v1c9: No smoke without fire

  

The calendar had changed, and it was now the last month of the year. As I was leaving school to head to the station as usual, Katsuya, who was walking right next to me, suddenly spoke up.

“Ah, come to think of it.”

“What’s up?”

“I have something to do tomorrow, so Yassan, you can go home without me.”

“Well, alright. Out of curiosity, what are you doing tomorrow?”

I wondered what kind of business he had at a time when the year was about to end and exams were imminent. “I’m glad you asked!" Katsuya said as he smiled proudly.

“You know Christmas is coming soon, right? I thought I'd go buy a present for Asuka-chan.”

“Oh… I see.” I immediately regretted asking that question. “Asuka-chan” referred to the girl that Katsuya started going out with right before summer ended. The two of them have been lovers for more than three months now, but they still seemed to have the same energy and excitement they had at the beginning of their relationship, and Katsuya would always brag to me about how heated… no, how intimate the two of them were. Since I was a lonely single person, I tried to avoid those kinds of topics whenever I spoke with him lately.

According to him, Asuka was one year younger than him, and they exchanged phone calls and messages every day, even talking until late at night occasionally, and they’d always go on dates twice a week. Asuka is still in her second year of high school, so it’s okay for her, but you’re about to take your entrance exams, aren’t you? This thought came to mind every time he told me stories of Asuka. However, if I actually said that to him, he might take it as a form of jealousy. So, I suppressed the urge to retort at him and, as usual, I just brushed him off by saying, “Ah, sure, sure.”

“She told me she wanted an art book from her favorite mangaka, but I want to give her something she can wear. Something like an accessory, you know?”

Literally no one asked him about the specifics or details. I know that Katsuya is a person who can read the atmosphere well, but it seems like this skill of his disappears when it comes to matters of love.

“You could just give her both an art book and something cheap she can use all the time,” I lazily suggested. Katsuya’s eyes sparkled as he exclaimed, “Nice idea, Yassan!”

“You know, I really want to see her happy. That’s why I was puzzling over what I should give her.”

Katsuya spoke fondly of his girlfriend without the slightest bit of hesitation. I’m sure his girlfriend must be happy to be loved so much. He was basically overflowing with love for her.

Then I suddenly remembered something. I… had no one to give presents to, but my parents would always give me some sort of gift every year. For some reason, it seemed to be customary for parents to do nothing for birthdays, instead choosing to buy what their children wanted on Christmas.

Come to think of it, they also asked me what I wanted this year, but I haven’t given them an answer yet. By the way, last year I was given a tripod for a DSLR camera, and the year before that was a hiking hat and a soft water bottle.

They were both necessary, but it was hard to say that they were items suitable as gifts. I knew I had to think of something better this year, but I hadn’t been able to come up with any good ideas. But then, I suddenly came up with something. What if I tried asking for that?

(If I gave the excuse of “exams are coming up,” then I’m sure it wouldn’t sound suspicious or out of place.)

I felt sort of brilliant today. Fufu, I laughed with my head hung low. Katsuya grimaced at me and muttered.

“Why the hell are you laughing? It’s creepy.”

That was an incredibly rude thing to say, but I’ll let it slide just for today.

That was how excited I was about my idea.

I had always deemed that thing as something unnecessary, so I didn’t have one. But it would certainly be useful to have, and I was planning to get one after graduation anyway, so I was just slightly speeding my plans up.

Besides… it might make it a little easier to get in touch with that girl. Maybe she’d feel happy knowing that I remembered our conversation way back then.

“You know, I really want to see her happy.”

I know exactly how Katsuya felt. My relationship with that girl was different from Katsuya's relationship with his girlfriend. We weren’t lovers, and we didn’t give gifts to each other, but in terms of how strong my feelings were for the girl I loved, I’m sure they were on par with Katsuya’s feelings for his girlfriend.

Well, I’m not sure whether or not my parents will actually agree to it. For now, I’ll just try asking them.

(Anyways… it’s really gotten cold, hasn’t it…)

Today, my prep school ended a little earlier than hers, so I've been waiting for her on the platform ever since. Unfortunately, all of the benches were occupied, so I stood alone on the cold platform. Today especially, I had planned to wait for her no matter how long it took nor how late it got, but the cold weather was really getting to me.

I bought a can of coffee from the vending machine and returned to where I’d been standing a few moments ago. Carefully opening the can, I took a sip of the hot bitter liquid.

“You’re drinking coffee again.”

I finally heard the voice of the girl I’d been long awaiting as she poked me on my cheek. I suppressed the urge to quickly turn around as I slowly turned my head towards the voice. There, I saw Kitaoka, close enough for her fluttering hair to touch me.

“Do you like it?”

When she asked me, I responded, “Yes,” as I nodded. Her hand reached out for the can of coffee I was holding.

“Can I have some of it?”

She took the can away from me before I could even reply. Kitaoka put her lips on the can of coffee. It slowly tilted, and after a while, she let out a breath in the cold air. She squinted her eyes as she said, "The coffee’s good in contrast with how cold it is out here.”

