Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16818093094101424177/episodes/16818622176151344244
I’ll pick you up in the morning.
She said.
She was like a woman cursed with bad luck.
When it came to her, Orimoto Ryoka wasn’t as perfect as her reputation suggested. Especially when it came to listening to others, she was in a league of her own.
“Good morning, Kasugai kun.”
She really showed up.
I laughed it off as a joke, but when I told her what time I was leaving, she showed up. Maybe she’s just loyal.
“…Huh? What’s wrong?”
“You’re really here”
“I promised, so I’m coming.”
“Don’t just decide that ! It’s like a contract you made up ! I don’t remember signing anything !”
Some kind of sales pitch.
I underestimated her determination. I deeply regretted telling her my address.
The fact that she lived nearby only made things worse.
The next day. The day after that. The day after that.
Orimoto appeared in the morning.
She appeared at my front door every morning, as if she were wearing a curse. She said it was a thank you.
“Isn’t it nice to go to school with a beautiful girl?”
“It would have been nicer if the situation, the environment, and the relationship had been more straightforward. This is a light punishment.”
However, at this rate, Orimoto would continue to appear at my house every morning until graduation.
I felt reluctant to ignore her.
It was an overly pushy thank you.
However, when I analyze myself, I have a tendency to choose temporary suffering if it means being freed from obligations. Therefore, after a few days had passed, I gave Orimoto a casual sigh.
─────
In any case, all I had to do was follow Orimoto’s instructions to ask, “Will he remember me?”
However, that was somewhat difficult.
There’s an 80% chance that Sera doesn’t remember Orimoto.
If she did, she would have already taken action to save her from the current situation before me.
Still, Orimoto insists on asking.
“—I’ll ask directly. Is that okay?”
“Yeah, it’s fine. Thanks.”
Before taking action, I need to say a little about Sera, whom I don’t want to talk about, to help me imagine the situation.
Sera is Orimoto’s childhood friend.
He has natural good looks and athletic ability.
His academic performance is also outstanding. His name is always prominently displayed on the ranking charts posted after regular exams, and that’s just business as usual.
And he has a harem.
Whether he’s aware of it or not, the fact is that he’s the lord of his own castle. In simple terms, he’s popular.
It’s not that I hate him.
I’m not friends with him, and I’m not competing with him for anything. I was just a member of the crowd, watching Sera Keiichi from afar.
Due to circumstances, I had to interact with Sera through Orimoto, but as I observed him closely, I was reminded once again that he was someone who was “born with it.” Orimoto is also on that side, and from our perspective, it’s only natural to envy him, but personally, I just wanted to get everything over with as soon as possible.
“Sera, can I talk to you for a moment?”
During lunch break, I caught him alone in the hallway and called out to him.
Sera turned around after a moment.
He caught sight of me, the source of the voice, and plastered on a smile that wasn’t mean-spirited. It seemed like a suspicious smile.
“Kasugai kun, right? What’s up?”
A questioning tone.
It had been about two months since the new semester started.
The group divisions had already been finalized, and when it came to an outsider—a quiet guy—even Sera took time to figure out his name.
“I have something I want to ask you.”
I glanced behind me. There was Orimoto Ryoka, holding his breath and closing his eyes tightly.
“Do you know this girl named Orimoto Ryoka?”
I asked calmly, composedly, normally.
“Orimoto—-san? That’s sudden.”
“….Yeah. It’s just a confirmation. Orimoto asked me to do this. Do you recognize the name?”
I’m just carrying out my duties.
Yet my hands and back were sweating.
Orimoto, who was like the embodiment of chaos, was trembling like a puppy he had picked up, and the silence lingered.
“…Um, sorry.”
Sera scratched his cheek after thinking it over.
That action and those words were the answer. He had sensed it, and Orimoto had sensed it in the back of his mind. It had become reality. The vague outline became clear.
If I hadn’t asked, I might have had hope that he remembered, but was this really for the best?
It was what Orimoto wanted, but…
“Did I do something wrong? If so, I want to apologize. Can you give me her contact information?”
“I’d love to, but…”
“…Is she really angry?”
“Ah, yeah. Extremely.”
“Really?”
I glanced back over my shoulder. A demon.
A demon whose existence had been forgotten by the man she loved, replaced by another woman, whose veins had burst.
“Well, um…if you don’t remember, that’s ‘not good’ …..So, you know…”
“Why did you fizzle out in the second half?”
“There’s a lot going on, a lot.”
Orimoto spoke up, as if to cover up my words. It was a chilling coldness.
Before the loneliness of being erased from his memory, there was anger.
