The Case of My Unknown Childhood Friend Who Became My Girlfriend Without Me Even Knowing It - Chapter 8 - A Taste of Memories

Chapter 8 – A Taste of Memories

“Good morning Sakatoki-san, you two are as close as ever again today.”

I arrived at school in a daze, still with the afterglow of the kiss, and Sakatoki, who was next to me, was approached by a girl who was a classmate of ours.

She’s a lovely girl.

More mature than Sakatoki.

“Good morning, Sudo-san. Yes, you know us lovebirds.”

“I see. Good for you, Sakatoki-san.”

“Yes, thanks to you.”

While listening to the conversation beside me, I had a strange feeling about the phrasing and the way they spoke.

‘Good for you’ is like congratulating someone for something they have done well just recently.

What’s the meaning of this? My classmates are supposed to think that me and Sakatoki are childhood friends and have been lovers for a long time…

No, I’m overthinking it.

Sakatoki’s reply, “Thanks to you”, is also a common social expression.

See you later, Sakatoki-san.”

The girl left us immediately.

“Your friend?”

“Yes, Sudo-san treats me very well.”

“I see, well, next time I’ll at least say hello.”

“You can’t, okay?”

“…What?”

“You can’t talk to her, okay? Ah, I mean, you’re not allowed to talk to the girls in class.”

“W-Why’s that? It’s nothing.”

“You can’t. If you do that, I’ll drop the girls off the roof in turn.”

“……”

What kind of horror is that?

Everyone who talks to me dies.

No, that means I’m the culprit.

“Hey, Sakatoki.”

“It’s Aya.”

“…Aya. Don’t say such dangerous things. Killing and dying are not nice words.”

“Yeah, okay. If Kanata-kun says so, I’ll be careful.”

“I hope you understand. Besides…”

“But Kanata-kun, you also have to make an effort not to make me say things like that.”

Sakatoki muttered in a lower-than-usual voice.

I went ahead and took my seat.

I rushed back to my seat, but she was silent.

Soon after the bell rang, the rowdies returned to their seats and school started.

◇

Strangely, school life is peaceful.

Sakatoki is always surrounded by girls in our class, and the boys just look at her enviously from afar.

I didn’t want people prying into what I was doing with Sakatoki, so I went out alone in the corridor.

Somehow, I feel like a loner this way.

It’s been a month since I entered the school and I haven’t made any friends.

Well, I’m not the type of person to get actively involved myself, but perhaps it’s because I used to be approached by others on my own.

Nobody even asked for my contact details.

It’s kind of lonely.

However, even these people seem to be concerned about my relationship with Sakatoki.

They asked questions without identifying themselves.

“How far did you and Sakatoki-san go?”

I was looking out over the courtyard from the corridor when a boy classmate asked me that question.

“How far? Nothing really.”

“I see. But, from what I see, she likes Enjou, right? If that’s the case, why don’t you just go for it?”

They show a completely unnecessary concern.

No need to worry about me, I’m in the middle of being pushed to the edge.

So leave me alone.

“It’s fine. More importantly, how did you guys know about Sakatoki before she transferred?”

This is the main question.

This was before they misunderstood the relationship, and they knew the name Aya Sakatoki before she came here.

So I’m sure that means she did something about it too.

I want to know what that is.

“……”

“Hey, don’t stay silent. How did everyone know about Sakatoki?”

“No, well. It’s just that she came to greet everyone before she transferred.”

“Greet?”

What’s the greeting?

“Yeah, she came all the way to my house and said she was Enjou Kanata’s childhood friend, so she said hello when he transferred. She went all the way to everyone’s place and greeted everyone the same way.”

“……”

I’m a little bit convinced by that story.

I see, so she was the one going around telling everyone about it.

Besides, a stalker of that caliber should at least know the names and addresses of my classmates.

However, the question still remains.

“But weren’t you wondering why a girl you didn’t know suddenly asked you at home?”

I’d be scared.