...She just casually drank from the same can I had drank from only a few moments ago. Well, in junior high, I used to do that sort of thing with my clubmates all the time. But right now, she didn’t look particularly thirsty, and she didn’t seem to be in any sort of emergency. After we held hands in the crowded train the other day, I became even more conscious of her, so much so that I felt like I was going to explode just by getting within a one meter radius of her. And yet, Kitaoka didn’t seem to really care about what she just did, which made me feel even more embarrassed.

(So she really doesn’t see me that way at all…)

Even so, I was still happy to be around Kitaoka. I slowly sipped at my coffee so my feelings wouldn’t show on my face, and again, Kitaoka snatched it away from me to have some more of it. We repeated this a few times, until finally she finished the coffee as she took it to the trash bin, saying, “I’m going to throw this away”. When she came back, I tried to act casually as I asked her something.

“Your prep school ran a bit late today?”

“Yeah. Today’s the last day of regular lectures at my prep school.”

“Ah, so that’s why. I still have one more lecture to attend.”

I say that, but the next lecture was going to take place on Saturday. Either way, the both of us wouldn’t have any more lectures on Wednesday. That was why I had really wanted to see her today.

“It’s almost winter vacation, huh… Hah, this year really went by in a flash.”

The train arrived at the platform, drowning out her voice, and I couldn’t really hear what she said at the end.

The train came from downtown Tokyo, and it had a few empty seats. Being able to go home peacefully and safely was a huge relief, but once I got on the train, I realized that I only had 25 minutes left with Kitaoka, which made me feel melancholic.

The train started moving, and I continued from where we left off.

“What’re you doing over winter break?”

“I still have lots of things I don’t understand, so I’m going to take a winter study course. I’ll be in trouble if I don’t.” 

“Me too. My courses start after the end-of-term ceremony.”

“Just like mine, then. My courses start early in the morning and end late at night.”

“I see.”

I was inwardly ecstatic over the fact that I was able to get her schedule. This gave me a ray of hope. She seemed to be hinting the idea that the both of us would be going home together during our winter courses too.

“Actually, the courses at my place started a little earlier, since the students from private schools start their winter vacations earlier too.”

“I see,” I nodded my head. Kitaoka then let out a huge sigh.

“After winter break ends… we’re finally going to be taking our entrance exams, huh.”

“They’re happening so soon, aren’t they? My brain can’t really process the whole thing.”

“...Where are you going to take the exam, if I may ask?”

I didn’t have a definite location in mind, but I had a general idea of where I wanted to go.

“I’m thinking of several schools in downtown Tokyo.”

“Ah, I’m also thinking the same.”

So that means…  Feelings of anxiety, vague expectations, and various wishes swirled through my mind as I muttered.

“...I hope we pass the exam.”

“Yeah.”

Constantly studying for exams was a huge pain in the ass. Nevertheless, I wish I could stay as a student for a little while longer, I thought as I looked at the both of us in our uniforms, reflected on the window of the train passing through the night city.

One week later. There was a brief break in-between classes, and I was waiting for Katsuya in front of the lockers in the hallway while stifling a yawn.

Our next class was a social studies elective, so there was a huge crowd of students from both the science and humanities department, shuffling around in the hallway. And, if you didn’t get to class early, other students would take the best seats, such as the ones near the heater or in the front of the class.

He’s so slow, how long is he going to be in there? I was getting anxious, when suddenly, I saw a tall, male student walking towards me from a classroom on the far end of the hallway.

He hunched his back over slightly, and as he passed me by, he whispered into my ear.

“Don’t get carried away.”

(Eh...?)

What was that for? I was dumbfounded. I hurriedly looked back at the boy, but he had already reached the other end of the hallway. From what I saw of him when he passed me by, he was wearing modern and trendy clothes, but he was rather a rather big and brawny person, so it didn’t really suit him. But regardless, he was definitely someone I had never spoken to before.

“Sorry, sorry, the toilet was pretty crowded~”

Katsuya emerged from the bathroom with a smile on his face. He said, “Come on, let’s go,” but I couldn’t move for a while, as I kept staring at where the boy had gone.

Seeing me acting strange, Katsuya asked.

“What’s wrong?”

“Who was that guy…”

“What do you mean ‘that guy’?” Katsuya asked me again. I told him, “That guy with the navy blue sweater and the belt.” (Incidentally, the school regulations technically regarded sweaters as a “measure against the cold weather”, but you were only allowed to wear them under your uniform. There were lots of students who broke this rule, but there were some people, including me and Katsuya, who obediently followed this rule). 

When Katsuya saw who I was pointing at, he had a bitter expression on his face as he quietly muttered, “Ah…”

“I’m pretty sure that’s Hayasaka from Class B. You’re talking about the one whose legs are slightly bent outwards, right?”

I nodded my head as I committed his name to memory. Hayasaka… He isn’t a classmate of mine, let alone someone taking the same elective as me, which is why I’ve never even heard of his name.

“What kind of guy is he?”

“...I’ve never really talked to him, so I don't know. But, I’m pretty sure he’s from Midori Junior High.”

