Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/822139838626691253/episodes/822139839206757867
“Shiraishi! I like you! Go out with me!!”
“…Um, sorry. I don’t think I can.”
Right in front of everyone, Shiraishi flatly rejected Kitamura’s confession.
Kitamura froze for a moment.
An awkward silence filled the classroom.
“I-I can ask why…?”
After a while, Kitamura timidly managed to squeeze out those words.
“Hmm… I guess I can’t really think about dating right now…”
“I-I see…”
Kitamura slumped, shoulders dropping.
The rejected Kitamura left the classroom, and gradually, the usual noise returned to the room.
“Good job, Mio.”
“Mio, good work.”
“Rejecting confessions is exhausting, huh~”
Shiraishi, who had easily turned Kitamura down, returned to her own group.
Her female friends surrounded her, commending her.
“Still, that’s amazing, Mio. How many confessions have you had this year?”
“No idea, I don’t remember.”
“Wasn’t it like the ninth time or something?”
“Seriously!? That’s crazy!! You’re almost hitting double digits!!”
“But Mio, even now, are you sure it was okay to turn him down?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Back in first year, weren’t things kinda good between you and Kitamura?”
“Not really. He was just the one who kept talking to me.”
“Oh, I see.”
“So Kitamura didn’t meet your standards either?”
“If Kitamura-kun confessed to me, I’d probably go out with him.”
“I get it. Kitamura-kun is tall and has a handsome face.”
“Mio really has high standards. Unless it’s celebrity-level looks, Mio isn’t interested.”
“Hey. I’m not that picky about looks.”
The girls around Shiraishi were squealing excitedly about the confession that had just happened.
Their group, made up of the class’s central figures,
always had voices loud enough to echo throughout the classroom.
“If you’re not that picky, what was it about Kitamura you didn’t like?”
“…Nothing. It’s not that I dislike him or anything.”
“Then you should’ve just gone out with him!”
“…”
“No, that’s not it. Mio-chan likes someone else right now.”
“Huh, really?”
“…”
“Aww, spring has finally come for Mio too!?”
“Ehh, who is it!? Seriously, I’m dying to know!!”
“Tell us, Mio-chan!!”
“We’ll cheer you on!!!”
“…I don’t need your support.”
“Ah, come on, that’s not fair!!”
“Tell us!!”
“We always tell Mio-chan everything without holding back, don’t we?!”
“…You just talk about it on your own, that’s all.”
After that, Shiraishi’s group scanned the classroom and started pointing at the boys one by one.
Each time, the boys who had been pretending not to know started visibly fidgeting.
Everyone was pretending to look away while listening in on Shiraishi and the others’ conversation.
“Even Kitamura didn’t work out… Thought he might have a shot…”
Aiba, who had watched the entire confession unfold, muttered that observation.
“Back in first year, they seemed pretty close, though… I even heard Shiraishi went to watch Kitamura’s matches…”
“…Public confessions are pretty bold, huh?”
“He must’ve been really confident. I thought maybe Kitamura could break through Shiraishi’s defenses too…”
“Come to think of it, you were in the same class as Shiraishi back in first year, right?”
“Yeah. This confession makes it 22 total since first year. And just this year alone, she’s already been confessed to nine times.”
“How do you know all that?”
“I’m the class gossip. Who’s dating who, who got confessed to—I keep track of that stuff.”
“…What the hell are you?”
Every class has one, right?
The one who’s well-versed in the romantic affairs happening in the grade and seems to have a handle on most of the information.
In this class, Aiba is exactly that. He seems to know about the confessions made to, or received by, the students considered cute in each class.
Being friends with Aiba like this, I’ve also ended up unnecessarily knowledgeable about other people’s love lives.
When you’re next to this guy, you can’t help but overhear stuff like who’s hitting it off with who, or who’s secretly dating who.
“Hm? Aren’t they looking over here…?”
I looked up when Aiba said that.
The girls in Shiraishi’s group were staring this way.
The girls around Shiraishi pointed at us, then looked at Shiraishi’s face.
Shiraishi shot a quick glance this way before looking away.
The girls let out a collective “kyaaa”
“Huh, me…? Could it be me…!?”
Aiba instantly got excited.
“Y-you were pointing at me just now, right!? Hey, is this it…!? Has spring finally come for me too…!?”
“…”
“Come to think of it, we talked a few times back in first year… Like after school when Shiraishi was on duty and I went to get my forgotten stuff… Well, actually, I did that on purpose to make an excuse… Then I helped clean the blackboard to earn points… Could it be that!? Did Shiraishi fall for me because of that!?”
“…”
Ignoring Aiba, who’d started saying creepy stuff, I looked at Nanase.
Nanase had been standing next to me silently the whole time.
“Nanase…?”
“Ah, no. It’s nothing.”
Following where Nanase was looking, I saw Shiraishi standing there.
I couldn’t help but feel she was looking at Shiraishi with a slightly angry expression.
When I spoke to her, she snapped back to reality and forced a smile.
“I should get back to my seat now, Kurose-kun.”
“Oh… okay.”
Watching Nanase’s back as she walked back to her seat, I tilted my head.
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