The Most Beautiful Girl in School Has Become a Mother - SS Episode.2

I think I started to take an interest in him about six months ago… around the fall of our first year. The original trigger was when I saw him at the nearby supermarket, and I always stopped by after school.

If I had just seen him at the supermarket, I probably wouldn’t have thought much of it. I might have just brushed it off as a coincidence of running into a boy from the same class at the supermarket.

But he caught my eye. He was always with a little girl.

The girl was wearing the designated nursery school uniform, and judging by her size, she looked to be around three or four years old. She was very small and cute, like an angel, and just looking at her made my cheeks soften.

At first, I thought he was just taking care of a relative, but since the girl called him “big brother,” it seems she is actually a younger sister.

Also, whenever I saw him at the supermarket, he was always accompanied by that girl. Considering the school dismissal time, he must have gone straight from school to the daycare and then visited the supermarket on the way back. And almost always, he would be standing in front of the shelves, groaning while looking at his smartphone. He probably picked her up from daycare every day and stopped by the supermarket to plan the meals.

I understand because I also cook dinner at home a few times a week, but preparing dinner after school is quite tough. There are times when I want to cut corners, and there are times when I think it would be easier if my grandmother made dinner for me.

But Grandma isn’t very good at cooking, and actually, Grandpa looks forward to the meals I make. Since I also want to eat something delicious, and being able to make what I like is a kind of privilege of being in charge of cooking. With that in mind, I pushed my tired body and stopped by the supermarket on my way home from school.

Every day, thinking how tough it must be, I watched him staring at the supermarket shelves with his younger sister. While he was pondering, his sister would wander off a bit, and I always felt anxious from a distance, worrying she might get lost.

Those days of peeking at him continued for several months. During that time, he never noticed me. He must always be preoccupied with his sister or the menu.

I, too, always found myself thinking, “This goes better with the dish than that” or “Wait, aren’t you making the sauce yourself?” I have to admit, I was a bit annoyed that he didn’t notice.

We see each other every day at school, and then we even run into each other at the supermarket, so it would be nice if he noticed me at least once. Am I really that unnoticeable? I’m starting to lose a bit of confidence.

But if he noticed, I might not have known what to do either.

If it were found out that I had been stealing glances at the supermarket multiple times, would I be creeped out? No, of course, I would definitely be creeped out. If the roles were reversed, I would probably be scared too.

Actually, since I’ve often received such gazes from boys, I think I understand how it feels to be secretly watched. I’ve been trying not to let it bother me too much, but still, I can’t help but be conscious of people’s gazes, and sometimes it even feels creepy.

There are people who make a fuss about me being the best at something in school, but since I don’t like being looked at in the first place, I probably wouldn’t be suited for whatever that top thing is. Honestly, I just want to be left alone. To be honest, I didn’t have a good impression of boys, no, men.

But then, why did I end up stealing glances at him? Back then, I didn’t understand that. Now I kind of get it, but I want to pretend I didn’t notice. It’s embarrassing.

Before long, I started to follow him with my eyes at school as well. I was curious about what his true self was like, the one who wasn’t a brother because he didn’t have a younger sister.

He wasn’t one of the more noticeable boys in class. Rather, it seemed he was trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. He did the bare minimum and went home──this seemed to be his top priority.

He seemed to avoid socializing as much as possible. He had been invited to hang out after school several times, but he always declined the invitations with an apologetic look.

The boy who invited him said to others, “He won’t come even if I invite him,” but I found that quite unpleasant. It was obvious from his expression that he was reluctantly declining. He always looked apologetic when he turned down an invitation. How could they not notice that? I was internally cursing, “This is why boys are like that!”

The reason I was getting so frustrated was probably because I knew he had no choice but to decline. He has a younger sister, and he can’t hang out because he has to go pick her up.

However, the only person he seemed to get along with in the same class was Matani Shinya, and I often saw them together. As far as I could tell, he only initiated conversations with Matani-kun.

He talks to anyone but doesn’t get too close to anyone──he seemed to have chosen that way of life for himself. The reason is probably because he has a younger sister.

And as I watched him, another truth began to emerge. In a fleeting moment when no one was watching──one that would surely go unnoticed by most──he wore an expression of deep fatigue.

Whether it was a moment of gazing out the window or staring blankly at a textbook… fatigue was evident in him everywhere. Even when talking with friends, he always wore a forced smile, pretending everything was fine, but for just a moment, a tired expression would slip through.

Watching that, my chest somehow ached. The reason was something I vaguely understood.

I often found myself thinking, “Are his parents not around? Is he taking care of his younger sister at home all the time?” and I would always shake my head vigorously to dispel those thoughts.

My family environment is complicated too. It would be rude for me, with my own complicated situation, to speculate about others’ family matters.

Just by watching him like this, I realized that he is a very kind person. He values his younger sister more than himself, and no matter how tired he is, he doesn’t show it and doesn’t make excuses, seriously engaging in school classes and events. I can’t imagine how difficult that must be. I’ve never sacrificed myself to that extent for someone else.

That effort he put in might resemble a father striving for his daughter more than a brother──without a father myself, I think I might have projected that fantasy onto him.

Around the end of the third term, there was a change in my observation of my siblings.

Finally, that younger sister noticed me. Whenever I was around, she would always look over here with a start.

At first, I didn’t know what to do and pretended not to notice, but eventually, I tried smiling at her and waving. I think I was simply happy that she noticed me. Her older brother sits next to her and sees her every day at school, as he never noticed me at all.

His younger sister just stared at me blankly with a puzzled look, but eventually, she started to shyly wave back. She was so adorable that I couldn’t help but want to run over and hug her tightly, and I always found myself melting at her cuteness.

I wasn’t really aware that I liked children, but what can I say? Is this what they mean by maternal instinct being stirred?

After the spring break, I was secretly delighted to be in the same class as him again. It felt like I had somehow maintained a connection with that adorable little sister.

However, shortly after becoming a sophomore, something astonishing happened. And that led to a hectic month that would greatly change my life.