“If you're curious, you can just ask her,” he seemed to be implying. If we were talking about Midori Junior High, then he must’ve been talking about Andou Juuri, a classmate of mine and a close friend of Kitaoka’s. But, obviously, I had never talked to Andou at all, so I couldn't check with her.

At any rate, while Katsuya didn’t like bad-mouthing other people, he tended to mince his words when he spoke about people he didn’t have a good impression of, which allowed me to reasonably guess as to Hayasaka’s nature.

But, why in the world would a boy I barely knew anything about say something like that to me? Normally, a riajuu like him would never notice an inconspicuous background character like me. With no probable causes coming to mind, I could only tilt my head to the side in confusion.

“...Did that guy do something to you?”

Katsuya’s voice sounded like he was worried about me, and I quickly came back to my senses.

“No, nothing like that. He just looked a little like someone I knew.”

I quickly made up an excuse and smiled at him. There was no point in dwelling over the matter too much. I concluded that the incident earlier might’ve been a hallucination caused by my lack of sleep, or he might’ve gotten the wrong person. Then, I headed to my next class.

During lunch break, I gathered together with 3 of my friends as usual, eating our lunches at the seats near the window.

I had negotiated with my parents about my Christmas present the other day, and as a result, they decided they’d temporarily cut my allowance. So recently, I began making simple bento lunches to bring to school. Today, I had some vegetables and wieners with yakisoba cooked in some Worcestershire sauce.

Its flavor was consistent, and the fact that it was simple to make was a huge plus, but still, a lunch like this felt a bit unsatisfactory. “I guess I’ll have to buy something to eat on the way home,” I thought as I listened in on the group’s conversation, which had become quiet all of a sudden.

Right now, they were talking about “which underwear provides the best protection against the cold?” Today was the coldest day in winter, so everyone’s expressions were serious. Some said that UNIQLO’s were great, others argued that AEON’s weren’t to be underestimated either, and one even mentioned that underwear for mountain hiking was on a whole ‘nother level. Everyone was heatedly arguing over the topic, some throwing in rumors, and others citing their personal experiences.

Eventually, the group came to the conclusion that underwear for mountain hiking purposes were the best suited for cold conditions, but since they were expensive, they weren’t something that could be used on a daily basis. After they wrapped up their discussion, the two other members of the group stood up from their seats and left the class, since they had to attend a committee meeting, leaving me and Katsuya alone.

As soon as the two of them left, a group of girls, including Kitaoka, who must have eaten lunch somewhere else, came back to the classroom, and the atmosphere in the class immediately became more lively.

Even though the weather was so cold today, it looked like Kitaoka and the others were lively as usual. I caught a vague glimpse of their bare legs, stretching from their short skirts all the way down to their knees. Don’t they feel cold when their legs are so exposed like that?

“You know…”

Katsuya muttered something, so I turned around. Then, he checked to make sure there weren't too many people around as he spoke in a quiet voice, looking straight into my eyes.

“Yassan, you really get along with Kitaoka-san, don’t you?”

“Heh?”

“How long have the two of you been dating?”

His remark was so unexpected that I couldn’t believe my ears. I stared at Katsuya frozen in place, so stunned that I had forgotten to breathe.

When I finally pulled myself together and caught my breath, I looked down and plastered a hollow smile on my face as I replied.

“No, that’s not it.”

“That’s impossible,” I shook my head. I'm sure he knows that we barely interact with each other at school, to the point where we never even make eye contact. He should also know that flamboyant kinds of girls weren’t my type, especially a girl like Kitaoka.

I wondered how he came to such a conclusion. It’s true that I’m in love with her right now, but I don’t want anyone to know about that, and no one even knows about it anyways. In fact, I'm not even in a relationship with her in the first place, so his statement was far from the truth.

Either way, I shouldn’t prolong this conversation too much, or else I might carelessly leak something. I tried to lazily brush off his remark, but Katsuya slowly began to talk.

“...But, to tell you the truth, I actually know that the two of you are going home together.”

I felt startled, and my back tensed up.

“Eh… how… when..?”

Katsuya briefly sighed as he propped both of his elbows on the desk, folding his hands together. Then, he started speaking.

“It happened last month… or maybe it was in October. Asuka-chan was waiting for the train on the Seibo Line at the Chiba station. She said she saw someone who looked like you on the opposite platform, along with a girl who wore the Nansou High uniform. I couldn’t believe it, so the following week, I went along with Asuka-chan, and sure enough, it really was you, along with a girl who looked really familiar. At the time, I thought it was just a coincidence, but last week, I saw the two of you together on the opposite platform, again. The two of you were openly drinking from the same can of coffee in turns, I think. Saying that the two of you aren’t going out after having done all that feels like you’re blatantly lying to me, you know?”

Katsuya said that he was shocked, but I felt even more shocked. I had taken precautions to avoid being seen by people from our school, but someone completely unexpected had found out about us. I had only conversed with Asuka very briefly once, so I didn't expect her to remember me. In fact, I had even forgotten Asuka's face. Who would have known that such a girl was looking at me from the platform of another line?

On top of all that, she even saw us drinking from the same can of coffee… Should I play dumb here, or should I admit the truth? I was confused by the sudden predicament, but Katsuya didn’t back down as he continued hounding me for answers.

