I have no idea what Tsuneda was going through in middle school.
She might have been seriously bullied, or perhaps there were just a few kids she didn’t get along with.
It’s too unclear to think that she was just laughing loudly on purpose, and Tsuneda doesn’t seem to want to talk about it right now, so I decided to leave it as is.
After all, she’ll probably be attending the same school as us for a while longer—at least until next year.
And next year, Shii will likely enroll at this school too. Deciding which school to enter is, of course, entirely up to Shii herself, but I think if it’s Shii’s personality, she’ll choose this school 100%.
The reason is right in front of my eyes right now.
“Sota~”
“N-Nanami.”
After becoming classmates, Nanami started to stick to Sota more actively.
Surprisingly, despite that, the two weren’t ostracized by the other kids.
Sasaki has more friends than I expected. I often didn’t notice because she was mostly hanging out with girls, but it seems she had fun with her friends in her class.
Some of those friends have moved up to our class together.
By the way, one of them is someone I know too. I can’t remember her name, but it’s common for harem protagonists to have this strangely popular friend who doesn’t seem to show any promotion around ladies.
While she does like girls, she can’t really talk properly in front of them, so it’s still deemed awkward. I read this story 20 years ago, so I can’t quite recall.
Anyway, among her friends, she gets a bit of jealousy now and then, and they tease her, but that’s about it—school life isn’t really a huge problem.
Nakahara is similar.
She’s not exactly at the top tier of social status, but she still has a decent number of friends. Like Sasaki, there are a few in our class, and some come from other classes during breaks. Plus, we get along quite well with our group, so in a sense, it means she built up a good relationship with all the girls in the class.
If Sasaki were the school idol or something, it would sound sweet, but for now, she’s classified as an “ordinary protagonist.” The girls at school evaluate Sasaki as “just reasonably attractive,” which is pretty ambiguous.
Nanami’s friends mostly support their relationship rather than causing any trouble.
So the atmosphere in our class is generally pleasant.
Sasaki is the only boy I can chat with comfortably in this school. Nakahara doesn’t have a bad view of me, as she knows I have no feelings toward Sasaki whatsoever.
That’s the same with Shii, who I don’t see here in this school either.
So, Shii was thinking of asking her big brother for help regarding something related to her.
That was the problem.
*
It’s been about a month since I started working part-time a few times a week and spent the rest of my time in the literature club room doing homework or chatting lightly with friends before heading home.
I can’t recall how many times I thought about how nice it would be if school life had been this peaceful from the start.
Honestly, I wanted to bring a computer or TV inside to enrich our literature club life, but I held back. I felt that if I asked Kagami to do that, she’d probably end up actually doing it, and that gave me a sense of crisis in a different way.
When we come to the literature club room, Tsuneda is usually the first to arrive and wait. You wonder how she gets here so quickly, but thinking about it, we don’t rush on our way here, so it’s not physically impossible.
Today was the same when I arrived at the literature room, but Tsuneda was absent.
Izumi and Kaoru have been late or absent due to third-year-related events, so that’s understandable, but it was a bit unexpected that Tsuneda wasn’t here.
It’s not that she’s never skipped club activities before. Tsuneda usually sends us a carefully written “reason for absence” via email. Typically, it was something about a family meal or a similar reason.
I tilted my head but still, we didn’t worry too much until now.
She could arrive a bit late. Right?
After around ten minutes, as I was lazily preparing tea and munching on a snack, I started to genuinely get worried about Tsuneda.
Just then, the literature club room door opened cautiously.
Coincidentally, since we were in a rare state of “everyone’s dedicated to literature club activities,” everyone reacted simultaneously to that little sound.
It had already been a month since we started club activities, but Tsuneda still tended to get a bit flustered whenever everybody would look at her at once.
But today was a bit different.
She looked blank.
Her eyes were slightly glazed over, and her cheeks were flushed. Her hair was a bit disheveled, and her uniform looked a little disordered. Her knees were slightly swollen and reddened.
“Tsunami!?”
The first one to react was Harumi.
Maybe it’s because they have the same gal style? Or perhaps Tsuneda joined the club because she wanted a younger person to take care of. Regardless of the reason, it was true that Harumi genuinely cared for Tsuneda.
She stood up immediately, checked Tsuneda’s condition, and placed a hand on her shoulder while talking to her.
“… Who did this?”
Harumi spoke with a real delinquent vibe emanating from her. She looked like she’d dash off and smash the one who did this as soon as she heard their name.
