For Some Reason, I’m Almost Locked up by the Most Beautiful Girl in School Who Can Hear My Inner Thoughts

Chapter 16

Before I knew it, I arrived at the station. With high-spirited Noa-san, I boarded the train. We chatted about tomorrow’s school lessons while she smiled brightly. Soon, we reached the station to get off.

“See you tomorrow,” I said.

“See you tomorrow. Let’s do our best on the test,” she replied.

She sent me off with a smile, and I got off the train.

I wondered if she had been this cheerful since the time I called her Noa-san.

Thinking about this, I passed through the gate and started walking toward home.

“Yuki?”

I ran into someone I didn’t want to meet.

That person stood right outside the gate.

“Y-Yuki,” she stammered.

“…”

Wearing the same school uniform, she looked slightly nervous and awkward as she spoke.

We both knew this would happen, so we could have just ignored each other and passed by. She didn’t have to call out to me.

This wasn’t the first time we met at the station. Every time, she called out to me, and it was exhausting.

Since we were childhood friends and lived close by, meeting like this was unavoidable.

“Heading home now?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I replied.

She came closer as she spoke.

I felt annoyed and agreed with a slightly sharp tone.

She started walking beside me.

Her name was Sotozono Yua, my childhood friend, the person I used to like, and now the person I found hardest to deal with.

“Um, tomorrow’s the test. Are you okay, Yuki?” she asked.

“I’m fine,” I said.

Talking to her felt irritating, and I unconsciously walked faster.

I glanced at her beside me.

She was shorter than me, about average height for a girl. Unlike Noa-san, her face was more cute than beautiful.

Her eyes were large and bright, her face small, and her skin fair. She was quite popular in middle school, and that probably hadn’t changed in high school.

“Y-Yuki, you were bad at math, right? If you want, maybe we could study together after a long time?” she offered.

“I don’t want to,” I replied.

I wanted to keep my distance, so I walked faster, but she matched my pace.

“Yuki,” she said.

“What?” I asked.

“I heard recently… that you’re close with Shimozuki-san. Is it true?” she asked cautiously.

I wondered how she knew, but it was probably obvious since everyone at school knew Noa-san and I had been going home together lately.

“Even if I’m close with Noa-san, it’s none of your business, Sotozono-san,” I said.

“…That’s true,” she said sadly.

I had no idea why she felt sad about this.

Maybe because she treated me as a friend, it hurt her to be treated so coldly by me.

But I didn’t want to deal with her anymore.

It didn’t feel good for either of us to keep interacting like this.

“Is that all you wanted to say?” I asked.

“Uh, um,” she stammered.

“I have things to do, so I’ll run home,” I said.

I didn’t really have anything to do, but I ran off, leaving her behind.

—

Chapter 17

“Good morning, Yuki-kun,” Noa-san said.

“Good morning, Noa-san,” I replied.

As I sat next to her, she had been listening to others with little interest. But when she turned to me, she greeted me with a big smile.

Her greeting made me happy, but the stares from people around us made me feel uneasy.

Now, about today’s test—I should be good at this subject, but I felt a bit unsure.

That was probably because yesterday, my encounter with her left me feeling foggy, and I couldn’t focus on studying properly.

I didn’t want to blame her completely, but if she hadn’t talked to me, we both could have lived more comfortably.

While I was thinking about this, Noa-san stood up from her seat without me noticing and came over to stare at me.

“Noa-san? Is something wrong?” I asked.

“…” She didn’t answer.

“Noa-san?” I repeated.

“Oh, um… Let’s do our best on the test today,” she said.

“? Okay,” I replied.

She sat back down next to me and started thinking about something.

I wondered what was wrong.

“Sasaki, don’t get too full of yourself,” Yoshida said.

“Got it,” I replied.

I brushed off Yoshida’s comment and decided to study as much as I could before the test.

****

I finished the test early and started thinking about Yuki-kun, who was sitting next to me.

During the test, I could hear a flood of thoughts from everyone in the class, but I was too focused on what happened with Yuki-kun this morning to care.

This morning, Yuki-kun mentioned “her.”

Who was this “her”?

I couldn’t stop wondering who she was.

He said he couldn’t study because of her, but maybe that was because he was thinking about this girl.

That thought made my chest feel tight and painful.

From Yuki-kun’s behavior and thoughts, it didn’t seem likely.

But I couldn’t help thinking, “What if?” and it made me feel foggy.

When Yuki-kun thought about another girl, it made me feel bad.

That was why I unconsciously stood in front of him, almost asking, “Who is this girl?”

I wondered why I felt so foggy when Yuki-kun thought about another girl. Maybe I was starting to like him as a boy.

I had kind of known this for a while, so saying “maybe” was probably not right. I could say for sure it was true.

Realizing this made me feel shy and restless, but now wasn’t the time for that.