Yamada?” when she heard Sekiya-san's
words.
“By the way, how long will I
keep being called ‘Yamada’?”
Even though Kurose-san already
knew it, but somehow I missed the chance to correct him until now.
“Eh? But I don't remember your
real name.”
“Huh!?”
This
bast*rd .... I felt amazed that he still expressed his
gratitude to me. As I let out a tired sigh, Sekiya-san then said again.
“Just kidding, it’s a joke, you
know.”
Sekiya-san then laughed.
“Thank you, Ryuuto.”
◇◇◇◇
I muttered to myself as I
walked down the stairs of the school building to go outside.
“I feel sorry for Nisshi, but
Sekiya-san is too strong an opponent as a rival...”
Sekiya-san and Nisshi were too
different in terms of attractiveness, almost equal to the fighting power of
Frieza and Yamcha. Even Yamana-san, who usually acted fierce, suddenly turned
cute like a kitten next to Sekiya-san.
My heart ached when I thought
of Nisshi, but even if I didn't manage it, Yamana-san would never forget
Sekiya-san and wouldn't turn to Nisshi.
“...Put that matter aside
first.”
Better think about my own
problems first.
I want to meet Luna soon.
With that thought, I headed to
the open stage, but I saw no sign of Luna anywhere.
“Shirakawa-san? She was called
by the chief executive and went to the gymnasium.”
“If you're looking for Luna,
she went to help clear the reception tables.”
“Oh, we finished cleaning up,
so Shirakawa-san went to get her luggage.”
I couldn't catch up with her at
all, no matter where I went, and I was forced to run around in circles like the
protagonist in an RPG game.
“Lu-Luggage area...!”
It wasn't the 3-D classroom,
the place where I was with Icchi and Nisshi until a while ago.
In the end, if I had stayed in
that class, I would have met Luna by now.
It felt like such a waste...
When I looked at my watch, it seemed like I had been walking around looking for
Luna's whereabouts for more than 30 minutes.
“....Ehh?”
However, Luna didn't seem to be
in the 3-D classroom either. It seemed that Icchi and Nisshi had also left, and
there was no one there. The classroom looked deserted and empty with the lights
off and the luggage that the owners had taken with them.
I realized that the entire
school building already looked deserted. In contrast, the stage of the night
festival was at its climax, and the lively music and cheers coming from outside
sounded as if they had come from another world.
“.......”
What the hell was I doing.
If I wanted to see Luna,
shouldn't I just contact her?
Because I was her boyfriend.
I was so preoccupied with my
feelings that I forgot about the primacy of civilization.
When I took out my smartphone
and pressed the call button, a familiar voice started ringing near me.
“Ehh....”
On the balcony outside the
classroom window, I saw the back of Luna's back. I hadn't noticed it until now
because its presence overlapped with the window curtain and I was only paying
attention to the inside of the room.
“Ryuuto!”
Luna, who took out her
smartphone and put it to her ear, looked back in surprise as I opened the
balcony door.
Luna seemed to be watching the
evening festival from the balcony. Glancing down, I could also see the stage in
the schoolyard.
“Thanks for the hard work...
Did you finish all your assignments?”
“Yes. Ryuuto too?”
“Yes”
While having a casual
conversation, I stood beside Luna and placed my hands on the balcony railing.
“...Thanks to Ryuuto, today has
become a great day, because my best friend can finally feel happy.”
Luna suddenly smiled as she
looked up at the stage.
“I already heard from Akari.
She said 'I told Kashima-kun because I
thought you were on a paid date, I'm really sorry”
“Ehh, ahh about that huh...”
Tanikita-san already told her
first, huh. One thing that needed to be explained to Luna was suddenly resolved.
“...Did Ryuuto think that I was
doing a paid date?”
Luna looked at me as she said
in a joking tone.
“... not at all. I don't even
think that.”
I shook my head and Luna smiled
back.
“I got a brand bag from my
grandmother. No matter how many times I begged to borrow it, she wouldn't lend
it to me, but recently she read a book about the afterlife and became
interested in effective living and minimalism. She only gave me two of them
anyway.”
“I see.”
As expected, that's how it
happened.
“You know, Nikoru hasn't seen
her first ex-boyfriend in over 3 years... and she finally got to meet someone she's
always loved.”
Luna muttered as she looked at
the stage where famous rock songs were being sung.
