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

The time spent at the family restaurant with Ino-san and the others, eating and chatting, passed peacefully.

Sharing highlights from the sports festival, looking at photos and videos of my pet Maru together to feel comforted, and laughing together during that time is incredibly heartwarming.

“Oh yeah, what was Saitou called in for in the end?”

While poking at his dessert pudding with a spoon, Kouki casually spills it.

Come to think of it, I didn’t get to ask earlier, even though I finally had a chance to be alone with Ino-san.

Saitou-san put down the half-eaten spicy chicken on her plate and said, wiping her fingertips with a napkin.

“As soon as we were alone, he suddenly started with ‘Aren’t you cute?’ and I wondered what was going on. Then he started a self-PR thing. It seemed like it was going to be long, so I asked if I could go back, and he asked, ‘Don’t you want to go out with me?'”

So, maybe a confession?

Ino-san tilted her head while tipping the glass of water.

I, Kouki, and Shirou silently looked at each other’s strained faces.

Perhaps all three of us are thinking the same thing.

It’s roundabout and quite painful.

“Um, what did Ino-san say to the senior?”

When I asked, Ino-san’s face became even more expressionless.

“…I told him there was absolutely nothing between me and Senior, and I turned him down. People who say someone is cute and then start talking about themselves right away, I just don’t get it; it gives me the chills. Even if it wasn’t that, I still would have turned him down.”

At Ino-san’s words, each one possessing a terrifying sharpness, Kouki and Shirou simultaneously burst out laughing, “Bwahaha!”

Feeling the biting blizzard of cold wind raging around her on my skin, I felt a little sorry for the baseball team senior.

After a while, the party ended, and we left the restaurant.

Kouki and Shirou parted ways with me in front of the store, and I ended up walking Ino-san to the station. The routine of spending time with Ino-san has become completely established.

“Shall we go?”

“…Hmm.”

I started walking with Ino-san.

There was even less conversation than when we went to the family restaurant, but the awkwardness was twice as much.

I glanced over and saw Ino-san also looking at me, and we both averted our eyes at the same time.

When we’re alone, I can’t help but remember the conversation we had, which was almost like a confession.

That must be the same for Ino-san as well.

I still can’t quite believe it.

To be with someone more special than anyone else, someone who is not only physically close but also close in heart…

Every time I savor it, the beating of my heart quickens, faster than my walking pace.

At the same time, the desires I had been keeping hidden in the back of my mind began to surface.

If I can’t believe it, I will just accept it in a way I can.

“…–––Um.”

It’s not good. The words are stuck in my throat and won’t come out.

The brain tries to organize what it wants to say, but ends up making it even more jumbled.

Suddenly, I remember Serika going to confess to Daiki. She must have mustered up a lot of courage back then, too.

I never realized it would be so difficult to convey my feelings.

Without saying a word, we arrived at the station.

The departure board shows a train going in the direction Ino-san is returning. The departure time is just around the corner.

“…Well then, see you later.”

“…Yeah.”

Even as we said that, we were still facing each other in front of the ticket gate.

Like the clear surface of a lake, her round eyes were softly sparkling. They were so beautiful, I felt like I was drowning.

Even though I was still afraid to confess my feelings, my body, driven by my own desires, showed surprisingly little hesitation. Before I knew it, I was touching her hand.

Her small hand twitched for a moment, but it wasn’t shaken off.

Her fingertips, smaller and thinner than mine, are easily enveloped. On that day when we started calling each other by our names as we pleased, I felt a pang of guilt for grabbing this hand so thoughtlessly.

I gently intertwined my fingers so as not to hurt her, and she did the same. Just that was enough to fill me with affection, and my grip tightened just a little.

It was a touch that lasted less than a minute.

Ino-san smiled faintly and then passed through the ticket gate.

Watching the back disappear into the crowd, its long, curly hair swaying, I clenched my hands as if to hold onto the faint warmth that remained.

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

[Ino’s Side]

I boarded the train and sat down in an empty seat.

Thump, thump, I put my hand on my chest, where my heart was beating. Remembering that the hand was the one I had held with Yuki-chan just now, my cheeks flushed warmly.

…Is this a dream?

When I lightly pinched my arm, there was definitely pain.

It’s different from the day we changed how we called each other, and also different from when Yuki-chan stopped me.

We were holding hands as if drawn together.

I thought we couldn’t hold hands like that anymore, not as “friends.”

Soon, I couldn’t even hear the sound of the train starting to move.

Since I was on the white team with Yuki-chan, I thought that the sports festival, which is usually just depressing, would actually be a little better this time.

Being called out by a senior I didn’t know at all, and having to listen to a story whose content was unclear, felt like a minor annoyance compared to what happened.

After the dance performance ended, Yuki-chan’s childhood friend, a girl, suddenly looked like she was about to fall, and Yuki-chan, who was nearby, caught her. It was a scene that looked like they were embracing.

With a troubled heart, I watched Yuki-chan and that girl walking side by side toward the gymnasium.

…That’s right. There was already such a cute girl near Yuki-chan.

As soon as I realized, a variety of emotions washed over me.

Jealousy of being touched by Yuki-chan and having her by his side. Envy of the close relationship where they can call each other by their first names. Anxiety and unease about having an attractive person of the opposite sex nearby.

The emotional turmoil I felt toward Kubo and that red perm was nothing compared to what I felt then, and I couldn’t control myself any more than I could at that moment.

Unable to control my selfish thoughts and behaving badly, Yuki-chan didn’t get exasperated or push me away. Instead, he said he wanted to apologize if he had done something wrong.

Even when I poured out what I was holding in, driven by my emotions, he accepted it and responded with words. When I was called out by the senior, Yuki-chan was feeling the same way I was.

This is like admitting we were jealous of each other.

That means the relationship I want is almost becoming a reality.

…I couldn’t quite grasp it right away.

The way he looked at me when we held hands in front of the ticket gates. His eyes held a heat that could make me feel like I was floating, yet they also seemed to conceal an indescribable frustration.

If it’s not just my twisted delusions, Yuki-chan feels the same way about me.

If that was a misunderstanding, I will bite my tongue and die. I was that certain.

When I remembered the moment reflected in his eyes, my chest tightened, and a sharp pain shot through me.

The phone on my lap buzzed. I felt like I lifted a few centimeters off my seat.

When I opened my smartphone, a message notification was displayed.

The sender is someone I can’t get out of my head.

I opened the LINE and checked the message.

A message followed the “Thank you for your hard work” stamp, which featured a round, gray cat lying down.

<I have something I want to tell Ino-san directly. Could I have some time after school tomorrow?>

I take a small breath.

To make sure I wasn’t mistaken, I brought my eyes so close to the screen that I almost touched it, and reread the sentence many times.

“…No way, right?”