Hey, Best Friend. How About A Kiss Today Too?

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“…Why not take a look?”

“Um…”

July 21st, Thursday.

Today is the end of the first semester, the closing ceremony.

Normally, one would look forward to the upcoming summer vacation or worry about their report card grades.

But for me, that’s the least of my problems.

Sagiri is going to be confessed to.

That’s the only thing dominating my mind.

Even though it’s something that has happened a lot of times already, even almost every day until last year… I couldn’t calm myself down right now for some reason.

To say I hadn’t thought about it at all would be a lie. But I was always reassured because I knew she would always turn down the confession and come to the park where I waited for her.

“Um, well…”

I’m sure today will be the same as usual.

I want to believe that, but my chest has been filled with a sense of unease since yesterday… It feels like the uneasiness is growing more and more, almost overflowing.

“Comrade!”

“Whoa!? W-What’s up, Kusakabe…”

“I-It’s not ‘What’s up’…! Y-You’ve been staring at me from behind with eyes that look like you’re about to kill someone, silently, all this time… It’s scary…”

“…Me?”

“…Comrade, yes.”

Kusakabe turns around from the front seat and nods repeatedly, but his long bangs prevent me from seeing his eyes.

It seems like I’ve been giving off a scary vibe this whole time by heavily emphasizing “always.”

“I’m sorry about that.”

“D-Did I do something…?”

“No, it’s just… Ah.”

“Ah!? What’s with the ‘ah’!?”

“It might have been something, but it was a trivial matter. Forget about it.”

“That’s the most worrying thing to say!”

I may have acted a little strange with Sagiri and been overly affectionate, but that’s been resolved, so it’s not the problem right now. The only issue at hand is one thing.

“Sagiri is going to be confessed to.”

“Oh, that… from yesterday.”

“You knew!?”

“Eep!? I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

“Ah, sorry…”

“I-I thought I was going to be killed by your expression…”

Am I really making such a scary face? It’s quite shocking to see someone get scared like that. No, that’s not something I should be hung up about!

“What do you mean by ‘from yesterday’? Do you know something, Kusakabe?”

“U-Um, y-yes…”

The warm-up before the actual explanation was quite long, ending with a hesitant “yes.”

“Well, um… Yesterday, I… went to buy juice with Yakumo-san.”

“Oh, you mean you were taken along.”

“A-At that time… I was approached by someone…”

“W-What kind of person was it!? A senior, a junior, a classmate? Male or female? Human or something else!?”

“Aren’t there too many options!? W-Well, he was a male junior… I-I mean, he seemed polite…”

“Polite?”

“Yes… He brought some spare chairs from the gym and even bought a lot of juice as a thank-you after we talked for a bit…”

“…All that from yesterday was because of that!?”

“Y-Yes!”

It seemed like all of that stemmed from that incident.

It appears that we’ve been sent salt by the enemy. From what I heard, he doesn’t seem like a weird guy, but still, an enemy is an enemy.

“…You met him yesterday, right? Did he not confess then?”

“W-Well, he said he came to buy juice during the break from club activities, and he asked if she had time after school tomorrow…”

“I see… What were you doing, Kusakabe?”

“I-I was just listening while diligently buying juice from the vending machine…”

“I-I see…”

“I thought it’d be best not to disturb you…”

“Well, that’s true…”

Considering that polite junior had business with Sagiri, it’s only natural that Kusakabe was left out. I commend him for not running away in that awkward situation. I want to give him some praise.

“Um… Is this sort of thing common?”

“Hm?”

“Yakumo-san seemed quite accustomed to it, and when we parted ways with that boy, everything seemed normal…”

“…As you can see, Sagiri is beautiful, cute, elegant, mysterious, charming, and attractive. She’s been bombarded with confessions since last year, so I think she’s gotten used to it, whether she likes it or not.”

“Why can you say embarrassing things like that so casually, Dou?”

“Because it’s the truth.”

“Heheh…”

“Heheh…” What’s with that laugh?

Since I could only see Kusakabe’s mouth, it was hard to gauge her emotions.

“A-Are you really okay?”

“Do I look okay to you?”

“I-I can’t tell, but that’s not what I meant…!”

Kusakabe waved her hands frantically in front of her face, seemingly flustered. With her expression hidden, her movements seemed intense. She was surprisingly assertive, raising her hand and all.

“Um, if it were me… I-I wouldn’t like it if someone I liked was confessed to… Especially continually for a whole year… Right?”

“…Well, that’s true.”

“And, um… You and Yakumo-san are childhood friends, right? What was it like in elementary and middle school? Any confessions or anything like that too?”

“Sagiri was frail since birth, so she was mostly absent from school until early elementary school. After her health improved, she stuck to me until middle school graduation. I was always by her side, worried about her health, and since it was a school where mostly everyone from our previous school would go, there wasn’t anything like that. When we entered high school and started meeting new people, that’s when it started. It’s probably just the time when people start becoming aware of romantic feelings.”

“…She’s still sticking to you now.”

“Don’t point that out.”

I tried to listen carefully to her mumbled words, but when the content was a painful truth, it hit me hard.

“But if that’s the case, wouldn’t it be even more unbearable for you to know that she’s answering confessions?”

“Well, at first, she was confessed to without my knowledge, and it was a post-facto report. But Sagiri said she didn’t want to date anyone she didn’t know, and she always came to see me after each confession, so I never felt like I couldn’t forgive it.”

“Are you… boasting?”

“That part was from yesterday.”

“I didn’t know!”

Ah, that’s right, that happened when Kusakabe was taken away by Sagiri.

“Well, yeah… I thought it’d be fine.”

“B-But you can tell just by looking at your face… It’s not fine, is it?”

“I’ve been feeling like this since yesterday… Even though I know it’s okay, I’m just so anxious…”

“Can’t you… tell her not to go?”

“Sagiri is kind. She believes that if someone has the courage to confess, she should earnestly and sincerely reject them face to face, or else it would be rude.”

“S-So, you can’t say anything… is that it?”

“Yeah, it seems that way…”

I inadvertently let out a deep sigh. I don’t want to complain too much, but when it comes to Sagiri, I tend to become pessimistic.

This wasn’t an issue before. But ever since I realized I like Sagiri, it’s been like this.

“W-What can I say… It seems like Yakumo-san is your top priority…”

“Of course she is.”

“I-It’s troublesome to get such a quick response… B-But, um, so, you want to respect Yakumo-san’s feelings, but you don’t want her to be confessed to, and you’re worried… is that it?”

“…Yeah.”

It was difficult to hear about my own situation from a third party. After all, I was a bundle of contradictions.

This was truly unprecedented for me, and I had no idea what to do.

“…Why not just peek?”

“…What?”

“N-No, I mean! I just mentioned peeking as an example or a sudden idea. Maybe if you hide and watch, it’ll be fine…”

“Kusakabe, you…”

“Eek! S-Sorry, sorry! I-I know this isn’t a good idea, it was just a passing thought, please forget it…”

“Are you a genius?”

“Huh?”

Kusakabe’s suggestion was something I hadn’t considered.

“I had resigned myself to just waiting it out, so I never thought of that… to actually peek… You really do have a good head on your shoulders…”