For Some Reason, I’m Almost Locked up by the Most Beautiful Girl in School Who Can Hear My Inner Thoughts - Chapter 6-7

Chapter 6

“Good morning, Mitsuki!”

“Good morning, Yuki. As usual, you barely made it.”

“Yeah. There’s no point in coming early, right?”

Today, too, Noa-san was super popular from the morning, so I couldn’t even settle at my desk. I didn’t put my bag down and went straight to Mitsuki.

Even though she got attacked by those guys yesterday, that idol-like girl was talking to male students today, looking bored and responding half-heartedly.

Among them was Yoshida, who just stood by and watched yesterday. I couldn’t understand how he had the nerve to go talk to her.

If it were me, I’d be too embarrassed to face her after apologizing once and would probably stay away.

And Noa-san was Noa-san. How could she talk to male students so casually? She must have had similar experiences before.

Did she really not need help? Or maybe, deep down, she was a bitch who wanted to be attacked?

While I was thinking about this, she suddenly looked at me.

Her gaze was kind of flustered, hard to describe, and so was her expression.

The bathroom?

“What’s wrong?”

“Oh, nothing.”

Maybe because I looked suspicious, Mitsuki thought I was acting weird. I decided to ignore Noa-san and focus on talking to Mitsuki. She probably didn’t need anything from me anyway.

So, I looked away.

The last thing I saw was her looking kind of annoyed.

* * * * * * * * *

“Can we go home together today?”

Classes were over, and it was after school, so I went to Mitsuki.

“Yeah. Oh, by the way, Mina-chan said she wants to hang out with Yuki-oniichan.”

“Really? I want to see Mina-chan too. Maybe I’ll drop by.”

“Sure. Come over after the tests.”

“Got it.”

I wondered if Mina-chan was doing okay.

That girl was like an angel, so I sometimes worried she might get kidnapped or something.

“Um, excuse me.”

“By the way, Mitsuki.”

“What?”

“How’s your test studying going?”

The final exams were coming up. But I was a total anti-science guy, so I always bombed the science subjects.

“It’s going fine.”

“So, I have a favor to ask.”

“I know. I’ll help you with science. In return…”

“You want me to teach you classical literature, right?”

“Um, excuse me!!”

Mitsuki always helped me with science before tests. In return, I taught him classical Chinese and Japanese literature.

Mitsuki was great at teaching, so I managed to avoid failing every time. I couldn’t thank him enough.

“Uh, can you hear me?”

“So, anyway—”

“Yuki, hold on. I can hear her, and it’s getting kind of sad. I was going along with you, but this is starting to feel tough.”

Sigh…

Did I have to deal with her?

I tried to signal Mitsuki with my eyes, but he said no, so I reluctantly turned around. As expected, it was Shimozuki Noa.

“What’s up, Noa-san?”

“Oh, sorry, Sasaki-kun.”

“It’s fine. Do you need something?”

“Um… about yesterday…”

I kind of figured, but yeah, that was it. That was the only reason Noa-san would talk to me.

Still, the stares from everyone around were intense.

Since it was right after school started, most of the class was still there.

Would people ask me later what we were talking about?

What a hassle.

This girl really needed to be more aware of her popularity before coming to talk to me.

While I was thinking that, she looked kind of sad and apologetic.

It wasn’t like yesterday was a big deal or anything.

“You don’t have to worry about yesterday.”

“Um, even so…”

“Really, it’s fine.”

When I insisted firmly, she seemed to give up, looking down like a sad puppy.

…Now I felt kind of bad.

I hadn’t done anything wrong, but when a pretty girl made that face, it made me feel like I was the bad guy.

To be honest, I knew I was treating her a bit carelessly.

“Just the fact that you came to talk to me makes me happy, Noa-san. That’s enough.”

“…Okay. I understand.”

“Yeah. See you tomorrow, then.”

“!! Yes, see you tomorrow!”

Her expressions changed so much.

She looked happy, then pained, then happy again.

