Chapter 4 – Revenge Complete on the Trashy Childhood Friend

At Ichizu’s echoing shout, the classroom instantly fell dead silent. She flinched for a moment under the concentrated stares of her classmates, the childhood friend who brutally dumped her, and the benefactor who protected her. But immediately, her eyes turned sharp and strong as she slammed all her pent-up feelings into Ogawa.

“Unlike someone like you who degrades people based on their looks, Kamiji-kun helped me when I was struggling with my weight without expecting anything in return! He supported me, even sacrificing his own precious time and freedom! Thanks to him, I was able to gain confidence in myself! Someone like you, who can so casually deceive and betray people, has no right to insult my benefactor!”

Seeing Ichizu flush red with indignation left Ogawa and the observing classmates completely speechless. To be honest, even Shinta was momentarily overwhelmed by her intensity. Because he helped her diet over spring break, he had naturally interacted with her many times. But during all that time, he had never seen her eyes lit with so much anger. While everyone else stood dazed, Ichizu was the only one whose time hadn’t stopped. She delivered what could only be called the finishing blow to Ogawa.

“I’m returning the exact same words you said when you dumped me in our first year. Don’t ever come bothering me acting like my boyfriend or childhood friend again. You enemy of women, you absolute scumbag!”

“U-Ughhhhh!!”

Unable to say a single thing back, Ogawa let out a groan exactly like a sore loser and retreated. Having brilliantly paid back the humiliation from before the break, she turned her words to her classmates once Ogawa was gone.

“I want to say this clearly to everyone, too. Kamiji-kun is not the kind of person you all think he is. You’ve been treating him like a bad guy based purely on his looks for a while now, but you’re completely wrong. He hasn’t done a single weird thing to me.”

She wasn’t raising her voice like she did with Ogawa, but a faint trace of anger was woven into her tone. As the entire class looked down with awkward, guilty expressions, she gave a small huff, grabbed Shinta’s hand, and said this.

“Well then, let’s have lunch together, Kamiji-kun.”

Saying that with a beaming smile, Ichizu left the classroom with Shinta in tow.

“…Are you sure about this? Doing something to make yourself stand out in a weird way like that…”

Unlike him, she had gotten along well with the class since their first year. If she protected a former delinquent like him, someone the whole class shunned, there was a chance she could end up isolated just like him. But as if to say Shinta’s worries were the least of her concerns, Ichizu spoke.

“I’ll be totally fine. More importantly… I hate the idea of false rumors being spread about you, Kamiji-kun, much more.”

Saying that, Ichizu floated a sad expression, as if those rumors were being said about her instead. Seeing her face, for some reason, Shinta’s chest gave a tight ache.

(Wait, why is my chest hurting…)

He was never supposed to care no matter how much people talked about him. Yet seeing her pained face caused a strange, stinging ache in his chest.

Without understanding the true nature of that ache and leaving it a mystery, he arrived at the roof with Ichizu. The roof of this school was unlocked and open to students, with wooden benches set up. The two of them sat side by side on one of those benches and opened their respective bento boxes.

“Whoa, your bentos are high-level as always, Arai.”

“E-Ehehe… I’m glad to hear you say that…”

The contents of the bento she handed him in the classroom were of incredible quality. Naturally, not only did it look great, but the taste was also outstanding. As he involuntarily relaxed his cheeks and smacked his lips in delight, he noticed her glancing at him restlessly from the side.

“Hm? Something wrong?”

“N-No, it’s nothing! I was just thinking how glad I am that you like it!”

Was she startled because he suddenly spoke to her? Acting somewhat flustered, Arai started shoveling down her bento.

“Ghk, cough, cough…!”

“Jeez, what are you doing? Here.”

“T-Thanks. Gulp…”

Exasperated, he handed her the plastic bottle of tea he had bought from the vending machine. Of course she’d choke if she shoveled white rice down her throat with that much momentum. She drank the tea he handed her, her throat making a loud gulping sound.

“Phaa, sorry about that, Kamiji-kun… Wait, is this half-drank?”

“Hm, ah, my bad. I absentmindedly handed you the one I already drank a bit out of.”

The moment he said that, her face somehow changed color, turning as red as a boiled octopus. He tilted his head at her reaction but immediately figured out the reason. She must have been incredibly grossed out by drinking after him.

“Ah, my bad. Drinking after a guy is pretty gross, huh.”

“No, no, it’s not gross at all!? I-If anything, I’m happy, or rather, it’s an unexpected perk!?”

“Huh? What do you mean by happy and perk?”

“Ahhhhh, slip of the tongue, slip of the tongue! Anyway, let’s just eat our lunch! Right, right, right!!”

“O-Oookay…”

Bewildered by her somewhat bizarre reaction, he resumed eating his lunch. But watching her act so noisy and chaotic, Shinta’s mouth unconsciously loosened into a smile. Back in his first year, Shinta spent almost all of his lunch breaks alone at school. This marked the very first fulfilling lunch time he had experienced in his high school life.