In a booth, there was a woman on the verge of tears and a man who seemed unnecessarily tense, stretching his back awkwardly. The waiter handed a glass of water to Onoi awkwardly and quickly left the scene.
(This is a mess… Why did the offline meeting turn into this?)
Sipping tasteless coffee, Haruya confirmed the girl sitting across from him again.
She looked like a modern high school girl with round eyes
and a bob haircut with chestnut hair. Her body was of an average build, and to put it in a certain way, she had the appearance of an ordinary cute high school girl. She wiped her teary eyes and slowly spoke.
“…Um… I’m sorry. It seems like I’m disturbing your date. Um, are you Haru-san?”
“Yes, I’m Haru. And, um, it’s not a date… Onoi-san.”
“Is that so? I thought you were in the middle of a date. I didn’t expect to meet Takamori like this… . I couldn’t stand still. I was so excited to see her…… I’m sorry for ruining the atmosphere.”
“Ah, please lift your head.”
Takamori.
It seems that’s Nayu-san’s last name.
And the last name of the girl in front of him seems to be Onoi.
For some reason, Haruya felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
“I’m in Miyaza High School now, but I’ve known Takamori since middle school. We used to be in the same club.”
Onoi began to speak hesitantly after wiping away her tears.
“We worked hard together in the basketball club until the second year of middle school… but… we, or rather, I took basketball away from Takamori…”
It seemed to be a more serious problem than he had thought.
Onoi’s expression told the story.
Her somewhat distressed expression…
“Takamori doesn’t want to play basketball anymore… but I think she’s lying. Because I don’t feel any ‘radiance’ from her now…”
Haruya couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable.
“Is that so… Um, do you… want to order something?”
“Yes, let me order then.”
As her expression softened slightly, Haruya heaved a sigh of relief, but…
“Uh, isn’t that too much to order?”
Does she really intend to finish all of this alone?
A set of a mountain of fried potatoes, grilled chicken, and a hamburger.
Although he had involuntarily flinched inwardly when placing the order, he couldn’t help but comment when the products arrived in front of him.
“I tend to eat a lot because I’m in the physical education club. And I came here alone to eat a lot, haha.”
As she started eating, her expression changed completely from before, becoming bright.
Seeing her brighten up, Haruya breathed a sigh of relief.
It’s painful when someone gives off such a distressed atmosphere.
Therefore, seeing Onoi, who seemed to have calmed down, Haruya relaxed.
“Takamori is amazing. She has very high ideals and continues to pursue them. She’s cool and dazzling.”
Chewing on potatoes as she reminisced, Onoi’s expression softened.
“But, Takamori threw that away. So I want Takamori to return to basketball. After all, our schools are going to have a practice match. This kind of opportunity might never come again… I know I’m being selfish, but…”
Haruya didn’t interject, just nodded.
It was because Onoi’s desire to share her innermost feelings with someone, to be heard, came across. Moreover, it would be rude to intervene without knowing the detailed circumstances.
However, there was something he felt while listening to her story.
This girl in front of him really likes Nayu.
Although she spoke with a distressed expression, there was a glimmer in her eyes that made Haruya intuitively feel that.
“No…you really do like Takamori-san, don’t you?”
“Eh…well, it’s not like I like her that way or anything… But after being rejected that harshly, I can accept it and sort out my feelings. Thank you for listening. I feel a bit lighter.”
Facing Onoi’s resigned expression and forced smile, Haruya opened his mouth despite knowing he was sticking his nose where it didn’t belong.
“…It may be painful, but if you face your feelings seriously, I’m sure they will get through eventually.”
” ………… “
After that, Onoi didn’t say anything more and left after finishing his meal.
But she soon came running back, saying “I forgot to pay” and returned.
“And also, this is my contact information. Please feel free to contact me anytime if there’s anything about Takamori. If there’s anything about Takamori starting basketball again, please let me know immediately. Even at night is fine!”
Haruya is handed a piece of paper with contact information written on it.
(What a stormy person…).
With that impression in mind, Haruya glanced at the dishes laid out on the table and chuckled wryly.
(…I hope the staff doesn’t think I ate everything when I pay.)
Two days later.
Monday morning. Haruya was running to the classroom with a black-haired beauty.
The reason was simple.
Haruya overslept this morning and was about to be late, so he was in a hurry like this.
The student next to him is also hurrying because she is about to be late.
Without saying anything to each other, they just sprinted towards their destination.
Perhaps because most of the students have already arrived in the classroom, there was hardly any crowd.
When they hurriedly arrived at the front of the classroom—huh?
Haruya inadvertently twisted his neck.
The reason was that the female student who had been running next to him until just now was standing next to him…….
Are they in the same class? But if she’s standing next to him like this, that’s the only thing that makes sense.
Haruya peeked at her from behind her long hair and gazed at her standing next to him.
(I feel like I’ve seen her somewhere, but this feeling… Oh, come to think of it, is she the girl I had a little interaction with during the incident with Himekawa?)