She was emotional, crying and getting angry.
As a reaction, I hope she doesn’t push more unreasonable demands on me, like dessert or complaints.
Sera, remember this.
You’re the protagonist of the story, right? You’re the childhood friend who confessed her feelings, right? …Why are you forgetting it on your own?
“I’ll talk to Orimoto for you.”
“Wait ! I really don’t remember. …Hey…what did I do to that girl?”
“Ah, ‘beh’…beh?”
“Beh? What?”
Damn, I got carried away.
As I pondered how to muddy the waters, Orimoto’s dissatisfied voice slipped into my mind.
I hurriedly waved my hands in front of me.
“Sorry, it’s nothing. Anyway, if you don’t remember, it can’t be helped. That’s just how it is.”
“…I’ll apologize as soon as I remember.”
“…Please do that. Otherwise, I’ll have to listen to your complaints.”
I cut off the conversation and walked past Sera.
He narrowed his eyes and furrowed his brow.
A small footstep sounded.
Orimoto walked beside me and muttered.
“I’ll never forgive him.”
“Scary, but you knew that, right?”
“But maybe there’s a miracle !”
“…There wasn’t.”
“I’ll never forgive him.”
Calm. Calm.
If even Sera doesn’t remember, then…
Will Orimoto Ryoka remain like this forever?
Was Orimoto really that bad of a person?
I couldn’t believe it.
“Orimoto, don’t come in the morning from tomorrow on.”
“But you’re weak in the morning, aren’t you, Kasugai kun?”
“It’s been fine so far, so it’ll be okay.”
I blinked.
“—Oh, and you called me Orimoto, didn’t you? You’ve always called me ‘you’ before !”
“Is that so? I’ll go back to calling you ‘you’.”
“No need. Just leave it as it is ! We’re partners, so being formal is weird, isn’t it?”
“I don’t remember becoming partners.”
And so, it ended with a somewhat fitting conclusion.
But it couldn’t end like that.
─────
“What kind of logic is this?”
According to Orimoto—that day, the day she was rejected.
She slept in her uniform, without removing her makeup. The next morning, she woke up on the floor.
Her uniform and the smartphone in her pocket.
All other items had disappeared.
She had borrowed shoes from a relative. She noticed the difference in design when it was pointed out to her.
The problem was with the smartphone.
It seemed to be a modified smartphone, so it could connect to the network, but she couldn’t contact anyone else. She could view videos and social media, but she couldn’t post comments or anything else. Most importantly, the battery never decreased from 100%.
[Um, um, did you get it?]
She had little experience communicating with girls. If she thought about it, maybe she could manage with just one hand.
[It’s coming through. It’s fine.]
[That’s a relief ! I can communicate with Kasugai kun after all. I’m relieved for now.]
Relief came through the signal to him.
The read receipt appeared in an instant.
[That’s terrible. You completely forgot, didn’t you?]
An angry penguin stamp.
“Terrible” refers to Sera, who completely forgot about Orimoto Ryoka at school today.
At night, my smartphone was taken away because she wanted me to listen to her complaints, and we were forced to exchange contact information.
The matter had already been verified on the spot, but the fact that she asked again at night made me wonder if she was anxious.
She tapped the screen hurriedly.
She is slow at constructing sentences. She is good at mental storytelling, but she lack experience in typing.
[Well, that’s true.]
[I was saying, “What did I do?” I rejected her ! I rejected the beautiful girl, Orimoto !]
This time, a crying face stamp.
The emotions were evident in the text as well.
[Kasugai kun, you know.]
After exchanging messages a few times, Orimoto abruptly ended the conversation at an awkward point. Wait.
It was about ten minutes, or so.
[What do you think will happen?]
[I don’t know. I’ll just do what I have to do.]
He said something similar in the gymnasium.
I don’t know. I don’t understand. There’s nothing else to do.
That’s all there is to it, and it will continue to be so.
A moment later. A penguin stamp in the shape of an X. The penguins are crossed.
The insane image made me cringe a little.
[That’s not what I meant. My words were insufficient. …Um, in multiple ways !]
[That makes it even more confusing. Get your thoughts together.]
[Hmm.]
──Text. Summary.
[Who will Sera end up with?]
[Will Orimoto spend the rest of her life like this?]
[Will I be the only one who can see this?]
All of them were like that.
The contents of the messages Orimoto sent one after another were all incomprehensible. There was no way to figure out the correct answer.
I have no intention of delving any further.
Orimoto is Orimoto, and I am me.
However, I wondered how I would feel if I were in her position.
──That was something that bothered me a little.
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