“When I saw Nikoru and
Sekiya-san, I thought that I had done something really stupid. Ryuuto had said
that you would stay by my side, and I wanted to do the same, but I was worried
about Maria and tried to keep my distance.”
Luna then smiled as she said
so.
“Because I like you, so I can
stay with you, right?”
Luna turned to me as if saying
to herself,.
“Right now, the only guy I can
think of who wants to stay with me is... Ryuuto alone in this world.”
Luna looked at me with a shy
expression and lowered her face as she muttered so.
“Then, I thought that I should
cherish that feeling more than anything else. After all, life is short, isn't
it?”
Luna smiled with a wide grin as if trying to hide her embarrassment.
“What a waste of youth to keep
your distance even when I like you!”
Luna's voice was absorbed into
the autumn night sky.
A sports car is a car designed
to run fast.
Luna was a girl who lived for
her life.
That's why I became attracted
to her.
I became attracted to her
purity.
I
just wanted to be happy, I was mesmerized by her living in the
present with just that desire.
“...Even though there was a
cultural festival event, I didn't even meet Ryuuto, I'm really stupid,
right?”
Then she suddenly muttered
regretfully.
“I'm always like that. I always
regret what I did because of my feelings...”
When I thought about what she
was talking about, I felt as if my heart was being torn apart.
“Actually, I really want to go
to the haunted house with Ryuuto and walk around enjoying the festival.”
“Luna...”
I
want to be with you too, you know.
The thought of that made me
feel unbearable, and I opened my mouth without thinking, letting my emotions
overcome me.
“Let's go next year. There
should be a haunted house next year too, I'm sure.”
“If there isn't?”
“Because I said so. Let's have
a haunted house booth in our class.”
I don't know if I have the
courage to do that, but that's how I feel right now.
“Next year, huh...”
With some excitement, Luna
looked up at the sky. The sky above still looked bright, but the sun's presence
was nowhere to be seen. The time for sunset must be approaching.
“If next year isn't possible,
there's still next year.”
I said and Luna turned to look
at me.
“As an alumnus?”
“Yes.”
I nodded deeply.
“Life is short, but it's also
long, I'm sure of it.”
I'm
not a sports car.
I
can't live as easily as Luna.
But
that's why I was drawn to her.
I'm
sure she's the same way.
Because
we're different, we're attracted to each other.
Because
we're different, we get anxious...
When I was alone, I never
thought it would be so hard to live with someone.
And that's an amazing thing.
“As long as I'm alive, there's
always next year and the year after that ...... and so on.”
I'm not very good at talking,
but I felt that I wanted to convey this to her.
I looked into Luna's eyes and
wove the words as hard as I could.
“I was thinking... I want to
continue being with Luna... forever and ever...”
I don't want him to say that
kind of thing anymore.
——
I want Ryuuto to think about it... do you still want to continue dating me or
not?
It's
not that obvious.
Because
I want to be with Luna.
With that thought, I looked at
Luna.
“... Alright, I understand.”
Perhaps my feelings had been
conveyed, Luna smiled apologetically.
“I'm sorry, Ryuuto.”
“I'm the one who should
apologize... I apologize for making you anxious.”
Although there were many things
that were coincidental, I was the one who had made her worry about Kurose-san.
“I like you .... Luna.”
It's not the first time I've
said those words, but I always feel embarrassed every time I say them.
“I will always only love you,
Luna...”
I'm a virgin boy, and can't
behave as smartly as Sekiya-san.
With both hands gently
outstretched, I put my arm around Luna's shoulders and..... slowly pulled her
towards me.
Luna obediently leaned towards
me and buried her face in my chest.
We hadn't embraced each other
since we embraced at an inn in Enoshima.
For the first time, I hugged
her of my own accord.
Slender and soft, I felt the
shape and warmth of Luna's body with my whole body.
The scent of flowers or fruit
wafted thickly in the air, making me nervous. I couldn't breathe properly and
found it hard to hold my breath.
“Yes, me too.”
Luna then murmured with her arm
around my back.
“Ryuuto is the only guy who
makes me feel reluctant to give up...”
Then she looked up and looked
at me.
“Only Ryuuto made me feel that
way.”
She hugged me tightly and I
gasped until I couldn't catch my breath.
The scent of her body enveloped
me as I buried my face in her hair and hugged her slender shoulders tightly and
carefully.
