The Story of Waking up With My Beautiful Childhood Friend and Realizing We Had Spent the Night Together - Chapter 32: Too Much to Call Him Charismatic

Chapter 32: Too Much to Call Him Charismatic

“…Mizuki?”

The next day.

When I woke up in the morning, Mizuki wasn’t beside me.

When I went to the living room, I found a note on the table.

[I’m heading to school first. Make sure to eat breakfast.]

Looking at it, I saw a sandwich covered with plastic wrap.

Tilting my head in confusion, I headed to the washroom and washed my hands and face.

Mizuki is usually an early riser, but it was just past six o’clock.

It takes about an hour and a half to get to school, but even so, it was too early to leave.

(…We usually go to school separately, though.)

It wasn’t particularly unusual for Mizuki to leave early.

But this time, something about it felt…

(…No, it’s just my imagination.)

I told myself that and tried to shake off the feeling.

Pulling myself together, I took a bite of the sandwich she had prepared.

“…Yeah, it’s good.”

As always, Mizuki’s cooking was delicious.

Sometimes, she made experimental dishes that I didn’t quite understand, but even those were never too terrible.

I had been eating Mizuki’s homemade meals for as long as I could remember.

Something that had always been there for me—yet now, for some reason, I found myself savoring it.

“…Thanks for the meal.”

I pressed my hands together in gratitude.

Thank you, as always—I bowed my head to my childhood friend in my heart.

Then, I brushed my teeth and got myself ready.

“—I’m off.”

I spoke to the empty house, getting no response, and then stepped outside.

“—Yo, Iori.”

When I arrived at school, Renji casually raised his hand in greeting.

I waved back vaguely and was about to head to my seat when—

“Hey, can I talk to you for a second?”

With an unusually serious expression, Renji grabbed my shoulder and dragged me out of the classroom.

“…What is it?”

At the far end of the deserted hallway, Renji lowered his voice and looked around cautiously.

“…It’s about Asahi-chan. I heard from someone in the basketball club—things are about to get really bad.”

“…Bad?”

“The third-year girls on the team are planning something soon.”

“…Ah.”

A word slipped out unconsciously.

Renji picked up on it instantly.

“Hey, Iori? What’s that? Do you know something?”

He leaned in, pressing for answers.

I hesitated for a moment, wondering if I should tell him.

“…Actually…”

I decided I could trust him and told him everything that had happened the day before.

“…Seriously?”

After hearing it all, Renji was stunned.

“If Mizuki hadn’t been there, I don’t know what would have happened.”

“Damn… That’s already enough to get the police involved, even if nothing actually happened. You should tell the teachers right away.”

“No, that’s…”

“Is it because of the basketball team? I get what Yukimura-san was saying, but… this has gone too far, hasn’t it? If something happens to Asahi-chan, it’ll be too late.”

Renji, uncharacteristically desperate, left me at a loss for words.

…Truthfully, I knew he was right.

But if we did that, Asahi would never be able to return to her normal life.

Not socially, and not emotionally.

A scar would be left inside her that would never fade.

…That was something I just couldn’t accept.

Seeing me fall silent, Renji let out a deep sigh.

“…Well, even if you don’t say anything right away, we need to do something. I’ll ask some seniors in the basketball club to keep an eye on things.”

“…Yeah.”

Renji scratched his head roughly, and I nodded.

That was all we could do for now.

If possible, I wanted to resolve everything peacefully.

…Was that too naïve of me?

“…Alright, let’s head back.”

“Yeah.”

Renji started walking, and I followed.

However, when we returned to the classroom, we found a strange commotion.

“…Huh? What’s going on?”

Renji and I turned our eyes toward the source.

It was Mizuki’s seat—the seat of Yukimura Mizuki, the school’s Madonna.

A group of girls had gathered around her.

That alone wasn’t unusual.

But—

“—Y-Yukimura-san? That girl… she’s Inoue-san, right? What’s going on?”

A confused voice from one of our classmates.

Looking over, I saw Mizuki standing with a small figure beside her.

(…Asahi?)

A petite girl, standing close to Mizuki as if trying to hide.

It was the face I had just been thinking about—Inoue Asahi.

While Renji and I stood there in shock, Mizuki, surrounded by the other girls in the class, spoke up.

“Yeah. It seems like things haven’t been going well for her at school lately…”

She gently patted Asahi’s frightened head.

“So, I brought her here, hoping everyone could look out for her.”

At her words, both the girls and the boys in the class hesitated.

…They probably all knew.

They knew exactly what kind of situation Asahi was in right now.

