The Story of Waking up With My Beautiful Childhood Friend and Realizing We Had Spent the Night Together - Chapter 18

Chapter 18: The Childhood Friend With an Unfamiliar Face

— The next morning. In front of the school’s homeroom.

As promised, I was going to introduce Mizuki to Asahi.

“Ha, ha, ha…!”

“Calm down.”

Right now, we’re behind the school building.

It’s a spot where Mizuki often gets called out for confessions.

We chose this place because it’s a bit hidden from others.

Asahi has been restless the whole time.

I’ve been waiting, amazed, thinking she’s probably planning a confession or something. Five minutes pass.

Then…

“—”

Mizuki walks toward us with a calm pace.

“…See, she’s here.”

“Ugh…! She’s just too pretty…! No, no way, I can’t do this! I can’t let myself lose to a city queen like Yukimura-senpai…!”

Her reactions are so entertaining.

When Mizuki finally arrives in front of us, Asahi’s trembling gets even worse.

“U-Um… Inoue-san?”

“Y-Yes?!”

“I asked Amano-kun and came here…”

Mizuki tilts her head slightly, looking troubled. She’s the city queen, as Asahi calls her.

One country girl is being overpowered by her aura.

“Fuuu…!”

“See, you’ve been wanting to talk to her, right?”

I gently push the nervous Asahi forward. It’s not like Mizuki’s going to eat her alive.

“Um… well, I… I’m just a poor country girl, but… I really admire cool girls like Yukimura-senpai…! So…!”

Asahi, overwhelmed, still manages to look up at Mizuki.

Mizuki stands there with her usual expression, saying nothing.

“Uh, um… if you don’t mind… I’d be really happy if we could get along…”

Asahi’s voice nearly fades out toward the end.

Mizuki looks at her for a moment, then her lips curl into a small smile.

“—Yeah, nice to meet you.”

She says, reaching out to hold Asahi’s hand.

“H-How adorable…!”

“…”

…What is this?

A love scene between my girlfriend and a younger girl.

Asahi, completely turning into the heroine of a shoujo manga, trembles with excitement.

I just watch from the sidelines, completely out of the loop.

“Ugh…! No regrets in my life…!”

“…”

“Ah, thank you…! Um, if I see you around, can I talk to you…?”

Asahi timidly asks.

Mizuki gives a small, amused smile and nods.

“Yay!” Asahi exclaims in excitement.

“…Ah, then…”

Mizuki suddenly seems to remember something.

She mutters quietly and takes her phone out of her pocket.

“—Want to exchange contact info?”

“…Huh?”

Asahi freezes at the casual words, and for some reason, so do I.

—Mizuki Yukimura’s contact info.

At this school, its value is immeasurable.

And here it is, so easily offered.

I can’t help but freeze for a moment, thinking of it from the perspective of just a classmate.

“…Is it okay…?”

“Yeah.”

“S-Seriously?!”

Asahi scrambles to take out her phone in a panic.

Mizuki’s phone has a simple yet mature black and gold case.

Asahi, on the other hand, has a cover with a bunch of character designs.

…Well, it’s not that one’s better than the other, but you can kind of feel the difference between a city girl and a country girl.

“Whoa…! Yukimura-senpai’s line is on my phone…! I need to put it on the shrine and pray every day…!”

What kind of reaction is that?

I watch, feeling exasperated, as things continue unfolding.

—Yukimura-saan!

I hear a voice from the class, calling Mizuki from a distance.

“…Sorry. My friends are calling me.”

“Y-Yes! I’m so sorry for taking up your time!”

Asahi bows deeply.

Mizuki shakes her head, saying it’s fine.

“Well, see you later.”

“Y-Yes!!”

Mizuki gives a quick glance at me before turning and walking toward her classmates, her posture perfectly straight.

“…She’s really cool…”

“…Yeah.”

“She’s a year older than us, right? Even though she’s like that.”

“…”

Her beautiful figure from behind, her presence so striking that everyone around her turns to look.

Asahi mutters as she watches.

“…Hey, senpai.”

“Yeah?”

I feel like I know what she’s going to say.

“…God is so unfair, isn’t he?”

“…Yeah.”

—I’ve known that since I was five.

I think to myself, letting Asahi bask in her feelings. I turn and head back to the classroom.

“—Hey, Iori.”

When I enter the classroom, Renji calls out to me.

“Yeah?”

“There’s a rumor going around about Asahi-chan.”

“A rumor?”

I ask as I set my bag down, and Renji replies.

“Some first-year girl confessed to Yukimura Mizuki.”

“…Huh?”

What’s that about? I glance around the classroom.

It seems like everyone’s talking about it.

“…Did she really confess?”

“No. She just wanted to talk, so I introduced them.”

“Hmm… Well, you should be careful.”

“Careful about what?”

Renji looks to one corner of the classroom and then speaks.

“Yukimura-senpai’s fans aren’t just guys.”

I follow his gaze, and there, I hear whispers.

—That first-year girl… what was her name again?

—Inoue… was it? I don’t know her first name, but she’s kind of bold, isn’t she?

I sigh quietly.

…This has been going on for a while.

Charisma.

The power to attract people, for better or worse.

It doesn’t always work out in a good way.

“Well, I’ll give them a heads-up.”

“To both of them?”

“…Yeah.”

“Haha.”

“What’s so funny, you jerk?”

—Later that evening.