I think we interacted at a crepe stand. It was when I was walking home with Sara.
In short, the girl in front of me right now is…….
(She’s that S-class beauty, right……)
She’s such a high-class beauty that some male students rate her as such.
It seems that Haruya has a strange connection with S-class beauties, much to his chagrin.
While ordinary male students would be lucky, it was a stomach-churning feeling for Haruya, who didn’t want to stand out at school.
As he prayed not to stand out too much, he reached for the door to the classroom—.
“You’re both late…. Come to the staff room later.”
When he turned around, the homeroom teacher was looking at Haruya and the others with a scary smile.
“You didn’t make it in time, did you? …… Well, that sucks.”
“I… I understand.”
“Well, get into the classroom. It’s time for homeroom.”
As they entered the classroom with the teacher, naturally, they attracted the attention of their classmates.
(Damn it…… I shouldn’t have stayed up late reading shoujo manga last night. I couldn’t stop thinking about Nayu-san.)
Even though we parted like that, I never received a message from Nayu afterwards.
It’s impossible not to worry about it.
But Haruya didn’t know how to proceed after yesterday, so he decided to summon Nayu through the requirements of shoujo manga, and spent the night reading shoujo manga.
As a result, he stayed up late, and that’s why he was late like this…….
“Well, let’s start homeroom. As I mentioned the other day, about the club activities—”
Although the teacher mentioned [club activities], Haruya didn’t have the luxury to pay attention to such things now.
The contents of the homeroom that had been talked about since earlier didn’t enter his head at all.
That’s because Haruya noticed that an unpleasant aura was emanating from the back of the room.
(Kazamiya… He’s definitely going to pick a fight with me…… He’s probably going to talk about how envious he is of me being late with an S-class beauty.)
With a feeling of reluctance, he sighed, and the teacher, Tokoyami, made an unnecessary comment.
“Well, that’s it for homeroom, but Takamori, and—”
After looking at the list once, she called out “Akasaki,” Haruya’s last name.
(…That teacher, I don’t want him to call my name…… You know, because I’d stand out. And you won’t say anything unnecessary after this, will you? Please don’t say anything, I beg you.)
But Haruya’s feelings were in vain, as Tokoyami mercilessly said.
“Both of you, come to the staff room later. That’s it for homeroom.”
With a click-clack, the teacher, who was still wearing heels today, left the classroom.
Ha ha ha, Haruya could only laugh bitterly as he was being patted on the shoulder by Kazamiya, who seemed to be saying “Tell me more.”
“Akasaki, things are getting interesting without me knowing.”
“Isn’t it just that we came late together… I have to go to the staff room.”
“H-Hey, I’m not done talking yet—”
In order to avoid Kazamiya’s inquiries, Haruya hurriedly left his seat.
As he prayed strongly that things wouldn’t get any more troublesome, Haruya left the classroom.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT GADGETIZEDPANDA.COM
Tokoyami was standing in front of the door to the staff room.
Perhaps because she had to prepare for the first period, she seemed to want to keep it short.
Haruya thought he had hurried, but the S-class beauty seemed to have arrived earlier than Haruya.
After confirming that the two of them were together, Tokoyami quietly spoke.
“Both of you are not the type to be late normally…… There must have been some reason. But being late is being late. I want to impose a penalty. What do you think about running around the school perimeter after school today?”
(That’s so old-fashioned……)
Haruya couldn’t help but make a sarcastic remark in his mind.
These days, I’ve never heard of punishments like standing in the hallway or running outside.
The teacher intended to joke half seriously, adding just one phrase, ” ……I can’t force it, though.”
To Haruya, who smiled wryly,
“After school, we just need to go around the school, right?”
Without any disturbance, Yuna asked, focusing on Haruya.
(Huh, really… Do we have to run?)
As the teacher nodded, she left the scene without paying any attention to Haruya.
Left behind, Haruya could only be dumbfounded.
“You and her are quite alike…”
While watching Yuna leave, the teacher muttered.
“Huh, um… Where exactly?”
She is the class’s beatuies, an unattainable flower. Meanwhile, he’s just a nobody in the class, the one who is in the shadows. Objectively speaking, he couldn’t see any resemblance at all…
“You’re hiding your true self. I think you’re also quite similar in terms of half-hearted actions. So, it’s good to reset your feelings by running around the perimeter.”
“……”
He felt like his heart was gripped.
Instinctively turning to look back at the teacher, she chuckled before saying,
“Kidding. It’s just an adult’s nonsense based on intuition. Don’t worry about it.”
“…………”
How much does this person understand about him?
As Haruya froze in the unfathomable atmosphere, he felt a tap on his shoulder.
“It’s almost time for first period. You’d better hurry back to the classroom and get ready.”
“Y-Yes.”
With doubts lingering, Haruya hurried back to the classroom.
As expected, upon returning to the classroom, he was bombarded with questions from Kazamiya, “What were you doing with Takamori-san? What did the teacher say?”
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