I’m an Introvert, but After Taking Care of the School’s Most Beautiful Girl Who Lives in an Apartment When She Was Sick, She Became Attached to Me and Started Inviting Me Over to Her Place! - Chapter 73

Chapter 73

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“Morning— …wait, huh. Onii’s not here.”

As usual, Kanau appeared in the living room with her loose, sleepy greeting. With vision that still hadn’t fully opened, she looked around for her brother, who was normally there, but no one was in sight.

“Still asleep, maybe?” 

She wondered, peeking into his room, but unfortunately it didn’t seem like he was sleeping either. Still confused, but with little time to spare, she went ahead and started getting ready for the morning. While packing her lunch, she noticed that something had been placed on the dining table.

『Sorry, Kanau. I left the house early today. I already packed your lunch, so be careful.』

The message was written on a square memo pad, with wording that felt almost motherly. She didn’t know what change of heart had made her brother, who was normally the type who wanted to laze around until the very last minute, leave early, but somehow, she felt like his cheerful excitement had seeped into the note.

“Well, I guess it can’t be helped. Since Onii’s always working so hard, I’ll take care of things today.”

She was usually completely reliant on her brother, who handled the basic housework in her place since she was terrible in the mornings. With a small shake of her head, she decided that today she’d switch roles, and immediately got to work on the chores.

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Tap… tap… tap…

The school building was far emptier than usual at this early hour, with only two or three students visible in each classroom. His footsteps echoed unusually loudly through the hallway, and a strange tension began to well up inside Sorato’s heart.

There was nothing to feel guilty about. No one should know that he was dating Kaon, and in the first place, Sorato and Kaon hadn’t done anything at school that would suggest the two of them were romantically involved. So there was no reason he couldn’t act the same as always, calm and confident, but for reasons he couldn’t explain, a faint trembling crept into his fingertips.

Before he knew it, he had arrived at his classroom. Still carrying that tension, he reached for the door.

Clatter—

“Oh? You’re pretty early today.”

“…M-morning.”

The moment he stepped inside, Sorato finally realized the true source of the heaviness weighing on his heart. Just as expected, the sparsely populated classroom held only his friend Kohaku and a few girls he’d never spoken to. Kohaku greeted him casually, just like always, but looking closer, Sorato noticed his eyes were slightly swollen. Knowing the reason why, Sorato was struck by an overwhelming awkwardness and an inescapable sense of guilt. Yesterday after school, spurred on by Kohaku’s words, he had run forward without hesitation. The fact that he was now dating her was undeniably because Kohaku had pushed him from behind.

“So, you got together with her, right? (whispering)”

“Huh? Ah… yeah.”

Kohaku whispered to him in a tone that clearly knew the outcome, but Sorato could only give a dull response. All of a sudden, he felt afraid to look at Kohaku’s face. Even though he should have been congratulating him, somehow it sounded ironic. His voice was gentle, just like always, but Sorato couldn’t shake the thought that deep down, Kohaku might resent him…That maybe he’d been hated.

“What’s with you? You look totally out of it.”

“You think so…?”

Kohaku tilted his head suspiciously, genuinely worried about Sorato’s strange behavior, but only received an empty, air-like reply.

(…Could it be?)

Noticing that his friend still wouldn’t meet his eyes, Kohaku finally seemed to realize something. Then, with the palm of his right hand, he snapped Sorato on the butt like a whip—smack!—with full force.

“OW!? What the hell was that for!?”

“Shut up. If you start worrying about me again, I’m gonna hit you even harder next time. Natsuki-san chose you, right? Then just be happy you beat your rival. …I don’t resent you.”

“!”

“You’ve heard the saying, right? ‘If the one you love is happy, that’s enough.’ If the person I like and my best friend both look happy, then I can say with pride that I was right to push you forward. So quit moping around and stand tall like, ‘Yeah, I totally made Natsuki-san fall for me!’”

“…Yeah. Thanks, Kohaku.”

The thorn that had been lodged deep in Sorato’s heart finally began to loosen, unraveling like straw fibers. Once again, just like yesterday, Kohaku had pushed him forward. Even if he said he didn’t resent him, he must have felt frustrated. There were probably tears Sorato never knew about. Even so, Kohaku hadn’t uttered a single word of regret in front of him. Instead, he added words meant to keep Sorato from looking back.

『If the one you love is happy, that’s enough.『』

(Man, what a pain you are.)

Seeing Sorato finally start to regain his usual expression, Kohaku muttered something that sounded almost parental. Because Sorato was so sensitive and painfully honest, he’d still been holding onto lingering feelings about their twisted rivalry. That equal rivalry, formed for the first time over a single after-school evening, had ended in an instant. Until yesterday, Kohaku had been seething with frustration, carrying anger with nowhere to go but Sorato’s clumsy, excessive concern had made him feel stupid for worrying so much.

“If you don’t make Natsuki-san happy… Then I’ll beat the hell out of you.”

And with that, he spat out the words quietly, like a parting shot.

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“…Hey, you two. Can I ask you something?”

“Ah, Tenma. I know exactly what you’re about to say. Yeah… I really do.”

“Right?”

“Huh? I don’t get it at all. Why am I the only one lost here?”

The three of them had gathered earlier than usual and were chatting at their usual spot by the hallway-side windows. But Tenma had been acting strangely restless, repeatedly glancing around the classroom and even pausing mid-conversation as if searching for someone. When Tenma finally seemed unable to hold it in any longer and tried to say something, Kohaku agreed without even hearing him, leaving Sorato completely out of the loop. Trying to follow their lead, Sorato scanned the room himself, but nothing came to mind.

“Can you explain? What’s bothering you so much?”

“…It kinda feels like I’m being stared at a lot today.”

“Yeah. I’ve been feeling it too… Mostly from girls.”

“Huh? They’re looking at you two?”

“You (you), idiot!!”

“WHAT!? Me!?”

That was right. As more students gradually filled the classroom and chatter grew louder, more and more girls’ gazes were directed toward the spot where Sorato and the other two were talking. Tenma and Kohaku, both used to interacting with girls, had already realized what was going on. But Sorato, a guy with zero romantic experience, had absolutely no clue.

“Seriously, man… it should be obvious why girls would stare at you. I’ll say it now, but you were slow to notice Natsuki-san’s feelings too.”

“Sorato’s a purebred romance idiot. He has so little experience that he’s clueless about those kinds of looks.”

“I don’t really get what you’re saying, but basically I’m way off compared to everyone else, and that’s bad, right?”

“Honestly, not noticing this much might actually be a talent…”

“Being too modest is its own kind of trouble.”

The two muttered incomprehensibly.

(Everyone’s looking at me…? No way—)

Snap. Snap. Snap. Snap.

“……?”

Relying on their strange conversation, Sorato decided to look around the classroom properly and immediately noticed something off.

“I’m making eye contact WAY too much!?!”

“Now you realize?”

“You really are clueless about this stuff.”

“No—! It was seriously way too much eye contact…!? Huh!? What, did they find out…!? Did they find out I started dating someone!?”

He had locked eyes with almost every classmate in the room. Realizing how abnormal the situation was, Sorato immediately crouched down and hid himself in the thin shadow beneath his desk. Hugging himself defensively, he feared that these gazes meant the information that he was dating Kaon had begun to leak. But there was no way his friends would spread that kind of information. Then…Had someone seen them? Hugging? No way…!

“No—”

Just as his thoughts began spiraling out of control, Kohaku cut in.

“It’s your hair.”

“Yeah, definitely.”

“…Huh?”

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