My Memories Came Back, But I'm Not Telling My Childhood Friends - Chapter 39-40

Chapter 39

“Alright, let’s start. Time for justice to be served.”

I declare it loudly to gather everyone’s attention around us.

It’s a little embarrassing, but it’s all an act to make sure Yokomizo can’t talk his way out. Honestly, I regretted saying it the second the words left my mouth.

“What the hell are you planning…?”

“Reita… What are you really doing…?”

Both Yokomizo and Soraka look completely confused.

But the moment one woman steps forward — Shizuno Yuri — the whole atmosphere changes.

“It’s been a while, Daiki Yokomizo.”

“…!?”

“B-Big Sis…!?”

The two of them look shocked like they’ve seen a ghost.

Of course they would. They never expected her to show up.

“W-well, long time no see. What is a student from another school doing here?”

Yokomizo keeps up his student council president act because of all the eyes on us.

But his hidden panic is leaking through.

“Yokomizo. Today I came to judge your crimes.”

Yuri speaks up with a trembling voice.

She seems to have shaken off a lot, judging by how she’s trying to match my dramatic lines.

“W-what are you talking about? I have no idea.”

“Don’t pretend you forgot! What you did to me…!”

The crowd starts buzzing at Yuri’s words.

“Eh, what what?” “Did the president do something?”

“Wait, isn’t that Yuri-chan?” “It really is, been so long~”

Some people here know who Yuri is.

By the way, I asked Maya to gather this crowd for me.

The situation should tilt on its own from here.

“After all that… Kukuku, Yuri-chan. Aren’t you misunderstanding something?”

“I’m not.”

“We made a promise, didn’t we? You haven’t forgotten, right?”

The “promise” he’s talking about is obviously the threat.

He’s probably saying if she doesn’t stay quiet, he’ll spread the photos.

“Are you sure? Breaking the promise? I really don’t want to do this.”

Soraka watches with her breath held.

It’s okay. Your sister has already made up her mind.

“I don’t mind.”

“Wha…!”

“If it’s for my little sister, you can spread as many of those photos as you want.”

Yuri says it clearly.

She already looks like she’s getting back to the old Shizuno Yuri.

“Soraka… I’m sorry for making you worry. Leave the rest to your big sister.”

“Big Sis…!”

Seeing her strong sister’s back, tears overflow from Soraka’s eyes.

“Damn it…! Are you serious!? I’m not joking! I’ll really spread them! You sure!?”

Yokomizo completely loses his cool and starts panicking.

Her appearance must have been way too unexpected.

“Yes. I don’t mind.”

Yuri doesn’t back down an inch from his threat.

The outcome is pretty much decided.

At this point, Yokomizo has no moves left.

“Shit… What the hell! You guys should have just quietly obeyed me…!”

His fake mask starts peeling off more and more.

Before I know it, a ton of onlookers have gathered and he’s in a completely hopeless spot.

Realizing that, Yokomizo turns pale and looks around.

“W-what is this…”

Then his eyes lock onto me.

“…! It’s you, Reita Kawakami…! This is all because you stuck your nose in…!”

“Don’t blame me. This is all the result of what you did.”

He’s really good at pushing blame on others.

“Shut up…! You piece of trash! Trash should stay quiet in the corner like trash!!!”

In that instant, Yokomizo charges straight at me.

…He actually turned to violence.

People really can fall endlessly once they start dropping.

Well, I can’t say I don’t understand the feeling. I fell once too.

I won’t defend him, but I’ll at least feel a bit of sympathy.

And then I take Yokomizo’s punch straight on.

“Reita!!!”

The moment his fist hits my face and I collapse, Soraka lets out a scream-like voice and runs over.

“Reita!? Are you okay…!?”

“…Yeah. I’m fine.”

Thanks to Yokomizo not being used to fighting, it only hurt pretty badly.

I slowly stand back up.

“Good for you, Yokomizo.”

“W-what’s good…?”

“If I was still trash, I would’ve beaten you to a pulp right now.”

“……”

I’m not getting revenge. I already decided to stop using my fists.

The area explodes into noise again.

“Hey, the president just hit someone…!” “Wait, was he really threatening the Shizuno sisters?” “What the hell, that’s crazy.” “He’s a total scumbag!”

Voices of criticism fly everywhere.

“N-no…! I… it wasn’t supposed to be like this…!”

