The Case of My Unknown Childhood Friend Who Became My Girlfriend Without Me Even Knowing It - Chapter 11 - A Person Who Waits
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- Chapter 11 - A Person Who Waits
Chapter 11 – A Person Who Waits
Someone said on a TV programme somewhere that there is no such thing as a bad curry.
That certainly makes a point.
I think there’s basically no way to make a bad curry, because you can only get a certain amount of richness by mixing most things together.
But even so, the taste varies.
Even the taste of house curry is somehow different, even though the same commercial roux is used.
And yet…
“How does the curry taste?”
“…It’s good. But this one tastes the same as the one I had at home.”
“Haha, that’s right. Because I was the one who cooked the curry at your home on curry day.”
“…What?”
It was once a week. Every Friday was curry day.
The preparation work started the night before and the smell of curry would reach my bedroom before I went to bed, and I would always look forward to the next day’s curry with a whiff of it.
Is she saying she was standing in my parents’ kitchen at the time?
“No, when did that start? I used to go and watch them make them when I was in primary school.”
“Since the second year of middle school, curry has been every Friday, you know that, don’t you?”
“I-Is that so?”
“Besides, Kanata-kun never comes out of his room on Thursday night at 10 p.m. because his favorite performer is streaming live. So it’s natural that he doesn’t know, right?”
“……”
I’m more surprised how she knew I was in the room at that time and what I was looking at.
“But I also went through quite a lot of trial and error with the curry, you know? I was desperately researching every day to see how I could make Kanata-kun happy.”
“D-Did my mother know about that?”
“Yeah. But I asked her not to tell Kanata-kun until I felt more confident about it. Your mother agreed.”
“……”
I never knew.
She definitely existed in my world.
I don’t know what to feel.
She has certainly spent her youth with me.
…What a determination.
“Anyway, after we eat curry, why don’t we go out together today?”
“…Is there somewhere you want to go?”
“I want to go shopping for the trip.”
“I don’t mind if it’s on weekends.”
“Eh, so you’re coming with me for the weekend?”
“Ah…”
“Fufu, I’m so happy. I’m so lucky that Kanata-kun asked me out.”
“No, wait, it’s not like that.”
“Well, I’m going home. I had fun today. Chuu~”
“!?”
Gently, she kissed me goodbye. It was not thick and tangled as before, but just a peck of our lips.
But it was to the extent that the feeling of her lips certainly remained on mine.
“Bye, good night.”
“…Yeah, good night.”
Sakatoki disappeared behind the front door.
I was left stunned.
A little curry flavor remained in my mouth.
Eventually, I sat down on the spot.
◇
Sakatoki Aya speaks as if she has really spent a lot of time with me, as if it were a matter of course, as if it were a fact.
I wonder if that’s the reason… That I feel a strange sense of familiarity with false memories, as if they really happened.
Is this also her aim?
If so, it’s a pretty good one.
The cushion she was sitting on earlier is lying on the floor.
The curry dish she was eating earlier is still there.
The marks of her earlier cooking are still visible in the kitchen.
The proof of Aya Sakatoki’s existence is etched into my room.
Will she continue to push me around?
I’ve always had that kind of anxiety.
I didn’t feel like tidying up or doing anything.
I laid down on the bed.
……
Kissing…feels so good.
♥
“I’m home, Kanata-kun. I talked a lot with Kanata-kun today. And we kissed a lot. Ehehe, he also said the curry was delicious. He even asked me out on a date this weekend. It seems he’s already accepted me as his girlfriend. I love you, Kanata-kun.”
Right now, I’m inside my room. On the walls of this room, which has only minimal furniture, a bed and a TV… Kanata-kun is also there behind the walls.
The way I say ‘also’, it sounds like I’ve got a lot more of him.
That’s because I do, I put Kanata-kun’s picture all over my room.
But my most favorite among them all is…
The life-sized photo of him smiling, taped to the side of my bed.
I kissed him softly.
I love Kanata-kun.
When asked why, I just love him.
There is no reason to love.
You don’t need logic to love.
There’s no need to be afraid to love.
A long time ago, one of my friends said I was a yandere, and she looked a bit scared of me…
A yandere, she said.
