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

Chapter 40: Epilogue / Prologue

They say life has these things called “turning points.”

Stuff like choosing a school, getting a job, getting married.
From those obvious ones all the way down to tiny everyday choices.
Sometimes a single decision can completely change the whole path of your life.

I read that in some self-help book a long time ago.
It said, “People pass through tons of important turning points without even realizing it.”
If that’s true, then I guess I’m pretty lucky.

Whether this leads to happiness… or straight to a bad end.
At least I’m aware of it.

If my life has a “turning point,”
then I’m pretty sure it’s right now.

“…Mizuki.”

“Hm? What?”

My childhood friend turned to look at me.
That demonic beauty that had been different ever since we were kids.

—Charm. The talent to draw people in and make them obsessed.

This childhood friend of mine is probably a genius at it.
The way guys and girls blindly adore her is basically the same as brainwashing.

Just one look, just one word from her, and she can make anyone do whatever she wants.
It’s an abnormal, scary talent.
And I’m sure Mizuki herself is fully aware of it.

That’s why.

“What’s wrong, Iori?”

She leaned in to peek at me when I stayed quiet.
Facing that beautiful, gentle smile, I—

“—”

Yeah. I said the one thing I couldn’t take back.

—One month earlier.

“…Nn…”

Morning. I woke up to a soft feeling against my cheek.
Still half-asleep, I slowly opened my eyes.
But.

(…?)

Even with my eyes open, everything stayed dark.

(Ah… again, huh.)

I got it and relaxed my body.

“You awake, Iori?”

A sweet voice whispered from above my head.
I let out a sigh at the sound.

“…I told you to stop, it’s hard to breathe.”

The soft feeling on both my cheeks. The warmth.
She was hugging my head tight against her chest and stroking my hair.
This happened about once every three days.
It was honestly uncomfortable and a little scary, so I wished she’d ease up on it.

“But… you’re happy?”

“…”

…I couldn’t exactly deny that.
Still, admitting it straight out felt annoying.

I squirmed my way out of her hold.
I sat up, looked at her, and sighed again.

“At least put some clothes on if you wake up first.”

It was way too much eye candy first thing in the morning.
We’d had this conversation tons of times, but she never improved.
Sure enough, my childhood friend was lying there on her side, giving me a playful look while deliberately showing off that pale skin.

“…”

I grabbed the bra lying nearby and tossed it at her with a soft smack.
Mizuki caught it with a little giggle.

…Whatever, I’ll just go take a shower already.
I slept in my uniform last night, so I hadn’t bathed either.
I shook my head and headed out of the room wearing just my pants.
Just another normal morning.

…It really was a completely ordinary morning.

“—Coffee okay?”

“Nn.”

“Milk?”

“Nah, black’s fine.”

I tore the salad with a crisp sound.
Next to me, the kettle bubbled away.

Toasted bacon and sausages, coffee, bread, and salad—the table was soon set.

“—Thanks for the meal.”

I copied Mizuki, who neatly put her hands together, and did the same.
It was a daily habit, but I thought it was important.
I took a sip of coffee, went “hot,” and pulled back right away. Mizuki laughed at me.

“Iori. How’s your leg?”

“Hm?”

“You know, your foot.”

“Oh…”

When she mentioned it, I lightly bent and stretched my leg.
—It was from the sports festival a week ago.
I’d pushed myself a bit too hard and pulled a muscle lightly.
It was fine now. Moving it like this, there was no weird feeling anymore.

“It’s okay. No problem.”

“Good. I’m glad.”

Mizuki looked relieved and took a bite of her bread. I stabbed my fork into the bacon while watching her.

(…Still doesn’t feel real.)

I thought again.

—After that sports festival.

Everything that happened to Asahi wrapped up really fast.

The three upperclassmen who assaulted Asahi left the school by “voluntary withdrawal.”
Only Morishita stayed, but I heard she quit the basketball team.
There wasn’t any detailed explanation.
The school just said “various circumstances.”

They were super vague about it.
Our homeroom teacher basically ended the talk like “don’t ask any more.”

What actually happened and how it turned out—lots of rumors flew around.
…But even those only lasted a few days.

Before I knew it, the whole thing with Asahi had vanished like nothing ever happened.

Like actors who finished their role quietly leaving the stage.
People stopped mentioning their names so easily it was surprising.

…But.

“—Well, I’m heading out first.”

