Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/822139845923627658/episodes/822139846650656086
Mashiro appears behind the school building.
With Mashiro’s arrival, the air grew thick with tension, and a palpable sense of unease hung in the air.
“I saw you lot taking Kensuke behind the school building, so I followed you out of curiosity… but this is truly disgusting.”
Mashiro faces the third-year students head-on.
“Who do you think you are to say things like ‘you’re not a good match’ or ‘know your place’? Why do you delude yourselves into thinking you have the right to say that to Kensuke? How on earth can you build up such an unfounded sense of self-importance? —Well, not that I have the slightest, tiniest, or even the faintest interest in any of this. Not in you, either, of course.”
There was no trace of the Mashiro who had recently let her guard down.
She was, once again, the very embodiment of the queen who lets no one else come near her.
“—I absolutely hate people who snipe and gossip behind my back. I absolutely hate cowards who band together to torment a single person. In short, I absolutely hate scumbags like you.”
The third-years couldn’t stop the cold sweat pouring down their faces at Mashiro’s razor-sharp words.
Mashiro took another step forward, glared at them, and declared.
“In that regard, that cowardly, perverted, and simply cowardly Kensuke over there is still better. Still better.”
…
“……Huh? What kind of ‘follow-up’ is made up entirely of insults?”
I don’t feel like I’ve been followed up on at all.
“I mean… I mean! I’m furious… at everything. At everything in this world!!”
“Mashiro ⁉”
“What’s with this nonsense about me dating this guy?! What kind of joke is this⁉ It’s defamation! Defamation!”
“You’re defaming me right now, though…”
“Shut up, you pervert! Just shut up and do some squats for a while!”
Why am I silently working out…?
“I just don’t know what to do anymore… I don’t know what to do! My loyal dog, who used to just nod silently at me, suddenly learned to talk and started attacking my weak spots⁉ I should just kick him away like normal, but for some reason I can’t muster the strength… I can’t even come up with any insults. What is this? Have I gone crazy? Is something wrong with me⁉”
“You’re the one who’s crazy!”
The third-years were completely left behind.
Paying no heed to that, Mashiro lost herself and continued.
“My brain can’t keep up at all, but this idiot Kensuke is getting cocky and attacking me like he’s some big shot… You know, I might hold a little less grudge against Kensuke, but I’m actually getting annoyed with myself for this. I’m intensely annoyed with this unfamiliar version of myself who suddenly lost control!”
That Mashiro is just spewing venom…
“Um… w-what are you talking about?”
“What do you want to do? Do you want me to listen?”
“No, but…”
“Oh, did I hand out the Japanese assignment?”
“I left my lunch box here…”
The third-year student who had come to pick a fight was, ironically, the one left deflated.
“What should I do… I don’t understand anything anymore… I’m losing myself…”
“Ma, Mashiro…”
“…That said, I am still me.”
“Which is it?”
“There’s no way I could completely lose myself. After all, I’m Kamikurokawa Mashiro. That’s an absolute, unchanging fact.”
“I-I see…”
“…Ahem. Anyway, I’m confused right now. S-so… um…”
As Mashiro gradually began to come to her senses, she noticed the third-year students standing before her, looking perplexed.
“W-well… I mean…”
Mashiro cleared her throat and said to them.
“The only one who has the right to say that Kensuke isn’t good enough for me, the only one who has the right to berate Kensuke—is me. Know your place and get lost.”
Mashiro’s clear voice echoed behind the school building.
It wasn’t exactly moving…
“…Wait, you don’t have the right to insult me, do you, Mashiro?”
“Huh? What are you talking about? Are you an idiot? No, you were an idiot. You’re an idiot. An idiot.”
“Don’t just wrap things up on your own.”
“You’re so annoying…”
“You’re the annoying one, Mashiro. Just when I thought you were quiet, you spew out all that pent-up venom without a care in the world…”
“W-who do you think is to blame for this?”
“Mashiro, right? You provoked me endlessly.”
“Hmph! K-Kensuke! K, Kensuke……?”
“Who was it who called me a coward and said I didn’t have the guts to push you down?”
“Ugh…”
“If Mashiro hadn’t been so stubborn, none of this would have happened…”
“S-stop lying. Y-you were just lusting after me anyway… and you were totally intent on doing it…”
“H-huh!? You’re the one… you’re the one who’s crazy. I was just trying to improve my standing…”
“…You’re the worst. Justifying yourself like that, then venting your desires on me…”
“W-well, if you’re going to say that, Mashiro was actually getting into it halfway through the second time…”
“W-what are you talking about⁉ There’s no way I’d be lusting after someone like Kensuke…!”