“A handsome guy…”
Hearing that, Harumi’s face turned even paler.
“Tsuneda, are you possibly tricked by a guy!?”
“Harumi.”
Mako restrained an impatient Harumi.
“Let’s calm down for a moment. Let’s hear the story.”
Mako, while looking serious, was a lot more rational than the overly excited Harumi.
We seated the dazed Tsuneda. Maybe due to her blank state, Tsuneda sat down without any resistance.
Though even if she wasn’t dazed, there probably wouldn’t have been much resistance anyway.
“So, what happened?”
“Uh, um, that is……!”
Tsuneda reacted abruptly.
“Actually, I have some unread world literature anthologies at home.”
At this point, I could somewhat guess why she ended up looking like this.
Though I still had no idea who this “handsome guy” was, I decided to just listen to her story.
“I’ve already read them, and the bookshelves are running out of space, so I got permission from my parents to bring them here.”
“… How many are there?”
“About fifty.”
That would definitely fill up the shelves.
Well, I’d probably have done the same at her age, and I’d imagine it would probably be filled with light novels and comic books.
“Fifty?”
As Yuuki mumbled as if in disbelief, Tsuneda waved her hands frantically.
“Of course, I wasn’t planning to bring them all at once!”
Fifty books would be an unmanageable load.
Tsuneda said she was thinking of transporting about ten at a time. It was still pretty heavy, but at least it seemed she felt it was manageable enough for her to carry herself.
“Why didn’t you just tell us?”
Realizing Tsuneda probably wasn’t forced into this, Harumi’s tone softened somewhat.
“Ah, I didn’t want to bother the senpai…”
“Tsunami, it’s fine. We’re all in the literature club together. Books for the club’s activities, right? Naturally, we’ll all help move them.”
When Mako said this with a face that looked like an angel, Tsuneda’s face went blank again.
“Uh, um, is that so? Hehe…”
If Koko and I went, we probably could have moved all fifty books. Though it would have been an incredibly unnatural sight.
…Well, if the literature club moved together, there’d be no need to go that far. I’d rather not draw strange looks anymore.
The Tsuneda, who was awkwardly laughing, quickly realized she had derailed the topic and shook her head vigorously as she continued.
“So, I tripped while trying to struggle to carry the books…”
“Did you get hurt a lot? Shouldn’t you go to the nurse’s office?”
Harumi asked with a worried expression.
“Ah, no, it’s not that painful.”
“What about the books?”
Yuuki asked.
“Uh…… Ah!?”
Tsuneda jumped up from her seat and shouted.
“The books, that person said they’d carry them for me!”
“That person?”
Yuuki looked up at Tsuneda with a puzzled expression.
“Someone who helped me when I fell! They picked up the books that scattered everywhere, and with a very gentle and caring expression they said, ‘You’re going to the literature club room, right? I’ll carry them for you, so please go ahead.’!”
Saying that makes it even less clear.
Moreover, it’s even more surprising that Tsuneda managed to come here alone while leaving her books with someone in that situation. If it were me, I would have insisted on carrying them myself out of sheer guilt.
But well, she likely wasn’t really how she acted; it was more like she was so enchanted by that “person’s” noble words and actions that she blankly followed her instincts. Tsuneda couldn’t be bold enough to act like that.
“Let’s go right now—”
See, she’s still belatedly realizing and trying to run over.
But before Tsuneda could even open the door, the literature club room door gently opened first.
The person beyond that was—
“Uh, where should I put this?”
“……”
“Uh… Why is everyone looking at me like that?”
The one Tsuneda referred to as “that person,” namely, Sasaki Sota, stood by the entrance, bewildered as he received the vague gazes of the second-year club members.
*
“Here, take this.”
What Sasaki handed me was a snack resembling sweetened fruit candy.
That… was something I once happened to try in my childhood, shaped like fruits.
I mean, they’re tasty, though.
“It was a gift from my father’s acquaintance. Since we received several boxes, it’s too much for just us to eat.”
Wasn’t the situation with his father bad after the separation?
Well, since he said ‘friend of my father,’ it could be a different story. It wouldn’t be unusual to have some helpers around even if I couldn’t read it in the story.
Opening up a ridiculously expensive set of sweets, I stared at the snacks with a complicated expression.
Just for reference, Sasaki was still standing by.
Tsuneda had sat back down, her head lowered, looking flustered.
I seriously pondered and thought, isn’t Sasaki’s looks—at first glance—something that wouldn’t be surprising to fall for?