“That’s not all. I heard that you held hands with her inside a train some time ago.”

As soon as I heard that, I felt my own face turning red.

My reaction was a dead giveaway, and Katsuya seemed unsurprised as he muttered, “Ah… so it was true after all.”

...Who the hell did he hear that from? There shouldn’t have been anyone I knew on the train, since I wouldn’t have done something so bold otherwise.

I racked my brains in confusion, and Katsuya seemed to have noticed how disturbed I was based on my expression, as he answered my doubts.

“Apparently, my younger brother remembered your face.”

“Ah…”

Katsuya's younger brother was two years younger than him, and apparently he went to a high school that was only one station away from the station closest to my house. This meant that, on the day I unintentionally held hands with Kitaoka on the crowded train, he must’ve gotten on the train after there was a lot of room in the car. I'd been to Katsuya's house on a few occasions, but I rarely met his younger brother. Katsuya said that his brother had gotten a sudden growth spurt recently, and he no longer looked like his old self. So obviously, I wouldn’t be able to notice him inside the train.

“He told me that his club ran later than usual, and when he got on the train heading home, he saw you holding hands with a really cute girl. In fact, he said that you held hands with her all the way until you got off the train. And it was a Wednesday that day, so it further solidified my suspicions.”

I couldn’t make any more excuses after having this much evidence thrown at me. I pressed my hand to my mouth and began explaining to him in a whisper.

“That was just… well, various things happened, and it inevitably led to that situation…”

“Various things? What kind?”

His blunt question made me flinch for a moment.

I didn’t want to tell him about how Kitaoka was traumatized by a molester a long time ago. It was a sensitive issue, and it wasn’t something I could just casually bring up.

“I’m telling you… It was really crowded inside the train… I only did that to prevent us from getting separated and lost.”

I chose my words carefully and omitted a lot of things I deemed inessential, but that made my answer sound dumb and shortsighted.

When Katsuya heard this, he let out a sigh of exasperation.

“Impressive. You’re all lovey-dovey with each other.”

No, you’ve got it all wrong. We may have done those things, but the two of us aren’t like that at all. As I got even more flustered, Katsuya continued by dropping another bombshell of a statement.

“How nice, Yassan. You get to have sex with Kitaoka and stuff. Makes me feel a bit jealous of you.”

“Have… sex? What the hell are you saying...?”

My flushed face got even hotter. I'm sure my ears are completely red as well.

I hurriedly checked our surroundings, but no one seemed to be listening in on our conversation. I think Katsuya knew this too, otherwise he wouldn’t have said such a thing.

He then looked at me with a flabbergasted look on his face.

“What? You haven’t done it?”

“I mean…”

To be honest, I’ve dreamed of doing the deed with her countless times now, but I never expected that someone else would think that we were already in that kind of relationship. I always thought that Katsuya was a fellow comrade. Another unpopular boy, just like me. But, I couldn’t help but feel shocked when he hinted at the fact that he’d already gone one, or maybe even two steps ahead of me.

And on top of that…

“You already have a girlfriend, don’t you?”

He already had a girlfriend, Asuka, who he cherished so dearly. Leaving everything else aside, why the hell would he be jealous of me?

I thought that my response was fairly logical, but Katsuya refuted me without any change in his expression.

“This and that are two different things. I mean, tsundere girls have always been a favorite of mine.”

What the hell kind of excuse is that? I felt a huge wave of exhaustion overwhelming my body. Come to think of it, Katsuya was an eroge fanatic. I assumed that, aside from his girlfriend, Katsuya was only interested in 2D girls, but surprisingly, he looked to be interested in real, 3D girls too.

Then I remembered that there was a boy who had previously said that he wanted to ask Ema for a favor. Apparently, she wasn’t only popular, but also a person who easily fired up the instincts of the opposite sex.

“Well, it is a good idea though. There are lots of boys in the school aiming for Kitaoka, and you haven’t publicly announced your relationship, so things might get dicey if you stay passive.”

“...Like I said, we really aren’t going out or anything like that.”

I had to be clear about that part. When Katsuya heard me declare it so bluntly, he suddenly adopted an all-knowing expression on his face as he spoke.

“Then, why don’t you confess to her right now? Isn’t she waiting for you to make a move?”

He spoke in a proud and self-conceited manner, probably because he managed to get a girlfriend first.

“You don’t even know what our circumstances are,” I retorted deep down in my heart. But there was no way I could actually say that to him. All I could do was hold my head in my hands, my long and unkempt hair seeping through the gaps in my fingers.

I finished the last ever final exams I’d ever take in high school, and during this time of the year, the days and nights were rather cold.

Classes ended in the morning on the day that our tests were returned to us. My results were pretty much what I’d expected, and I thought, “Well, this is what happens when you focus solely on entrance exams and neglect final exams.”

Katsuya said that he was going to meet up with Asuka, so he went home ahead of me. There’s only a month left until the Center Exam, yet he looks so carefree.

