It’s Too Early to be Having Newlywed Syndrome! ~Childhood Friends Who Rekindled their Love for Each Other ~ - 4 - 3 - Naoto, Aki and One More Person

Naoto, Aki and One More Person

When the next break time arrived, Natsuki, as it always happens, was immediately surrounded by her friends. However, no guys joined in, so Naoto was relieved. If there were guys in there, he will not be able to help but be curious about what they were talking about, that he would end up standing watch around their group.

Naoto’s attention turned to Aki, who that time was alone on her desk. There were only a few people around, so he thought it would be a good chance to thank her for the day before.

“Are you free right now?”

“Yep, I’m available—”

“Thank you for yesterday. Weren’t you scolded for coming home late?”

When Naoto asked, the girl sitting behind Aki tapping her smartphone—— Sasahara Hatsumi—— started listening attentively.

Even though Aki knew that Hatsumi was sitting behind her,

“Yeah. My parents were not home yet when I arrived, so there were no problems.”

She continued the conversation.

“I’m glad.”

After saying that, Naoto hesitated a bit.

I also wanted to talk about what happened yesterday, but wouldn’t it be a bother to her talking while being on guard around us? I already said my thanks, so I wonder if that’s enough?

“It’s perfectly fine if you want to continue talking.”

Aki said kindly.

“Eh?!”

Naoto was a bit shaken. It was because he felt like his heart was being read.

“Well, it looked like you’re still having some restraint. Just in case you still want to talk about something.”

“Ah, yeah……”

Naoto was unsure of what to say, so he tried thinking back on the events of yesterday. While Hatsumi was demanding that the conversation continue in her mind, Naoto opened his mouth.

“……Somehow, when I thought about it one more time, I just did whatever I want yesterday. I’m sorry about that.”

With only embarrassing things popping out in his mind, Naoto apologized.

“It’s alright. I like seeing those kinds of on-the-spot plans after all. In contrast, I’m not good with things where there’s a pre-arranged time, minutes, and place to meet up.”

“Me too, whenever there’s a planned meetup, I ended up having to check many times on the day itself if I’m gonna arrive on time. If it’s agreed upon by mouth only, I ended up worried if I’ll make it in time, I end up having others send me messages for confirmation.”

“Right?! Playing around on the way home from school is more comfortable.”

“Whenever there are planned meetups outdoors during vacations, you have to check if you have prepared everything, it all feels like such a waste of time, isn’t it?”

“I know right—-? You have to think of what to wear. You have to think of some reason on the rare chance you don’t want to join. Ah, keep what I said a secret from everyone, okay?”

“Haha, understood. It looks like Ninomiya-san had it rough going out with friends, huh.”

“Not really, it’s not like I’m joining those outings reluctantly. It’s just that whenever it’s on a vacation, we end up spending a long time, that I end up feeling tired on the inside.”

“Then, just like what happened yesterday, I was fine since I slept once in the middle of it, but wasn’t Ninomiya-san considerably tired?”

“A bit, yes. However, somehow, I ended up having fun. Even after I went home, when I thought back on it, I only end up thinking how fun it was.”

“Well, I’m sorry about that. Let me make up for yesterday.”

“Why are you apologizing?”

“Because you ended up getting tired, among other stuff. Even though I somewhat forced you to come to my house, I end up sleeping in the middle of it, then all I talked about was my thing, I’m wondering if I had been rude.”

“It’s alright. I’m sure you ended up sleeping because of relief about a lot of things that worried you, right?”

“When I woke up, I showed you something unsightly……”

“Morita-kun was manly and cool back then, you know. Even though I never cried from a movie before, I was relatively moved.”

“I was pretty moved myself.”

“Marita-kun wasn’t just ‘pretty’ moved, you know! You were bawling back then!”

Saying that, Aki laughed, Naoto also laughed while blushing. Even Hatsumi who was on the seat behind was grinning, even though she couldn’t understand what they were talking about, supplemented it with her own wild fantasy, and ended up repeatedly kicking on the floor.

Naoto composed his self,

“……Because of that, if possible, I want for us to get along from now on as well.”

He asked.

“Okay. Let’s get along.”

“Um, of course, if Ninomiya-san is troubled or something, don’t be afraid to ask me for any advice. I might not be able to completely resolve it for you, though.”

“There is, there’s something Morita-kun can resolve.”

“Eh? Is that something I can be useful?”

“Until recently it was something I was really worried about, but it looks like Morita-kun is a really kind person, so I think you would probably be fine.”

“I don’t really know about that, though.”

“We can worry about that afterwards, so we should settle Morita-kun’s worries first.”

“Then, I would like to ask you something, don’t you have any arrangements to meet with anyone during lunch and afterschool?”

“Yup.”

“I do not know how it will all turn out, if you’re free at those times, I want you to keep them free.”

“Got it.”

“I’m sorry I keep asking things for myself.”

