After Being Dumped With the Insult, “You’re So Clingy!” and Finding Her in Despair, I Kept Encouraging My Beautiful Classmate and as a Result, That Beautiful Girl Started Directing Her Heavy Emotions Toward Me Instead, but Since I Like Emotionally Heavy Girls, It’s No Problem - 1

Chapter 1: It Happened on a Day of Heavy Rain

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In June, it was the rainy season. The sky was covered in dark clouds, and large raindrops poured down in torrents with a loud drumming sound. On the athletic field, puddles as large as ponds had formed in several places.

During the time for the end-of-day homeroom, I absentmindedly stared at that scene through the classroom window. The teacher was saying something, some announcements, probably, but it was nothing important anyway. Compared to that, the torrential downpour outside held far more of my attention.

On a day like this, it was better to head straight home without stopping anywhere. I would turn on the air conditioner in my room to get rid of the humidity, then lie on my bed and lazily scroll through YouTube on my phone. Besides, I had a feeling that something unpleasant was about to happen. On days when I had a premonition like this, the safest thing to do was stay shut in at home.

As I was vaguely thinking about that, the teacher finished speaking. The class representative gave the command, and the end-of-day homeroom concluded. At the same time, my classmates grabbed their bags and began filing out of the classroom all at once. Apparently, a weather warning had been issued, and even club activities had been canceled.

“Ichika, see you tomorrow. You walk to school, right? Be careful on your way home.”

“Yeah.”

My friend waved at me as he left the classroom. I lightly waved back in response.

…My name was Ichika Kokonoe. Just from the name “Ichika,” people sometimes mistook me for a girl, but I was a proper guy. Apparently, since I was born on a scorching summer day, my parents had given me that name. Aside from feeling a slight complex about it, I was an utterly ordinary second-year high school student with no particularly noteworthy traits.

“…Well, I guess I’ll head home too.”

After confirming that most of my classmates were gone and the classroom entrance had cleared out, I slowly stood up from my chair. There was no deep reason for waiting until everyone else had left. I just didn’t want to push my way through a packed crowd. I left the classroom, went down the stairs, and made my way to the shoe lockers at the entrance.

“Whoa… it’s really coming down.”

After changing from my indoor shoes into my sneakers, I looked up at the sky just as I was about to step out onto the school grounds and came to a stop. The rain seemed even heavier than when I had looked at it earlier from the classroom. Even with an umbrella, getting soaked would be unavoidable.

“Huh…? Where did my umbrella go?”

I searched my bag for the folding umbrella I was supposed to have with me. However, it was nowhere to be found.

“Ah… I left it in my locker.”

I quickly remembered where I had put it. That morning, the umbrella had been in the way inside my bag, so I had tossed it into the locker at the back of the classroom. I changed back from my sneakers into my indoor shoes and hurried up the stairs to return to the classroom. There was no one left inside. The only sound that echoed clearly in the room was the steady drumming of the rain pouring down.

Usually, the classroom was filled with my classmates chatting noisily, but in this state, it felt undeniably lonely.

“Give me a break already! You’re too clingy!”

“I was only thinking about you, Rei-chan…”

After retrieving my folding umbrella from the locker and turning to finally head home, I suddenly heard someone shouting. Since I had completely let my guard down, thinking no one was around, I nearly dropped the umbrella in surprise. It seemed that someone was arguing in the classroom next door. Wondering what was going on, I cautiously peeked inside.

There was a boy and a girl. I recognized one of them, the girl. Futaba Jujoji. She was my classmate. A beautiful girl with a gentle, soft-spoken demeanor, she was extremely popular and was even called “the No. 1 girl people would want as a girlfriend.”

As for the boy, I vaguely remembered seeing his face a few times in passing, but I didn’t know his name. He was probably from the class next door. The male student glared fiercely at Jujoji as if she were his mortal enemy and shouted again.

“That’s what I mean by clingy! Are you my parent? My girlfriend? No, you’re not! You’re just a lousy childhood friend, and you’re annoying as hell!”

“N-No…”

Tears welled up in Jujoji’s eyes as she was yelled at. I didn’t know what they were fighting about, but I felt like he was going too far.

“I’ve had enough! You’re always sticking to me! Do you have any idea how I feel, not even being able to get a girlfriend because of you!? Huh!? From now on, don’t ever show your face in front of me again!”

“Ah!”

The male student threw the textbook he was holding at Jujoji. It slammed loudly against the blackboard with a bang and fell to the floor. Fortunately, it didn’t hit her but if it had, she would have definitely been injured.

“Get away from me! Disappear, you jinx!”

“Rei-chan… ugh… ugh…”

The male student continued hurling textbooks and notebooks at her. Unable to endure it any longer, Jujoji bolted out of the classroom.

“Ah, wait—”

I passed by Jujoji as she rushed out. She was sobbing, desperately trying to wipe the large tears brimming in her eyes with the sleeve of her uniform. But even so, the tears overflowed from her eyes like a flood and would not stop. Without sparing me a glance as I stood at the classroom entrance, she ran off somewhere.

『Sniff… hic… waaah… waaah…』

A memory from the past replayed in my mind. The biggest regret of my life.

“…This is bad. I need to hurry home because of the heavy rain.”

But it didn’t seem like I could just leave her crying and go home. This situation was similar to back then. If I pretended not to notice and went home, I would regret it again. I didn’t want to experience the same regret ever again.

“…Alright.”

Having decided to look for Jujoji, I ran all over the school building in search of her. Along the way, a teacher told me to go home quickly, but I brushed it off with a vague response. After searching around the school for twenty minutes, I finally found her. She wasn’t inside the building at all. She was at the edge of the school courtyard, drenched to the bone, crying in the rain. No wonder I hadn’t been able to find her inside. 

I opened my umbrella and slowly approached her.

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