Chapter 1
It’s a new school year after spring break.
Most of the students have club activities every day, so they don’t seem to be losing their rhythm.
However, I’m different.
It would be pretty tough for me, as someone who doesn’t join any club activities and had the entire day off like an elementary school student.
“Hey, Touma, you look pretty sleepy.”
“It’s true. Pull yourself together, man.”
It was break time after the first period.
As I was vaguely fighting the sleepiness that had been following me since I woke up, two of my friends approached me.
The names of the two are Haruki Sanada and Yukito Nishikawa, and they have been my friends ever since I entered high school.
Haruki is on the soccer team and Yukito is on the basketball team, and they are both athletic and good-looking guys.
They have handsome faces and are kind to everyone, so they have a good reputation among girls.
However, they also have good girlfriends and are very much in the “riajuu” category.
I think I’m very fortunate to have such guys as friends who care about me.
“I don’t have any club activities, so I have no reason to wake up regularly. It’s been a long time since I’ve been up at a regular time, and I’m so sleepy!”
“Why don’t you just join a club?”
“That’s exactly it. You should try soccer or basketball.”
“The ball won’t listen to me in basketball! Soccer’s too hard on my leg muscles!”
“I don’t see anything like that during PE though~…”
This is not an excuse to deceive them, it’s actually the truth.
My legs can run well enough to do well in any ball game, and I have a decent amount of endurance running strength, so they seem to think I’m pretty athletic.
Aside from most ball games, I can’t play basketball or soccer.
I’m not particularly talented in ball games, especially those in which the position of movement is fluid depending on the situation.
It’s still better in ball games like volleyball and baseball, where it’s easy to know what to do depending on the position and situation to a certain extent.
“Since you don’t have any club activities, what did you do during spring break?”
“Line with you guys.”
“No, no, that’s not enough to fill up a whole day! Besides, we can’t reply to you while we’re doing our club activities.”
“…Sleeping then?”
“You’re really lazy.”
The two of them, who live a very active life with their club activities, must be appalled.
“I’ll ask you the opposite. What did you guys do on this spring break besides club activities and playing with us?”
“”Studying and dating.””
“Ah, I see what you mean.”
I regretted that I asked that question.
If you’ve got the time, of course you’re going to hang out with your girlfriend if she’s around, besides hanging out with me.
It’s not that I don’t like them, it’s just that they’re too perfect, studying hard and improving each other.
“Why don’t you get a girlfriend soon?”
“Don’t say that so easily~…”
“No, I’ve heard a lot about girls from my girlfriend, and she says you’re not bad. Why don’t you just talk to the girls you like?”
“Girls I’m interested in huh…”
There are a lot of cute girls with good personalities in our school.
However, there is no one that I am particularly attracted to! I’m in this state precisely because there’s no such girl that I’m particularly attracted to.
Of course, if I had a girlfriend, many things would change, and more than anything, I’ve seen these two live their life while being this fulfilled closely, so how could I not want one?
“Isn’t there someone you’re even slightly attracted to? Before you say you don’t want to go out with her, you need to get to know her and find out more about her.”
“Oh, that’s so true…”
“If you were in the club, you could at least expect to have a future relationship with the junior who joined yesterday…”
“Ugh!”
Those words that were actually being spoken out of seriousness for my well-being pierced my heart.
“You’re probably right, Yukito. There were a lot of cute girls recruiting for club activities yesterday, before and after the entrance ceremony.”
“She’s going to be mad at you.”
“Well, I can’t help it. It’s a man’s nature to pay attention to cute girls, even if they have girlfriends.”
If his girlfriend was listening, she’s definitely going to start a fight, so let’s hope she’s not around.
While we were talking about such things, I couldn’t tell what they were talking about since the classroom was buzzing a lot.
There seemed to be something going on in the hallway outside, but we were so absorbed in our conversation that we didn’t pay attention to others.
“Hey, Touma, you’ve got a visitor!”
“Huh?”
I didn’t think I’d be called out in a loud voice, so I raised my voice in an absurd manner.
The guy who called out to me gave me an indescribable look, and the girl who had just looked out into the hallway and was buzzing around was surprised and grinned a little.
(What is it?)
I have a bad image of being called out by the teacher for doing something strange unintentionally early in the new school year.
I don’t feel bad about standing out for doing something good, but I don’t want to get angry with the teacher and stand out in a bad light─.
With this in mind, I went out into the hallway─.
“Hello. It’s been a while.”
“O-Ohh. It’s been a while.”
“Yes.”
The one who was there was my sister’s best friend, who I was used to seeing just a while ago.
“I’ll introduce myself again. I managed to get into the school without any problems. I’m a good friend of Saki. I’m Rin Mamiya.”
“Umm, yeah. I’ve heard about you from my sister. Congratulations on your admission.”
I was not expecting her to come to see me, so I proceeded to talk to her in a sluggish manner.
Unlike before, she wore our high school uniform and looked more mature.
She had a beautiful face to begin with, and her charm, which made it difficult to look directly at her, was not only alive and well, but had increased in power.
“Yes, thank you very much! O-Onii-san… Ah!”
She tried to speak as before, but her face turned red quickly, as if she had realized she said something wrong in the middle of her speech.
“I-I’m sorry,.. This was not the right place to call you that, right?”
“No, it’s fine if you call me like that if that makes it easier for you. Don’t worry about it.”
“Yes.”
She called me the same way my sister calls me.
Of course, it wasn’t strange, and I felt it was rather natural.
It may be a little embarrassing for her, but I don’t think there’s any need to force her to change her way of speaking now.
“I’m a year older than you in this high school, so if you have any questions or problems, don’t hesitate to rely on me.”
“Yes! I’m counting on you… I hope you can help me again like you did back then.”
“…I didn’t do anything too serious back then, did I?”
“…You’re so quick to play dumb.”
She looked a little embarrassed as she said this.
It’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other again, but nothing has changed in her gestures.
I think it’s really unfair.
“Come on, come on, break time is over. You have to get ready for your next class or else you won’t make it.
“…Yes.”
I managed to pull myself together and sent her off to get ready for the next class.
“……”
…I thought that after a little while, I would forget about everything and be apathetic as this doesn’t involve me but…
Apparently, the situation between us is no longer that simple.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Translator’s Afterword: For some reason, this author’s way of writing feels weird/strange to me. Even my Editor said so. This one is just… If there’s anything that sounds weird, blame the author kekw. We tried to make it better a bit but this is as far as it goes.