I Was Oblivious to the Subtle ‘Yandere’ Side of My Nonchalant Sex Friend Gyaru - Chapter 22-23

Chapter 22: 

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“Yaho~ Minato, you’re here early!”

Yumekawa, who had arrived before me, was busily preparing the cooking. But there was no one else besides Yumekawa.

“Hey, who’s the person that’s supposed to teach you how to cook?”

“Hmm, she should be here any minute now… Ah, here she comes!”

Yumekawa stopped what she was doing and waved her hand over my shoulder. I slowly turned around—and couldn’t believe my eyes.

“Huh… You?”

“What? So you were called here by Arisu too.”

It was Kurenai. So she was the cooking teacher…

“Huh? Did you two know each other already?”

“N-no, well, we’re in the same class, so…”

“Ahaha~ Yeah, that makes sense. Yuzu, today Minato is going to be our taste tester.”

“Yeah. Arisu, hurry up and get your apron ready so we can start.”

In contrast to the cheerful Yumekawa, Kurenai began her preparations calmly and mechanically, never once looking my way. Once the two of them started cooking, I had nothing to do, so I sat a little distance away and looked at my phone.

Every so often, when I glanced over, Yumekawa was all smiles as usual, while Kurenai didn’t even twitch an eyebrow. But even though her expression was stiff, well, maybe this was just my imagination, but she somehow looked like she was enjoying herself.

Also, it turned out she really did have a friend she could be herself with.

“Hey.”

While I was absorbed in my phone, Kurenai called out to me.

“W-what is it?”

“Can you pass me that soy sauce over there?”

“O-oh, yeah.”

I was startled by her sudden voice, but Kurenai was as cool as ever.

“Thanks, Minato.”

When I handed her the soy sauce, Yumekawa cheerfully thanked me as she poured a generous amount into the beaten eggs.

“…Arisu, that’s way too much.”

“Eh, really? But these are the only eggs I have.”

“You’re really hopeless, you know that? If you ask Kato-sensei in the staff room, you should be able to use some eggs from the kitchen.”

“Really? Okay, I’ll hurry and go get them!”

“Arisu, I’ll go get them—”

“It’s fine! You two just wait here, okay?”

Yumekawa hurriedly rushed out of the classroom.

“…”

Kurenai and I were left alone together. It was the first time we’d been alone like this at school, and the awkwardness made me start heading for a seat farther away.

“Hey.”

Kurenai called me back.

“…What is it?”

“There’s no need to act so awkward, is there?”

“It’s not like I’m trying to.”

“Then there’s no reason for you to sit so far away. Or are you worried about what Arisu would think?”

“…That’s not it.”

Kurenai almost never talked to me at school—in fact, the only time she’d spoken to me was a single greeting. So I had assumed she didn’t want me to talk to her at school. But I guess that wasn’t the case after all.

“Well, I mean, if we acted normally here, it’d feel… I don’t know, weird.”

“I get that.”

“Weren’t you the one avoiding me?”

“Don’t put it all on me. You were the one giving off the ‘don’t talk to me’ vibe.”

“You’re one to talk. When did I ever—wait, I guess we both just thought the same thing. Yeah, there’s really no reason for us to force ourselves to avoid each other.”

I was probably just afraid… Afraid she’d tell me not to act so familiar, since I was just a sex friend.

“Well, if I made it hard for you to talk to me, then… Sorry.”

“You actually apologize, huh.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? What do you think I am?”

“Nothing. Just… I thought you were kind of difficult.”

“What the heck, that’s my line.”

“How am I difficult?”

“You’ve got a sex friend, but you act like dealing with other people is such a pain. You’re the definition of contrary.”

“You’re the same, aren’t you? So we’re both guilty.”

“…Yeah. We really are the same in a lot of ways.”

“Yeah, we are.”

That conversation felt strangely comfortable. If we’d been able to talk like this from the start, maybe our relationship would have been a little different now. As I was thinking that, the door suddenly burst open.

“Sorry for the wait! Okay, let’s get started!”

After that, Kurenai and I didn’t exchange another word. Yumekawa kept talking nonstop, and I was made to eat her repeated failed attempts at tamagoyaki over and over.

When the tasting was finally over, I left the home economics room first, leaving the two of them behind.

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Chapter 23: 

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“Hey, Yuzu, what do you think about Minato?”

Right after he left the room first, Arisu asked me that, and I was caught off guard.

“What do I think… He’s kind of unsociable, I guess.”

“Ahaha, right? Minato’s so stone-faced, or like, super cool. But he’s actually really kind, even if he doesn’t show it.”

Hearing Arisu talk like she knew him so well made me feel a little irritated. It was frustrating.

I knew that much, too. I knew him better than someone like her ever could. I wanted to say that—but I couldn’t. Because he and I were just sex friends.

“Well, there aren’t many people who’d go along with your reckless requests like he does.”

“Ehehe, I know, right? But I really like that about him.”

“…Do you like him?”

Watching Arisu talk about him with a blush on her cheeks, I asked that question—but even before I heard her answer, I already knew. And sure enough, she nodded.

“Well, yeah. But Minato doesn’t seem interested in girls at all, you know? What were you two talking about while I was gone?”

“…Nothing special. Just random stuff.”

“I see… I wonder what kind of girl Minato likes? Maybe someone like Asou-senpai?”

“Asou…”

“Oh, you know her? Asou-senpai from second year. She works at the same place as Minato. She’s so pretty, isn’t she? I guess guys like girls like that.”

“…Arisu, why do you like him?”

I asked another question. Arisu, blushing the same way, answered in a small voice.

“…I don’t really know. But ever since I first saw him, kind of? I don’t think it’s quite love at first sight, though.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? Is it his looks?”

“Well, that’s part of it, I guess. But it’s his eyes… They seem kind, somehow. But also lonely.”

“So you’re drawn to that mysterious vibe of his.”

“Yeah… Wait, Yuzu, you actually know a lot about Minato, don’t you? Were you two that close?”

“I just thought that from watching him earlier, that’s all.”

“I see. Sorry for dragging you into my rambling.”

As I watched Arisu perk back up and start cleaning up, I realized there was a whirlpool of emotions swirling inside me. Guilt, superiority, and also a sense of alienation. Pretending to listen to a friend’s love talk while hiding my relationship with him made me feel disgusted with myself.

At the same time, I felt secretly proud that he and I were actually entangled with each other, albeit physically. But in the end, that was all our relationship was. Why hadn’t I tried approaching him like Arisu did from the start? If I had, would we have ended up with a different kind of relationship by now?

Or would things still have turned out the same because I was never good with words? Or maybe it was because he was the kind of guy who wouldn’t let things become more than what we had now?

As I kept cycling through those unanswerable questions in my head, I left the home economics room together with Arisu.

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