At work, I was busy as usual.

“—Thank you.”

I bid the customer goodbye and look up.

…I feel more tired than usual.

The number of customers increased, so naturally, the workload went up too.

After finishing with the last customer, the store empties out.

Mizuki, who’s working with me, seems to have nothing to do.

“—You two did great. Want some tea before you go?”

The manager calls from the counter.

I glance at the clock. It’s seven-thirty in the evening.

My shift’s until eight, but… well, since there are no more customers, it’s probably fine.

“Ah, yeah.”

“Thank you.”

At the shopkeeper’s words, both I and Mizuki nodded.

Then, we sat at the counter, and the shopkeeper began warming the cups.

“…But lately, the number of customers has been increasing. Could it be because of the beautiful sign girl?”

“Eh, um…”

“Shopkeeper, you’re acting so old-fashioned.”

“Oh, sorry.”

I retorted as the shopkeeper continued to prepare the tea. As I watched his hands move efficiently, something shiny caught my eye.

A ring on his left ring finger.

Seeing that, I remembered something.

“…Is your wife still overseas, shopkeeper?”

“Yeah, that’s right. She’s scheduled to come back next month, but from the looks of it, it might take a little longer.”

The shopkeeper’s wife is a professional fashion designer.

Because of her work, she is currently in America.

I met her once… she was a beauty, younger than the shopkeeper by about ten years, and I remember being a little stunned.

I thought, This guy got such a young wife…?

As I recalled that, Mizuki murmured softly.

“…How long has she been over there?”

The shopkeeper blinked slightly at her rare question.

“Eh? Oh, it’s been almost three months now.”

“…Three months…”

Mizuki whispered that, her profile looking a bit downcast.

“…Mizuki?”

“…It’s nothing.”

“Is that so?”

Was it just my imagination?

Then, the shopkeeper, seeing us, spoke up.

“…Well, it’s lonely being apart, but we did it because we both wanted to do what we want.”
He said this with a wry smile, as if accepting it.

“Wanting to do something?”

“Yeah. Dreams, things that give life meaning. They’re necessary to make life shine.”

He placed two cups of tea in front of us. We lightly bowed our heads and pulled the steaming cups toward us.

“So, what about you two? Do you have any dreams or things you want to do in the future?”

The shopkeeper looked at both of us with kind eyes, hands on his hips. I thought for a moment and replied.

“…I don’t know yet. But I probably won’t be able to do anything grand, so I’ll probably live an ordinary life.”

“I see. That’s a very ‘you’ answer. Mizuki, how about you?”

The shopkeeper turned to Mizuki.

…I was a little curious. What would Mizuki say?

But then…

“I…”

She looked down briefly before turning to look at me.

“…If I have Iori, that’s enough.”

Without a hint of embarrassment, she said something unbelievable.

“…Oh.”

“…!”

Idiot. Seriously, in front of the shopkeeper…

“You’re loved, Iori-kun.”

“…Please don’t tease me.”

“Hahaha.”

The shopkeeper laughed, and I had no choice but to avert my gaze.

“—Thank you for your hard work.”

“Yeah, thanks. See you again soon.”

We left the shop, and after taking the train, we arrived at our station. Mizuki, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, grabbed my hand.

“…Mizuki.”

“What?”

Her attitude, as if it was obvious, made me want to sigh.

We don’t even know who might be watching.

…But more than that…

“…Could you tone it down a bit in front of the shopkeeper, like… that?”

“Why?”

“Because… it’s embarrassing.”

It’s embarrassing and I get teased.

Also, why does she look so casual about it?

I was about to voice my dissatisfaction when Mizuki, for some reason, had a different look on her face, walking ahead with her eyes blankly staring straight ahead.

“…Hey, Iori.”

“…What?”

“Iori, do you like me?”

“…Huh?”

…What?

I stopped in my tracks, and Mizuki stopped as well.

There were no people around.

But still, out of nowhere…

“Tell me?”

“…Well, of course I do.”

“…”

“…Ugh… I… I do. Is that okay?”

“Mm.”

I was almost forced to say it.

What the hell, suddenly? I glared at Mizuki, and she met my gaze without looking away.

…Her eyes were somehow different from usual.

“Iori, that’s enough.”

“…?”

“You don’t need to think about the future. You don’t need to have dreams.”

Her voice sounded emotionless, like that of a doll, speaking in a tone that felt detached.

“Just look at me. That’s enough.”

She said that with eyes I didn’t know.

“…Mizuki…?”

A faint sense of unease.

Before I could ask what she was talking about, my phone suddenly rang.

Bzzt… bzzt…

Mizuki, still holding my hand, reached for her phone with the other hand.

After looking at the screen for a few seconds…

“…Sorry, Iori. Looks like we can’t have dinner together tonight.”

She said this in a flat, almost businesslike voice. Her tone felt colder than usual.

When she speaks like this, I know it’s to only one person.

“…Is it your aunt?”

“Yeah.”

Yukimura Shizuka.

Mizuki’s mother.

Once a month, Mizuki has a dinner with her.

The fact that a parent and child only share meals together once a month speaks volumes about the strangeness of their relationship.

“…I’ll go with you.”

Before I knew it, I blurted it out.

There was no way I could join their family meal, even though I’m her boyfriend.

As I looked down, Mizuki smiled gently and softly.

“It’s okay. It’s just a family meal.”

She said that and then lightly kissed my cheek.