I Started Dating Someone By Taking Advantage Of Her Weakness, But I Was Actually Dating Her Mother

(I haven’t talked to Tsukimizato-san since then.)

Several days had passed since their last date. Jin had been unable to talk with Otowa up until now.

(Even when I want to talk to her, she disappears somewhere during lunch break, and leaves right away after school. What should I do?)

It was currently class time, and the teacher was writing on the blackboard while giving a boring lecture. Jin was very troubled as he looked at the back of the girl sitting in the front seat. Otowa was giving off an aura that said not to talk to her, and the classmates didn’t talk to her more than necessary, with Jin included among them.

Since it was hard to approach her in the classroom, he tried to talk to her during lunch break or after school, but Otowa would immediately disappear from the classroom and he couldn’t find where she went.

(Lunch break is coming soon. If I continue without talking to her like this, it will be painful, and I feel like I’m doing something really bad, but I’ll investigate where Tsukimizato-san goes anyway.)

Jin began to feel that not being able to talk with Otowa any longer was painful, so he decided to investigate where she went during lunch break.

“That’s all for today’s class.”

When the male teacher said that, the bell rang signaling the end of morning classes. Lunch break began, and the classmates would separate and spend their lunch time respectively.

(Alright, time to take action.)

Jin decided to investigate Otowa’s behavior in order to put into practice what he had resolved during class.

(As I thought, Tsukimizato-san doesn’t seem to eat lunch with anyone.)

Until now he had only felt this way vaguely, but by observing Otowa anew, Jin confirmed that even when lunch break began, she didn’t try to talk with anyone and didn’t seem to have any meetups planned.

(She seems to be starting to move.)

Otowa took out a small drawstring bag that appeared to be a lunch bag from her school backpack. Carrying it, she left the classroom, blending in with the other students. Jin decided to follow her while keeping his distance so Otowa wouldn’t notice him.

(There are stairs that way.)

Otowa walked and proceeded down the hallway, turning partway. There were stairs ahead.

(Hmm, up or down, which is it?)

Since Jin was keeping distance to avoid being noticed, he lost track of whether Otowa had moved up or down. Since there were other students around too, it was impossible to judge by footsteps. The school building Jin was currently in was a three-story reinforced concrete structure, and he was currently on the second floor. Therefore, since he couldn’t visually confirm which direction Otowa had moved, there was a possibility she had gone to either floor.

(Tsukimizato-san doesn’t seem to like contact with people very much, so she might not go to the first floor where there are many people. The upper floor has upperclassmen, so I don’t think she’d go there unless she had specific business. Hmm, which one is correct?)

The more Jin thought about it, the more he couldn’t figure out which direction Otowa had moved.

“Can’t be helped. If it’s heads I’ll go up, if it’s tails I’ll go down!”

Jin decided to rely on luck, so he took off his right indoor shoe and hooked it on his toes. He decided to kick it up and look at the front and back of the shoe to decide whether to move up or down.

“Whoops, I put too much force into it.”

Jin had intended to lightly kick up his indoor shoe, but he had put more force than expected into it, and the shoe went rolling down the stairs. Fortunately, it didn’t hit anyone walking in the hallway or on the stairs, so no trouble developed from it.

(Ugh, those stares hurt.)

Some people looked at him wondering what was going on due to Jin’s inexplicable behavior, and others who had apparently seen him from the kicking part giggled at his actions. Jin moved down the stairs holding the handrail with only one foot to retrieve his indoor shoe that had flown all the way to the landing between the second and first floors, all while being conscious of the gazes around him.

(Successfully retrieved. The shoe was face-up, so it’s the upper floor then.)

The shoe he had retrieved was facing upward. Following that sign, Jin put his shoe back on and began moving to the third floor.

“I wasted time retrieving my shoe, so I completely lost sight of Tsukimizato-san.”

Jin had arrived at the third floor, but there was little foot traffic and Otowa was nowhere to be seen.

“Can’t be helped. I’ll give up for today and go to the school store.”

If he headed leisurely to the school store now, he could secure some leftover bread, so Jin reluctantly decided to move to the school store to secure his lunch.

“Come to think of it, this building has a rooftop, doesn’t it? It’s made inaccessible for safety reasons, so there shouldn’t be anyone moving up there.”

As Jin was casually looking at the stairs, he remembered that this building had a rooftop. It was normally closed off and off-limits, so unless there was business like building maintenance, no one would go up the stairs. Therefore, while there were stairs to go up, everyone spent their school life as if they didn’t exist. Jin had been one of those people, but for some reason, this was bothering him.

“I should take a look just in case.”

Jin was curious about the stairs going up, and decided to go up even though he thought there would be nothing there. Since the area ahead was closed off and became a dead end, he went up the stairs slowly, one step at a time, being careful not to make footsteps as he assumed Otowa might be ahead.

(Past the landing ahead is the dead end.)

Jin, who had come to the front of the landing between the third floor and the rooftop, was sensing the presence ahead. If he continued up the stairs, there would be a door leading to the rooftop, but since it was locked, he would need to bring a key from the staff room if he wanted to proceed.

However, since the rooftop fence was damaged and dangerous, entry by regular students was prohibited. Therefore, only staff members and maintenance contractors could move beyond that door. If Otowa was anywhere, it could only be ahead, so Jin cautiously peeked out from behind the stair railing.

“Ahh. Sigh, since there were no dinner leftovers, I could only bring two plain rice balls. I can’t show such a lunch to other people, right?”

When Jin looked up, there was Otowa sitting at the very top of the stairs, munching on white rice balls.

(I f-found her. Her skirt… i-inside… it’s wh-white.)

Otowa had let her guard down, thinking no one would come, and had spread her legs slightly. Because of this, Jin could see a glimpse of white fabric visible from inside Otowa’s skirt.