My Tsundere Childhood Friend, Who Was Always Haughty, Suddenly Showing a Sharp Increase in Affection and Directing Intense, Heavy Emotions Toward Me - Chapter 31-32

Chapter 31: Akiya Really Doesn’t Give a Damn About Anyone But His Childhood Friends, Right?

The midterm exams had all ended today, and a sense of liberation drifted through the classroom among the classmates who remained. It was only natural since the first midterm exams since becoming high school students had finally concluded.

“Finally done.”

“Yeah, now I can relax at last.”

“How did you feel about them, Haruto?”

“If I didn’t make any careless mistakes, I think I got around ninety percent in every subject.”

“For real? As expected of you, Haruto.”

“Well, I won’t know until I see the graded answer sheets returned.”

Akiya and I chatted idly like that after the end-of-day homeroom finished. I had worked hard from the exam announcement up until today because I didn’t want to stumble right from the first set of midterms, but now I could finally let my guard down.

Sana, just like me, chatted happily with her group of close female friends about the tests. She probably felt good about them too. She undoubtedly scored higher than the review test on the day after the entrance ceremony.

“By the way, Haruto, do you know that rumor?”

“That rumor?”

“The one about a transfer student coming soon.”

“Where’d you hear that?”

“Someone said they overheard the teachers talking in the staff room.”

If the source was the staff room, it might have some credibility. Unlike elementary or middle school, high school wasn’t compulsory education anymore, so transfers were a hassle from what I’d heard.

Unless there were unavoidable circumstances like a whole family moving from out of prefecture, transfers weren’t basically possible, and even if you met those conditions, you had to pass the entrance exam for transfer students, so the bar was set really high. That’s why if a transfer student actually existed, they would have cleared all that to transfer in.

“Hmm, I don’t think it has anything to do with us anyway.”

“No, no, if the transfer student’s a first-year, our class has the highest chance.”

“Huh, why?”

“You know our class is short one person, right?”

“Oh, yeah.”

I didn’t know what happened, but apparently a student who was supposed to enroll in our high school backed out at the last minute, so the grade was short one person overall. That was why our class alone had fewer members.

“To be honest, I’m not that interested in a transfer student.”

“Akiya really doesn’t give a damn about anyone but his childhood friends, right?”

I thought this guy was totally unwavering about that. As I considered that, Sana called out to me.

“Haruto, it’s about time to head home.”

“So yeah, see you later.”

“Yeah, see you tomorrow.”

I left the classroom with Sana and headed straight for the shoe area. Since club activities resumed today, most of the people leaving were members like me and Sana who weren’t in any clubs.

“By the way, Sana, you’re not joining any clubs after all?”

“Yeah, if I joined one, all I can see is a future where I can’t keep up with studies. What about you, Haruto?”

“I’m passing too; there wasn’t really a club I wanted to join.”

“In your case, the lack of a pool is a pretty big factor, right?”

“Yeah, I thought about joining if there was a swim team.”

I had been on the swim team for all three years of middle school, so I considered doing the same in high school, but our school didn’t have a swimming pool in the first place, so no swim team existed. I couldn’t picture myself joining some other club at this point, so I just stayed out of them until now.

“Oh, right, since the midterms are over, how about stopping by the outlet on the way home?”

“Okay, I was just thinking I wanted to unwind a bit, so I’m in favor.”

“Then it’s decided.”

Lately, it had all been test studying, so swinging by the outlet on the way home felt like it had been ages. The high schools in the city had the same midterm schedule, so the outlet was surely overflowing with students in uniforms.

—

Chapter 32: Haruto’s This Kind of Thing Hasn’t Changed at All Since Way Back

A little while later, we arrived at the outlet mall, and just as I had imagined, it was overflowing with high school students in uniforms who seemed to have just finished their exams. They had all probably come here to have fun now that the tests were over.

“I’ve been using my brain so much that I’m exhausted, so for now, I want to eat something sweet.”

