After Distancing Myself From the Childhood Friend Couple Who Looked Down on Me, I Started Interacting With a Small Animal-Like Beautiful Girl - Chapter 21

Before I knew it, the month had changed, and we had entered the season for changing clothes. Including myself, more students are wearing short-sleeved shirts.

At the same time, an event was approaching.

“We will now divide the teams for the sports festival. Since we’ve made the lots, please draw them in order from the row closest to the hallway.”

Class representative Sayama-san took out a small white basket and lightly shook it to show us. There was a rustling sound, probably from the folded paper inside.

The classmates standing in the row by the hallway lined up in front of the lottery, their faces a mix of anticipation and tension.

The major event for students, the sports festival, is just two weeks away.

I heard them occasionally bringing it up in conversations among my classmates recently.

Since it’s my first sports festival as a high school student, I can feel an air of excitement.

When everyone finishes drawing their lots, each person looks at their results and goes through a rollercoaster of emotions.

“Oh, I’m with Daiki! Red!”

“Seriously? Good for you, Azuma.”

“Oh, I’m just like Ootomo-kun!”

“Nice~. I was white.”

I can already hear Daiki and the others, the lively crowd, getting excited.

I secretly felt relieved and looked at the lottery ticket I had drawn. There was “white” written there.

Speaking of which, I wondered how Serika was doing and looked over, only to see her staring at Daiki and the others while still holding her lottery ticket. Especially since she was glaring at the girl who ended up in the same group as Daiki, it seems she wasn’t placed in the same group.

“How was it?”

Saitou-san, who had come from next to me, had also changed into summer clothes, and since morning, the boys who seemed to be her fans had been glancing over there.

The delicate arms that were hidden under the blazer and long-sleeved shirt are now exposed, emphasizing a fragile, small animal-like appearance, which likely intensifies the fans’ protective instincts.

“It was white. How about Saitou-san?”

“Me too. Same here.”

“Yeah, that’s good.”

While nodding at Saitou-san, who was showing me the lottery ticket, I was desperately trying to suppress the urge to get carried away.

Just being on the same white team makes me so happy. I realize that Saitou-san’s presence has become so significant to me.

“Honestly, I don’t really like the sports festival. As the day approaches, the atmosphere around me becomes really serious, and depending on the event, the mood can get really bad if someone messes up during practice.”

Saitou-san sighed as she stretched out her arms and lay face down on the desk.

I nodded with a wry smile.

“Ah… I kind of understand that. I couldn’t keep up with the energy around me, and the tense atmosphere during the big jump rope was scary.”

“Even in high school, we still have to do the big jump rope. It’s really impossible. I want to skip practice.”

“That’s something I can experience now because I’m a student.”

“If saying that doesn’t make it a good memory, then what’s the point?”

“Well…”

I immediately cut off and ended up using honorifics.

If she asked me whether I had such deep feelings for the sports festival that I could say something so beautiful, the answer would be no.

Even though I was working hard on my performance, I often ended up feeling embarrassed when Daiki and Serika later told me that I was making strange movements or that I almost fell and they laughed about it.

“…But well, it’s not all bad this time, is it?”

Saitou-san turned her head towards me while keeping her face pressed against the desk.

The corners of her mouth lift just a little.

“I’m lucky that I got to be on the same team as my friend.”

“…!”

I can’t help but turn my face away, but I just respond with “I see.”

Saitou-san’s actions and words are so full of surprises that no matter how many hearts I have, it’s never enough.

After class, when Kubo heard my results and was obviously shocked, I somehow sensed it.

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

I was alone during today’s lunch break.

Kubo is with other friends, while Saitou-san says, “I’m in the mood to be alone.”

Maybe because I have had more people to spend the day with, I find myself feeling a bit lonely.

It was just the right time for this, so I was watching cat videos.

I sensed someone’s presence in front of my seat, took off my wireless earbuds, and looked over there.

“Yoshizaki. Do you have a minute?”

Even though he’s smiling, it feels like I’m being told to “show me your face” because I can sense the pressure, or rather, the bad mood of the person in front of me. Even though he was smiling, there were moments when Daiki was in a bad mood, so I gradually started to understand it by watching him.

The person leaning on my desk is Yokokawa Shirou.

A classmate with dark red permed hair, droopy eyes, and a casually worn uniform, looks like he might be a troublemaker. I have never spoken to him before.

“Um… what is it?”

“It’s okay, I won’t do anything bad. Alright?”

The cheerful expression that was popular with women is now incredibly terrifying.

There was no way I could shake my head in front of Yokokawa, who exuded an aura that brooked no argument, so I followed behind him and stepped into the hallway. Close to the classroom, at this time of day when no one passes through, I faced Yokokawa on the landing of the stairs.

“Hey, you were Ootomo’s childhood friend, right?”

With a face that seemed to have lost all emotion, Yokokawa spoke without any warning as if the gentle expression from earlier was a lie.

Even though he was confused, Yokokawa nodded and squinted his droopy eyes tightly.

“…Then why?”

“Huh?”

“Why aren’t you saying anything to him…!!”

Yokokawa’s eyes squeezed out while shaking his fists in anger as he looked pained and various emotions mixed together.

“I heard you left the LINE group a little while ago, without saying anything. If you can take such actions, you could have at least said something to Ootomo, right?”

Even though I was bewildered by Yokokawa raising his voice, I understood this much.

He had also been hurt by my childhood friend.

As he said, if he could take such actions, he should have been able to voice his opinions on Daiki’s past words and deeds as much as he wanted.

“…I don’t know what circumstances were involved, but first of all, I’m sorry. I also really wish I could have acted sooner.”

“Huh?”

When I bowed my head, Yokokawa’s bewildered voice came down on me.

“Wait, hold on. Does Yoshizaki not know anything?”

“…Huh?”

“Even if you leave the group, you’re his childhood friends, so you should be able to talk normally, right…?”

I feel like there are multiple question marks above Yokokawa’s head.

It seems that he thought I was still in contact with Daiki even after leaving the group.

For now, I decided to lightly gloss over the current situation with Daiki while explaining.

“Um, that. Since leaving the group, I haven’t really talked much, or rather, I have been trying to avoid getting involved as much as possible due to various reasons. Also, just to clarify, I did apologize when I left, but they just didn’t mention it.”

Haha… As I bitterly laugh, Yokokawa stares at me with wide-open eyes, as if trying to see through me. The relationship with my childhood friends is probably something that can’t be easily severed, even from the perspective of those around us.

It was probably about five seconds later in that state.

Yokokawa staggered backward unsteadily and forcefully fell to the ground.

“–––I-I’m so terribly sorry!!”

Yokokawa’s head slides towards me with such force that it almost pierces the tip of my indoor shoes.

It was an exceptionally splendid low bow as kneeling down on the ground.