After a Heartbreak, My Bitter Childhood Friend is now Sweet Like Sugar - V2 Chapter 6.10

Chapter 6.10

After school, I headed to the light music club room for the first time in a while.

The light music club. It was the place where I used to spend time with her. Officially, this club no longer exists, and the name of this club is unknown, but many students must be wondering why there was still a nameplate in the club room.

The reason I wanted to go there was probably because of Reika. I wanted to take a breath inside the club room. Or maybe I just wanted to confirm that she was not the same person as Reika-chan by recalling some memories.

And when I came to the front door.

“Senpai.”

I was stopped by the voice of the same girl who had recently become a close friend.

When I turned around, I saw Reika-chan.

“What are you doing here?”

“What about you? Did you come to this club room by any chance?”

“I thought I’d change the air once in a while. More importantly, why are you here, Reika-chan?”

The club building was located away from the main building.

It’s not the kind of place you’d visit unless you were specifically looking for it.

“Actually, I did some research on a senior who looked like me. I wanted to see what kind of club room she was in.”

“I see.”

It’s true that if someone says that you look like someone, you can’t help but wonder what kind of person they are.

“Do you want to come inside?”

“What? Is that possible?”

“I came here with that intention.”

I used the duplicate key in the mailbox to enter the room. It was the middle of July, and I was starting to feel the heat, but the room was still and quiet, and as I stepped inside, I felt the cold air with my skin.

“It’s cool. It seems like a good place to take a nap.”

“I’ve left a duplicate key in the mailbox for you to use if you want to sneak out alone. Also, it would be nice if you cleaned once in a while.”

“Really? Then it’s like a secret base. I’m so excited.”

A secret base, indeed it might be. For me, too, this place was used as a secret place for me to hang with her.

However, as I saw Reika in this room, it felt like those feelings were rushing back at me. But that’s enough! I’ve to stop staying like this.

“Are you bothered by my presence, Senpai?”

“Eh?”

Reika asked me something that I wasn’t expecting.

“No, I mean, you ran away when we first met, and I’m just a little worried that I might have made you feel uncomfortable in some way. It’s probably my fault that Shirayuki-senpai overworked.”

“Well, I think you’re right about that in her case.”

As for my heart, it might be a bit hard to deal with.

Because whenever Reika is around, I get dragged away by those feelings. I couldn’t help but think about Senpai.

And that’s the reason I came here today.

“I’m not bothered by you, though there are times when I remember things I don’t want to.”

“Are you talking about your senior?”

“Yes.”

I was afraid to drown in those feelings again.

It seemed disrespectful to Reika, and I also felt guilty towards Kokoa.

“Do you want to forget about that senior?”

Reika suddenly asked me.

“No, I don’t want to forget them, but I also don’t want to be tied down by those feelings anymore. If I do, she’ll worry.”

That’s why I can’t be bothered to think about Senpai. And I felt bad for Kokoa, who was fond of me.

“I’m sorry. It’s my fault that I bothered you.”

“No, you don’t have to. It’s just that I’m not good enough. I get upset by the fact that you resemble her in many ways. I need to move on so that I don’t feel anything when I see you, Reika.”

“Are you treating me like an exam paper?”

“That’s not what…”

I tried to say something but found myself unable to deny it.

“I’m sorry.”

“No, you don’t have to apologize. I don’t feel bad at all. It’s okay to use someone who looks like the dead person as a measure of whether or not you’ve successfully said goodbye to them. I think I’m the same.”

“I’m not good at that kind of thinking. I think it’s rude.”

”Well, that’s what you are like!”

Reika gave a bitter smile. 

But even she has lost her brother. I don’t know what kind of feelings she has for me, but at least I know that she likes me.

I wonder if she sees me as a replacement for her brother. Or is it something else? Whatever it was, she seemed to have sorted out her feelings in her own way and was facing me.

Well, it’s possible that she doesn’t think anything of it, that this is just her way of being normal and that I’m just being self-conscious.

And as I was thinking about it.

“Can’t I be a substitute for her, Senpai?”

“What?”

What does she mean by a substitute?

“I, who resembles your senior, will take her place. This way, the painful memories will be rewritten with new ones. What do you think?”

“What do you mean…”

Reika’s words made my heart ache.

Taking her place, you say? Are you asking me if I’d like to be in a relationship with you?

“If you want to forget, just fill it with something new. In that sense, don’t you think I’m perfect for you? Because I’m just like her.”

“Perfect!? No, I know what you mean, but.”

Indeed, if I have to look at Senpai again, there is no one more suitable than Reika. That’s how much she resembles her. But I don’t want a substitute for my Senpai.

How am I supposed to reply? And, are you serious?

“Fufu, that was a joke— a joke.”

Reika told me with a bitter smile.

“Senpai, it wouldn’t bother you if I joined you for lunch like before, right?”

“It’s okay. And, as I’ve said many times, it’s not a bother at all. But don’t you eat in your own classroom, I mean with your friends?”

“I don’t have any friends. I tend to be absent a lot.”

“You’re still living up to your sickly reputation?”

“It’s not a lie. It’s the truth. Well, I have to make friends in my own class, too.”

Anyway, a substitute for her?

Those words stuck with me strangely. Sometimes, Senpai could guess things as if she could see through people’s minds. Reika is very similar to her in this way.

It was as if she knew what I was looking for. That’s why I was so shaken by her words…

No, let’s not think about it anymore.

Then, after a little more idle chatter, I closed the clubroom and went outside.

We parted ways in front of the school gate as Reika, who was picked up by a car, drove off in the black car I had seen before.

‘─Can I be a substitute for her?’

For some reason, her words stuck in my heart.

I went home, trying my best to forget.

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