“She’s that girl, right? The one in the basketball club…”

“Hey, stop. She can hear you.”

The class buzzed with whispers.

Asahi shrank back fearfully, while Mizuki remained completely unfazed.

“…Um, Yukimura-san.”

One of the girls finally spoke up.

(…That girl.)

She was one of the students who worshipped Mizuki the most. Her gaze was sharp and cold.

“What?”

“You and that girl… were you always that close?”

Her voice had a hint of hostility.

Asahi flinched under her glare, looking even more frightened. But Mizuki didn’t waver at all.

“…Yeah.”

She nodded slightly.

“She’s like a little sister to me.”

As if it were the most natural thing in the world.

And with those words—

—The classroom erupted into a chorus of screams.

From there, everything unfolded as expected.

The phrase “Yukimura Mizuki’s little sister” spread through the school in no time.

Mizuki had always maintained a certain distance from those around her, for better or worse.

But now, the fact that the untouchable Mizuki was openly favoring a younger student shocked and fascinated everyone (especially the girls).

“Ugh, I’m so jealous…! I want Yukimura-san to call me her ‘little sister’ too!”

“I know, right?! I want her to protect me! I want to call her ‘Onee-sama’!”

“But wait, why was Inoue-san even being bullied? She doesn’t seem like the type.”

“Well, remember how Sekiya-senpai confessed to her? And then Morishita-senpai…”

“Wait, it was jealousy?! That’s disgusting! Poor Inoue-san!”

Half jealousy, half sympathy.

That was the general reaction among the girls.

Some more extreme ones nearly got out of control, but Mizuki managed to calm them down skillfully.

As for the boys—

“A yuri dynamic with a junior… I see, this is excellent.”

“I liked her pairing with Kashiwagi-san, but this works too.”

“Wait, hold on! If I help out Inoue-san now, wouldn’t that raise my standing with Yukimura-san?!”

“That’s it! Hang in there, Asahi-chan! Your big bro is coming to save you!”

“Who the hell do you think you are? That’s disgusting, go die.”

Regardless of their motives, some of the boys also started supporting Asahi.

People who had previously just stood by and watched now began siding with her.

(…All from a single sentence?)

I felt like sighing.

I thought I understood, but I had still underestimated it.

Yukimura Mizuki.

The sheer, overwhelming influence of that name.

“—Take care of Asahi-chan, okay?”

With just those words—

—The balance surrounding Asahi tipped decisively.

And then, after school that day—

“…No, seriously, that girl is a cheat code.”

With an exhausted expression, Renji collapsed onto his desk.

“She turned a bullied girl into the most popular kid in school with one sentence… What kind of power is that? It’s terrifying.”

—In just one day.

Asahi’s situation had been resolved shockingly fast.

Simply by making her connection to Asahi public, Mizuki had forcibly raised Asahi’s status in the school hierarchy.

“—Take care of her.”

That was all it took.

Those words alone completely transformed Asahi’s circumstances.

“Inoue-san! How did you get so close to Yukimura-senpai?!”

“I’m so jealous! Can you introduce me to her?!”

Underclassmen admired Yukimura-senpai.

Now that she was Mizuki’s favorite, that fact alone completely crushed the pressure from the older basketball girls.

…Actually, the ones who had been ignoring Asahi due to that pressure now seemed more afraid than anything.

“A-Asahi-chan… I-I’m sorry. I know apologizing isn’t enough, but…”

“Nao-chan… It’s okay. Will you practice with me again?”

“…Y-Yeah!”

I happened to overhear that conversation when I checked in.

The resentment wouldn’t vanish completely, but Asahi’s situation was undoubtedly improving.

“…”

Watching Asahi trailing closely behind Mizuki, Renji let out a long, weary sigh.

“…You know, I actually did a lot of work behind the scenes for this. But then she just comes in and fixes everything in an instant…”

“…What about the basketball seniors?”

“They’re keeping quiet. Actually, they seemed kind of scared.”

…Scared?

That was concerning, but since they weren’t causing trouble, I decided to leave it alone for now.

“At the very least, Asahi won’t be ostracized or harassed anymore.”

“…Yeah. That’s good.”

Yeah… It really was good.

I hadn’t done anything, but as long as Asahi’s problem was solved, that was enough.

…It should’ve been enough.

“…But, Asahi-chan…”

“…Yeah.”

Renji and I both felt the same unease.

The situation had improved.

Everything was settling into the ideal outcome.

And yet—

Asahi herself—

(Why does she look like that…?)

—looked completely lifeless, like an empty shell.