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~ - 35-36

Chapter 35: Amamiya-san Drawing Near

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Amamiya-san’s feet, as she entered the room, headed straight for the bed. It was probably—no, almost certainly—that she had business with me.

I’m going to get scolded!

That kind of intuition fired instantly, and I straightened my back and braced myself, but…

“Since I already came all this way, would it be okay if I read manga for a little bit?”

My expectation missed the mark completely. Not only the content of her words, but her mood as well was cheerful, just like usual. In other words, she was not angry at all.

…Thank goodness.

My shoulders drooped limply, and I let out a breath of relief as I patted my chest.

“Go right ahead. You can read whatever you like, as much as you like.”

“Thank you.”

“Well then, this nuisance will excuse herself now! I’ll leave the rest to you two young people! Please take your time.”

“Do your best, okay!” she whispered to me, and Mai, the youngest of all, skipped out of the room.

Do my best… At what, exactly?

I lived my days trying as much as possible to live up to my little sister’s expectations, but this time it was impossible. I had no way of responding when I didn’t even understand what she meant.

“I’ll go with this one.”

Amamiya-san took a manga from the bookshelf in the corner of the room and sat down in the spot where Mai had been just moments ago, which was right next to me. I thought she would start reading the manga there, but she immediately moved on to her next action. She scooted closer and closer, then rested her tilted head on my shoulder.

There was almost no space left between us. We were close enough that I could hear her breathing. Amamiya-san had come just as close to me as Takashiro-san had earlier.

“Um… isn’t this a little too close?”

I had finally managed to get through a difficult situation and calm down, but if she did something like this, my heart would start pounding again for a completely different reason. As a guy, of course it made me happy, but this was bad for my heart. For the sake of giving my body some rest, I really wanted her to move back a little.

“See, if you’re this close, it’s hard to read the manga too, right?”

But Amamiya-san didn’t reply with a single word. She stayed right where she was and simply kept turning the pages.

That night. After finishing my homework, I sat at the desk in my private room and stretched my arms wide.

“A lot happened today.”

Every single thing had been surprising, but the biggest one was definitely what happened with Takashiro-san. When she came rushing up to me with her face bright red, my heart had been pounding so hard it felt like it was going to explode. At the time, I hadn’t understood why she acted the way she did. But now that some time had passed, I felt like I finally understood the answer.

Because of the shock of being rejected by Kenzaki, Takashiro-san was probably mentally unstable right now.

In that kind of state, it wouldn’t be strange for her to do just about anything. She herself probably didn’t even really understand what she had done.

“If she were in her right mind, there’s no way she’d do something like that to me and…”

The smartphone I had left at the corner of my desk vibrated. I was getting a call. The name displayed on the screen was Takashiro-san.

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Chapter 36: A Call from Takashiro-san

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When I answered the phone, I immediately heard a voice say.

“Sorry for calling you out of the blue.”

“It’s fine. What’s up?”

“I really wanted to apologize to you, Masa… About today. Sorry for suddenly going home like that.”

“It’s okay. I’m not bothered by it at all.”

I replied in a bright tone to Takashiro-san, who sounded awkward as she apologized. She had been seen like that by her two best friends, Amamiya-san and Hina. Panicking and running away was only natural. The reason she acted the way she did was probably inevitable, and I had absolutely no intention of blaming her.

“What did you tell them? Noa and Hina, I mean?”

“I told them you were helping me put in my contact lenses, and I brushed it off that way. Amamiya-san seemed to believe it, but Hina… I’m not sure. I don’t think she completely bought it. Takashiro-san, she might say something to you too, so if that happens, please back me up.”

“Got it. Sorry for making you tell such a weird lie. Still, they were really shocked. …I guess that means they really think about you, Masa…”

Her words cut off there. I waited for a bit, but only silence followed. She didn’t continue.

“What’s wrong?”

“…No, it’s nothing. I was just thinking about what I should do from here on. Anyway, see you.”

The call ended. What did she mean by those last words? I couldn’t really tell.

Bzz!

As I moved the smartphone away from my ear, it immediately started vibrating again in my hand. The new notification said 『You have received a message on TOIN』. It was probably Takashiro-san. She must have forgotten to say something. But when I opened TOIN, it wasn’t her. It was Amamiya-san.

Man, I’ve been wrong about my guesses all day today…

Feeling a bit drained, I read through the message.

『I know you’re not in that kind of relationship with Karin-chan, but getting that close is not okay!!』

She was probably worried that Takashiro-san’s value would drop because of me. I remembered what Amamiya-san had said to me that day when we were watching over Takashiro-san as she invited Kenzaki out on a date. Back then too, she had said something similar. This made it the second time. If Takashiro-san kept hanging around an introvert like me, her value would drop. Was that really what Amamiya-san was thinking?

“Please let that not be the case…”

Being told something like that twice meant my assumption was almost certain. Even so, unable to accept it, I desperately prayed to God that I would be wrong.

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