Hey, Best Friend. How About A Kiss Today Too? - Chapter 59: "We're best friends!"

“We’re best friends!”

The school’s most beautiful girl and popular classmate, Sagiri, hugged me in the morning classroom.  

I instinctively called out her name, but my thoughts were in a state close to freezing. After a moment of silence that felt like an eternity, what happened next from her unexpected action was…

“Whoa, did Yakumo-san just hug Akahori-kun!?”

“Is this… a dream? Is this really happening!?”

“I knew it! Were those two really dating all along!?”

“I always had my suspicions about them!”

“Yeah, and to think it’s from Yakumo-san herself… that scoundrel Akahori!”

“But now that those two have finally hooked up, does that mean the ‘rejection legend’ is over!?”

“Well, while the second and third years are notorious for their failed confessions, what about the pure-hearted first years or next year’s freshmen?”

“Now it’s time for Akahori to show some guts!”

“Seriously, I’m so jealous!!”

“Oh no, wha-wha-wha-!? S-Sagiri is squeezing Renji so tightly!!”

“Don’t look, Yuzuru-chan! Look at me if you have to!”

“Y-yeah, they’re totally squeezing each other! They must’ve had some big drama yesterday and decided to strangle each other to death!!”

…It was utter chaos.

Classmates panicked and shouted whatever came to mind, while Yuzuru, Hasegawa, and Kusakabe joined in the festival of free speech.

“Hey hey, were you waiting for me? Were you?”

“U-Um, calm down, Sagiri! C-Could you, uh, just step back for a moment?”

“Huh? Well, if you insist, Renji—”

In the midst of this chaos, my childhood friend persisted with her own agenda, looking up at me with expectant eyes as she hugged me.

Her every move was captivating, but I couldn’t endure the embarrassment of being the center of attention in this public spectacle. So, I let my reason take over and tried to pry her slender shoulders away, but surprisingly, Sagiri’s body easily drifted apart from mine.

Still, my childhood friend was beaming.

“Um…”

Just then, Kusakabe, who had been watching our interaction from the start, nervously spoke up.

Despite her timid demeanor, she displayed remarkable courage to speak up first in this attention-grabbing environment. Maybe she’s not as timid as she seems and has some hidden courage.

“Oh! Good morning, Hina-chan! Huh, why are Yuzuru and Hasegawa-kun sitting at our seats?”

“U-um, g-good morning… We, uh, just wanted to say hi to our friends… hehehe…”

The words were directed to Sagiri. I couldn’t intervene because I’m too involved in this whole affair, so I stayed silent and left everything to Sagiri.

But Kusakabe seemed delighted by the response she received and let out an awkward laugh. With her long bangs covering her eyes, all we could see was her mouth hanging open.

“Um, I, hehe, I have, uh, something I’d like to ask… hehe…”

“Yeah, yeah! What’s up?”

As Kusakabe continued to laugh, and Sagiri maintained her smile, I couldn’t help but notice the stark contrast between their expressions of joy and darkness.

But what could she possibly be about to ask in this situation?

I pondered this, as did our classmates, all of whom were equally focused on the nervous Kusakabe.

Kusakabe is the only one who knows about the secret between me and Sagiri.

Despite her aversion to attention, she summoned the courage to step forward in this public setting, and I’m sure she’ll break through this situation.

“Which one of you was doing the strangling yesterday?”

―You always had that kind of curiosity, Kusakabe.

“Hey, no way! I didn’t strangle anyone!”

“Huh?”

Even though I wanted to rely on Kusakabe in this situation, Sagiri’s logical response left me unable to offer any follow-up.

“But… didn’t you two start dating?”

“Huh?”

And just like that, her question, born from her unique sensibility, unexpectedly hit the nail on the head. It might have been a lucky punch from a random question, but it was something everyone in the room wanted to know.

The classmates, who were buzzing with excitement over the bizarre question about strangling, fell silent once again at the conviction of her words.

“We’re not dating.”

But of course, Sagiri already had her response planned for that question, just like the exchange from two weeks ago.

“Renji and I are—”

“Huh?”

But this time, it wasn’t just Sagiri’s usual answer.

“We’re best friends!”

She wrapped her arms around my right arm and boldly declared it in the classroom.

“ “…” “

Kusakabe froze, as did Yuzuru, Hasegawa, our classmates—everyone froze. The whole class fell silent.

Naturally. With Sagiri entwining her arms around mine, just like a lovey-dovey couple strolling through town, proudly proclaiming that we were best friends.

Unlike the last time, this declaration was accompanied by action, and the result was nothing but confusion escalating.

“…Ah, right, Renji!”

In the midst of that silence, Sagiri called out my name as if remembering something.

Even after creating this indescribable atmosphere with her statement, my best friend was still charging ahead on her own path.

“Sensei’s calling us, so let’s go together!”

“From the teacher? Both of us?”

“…Because I’m the class representative!”

There was a strange pause just now.

“But homeroom starts in less than ten minutes!”

“It’s fine, it’s fine!”

“Why are you grabbing me there!?”

After I thought she had let go of my arm, she grabbed my tie and pulled me out. With my neck pulled forward, I left the classroom.

Feeling the gaze of my classmates, filled with indescribable emotions, I couldn’t help but think, “This happened before, didn’t it?” as if it were someone else’s problem.

“Woahhh! That’s it, that’s it!!”

Ignoring the joyful cry of the blindfolded girl coming from the classroom as we stepped into the hallway, I decided to pretend I hadn’t heard it.

This development, which seemed both changed and unchanged, but definitely something different was happening within Sagiri, left me feeling overwhelmed. I had said I wanted her to be okay, but I didn’t expect her to be this lively.