Her voice snapped me out of it.
When I looked up, Mizuki had finished eating and was stacking the plates as she stood.

“Nn, yeah… what’s your shift today?”

“I’m on, but yeah, I should tell the manager.”

“The manager? About what?”

Mizuki answered in a voice that didn’t sound particularly interested.

“—Looks like preparations for the cultural festival start today.”

She said that and left the living room.

—

Chapter 41: Star of the Cultural Festival

“—Yo, Iori.”

“Nn, morning.”

Ten minutes after Mizuki left the house,
I headed out too and ran into Renji on the way to school.
He let out a big yawn and greeted me, so I lazily raised my hand back.

“Aaah, man… I was at karaoke with some girls from another school all night yesterday. Didn’t sleep a wink.”

“Oh, really.”

“Probably gonna be snoring in class today. Sorry, but even if I do, don’t wake me up.”

“…The teacher’s gonna wake you anyway, you know.”

I brushed off Renji’s usual dumb comments while we walked the usual route to school together.
October was almost over.
Summer was gone, and it was starting to feel a little chilly.

We were halfway through our second year. The time to think about our future paths was getting close.
College, job hunting—what were we even aiming for in life?
Our school was pretty academic, so everyone had already started thinking about that future.
But the guy next to me… probably hadn’t thought about any of it.

“…”

“Eh, why are you suddenly looking at me like I’m trash?”

Renji stared at me in shock. I ignored him and kept walking, and soon the school gate came into view.
And right past it—

“—Asahi! Morning!”

“Ah, u-um, morning.”

There was the familiar short-haired girl.
A classmate-looking girl called out to her, and Asahi gave an awkward little smile.
When I saw that, I stopped walking.

The upperclassmen who had been cornering Asahi were gone now.
Her position inside the school was slowly going back to normal.

“…Looks like she’s doing okay, huh, Asahi.”

Renji standing beside me muttered it quietly.
I nodded without saying anything.

“Still, those upperclassmen suddenly dropping out was a shock. …It was voluntary withdrawal, but you think Asahi’s thing got found out?”

“…Probably.”

Something big enough to get them expelled, and something the school didn’t want to make a big deal out of… the first thing that came to mind was what happened that day.
They didn’t exactly have the best behavior to begin with, so I couldn’t say for sure.

“…Just checking, but you didn’t say anything, right?”

“Nah, nothing.”

“Gotcha.”

It had been an option.
But it would’ve dragged the whole basketball team into it, and without solid proof, it was doubtful they’d have done much.
…Even so, those upperclassmen got punished.
Quickly, somewhere I didn’t know about.

“Well, I don’t really get it, but… good thing, right? Asahi seems back to normal.”

“…Yeah.”

As a result, Asahi’s standing at school had recovered.
She wasn’t being ignored or left out anymore.
The fact was, Asahi wasn’t having any trouble now. That was all that mattered.

“Ah… oh yeah. Speaking of, we gotta start getting serious soon or it’s gonna be bad.”

“About what?”

Renji changed the subject like he was trying to lighten the mood.
I chuckled at his clumsy switch and answered.

“—The cultural festival. It’s only a month away, dude?”

—Our school’s cultural festival, called the Hakuryu Festival.

One of the things our school is known for, with one of the biggest campuses in the city.
The number of stalls and events is more fired up than a lot of universities.
But there’s a reason the students get so into it, even if the school does too.

“Well, normal schools don’t have this. Half-price cafeteria food, cleaning duty skipped, stuff like that.”

—Lunch break. While picking up a beef bowl at the cafeteria, Renji muttered it.

Just like he said, our school’s cultural festival is a class-versus-class competition.

The winning class gets half-price cafeteria tickets, priority use of the gym, priority booking for the study room, and rotating cleaning duty exemption—lots of nice perks.
That’s why the students here are way more hyped about the festival than at other schools…

“Still, why is our class crazy motivated?”

“’Cause we’ve got Yukimura. Of course everyone wants to aim for first place.”

Renji gave a bitter smile. I nodded like, yeah that makes sense.
Our class doesn’t just have Mizuki—Kashiwagi’s here too.
The two top beautiful girls in the whole school. Yeah, that’s an overwhelming advantage.

While we were talking about that, the two of us grabbed our trays with beef bowls and looked for an empty seat…

“…Ah.”

A soft little voice. I turned toward it.

“Oh?”

“…!”