【TLN: You can think of the Center Exam as the Japanese equivalent of the SAT or ACT. A standardized test for entry into university.】

I didn’t have any urgent matters to take care of, so I decided to roam around the bookstore in front of the station and browse through some books before heading home. I’d have to get right back to studying once I got home, so I wanted to take a quick breather.

I was reading an outdoor magazine, daydreaming about climbing a mountain nearby once I finished my exams, when suddenly someone tapped me on my shoulder.

When I turned around, I saw a girl wearing a brown coat over her uniform. She was wearing a knee-length skirt and large, bulky boots, probably to protect her from the cold.

“Ah…”

“Climbing mountains at this time of year, huh? Impressive.”

Nanami Tamura looked at the magazine I was holding and retorted at me. A part of me hoped that she’d turn out to be another girl, which made me feel a bit sad and pathetic.

“Of course not. It’s because I can’t go that I read these kinds of things to satisfy my urge for adventure.”

When I explained myself, Tamura calmly retorted, “Wouldn’t that just make you want to go even more?” As usual, she hit me where it really hurt.

“By the way, about our promise the other day…”

Tamura immediately grinned happily when she heard me. She answered me in her usual unfeminine, blunt tone.

“Ah, so you remembered.”

At the school festival, I promised to treat her to ramen in exchange for her cooperation. Chiibaa’s secret seems to be safe so far, so I don’t want to risk anything by breaking my promise.

In addition, I didn't have any afternoon classes today, so it was the perfect day to fulfill my promise. When I asked her if now would be a good time, Tamura said, “Actually, that was why I called out to you in the first place” with a triumphant expression on her face. So, I left the bookstore and headed toward the station with Tamura in tow.

After we got off at the station near my house, we walked to the ramen shop. Tamura always walked on foot to and from school, so I pushed my bicycle and walked beside her.

Soon, we arrived at the Mimatsu ramen shop located under the overhead highway. The restaurant was just past its lunchtime peak, and although it was crowded, we were able to get in without waiting.

We sat side by side at the counter. There was a menu on the wall in front of me, along with a handwritten sign. For some reason, music from The Beatles would always be playing in the store, and right now, they were playing the song “She Loves You”.

“They have a seasonal menu right now. The Umakara Miso ramen.”

“Nope, I’m only interested in their Shio ramen. If you want to try it, Messhi, then you can order it yourself.”

So, I ordered their seasonal Umakara Miso ramen, while Tamura stuck to her large portion of Shio ramen with a boiled egg in it.

While we were waiting for our food, we talked about the upcoming university entrance exam. We said things like, “I haven’t grasped all of the topics yet, I’m in huge trouble”, “I was even studying in my dreams the other day”, “No, no, I’m going to go for a 2 year course”, “How long are we going to suffer?”, and so on. But, Tamura was smarter than me, so I was  sure that she was actually ready and prepared for the exams.

After about 3 Beatles songs, the ramen we had been waiting for was brought out to us.

I looked into my bowl, which made my glasses fog up in an instant. I was feeling hungry, so I immediately separated my chopsticks and started to eat my red ramen, garnished with lots of spring onions. Tamura did the same, immediately scooping up her hot, steamy soup with a spoon without even letting it cool down.

“Ah… Fuu…“

The onions were seasoned with a bit of spice, and I began to sweat as I ate them. After finally finishing the onions, I reached the noodles.

As I began to slurp up the noodles along with the soup, Tamura, who had been eating silently, suddenly said, "By the way.”

“Messhi, I heard that you’re getting along with Class F’s Kitaoka-san.”

I accidentally spit out the ramen I had in my mouth. Some of it even went up my nose.

I hurriedly grabbed a tissue from the counter and wiped my mouth and the mess I made on the table. That was stupid of me. I was so startled that I did something crude and disrespectful.

“How...?” I quietly muttered as I looked at Tamura. She just replied indifferently, holding her chopsticks in her hand.

“I met Peyoung the other day, and he said, ‘Springtime has finally arrived for Yassan’ as he sniffled.”

Peyoung was referring to Katsuya. It was also a nickname given to him in junior high, and there were various theories as to how this nickname came about. One stated that this name came from “Kacchan-pe” → “Pe” → “Peyoung”, another theory said that it was because his face was square-shaped, just like the container of "Peyoung Yakisoba", and yet another one mentioned that it was because he loved Peyoung and ate it all the time, but I wasn’t sure which one was true.

【TLN: Peyoung is a brand that sells foods, including instant yakisoba. Not sure about the specifics though. Also, apparently -pe is a suffix, just like -san and -chan, where -pe indicates familiarity.】

Katsuya, who was a hardcore otaku, and Tamura, who had a wide range of hobbies and intellectual knowledge, have always been kindred spirits, and whenever they rode the same train on the way home, they’d get excited as they passionately conversed about topics I couldn’t understand. It seems like they have something between them that allows them to transcend the boundaries between genders.

But none of that mattered right now. Oi, Katsuya, what the hell did you do? Tamura herself blatantly said that she was a loose-lipped person, you know? Stuff like this is why you aren’t popular with the average girl. I really wanted to hurl more insults at Katsuya’s thoughtless and rash behavior.

