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 30

Chapter 30: I Want to See Nogami-kun

After confirming the number of participants and receiving instructions and safety precautions, we were divided into pairs based on the results of bowling.

Once we received our garbage bags and tongs, each group immediately began making their way to the mountains.

The areas each group was responsible for had already been designated by President Nagano and the others.

The area assigned to me and Aoba was near the river, just as you enter the mountains from the road. Even counting from the station where we received our instructions, it was only about twenty minutes away.

“…Feels like we’re not really climbing a mountain, huh?”

Aoba remarked once we were alone.

“Well, that wasn’t really the original purpose, I guess. Maybe the seniors were considerate enough to think it wouldn’t be safe for first-years to climb too high all of a sudden.”

“But still, for us, this is just child’s play, right? Given that we’re from the mountain area and all.”

True, if I thought about my hometown, there were mountains like this right in our backyard. While I, being more of an indoor type, might not have ventured there often, the neighborhood kids used to run around areas like this quite a bit.

“I used to play around in places like this a lot when I was a kid. Catching bugs and stuff.”

“That’s surprising, I thought you were afraid of bugs.”

“I can’t stand them anymore now. But I did back then. I even brought this just in case. It’s essential for the mountains, right?”

Aoba pulled out insect repellent spray from her bag.

“Haven’t seen that in a while. Should’ve put some on before we came.”

“Haha, just remembered it now.”

Seemingly not wanting to be approached by bugs, Aoba liberally sprayed herself with it.

A distinct, unpleasant smell filled the air, but it also felt somewhat nostalgic. As I thought that, the nozzle of the spray can was turned towards me.

On the opposite hand, she clinked the garbage tongs.

“You want some too, right? Now you can try it out for free!”.

“What’s with that sketchy sales pitch…”

I muttered, but I wasn’t particularly fond of bugs either. I just had a bit more tolerance.

“Alright, I’ll take some.”

“There you go! Arms wide open, please?”

As Aoba circled around me, spraying the repellent, it felt quite ticklish. I couldn’t help but shrink my shoulders as the sensation crawled up my neck.

It seemed amusing to her.

She giggled each time she sprayed a little, peering into my face.

“Are you a kid? Seriously.”

“Haha, sorry, it’s just kinda fun.”

“Your mother taught you not to play with things.”

“I did learn that, but my mother is not here.

She said as she stored away the spray can.

Immediately after, she pointed towards a sunny spot a little ahead.

“Oh, here! It looks like the back mountain of my middle school. Behind the garbage station! Do you recognize it?”

She hastened her steps towards it.

Always so busy. Well, maybe that’s just her.

Feeling like a dog at my grandfather’s house, being led by the leash, I followed her.

Once there, I saw a small bench placed there, with narrow paths on both sides.
Apparently, it was part of a hiking trail.

Aoba rested her hands on the back of the bench, leaned forward, and looked around.

“Wow, this feels almost the same. Well, you can’t see the view from here though.”

“Did your middle school have a place like this?”

“Yeah. But, I only went there once, when I was taken there. Seems like it was a famous confession spot.”

A confession spot? Didn’t know our school had one. Completely new information to me.

“Was someone there to confess?”

“Nah, nah… Well, someone did suddenly confess when we went there once. Even though we were supposed to be going up with the group, suddenly, everyone else disappeared…”

“That kind of person, huh?”

“Yeah. Probably they all planned it from the start. Well, I turned him down. It felt kinda unfair, you know? Like they were filling in for someone else. Besides, I couldn’t see him as anything more than a friend.”

Well, yeah, I understand what she means.

If you’re going to confess, it should be more straightforward, right? I can understand the guy’s feelings of wanting some insurance, but especially when it’s someone as pretty and cute as her…

As I was thinking that, unexpectedly, she made an invitation.

“Hey, when we go back to our hometowns, wanna go together?”

“Huh?”

I blurted out without thinking.

And then Aoba started to fidget nervously.

“Uhh, umm, no, it’s, um, not like that! I don’t want to go to a confession spot or anything like that anymore! I mean, that’s something for junior high schoolers, right? No, it’s just because the scenery is nice! I just thought it’d be nice to go after a long time!”

She made a frantic explanation.

But I’m not dumb enough to misunderstand that much. What surprised me wasn’t that, but…

“Do you want to see me even in our hometown?”

“That’s right, even though you probably have lots of friends. We’ll still see each other when we get there, right?”

“Well, yeah, but…”

“But…?”

“We haven’t picked up any trash yet.”

“Ahh…”

Aoba’s open mouth said it all. It was clear she’d realized it just then.

Now that she mentioned it, we hadn’t picked up any garbage yet.