What's Wrong With Interfering With My Childhood Friend's Love?

Chapter 19 : Positive Thinking

After that, the match ended with a two-point lead, and the pair of Chiya and Suisei emerged victorious. Now that Suisei had regained composure, it was a natural win.

And in the end, just as I had predicted… The pair of Akito and Kozuka-san had the longest winning streak.

The deciding factor was Kozuka-san’s growth.

At first, she was nervous and ended up being a burden, but by the end, she was fighting with everything she had, trying to catch up to Akito.

Just by looking at her gaze and expression, it was obvious to me why she had improved so much. Apparently, Kozuka-san had fallen for Akito. I had seen similar situations many times before.

Given what the prize for winning was, her face was faintly flushed — there was no doubt about it.

So now, the two of them would be going on a one-hour date, but it ended up being exactly lunchtime.

With no other choice, we ended up splitting up from Akito and the others. As planned, we were going to have lunch at the food court.

“We still have time until those two return, so let’s chat for a while.”

Amagishi suggested, and no one objected. Everyone accepted the idea.

Honestly, without Akito here, I felt out of place with this group. However, paradoxically, since Akito wasn’t present, Shino completely ignored my existence.

The reason Shino was always harsh toward me was because she liked Akito and wanted to emphasize her affection for him. I had figured as much.

Even at school, she was the type to be overly conscious of those around her and put on airs.

“As for me, I’d love to dig deep into Chiya-san’s high school life—”

“Not happening.”

“Well then, at the very least, I’d like to hear about how you’ve been recently.”

“I’m pretty much the same as always… Actually, none of us have changed much.”

“Is that really true?”

“If I had to say, I guess the only thing that’s changed is that Akito has been getting even more popular, to the point where it’s a bit troublesome for him.”

Chiya glanced briefly at Suisei and Shino. Before I realized it, I found myself nodding as well. However, Chiya didn’t seem bothered by the increasing number of rivals. Maybe she was confident enough not to be fazed by it.

“Akito-kun has always been good-looking, so he’s been getting into trouble since middle school. But honestly, I think that’s just his own fault.”

“Haha, can’t deny that. And yet, somehow, things always work out for Akito.”

“Um, um! Kokaze wants to know about Akito-nii’s middle school days! I’m super curious!”

“I’d prefer it if you were interested in me instead of him…”

“Ehh, don’t be so stingy.”

“Well, if it’s for Kokaze-san, I suppose I don’t mind sharing. But before that, there’s something I’ve been curious about for a while.”

“Huh…? W-what is it?”

Amagishi seemed to have taken quite a liking to Shino. Sitting directly across from her, she had a terrifyingly sweet smile. Shino must have picked up on something because she looked uneasy yet tried to act tough.

“Kokaze-san, you call Akito-kun ‘nii-san’ like he’s your older brother, but what exactly is your relationship? I didn’t know he had a younger sister. Or could it be that you’re cousins?”

“…..!”

The word “cousins” almost made me choke, but I barely managed to hold it in.

Amagishi was strict about manners. Back in middle school, I once coughed in front of her, and she nagged me about it endlessly.

I wanted to commend myself for holding it this time. However, when I glanced at Miumi, she remained perfectly composed, as if nothing had happened.

I felt ashamed for being the only one who got flustered so easily.

“U-uh, Kokaze just calls him that. There’s nothing special about it.”

“I see…”

“But… Akito-nii said he didn’t mind if I called him that, so that’s why.”

“I won’t say there’s anything wrong with treating him like an older brother, but people might misunderstand. I’d advise you to be careful, especially in front of strangers.”

“Wha—!? The way I call him is what I’m used to!”

“But Kokaze-san, do you realize? You can’t date a brother.”

“…Yeah. I’ll be careful.”

Seeing Amagishi uses pure logic at critical moments, it made Shino visibly nervous. Well, whether good or bad, Amagishi’s advice was probably for Shino’s sake.

However, it also felt a bit unfair, considering she saw right through Shino’s feelings.

“…Akito-nii was right. Tsundere… So scary.”

I heard Shino mutter under her breath. She had her usual positive attitude, acting as if she wasn’t affected, but at this point, it was practically blind faith.

Did she even know what a tsundere was?

Amagishi wasn’t intimidating Shino. She was simply curious.

“So, Kokaze-san, you wanted to hear about Akito-kun’s middle school days, right?”

“Yeah!”

“I doubt he was much different from now. Surrounded by tons of girls… Thanks to him, my workload as student council president increased back then.”

“So Akito-nii was always amazing…”

Shino seemed impressed, but that was clearly sarcasm from Amagishi.

There’s no way she was happy about having extra work.

“If anything, though, he used to be more considerate of his friends—”

“Huh? But Kokaze thinks Akito-nii is really kind to his friends.”

“No, making assumptions isn’t good. Forget I said anything.”

For some reason, Amagishi glanced at me as she spoke.

Akito’s friends… She must have meant me. If we were talking strictly about male friends, then yeah, that was accurate.

But that would imply Akito treated me worse now, which wasn’t true at all. If anything, the way he acted toward me was less like a friend and more like an old childhood companion.

Amagishi’s assumption was off from the start.

“Anyway, what about you, Kaori? It’s unfair if we’re the only ones talking.”

“You’re right. Actually, I’m the vice president of Nishikiba Girls’ student council.”

“Oh, I thought so.”

“Miumi-san and Niko-san are also part of the student council, though we’re in different classes.”

I knew Miumi was in the student council, but I didn’t expect the timid and shy Kozuka-san to be involved.

Then again, Nishikiba Girls’ was an all-girls school, so maybe their student council didn’t have to be as public-facing.

Amagishi’s involvement wasn’t surprising.

Thinking about it, the fact that Miumi was also in the student council should’ve made it obvious that the two of them were close.

“Well, that’s not really surprising. You haven’t changed since middle school… Wait, huh?”

“Is something wrong?”

“You’re not the president? You used to be the president during Middle-school.”