There was a gentle-looking beautiful girl with light brown hair.
The second I saw her, I froze.

(…Kashiwagi?)

Kashiwagi Koto, the school’s number two beauty.
She was sitting alone at a round table for three, quietly opening her lunch box.

—Don’t make me regret giving up on Amano.

The words she said right before the sports festival flashed through my mind.
We hadn’t talked even once since then.

While Renji and I stayed completely silent, Renji called out in his usual easy tone.

“Hey, Kashiwagi. You alone today? Where’s your usual group?”

“Ah, um… today everyone’s got club meetings and stuff, so…”

She kept glancing at me while answering awkwardly.
Kashiwagi isn’t in any clubs, so yeah, that probably happens sometimes.

But what should we do?
Eating together would be awkward, but suddenly going to another seat also felt…

“Wanna join us then? Right, Iori?”

“Eh.”

While I was thinking that, Renji turned to me with a big grin.
His face basically said “don’t overthink the small stuff.”
When I looked at Kashiwagi, she froze for a second too, then gave me a shy little smile and a quick glance.

“U-Um, sure. Go ahead.”

“Thanks.”

“…Sorry for intruding.”

Couldn’t be helped.
I decided to take him up on it and sat down after Renji.

—And that’s how the three of us ended up having lunch together.

“…”

My eyes kept drifting to Kashiwagi’s lunch.
Spinach with sesame dressing, a little grilled fish, and some meat.
It looked well-balanced and colorful.

(…No way, did she make this herself?)

I knew she always brought a lunch, but homemade? Every day?

“Whoa, Kashiwagi, is all that homemade?”

Renji must’ve been thinking the same thing because he sounded genuinely surprised.
Kashiwagi gave an embarrassed little laugh.

“Ah, well… yeah.”

“For real… looks like that, good grades, and can cook too? Hey, what are we gonna do, Iori. This girl has no weaknesses.”

“I know.”

Ever since our first year.
The number one is just too crazy, but this girl is plenty special on her own.
…Still, I hadn’t heard she was good at cooking until now.

“You’re flattering me again… it’s not a big deal. I just packed leftovers from dinner.”

Kashiwagi turned her face away like she was sulking.
But the corners of her mouth were curving up a little, looking kinda happy.

“A-Anyway. What were you guys talking about? You looked like you were having fun.”

“Nn, yeah. About the cultural festival. Right, Iori?”

“Yeah. Everyone’s really into it.”

“Ah…”

When she heard that, Kashiwagi gave a small bitter smile.

“Well, Yukimura’s in our class. We might actually have a shot at winning this year.”

“No no, you too, Kashiwagi? You entering the Miss contest this year?”

“…”

At those words, Kashiwagi let out a little groan.

The Miss-Mister contest. One of the highlights of the Hakuryu Festival.
Lots of visitors come just for that every year.
Last year a ton of people were disappointed when Kashiwagi turned it down.
So this year for sure—when Renji joked like that, Kashiwagi looked down with a gloomy face.

Huh? Renji and I thought at the same time. Then she said in a dark voice,

“I don’t really want to… but everyone around me is like…”

“…Ah.”

“Got it.”

Both Renji and I understood. So she still wasn’t into it this year either.
But with that beauty, a lot of people in other classes were probably assuming she’d enter.
In other words, whether she wanted to or not… the pressure from outside was already closing in.

“…You don’t have to force yourself if you don’t want to.”

I remembered back to our first year.
This girl… Kashiwagi had been struggling with all those voices around her.
Because I knew that, when I spoke up she gave a weak smile.

“Thanks. Yeah, I’ll think about it a bit more.”

“Nn.”

She said that and shyly brought a piece of tamagoyaki to her mouth.
Still though.

(If she actually entered, I bet she’d do really well.)

Kinda a waste. Thinking that, I shoveled down the last of my beef bowl.

“Well, anyway, forget the Miss contest for now. We gotta get you to help with our class event, the ‘Maid Cafe,’ right?”

The second Renji said that, time inside the cafeteria stopped.
…Well, at least for me and Kashiwagi.

“…Maid cafe?”

“What’s that?”

Our stunned voices.
Renji puffed out his chest and declared,

“What do you mean ‘what’? We’ve got Yukimura and Kashiwagi in our class! There’s no way we’re not putting them in maid outfits!!”

Renji shouted it out loud and proud (totally serious).
Other students in the cafeteria turned around wondering what was going on.