The Case of My Unknown Childhood Friend Who Became My Girlfriend Without Me Even Knowing It - Chapter 2 - Strange Girlfriend

Chapter 2 – Strange Girlfriend

Even primary school children know how to use the word ‘Long time no see.’

It’s used when people who know each other meet again after a while.

Yes, words that can only be formed if they are known to each other.

Despite this…

“It’s been a while.”

She said as she called my name.

With a familiar, inviting look.

“Huh?”

I widened my eyes and looked at her again, but she looked away and started to move her textbooks out of her bag and into her desk.

I must have misheard.

But I still couldn’t look away from her.

At that moment…

“Hey Enjou, just because you’re happy that your childhood friend transferred to our school, don’t stare at her.”

Joking warning came from the homeroom teacher.

My classmates laughed along with the joke.

It was just not a funny joke.

Even the homeroom teacher said she was my childhood friend.

“No, no, wait. I…”

“Come on now, it’s time for class. Sit down.”

“Y-Yes…”

When I tried to argue with the teacher, I was warned again.

Reluctantly, I took a seat and glanced at Sakatoki Aya, who was sitting by the window.

She looked at the textbook quietly.

◇

“Sakatoki-san, are you going to join a club?”

“Sakatoki-san’s hair is beautiful. What shampoo do you use?”

“Sakatoki-san.”

“Sakatoki-san.”

Every recess was a Sakatoki festival.

Every hour, the girls in the class would crowd around and ask questions.

The boys would watch from afar with their fingers crossed.

I was sitting next to her and the noise made me uncomfortable, so I would go out into the corridor and look out the window every time.

A transfer student in the countryside is very rare, after all.

And she’s frighteningly pretty.

No wonder she’s so popular.

I was like that until junior high school, and I was surrounded by girls every day.

Come to think of it, I haven’t been approached by any girls since I started at this school.

I wonder if my face is not well received in the countryside.

Anyway…

I shouldn’t be spending time thinking about stupid things.

Every time I go back to class, I look at Sakatoki.

Eventually, the day came to an end.

“Hey, did you hear about the new student?”

“Yeah, I heard she’s really cute. Let’s go see her tomorrow.”

With only three classes in a school year, rumor traveled fast.

I heard some of the other classes I passed in the corridor talking like that when I was leaving school.

They were probably talking about Sakatoki.

I just couldn’t let go of the presence of this mysterious beautiful transfer student.

Sakatoki Aya.

Who on earth is she?

Why did I get a lot of questions about her before she transferred to our school?

Why is it that everyone in my class knows that she’s my childhood friend?

The mystery only deepens.

But I don’t want to go so far as to try to unravel that mystery.

So I didn’t call out to her as she silently left the classroom right after school.

Basically, I’m a quiet guy.

I want my days to go by peacefully and normally. I don’t want any excitement.

Maybe that’s why I’ve never had a girlfriend, but I’m hoping every day that I’ll meet someone so shocking that it will overturn my sense of self-worth, or something to that extent.

However, I at least know that this is not how I met Ayasaka.

It was shocking in a way, but it was too creepy.

What the hell is a childhood friend when you’ve never met the other person before?

I know the definition of childhood friend is a bit vague, but I know it’s not a term you use for a new student you’ve never met…

So I’m just gonna head home quickly.

I should leave this creepy school as soon as possible.

I haven’t even chosen a club yet, so I quickly went through the main gate and headed straight for the apartment building at the end of the road.

It was a 30-year-old shabby apartment.

But because we’re in the countryside, we don’t have to worry about security as much as we do in the city.

I like it because it’s close to the school and there’s a convenience store nearby.

On the second floor of such a two-storey wooden apartment building, the studio room in the back corner is my residence.

With a clank, I inserted my key and entered my home.

The front door light was on.

…I guess I forgot to turn it off.

If I don’t save money on my electricity bill, my parents will get angry with me.

Well, maybe I was a bit tired of being questioned about Sakatoki all the time.

I continued down the corridor and opened the door to the back room.

“Ah, welcome back, Kanata-kun.”

“Yeah, I’m home–UWAAA!!!”

There was supposed to be no one here.

I don’t have my parents coming over today, and I don’t have any friends that I know well enough to ask them to go up to my room first, so it’s impossible for someone to be in my room.

There was just a girl there.

A petite, beautiful girl was sitting at a kotatsu desk in the center with her cheekbones on the table.

Sakatoki Aya.

“W-What the hell is with you?”

“Mou~, don’t speak so loud. It’s me, Sakatoki Aya. It’s been a long time, Kanata-kun.”

It was as if she was the heroine who followed her childhood friend who moved to Tokyo.

But in reality, she smiled as if to say that was not the case.

“How did you get in… The door…the door was locked.”

“The door? Yeah, this is how I got in, okay?”

“…Is that my key?”

“Yeah. Kanata-kun’s mother gave it to me. Also, you know, I’ve been entrusted with a lot more things.”

“M-My mother? She gave it to you?”

I was so terrified that I just slumped over.

She flashed a duplicate key and then…

Sakatoki giggled.

“You’re too surprised, Kanata-kun. We’ve known each other since childhood.”

“…What are you talking about?”

“Eh? Like I said, we’re childhood friends.”

“No, what are you talking about!? Me and you being childhood friends? No, no, no, I don’t know you! I don’t know what you mean! I’m calling the police!”

I still can’t accept the reality that she’s here.

My legs are shaking and I can’t stand up, but I still say to her out loud.

“Eh? We went home together every day in middle school. And the school trip, do you remember that? We rode the roller coaster at Universe Studio together. Besides that…”

“W-Wait a minute! You’ve got me confused with someone else, haven’t you? I went to Universe Studio on a school trip, but I didn’t go with anyone. And I went to and from school alone. That’s for sure. So…”

“So what? That’s the perception from Kanata-kun, right?”

“…Eh?”

Sakatoki, she…

She giggled and stood up.

She paced slowly towards me, while I was still slumped over.

“D-Don’t come closer…”

“Kanata-kun. I’ve always been by your side. That’s why we’ve always been together. I mean, we’ve known each other since childhood, right? We’ve changed schools a lot, so we’ve grown apart a bit, but we can still be together again, we’re tied together by the red thread of fate, aren’t we?”

“D-Don’t say things that don’t make sense…”

“You still say that. But even if I wanted to surprise you, Kanata-kun would be angry if I entered his room without permission, right? He’s a boy, after all. You might want to hide some naughty books before your girlfriend comes over, right?”

“N-No, that’s not what I mean… Girlfriend?”

I’m pretty sure Sakatoki said girlfriend.

I don’t have a girlfriend.

“Yes, girlfriend. Hey, Kanata-kun, I want to go home with you tomorrow after school. I went home before you today to surprise you, but let’s go home together tomorrow.”

“No, no, that’s…”

“Let’s go home together, okay?”

“……”

She was smiling, but…

Sakatoki’s eyes were not smiling at all, and her eerie appearance rendered me speechless.

She looked at me and then said, “I knew it, Kanata-kun, you’re so cool.”

She left the room as it was and I heard the front door open.

I didn’t look back. I shuddered, feeling the sound of it.

At that moment, as I heard the sound of the door closing…

She said as she left…

“I’m your girlfriend, okay, Kanata-kun?”