Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16817330649941556887/episodes/16817330658391731826
When I opened the door, I heard a clank clank, a light sound. It is a beautiful sound. So much so that I wanted to ring it again.
Listening to that sound, I entered the coffee shop.
Then I saw a girl with chestnut-colored hair raising her hand.
“Nagirin, over here, over here !”
“Y-yes!”
I bowed to the person who seemed to be the master of the coffee shop and went to the brown-haired girl–Nishizawa san and the others.
Nishizawa san was seated at a table. And there sat Hayama san.
Hayama san. Hayama Hikaru is a bright and pretty girl with black hair in a ponytail.
“I’m sorry, I’m late.”
“That’s all right. You’re busy with your lessons, aren’t you?”
“We were the ones who asked you to come–“
I was relieved to hear her kind words.
The waitress came and I asked her for an iced cocoa and put my luggage down.
The reason why I was invited today. It’s because we’re having a girls’ night out.
“…..Erm. What do you do at a girls’ night out?”
I know the name “girls’ night out,” but I don’t know exactly what it is.
“I-is this your first time to have a girls’ night out?”
“Well, it’s my first time too.”
The two of them responded while picking up fries. Nishizawa san pulled a plate of fries toward me.
“You should eat, too, Nagirin.”
“T-thank you very much.”
I took one and enjoyed the salty and spicy aroma that spread in my mouth. I waited for the rest of what she had just said.
“So, what are we going to do?”
“Well, I guess anything is fine.”
“But when the girls get together, there’s only one thing to do.”
They grinned at each other. For some reason, it looked like they were thinking something bad. I don’t think they’ll do anything really bad.
Then they opened their mouths at the same time.
“It’s gotta be a love story.”
“Nothing but a love story.”
“……Love, story?”
A word I’m not familiar with. But I somehow understood what it meant.
“Yeah, love story.”
“Everyone’s love story is always interesting.”
“H-haa……”
Love stories. I think it’s about romance. I’m not sure.
Of course, I like to read about it in books.
“So, Nagirin?”
“I’m going to make you spit it out.”
“……M-me?”
I was surprised because I thought it was just the two of them.
“B-but, um, what about Nishizawa san?”
“I can talk about mine anytime I want.”
“That’s right. You’re the current couple.”
R-right……? No, but it seems to bother me a little.
“W-what about you, Hayama san?”
“Me? I don’t have any love stories to tell. We went to elementary and middle school together, and there aren’t many boys I get along with.”
Hayama san is cute, so I don’t think it’s surprising that there are boys who like her. ……She didn’t seem to care.
“So it comes to Nagirin after all.”
“Much of what you say is true.”
“I’ll answer if I can……”
While I was wondering what they were going to ask me, the cocoa came.
I drank some and moistened my dry throat.
Then Nishizawa san raised her hand cheerfully.
“Then the first one right away !”
“Okay. Here you go.”
I smiled at Nishizawa san. However.
“I heard that you hold hands every time you go on a date with Minorin.”
My face froze at those words.
“What’s that? Nagirin? Hey.”
“You skipped too much from the beginning……? So?”
Once, I rubbed my hardened cheeks with my hands. In the meantime, I thought about how to answer. I closed my eyes on the fact that lying is not a good idea.
“I’m not lying.”
“Oh, really?”
“However.”
As soon as she said that, I opened my eyes again.
It is true that I hold hands with Souta kun every time we go out together.
But. I have a reason for it.
“It’s so that we don’t get separated from each other.”
“So that you don’t get separated…….huh.”
“Hee. Are the one who always initiated it,. Shinonme chan?”
I shook my head at Hayama san’s words.
“Souta kun is the first one to grab it.”
The two of them let out a gasp of surprise.
Somehow, it made me a little happy.
“Minorin is good at what he does.”
“He looked like a herbivore. But he’s good.”
“E-ehehehe.”
I’m happy that Souta kun is praised. It makes me as happy as if I had been praised myself.
“By the way. I heard you hugged at the field day, is that true?”
“Really !? Where did you hear that?”
“Oh, it was true. Even our school heard about it.”
“Oh, my school, too.”
I felt my face heating up as if it was on fire with those words.
That was….the rumor.
“Or rather, there were rumors about the two of you.”
“I know. I heard that couples who flirt in the classroom are so cute that they’re going to die. My friend’s friend is at Shinonome chan’s elementary school.”
“Eh…..?”
Souta kun and I are……rumored?
“By the way, did Minorin pat your head in the classroom?”
“A-as a reward for my hard work in the field day.”
“What about the time a girl in your class was messing around with him and you hugged him out of possessiveness?”
“This is at the same time too. Souta kun is very active in the field day. He is very popular among girls.”
“Hmmm. ……I’m sure they’re looking for Nagirin’s reaction. Maybe.”
My face is very hot. What in the world am I talking about?
When I grab the clothes with my hand and send air inside.
Their eyes were fixed on a certain part.
“Speaking of which, Nagirin, you’re so big.”
“I thought so.”
“Big?”
“Breasts.”
“……Eh?”
With a pop. I took off my hand that was hanging on my clothes. I realized after all this time that I had done something immodest.
“Isn’t it amazing for a middle school student? ……Wait, isn’t it really amazing?”
“It’s not breasts for a middle schooler.”