But, if I looked at this from a different perspective, knowing that she got her information from Katsuya might be preferable rather than having her hear it from someone else. I could just brush off Katsuya’s words by simply saying, “He’s just arbitrarily assuming things.” I smiled to myself as I tried to immediately refute Katsuya’s claims, but Tamura continued speaking in a husky voice before I could cut her off.

“I also heard the same thing from a girl in my class.”

“Eh...?”

“Last week, a gyaru in my class said, ‘It looks like Ema's been getting along really well with a boy from her class called Iijima lately. Tamura-san, you’re in the same club as him, right?’”

My expression immediately froze. Tamura said that she was a gyaru, which means that she probably caught wind of the rumor from someone other than Katsuya. The reason I say this is because Katsuya didn’t have any friends who were in the upper ranks of the school, such as gyarus or riajuus. I racked my brains, wondering when the hell someone else managed to find out about us, but I couldn’t come to any sort of conclusion.

“We aren’t that close. I mean, we only head home together from prep school every once in a while...”

“Every once in a while? I’ve heard that it’s been happening every week though.”

She immediately fired back at me. I couldn’t reply at all, falling completely silent.

“What do you have to say about that?”

There was a hint of intimidation in her voice as she asked.

Tamura was a smart girl with a sharp intuition. The fact that she found out about all these things means that she’ll probably uncover the truth sooner or later, even if I tried to cover it up now. And if she does, Tamura will probably lose her trust in me, and she might feel hurt, thinking that she’s been lied to.

After I slurped up some of my noodles, I took a deep breath and slowly answered.

“It’s true that we’ve been going home together almost every week. But, you also need to know that we aren’t dating each other at all.”

Hearing myself say that was saddening. To an onlooker, it might seem like the two of us were more than just friends. And I’ll admit, she does seem to trust me somewhat. But that’s it. No matter how much I yearned for her, she would never turn my way in the end.

Tamura muttered “Hmmm,” with a blank look on her face. The noodles in my bowl were almost gone, and I was stirring my soup with my spoon when she suddenly asked me.

“So, Messhi. What do you want to do?”

“What do you mean… I don’t really…”

Personally, I didn’t really want to do anything more. I couldn’t do something as outrageous as confessing to her, and if doing so would worsen our relationship, then I was just fine with the way things were right now. Besides, we were third-years, and our entrance exams were right around the corner. There was no need to do anything flashy. But to be completely honest, if I could truly say what I was feeling deep down, then I wanted her to tell me that she liked me, even if I was being cocky and selfish. I wanted her to be mine, both body and soul. This is what I always wished for every time I looked at her face.

As I spoke vaguely and evasively, Tamura put down her spoon and chopsticks. She then drank some water and muttered.

“You know, this might be none of my business, but…”

“What?” I asked her. She let out a huge sigh, probably because she felt full. Then, without even looking at me, she spoke in a whisper.

“You should be wary of Kitaoka-san and her gang.”

Hearing such a sudden warning from her made me frown, completely forgetting to keep up appearances.

Tamura calmly continued, seemingly having anticipated my reaction.

“You know that Kitaoka-san is really close with Mochida-san and Andou-san, right? I used to be in the same class as them, and they were quite two-faced, bad-mouthing people behind their backs on several occasions. I also heard that, during junior high, Kitaoka-san liked to play around with boys, raising their hopes and deluding them into thinking that she’s interested in them, only to cruelly reject them when they confess. Basically, I haven’t exactly heard many good things about their group.”

It was emotionally difficult for me to hear an objective, third-person evaluation of Kitaoka.

Of course, I knew that plain girls like Tamura would never get along with flashy girls like Kitaoka. But, even though Tamura had always been an arrogant girl, she was also an easy-going and indifferent girl. This was the first time I’d ever heard Tamura say something so demeaning about another girl behind her back, and this shocked me even more than all the bad things she’d said about Kitaoka.

I wondered if the "playing around with boys" part of her story was referring to Kumiko's story the other day about how a popular boy fell in love with her, which made all the girls in school hate her. I don’t know which one is the truth, and Tamura's story lacks credibility because it’s mostly hearsay, but at the very least, I’m sure it’s true that some people are of the same thought as Tamura.

Besides, I also used to have a negative image of Kitaoka for a very long time. That was why, oddly enough, I could sympathize with Tamura when she said that she hadn’t heard many good things about Kitaoka.

However, Kitaoka isn’t like that. She tends to be thought badly of because of her brusque impression, but the truth is that she is shy and clumsy. Nevertheless, I felt like my image of Kitaoka had been shaken from the bottom up, if only slightly.

I could neither deny nor affirm what Tamura said as I stayed silent. Tamura then added even more onto her story.

“Also, after they heard about you and Kitaoka, some of the boys in my class who were of questionable nature asked, ‘Which one is Iijima?’. If you get involved with those kinds of boys, it’s bound to bring nothing but trouble for you.”

Suddenly, it hit me. Tamura was in Class B, the same class as Hayasaka.

“Are you talking about...” I started to say, but I stopped myself. If I asked her about Hayasaka now, then I’d have to tell her about how he curtly warned me in the hallway. I didn't want to cause Tamura any unnecessary worry. I acted as if it was the first time I’d ever heard of such a thing and nodded my head.

