Volume 1 - CH 8

Koyomi’s POV

Kiyama Kouyou

At first, I thought he was just an obedient boy.

When I became a 2nd year student, he was a habitual late-comer, so he was noticed by the teacher at the start of the second semester.

Sleeping in class, and that’s why he came in the middle of the second period. During the study camp too, he fell asleep in the classroom without us noticing it. There were times when he skipped an hour of work too.

When I thought it was unusual for him to not arrive late, when homeroom starts, he put on his earphones and listened to the music during the entire time. He has the aura of a person who doesn’t want to be approached on full throttle. Once class starts, he sleeps so much that he won’t even budge if you hit him from the start to the end.

As a matter of course, he also rarely did his homework and always forgot a lot of his things. The teacher warned him several times but his performance during the quiz was also very terrible too, so he was scolded every time. I picked up one of the things he had forgotten once, and I saw that he scored a 0 in a quiz paper. Even so!…Despite all that! When the time comes for the fixed period examination, he always scored within the top 30. It was at this time that his nature as a high-achiever is projected. Due to that, the teacher started to gradually loosen up and started to scold him less.

During physical education, there were several times where the boys and the girls combined to do some sort of activities but he was always in a daze on the side.

And yet his feet are fast, he was begged to be the class representative in the relay during the sports festival. Of course he rejected it saying that it was troublesome until they lost their momentum by saying,『If I was chosen as the representative, I will be absent during that day!』and by that flow, he was chosen. During the day in question, he really did what he just said. Apparently he had a headache.

It was around the time where people seem to have already forgotten about that when Akira turned to us and said with an amused laugh regarding the good parts of Kiyama. To be frank, I wasn’t really interested in it so I didn’t remember the contents of the conversation.

It was enough of a personality to warrant gossip but nobody seem to be talking about it in the class since he was obedient most of the time. He doesn’t seem to have anyone else he can call a friend besides Akira, it was probably because of his aura that warns people not to approach him.

When the confession was decided, this was rude but, isn’t Kiyama okay? I thought gloomily.

He seems obedient, and he probably won’t be the stimulus to my trauma, and most of all, I thought that the probability of being rejected is high.

I don’t want to brag but, I have confidence in my appearance and I’m pretty popular. That’s why I was confessed to nearly everyday. For Ena to shake me like that was like a mud in my face. I laughed at the idea of beating him to a pulp but honestly I didn’t really care.

The next day after school, I called him to the gym, and confessed.

Immediately, my impression of Kiyama changed to that of a weird guy.

The answer to the confession was “Okay. Then I’ll be in your hands. Well then”. After he answered, he was prepared to go home. It was so fast that I couldn’t tell if he had rejected me or if he was telling me OK, so I stopped him.

After we talked a bit, he has something that he needed to do urgently to the point where he emitted the aura that showcases that he really wants to go home.

As I was going home afterwards, I was suddenly called from behind.

“…………Tachibanaaa!!!!”

Why from behind? I wondered, but I couldn’t think straight. It was because he was suddenly running towards me. I was startled, and more importantly, I thought for a moment that I might be attacked.

But that seems like it was just a misunderstanding.

He was just protecting me from the ball that was about to hit me.

I felt like I understood what Akira meant when he said he was a weird, yet interesting and cool guy.

I thought he was a bit cool at the time.

The next day, a boy who I never saw before came to the classroom, calling my name and Kiyama’s. Saying something along the lines of a match involving me, I got a little irritated. And I was bad at dealing with these types of guys.

Kiyama drove that man away. They all were making fun of it but, I honestly thought it was cool.

That day, I kind of wanted to talk to him to thank him, so I RINEd him. I teased him a bit and he immediately forced me to end the conversation.

The next day, Ena almost forced me to go on a date with him. I guess she was just trying to tease me.

Be that as it may be, it wasn’t as if I disliked the idea. No, in fact I was a little happy. I wasn’t able to talk to him a lot yesterday so I can talk to him a lot today!

As we walked together, I noticed that Kiyama seemed to be a very thoughtful person, and his attention to detail was amazing.

Maybe that’s why I was so happy and asked him about the confession. If he had asked me why, I would have been in trouble because it would have been a punishment game, but for some reason, I felt like I could answer him now.

The reply I received was surprising. The reason was also completely different from what I thought. But I felt like he was telling me not to worry about the past, and that I was forgiven for lying to him.

『Now, I want to stay with Kiyama you know?』

I unintentionally spoke those words, it might be my real feelings.

I tried to hurry to the cafe, feeling happy and excited.

This is fun! When I thought that

『Oh? It’s Koyomi! It’s been a long timeー! Are you having a date with your new boyfriend?』

I heard a voice I thought I had forgotten, a voice I thought I had sealed away ………