“Well…..um. I do think they’re big myself.”
I put my hand there again. It’s big, but it has some drawbacks.
“Recently, my shoulders have become stiff.”
“Here it comes. The big boobs.”
“Well, I’m sure we’re still growing too. If you think about it, Shinonome chan, won’t that be great?”
That might be a bit of a problem.
Maybe it’s going to be more stiff-shouldered. I will also have to buy new underwear.
It’s good that both Suzaka san and my mother are very understanding people, but…… I’m sorry to make them pay for it.
As I was making a difficult face, Hayama san laughed at me.
“But it’s fine. That’s how you can seduce Minori kun.”
“S-seduce…….”
“Minorin is a boy after all, right? Wouldn’t it be easier to just push your breasts against him?
“T-that kind of thing….ah.”
Suddenly. I remembered that time.
When Souta kun was talking to a girl――involuntarily, I hugged his head to my chest.
Unusually, Souta kun was blushing up to his ears. I remember.
“……Heh? So you have done it.”
“Eh ! N-no, I mean…….”
Nishizawa san’s mouth turned up at the corners with a grin. Hayama san also laughed.
“Way to go, Shinonme chan.”
“T-that’s not true ! T-that time. I didn’t mean it that way…….”
“Okay, let’s put that aside….was it working?”
I nodded my head in agreement with Nishizawa san’s words.
“Well, that’s no wonder.”
“L-let me say this. I’m not saying that Souta kun is always looking there or anything.”
“He seems to be a good boy, or rather, he seems to have a high mental age.”
I nodded my head as best I could at Hayama san’s words. I feel a little pain in my neck.
“Souta kun always looks me in the eye when he talks to me. He also looks me in the face when he’s in a daze.
“……That means.”
Picking one of the fries, Nishizawa san smiled faintly. Listen to me happily.
“Minorin is looking at Nagirin’s face all the time.”
“……? I’m sure he does. And I do too.”
When I say that, they both laugh again.
Talking like this, I realized. Their laughter is not a nasty laugh.
It is not the kind of laugh that makes fun of others, but the kind of laugh that makes you smile.
Even so, I did not understand the meaning of their laughter. As I tilted my head, Hayama san told me.
“It’s a mutual love, undeniably. Why don’t you go out already?”
I held my face at those words.
My cheeks were getting hotter and hotter. I thought.
The thought that it might be so is welling up a little.
“Nagi chan, you’re a beauty after all.”
“……Hm. I thought about one thing. Ah…..you two didn’t have many friends.”
“Ah, yes. That’s right. Until I met you two, I didn’t have any friends other than Souta kun.”
The sweetness of the cocoa spreads in my mouth as I sip it and take a breath. The heat in my cheeks doesn’t go away for a while, but let’s ignore it.
Hayama san looked like she wanted to ask me something, so I waited for her to continue.
“I wondered how you two got along. I’m not forcing myself to ask. I’m just curious.”
“Oh, I see. It’s all right.”
She must have been wondering. I myself am a little curious.
When Souta kun and I first met—
“I had just moved in and was taking a walk to get to know the area better. There was a park and there were a lot of children playing. Among them, I noticed a kid playing catch with his father, so I went into the park.”
At the time, I was only somewhat curious.
But. Now that I think about it more carefully.
“Maybe I was envious. It’s not like I’m very close with my father.”
He was playing catch with his father. I was curious.
From that moment on, I wanted to play with him. I thought about it a little bit.
“At that point—he spoke to me and said, [If you don’t mind, would you like to play with me?].”
“Oh-ho ho? And then what?”
“I turned him down at first.”
When I said that. The two of them made blank faces. It’s funny and makes me laugh a little.
“W-why?”
“Because I was puzzled. I was talked to by a boy I was interested in. I almost regretted it after I replied…… But his father invited me again. [If you like, you can play with my son?] And so we started playing.”
It was a long time ago.
When I close my eyes, I can still remember.
“We were playing ball.
I almost fell over. Souta kun saved me.”
I was prepared for the pain. But he held me…..he couldn’t make it, and I fell.
He got trapped under me and I was saved. But Souta kun was not hurt, so I’m relieved
“At that time, my father came to see me. I thought he would be angry with me for falling down. But Souta kun saved me again. I heard that my father didn’t want to be angry with me in the first place.”
My heart skipped a beat.
—He said, he almost got me injured because he asked me to play…….and he apologized.
I remember it vividly when I close my eyes.
“At that time. I decided to be friends with Souta kun.”
“Friend, huh.”
“It’s quite a dramatic encounter, isn’t it?”
I said yes to both of them.
“So, I–“
My heart beat so high that it seemed unnatural.
I–? What was I going to say?
I ask myself. I had his face in my mind.
Every time I remembered his face. My heart beat faster and louder.
Every time I saw him, my heart fluttered. I followed him with my eyes.
–Hm?
I didn’t like it when he talked to girls. I mean, there was the part about him being taken, but it wasn’t that.
Anyway, I didn’t like it.
–No way.
Every time I saw him smile, I wanted to squeeze him.
When he stroked my head, I was happy.
When he held my hand, I felt fluffy.
–I.
Every time we parted. My heart ached.
–Oh, I see. I.
I close my eyes. I put my hand on my chest.
I—
“I was in love with Souta kun.”
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