The girls’ vague evaluation of “just reasonably handsome” was actually said to hide their true feelings…
No, wait. Given the girl in the literature club, they had some immunity to that.
I mean, even I was prone to fantasizing about dating if I got even slightly involved with a pretty girl. Isn’t it human nature to imagine about celebrities without having to get involved?
“Tsuneda, did you come from a girls’ school?”
“W-What!? How did you know!?”
Is it for real?
The expressions of the other girls turned vague upon my question, but after hearing Tsuneda’s response, they all nodded.
She has no immunity to guys.
Yet she bumps into a handsome guy while falling and he kindly helps her, even going so far as to let her go ahead and picking up her remaining stuff.
Constructing such a light love theme and then switching genders, would it be—someone possibly worth falling for? Well, I guess it could be a valid reason to feel grateful.
“……”
“……Why?”
As I gazed at Sasaki, he seemed slightly flustered and asked.
“It’s nothing.”
Anyway, he’s somewhat dense.
Well, it might be an unfair evaluation of Sasaki.
What guy would think that a girl he just met would fall for him at first sight? Usually, when a girl says something like that, either she’s part of a pyramid scheme or a cult. Unless, of course, the guy is exceptionally handsome.
As I felt somewhat awkward about that, I picked up a sweet snack.
The one I picked up resembled a peach.
The exterior was quite sticky, almost resembling a chewy rice cake. Inside was filled with something I didn’t understand well, but it was soft and tasty.
Looking at Koko munching on the sweets with no interest in other people’s love lives, I felt like I could leave things be.
Yeah, what could I say? It’s their love story.
Even if I was feeling awkward about it, I’ll just let them handle their relationship.
If Nakahara and Hagiwara were to go overboard with their interference, I might side with Tsuneda a bit.
…By the way, I haven’t seen Hagiwara for quite a while. I hope she’s doing well?
*
As I made the conclusion to stop getting involved in other people’s love lives, it seems the others came to the same conclusion.
While we were aware of the competitive girls around Sasaki, we didn’t mention it. I felt like expressing that might prompt them to give up, which could feel weird.
Tsune might not have approached Sasaki due to her personality, so for now, the problem hasn’t grown serious.
If it were just a passing interest, it would end like a short fever, and if Tsuneda were to worry to the point of asking us for help, we could help her then.
I find myself doubtful about how much help I could give, though.
“I’m heading out first.”
On a beautifully sunny day in May, I said to my classmates.
“Sure. See you tomorrow.”
Waving my hand with a bright expression were Mako and Harumi, and while Yuuki looked a bit indifferent, he was still waving sincerely back at me, so I gave them one last wave and began walking home with Koko and Yuka.
It wasn’t that I was leaving early for my part-time job—rather, it was because Kagami had started singing that ridiculous song about feeling too lonely if we don’t hang out together.
If someone wants to dine out, they should just say they want to! I have no idea why she’d sing such a gloomy song.
Maybe while living like that, Kagami forgot the normal way to chat?
…..
I think that, but it feels so reasonable it makes me feel pity for Kagami.
“What do you want to do? Today, with the schedule being what it is, we might not be able to eat until dinner…”
School ends much earlier than the regular working hours. Naturally, there’s time to wander around in the afternoon.
“Then, let’s quickly take a look around!”
“Alright!”
“Woohoo!”
In response to Yuka’s words, Koko raised both hands high in glee.
Since both of us like playing and eating, we decided not to wander too far. In fact, there’s no need to. The excessively rich Hanagawa High School is built right in the middle of Tokyo.
For the first time in a while, the three of us roamed around together.
None of us cared much about clothing and hardly bought any accessories, but somehow, just wandering around together made everything entertaining. I think it feels especially thrilling since it’s been a while.
While we were wandering about, we spotted someone.
A slender body, wearing a short-modified sailor uniform skirt.
And most notably, carefully dyed bright blonde hair right to the roots.
…It was Tsuneda.
But why was Tsuneda here?
Furthermore, she was hiding around the corner of a building, watching someone.
“……Sasaki?”
Seeing where Tsuneda’s gaze was focused, Yuka muttered.
The three of us exchanged glances.
And quite naturally, moved—
“Woohoo?”
—Quickly grabbing Koko, who was about to call out to Tsuneda, we hurried away to conceal ourselves behind another building corner.
Several passersby glanced our way, but since Tsuneda didn’t have the vision to notice it, we decided to just hide openly.
And we began observing Tsuneda’s situation.
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