I’m a Loner, Gloomy Guy Who Accidentally Witnessed the Moment the Top Girl in the Class Got Dumped. I Didn’t Know What to Say to Comfort Her, So I Just Gave Her a Cola and Somehow We Started Having Lunch Together~ - 13-14

Chapter 13: Amamiya-san’s Cold Stare

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“Hey, Murase-kun. I happened to see you by chance, but… You were at a family restaurant with Touma yesterday, right?”

Amamiya-san stopped eating her lunch bread and asked me that while sitting beside me. Her eyes were fixed in a damp, lingering stare, full of suspicion. It felt like she was doubting something.

“What were you talking about?”

“Romance—”

I stopped myself mid-sentence and hurriedly shut my mouth. It was difficult to simply cut off one’s feelings. Even though she had been rejected, there was still more than enough possibility that Amamiya-san liked Kenzaki even now. If she heard that Kenzaki had fallen in love with another girl, she would definitely be hurt.

So, I decided not to tell her the truth.

“What’s wrong? Was it something you can’t say?”

“No… It’s not like that. A-Anyway! I-it’s nothing.”

I let out an exaggerated, awkward laugh. I tried to dodge the issue and get through the moment. But Amamiya-san’s gaze only grew more suspicious. She looked like she was saying, “That’s super shady,” and clearly didn’t believe me at all.

What should I do…? Should I pile on more excuses, or should I just stay silent like this? Both felt right, and yet both felt wrong. As I hesitated, unable to decide my next move…

“Don’t tell me… You were talking about love with him?!”

Amamiya-san shouted loudly and snapped her eyes wide open.

“Murase-kun, do you like Touma!?”

…Huh? What was she suddenly talking about? What kind of logic led her to that conclusion, anyway? Amamiya-san occasionally said things that caught me off guard, but this one was the most incomprehensible yet.

“I don’t know what you’re misunderstanding, but I’m straight! My romantic interest is normal girls!”

“Then does that mean Touma likes Murase-kun!? I let my guard down…!”

Amamiya-san clenched her fists and ground her back teeth together. She had misunderstood things again. She was going completely out of control. By now, I was too tired to even muster the energy to correct her. I stared blankly up at the blue sky and let out a sigh.

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“Listen to this, Murase!”

Right after I arrived at school, Kenzaki came straight over to me. His voice was filled with joy, and he was in an incredibly high mood.

“Thanks to you, it worked out!”

“So that means your confession to Hina was successful?”

“Nope, that failed. I got rejected one second after I confessed.”

“…Huh?”

“I even brought cream puffs, but she didn’t even look at them. Man, it was a total defeat.”

I had been sure the confession had succeeded, but apparently not. Then what was with this high tension…?

“But you know, a senior one year above us happened to see the whole thing. She comforted me after I got brutally rejected. She was super kind, and, like… Her emotional support was amazing. So I fell for her right there. It was a fateful encounter!”

“O-oh.”

“After that, we ate the cream puffs together, exchanged contact info, and went home. This is all thanks to you!”

Kenzaki grinned from ear to ear and repeatedly smacked my shoulder.

Huh… Where exactly is the ‘thanks to me’ part?

The reason he got along with that senior was simply because Kenzaki had great communication skills. I listened to the whole story, but there wasn’t a single part where I was involved.

“Next time, let me treat you again at the family restaurant! And from now on, let me consult you about things with senpai, okay? I’m counting on you, Romance Master!”

With that, Kenzaki slung an arm around my shoulder, then went back to his seat. When was Kenzaki ever going to realize that I wasn’t a romance master? Even if he consulted me about his love life with senpai, I had no idea what kind of advice I could give…

My years without a girlfriend equaled my age. Any advice I could give would be extremely limited. If anything, Kenzaki probably knew a hundred times more about this stuff than I did. And yet, Kenzaki was completely convinced that I was a romance master. Blindly so.

No matter how much I denied it, I could already see him brushing it off with a “Yeah, yeah,” and ending the conversation. So that meant I had no choice but to keep being a romance master from now on…? The road ahead looked bleak. My stomach hurt.

“Good morning, Murase-kun!”

The one who greeted me cheerfully as I rubbed my stomach with a grimace was Amamiya-san. She was smiling brightly, clearly in a good mood. Ever since she misunderstood my relationship with Kenzaki, she had been giving off a sharp, prickly vibe, but it seemed she had finally returned to normal.

“I kind of overheard what you were talking about just now, and it turned out there was nothing between you and Touma, huh?!”

“There’s no way there was.”

“Right~”

After saying that, Amamiya-san skipped off happily toward the group of girls she belonged to. She looked extremely cheerful. I didn’t really understand why, but… Yeah, that was good. I felt relieved that things had returned to how they were. Since thinking about the reason didn’t seem like I’d ever figure it out anyway, I gave up on trying from the start.

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Chapter 14: The One Waiting in Front of My House Was… My Childhood Friend

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I walked along the road dyed orange by the setting sun. Since I had stopped by a family restaurant with Kenzaki on the way home from school, I ended up getting back later than usual.