“Well, if you’re okay with it, then I’m also okay with it. Still, as your longtime friend since junior high, it makes me feel a bit worried.”

“Yeah…”

She probably saw no point in continuing the topic anymore since she stretched her body and propped her elbows on the counter, languidly muttering:

“Well, right now the Center Test is more important, I guess… Ugh, how the hell should we take down that monster…”

“We'll just have to confront it head-on, right?” I replied. But my mind was too confused to even think about the exam right now.

I slurped up the rest of the ramen in my bowl. The noodles had gotten a bit soggy, and I regretted having not eaten them sooner.

When I arrived at school the next day, I found a letter on my desk that read, "Please come to the arts room. I’ve found a lost item that belongs to you”.

The arts room was located on the first floor of a separate building. There was nothing in particular that I could think of that I had forgotten, but maybe I’d been in a daze at the time, which made me drop something somewhere.

It was hard to believe that anyone would be there this early in the morning, but I decided I’d just head over and see for myself. I walked out of the classroom alone and headed down the staircase.

I changed into my outdoor shoes and walked towards the building where the arts room was located, empty-handed. From the gym, I could hear the shouts of boys who were in sports clubs as they held their morning practice.

It’s cold again today. I was about to turn the corner of the school building when suddenly, a drop of water fell on my cheek.

(Rain...?)

It’d been sunny a while ago. How odd. When I tried to look up at the sky, I saw a lot of water falling from above, and since I had nothing to protect me from it, I immediately got soaked.

(What the hell is this…)

It was so unexpected, my brain couldn’t process what had just happened to me. I wondered if I had been soaked in rainwater that had been left for a long time, since there were lots of dead leaves and dust sticking on my head and shoulders.

Dumbfounded, I looked up at the building. There, from the balcony on the third floor, I heard several boys talking to each other.

“Oh shit, we gotta run now.”

“What the hell, you seriously did that?! Dude, that’s a little off-putting…”

I was pretty sure they were in a classroom that was no longer in use. It wasn't locked or anything, so anyone could have come and gone as they pleased.

I wanted to tell them to come down and apologize if they hadn't done it on purpose, but they quickly climbed over the window frame and into the classroom, so I couldn't see their faces.

Those boys─ did they deliberately pour water on me? I didn’t have any evidence, so I couldn’t say for sure. But, Tamura’s words yesterday were all that came to mind: “Be careful of bad boys”.

Drops of water fell from the tips of my hair. I had never been subjected to the malice of others before, and I couldn’t even get angry as my body started freezing in the winter cold.

But, despite all that, it turned out that the letter was real. I was sure that the boys had created a fake letter just to lure me out, but I dropped by the arts room anyway, just in case.

When I took off my shoes and climbed the stairs, I found a sign on the wall of the preparation room filled with teachers that read, "The following students are required to come to Noguchi for the scores of their arts assignments," and underneath it, the words "Yasuki Iijima, 3F" were written in brush, along with the names of other students.

So that’s all it was? I felt disappointed. I chose the arts craft in my first year of high school, and having my assignment returned to me after all this time was useless.

I knocked on the door and entered the preparation room. As soon as Noguchi, the teacher in charge of arts, saw me, her eyes widened in surprise.

“Ah, what happened to you?!”

When I briefly mentioned that water fell on me from the upper floor of the school building, Noguchi laughed in a mature, womanly way.

“Ah, sometimes there are kids who don’t look down when they pour water~. Oh right, I think it’s been about 2 years since I last saw you, huh?”

“It’d make sense if someone was in the middle of cleaning, but does anyone actually clean this early in the morning?” I retorted in my heart. But, Noguchi was a veteran who has worked for 10 years at this school. If she said that it wasn’t unusual, then I guess it must be true.

As a favor from Noguchi, I briefly rinsed my head with hot water from the gas water heater in the arts room and used the towel she had lent me to wipe my body. The water had soaked my shirt, so at any rate, I had to take them off later. I warmed my cold fingers a bit over the heater and went back to my classroom.

Today in particular, it seems like Katsuya has yet to come to school. I went to the locker room to change into my jersey, thinking that if he were here, I would be grumbling to him as I stole some spare clothes of his for me to wear.

After that, I went to the staff room and told my homeroom teacher what had happened, so I was allowed to wear my jersey to class today.

My homeroom teacher said that they’d try to find who the culprits were, but I felt mostly resigned as I thought, “Well, the school probably won’t be able to catch them”.

Then, morning homeroom began. The boy who sat in front of me asked me why I was wearing a jersey, but I couldn't be bothered to tell him what had happened, so I just lazily told him that I had been caught in a sudden downpour.

First period was chemistry class, and that meant that I had to move to a different classroom. There was some time before it began, so I stayed behind in the classroom while I dried my school uniform on the balcony.

Another thing to note was that Katsuya still hadn't shown up. Well, they’re only going to return the results for our final exams, so maybe I should just head home. I was reluctantly pulling out some papers from my desk for the next class when suddenly, I heard a voice from the entrance of the classroom.

