My Beautiful Childhood Friend Is Working in a Maid Cafe For Some Reason - Chapter 7-8

Chapter 7: The One Who’s a Loner Is Actually My Childhood Friend (2)

After chatting with Haru, the class started, led by our homeroom teacher, Saito Miku-sensei, who arrived soon after.

“Today’s break will be—”

Saito-sensei was marking the attendance list while checking the roll. Naturally, during this time, I was idly daydreaming.

That’s when I noticed Yukina in the corner of my vision. It seemed like a boy sitting next to her had started talking to her.

What’s with that smile…?

Yukina wasn’t looking particularly happy or annoyed. She was just giving a forced smile and nodding in agreement. The boy, unaware of her true feelings, looked happy just to be talking with her.

If he knew the real Yukina, he’d be disappointed… I thought as I took out my phone and looked at a picture I had taken of Yukina in her gym uniform.

Come to think of it, she’s not wearing glasses today… Does she usually wear contacts?

In the past, I could immediately notice even the smallest changes in Yukina, like when she cut her hair or when she wasn’t feeling well. But at some point, I stopped noticing even the more obvious changes unless I really paid attention.

You wouldn’t notice the difference between glasses and contacts unless you knew to look… I guess this is the result of time passing.

After enduring the boring and tedious study time—class—lunch break finally arrived. I was still at my desk, spending lunch with Haru.

“Hey, Yusuke. What kind of bread do you have today?”

“Convenience store bread today.”

I bought it on Saturday when I stopped by a convenience store while I was out. I do cook, but it’s only simple stuff, and that’s for dinner. Mornings are busy, and I don’t have time to make a bento, so I usually just grab something from the convenience store or eat at the school cafeteria.

“You should probably start thinking about getting a girlfriend who can make you a bento.”

Haru’s lunch was, predictably, a delicious-looking homemade bento, likely made by his girlfriend. Watching him happily eat a piece of tamagoyaki, I couldn’t help but think…

…This guy is living the dream!!!

“Maybe someday.”

“Are you sure? We’re in our third year now, and there’s less than a year until graduation. Don’t you want to experience youth?”

“Youth, huh… I don’t particularly feel the need. Besides, spending time like this with you, and going to maid cafes, that’s youth for me. As long as I’m enjoying the present, that’s enough. Don’t you think that’s enough youth?”

“Whoa, dude, that’s embarrassing to say out loud! But, I’m happy to hear it!”

“Having a girlfriend isn’t everything about youth. Plus, I might still find one when I go to college. Well, if I even go to college.”

“My older brother says that finding someone in college isn’t as easy as you’d think. Sure, there are more people than in high school, but you end up not interacting with most of them. So don’t get your hopes up too much.”

“Seriously…?”

Haru, who had been embarrassed earlier, now looked serious and spoke with a weighty tone, which made his words feel even more real.

“Well, that’s fine. I don’t want a girlfriend right now anyway.”

“Yeah, ’cause if you had one, you wouldn’t be able to go to maid cafes anymore.”

“Exactly. I wouldn’t want to miss out on their omelet rice.”

“Besides, if worse comes to worst, you could always beg Yukina-chan, and she’d probably help you out.”

“Yeah, yeah… Wait, no, she wouldn’t!”

I don’t know why, but we’re mentioning Yukina’s name a lot today. If she hears this, she might get jealous, though that’s unlikely since Haru’s girlfriend is in a different class.

“Why would I need to go as far as to beg Yukina to be my girlfriend?”

“Well, I thought maybe since you’re childhood friends, she might forgive you for going to maid cafes.”

…Well, that’s possible since Yukina works as a maid.

“But even so, Yukina would never make me her boyfriend. Besides, I don’t want Yukina as my girlfriend either.”

“Haha, being childhood friends can be tough. Getting teased like this.”

I sighed in exasperation at Haru, who was laughing as if he was having fun.

“Sigh… Then don’t bring it up.”

“Haha, sorry, sorry. But why do you think Yukina doesn’t have a boyfriend?”

“Why the sudden question?”

“I’m just curious. Yukina-chan gets a lot of confessions, even after entering high school. And half of those guys are pretty handsome, you know?”

“Really?”

“Really. All the top athletes in sports clubs have been getting rejected one after another.”

“Hmm. Well, maybe Yukina just hasn’t found anyone she likes yet. If she does, she’ll probably start dating him.”

“…You don’t feel anything about that?”

“Nope, not at all.”

“Really, really?”

“Really, really.”

“Alright then.”

It doesn’t matter to me if Yukina starts dating some random guy. In fact, I’d prefer if she quit her job at the maid café altogether!

Thinking this, I glanced over at Yukina.

