“Heyyy, could you keep it down? Don’t go causin’ trouble in our class if you’re an outsider, ‘kay? Oh Toudou was in my class huh? Since you’re always alone I thought wrong.”
 
“Rokka, stop…”
 
“C’mon, have some deep fried tofu, it’ll improve your mood~.”
 
I’d been sensing Rokka’s gaze the whole time.
 
Because of how Igarashi-kun and Sasaki-san responded, I ignored it.
 
“Whaaat~. You taught me so earnestly before, even letting me call you teacher~. I didn’t hate it at all~. But you abandoned me now? When did you make up with the liar girl? Huh? Did you get charmed?”
 
I tilted my head, confused.
 
What’s so funny? I don’t understand at all.
 
“Um…if you want tutoring let me know, but I don’t know about Rokka-san well so…”
 
“Hah!? That attitude, what’s with you! Really irritating. A loner acting like that. I invited you karaoke alone but you refused… You actually wanted a date with me, right! You really can’t read the air.”
 
Is this animosity okay?
 
I don’t care about malice from unrelated people.
 
I reset my relationship with Rokka.
 
I erased those tutoring sessions from my memories.
 
Just left records of it in my head with no emotions attached.
 
“I wanted to go out with Rokka-san alone? Sorry but I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
 
“Huh!? Di-didn’t understand…? Are you making fun of me? You waited two hours because you wanted to see me, right? You wanted to meet me, right?”
 
“Oh, that incident. Were you satisfying yourself by making me wait? I see, the Michiba is quite a unpleasant person.”
 
I speak to myself as if confirming the facts. The classroom starts buzzing.
 
The classroom buzzed.
 
“What happened with Rokka and Toudou?”
 
“Something like making him angry because she made him wait around….”
 
“Geez, worst.”
 
“He was tutoring her right?”
 
“Don’t care, let’s eat!”
 
“Toudou-kun, poor guy.”
 
“But Toudou doesn’t have any emotion in his voice? Creepy…”
 
I don’t really like being the center of attention. I wanted to get out of there quickly.
 
“Hanazono, let’s go to the courtyard. Hm, what’s wrong?”
 
“….I’m okay. Let’s go.”
 
Rokka stood up.
 
“Hey, wait a minute! Self-satisfaction… seriously, that ticks me off. I’m better than a girl like that! You’re a bad judge of people. She’s a liar, right? She called you a convenient man!”
 
I stop and glance at Michiba.
 
I still can’t comprehend it. The Hanazono situation shouldn’t have anything to do with Michiba.
 
There’s no need to explain.
 

 
“This has nothing to do with Michiba. Stop badmouthing my friends any further.”
 

 
The classroom became dead silent.
 
I don’t like such a quiet classroom. I like the noisy classroom atmosphere. Why did it get so quiet?
 
Because Michiba-san and I are talking?
 
Before long, the class started buzzing again. But it’s not the kind of lively feeling I like.
 

 
“Huh…? You, you’ve never gotten mad no matter what I said before, right? Wa-wait a minute…”
 

READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT GADGETIZEDPANDA.COM

 
Mad? I’m not harboring any intense emotions like that.
 
Curth responses are enough for unrelated people.
 
“I deduce your emotion is jealousy? Because I’m friends with Hanazono.”
 
“Whaa!? As if I’d be jealous over you guys!! I-I can study alone now anyway!”
 
I see, so she didn’t understand the meaning of that tutoring session.
 
“No good. That tutoring wasn’t aimed at fundamentally improving your studies. It was just to quickly get higher test scores. I don’t think you can get the same scores next test.”
 
“Huh…? B-but with the same methods–“
 
“I predicted the test questions based on all the teachers’ past trends and personalities, plus my intuition. Impossible if you do it alone.”
 
Rokka’s face was turning blue. Is she not feeling well? Someone should take her to the infirmary.
 
“Uh, then teach me again! It’s unfair with just the liar girl!”
 
Our conversation still isn’t connecting.
 
Is it due to my lack of communication skills?
 
I should explain to Rokka-san again, properly.
 
“Sorry…I absolutely don’t want to teach you again. Please don’t get involved with me. –And one last time, don’t badmouth my friend.”
 
“Ah, um… but…”
 
Michiba’s body started trembling. She’s probably not feeling well
 
This isn’t the time to talk with me.
 
I need to say it in a loud voice to make sure it’s heard.
 
Is the noise from my classmates too loud?
 

“Please shut up for a minute “

When I said those words, the class became dead silent again.
 

Rokka-san isn’t responding…
 
…It should be fine if it’s this quiet, right? Should I go closer–
 
I approached Rokka-san.
 
“Huh? Wh-what!? St-stop, don’t come…!”
 
Rokka-san’s shaking got worse.
 
“N-no, sca…scary…”
 
Just then, my head was flicked. It didn’t really hurt.
 
It was Igarashi-kun.
 
