My Childhood Friend Who is My Girlfriend was Stolen by My Best Friend. From Now on, I'll Flirt with My Ex-Best Friend's Little Sister! - Chapter 26

The Reason I Like Senpai (2)

Rinka’s POV

“Are you Rinka-chan?”

A guy with plain appearance appears in front of me. He is tall and has a relatively good-looking face, but the kind of face you would forget in three days.

Since he is wearing the same uniform as my brother, it doesn’t take long to realize he’s a middle school student.

“…who are you?”

“I’m Naegi Toshiya. Uh, well…you can say that I’m a friend of Rinka-chan’s older brother, Shintaro.”

He sits down on the bench next to me and says so.

I’m not good at talking to strangers, but oddly enough, I don’t feel scared.

For some reason, he has an easy to talk to atmosphere.

“Is there something I can help you with? My brother (Ani) isn’t here.”

By the way, there’s a reason why I call my brother ‘Ani’ so formally.

(TN: ‘Ani’ is a formal way to call an older brother)

Ever since I found out that we are not blood-related, I realized that the way he looks at me is different from how an older brother should look at his little sister.

My brother has a keen sense of intuition, so he might have known that we’re not blood related a long time ago.

In any case, I decided to keep my distance from him.

Whether it’s just my imagination or not, I feel unsafe being close to him. That’s the reason why I refer to him so formally.

“Umm, Shintaro is worried about you, Rinka-chan. He said, ‘She always sits alone, and she doesn’t talk to me, so I don’t know what to do’.”

“Is that so? Please tell him I’m fine and he doesn’t have to worry about me.”

“O-Okay…but if you have something troubling you, I can give some advice.”

“Thank you.”

“Yeah. No problem”

“…wait, why are you sitting next to me!?”

“Actually, there’s someone I like…and I’m kind of hesitating about confessing to her.”

“H-Huh? You just said you would give me some advice, but now you’re really going to ask me for advice?”

“Is that not okay?’

“…t-that’s a bit upsetting. Are you sure you can pay me back?”

“Ah, then I’ll bring some wagashi tomorrow.”

“Wagashi?”

“Yeah, my parents own a wagashi shop…so, I can only offer something like that as a thank you. Is that alright?”

“…it feels a bit annoying, it’s like I’m being lured in by sweets, but I guess it’s fine. It seems like you don’t have many people to talk to, and it seems like you’ve hardly spoken to girls.”

“Isn’t that a bit prejudiced? Do I look like that kind of person?”

Senpai seems depressed, as if something has stabbed him.

Even though it’s our first meeting, talking to him helps distract me from my problems.

I guess the timing is just right.

I’m tired of spending time alone. At the same time, I don’t want to see my family.

The presence of Senpai, who isn’t even my classmate, fills the emptiness in my heart.

Two months have passed since my first meeting with Senpai.

He doesn’t come to see me every day because he is busy helping out at his family’s wagashi shop. However, he still comes to see me whenever he can.

Well…I end up the one listening to his problems whenever he comes to see me.

Most of our conversations revolves around romance.

He often asks me how he can get closer to the girl he likes. It might be more accurate to say it’s more like a progress report.

“You still haven’t confessed yet?”

“If I do and get rejected, it would ruin our relationship…I wish she would confess to me first.”

“You’re such a coward. You’re so wimpy like a bean sprout. Honestly, even if you confess, it would probably be a nuisance.”

“That’s harsh…I’m not really that mentally strong. Can you tone down your insults a bit?”

“It’s already toned down enough. If I start listing your flaws, I can easily come up with 365 of them.”

“That’s as many as there are days in a year!”

My situation hasn’t changed. I still haven’t made a single friend in my new school.

I’m grateful that Senpai is willing to spend time and pay his attention to me, but I often end up being a bit mean to him.

I know this is not the right way to get his attention, but I just don’t want our conversation to end, so I end up using clumsy methods.

Days like this continues…and then one day…

“Senpai, can you give me some advice?”

“Eh? Ah, yeah. Of course.”

For the first time, I decide to confide in Senpai about my situation.

It’s proof that I’ve opened up to him. For some reason, I feel regretful, but strangely enough…I don’t resist.

It’s not good for me to keep running away like this.

But I also don’t know what’s the right thing to do. So, I decide to ask for Senpai’s opinion.

“—so, that’s how I found out Mama and I aren’t biologically related. I was shocked, and to be honest, I don’t know how to face with her anymore.”

I tell Senpai everything in detail, leaving nothing hidden.

He might have heard about the situation from my brother beforehand.

However, Senpai just listened quietly until I finished.

“Your mother is still in the hospital, right?”

“Yes. It seems like it’s going to take quite a while for her to recover.”

“Then, how about we go visit her now?”

“Huh? Wait, Senpai? Isn’t that a bit too sudden!?”

The senior smiles gently and gets up from the bench.

“You’re a bit of a scaredy-cat, aren’t you, Rinka-chan?”

“…huh? W-What do you mean by that? Are you making fun of me?”

“It doesn’t matter if you’re biologically related to her or not, that doesn’t define a parent-child relationship.”

“B-But…that’s…”

“Stop whining and let’s go.”

Senpai takes my hand and starts walking.

The feeling of his slightly larger, rough hand feels new to me.

More than anything, the sight of him leading me is reassuring.

Before I knew it, I find myself holding his hand back.

What I really want is just an opportunity to see Mama, that’s all.

And Senpai is the one who gives me that opportunity.

That’s why I feel like I’m being saved by Senpai.