Yokomizo realizes how stupid what he did was and collapses to his knees.

By the time I notice, teachers who heard the commotion have gathered too. There’s no way out for him anymore.

…It’s over.

Seeing Yokomizo completely lose the will to fight, I let out a big sigh.

He did all that in front of this many people. No matter how much he tries to hide the evidence, he won’t be able to talk his way out.

I went pretty bold this time.

Things are probably going to be a huge pain starting tomorrow…

But at least the Shizuno sisters are safe. I’ll call that a win.

—

Chapter 40

The next morning. Reita got called out by Shizuno and came up to the roof.

She still hadn’t shown up, so he waited slowly while thinking back on yesterday.

About Yokomizo’s punishment, the threats were really nasty and he got violent with Reita too, so some fitting penalty would probably come down.

From what Shizuno said, there were other offenses like messing up school order by using his underlings, so they might never see his face again.

By the way, the pictures of Yuri never got spread around.

Yokomizo probably didn’t want to pile on more crimes, or maybe he figured that even if he clashed with Yuri who had steeled herself, it wouldn’t do much damage. Either way, they never got leaked.

I really hope it stays that way.

If it spreads, I’ll have to take responsibility for a bunch of stuff…

“Good morning… Reita.”

Suddenly, a voice came from behind along with the wind.

When he turned around, the girl with glasses — Shizuno Soraka — stood there looking a bit stiff.

“I’m really sorry about what happened this time.”

“It’s not your fault, Shizuno.”

“No. If I’d talked to you sooner, you wouldn’t have had to go through all that trouble.”

“Well, yeah. But in the end you’re safe, and Yuri got back on her feet, so it’s all good, right?”

Looking at just the result, you could even call it the best outcome.

“That’s just hindsight. It worked out because you handled it so well… I’m really no good…”

Shizuno had completely lost her confidence.

She was probably beating herself up over how powerless she felt again.

“Hey Reita. Can you tell me your answer one more time…? Are the things I’m doing wrong…?”

She hit him with that familiar question again.

“No way.”

Reita answered right away without even thinking.

“Wh-why can you say that so clearly…? I couldn’t do anything by myself. Someone like me will just repeat the same mistakes…”

“That’s because you were still immature. You just didn’t have the power to fix him yet.”

“…”

“Don’t make that face. That’s how it is right now. We’re both just clueless kids in the end. We’ve got plenty of time to grow from here.”

“Reita…”

High school is the time when you’re supposed to worry about stuff.

If it wasn’t for Shizuno, Reita might have thrown away those recovered memories and just rotted away.

No one’s perfect. Everyone worries a lot, struggles, and grows up little by little.

“Yeah… hehe. Your words always hit me in a weird way.”

“Really…?”

“Yeah. But that’s probably because—”

As she said that, Shizuno suddenly stepped closer.

And then—

She gently rested her head on Reita’s chest.

“H-hey… what’s with the sudden…”

Her action was so unlike Shizuno that it left him confused.

“It’s your fault. So take… responsibility, okay?”

“…That’s a heavy joke.”

“I’m not joking. I’m serious.”

“…”

Th-this is…

Did I just get confessed to?

Shizuno, of all people, to me…

The development was so unexpected that he had no idea how to respond.

“Hehe… Don’t worry. I’m not going to be selfish and demand an answer right now. You’ve got things you need to do.”

She had looked troubled, but Shizuno pulled away looking satisfied, then smiled with her usual calm face.

“…You still see right through everything, huh. How come someone so sharp couldn’t notice Yokomizo’s plans?”

“That’s… maybe because the only one I can see through is you.”

“…”

She just said something embarrassing.

I might really have her head over heels for me.

“If anything comes up that troubles you, just tell me. I’ll pay back what I owe.”

“It’s not like you owe me that much.”

“We promised, remember? If one of us is in trouble, we help each other out.”

“…Yeah, that’s true.”

Once she put it like that, he could only nod.

He couldn’t say for sure that no more trouble would pop up anyway.

“Well then… homeroom’s probably about to start, so shall we head back?”

After that, Shizuno started to leave the roof.

“Oh, one last thing I forgot to say.”

Just as he thought that, she turned back around—

“Welcome back, Reita. I’ve been waiting so long for your memories to return.”

Twelve years since they first met.

This was the first time Shizuno showed him a big, full smile.