CH 48

I think that the relationships between couples were extremely ambiguous.

They accepted each other as lovers of the opposite sex and spent a lot of time together.

At school, as if to flaunt their status to the people around them, they would generate this air of happiness that would make the non-riajuus jealous.

[TN – Riajuu = normie]

They would go out to different places during the weekends, and that would again make the non-riajuus tremble in anger.

There were no clear rules in such a relationship. It was just a verbal promise.

It was a relationship that was more fragile and brittle than friendship.

Once it broke, it was hard to repair it. The number of people who had regretted to have wasted so much of their valuable time of the precious student years with their partners wasn’t few.

Despite it being such a vague relationship, most people yearned for it – a school life with a lover.

Since then, two days had passed.

The tumultuous weekend had gone by and the students around me were spending their days normally without any changes.

However, it couldn’t be said that the relationships between Kirasaka, me and Yuuto were the same when compared to the start of the golden week.

There were mainly two reasons for that.

The last few words that Yuuto had said – “I’m going out with Kanzaki-san”, that was one reason.

A little before he had told me such words, Kirasaka and Kaede had informed me that the person that Shizuku liked was not Yuuto.

The discomfort in Shizuku’s words and actions that I had often sensed since that one-time during spring break – now, I understood the cause. It was because the person she liked was not Yuuto, but me

……Immediately after having come up with this ridiculous answer that did not match my stature, Yuuto had issued those words.

I wasn’t hurt or anything.

At that moment, I was indeed a bit bewildered as to what was actually happening. Though I was a little relieved on the inside.

I think I had also said this before, but anyone would say that those two looked good together.

It goes without saying that if such two people decided to get together, then as a friend, and a childhood friend, I would congratulate them.

However, that was only if it was mutual love.

Two days have passed since Kirasaka and Kaede had told me their thoughts. To be honest, even now, what they had said didn’t sound like lies to me. Also, I didn’t think that the answer that I had arrived to was wrong either.

Rather, the more you think about it logically, the more it would make you harbor doubt towards what Yuuto had said.

Besides, there was also what Shizuku had said to Kanzaki – “From here on out, I will not care about people’s opinions or anything”.

If Yuuto and Shizuku decided to go out, they shouldn’t need to worry about people’s opinions.

There was a public consensus in place already.

They would probably be congratulated vehemently by everybody, right?

When I thought about it like that, Shizuku’s words felt a bit unnatural.

The second reason was that,

The person who was at the centre of this matter had not been coming to school for the last two days.

She wasn’t sick or anything.

Shizuku’s mother, Kanade-san had contacted the school about Shizuku’s absence. It turned out something urgent had come up at her parent’s house. It would seem that they had departed early Monday morning.

I had heard from Shizuku before, that Kanade-san parent’s house was in the remote countryside. Since the house was built near the mountains, it was hard to get in touch with them.

That’s why, even if someone tried to call them or send them a message, obviously, there were no replies.

Although I wanted to ask her if what Yuuto had said was true or not, the only option I had right now was to wait for her to come back. That was the current situation.

If either of them was falsifying their feelings and that was how they ended up going out, I would tell it to them frankly,

“If you are feigning your feelings, then break it off”

While I was thinking of such things, I turned my gaze towards Yuuto, who was talking with our classmates.

It was still the usual and nothing had changed. He didn’t talk about his girlfriend and he was just talking normally, like always.

“How should I say this……it is ordinary, right?”

“That’s right, it’s so ordinary that it’s boring, or perhaps I should say that it’s too ordinary and that makes it interesting. I am talking about you, Shinra-kun!”

“Why are you getting all angry like that?……and why is it me?”

Kirasaka who had been sitting next to me, had been in this mood since yesterday.

I couldn’t tell Kirasaka those last few words that Yuuto had said to me when we were returning in her car from the amusement park. The reason being was that everyone was present there, so I mentioned it to her first thing in the morning yesterday.

The result of that communication was that she had in a very bad mood ever since.

She only said, “That’s impossible.” Ever since yesterday, she had continued looking at Yuuto with her gaze thirty percent colder than usual.

It would seem that she had something to think about in her own way, but I still couldn’t ask her about it.

“Why are you in such a bad mood?……”

“It’s because Shinra-kun is too ordinary”

“That would mean you’re always in a bad mood”

I let out a small sigh as I looked towards the centre of the class one more time.

My eyes met with Yuuto’s for only an instant.

His gaze was different from usual and it was as if he was observing me. I had unintentionally ended up averting my eyes from him.

Kirasaka had also noticed Yuuto’s gaze. She then turned towards me and said,

“It has been like that since yesterday, but I really don’t like those eyes”

“Well, we can’t really be blaming others……”

Looking from his perspective, it would feel like we were the ones observing him, right?

“When is Kanzaki-san going to return, I wonder?”

“Who knows? Though, she won’t be gone for too long, right?”

I replied to Kiraska’s question in a non-committal manner and then I took out my smartphone, which had recently been seeing an increased amount of usage.

There was nothing from Shizuku.

The only thing that was projected on the screen was the wallpaper of Kaede embracing the white cat, Muku and looking over here with a smile.

“……I too want her to return soon, you know”

……and resolve this situation quickly.

Even while being drowned out by the noise of the class, I was still hoping that she would come back sooner.

No, I mean……Kirasaka was too scary, and there was something strange about Yuuto too.