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“Rintaro, I got invited to this club’s welcome party. What do you think?”
Just as I was about to head home after parting ways with Shino, I received that message from Elis.
I had a bad feeling, so I immediately checked the chat screen, and a photo of a colorful flyer was sent right after.
International exchange, making friends, welcome party for new students.
The words listed were all clichés, but the people in the photo were all standing uncomfortably close together and acting way too hyper. There was even one sticking his tongue out like a heel wrestler.
This was it. A typical drinking club—or worse, something even more shady.
The moment I realized that, my fingers moved before my brain could even process it.
“Don’t do it. Don’t go.”
“Why? It looks fun.”
A message came back from Ellis immediately.
Was she serious, or was she joking?
I figured it was probably a joke, but I couldn’t tell just from the text.
Just in case, I had to meet her face-to-face to be sure.
“I need to talk. Let’s go home.”
After confirming she’d sent back an OK sticker, I put my phone back in my pocket.
“Sorry, Shino. I’m heading home now.”
“Huh? Did something happen?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
“……I see. Well, see you tomorrow! Let’s keep it up!”
“Yeah, see you.”
I gave a quick wave and turned away.
Just before I did, Shino—who had caught my eye—wasn’t laughing in her usual carefree way; she was wearing a beautiful, formal smile.
She looked like she wanted to say something, but I couldn’t stop now.
I walked straight out of the campus and headed for the nearest station.
As I stepped onto the platform, I finally realized I’d been clutching the futsal club flyer I’d just received the whole time.
I roughly folded the flyer, which was slightly damp with sweat, and shoved it into my backpack before boarding the train that had just pulled in.
★ ☆ ★
I let out yet another sigh.
It had only been about ten minutes since I got home and started waiting for Elis, but it felt like I’d been waiting for over thirty minutes.
The chat screen with Elis was still displayed on my phone.
I kept checking to see if she’d responded, but that meant the photo of the recruitment flyer was inevitably visible on the same screen.
No matter how many times I look at it, it just looks like a shady drinking club, and when I searched for the club’s name, I found a few bad rumors, so my hunch is probably right.
There’s no way I can let Ellis go there alone.
Or rather, I shouldn’t let her go.
Elis can speak Japanese.
Her responses are natural, and she’ll likely handle college life itself without any trouble.
But that’s a different matter from whether she can skillfully avoid malice or ulterior motives in a setting like this.
After all, Elis stands out.
She seems to be somewhat aware of it, but she’s still naive.
Even if she has no interest herself, there will be plenty of creeps who come crawling up to her.
“I’ll be there soon.”
The message from Ellis pushed the recruitment flyer off the screen.
Seeing that, the tension in my shoulders eased just a little.
(That’s a relief.)
At least, it seems she doesn’t intend to head to that welcome event right now.
That said, I can’t let my guard down.
When she gets back, I’ll have to have a proper talk with her.
How should I explain it?
Just telling her, “It’s dangerous, so don’t go,” probably won’t be enough.
Elis is smart, and she has her honest moments. But she has this habit of treating herself lightly—or putting up with things—in strange ways.
She’s always been like that.
She should just say “no” if she doesn’t like something, but she’s afraid of losing the place she’s finally found, so she tries to smile and go along with it.
She thinks that if she just puts up with it a little, everything will work out.
I know that look on her face.
More than anything, it’s because I’m the one who made her put on that face.
I heard the sound of a key turning in the lock by the front door.
“I’m home, Rintaro.”
Ellis, who had just returned, didn’t seem the least bit worried about what I might say to her.
In fact, as soon as she saw the anxious look on my face, she smiled happily.
As if she knew everything, the corners of her mouth turned up as far as they could go, almost twitching.
“…Why are you looking so happy?”
When I blurted that out, Elis put her hand to her mouth as if she’d just realized something.
But even so, she couldn’t hide it completely. A smile was still leaking through the gaps between her fingers.
“Sorry. It’s just that I’m so happy you were worried about me, Rintaro.”
“You…”
When I said that, Elis narrowed her eyes happily again.
“Anyway, I need to talk to you, so sit down.”
“O-kay!”
Her steps were light as she headed toward the living room.
She has no idea how I feel.
We decided to sit across from each other at the dining table and talk.
“Listen, Elis. I was seriously worried about you.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry♪”
Her words and expression didn’t match at all.
She looked just like a kid who’d pulled a prank to get their parents’ attention.
“You know, with these kinds of welcome parties, there are a lot of dangerous ones out there. You’re a girl, Elis, so you really have to be careful.”
“A girl…”
Elis repeated it softly.
I thought, “Is that what’s bothering you?” but I realized my phrasing might have been a little off.
