My Beautiful Childhood Friend Is Working in a Maid Cafe For Some Reason - Chapter 89

That night, I contacted Tadokoro to tell her that I had decided to become a stalker.

I’m going to be a stalker starting tomorrow.

A little later, Tadokoro replied.

“W-What do you mean?! Having even you follow me is terrifying!”

“Don’t worry. I’m going to stalk the stalker who’s following you, so you don’t need to worry about me.”

“No, that’s seriously disturbing! What do you mean by stalking the stalker?!”

The conversation was getting annoying, so I decided to make a phone call. Of course, I called Tadokoro.

“…H-Hello? Is this Senpai?”

“Who else would it be?”

“Well, yeah…but what’s up all of a sudden?”

“Texting is too much of a hassle, so I called.”

“You’re as blunt as ever…So, what do you mean by stalking the stalker?”

“Basically, when you’re walking alone, I’ll be following at a distance. If someone keeps tailing you, I’ll catch them. Then we’ll know who the culprit is.”

Most of this was Yukina’s idea, though.

“Are you sure that’s okay? What if they get angry and snap at us?”

“If that happens, just scream. That’ll solve the problem.”

“I’m not convinced at all…”

“Well, it’ll work out somehow. Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”

“Senpai…That’s kind of cool…”

“Well, thank you. If you’re scared, I could walk you to and from school.”

“D-Don’t treat me like a child by walking me to and from school!”

Even over the phone, I could imagine it. He’s probably blushing right now, getting all worked up.

“That was unnecessary, huh?”

“Exactly! …But, during breaks, I might come see you…Is that okay?”

“Sure. If you don’t mind people giving us weird looks.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

I heard Tadokoro’s laughter. If she can stay cheerful, that’s what matters most. After that, we talked a bit more before ending the call.

The next day, during lunch break, Tadokoro started coming to my classroom. The three of us—Yukina, Tadokoro, and I—would eat lunch together. As expected, we got a lot of stares, but I ignored them. This wasn’t the time to care about that.

Yukina didn’t seem entirely happy about it, but she reluctantly accepted it.

“We’re not getting any leads at all.”

Three days later, during lunch, the three of us had a strategy meeting while eating. For the past three days, after school, I had been following Tadokoro around the school, but we hadn’t found any clues.

“It’s not going to be that easy. You’ve just got to be determined, Yuu-kun.”

“Even so…”

It felt like we were wasting our time after school without any real purpose. I had work, and the final exams were coming up. Time was limited.

Also, even if I was helping a junior, stalking her didn’t exactly feel great.

Hiding behind walls, I kept staring at Tadokoro’s back. Naturally, people started giving me suspicious looks, and even the teachers stopped me. I made excuses with all my might and somehow got away with it. One wrong move, and I would’ve been treated as a real stalker.

“I really want to wrap this up by the end of the week.”

“Sorry for causing so much trouble…”

“It’s fine. The one causing trouble is the stalker.”

“That’s true, but…”

Tadokoro looked down, feeling guilty. Seeing someone who’s usually so energetic and annoying acting like this threw me off.

“Then, once this stalking business is over, you can treat me and Yukina to something. As a reward.”

“Yeah, I agree. We should definitely get our reward.”

“A reward…That sounds scary…”

“Even just a drink would be fine, right?”

I glanced at Yukina, and she nodded eagerly.

“Okay, I got it.”

After lunch, I walked Tadokoro back to her classroom on my way to the bathroom. When I returned, Yukina was waiting with a concerned look on her face.

“As expected, you’re not feeling well.”

“Yeah. We need to solve this soon…”

But that day ended with no progress either.

The next morning, as I yawned and opened my shoe locker, a piece of paper fluttered out.

At a time like this, some people might think, “Is it a love letter?” But not me. Ever since rumors about Yukina and me spread, I’d gotten a bunch of creepy letters, so my hopes for anything like that had long since vanished.

I wondered what it was this time as I opened it. It read: “Stay away from my girlfriend.”

It’s been a while since I got something like this. Whoever wrote this really hates me being near Yukina. At first, I was scared, but now, I just scoff at these things. I crumpled the paper and threw it in the trash.

As I walked to the classroom, I started thinking about the letter again. Up until now, the letters had told me to disappear, quit, or something similar directed at me.

But this time, it said, “Stay away from my girlfriend.”

It’s like this person thinks Yukina is their girlfriend. People like that are unpredictable.

Could it be…Yoshino?

Yoshino, who had confessed to Yukina before and made her cry. Tadokoro had said that she was getting a lot of hate on the message boards because of that. Maybe she’s trying to mess with Yukina again as a way to get revenge.

I can’t just sit around.

Before I realized it, I was hurrying up the stairs and through the classroom door.

“Yukina!”

Yukina was chatting with Haru when I rushed over to her.

“Yuu-kun. What’s wrong?”

Yukina and Haru exchanged puzzled looks.

Maybe that letter was really just the result of someone’s frustration. Maybe it was just jealousy.

But I promised to protect Yukina.

“Nothing happened to you, right?”

“U-Um? No, nothing at all.”

Yukina answered, still not quite understanding what was going on.

That’s fine. I didn’t need to say anything unnecessary to make her worry. The only thing I needed to say was—

“Yukina. Stay as close to me as you can.”

“Y-Yusuke?!”

The one who reacted loudly was Haru. He looked at me, surprised.

“What?”

“Uh, no, it’s just…What’s going on all of a sudden?”

“What do you mean…?”

That’s when I realized. I had just blurted out something ridiculous without thinking.

“Oh.”

I started to feel hot. This was embarrassing. I had basically just confessed in front of everyone. No matter how much I wanted to protect Yukina, this was stupid.

“W-Wait, no, what I meant was…”

I tried to explain, panicking, but it was too late. Yukina lowered her head, stepped closer, and gently grabbed my sleeve.

Then, she nodded.

“…Okay.”

A small reply. I had no idea what this meant for our relationship, but if it keeps things under control, then fine. I’ll just have to endure it until this whole situation is over.