The Girl Everyone Admires Loves Me… and I Don’t Remember Why. - Chapter 10: A Childhood Friend Who’s Changed, and a Me Who Hasn’t.

A Childhood Friend Who’s Changed, and a Me Who Hasn’t.

Chitose Yuuki POV.

“Haa… haa… finally made it.”

Shoulders heaving with every breath, I somehow dragged myself across the finish line.

A glance at my watch told me classes would be ending soon.

I’d been right up there with the front-runners at the start, yet by the end I’d finished near the bottom of the entire group.

“Damn it.”

Every time someone passed me, I caught those looks—Huh? Wasn’t he way ahead earlier?—over and over again.

They definitely had the wrong idea about my ability.

If I hadn’t screwed up my pacing, I could’ve finished much faster.

As I started heading back toward the classroom, Kouta and Tatsuya came walking over.

From the looks of it, they’d crossed the line quite a while ago.

“Good work out there, Yuuki.”

“…Yeah, good work.”

“All right, then—as promised, you’re buying us lunch.”

“I know, I know.”

The thing is, I’m seriously broke right now.

Still, if I broke a promise, I’d never hear the end of it.

…Guess I’ve got no choice.

Perfect timing—Mitsuki was just coming back from girls’ PE.

“Everyone, head back to class without me.”

I said that, then walked toward her.

“Mitsuki.”

When I called her name, she turned, as if she’d been lost in thought.

“Hey, Mitsuki. Starting tomorrow, could you make lunch for me every day for a little while? Oh, and like I said before—no salad. Please, Mitsuki.”

“…”

She didn’t respond. Just silence.

“…Mitsuki?”

“Yuuki… I can’t keep bringing your lunch anymore.”

“…Huh?”

…What?

What did she just say?

“W-Why not? Up until now, whenever I asked, you always made it for me.”

“That’s true, I did. But that doesn’t mean it’ll always be that way. Besides, I told you before—we’re high schoolers now. You need to start handling things yourself.”

She had said something like that when she told me we couldn’t walk to school together anymore.

“B-But you’re already making your own lunch, right? Then it wouldn’t be much extra work to make mine too…”

The effort wouldn’t be that different, would it?

As if she’d read my mind, Mitsuki answered.

“If you think the extra work wouldn’t be much, you’re wrong. It absolutely would be.”

“…”

It had been a long time since I’d seen that exasperated look on her face.

“B-But I’m really short on cash right now. I ended up having to treat Tatsuya and Kouta to lunch.”

“That’s your own fault, Yuuki. You made a bet with Sakurai-kun and the others over who could finish fastest, didn’t you?”

“W-Well… wait. How do you know about the bet?”

We’d only decided on it right before the start, so I hadn’t told her. And it didn’t seem likely that Kouta and the others had.

After a short pause, Mitsuki spoke.

“…I just figured it was something you’d do. Your reaction tells me I was right.”

She was, of course.

“Also… I’ve been pretty tired lately. I’m barely keeping up with my own stuff.”

Tired… Come to think of it, she’d fallen asleep in class the other day—something rare for her.

“So that’s why I can’t bring your lunch anymore.”

With those words, she started to walk away.

“…Mitsuki, you’ve changed.”

“…”

My quiet murmur seemed to reach her; her steps stopped.

“…Have I?”

“Yeah.”

“I see… so that’s how it looks to you.”

Slowly, Mitsuki turned back and looked at me.

“But you haven’t changed at all, Yuuki. Really… you haven’t changed one bit.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Then she left.

…Something about Mitsuki felt off—her demeanor, her attitude.

Maybe it was just the exhaustion.

“More importantly… what am I going to do now?”

I’d been counting on her lunch to get me through this, but that plan had fallen apart.

Guess I’ll have to ask Mom to front me some allowance.

But when I got back to the classroom—

“Nah, seriously, you don’t have to treat us.”

“Huh?”

When I asked what they wanted, Kouta said that.

“We’re active club athletes, and you’re in the go-home club. Making the guy who lost a race treat the winners would be kinda unfair, don’t you think?”

In other words, they’d challenged me knowing full well they’d win.

“Then what was the point of that race?”

“Just a simple competition to see who could finish fastest, that’s all.”

“…Jeez. I worried for nothing.”

It was a relief, honestly.

“Still, Miyase is pretty impressive, huh?”

Out of nowhere, Kouta said that.

“What’s with bringing up Miyase all of a sudden?”

“Well, he finished really early. And it looked like he still had plenty of energy left.”

“…”

I suddenly remembered the moment Miyase overtook me earlier.

And… the way Mitsuki had looked so happy talking to him that morning.

“…It’s not that big a deal.”

Of course, I would only later realize that I was wrong about that.

At the time, naturally, I had no way of knowing what was to come.