“Well, the way I put it was a bit off, but… it’s true, isn’t it? Going out alone at night to a place full of men you don’t know is just plain dangerous.”
“Rintaro, were you worried about me because I’m a girl?”
“Of course I was.”
The moment I answered that, the corners of Elis’s mouth started to turn up again.
“So don’t look so happy about it.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You don’t look like you’re really sorry, though…”
My anger completely deflated, and I felt myself wilting.
“Anyway, you really shouldn’t go to places like that. At the very least, you absolutely shouldn’t go alone. It’ll be too late once something happens.”
“Yeah.”
“If something happened to you, I wouldn’t be able to face your parents…”
The moment I said that, Elis’s expression shifted slightly.
Her eyes, which had been shining with joy just a moment ago, clouded over, and the corners of her mouth dropped.
“Rintaro, I’m not a kid.”
Elis said in a sulky voice.
“I know that, but what can I do? You’ve always been like that.”
“…Like that?”
“The way you can’t say ‘no’ even when you don’t want to.”
When I said that, Elis’s expression wavered slightly.
“Do you remember? Back when you were starting to make friends, we stopped by a variety store on the way home from school, right?”
“The variety store…”
Elis’s gaze slowly dropped.
She must have remembered something unpleasant, and her head felt heavy.
“As a token of our friendship, you were asked to steal matching keychains to take home, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, she said it was a test of courage…”
Elis’s voice grew quiet.
I realized what was happening partway through, so in the end, Eris didn’t go down the wrong path. But if I hadn’t been there, I think she probably wouldn’t have been able to refuse.
“Back then, Elis knew it was wrong, but you couldn’t say no because you were afraid she might not like you if you did, right?”
“…Yeah.”
“That’s why I thought it might be the same this time. I wondered if you were forcing yourself to make friends at a university you’re not used to. I wondered if you couldn’t say no because you were invited, and that’s why you’re trying to go.”
Elis didn’t say anything.
She just clenched her hands tightly in front of her chest, as if holding something back.
(Did I say too much?)
Thinking that, I tried to let her know I wasn’t angry—
“You remembered, didn’t you?”
When she said that and looked up, Ellis’s cheeks were slightly flushed.
Her expression seemed happy, yet somehow a little sulky.
“Rintaro, you’re really sneaky that way.”
“What are you talking about?”
“But you know…”
Ellis stood up, walked around the table, and came to stand in front of me.
“I’m not a kid anymore.”
Saying that, Elis straddled my lap.
“Wait, Elis…!”
I panicked and reached out to grab her shoulders, but stopped my hand just in time.
I had a feeling that touching her anywhere would be a bad idea.
Elis leaned her weight onto my lap, gripping the back of the chair with both hands as if to block my escape route. Because of that, I couldn’t escape even if I wanted to.
What’s more, every time I struggled, some part of my body threatened to brush against hers, so I couldn’t even move without making a mess of it.
Not knowing where to look, I turned my face away, but simply moving my neck wasn’t enough to escape.
My vision was dominated by Ellis.
Her bright golden hair, her beautiful yet twisted expression.
It’s not just my vision.
Every time I breathe in, a faint, sweet scent wafts over me, and I can feel Eris’s heat radiating from every part of her body.
“Come on, I am not a child.”
“I get it, I get it.”
When I raised the white flag, Elis narrowed her eyes in satisfaction and stood up.
(Give me a break…)
Pressing my hand against my heart, which was pounding so hard it hurt, I looked up at Elis as she stood.
Here we go again.
Another expression of Elis’s that I’d never seen before.
The Elis of the past was the kind of girl who wouldn’t even pull a little prank.
Yet now, she’s gleefully trying to fluster me.
“…Are you done with that?”
“Yeah, I’m satisfied. Because Rintaro’s heart was actually racing.”
“You did all this just for that—?”
“Because I didn’t want Rintaro to treat me like a kid.”
Hearing that, I’m at a loss for words.
In truth, somewhere in the back of my mind, I probably still thought of Ellis as the same girl I used to have to protect.
But I’ve been made to realize something.
That perhaps what I really need to protect is my own daily life and my sanity.
“…I get it. I was wrong to treat you like a kid. In return, please don’t do anything that’ll make me worry, knowing how I feel.”
“Okay. I won’t go anywhere dangerous. I won’t go with strange men. And I won’t do anything to trouble Rintaro…”
She stopped mid-sentence.
Then she tilted her head slightly and smiled sweetly.
“But if Rintaro stops me, maybe being a bad girl wouldn’t be so bad.”
“Give me a break…”
I want to lead a normal college life.
I did say that since being with Elis inevitably draws attention, I wanted to keep my distance while we were at school.
But—
Leaving Elis alone at school feels like a bad idea in its own way.
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