Chapter 1: Entrance Ceremony
As the winter chill began to ease, and the sun rose a bit earlier in the spring,
Saito Minazuki, a tall boy clad in a tracksuit, was running along the riverbank.
“Hah, hah, hah, hah.”
With large strides, he extended his legs, maintaining a steady rhythm,
but today, he was running a bit faster than usual, swiftly navigating the familiar path.
“Oh, good morning, Saito-kun.”
“Good morning, Grandpa! You seem lively today too.”
Arriving at the turning point, he was greeted by a familiar old man.
Saito responded energetically, slowing down and transitioning into jogging in place.
“Hahaha, I can’t beat you, Saito-kun. You seem even more energetic than usual.”
“Oh, did you notice? Today’s my high school entrance ceremony.”
With even more enthusiasm than usual, Saito shared the news of his high school entrance ceremony with the old man.
“Oh, that’s wonderful. Congratulations on your entrance!”
“Thanks. I’m looking forward to it since it’s my first time commuting by train. It’s going to be so much fun.”
“I see, I see. Do your best.”
“Yeah, I can’t be late for the entrance ceremony. Well then, I’m off. See you, Grandpa.”
With words of encouragement from the old man, Saito said his goodbyes and resumed his run.
(Well, but the most exciting thing is going to school with her.)
As the distance increased a bit, Saito’s lips curled into a faint smile.
In his mind was the image of his childhood friend.
They had been close for almost ten years, but due to the considerable distance between their homes, they attended different schools in elementary and middle school.
Now, with the opportunity of entering high school, they would finally attend the same school. There was no way they wouldn’t be excited.
when they both found out they had passed, Saito vividly remembered lifting her up, spinning her around, and celebrating their joy.
“All right! I need to get home quickly and get ready.”
He wanted to go to school with his childhood friend as soon as possible.
With that thought, his feet naturally carried him forward,
and before he knew it, he was running at almost full speed.
It was visible that there would be a tremendous backlash after this, but Saito, who was high, couldn’t stop his feet with his own will.
“Afternoon… huff… It was too fast.”
“Oh, Saito, you were early today.”
Returning home, Saito was completely exhausted, and as soon as he took off his shoes, he collapsed in the hallway.
Responding to the sound, his mother, Yabana, peeked out from the living room.
“Huff, huff. Ah, I’m tired.”
“It’s rare to see you, the stamina freak, like this.”
“Well… got a bit carried away.”
“I see. Well then, quickly go take a shower. You can’t meet Lily-chan smelling like sweat.”
It had been a while since Yabana had seen her son in exhausted mode.
Worried, she asked Saito for the reason, and his response was typical of him.
Yabana couldn’t help but show a wry smile and urged him to take a shower.
“Ugh…”
“Really, are you okay?”
She sighed as she watched him not showing any signs of moving, but Yabana went back to preparing breakfast.
“Yum… delicious! Mom, the dashimaki tamago today is as perfect as always.”
“Thank you… sigh, I guess he’s always been like this.”
A few minutes later.
Yabana realized that her worries were completely unfounded.
Saito, who returned from the shower, was back to his usual self, devouring breakfast with gusto.
Even if he caught a cold, he would quickly recover with a little rest. It was futile to worry about such minor things, and Yabana sighed.
“I think you’re okay, but just to confirm. What time is the meetup?”
“I think it was around 7:30 at that station. Let me check for a moment.”
Glancing at the rapidly disappearing mountain of rice, Yabana asked if he had enough time.
Saito thought he was fine, as they had confirmed it thoroughly last night, but he felt a bit uneasy and opened his smartphone.
He opened the messaging app and scrolled through the conversation with his childhood friend.
“It’s okay. I was right. I’ll leave a little before 7.”
“Alright. Take care. As we discussed yesterday, your dad and I will leave a bit later.”
“Got it. Thanks for the meal!”
“Yes, you’re welcome.”
Fortunately, Saito didn’t misremember the meetup time, and it remained unchanged.
Feeling relieved inside, Saito quickly finished the remaining food and stood up.
He rinsed the used dishes lightly, returned to his room.
“New uniforms are not my thing.”
Shortly after returning to his room, Saito changed into his school uniform.
Standing in front of the mirror, he moved around, feeling a bit uncomfortable.
It doesn’t go well with the tight-fitting clothes.
Thinking this, he undid the first and second buttons, and loosened his tie a little.
“This will be fine, I guess.”
