Episode 20 – Glancing at my lifeless childhood friend
Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16818622172789075625/episodes/16818622173960134135
“Ugh…..my shoulder hurts.”
Lunch break.
Unlike usual, Reisa wasn’t around, so I was idling at my desk to wait for her, but apparently I was hit by the sunshine from the window and decided to doze off.
Although I’ve been getting more sleep recently, I’ve basically been studying longer than most people.
That’s why I rub my sleepy eyes, but my neck, shoulders, and back are screaming because I slept in a strange position.
I woke up in a depressed mood and felt something strange.
I felt a warm gaze on me and turned around to see two beautiful girls standing there smiling at me.
“You slept like a baby.”
“Fufu, that’s a rare sight.”
“If you were here, please wake me up”
I looked at my watch and saw that I had fallen asleep for about 15 minutes.
I don’t know how long they had been there, but my face got hot when I realized I had been watched.
“Okay, so now that Tsukushi is awake, let’s go to our regular lunch break !”
Reisa’s crude call to the group started another lunch-and-learn session.
◇
“It’s the middle of September. It’s almost time for the school festival !”
“Come to think of it. I’ve been so preoccupied with the practice exams that I forgot about it.”
“Usually that’s a more important event than the mock exams though…?”
As usual, I have no interest in school events and the like, and Reisa gives me a blank look at my studious lifestyle.
Now that you mention it, it certainly is that time of year.
My high school is quite large, with 400 students per year, so it’s rumored that we’ll be holding a fairly large cultural festival.
“Apparently, they hold some pretty impressive events every year. I’ve heard rumors about that too.”
“No, that’s definitely something I told you ! I think it’s probably not rumor or anything, it’s just a physical connection !”
“Oh, you say that so well.”
“Of course. ……Not that !”
It’s the same kind of exchange we’ve had before.
Nagisa and I both laughed at Reisa, who was making more noise than usual.
I sometimes forget that my source of information is all Reisa.
That’s it, a cultural festival, huh.
To be honest, I don’t really know what the point of an event day without classes is, but the school itself was beginning to show glimpses of festivities with all the preparations and such.
The event will last for three or four days, including the sports festival which will be held consecutively.
Even before that, classes may be changed to practice for the sports festival and preparation for the cultural festival.
Hmmm.
I’m more worried about the fact that classes will be reduced during that period than I’m looking forward to it.
On the other hand, Nagisa, a fellow diligent student, was unusually cheerful.
“I was looking forward to the school festival.”
“Right ! Tsukushi is the weird one after all.”
“My bad. But I only just started school this year, so I’m a little interested in what it’s like.”
Upon hearing my words, Nagisa closed her English textbook and clasped her hands together.
And then she asked in a distressed pose, tilting her head slightly.
“Then, if you want, why don’t we all go around the school festival together?”
“I like that. I was wondering what to do on the day of the festival, and it would be fun to go around together.”
One of the reasons I wasn’t that interested in the festival was that I didn’t have many friends to go around with.
The whole day without any friends would have ruined the festivities for me.
I felt like I would catch a cold because of the difference in temperature between me and the people around me.
However, if the two of them would go around with me, I would not have to worry about that.
Nagisa’s offer was something that even I was excited about.
However, Reisa smiled bitterly.
“Argh, I’m sorry. I’ve already promised to go around with my other friends.”
“I-I see……”
She is a returnee who has a lot of friends.
Of course, she probably has relationships with people other than us, and that sort of thing happens.
Nagisa’s shoulders slumped as Reisa spoke apologetically.
She then looked at me, raised her eyebrows in annoyance and laughed.
“Then let’s go around together on the day, shall we?”
“Y-yeah.”
I couldn’t say no when she said that with a sad look on her face.
The reason is that I’m afraid to go around the festival alone with Nagisa.
The two of us are alone together, and it might seem like a date at a school festival, but the other person is a beautiful, healing, innocent girl who is one of the most popular among the boys.
It’s a completely different story when the three of us, including Reisa, have a study session.
“Giaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ! No, no, no, no, no, no !”
As I was concerned, Reisa put her elbow on the table and started to hold her head.
Both Nagisa and I were stunned by that.
“R-Reisa san……?”
“…..I made a stupid mistake again.”
“Eh?”
When I asked timidly, Reisa began to mutter something under her breath.
It’s even creepier because you can’t hear what’s actually going on inside.
I immediately looked up and leaned forward to Nagisa, who was right in front of me.
“Sorry, I lied earlier. Let’s go around together !”
“Eh? …..S-sure.”
“Then, look forward to it, Tsukushi.”
“You seem awfully emotional ! Have you eaten anything strange?”