She was sitting alone, eating an onigiri that was probably from the convenience store.

—

Chapter 8: The One Who’s a Loner Is Actually My Childhood Friend (3)

…Ugh, my stomach hurts so bad…!

During the end-of-day homeroom, I was in a state of emergency. The pain in my stomach kept getting worse, and my face was turning pale. I needed to go to the bathroom, fast. Sensei, please finish talking soon!

Finally, the homeroom ended with the class president’s closing remarks.

As soon as it was over, I quickly shoved everything on my desk into my bag.

I just needed to get ready to leave and head straight to the bathroom…!

“Hey, Yusuke, about today—”

“Sorry, I need to use the bathroom.”

“Oh, uh, okay. See you tomorrow then.”

I apologized to Haru, who had started to say something, and I was the first one out of the classroom. I rushed straight to the bathroom and finally, let it all out.

Ahhh, that feels so much better…!

Okay, now I’ll stop by the club room… But first, I need to grab my bag from the classroom.

When I went back to the classroom, all the students had already left. They must have gone to do their own things… Well, except for one. There was only one person left. Was it the sound of the door opening that startled her, or was it seeing me walk in…? It was probably the latter.

“What are you doing…?”

I asked in surprise.

Sitting at my desk… was Yukina.

We both stared at each other in silence, eyes wide in shock.

What? Why is Yukina sitting at my desk?

I couldn’t understand it no matter how much I thought about it. I had no idea why or what it meant.

As I stood there in stunned silence, Yukina quickly stood up from the desk and started to walk away, as if nothing had happened.

“Hey, hey, hey, Himemiya-san. What were you doing at my desk?!”

I felt uneasy about ignoring this, especially since no one else was around, so I spoke to her at school for the first time.

Yukina flinched for a moment… or at least it seemed like she did, but then she glared at me and snapped back.

“Nothing. I wasn’t doing anything.”

“That’s a lie. You were sitting at my desk.”

“I told you, I wasn’t doing anything! And, besides, where were you anyway? You left your bag here and disappeared… I was surprised when you suddenly came back!”

“I just went to the bathroom.”

“The bathroom? For that long?”

Yukina was right; it had taken a while because it was a tough battle. But why did she have to point that out?

“…It’s none of your business.”

“Ha! Don’t tell me… you were using the picture you took of me the other day here…”

Does she like that joke or something?

For some reason, Yukina was back to defending herself as if she misunderstood something.

“Ugh… whatever.”

If someone saw us talking like this, they’d get the wrong idea. And then the rumor mill would start churning— “Confessed to a beautiful girl in an empty classroom and got rejected miserably.”

With that thought in mind, I grabbed my bag and started to leave the classroom.

“Stay away from me, pervert!”

Yukina backed away.

But I was so disinterested that I surprised even myself, and I looked at her with a pitying expression.

“Why are you looking at me like that? You were probably imagining me naked, weren’t you!”

Yukina’s naked… her naked body…

I’ve never thought about it. Besides, I’ve seen Yukina naked many times when we were little. After all, we used to take baths together. So, it’s not something I need to worry about… I guess.

“Not like you’ve grown at all…”

I muttered under my breath so Yukina couldn’t hear.

“Anyway, don’t sit at my desk again. Stop bothering me.”

“What? When did I ever bother you? And besides, I wasn’t sitting there because I wanted to… The teacher asked me to…”

“…Asked you to do what?”

“Apparently, there’s been a lot of students leaving their stuff in the classroom recently. It’s not forbidden, but if it gets out of hand, we have to say something, so she asked me to check.”

“Hmm. But why did she ask you, Himemiya-san?”

“Because I’m on trash duty.”

“I see.”

Well, it wasn’t really a big deal after all.

Still, since it seemed like Yukina wasn’t doing anything weird at my desk, I might as well apologize. I did snap at her.

“Well, good luck with the rest. And… sorry for getting annoyed earlier.”

“Yours is the last desk, so don’t worry about it.”

If she’s not bothered, then that’s fine. I should just get out of here and head to the club room.

“I’m off to take out the trash.”

“See you tomorrow.”

I responded as just another classmate to Yukina, who was walking over to the four large trash bags at the front of the classroom.

I didn’t really want to leave the classroom with her, so I grabbed my bag and quickly headed for the door—before stopping in my tracks.

Ah, geez…!

I gave up on leaving and walked over to Yukina. Then, I lifted three of the trash bags.

“I’ll help you out since I’m already here.”

Yukina looked at me with a surprised expression. But then, her lips seemed to tremble slightly with a hint of a smile, as if she was just a little bit happy. At least, that’s how it seemed to me.