“I agree. I think today is a day when we can eat as much as we want without any guilt.”

I immediately agreed with Sana’s words. Over the past week, I had overworked my mind and suffered from a severe lack of sugar, so a reward was definitely in order.

Once we decided to eat something sweet, we headed to the food court for the time being. We spent a while dithering over what to get, but in the end, I ordered a crepe while Sana got ice cream. As soon as we sat down and started eating, Sana murmured softly.

“…That crepe looks delicious too.”

“You’ve always had this habit of wanting whatever other people are eating, haven’t you, Sana?”

“Well, I can’t help it. It just looks so good.”

“If you’re staring at it like that, I can’t eat in peace, so here, have a bite.”

As soon as I said that, Sana’s eyes sparkled with excitement as she chomped down on the crepe I was holding in my hand.

“Hey, hey, you’re eating it just like that? I was actually thinking of breaking off a piece to give you.”

“Between you and me, it’s not like indirect kisses matter at this point, right?”

“Well, that might be true, but still.”

“In return, I’ll give you some of mine.”

With that, Sana held out a spoonful of ice cream toward me. I hesitated for a moment but then popped it into my mouth. In that instant, a sweet flavor spread all through my mouth. And yet, even though Sana and I had shared indirect kisses countless times since the old days, I wondered why my heart was pounding so hard right now.

A little later, Sana finished her ice cream first. Well, she had devoured it with such gusto that it made sense for her to finish before me. I polished off my crepe a short while after that, but then Sana seemed to notice something and spoke up.

“You’ve got cream on your cheek.”

“Oh, really?”

“Haruto’s this kind of thing hasn’t changed at all since way back.”

“I just can’t seem to break the habit, even when I try.”

As I looked at my reflection in my smartphone screen and tried to wipe the cream off my cheek, Sana suddenly did something outrageous.

“W-What are you doing!?”

“What do you mean? I was just taking the cream off for you.”

Incredibly, Sana had brought her face close to my cheek and licked the cream right off. This was completely out of left field, and needless to say, I was utterly shocked.

“There were other ways to get it off, you know.”

“I just went with the quickest method. These days, it’s all about efficiency anyway.”

“I don’t think that’s the issue here.”

For some reason, Sana had gotten bolder lately in all sorts of ways. I was grateful that she had become gentler and more straightforward, but I hoped this wouldn’t keep up. With those thoughts in mind, we cleared our trays and left the food court.

Next, we headed to the bookstore. Both Sana and I liked books, so we were the type to stop by bookstores often. We split up and each went to our favorite sections.

Sana was the type who preferred reading popular general fiction novels that were being adapted into movies these days, while I basically only read light novels or comics, so our sections were completely different. Lately, by the way, I had gotten hooked on works that started as web novels on sites like Shousetsuka ni Narou or Kakuyomi and then got turned into books or manga adaptations.

“Oh, this one got turned into a manga without me noticing.”

While browsing the new releases section, I spotted that a story I had enjoyed reading a little while back on a web novel site had been adapted into a manga, so I picked it up. Seeing a story I had already read once as a novel in comic form made it feel totally different, and I was dying to know how it turned out. Having decided to buy the manga, I got in line at the register right away.

There was only one cashier, but the woman in front of me was almost done with her checkout. In fact, it wrapped up in less than a minute, but even though the woman, who seemed satisfied with the book she had picked up, left her wallet on the counter, she started to walk away just like that.

On top of that, because it was a low counter, the clerk couldn’t see it, and I was the only one who had noticed the wallet was there. So, I mustered up my courage and called out to the woman.

“Excuse me, you forgot your wallet on the counter.”

“Oh, thank you so much.”

The woman turned around and raised her voice like that. But for some reason, when she looked at my face, she put on an expression like she was surprised.

“…Could it be Haru-kun?”

The woman standing in front of me said that, so it seemed like she knew me.