I Was Unreasonably Dumped By My Girlfriend And Had My Heart Broken. When I Rescued A Beautiful Girl Who Was My Former Classmate And Idol In My Class From A Group Of Yarisa, My Gray College Life Started To Shine - Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Where Shall We Go Tomorrow?

The freshmen welcome party ended around 10 o’clock, approximately four hours after it started.

By that time, it seemed the seniors were fairly intoxicated, with empty alcohol bottles and snack containers scattered across the tables.

“You can leave the cleanup to us. If you’ve enjoyed it even a bit, please consider joining our club.”

“…Yeah. You can leave handling these drunks to us.”

With these words from President Nagano and Vice President Shizuoka, we were somewhat forcibly ejected from the apartment room.

Afterward, all of us aimed for the nearest station, Ochanomizu Station.

“It was fun today. Should we all go in here?”

“Volunteering seems like it would be good for job hunting evaluations, so it’s a win in that sense, right?”

Despite it only being a few hours, we had bonded quite well. Everyone shared their thoughts on the day. Some even exchanged contact information.

It felt like a quintessential college moment. It was hard to believe how much we were embracing university life in just one day! At least, that’s how I felt.

Just as I was indulging in self-satisfaction, I was once again interrupted.

“That’s why you need to stretch…”

Only Aoba would come up with something like this.

When I turned around, she was clutching her stomach with one hand.

“Ugh, I might have eaten too much. My stomach hurts.”

Headache from alcohol yesterday, stomachache from overeating today—how unfortunate.

“It’s your own fault. Why did you eat so much?”

“Well, your cooking was delicious. It would’ve been a waste not to finish it, right?”

“Even so, there’s a limit.”
It was hard to blame her when she was praising me.

As I sighed and looked around, I spotted a convenience store. I called out to a guy nearby and then left the circle of freshmen with Aoba.

Once inside the store, Aoba headed straight for the restroom.

I bought some tea and waited outside for her.

After a while, Aoba emerged from the store. Her complexion had improved significantly.

“Have some. I bought it at room temperature.”

While saying this, I handed her the bottle of tea.

“…You’re considerate. I’ll pay you back later.”

“It’s fine. I was getting my own tea anyway.”

“Thanks, I’ll gladly accept it. It feels like I’m always being helped by you.”

“It’s mutual.”

The other freshmen were long gone from sight. Aoba and I walked side by side along the night streets.

“Anyway, today was fun, right? Maybe we should join the club together.”

Aoba’s stomachache seemed to have completely subsided by now. Her footsteps and voice regained their usual cheerfulness.

“…I think so too. The first-years and the seniors, everyone seemed nice.”

“Well, it was definitely better than yesterday. Being stuck in the corner booth was such a waste! I’m glad you found us.”

“It was just luck. There were a lot of restrictions.”

“True. But it worked out well in the end! So, where should we go tomorrow?”

“Hmm…”

As I gave a vague response, I realized something.

…Tomorrow?

“Aoba-san, were you planning to tour the club with me tomorrow too?”

“Oh, so you weren’t planning to go around with me, rather. That’s a total surprise, then.”

“If you didn’t say anything, I would’ve thought so.”

“Why? This flow suggests that we’ll search together tomorrow!”

“If we keep doing that, I’ll have to meet you all the time during my university life. Is that okay?”

“That’s fine. What’s wrong with that?”

It’s not that it’s wrong.

With Aoba, there were enjoyable moments (of course, there were troublesome ones too), and she had helped me in various ways.

Above all, she had shown me light when I was at rock bottom. Guided by that light, I might eventually emerge from the darkness completely.

However, precisely because of that—

“I don’t mind. You don’t have to worry about me.”

“Huh?”

“I mean exactly that. Aoba-san should do as she likes.

As I said yesterday, my helping you was purely due to my circumstances. You don’t have to feel indebted or be kind to me. In fact, forget about it. I’ll manage somehow on my own.”

That was my sincere and honest sentiment.