My Beautiful Childhood Friend Is Working in a Maid Cafe For Some Reason - Chapter 71

The reason I ended up like this was largely due to the fun event during my fifth year of elementary school.

The event was a huge success, thanks to everyone’s efforts. And most of all, it was thanks to Yusuke-kun. Everything went smoothly because of what Yusuke-kun said, thinking about me.

Even now, I shudder at the thought of what would have happened if I had been cast as the princess. I’m sure it would have been a total disaster.

The girl who wanted to play the role of the princess worked hard, and that’s why the play turned out great.

…But.

Because of that, the relationship between Yusuke-kun and me changed. No, to be accurate, it was changed.

The girl who wanted to play the princess in that play… there’s not a day that goes by where I don’t remember her name: Nishiguchi-san. No, calling her “san” makes me sick. I absolutely hate her. She was one of those girls who was like a leader in the class.

She wasn’t the class president or anything like that.

But because she was cute and from a wealthy family, everyone just automatically assumed she was the leader of the class, Nishiguchi… or something like that. She seemed confident in herself and didn’t mind taking charge of the class.

I couldn’t care less about Nishiguchi. I was always by Yusuke-kun’s side, so I barely interacted with her.

Besides, even if I disagreed with her, I’d definitely lose. Going against Nishiguchi meant turning most of the class against you.

I think Nishiguchi also made an effort to avoid me. It sounds ridiculous for me to say this, but people around me often said I was cute too. It didn’t make me happy at all unless it came from Yusuke-kun, but Nishiguchi must not have liked that. She was the kind of person who wanted to hog all the attention.

So, whenever I had to deal with her during some event, it made me feel a bit down. She never said it outright, but her fake smile made it clear that she didn’t like me.

I would never want to compete with her for the role of the princess. Thanks to Yusuke-kun, she got to be the princess, and I was genuinely relieved.

A few days after the event ended successfully, I started to see Yusuke-kun not just as a childhood friend but as a boy, and I realized just how much I liked him. But I couldn’t bring myself to tell him how I felt.

Even if I didn’t say anything, I thought I could stay with Yusuke-kun forever… I convinced myself of that, even though I had no real reason to believe it.

After all, Yusuke-kun and I were childhood friends. Nothing would ever change, now or in the future… we even promised to get married, so of course, everything was fine. My young mind was full of naive fantasies.

I thought I would always be with Yusuke-kun. The only times we were apart were when I went to the bathroom or when we changed clothes before gym class. And that’s when she made her move.

When I came out of the bathroom, I was surrounded by Nishiguchi and a few of her followers. It was the first time something like this had happened to me, and I was scared, wondering what was going on. Then she spoke.

“Let’s be friends.”

For a moment, I didn’t understand what she was saying, so I couldn’t reply right away. When I just stood there, dazed, she asked, “Don’t you want to?”

I didn’t. I didn’t want to be friends with her.

That was how I really felt. But the pressure from her followers and, more than anything, the look in Nishiguchi’s eyes scared me, and I couldn’t refuse. If I said no, I would definitely be bullied… Thinking that, I ended up answering, “Sure.”

From that day on, my life changed drastically.

Whenever I was near Yusuke-kun, Nishiguchi would show up too. Every single time, she would come up with some excuse to interrupt the time Yusuke-kun and I spent together.

At the time, I didn’t understand why she was doing this.

When I told Yusuke-kun that I had become friends with Nishiguchi, he seemed happy. He even told me to take care of the friendship.

Yusuke-kun must have been worried because I never spent time with anyone else but him.

But… but you see, I didn’t need anyone else. As long as I had Yusuke-kun, that was enough for me.

Even though I felt that way, I was too scared to say it out loud. I didn’t want anyone to hear and then bully me again.

Time passed as I carried this unease inside me. It became normal for the three of us to be together, with Nishiguchi’s followers occasionally joining in. It started to feel like Yusuke-kun was surrounded by a harem… until one day, Nishiguchi asked me to stay behind in the classroom alone. I asked Yusuke-kun to go home ahead of me and sat on my chair after school by myself.

Then, Nishiguchi came over. I had let my guard down and asked her what was going on without being cautious.

“Yukina-chan, you’re Yusuke-kun’s childhood friend, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you like Yusuke-kun?”

At that moment, I finally realized.

The reason she wanted to be friends with me, even though she hated me… it was all to get closer to Yusuke-kun.

Seeing her blush and fidget like that, I was sure of it.

And yet, I couldn’t tell her how I truly felt.

“Only as a childhood friend.”

“I see. Then help me out.”

“Help you?”

“Yeah, let me be alone with Yusuke-kun.”

“Why would you want to do that…”

“I like Yusuke-kun.”

No… I don’t want to hear this.

My heart ached as if it had cracked.

“I-I see.”

“Ever since Yusuke-kun said we should make a fair decision, even though everyone else wanted you to be the princess, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about him.”

Stop it… please don’t say any more.

I held back the tears that threatened to fall, forcing a painful smile onto my face.

“So, help me out.”

“O-okay.”

Looking back now, I regret not refusing her then. But I couldn’t do it. I was too scared and embarrassed to let her know how I really felt… and above all, I wanted Yusuke-kun to be the first to find out.

The next day, I started distancing myself from Yusuke-kun.