What she was saying was 180 degrees different from what she had said earlier, and I began to worry.
I thought she was acting strangely, but now she was retracting all her previous statements.
I’ve always thought she’d behaved strangely, but today Reisa seemed really unnatural.
In fact, she is eating the plastic wrapper of a sandwich she just finished eating.
Is this guy okay?
Nagisa and I looked at each other and laughed again.
Well, maybe this is the growth process of a broken person who is soaked in study, we decided to think so.
As I thought about this, I looked around aimlessly and saw a familiar figure.
My childhood friend Kako was wandering around the cafeteria with a tray of udon noodles.
However, her appearance had changed so much that I did not recognize her for a moment.
Her twin-tail hair is undone, and her face is lifeless.
The smile on her face was gone, and her vacant stare as she walked to an empty seat reminded me of myself not too long ago.
“I heard that they canceled Kako san’s cell phone plan and she has to go to cram school now.”
Reisa, who has a lot of friends and is at the center of our communication network, had heard about this from somewhere.
She told me and I narrowed my eyes.
I see.
The reason why my Line account was set to “Unknown” became clear.
I guess she really pissed off her parents after all.
“But a high school student without a smart phone is pretty out of the ordinary, isn’t it?”
“I guess so. I’ve just heard from Takagi himself that he’s broken up with her.”
Having just heard from Takagi himself that they had broken up, I felt an indescribable emotion seeing Kako’s melancholy appearance.
It’s painful.
It is astonishing to think that a human being can fall so far in just a few days.
I don’t see the look of relief on her face when she says I’m useless.
“Even in the classroom, she’s been studying all day. She usually went to talk to Takagi kun all the time, but today she talked to her once and he ignored her. And after that……”
From the way Takagi was talking, it sounded like he was really irritated with Kako.
Still, I think it’s heartless, but it doesn’t concern me.
Nagisa and Reisa must not know what happened between me and Kako, so I didn’t say anything more in-depth.
We both went straight back to chatting mode.
I was seeing myself in the same situation as before with the current Kako.
Every day I spend my shoulders slumped and my head drooping, not hanging out with anyone.
There was no one to rely on, and I was in despair, having to overcome the worst of my current environment on my own.
From the outside, I must have looked lifeless.
I might have looked pathetic.
But that is exactly why I couldn’t understand.
I wonder why she hit me so hard when I was like that.
If she had a heart, I don’t think she would have behaved like that.
Normally, if a family member was feeling down, you would be kind to them.
I shook my head, because thinking about it didn’t help.
What I’m thinking about now is neither my childhood friend nor the school festival.
I’m thinking about the practice exam at the end of the month, which will come first.
“By the way, it seems that in the next mock exam, Takagi is going to target me and try to take first place.”
“Oh, is that what you were talking about when you walked out of the classroom just now?”
“Yeah.”
While Reisa was grinning next to me, Nagisa looked at me with a faint smile.
“Then let’s defeat him together again. No matter how many times.”
“Yeah. I need to prove that my Tsukushi wasn’t just a fluke.”
“Oh, yeah. I’m counting on you both.”
I couldn’t have taken first place without you two.
We will do what we can to win the next one, and we will face him again.
◇
At the end of the lunch break, I was talking to Reisa.
“U-um.”
“What’s wrong?”
I tilted my head at her whispering, which was unusual.
She continued.
“I heard that Mika talked about something strange during the fourth period, didn’t she?”
“Oh…… Well.”
This must be the incident where she asked me a silly question about whether I was dating Reisa or Nagisa.
I gave her a wry smile and she sighed.
“I’m really sorry. But anyway…can you please not tell Nagisa about that incident?”
“About who’s dating who?”
“That’s right ! Nagisa is pretty pure isn’t she? I think she’s probably not used to that sort of thing.”
“That’s true.”
Now that you mention it, that’s true.
I think she would be upset if she knew that others were looking at her and me in that way.
Maybe she would want to keep her distance from me.
If she avoids me of her own volition, it is inevitable, but it would be better to avoid a situation where she is overly concerned by onlookers from other people.
I had no intention of telling anyone in the first place, but I decided to keep my mouth shut more strongly.
When I nodded, she patted her chest exaggeratedly, as if in relief.
“Haaa. I’m glad you understand.”
“You must have been really worried.”
“Eh !? W-well? Nagisa and I are good friends, so we should be able to be considerate to that extent.”
“……?”
“Okay ! See you then !”
Reisa makes a fuss and then runs off.
I think there’s something wrong with her today.
Also, it seemed like her speech was more broken than usual, but maybe that was just my imagination.
I still can’t quite figure out what she’s thinking.
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