I thought, ‘That’s fine.’
Kanata-kun, do you know this?
Yandere means…
…Doing anything to be with the person she loves, right?
Yes, anything.
Our classmates.
Our teachers.
Even the convenience stores.
All of them are tools to be tied to you, you know?
Hehehe, give me a compliment, Kanata-kun.
Compliment this Aya for working so hard.
Stroke my head and pamper me.
Otherwise, I…
◇
Again, I couldn’t sleep.
I am becoming insomniac.
It was because of Sakatoki’s kiss. I couldn’t help but stay awake because of what she did at the end.
Today is the day I want to get home from school early and go to bed soon.
That’s what I thought, but she came again today to wake me up.
“Good morning, Kanata-kun. Let’s go to school together today, okay?”
“…I’m awake, don’t come in.”
“Oh my, are you getting dressed? If so, I’ll help you, okay?”
“I’m not in primary school, I’ll be fine. Wait for me, I’ll be right there.”
“Yes~”
When I was urged by Sakatoki talking at the door, I hurriedly changed into my uniform and left the room to see her standing in the doorway with her shoes on.
“Good morning, Kanata-kun. You look cool today as well.”
“…Thanks for that. So, are we going to the convenience store today?”
“Yeah. But, you see, I’d rather go to another convenience store today.”
“Why? It’s the same everywhere.”
“No. I got tired of the bread from that convenience store.”
“…Alright.”
Like this, leaving home with Sakatoki has become less uncomfortable.
It’s as if she’s been coming for me like this for a long time, like my childhood friend.
Even though, of course, that is not the case.
But she’s making me feel like she’s my childhood friend…
“Ah, there are quite a lot of people here.”
“It’s a convenience store in front of the school. That’s why there’s so many people.”
“Shall we go in then?”
The convenience store in front of the school is crowded with students in the morning.
So I rarely stopped by here, but when I did, the selection of goods was excellent.
They must be making a lot of money here.
“Sakatoki-san, good morning.”
“Sakatoki-san, you look cute today as well.”
“How nice, I envy you going to school with your boyfriend.”
While standing in line at the cash register with a loaf of bread, Sakatoki was approached by some girls…
She was surrounded and fell out of the queue.
She’s popular, after all. Her too-good-to-be-true looks are probably to blame.
But I also used to be the kind of person that everybody would talk to.
Where did it all go wrong?
No, that’s not something I need to think about.
“Good morning, Enjou-kun.”
“…Me?”
“Good morning. I’m Chikuma from the next class.”
Oh, wow…
I was surprised at how unusual it was, but…
There was a girl who approached me.
“Chikuma-san, right? What’s wrong?”
“No, I just thought Enjou-kun seemed nice. If I may, can I ask you for your contact details later?”
“Ah, mine?”
“Haha, of course, Enjou-kun’s. You weirdo.”
“Ah, sorry. Yeah, it’s fine.”
“Well, I don’t have time right now, so I’ll go to class first. Remember this, okay?”
“Okay.”
With a wave of her hand, the classmate, who calls herself Chikuma, went outside the shop.
She’s quite an energetic girl. And a beauty with short hair.
This school has a pretty high level of girls.
There’s a couple of girls that I like, but if I went out with a girl like her, I’d have fun every day…
While thinking such things…
I wondered if Sakatoki had seen me earlier.
But at the back of the row she was still surrounded by our classmates, happily chatting and laughing.
Good, she didn’t see us.
She’s the kind of person who’d yell at me if I was talking to a girl.
But I don’t know if that girl will be okay coming to class.
Sakatoki will be there… Ah, that’s it.
I’d rather just set myself up on a date with another girl in front of Sakatoki and make her despair.
Yeah, that’s it. Let’s do that.
When Chikuma-san comes, I’ll use the momentum to ask her out for dinner.
I thought I was finally getting some wind.
With this in mind, I finished my shopping.
I walked towards school with Sakatoki.
I arrived at the classroom as usual.
Finished my classes.
I ate lunch with Sakatoki during lunch break.
It was finally after school.
Chikuma-san did not come to my classroom.