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~ - 57

Chapter 57: An Invitation to the Pool

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Mai sat down beside me as I was relaxing on the sofa in my living room at home. Smiling brightly, she held out a long, narrow piece of paper.

“Here you go, Onii-chan!”

“…What is this?”

What Mai handed me was an admission ticket to a leisure pool. Caught off guard by her sudden action, my eyes darted back and forth in surprise.

“This is a thank-you for letting her stay over the other day. Ruu-chan gave it to me. We got two tickets, one for Mai and one for Onii-chan!”

Apparently, an acquaintance of Ruu-chan’s mother was involved with the pool, and she got them through that connection. Mai added that explanation afterward. She really didn’t need to thank us. Runa-chan sure was conscientious. Once again, I found myself impressed by her thoughtful consideration.

“So, with that decided, let’s all go to the pool together!”

“……Wait. Are you counting me as part of that group?”

“Of course! Mai, Ruu-chan, and Onii-chan, the three of us! In this hot summer, let’s jump into the pool and feel refreshed and squeaky clean!”

“…Sorry. I’m going to pass.”

“Eeh! Why is that?!”

“You know why. I’m bad with crowded places.”

This leisure pool was a famous, popular spot, packed with people every year. Going somewhere like that would just wear me out. There was no way I’d feel refreshed or clean afterward. And besides…

Pools had always been known as places where outgoing people gathered in droves. An introvert like me would be completely out of place. Just imagining all those extroverts staring at me was enough to make me feel unbearable discomfort even before going.

“But is it really okay to turn down Ruu-chan’s kind offer?”

“Ghk—”

A squeezing pain shot through my chest. It was called guilt.

Damn it, Mai. She really knew where to hit me where it hurt…! She was right. What I was doing was rude. I did feel sorry about it. But… Even so, I still didn’t want to go to the pool!

I furrowed my brow and offered silent resistance.

“It seems your resolve is firm, Onii-chan. Very well.”

“Oh, finally you get it!”

I felt relieved, thinking thank goodness, but…

“In that case, I’ll use my trump card!”

Mai hadn’t given up. A trump card? What was she planning to do? At that ominous phrase, my tension spiked rapidly. I had no idea what Mai meant by it. But I had a really bad feeling.

“Do you remember, Onii-chan? ‘You’ll grant any one request Mai asks of you’—you promised me that before, didn’t you?”

…Oh yeah. I remembered. That day when Takashiro-san got way too close on the bed, I panicked and told a lie to convince Amamiya-san and Hina. Mai had helped me then, and as an exchange, I had made that promise.

“Don’t tell me you’re planning to use that…!”

“Yes! Now you have to go to the pool, Onii-chan!”

“……Fine.”

Suppressing my frustration, I took the admission ticket. Calling it a trump card was no exaggeration. Once she played that, I had no moves left. As her older brother, as a man, and above all as a person, I couldn’t break a promise I had made.

However….

“I’m sorry, Onii-chan! I won’t be able to go to the pool tomorrow!”

The day before we were about to go to the pool, the situation took a drastic turn.

“There’s a shortage in the girls’ basketball club, and they just asked me to help out in tomorrow’s tournament. I did refuse at first, of course, but they insisted no matter what…”

Despite her excellent athletic ability, Mai didn’t belong to any club, so she often helped out various teams. This must have been another such request. I was sure Mai wanted to prioritize our plans. Even so, she must have been pressed so hard that she couldn’t refuse. Mai was overly kind to a fault after all.

As her older brother, I knew how much anguish must have gone into that difficult decision. I gently patted Mai on the head as she looked apologetic. There was no way I’d yell at her.

“Don’t make that face. I’m not mad or anything.”

“Thank you very much. Please have fun tomorrow for Mai’s sake too!”

“…H-huh? Wait. It’s not canceled?”

“It’s not.”

“But you’re not coming, right? That means it’ll just be the two of us, doesn’t it? I might be fine with that, but… Well, Runa-chan would probably hate it.”

Going to a pool alone with your friend’s older brother would obviously be awkward. And for Runa-chan, who was extremely shy around strangers, that would be even worse. So tomorrow’s plan should be canceled. That meant I wouldn’t have to go to the pool. Holding onto that hope, I secretly felt relieved, but..

“It’s fine. Ruu-chan already knows about this.”

“…………Seriously?”

Reality seemed to disagree. My expectations were completely shattered. Faced with such an unexpected development, I could only stand there dumbfounded.

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After about an hour on a bus departing from the station… Standing poolside under the blazing sun, I felt utterly drained. It was hot. There were too many people.

Ah, seriously… This is the worst.

I wanted to go home already… Beside me, as I desperately wished for that, Runa-chan’s face was stiff with tension.

“U-um… Onii-san. People around us keep staring really hard… Is there something strange about me…?!”

“Ah—yeah. No, there’s nothing strange. You’re fine.”

Runa-chan really was drawing a lot of attention. But it wasn’t because she stood out in a bad way. Quite the opposite, actually.

Everyone’s eyes were glued to her because she was just that stunningly beautiful. But telling her that directly was way too embarrassing. It was absolutely impossible for an introvert like me to say that. 

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