I Hope You’re Still Alive When Tomorrow Comes - 14

Chapter 14: Mockery

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The voices of the girls who were talking about Kiho carried no sign of cordiality. None at all. Their voices were laced with disgust and ridicule, like the voices I had overheard by the shoe lockers the other day. 

“That’s right. I saw her in this convenience store. She looked so different though. I didn’t even recognize her at first glance.”

“Oooh… What was she doing in this area though? Is she going to a high school around here?”

I could see a glimpse of the girls from the crevice of the products on the shelf. Although I couldn’t see their faces, but I could see that they were wearing the uniform of the nearby commercial high school.

“And you know what? She was wearing the uniform from North High School. What a shock, right?”

“What? North High School?”

The other girl asked back, her voice was mixed with a sneer. They were clearly mocking Kiho. 

“No way. That girl??? She’s going to North High School?”

“I know, right? Hilarious. Even though she was such a nerd, but she ended up going to North High School instead.”

“She’s kind of pathetic, isn’t she? She was so desperate back then. But you know, I thought she was trying to go for Kawana?”

“Oh, I think she did mention that. I guess she failed the test to Kawana.”

“And so she ended up going to North High School, huh? But still, couldn’t she aim for somewhere a bit better than North High School?”

“I guess she didn’t even consider she would fail getting into Kawana, so she didn’t have any other backup school.”

After they came to a conclusion based on their flimsy assumptions, the two girls stopped gossiping about Kiho at that point. They started choosing sweets to buy while giggling like typical high school girls. 

“What should we buy?~”

I was still standing there, listening to their gossiping.

North High School was our school. The reason why they were making fun of Kiho must be because our school had a low academic ranking. At the very least, it was not the kind of school where a so-called ‘nerd’ would go to. 

On the other hand, Kawana High School was considered as one of the top schools in this area. The top students from my middle school also went to Kawana if I remember correctly. It was the kind of a school that no one would consider applying to unless they had outstanding grades. That was how hard Kawana was. As for me, Kawana wasn’t even an option for me. I was fixated on going to the same high school as Nanami after all. 

I called out to Kiho in April. On that day, Kiho wasn’t wearing the uniform of North High School yet, nor was she wearing Kawana’s uniform. She was wearing the uniform of a private all-girls school near North High School. That school had roughly the same academic level as ours. It was an appropriate school for a backup plan. 

In that case, then Kiho must had failed to get into Kawana, just like what those girls were talking about.

A nerd. 

Those girls called Kiho a nerd. 

“Ah, I think I will buy waffles after all~”

After pondering for quite a while in front of the snack aisle, one of the girl sighed as she said so. 

“Again?~”

The other girl responded, sounding a bit exasperated. 

“You’ve been getting waffles recently. Don’t you get tired of it?”

She added.

“I guess I’m addicted to it. I thought I’d hold back for today because eating waffles everyday will make me gain weight but… I just can’t help it. I want to eat it!~”

At that moment, I suddenly noticed the waffles they were talking about were located on the shelf right in front of me. There were plain waffles and ones with chocolate on them. There were two of each left. 

The two girls were starting to walk in my direction. By the time I realized it, I had grabbed all four waffles available and headed toward the register. 

“…No way! There’s none left today!”

Shortly after I got to the register, I could hear their grumbling from behind me.

“Kan-chan, what did you buy?”

“Waffles.”

“Huh? How unusual of you!”

Nanami peered into the plastic bag I was holding as we were leaving the convenience store. She looked surprised to see I had bought waffles. 

“But Kan-chan, I thought you didn’t like sweet things?”

“I don’t.”

“Huh? Then why?”

“Just because.”

I handed the plastic bag with four waffles in it to Nanami.

“Huh? For me? Are you sure?”

Nanami’s face brightened up. She looked inside and then, her face transformed into one of confusion.

“Huh? You bought four?”

“If you can’t eat them all, just give the rest to aunty.”

“Why did you buy four waffles though?”

“….Just because. I wanted to buy them so I did.”

For some reason, I just had the urge to buy them. That was all. 

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T/N: Hm, MC got +1 point in this chapter. I like his level of pettiness ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