Was she always this expressive? Usually, she seemed bored and indifferent when talking to classmates.

“Hey, Yuki. What was that about? Can you tell me?”

“Hmm, I’ll tell you on the way home.”

“Got it.”

So, I ended up talking to Mitsuki about what happened yesterday as we walked home.

“You were staring at her boobs the whole time, Mitsuki.”

“Shut up, don’t say that.”

—

Chapter 7

It had been about a week since I helped Noa-san, but my daily life hadn’t changed much.

The only difference was that Noa-san looked at me more often.

When I felt someone watching me and looked to the side, she was staring at me with a blank face. When she noticed me, she quickly turned forward, pretending to listen to the lesson. This happened a lot.

I thought maybe something was on my face, but I checked in the bathroom, and there was nothing. She was probably still thinking about last week and wanted to thank me or something.

I really didn’t mind.

“That’s the end of the lesson.”

While I was thinking about this, the bell rang, and the class ended.

It was lunchtime now. Usually, I’d go to Mitsuki, but he had a student council meeting today, so I had to eat alone.

I got up and left the classroom.

When this happened, I always ate at the same place.

I sat on a bench behind the special building and ate a snack bread.

My mom made me lunch three times a week, but the rest of the time, it was usually snack bread.

Why? Because my dad passed away a few years ago, so my mom was working alone now.

Some people might think I should cook for myself, but I wasn’t good at cooking. Also, my mom was so overprotective that if I cut my hand while cooking, she’d do more than just cry, so I didn’t bother.

While I was staring at the sky and eating my snack bread, I heard footsteps coming closer and looked to the side.

…?

I saw Noa-san walking toward me awkwardly. When she noticed me looking, she sped up.

“Sasaki-kun.”

“Y-Yes?”

She stopped in front of me and held out a lunch box.

“What’s this?”

“I made it to thank you for helping me last week. I noticed you don’t bring a lunch box on this day every week.”

I see.

She was still hung up on last week.

But how did she know about my lunch habits? I didn’t even know if she brought a lunch box or bought food.

“Will you take it?”

“…Okay. But please, don’t worry about last week anymore.”

I didn’t care, and she didn’t owe me anything more. I only helped her for my own reasons, and everything was fine now.

“…No.”

“What?”

“Can I at least make you lunch on this day every week?”

“No way.”

That wasn’t fair at all.

“I only helped you for my own sake, not for yours. So, your offer doesn’t match what I did. I can’t accept it.”

When I said that firmly, Noa-san looked sad.

She was doing this out of kindness, but I kept rejecting her, so I started feeling like a bad guy.

If other guys heard that the popular Noa-san was making lunch for me every week, they’d probably agree happily. But I wasn’t particularly interested in her.

If she made lunch every week, I’d have to give her something equal in return.

What could I do?

If we kept going like this, the conversation would go nowhere, and we’d waste time.

…Maybe I could be her bodyguard? But incidents like last week were probably rare.

“!! How about this: I make you lunch, and in return, you walk home with me, Sasaki-kun? That would be fair, right?”

She suggested the same thing I was thinking about, like she had a flash of inspiration.

What a coincidence.

“Okay, but let’s set a deadline.”

“A deadline?”

“Yes. This is about thanking me for last week, right? So, let’s set a deadline to settle it properly. That way, we can both feel good about ending this helper-helped relationship.”

I said that, but honestly, walking home together sounded like a hassle. I just wanted to say something convincing to end this quickly.

Let’s see.

The last day of the tests in two weeks sounded like a good cutoff.

“So, until the last day of the tests. No extensions.”

“…Okay.”

Good. Now I just had to eat the lunch.

“Please, enjoy.”

“Thank you, I’ll eat.”

I took the lunch box from her and opened it.

It had mini hamburgers, potato salad—things I liked.

When I took a bite, it was so delicious that I couldn’t help but say, “This is really, really good!” to Noa-san with high energy.

I finished it in less than ten minutes and felt full.

The tests were less than two weeks away, but if I got to eat this, it might not be so bad.