“It’s all fine. I want to be of some help anyway.”

“Eh, why?”

“Well, you did treat me to takoyaki.”

“You remember such a trivial old event?”

“I somehow know Morita-kun will surely have memory of such an event.”

“Why ‘surely’?”

“Nn—-. If I tell it right here, wouldn’t it be problematic for Morita-kun?”

Aki smiled suggestively.

While Naoto was startled with her seductive gaze,

“What does that mean?”

He asked. In Naoto’s mind, he recalled the how Aki’s lips looked like while eating takoyaki that day.

Speaking of which, during that day, setting aside how she called out to me back then, I wonder why she sat beside me, ate takoyaki with me, and talked with me for a bit? I can’t picture her doing all of those just to eat takoyaki though……

“Let’s talk about that once all of Morita-kun’s problems were all dealt with. Just know that I’m Morita-kun’s ally, so you don’t have to worry. Well, it looks like you already know that much, though.”

“No, please stop saying only weird things, you know?”

“‘You know?’”

“That ‘you know’ at the end, I only said that because I’m flustered.”

“Fufu, sorry. I kinda teased you a bit there, didn’t I? Don’t worry yourself about it.”

“Even if you tell me not to worry about it…”

“I really should stop doing this…… making merry this early in the morning. I’m gonna go wash my face, so see you later, Morita-kun.”

Aki left the classroom with a blush on her face.

Naoto became curious of Aki’s state.

Of course, even Hatsumi couldn’t help but be interested about Aki’s actions.

“Hey, did you go out to play with Morita-kun yesterday?”

Hatsumi followed Aki to the restroom and asked her.

“Eh?! Er—- you know……”

Aki pondered. I’m not supposed to say anything about Natsuki and Morita-kun going out, so how to go about explaining this? Hatsumi doesn’t know Iida-kun, so it’s hard to come up with a good way to explain things. She will find it strange if I take too long to answer, so for now, let’s just answer the gist of her question.

“Yeah, well, we played around.”

“Eh—– somehow, that’s an unexpected pairing. Looks like you had fun.”

“I had lots of fun.”

“By any chance, could that be the reason for you’re in a good mood?”

“There’s also that, but something really pleasant happened this morning.”

“What was it?”

“I can’t say it right now, as of yet, but one I tell you later, it’ll definitely shock you.”

“Eh—-? Is it something romantic?”

“Ah—- nope, questions not entertained. Please don’t ask about it.”

“Is it related to someone I know?”

“It might be about someone Hatsumi also really likes. Really, no questions allowed from this point on.”

“Eh, I don’t have someone I have a crush on, though. Who are you talking about?”

“I already said no questions. If it’s something I’m not supposed to talk to others, it would be disrespectful to that person. I’ll try asking for permission if I can ask today.”

“Somehow, that’s not really Aki-ish. Even though you’re not someone to hint at something unless you have full permission to talk about it.”

“You’re right about that. I do feel like I really need everyone to know about it. Am I being too spirited?”

“So, it really is something love-related, huh.”

“Nope. That’s not right but……ah geez. I need to cool my head.”

“Are you alright? Are you being deceived by some bad guy?”

“Nope, I don’t think I’m being deceived, probably.”

“Hey, are you really alright? Saying that you’ll ask for permission if you can, are you going to meet them today? I don’t want some bad guy to do something weird to Aki.”

Hatsumi couldn’t help but be quite worried about Aki who was acting a bit different than usual.

“They’re alright. They already have a girlfriend, after all.”

“Isn’t that two-timing?”

“That’s not the case. I think they really cherish their partner.”

“As I thought, you’re being deceived, aren’t you?”

“Ah—! If you say something like that, then I won’t introduce you.”

“I don’t want the acquaintance of such a person. I hate those kind of guys.”

“Really——?”

“What’s with that question? It’s my first time seeing Aki grinning like that.”

“Yeah. Today’s the first time I felt like I’m really alive. Looks disgusting, right?”

“So someone like Aki suddenly turns into this once some guy managed to deceive them.”

“I already told you I’m not being deceived! Once you hear the whole story, Hatsumi will be convinced as well!”

“Somehow, that’s really suspicious. You talked about something weird with Morita-kun as well.”

“We didn’t talk about anything weird.”

“Then, what did you talk about?”

“If I told you right now what we talked about, then the things I can reveal to you later will become fewer.”

“You went to his room, didn’t you?”

“I did.”

“You were in his room the whole time he slept and woke up.”

“I was.”

“Then didn’t you spend the whole night in there?!”

“No! He just slept for a bit, I can’t tell who they are, but there were other people in there.”

“You did it with multiple people?!”

“You’re further off!”

“Aki, it looks like you’re now completely into guys, huh. Surely, you’ve been readily doing what a guy tells you to.”

“I told you that’s not it! I will tell you about it someday, I promise!”

Until the chime signaling the start of class rang, the two off them amicably fooled about.