The Most Beautiful Girl in School Has Become a Mother - Chapter 40: A Page of Youth I Had Given Up On

“Isaki-kun, hey, are you listening?”

“Huh?! Oh, I’m sorry, what?”

During lunch break, while I was having lunch on the rooftop, I suddenly returned to reality when Miori called out to me.

It seems I was staring at her profile and ended up lost in thought. I want to believe it wasn’t because I was captivated by her profile.

“There’s summer camp next month, right? Shuri-chan, what are you going to do?”

“Oh, right… I forgot.”

I hung my head.

At our high school, there is a two-day, one-night outdoor school trip in May of the second year. Since it’s a two-day, one-night trip, naturally, I won’t be able to go home… During that time, the issue of how to take care of Shuri inevitably arises.

“What did you do in middle school? Didn’t you have school trips and stuff?”

Shinya asks while biting into a savory bread roll.

“When I was in middle school, my grandparents came to take care of me. Shuri was still small, and it was just too much to expect a middle schooler to handle raising a child.”

“So, are you going to ask Grandpa and Grandma again?”

“Well, I guess that’s how it will be.”

I sighed and reached for the tamagoyaki in the bento box.

The tamagoyaki made by Miori is a dashi-maki tamagoyaki, and its fluffiness is just right. Even though it was made in the morning and should have hardened, it still feels soft.

“Why aren’t you on board? It would be easier for Sanada too.”

“I am. But Shuri isn’t close to our grandparents. It was tough even in middle school.”

“Ah, I see… that sounds tough.”

Sumomo frowned.

Even during the middle school trip, she cried all night if I didn’t come back. My worried grandparents called at night, and I had no choice but to comfort her over the phone. Of course, since I was comforting my sister who was crying on the phone in the same room, the others in the room looked at me strangely, and it was embarrassing.

As expected, Shuri has grown since that time, so I want to believe she understands things better, but I haven’t seen my grandparents since New Year’s, so I can’t imagine how it will turn out.

However, this year it’s not just the forest school. In the fall, there will also be a school trip, and there will be many things we need to discuss and prepare for.

Amidst all this, Miori was looking at me with a gaze that seemed to want to say something.

“Hmm? What’s wrong?”

“Um… I was thinking maybe you could ask your father about it, but that is──”

“No way. I can’t trust someone like that with Shuri, and besides, he won’t come back anyway.”

I interrupted Miori’s words and said,

That was completely out of the question. From Shuri’s perspective, he was just some old man she didn’t know. She would probably end up crying her eyes out.

Miori let out a small sigh, looking disappointed, and said, “I see…”

──Why is it only me who has to go through all this?

I looked at the group of boys and girls having fun on the rooftop (we’re probably being seen the same way), I almost let out a word but managed to hold it back just in time.

There’s no point in complaining to my friends about my family situation.

And because I ended up talking about my family, the atmosphere got a bit heavy. I feel a little sorry about that.

Come to think of it, I suddenly remember that Miori once said something similar. It was when she told me that she didn’t have parents.

“When I talk about this, everyone struggles to find the right words and apologizes, looking really sorry, so I always end up feeling sorry for myself. That’s why I just decided not to talk about it with anyone.”

I felt like I understood the feeling of not wanting to say anything, thinking that Miori must have gone through this kind of experience many times.

“Sa, Sanada…”

“Hmm?”

“Are you looking forward to the nature camp? Or not?”

Sumomo asks in a ridiculous voice.

“Hey, Momo-chan!”

Miori tried to admonish, but Shinya also asked, “No, I’m interested in that too.”

“If you’re dreading going to summer camp because of your sister, then you don’t have to force yourself to go, right?”

“Yeah, yeah. If you’re not looking forward to it, then you don’t have to come.”

“Hey, both of you──”

Miori tries to scold the two, but they stop her with their hands.

“We’re really looking forward to making curry and doing all sorts of things together as the four of us, but aren’t you too?”

“Isn’t it?”

Sumomo mimics and adds to Shinya’s sentence endings.

Miori also understood the intention behind the two’s remarks, let out a small sigh, and then broke into a smile.

“How about you, Mii-chan?”

“W-What do you mean?”

“Is it more fun with Sanada around? Or not?”

Sumomo pokes Miori with her elbow.

If I’m told that question isn’t fun, I feel like jumping off the roof right now. Do they even understand that?

“Um… I think it would be more fun if you were here too, Isaki-kun.”

Miori looks up at me a bit shyly and says.

“Well, what about you?”

Shinya smirks and asks.

So, I remember the upcoming class. Today, there is a homeroom session where we will decide the groups for the outdoor school. They are probably hinting that they want to form a group of four.

“Yeah… I’m looking forward to it too.”

When I said that, the three of them suddenly brightened up.

“Alright, so this group of four will be the ones for the nature camp!”

“I’m looking forward to Mii-chan’s curry!”

“Geez. You’re saying that, Momo-chan, but you plan to make me do everything again, don’t you?”

“That’s not true! This time, I’ll help you properly!”

While laughing like that, Miori’s smile directed towards me was so dazzling that I couldn’t help but squint my eyes.

I never imagined that a page of youth like this would happen to me.

There, the youth I had given up on was undoubtedly there.