Upon looking in the mirror, Saito’s appearance, with the tousled hairstyle and lively face, gave off a somewhat delinquent vibe, resembling some Yankee from somewhere.
However, reassuring himself that everyone does this to some extent, Saito left the room with his school bag in hand.
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“Saito, good morning.”
“Good morning, Dad.”
“The uniform suits you.”
“…Does it?”
As Saito left the room, his father, Yo, appeared diagonally from the adjacent bedroom.
After exchanging morning greetings, he complimented Saito on how the uniform looked on him, seeing him in it for the first time.
However, considering that Saito had mistakenly thought of himself as somewhat delinquent earlier, he couldn’t help but have an indescribable expression on his face.
“What’s wrong? You don’t seem too happy.”
“No, it’s nothing.”
“It’s okay. You’re our handsome son, boasting good looks from me and your beautiful mother. Be confident, you’re quite good-looking.”
“Your self-assessment is a bit high, isn’t it?”
Saito may have misunderstood that Sun was trying to boost his confidence, but he was surprised by his dad’s excessively high self-evaluation.
Yabana, being his mother, was one thing, but Yo couldn’t be described as handsome by any means.
Saito thought his dad was probably exaggerating to cheer him up, but he didn’t say anything more to avoid getting scolded.
“Well, thanks. I’m heading out soon.”
“Yeah, take care.”
Choosing to leave the conversation before it got too lengthy,
Saito performed his morning routine, fixing his bedhead and brushing his teeth in the bathroom before leaving the house.
Since the distance from home to the station was around three kilometers and walking would take a considerable amount of time, Saito used his bicycle to commute.
Along the way, perhaps because it wasn’t yet the time for elementary and middle school students to go to school, there were few people, allowing him to use the sidewalk. He arrived earlier than expected, thanks to this.
“Wow, there are so many people at this hour.”
After parking his bicycle in the bike rack, Saito ascended the ticket gate and found quite a crowd. There were undoubtedly over a hundred people.
In this cramped station, especially before seven in the morning, Saito frowned at the unexpected number of people.
(Thought I could at least get a seat.)
It would take quite some time to reach the station where his high school was, so he wanted to sit down if possible. However, judging from the current situation, it seemed impossible.
With his shoulders slumped, Saito used his commuter pass to pass through the ticket gate.
He lined up at the nearby platform and, while collecting login bonuses from various mobile games, the train arrived promptly.
It was one train earlier than Saito originally planned to board, but he thought it wouldn’t hurt to go a bit earlier and boarded the train.
Enduring some discomfort, he swayed along with the train for a while.
He arrived at the station where they planned to meet.
As soon as he got off the train, he looked around, scanning for the figure of his childhood friend.
Thinking they probably hadn’t arrived yet, he looked around just in case. He noticed a crowd forming at the edge.
(Maybe…)
Even though he thought it was unlikely, Saito headed toward the commotion.
“That girl over there is incredibly cute, right?”
“Maybe she’s a celebrity? Her figure is too good.”
“She has blonde hair, so maybe she’s a foreigner. Damn, I can’t speak English!”
Upon getting closer, Saito could hear the voices of male students.
The moment he heard that, Saito’s suspicions turned into certainty, and following their gaze, he found an exceptionally eye-catching beauty standing there, just as he expected.
Her flaxen, silky hair reached down to her waist, and a part of it was braided with a ribbon of the same blue color as her eyes.
Moreover, she was tall for a girl, with a glamorous figure that highlighted her assets and concealed what needed to be concealed
– truly an ideal beauty as if drawn in a painting.
However, despite people gathering around, no one approached her.
That was likely due to the atmosphere the girl exuded. An aura as cold as a blizzard, rejecting anyone who came close.
While everyone shies away from her and just watches her from a distance, a boy approaches her.
“Hey there!”
Of course, that boy was Saito.
Disregarding the girl’s aura, the icy aura that seemed to reject anyone approaching her, Saito, in a friendly manner, struck up a conversation with the beautiful girl.
A gaze as cold as absolute zero was directed at Saito.
Upon witnessing it, everyone immediately thought, “He’s done for.”
“…Good morning, Saito.”
However, in the next moment, the frigid air dissipated, transforming into a soft warmth, welcoming Saito.
The surrounding people were taken aback by the abrupt change, but it was only natural.
Yes, the ideal beauty standing before Saito was none other than his childhood friend, Machigane Lily. They had met by chance at a campsite when they were children and became good friends.
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