After Distancing Myself From the Childhood Friend Couple Who Looked Down on Me, I Started Interacting With a Small Animal-Like Beautiful Girl - Chapter 12

There was no one else in the small classroom besides us. The sound of flipping through three textbooks and the sound of writing answers to problems in notebooks quietly echoed in the room.

Other than the faint sounds of students walking in the hallway and their voices, there is nothing at all to disturb my studying.

Kubo and I sat next to each other, and Saitou-san set up the desk facing us.

Kubo was so focused on tackling the test questions that he seemed too nervous to even talk, especially since he was facing the well-known small animal-like beauty of the school.

Saitou-san was solving the problems silently and smoothly, without changing her expression at all. If I had spoken to her, it would have been a distraction, so in a way, it’s good that she didn’t have the time to spare.

Of course, I’m focused. It was hard to say.

It’s not that I’m not working on my studies.

However, for a certain reason, my hand holding the mechanical pencil would occasionally stop, and it would take quite a long time to understand the problem statement.

–––Besides, you don’t understand a lot of things without me and Serika around, do you? You were never good at studying, and you used to come crying to us about it.

I have already recalled the words that Daiki said before coming here many times.

It’s just plain weird to go so far as to say such nonsense just to get close to Saitou-san.

If he is acting because he likes her, then I can understand. However, the reason he does that is to boost his own value as a man, and besides, he already has a girlfriend, Serika.

I don’t understand him, even though we’ve been together for a long time.

Moreover…

“…Y-Yukito!”

Noticing that I was being called, I lifted my face from the problem I was working on.

The person sitting to my right, Kubo, was peering at me with a puzzled expression.

“…I’m sorry. What?”

“No, you were just kind of zoning out. Did you get sleepy?”

“I’m not sleepy. It’s more like I got a bit distracted.”

“Well then, shall we take a break around here?”

Kubo glanced at the clock in the small classroom and said.

It seems that nearly an hour had passed since we started.

“What will Saitou-san do?”

“…Let’s take a break for now. We’ve made quite a bit of progress.”

When I asked just to be sure, Saitou-san let out a small sigh.

We entered our break time and each took out drinks and snacks.

Saitou-san took out a long rectangular box and began to pick at and eat thin stick-shaped snacks from it. Imagining a rabbit nibbling on long, thinly cut carrots with its small mouth, I take a sip of barley tea from the gray thermos.

Just like that, the water bottle suddenly became lighter.

“I’m going to buy a drink.”

I said that to the two of them, stood up, and immediately went down the stairs after leaving the small classroom. There was a vending machine in front of the entrance on the first floor. After looking at the drinks lined up next to each other and pondering for a moment, I press the button for a cold café au lait.

When I was in the group, I was sent to buy drinks for everyone, and while I was trying to make sure I didn’t mix up whose drink was whose, I ended up forgetting my own.

As I reached out to grab the café au lait while recalling such memories, I caught a glimpse of someone standing beside me out of the corner of my eye.

“Saitou-san?”

Right after I called her name, the drink button was pressed with a beep.

What fell into the receiving slot was a smaller-than-usual green tea bottle.

“I didn’t bring any drinks.”

Saitou-san said that and took out some green tea.

Come to think of it, she was the only one who didn’t have a drink. She must have thought that the salty snacks we were eating would make her thirsty.

“…What were you thinking about just before the break?”

Saitou-san suddenly spoke while shifting her gaze towards me.

With the surprise of being watched and the unsettling way of speaking as if probing for something, my entire body tensed up for a moment.

“Are you talking about when I was studying? There were difficult problems one after another, and it took a long time to solve them.”

“You only wrote the answer to one question in your notebook.”

“Huh, no way. Did you see it?”

“I tried to catch you off guard. You really weren’t making any progress.”

It ended up being like digging my own grave, and I froze with my mouth open.

Saitou-san’s expression seemed a bit surprised as it remained blank. It might be better to stop trying to deceive Saitou-san, who is hard to read emotionally.

“…Before going to the small group, Daiki kept insisting that we study together, right? He even made up lies like saying I’m not good at studying or that I was crying about it… I kept thinking about how much I hated that.”

I was speaking in a hushed voice while glancing sideways.

No matter how much I am ridiculed, our long-standing friendship remains unchanged, and we have memories together. I was torn between not wanting to accept that a part of me had been deceived and used, and feeling furious about why they would do such a thing.

“…Saitou-san.”

I turned my eyes, which were looking sideways, towards Saitou-san.

After locking eyes with her adorable, round eyes that looked up at me for a few seconds–––I bowed my head towards her.

“I’m sorry. As his childhood friend, I should have properly told Daiki.”

This has always been in the back of my mind.

Being pursued repeatedly by someone she don’t even like, let alone have any interest in, must have been nothing short of a nuisance.

The feeling of being sorry for causing discomfort again intensifies.

The fact that I only just now clearly expressed my opinion to Daiki is simply pathetic.

Saitou-san remains silent.

Even though I can’t complain, I wait for her words with my head bowed.

“…Lift your head.”

While thinking about being hit head-on, I return my head to its original height.

“Not that I have any intention of blaming Yoshizaki at all.”

Saitou-san opened her mouth again and said.

Huh? She continues as I let that out.

“Even if I said he was being persistent, he still came back, and I don’t think Yoshizaki would have listened either. Besides, Yoshizaki doesn’t seem like the type to speak firmly either.”

“Y-you’re absolutely right…”

“Also, just because you’re his childhood friend, you don’t have to worry about everything. Especially someone who would go so far as to lie just to get the attention of girls other than his girlfriend. It’s a waste of time to pay attention to his words.”

Saitou-san unusually spoke bluntly for a long time as she paused for a moment and sighed.

Her round eyes once again stared straight at me.

“…So, Yoshizaki doesn’t need to apologize or get hurt. Before going to the small group, I got back at him well enough, and that’s enough.”

Her emotionless, monotonous tone sounds just like always.

Those words pierced my heart and slowly seeped in. Like ice melting into the ground under the sun.

I grasp my chest tightly at the overwhelming warmth of the words I had secretly wished for somewhere in my heart.

The thank you that I managed to utter while holding back tears was slightly trembling.