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 49

From Now On… (1)

Time passes in a blink of an eye and I’m now in my first year of university.

It’s November now and I’ve entered a well-known university in the prefecture.

I’m surprisingly enjoying campus life.

My relationship with Rinka is also going very well. Sure, we’ve had arguments and some difficult times, but there’s no sign of us breaking up. Things are going so smoothly that I really feel like we are going to get married one day.

Naturally, since I’m a freshman in college, that means Rinka is in her third-year of high school right now.

It would be a different story if I had to take a gap year, but thankfully, I didn’t stumble along the way.

Although I don’t get to spend as much time with Rinka as I did in high school, I don’t feel lonely because we’re together every now and then. In fact, we even have a date planned for later today.

Even though it’s been two years since we started dating, we are still very much in love with each other…I’m starting to feel embarrassed to say this myself, I’ll stop bragging.

Things are going perfectly well, nothing major happened.

I’m spending my days peacefully.

I just finished my third period general education lecture and is getting ready to go home.

Suddenly, a smartphone falls nearby.

It seems like the person who drops it doesn’t notice. No one else around me seems to pick it up.

So, I pick up the smartphone and call out to its owner.

“Umm, you dropped this.”

“Eh…ah, sorry—”

The moment she sees me, she freezes on the spot.

She stands there with her eyes widen in surprise.

Her hair that used to be long down to her waist is now cut short, just touching the nape of her neck.

It’s a beautiful, shiny black hair without a single split end in sight. She looks a little more mature than before.

She quickly takes her phone from me, almost snatching it.

Then, she turns around and starts walking away briskly.

I instinctively call out to her.

“W-Wait.”

“……”

She stops in her tracks.

“Can we talk for a bit?”

“…yeah.”

She nods her head and walks back towards me with slow steps.

There are no classes using this lecture hall for the fourth period.

She—Tsukimiya Airi, sits down next to me.

The lecture hall is still noisy since the lecture has just ended.

However, there is this silence just between us.

“You’re taking this class too?”

“Yeah. Apparently, it’s easy credits.”

“Same for me.”

“…I-I see. My friend and I were planning to take this class together, but since they have some compulsory subjects they need to take, I ended up alone.”

“Same here…I didn’t expect we’d end up at the same university.”

“I’ve been studying all the time since then. Well, I’m in the literature department, so I guess it’s not that impressive.”

Neither of us look at each other in the face, instead we are just looking at the blackboard in front of the lecture hall.

“…sorry. I don’t even know what to say, but I stopped you.”

“…n-no, I’m glad that you stopped me…but, aren’t things supposed to be over between us?”

“I was really angry back then…I just lost my composure and couldn’t see things clearly…are you okay with things ending like that, Ai—Tsukimiya-san? If so, I won’t say anything else.”

“N-No! I don’t want things to end like that!”

My childhood friend jumps up from her seat and leans forwards, closing the distance between us.

A few students that remained in the lecture hall look a bit startled.

I chuckle and grab my things.

“Are you coming to campus again tomorrow?”

“Y-Yes. I’ll come!”

“Then, come meet me during lunch break, I’ll be waiting for you in the corner seat of the cafeteria. There’s something I want to give you…something I need to give you.”

“…I’ll definitely be there!”

She clenches her fist tightly, showing her enthusiasm.

I put my backpack on.

“Then let’s talk tomorrow. I have plans for the rest of the day.”

“Plans…”

“Is something wrong?”

“No, well, see you tomorrow…Toshi—Naegi-kun.”

She waves her hands as she sees me off.

Adjusting my backpack, I leave the lecture hall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You met Tsukimiya-san…?”

After class, I meet Rinka at a family restaurant.

Rinka is frowning as she munches on her fries.

“Apparently, we go to the same university, but in different departments.”

“You’ve been in college for over six months, so how could you not notice?”

“Universities are full of people. There is no concept of fixed classrooms. There are a lot of people from different departments, so I hardly know their name or face. I barely know half the people in my own department.”

“Is that so? But isn’t it weird that you end up in the same class with Tsukimiya-san even though you two are in different departments?”

“Some classes are open to all departments. I think you’ll understand when you become a university student, Rinka.”

“Hmm. It feels a bit too convenient to be just a coincidence. It pisses me off.”

With her sulky attitude, Rinka keeps munching on her fries like a rabbit.

She rests her chin on her hand, looking displeased.

“Too convenient?”

“Yes. Not only that you’re at the same university with Tsukimiya-san, but you’re also in the same class as her. And then you just happen to reunite with her because you picked up something she dropped, it’s all so typical and kind of irritating.”

“Typical…”

“So, what are you planning to do from here, Senpai?”

Rinka asks so as she puts a fry into my mouth.

I take a bite of the fry and say,

“For now, I just want to talk face-to-face with her. That’s…how I really feel right now.”

“Normally, no one wants to meet their ex who has cheated on them, you know.”

“Ugh…yeah, you’re right.”

“But I guess that’s just how you are, Senpai. Hmph, having such a soft-hearted boyfriend is a real pain. Talking about your ex in front of your girlfriend is unacceptable. It’s a serious offense, deserving a hefty punishment.”

“S-Sorry.”

“Just so we’re clear—I am your girlfriend. That’s not changing, and I won’t let it change.”

“I understand. When it comes to romance, you’re the only one I’m interested in, Rinka.”

I look Rinka straight in her eyes and say so. Rinka’s cheeks flush in an instant.

“However, we grew up like siblings. Especially when we were kids. So, it feels kind of sad to just let it end like this. I know what I’m doing seems contradictory since I’m the one who ended things with her last time, but that’s just how I really feel…I’ve decided that the next time we happen to meet again, I won’t miss the chance to mend things with her.”

I can’t put it into words very well.

I was cheated on, and I treated her horribly too, so it was really over between us.

But every now and then, I still think about it.

The time I spent with her. Whenever I think about my childhood, there are almost no memories except for the ones I share with her.

No matter how much I think about it, it feels wrong to end things with my childhood friend like that. I know we can’t go back to the way things were, and I don’t think we should. But still, if possible, I want us to start over. I really don’t want to end things like this with the only childhood friend I have.

Now that some time has passed and I’ve calmed down, I can calmly think about it.

“You’re really too soft aren’t you, Senpai? On the surface, you seem so hard with yourself, but if you look closely, I feel like you’re the softest on yourself.”

“…you’re hitting right at the spot.”

“Well, if you make up with Tsukimiya-san, it’ll be convenient for me too, so in a way, I’m kind of hoping for it.”

“Eh? What do you mean?”

“Opps, I blurted it out. Please forget about it.”

“There is no way I can forget about it.”

“Ah also, please be careful. Even though she regrets her actions, you never know when she’ll show her fangs again.”

Rinka raises her index finger, warning me.

“Then, come with me, Rinka. It’s Saturday tomorrow, so you don’t have school.”

“Is that okay for me to be there?”

“Of course. Well, I know you’re busy with exam preparations, so I won’t force you.”

“No, I’ll go. Please let me go! …ah, but is it okay for me to just enter the university without permission?”

“Well technically, you can’t do that, but in your case, you can just make up an excuse like an open campus visit, so it should be fine. Besides, universities are so big, nobody will notice if an outsider walks in.”

“Uwaa, that’s really irresponsible! Some people are strict about that kind of thing, you know!”

“Then should we just forget about it?”

“I’ll go.”

Rinka replies so immediately.

And so, tomorrow, Saturday, both me and Rinka are going to meet with my childhood friend.