I’m Betrayed by My Childhood Friend Who is Also My Lover, but My Other Childhood Friend Healed Me, So I Feel Like I Can Recover and Be Happy ~Is it True That Friendship Between a Man and Woman is Impossible? - Chapter 3

Investigation

Airi’s POV

Today, when I go to school, my childhood friend who is in the same class as me is absent.

That’s strange.

I start to worry if he caught a cold or something.

Also, it happened that his mom, who is on a long business trip, asks me to check on him.

So, I have a perfect reason.

I decided to stop by his house on my way back today.

But before that, I decided to go talk to my other childhood friend, Karasuma Chitose.

I asked her to have lunch with me during lunch break.

“Eh, Airi-chan, why!?”

She looks extremely surprised.

“Akito is absent today, so I thought it’s strange. You both had a date yesterday, right?”

“Did I say something like that?”

For some reason, she awkwardly averts her gaze and said so innocently.

“You were happily talking about it during lunch break yesterday, weren’t you?”

“Was I? But well, in the end various things came up, so we couldn’t go on the date.”

“That’s why you’ve been feeling down since yesterday!?”

I become even more worried about Akito.

“Yeah, maybe. I’m not feeling too well either, so I’ll just go back to my class and rest.”

“Are you okay? Should we go to the infirmary instead?

“It’s fine, I’m okay! I think it’s just because I couldn’t get enough sleep last night.”

With that, she hurriedly returns to her classroom. It’s as if she’s trying to escape me.

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After school.

After returning home to drop off my bag, I immediately begin my investigation on my childhood friend.

Even though I’ve been here many times before, I feel nervous for some reason.

Maybe it’s because I’m usually invited by his mom.

I ring the intercom.

After a short while, Akito opens the door and greets me.

He looks better than I expected.

With that thought in mind, I meet Akito’s eyes.

I can’t help but gasp.

His eyes, which is really familiar to me…seems to reflect no emotion at all, they seem dark.

Hiding my inner turmoil, I follow him inside and sit on the sofa in the living room.

I try my best to have a casual conversation with Akito while maintaining my composure.

Akito prepares tea for me, so I take a sip to calm myself down.

It tastes really good as always—

I don’t know what happened to him.

It feels like Akito hasn’t changed at all.

However, something is definitely off.

So, I decided to stop the small talk and ask him directly about it.

For a while, we stare each other down, without saying a single word.

I can say that I’m really good at this kind of situation.

Usually, when I keep staring at the other person, they either surrender or look away.

But this time, Akito is unusually persistent.

For a moment, I felt his gaze turned towards my chest.

In the end, he finally gave in.

He told me about everything that happened.

One word— ‘unbelievable’.

Akito and Chitose have always been really close since childhood, it’s actually strange that they hadn’t been dating until a few months before.

I can’t even imagine them ever being apart at all.

I’m worried about Akito, who seems to have lost his emotions judging from the look in his eyes.

However, I also feel like I need to hear Chitose’s side of the story as well.

So, after returning from Akito’s house, I contacted Chitose.

When I told her that I wanted to meet her, she hesitated at first, but eventually she agreed to meet me.

With that, I head to Chitose’s house.

Her house is nearby, so it doesn’t take long to get there.

I ring the doorbell.

Chitose opens the door, still wearing her uniform.

Then, she takes me up to her room.

I look directly into Chitose’s eyes and ask her about it.

With that, I listen to her side of the story.