The Case of Liking the Most Beautiful Girl in the School Even After Being Told Not to Like Her - Chapter 18 - Isn't That What You Call Jealousy?

Chapter 18 – Isn’t That What You Call Jealousy?

“You do it like this… and if you substitute here… There you go, it’s solved, right?”

“I see…”

Mina-san reached out her hand, so I gave her a high-five in joy.

Mina-san’s teaching is so good that I can easily solve the problems I had been struggling to solve on my own. I think she might even be able to become a teacher in the future. I see why Mina-san is often asked to teach by her classmates.

We’ve been at the family restaurant for an hour. It was time to go home, and we put our textbooks and other things spread out on the desk into our bags.

“Well, I learn a lot when I teach someone, and it’s more fun than doing it alone. Yuuto-kun, if you want, why don’t we have a study session at home too? I’ll help you.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, of course. Let’s go home then.”

I was about to leave my seat with my bag when someone other than Mina-san called out to me.

“Ah, it’s Asai-kun after all!”

“Shirai-senpai?”

I didn’t expect to see her here.

Shirai Fuuka is a senior at my part-time job. She’s a kind and caring senpai.

“Ah, are you perhaps on a date?”

Shirai-senpai-senpai noticed Mina-san and asked me with a grin.

“No, she’s my stepsister.”

For some reason, Mina-san looked puffy and unhappy when I said so. Was it a mistake to introduce her as my stepsister?

“Oh, she’s the girl from your dad’s second marriage you mentioned the other day? She’s such a beautiful woman! Nice to meet you, I work at the same part-time job as Asai-kun and my name is Fuuka Shirai.”

The friendly Shirai-senpai took Mina-san’s hand and introduced herself. Mina-san was surprised to see her, but smiled with her usual smile.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Mina Tachikawa. My brother is always at your care. Is my brother useful? Does he give you trouble?

Hey, Mina-san, what kind of questions are you asking Shirai-senpai?

“No, he works harder than anyone else. Ah, why don’t you come and see Asai-kun secretly working part-time next time?”

In front of me, Shirai-senpai proudly told Mina-san… I mean, it’s impossible now that I’ve heard it.

“Yes, I will definitely go!”

Didn’t you answer that too quickly…?

“Yeah, you should. Ah, I have to go. See you later, Asai-kun and Mina-chan.”

Shirai-senpai waved her hand and I bowed lightly. After that, me and Mina-san left the family restaurant and went home. Then, Mina-san opened her mouth.

“She’s beautiful. She seems to be the type of person Yuuto-kun would like… What do you think?”

“What do you mean, Shirai-senpai is a senior at my part time work, nothing more.”

“Hmm, I wonder if that’s true~ Because when Yuuto-kun was talking to Shirai-senpai, he looked more happy than when he was talking to me…”

Isn’t that…called jealousy?

“I also enjoy talking to Mina-san. She can be a pain in the ass, but she’s the easiest girl in the class to talk to.”

When I said straight what I thought, Mina-san looked surprised for a moment, then said she was glad.

“But do I really annoy you that much? Am I that troublesome?”

“Yeah, pretty much. You should fix it.”

“Isn’t that the case with you as well? Yuuto-kun, you’re always straight forward with your words and say exactly what you think, but I think you should fix that.”

“Hey, I think you misunderstand me, but I don’t just say whatever I think. I’m not saying anything that’s going to hurt people, okay?”

“I was hurt just now.”

Mina-san looked at me with a pouty expression. Then, she seemed to have remembered something.

“Ah… Speaking of which, it’s almost Yuuto-kun’s birthday, isn’t it? Is there anything you want?”

“What I want… Not really.”

Speaking of which, it will soon be July 14th…

If I want something, I buy it myself because I work part time. So I don’t have anything in particular that I want.

“I’m just happy that you’re here to celebrate, so I don’t—”

“No can do. I’ll think of something.”

“Okay.”

Even though I’m happy just to be celebrated…

“Ah, going back to what I said earlier, can I go to your part-time job? I want to see where Yuuto-kun is working. But if you don’t want that, I won’t go.”

I don’t really like my friends and family to see me working part-time, but, well, I don’t mind if it’s Mina-san… If it was a male friend, I’d say no straight away.

“Sure. I’ll let you know when I know my shift.”

“Really!? Yay!”

She was as happy as a child, and I felt like I had discovered a surprising side of her.

＊＊＊

The next day, June 26th, six days before the examination, I didn’t study as hard as the day before because it was raining. The lights were on but the whole classroom felt dark.

After school, I thought I’d study a bit at school and then go home, but I’d rather study at home.

While homeroom was over and everyone else was leaving the classroom and heading home, I was late to get up from my seat. Mina-san, who was also still in the classroom, turned around and started talking to me.

“Asai-kun, are you leaving already?”

“Yeah. I feel like I get more done at home, so I’m going home.”

“I think it’s the same whether you do it at home or here… I’m going to stay here for a little while longer to study. How about Asai-kun?”

If I stay here, I can ask Tachikawa questions when I don’t understand something. But I feel like going home today.

“No, I’m going home.”

“I see. But it’s starting to rain a lot, so why don’t you stay here for a while? You didn’t bring an umbrella, did you?”

Somehow Tachikawa knew I hadn’t brought an umbrella. I usually have a folding umbrella in my bag, but not today. I must have forgotten to put it back in when I took everything out of my bag the other day.

Looking out of the window, it didn’t look like it was going to stop raining anytime soon. If I go home now, I’ll probably end up running home soaking wet.

“I certainly can’t leave with the weather like this. By the way, how did you know I didn’t bring an umbrella?”

I decided to stay at school, put my bag on my desk and sat down in my chair.

“Just because? I just thought you didn’t seem to have one. By the way, isn’t it kind of exciting?”

Exciting?

I couldn’t understand Tachikawa’s smile in front of me. Where is the element of excitement in this quiet classroom?

“I’m sorry, I can’t relate. First of all, I don’t know what you’re excited about.”

“Nnn~, you don’t understand~. It’s just me and Asai-kun now in this usually noisy classroom… Even if we do something weird here, it will be an event that only the two of us know about… Look, it’s exciting, isn’t it?”

No, I can’t relate to this at all…

I mean, what kind of weird things are you thinking of doing?

“Asai-kun, since we’re here, let’s study together. It doesn’t look like it’s going to stop raining.”

“Sure…”

As I was taking my book out of my bag, I heard a creaking sound of a desk moving in front of me. When I turned my gaze forward, I saw Tachikawa pulling the desk next to me closer to mine.

“What are you doing?”

“Let’s study side by side. That way, if we don’t understand something, it’s easier to teach each other… If Asai-kun wants to concentrate on studying alone, I won’t force him.”

“T-Then… Let’s sit side by side.”

I grabbed all of my belongings, hung my bag on the side of the desk next to Tachikawa, and put the workbook on the desk.

“Well then, let’s get started.”

When I sat down, Tachikawa pulled the desk closer together because there was still a little space between them.