Mai’s going to start poking her nose into things again. I’d better dodge it somehow.

As I moved my legs while thinking that, I came to a sudden stop when I reached the front of my house. No, only my legs didn’t stop. My body, my thoughts—everything about me froze. I had seen something far too shocking. Standing there was my childhood friend who hated me, Hina Yuuki.

She stood by the fence, absentmindedly fiddling with her smartphone. I had decided that I would never be the one to speak to her again, but after something like this, there was no way I could just ignore her. I steeled myself and spoke up.

“W-What are you doing here?”

“……”

Hina lifted her face from her phone. She stared straight at me, radiating a prickly, tense atmosphere.

“You finally got home. Were you with Amamiya-san again?”

“No, I wasn’t… More importantly, why are you at my house—”

“I came because I have something to talk to you about. I’m coming in.”

That wasn’t a question. It was a unilateral decision. In her mind, entering the house was already a done deal. Being in the same space with her given our current relationship would only be awkward. Honestly, I wanted to refuse. But no matter what I said here, Hina would never back down. As her childhood friend, I knew her stubbornness better than anyone.

Giving up, I went into the house together with Hina.

“Onii-chan, welcome ho—”

Mai, who had come to greet me like usual, froze on the spot. She stared at Hina beside me in shock.

“It’s been a while, Mai-chan.”

“…Y-Yes.”

This was a reunion with “Hina-oneechan,” whom she should have loved so much. And yet, Mai didn’t look happy at all. If anything, she looked frightened. The cause was probably Hina’s aura. The current sharp and aggressive atmosphere around her held none of the brightness or kindness she used to have. She must have felt like she was looking at a completely different person and was scared.

“I’m going to talk alone with Masaki now. It’s a very important conversation, so Mai-chan, you absolutely must not come into the room, okay?”

After pressing the point firmly, Hina stepped into the house. With the ease of someone in her own home, she headed straight toward my room. After gently patting Mai’s head, I hurried after Hina. Hina entered my room and sat down on the bed. She moved her head, surveying the surroundings as if inspecting them.

“It’s been such a long time since I’ve been in this room. When was the last time, I wonder?”

“I think it was when we were in sixth grade.”

“I see. So that much time has passed. No wonder Mai-chan has grown so big. That really surprised me.”

“…So, what did you want to talk about?”

I didn’t know about Hina, but I felt like I was suffocating. I didn’t want to make small talk. I wanted her to get to the point and leave as soon as possible, so I brought it up myself. Hina let out a small breath and then stared intently at me. In her narrow yellow eyes was a strong look of accusation.

“You’re ignoring my warning, aren’t you?”

“…Huh?”

What warning was she talking about? I had no idea.

“I told you before, didn’t I? That ‘Amamiya-san isn’t suited for you, Masaki.’ So why are you still acting so close with her?”

“It’s not like that’s even an issue… And anyway, why do you care? It has nothing to do with you.”

Whatever Amamiya-san and I did had nothing to do with Hina because we were strangers now. That was what I thought when I said it, but that was a mistake. Hina’s eyes narrowed even further. Her already sharp atmosphere intensified.

This is bad… She’s really pissed.

Hina was scary when she got angry. No, not just plain scary. She was truly terrifying. Back in elementary school, I couldn’t even count how many times she had made me cry. Vivid memories of that trauma resurfaced. Because of that, even now, as a high schooler, I was still scared of her. Provoking Hina any further would be a terrible idea.

Alright, let’s change the subject.

“…H-Hey. Why didn’t you go to Seiran High School?”

The high school we attended—Sakuradai High—was a well-known academic school, but it ranked second in the city. Above it was Seiran High School. It was one of the top prep schools in the prefecture. Not to mention, its uniform was cute. For that reason, Hina had wanted to go to Seiran High ever since she was little. 

To pass Seiran High’s entrance exam, you needed extremely high academic ability and equally high internal evaluation scores. Only a tiny handful of students could get in. But Hina met both the academic and evaluation requirements. She should have passed easily. And yet, for some reason, she ended up going to Sakuradai High.

That fact had always bothered me, but I had never had the chance to ask. But now was the perfect opportunity. So I tried to finally resolve the question I had carried for years, but…

“What do you think the reason was?”

She answered my question with another question.

“…………Sorry. I don’t know.”

I had chosen Sakuradai High for the completely half-assed reason that it was the closest to my house. But I couldn’t imagine someone as responsible as Hina choosing her school for such a reason. There had to be a proper explanation. Even so, I had absolutely no clue what it might be.

“Forget it. I’m leaving.”

Hina stood up abruptly and walked out of the room. I had tried to cool things down by changing the subject, but it had backfired. It seemed I had only made her angrier. And on top of that, I didn’t get any answer to the question I’d had for years.

Things couldn’t have gone worse. But still… Why did she blow up over that? Where exactly was the land mine that I should’ve avoided? I thought it over, but in the end, I still couldn’t figure it out at all.

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