“Oh, Iijima?”

Startled, I turned around. Sure enough, I saw Kitaoka Ema at the door. Once she put her bag and coat on her seat, she approached me happily, her eyes wide with surprise. It looks like she was running late today, just like Katsuya.

“Why are you wearing a jersey? What about your uniform?”

“I was wearing my uniform earlier, but…”

When I spoke in vague terms, Kitaoka looked very curious as she peered behind me. There wasn’t anyone else in the classroom, just the two of us. The situation made me feel really nervous, despite me being in such a miserable state. “It's easy to lose sight of yourself, huh,” I thought as I saw an unexpected side of myself.

“Also, why is your hair kinda wet?”

She finally noticed my hair, still wet from earlier. I turned my gaze away from her and briefly told her what had happened.

“Well, I was walking past the infirmary, and I don’t really know, but water suddenly fell on me from above...”

As soon as I finished speaking, I suddenly felt the urge to sneeze, so I hurriedly covered my mouth.

Achoo! It looks like my body temperature has drastically dropped. It’s probably a matter of time before I catch a cold.

Kitaoka tilted her head curiously.

“Hmm. I wonder why. Maybe someone was cleaning upstairs?”

“Maybe. Or perhaps it’s a form of harassment…”

I didn’t know if I was targeted just because I happened to be walking below them, or maybe I happened to run into some people who didn’t think too highly of me. I didn’t know which one was the truth at the moment.

I carelessly let out a response, which made Kitaoka exclaim “Ehh?!” in surprise.

“No way. Aren’t you just being pessimistic because you’ve been studying too much lately?”

“I… guess.”

“That’s right. I mean, come on Iijima. Your personality isn’t one that would make people resent you. Or maybe you have some sort of clue as to why it happened?”

As soon as she asked me, the whole incident with Hayasaka came to mind, but I shook my head and pretended as if I had absolutely no idea. There wasn’t any evidence that pointed to Hayasaka as the perpetrator, and he probably liked Kitaoka too. It would be uncool and unfair to badmouth him in front of Kitaoka herself, since it would just look like I was trying to sabotage his chances with her.

Besides, if Kitaoka evaluated my personality as one that didn’t make others resent me, then it wouldn’t be bad to keep it that way. Noguchi-sensei also said, "It's not common, but it does happen sometimes," and the conversation I heard from the balcony wasn’t conclusive evidence that indicated that he was aiming for me. In fact, I was beginning to wonder if it really was just a coincidence. If something like that kept happening, then of course it would be a problem, but what’s happened has happened, and I really wanted to just put this all behind me.

“You know, whether it be the foul ball incident, or this water incident, aren’t you really unlucky with things falling on you from above?”

She asked me playfully as she giggled. I was about to argue that I had never been hit by anything other than those two when I suddenly sneezed loudly once more.

Kitaoka seemed surprised by how loud my sneeze was.

“Are you cold?”

“A little, yeah. I’m only wearing a t-shirt below, so…”

I rubbed my arms together to warm myself up. My shirt and sweater were useless since they were soaking wet. Katsuya hadn't arrived yet, and I had considered borrowing something to wear from another friend, but I didn't have time for that either. Even though I was indoors, winter was already in full swing and I couldn't endure the cold with clothing this light.

Kitaoka then said, "Wait a minute," and left the classroom at once.

While I was wondering what she was going to do, I heard a bang from the hallway, after which Kitaoka returned to the classroom. She had a green jersey in her hand, and Kitaoka said, "Here," as she held it out to me.

“I’ll lend this to you. It's mine, but it’s a little big, so you can wear it underneath.”

“Eh…..?”

When I hurriedly refused, Kitaoka’s fine eyebrows furrowed suspiciously.

“Why? I’m only lending you a jersey here.”

That may be what you think, but it's a huge problem for me. Even though it was just a jersey, it was something that Kitaoka, the girl I liked, wore all the time, and there was no way I could just casually put it on.

I was so conflicted, I couldn’t even look her in the eye. Kitaoka seemed exasperated as she bluntly declared.

“Look, it’s the same thing you did back at the summer training camp, when you lent me your sandals.”

That’s… I wonder if that meant that she saw something like this as a “trivial” matter. At the time, I had to muster up a ton of courage to give her my sandals, but if she says it’s the same thing as that, then I guess I can’t really refuse her.

She strongly pushed her jersey to the area around my stomach. Forcibly being made to accept the jersey, I muttered “Thank you.” to her. Seemingly satisfied, she looked up at me and smiled.

“Ah, but do make sure to wash it before you return it to me.”

After she said that, she turned around and walked out of the classroom. The next period was about to start, so I had to move quickly too.

I took off my own jersey and immediately put on the one Kitaoka lent to me.

(It has this really nice smell to it.)

I should’ve been freezing cold a while ago, but suddenly, I felt my whole body warm up. I had thoughts of heading home earlier, but with this jersey, I think I’ll be just fine.

Ultimately, I managed to get through all my classes that day (although they only lasted till noon). However, it seemed like my body itself was still cold, and as soon as I got home, I came down with a high fever and had to take a break from school for a few days.

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