“Idiot! You’re super scary! Even I’m freaked out as a guy! C’mon, I’ll take care of this so hurry and go eat with that unfortunate cute girl of yours!”
 
“…You’re right, Igarashi-kun. You’re a good person.”
 
“Sh-shut it! Hurry up and go! Rokka, drink some tea and calm down!”
 
Igarashi-kun blushing in embarrassment looked dazzling to me.
 
I could feel the classroom’s atmosphere relax thanks to Igarashi-kun.
 

 
Rokka who hadn’t moved at all was getting her back rubbed and spoken to by her friends. I’m sure everything will be blamed on me. But that’s fine.
 
Because I have my friend Hanazono.
 
Anyway, I’m hungry. Let’s go to the courtyard.
 
I wasted unnecessary time.
 
In the end, I still don’t really understand what Rokka-san wanted to say.
 
She’s unrelated so I’ll forget about it.
 
I took Hanazono’s frozen hand and left the classroom.
 

---

 
In elementary school I didn’t have these kinds of relationships.
 
Adults only saw me as numbers.
 
I remember them getting elated and dejected over my scores.
 
There was a kind adult. He would praise me when I tried my best. And sometimes, he would give me very sweet candy.
 
That was my only joy.
 
Now that I think about it, I realize how lonely that was.
 

---

 
Lunch break ended so quickly…
 
There wasn’t enough time to chat leisurely with Hanazono in the courtyard. We ended up just eating lunch in the courtyard. I felt a little lonely…
 

 
So today, we decided to take a detour on the way home together for the first time in a while.
 
It feels like so long ago.
 

 
We decided to go into a family restaurant called Saizeriya. It was my first time going to a family restaurant with Hanazono. On the way home, we would usually stop by a burger place or crepe shop. I feel a little nervous.
 
We ordered drinks at the drink bar.
 
“Tsuyoshi, in the past I thought that I could keep you to myself even if you got into trouble… But I need to change too.”
 
While drinking a green colored drink, Hanazono said that to me. What is that? I’m curious…
 
I remembered the first time I ever drank soda, back when I graduated from elementary school.
 
It was at Hanazono’s house when her aunt offered it to me.
 

 
Sweet—delicious. At that time, I felt like my taste buds were being revolutionized. I was shocked to discover such a drink existed in this world.
 
Recently, during the karaoke incident, I learned about the existence of a drink bar.
 
The astonishing fact that you can drink this wonderful beverage as much as you want. The world is truly profound…
 

“Hey, are you listening!”
 
“It’s fine. Hanazono, was my behavior at lunch… okay?”
 
“Of course you were thinking something else right? Well, whatever. I think you’ve improved from the past. The thing with Igarashi… well, that was just a misunderstanding.”
 
“Igarashi is a good guy.”
 
“He’s not a bad guy. But because of his personality, many people dislike him.”
 
What? Even someone like Igarashi is disliked? I couldn’t believe it.
 
“Anyway, it ended up being a chance for you to talk with your classmates, so that was good. But the thing with Michiba…”
 
“Hm? Why’s that? My relationship with Michiba should be over.”
 
“Because of the Michiba thing, everyone in class might think you’re scary. That girl… just remembering makes me so mad. It makes my stomach churn. At least she exposed her own wrongdoings… “
 
“I don’t intend to get involved with Michiba again.”
 
“Michiba will probably be quiet for a while. She’ll be desperate to regain the class’s trust. I don’t think she’ll voluntarily bother Tsuyoshi. But since it’s Michiba… it makes me uneasy.”
 
I was shocked.
 
At that time, both Igarashi and Sasaki used the word “scary”.
 
I’m scary? I think I look normal. I try to be as plain and unnoticeable as possible.
 
Did I give my classmates that kind of impression? No one told me. No one talked to me. Neither Michiba nor Sasami said anything. Were they just using me?
 
“Ha, did you think I was scary too, Hanazono?”
 
“In middle school… yeah. But it’s different now right? You’re kind. So kind that… I ended up falling for you… Ah, no, now we’re just friends but… Everyone doesn’t know the kind Tsuyoshi!”
 
It hurt to know that I’m seen as scary to others.
 
I thought that after interacting a little with Igarashi and Sasaki, we could become friends…
 
Maybe it’s better to not get involved at all… Won’t that hurt less?
 
If so–I should erase what happened–
 

 
Hanazono looked at me with a faint smile.
 
“It’s okay, this time I’m here too. So, let’s make friends slowly. It would be bad to erase the connections you’ve made right? Let’s move forward… together, the two of us. Because Tsuyoshi is kind, people who understand will know–“
 
“I see, if I erase it, I can’t move forward. …Hanazono, thank you again for becoming my friend.”
 
“Yeah–“
 
After that, Hanazono and I continued talking at Saizeriya. It was time for me to go to my part-time job, so we decided to continue tomorrow.
 
Chatting casually with a friend… it’s fun. I spent this time feeling that.
 

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