Even if that person doesn’t claim to be your childhood friend or lover, if someone suddenly comes to your house and says that he or she has known one of your classmates since childhood, you’ll wonder what he or she is talking about.

“Well, I was surprised at first. But I didn’t feel like she was lying. Eh, what are you talking about?”

“…No, that’s it. I’m going back to class.”

Somehow I can see the mechanism of this, but it still feels hazy.

Was Sakatoki merely making the rounds to greet them?

And what’s the purpose of going that far?

◇

“I made lunch!”

Lunchtime.

Sakatoki said this in a happy voice.

“Lunch, huh?”

“Yes, I put a lot of love into it.”

“…I see.”

In these situations, I would normally say thank you or I’m happy, but…

This is a forced outpouring of love.

There is no need to accept it by force.

But it’s not a good location.

This is a classroom. People are watching.

Not necessarily because of that, but because I’m reluctant to open the lunchbox she gave me.

It’s not nice if she were to cry like she did yesterday.

“…It’s normal.”

“Yes, I thought that a regular menu item like this would be more pleasing.”

“……”

There is no heart mark or seaweed saying “I love you” on it, it’s just a lunch box with white rice and side dishes.

However, I’m still worried about the side dishes.

It’s got all my favorite things on it.

“You can never go wrong with fried chicken and fried prawns. I also added ham cutlets.”

“Everything is fried food, huh?”

“Right. That’s why I thought we’d have egg sandwiches tomorrow. You like that, right?”

“…Yeah.”

I wonder why.

Her lunch box reminds me of my middle school days.

The lunch box my mother made me every day then and hers bear a striking resemblance.

I guess it’s because the side dishes are the same.

However…

“…Delicious.”

“Really? Eat a lot.”

“……”

They even taste like each other.

Is it because they’re fried food? No, even so, this is not frozen food, and how does she know what my lunch tasted like in the first place?

It is impossible to reproduce something without first knowing what it tastes like.

…I would like to think it’s a coincidence, but it’s hard to imagine.

“Hey, Sakato… Aya.”

“Hmm, what is it?”

“You, how did you and my Mom meet?”

“Why?”

“Why you ask… Could it be that Mom taught you how to cook? I’m just wondering.”

I didn’t think it was possible.

I went home every day and never once saw even a shadow of this Sakatoki, so I thought it was impossible, but…

Still, I asked that question.

I could only hope I was wrong.

As I hoped so…

“Your Mom? Hmm, she didn’t teach me.”

“I see. Then…”

“It’s the other way around.”

“…Other way around?”

“I used to teach your mom how to cook. She said she was bored with the same dishes.”

“……”

My mom? This Sakatoki taught her?

“When? I never saw you in my house.”

“I didn’t do it at your home. We were in a cooking class, your mom was there. I was a senior there.”

“I-I see.”

Out of all the stories I heard today, this is the most plausible.

So she and mom met in a cooking class.

And there, she taught mom how to cook and told mom about her false relationship with me.

She’s a trusting person. It’s not impossible.

“Ah, that’s so refreshing. I was surprised because your lunch tasted like my mother’s.”

“Eh? Did your mom make a lunch box for you, Kanata-kun?”

“What are you talking about? She used to make it for me every day.”

“Since when?”

“Since when? …When I was going up to eighth grade, I transferred to a new school that didn’t have school lunches, so I guess that’s when it started.”

It’s vague, but it’s probably true.

Every day, my mother made lunch for me.

That taste is in my memory.

It’s a bit complicated, though, that the taste of those memories is supervised by this guy.

“Hmm. Only on weekdays?”

“Yeah, that’s right. It started a while back.”

“Hmm. But maybe that was not your mom?”

“What? What are you talking about? You’re suddenly talking crazy.”

“Ahaha. It’s a great story. Because–”

Being a little bit of a show-off, she gently set down the egg roll she was about to eat and looked me straight in the eye, saying…

“I was the one who made those lunches.”