Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16818093093605365078/episodes/16818622173936846158
“Have you calmed down?”
“Y-yeah… I’m sorry…I got distracted…”
“It’s okay. No matter how you look at it, that boy from the other school was a weirdo.”
“No… it’s all my fault…”
I invited Hinayo, who was crying, into my room and waited by her side until she calmed down.
She was usually weakling, but even so, her crying was unusual.
There was no doubt that that man had hurt Hinayo’s feelings.
“For now, drink this and calm down. Here, have some cream puffs too.”
“…Yes, thank you.”
I opened a bottle of tea from the house and poured it into Hinayo’s cup.
Luckily, the cream puffs I bought hadn’t even lost their shape. They seemed to be stronger than I had expected.
Hinayo bit into the cream puff with her small mouth.
At that moment, the cream puffs were filled with so much filling that the cream puffs were popping out of the hole where the cream was poured.
This is a masterpiece that reflects the owner’s spirit of service.
I followed suit and took a bite of the cream puff.
Mmm, it’s good.
“The cream puffs here are really delicious…they haven’t changed at all since the old days.”
“Yeah, they are really delicious. I think I’ll buy some more.”
“……I guess it’s the same as it’s always been.”
Hinayo muttered sadly.
What on earth happened in the past?
“I’m sorry, Nishimeya san, if I may be so bold as to say something unnecessary.”
“What’s wrong?”
“What happened in the past with that guy you just met?”
“N-nothing…….I don’t know that guy at all.”
“It’s impossible for you to deny it. I know it might be a bit nosy, but I’d like you to tell me.”
“Th-that’s none of your business, Hirakawa kun. Even if I said anything, it would only cause trouble…”
“Don’t worry about that. We’re friends even if we cause each other a little trouble.”
“Ahaha……friends……I guess.”
“W-well……friends come in all shapes and sizes……”
I felt a little awkward after saying it myself.
Earlier, I had impulsively called her “friend,” but I felt it was a bit rude to dismiss my relationship with Hinayo as just being “friends.”
It is as rough as writing “Earth” in the address column.
However, I wouldn’t say we are not friends.
Although it is difficult to describe, “friend” is the most convenient expression.
“He–Misawa Yuuto kun–is my childhood friend.”
“A childhood friend…..so Nishimeya san had someone like that.”
Frankly, I was surprised.
The fact that she had a childhood friend of the opposite sex is very hard to imagine from her current state.
“Yuu kun and I went to the same elementary school and junior high school together, but now he goes to an advanced school in the city, so it’s been quite a while since I’ve seen him.”
“Ah, so that uniform…..”
The uniform Misawa had been wearing earlier seemed to be from the high school with the highest average score in the city.
I have no knowledge of this at all, so even when I heard it, it didn’t really resonate with me. Sorry for being stupid.
“He’s smart, athletic, and has a lot of friends …..but for some reason he’s always been around me.”
“What, so Nishimeya and this Misawa kun were close?”
“It may be a stretch to say that we got along. I’m a loner who can’t socialize, so it’s more like Yuu kun was always coming to me to take care of me……”
Hearing that made me wonder if Misawa was a caring guy.
But in reality, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
“I……was a screw-up, a moron, and a shady person, so he teased me about every little thing. After a test or after a field day, he would try to show me the difference between me and him…..”
“E-eh……that’s…….”
“But I accepted it all the time. It may sound silly, but at the time I was happy.”
“Why?”
“The only person who paid any attention to me was Yuu kun. He always called me ‘weakling’ and made fun of me, but I knew he really did care about me…”
Perhaps it is a cognitive distortion.
Objectively speaking, Hinayo is being denied her own personality, and Misawa is just asserting dominance and being self-absorbed.
However, Hinayo’s situation at that time was so lonely that it looked like a spider thread.
Hearing this story, I finally understood the reason for Hinayo’s too-low self-esteem.
She thought that she could make up for her loneliness if she continued to be inferior to Misawa.
The original Hinayo has very high specs.
She has beautiful black hair, a face with the beauty of a Japanese doll, and long, slender arms and legs, though modestly fleshy.
In addition, she is so academically gifted that she is said to be able to aim for Tokyo University in chemistry.
Anyone who continues to deny her like this is a scumbag who just wants to assert his superiority.
He is an egomaniac who does not understand the pain of others and only wants to make himself feel good. I think that is what Misawa Yuuto is.
“I thought that would continue like that forever. But then I made a mistake when I took the high school entrance exam.”
“Mistake?
“Yes. I was feeling unwell and couldn’t even think about taking the exam…but I still managed to take the test with determination, but I failed my first try.”
“That……must have been tough.”
“I wasn’t much better than Yuu kun when it came to studying, so I thought I was doing pretty well. But when I failed the exam, he was just like always…no, he started insulting me more than usual…and that was when I realized…..”
“So you finally realized that Misawa kun was just asserting his dominance.”
“Yes……fortunately, we went to different high schools, so we never met again……”
It just so happened that they met again at this perfect time.
“…It’s pathetic, right? If I had been more careful, things wouldn’t have become so complicated.”
“That’s not true. Nishimeya san is doing her best. Even if someone denies it, I guarantee it.”
“H-Hirakawa kun…….”
“So, don’t worry. If things haven’t worked out so far, then you can just make things better from now on. I’ll help you with that too.”
Even though I think about it, I felt like I was saying something cheesy.
But still, I think Hinayo should be more fairly evaluated. And there’s no lie in that feeling.
…But.
“……Well then, Hirakawa kun, can you ‘cooperate’ with me more……?”
“……Eh?”
Looking up with moist eyes, Hinayo begged me for a kiss.
I have no choice but to cooperate.
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