And then, halfway through, I realized.
“””…………………”””
That Mashiro and I weren’t the only ones here.
“Dammit… Not only am I being ignored, not only am I being completely rejected, but to have them flaunt their affection right in front of me… It’s torture. It’s pure torture!!!”
The biggest and strongest of the bunch, Gorilla-senpai, came charging at me, crying.
“Die! Die, die, die! Dieeeeeee!!!”
“What a cheesy action scene!!!”
I instinctively stepped in front of Mashiro and braced myself to take the punch.
But I, who hadn’t done a single bit of training…
“Gahhhhh!!!!”
I got punched right in the face.
I was knocked back a few steps.
“Good job, Gori.”
“God’s bound to forgive us for just one punch…”
“It’s nothing compared to the mental torture we went through.”
“He’s two years our junior… I’ll let him off easy…”
“Ugh… This is more shocking than a broken heart…”
“…Let’s hurry up and turn in our Japanese assignment.”
“Let’s eat our lunches…”
The third-years trudged off.
It seems they’ve had their fill.
…But.
“Why did I get punched, anyway…”
“……Pftt.”
“Don’t laugh, Mashiro!!”
In a way, getting hit like that was a total waste…
—Evening.
Walking home side by side with Mashiro.
“Ow…”
“I’ll ask just for the sake of it, but are you okay?”
“You ruined it right from the start.”
“Really? For me, that’s actually a pretty generous offer.”
Well, unfortunately, she’s right about that.
After that, I went to the nurse’s office to get first aid.
Since they covered my face with gauze and band-aids to make it obvious, I ended up looking like a delinquent who’d just gotten into a fight. Even though that’s not my style at all.
“But… well, thanks.”
“W-What’s with you all of a sudden?”
“You did come all the way to the nurse’s office with me, after all, and… you saw me go behind the school building and got worried, so you followed me, right?”
“Huh⁉”
Mashiro’s face turned bright red.
“W-Well… it’s not exactly that I was worried, or… I mean…”
“You were worried about me, weren’t you?”
“………H-Hmph. That’s good enough.”
It was rare for Mashiro to give in like this.
A moment ago, she was all ice, but Mashiro really had changed.
No, the one who had changed was…
“……W-Well, if you’re going to say that…”
“?”
“Huh! If you’re going to say that… t-then I’m the one who should be saying it!”
Mashiro gripped the handle of her bag tightly.
“Back then, Kensuke, you stood in front of me… trying to protect me, didn’t you?”
“W-well…”
“Well, in the end, you did get beaten up pretty badly.”
“Don’t bring that up…”
“…But, that… I’m grateful for it.”
“Huh?”
She stopped in her tracks without thinking.
Mashiro brushed the hair from her shoulder and said, her lips pursed.
“…………So you do have some backbone after all, at least a little bit.”
The sun was setting, and the evening light bathed Mashiro in a beautiful glow.
“J-just a little bit. So don’t get too cocky or do anything stupid.”
Mashiro walked ahead of me.
A moment later, I caught up to her.
“W-what?”
“Mashiro …”
“W-what? …Huh! Don’t tell me you’re trying to take advantage of this mood to do s-s-s…”
“I already proved I’m not a coward, didn’t I?”
“……Huh?”
“And not just once, but twice. Yet you’re trying to act like nothing happened.”
“Huh⁉ J-just now, what are you getting so cocky about?!”
“I pushed you down, didn’t I, Mashiro? The way I proved it was a bit weird, but… I-I did it, didn’t I⁉ I showed you I’m a man, didn’t I⁉”
“Huh⁉ What are you saying right here on the street⁉ P-please cut me some slack… cut me some slack!”
“I’m the one who needs you to cut me some slack! You’re trying to pretend it never happened… There’s no way I could forget that kind of lecherous look on your face!”
“Huh!! W-well… I-I haven’t forgotten, but…”
“See, you haven’t forgotten! So don’t just throw words at me!”
“Huh!!! …I-it can’t be helped. J-just this once… l-let it slide!”
“Huh⁉”
As I suspected, Mashiro has changed. And even now, she’s still in the midst of that change.
To put it more accurately, Mashiro isn’t the only one who’s changed. I have too—and so has our relationship as childhood friends.
“Stop running away any longer! If you still want to treat me like a lowly underling, then come at me head-on! Every time you do, the new me will beat you back!”
“! …H-huh. I wasn’t waiting for you to tell me that… S-seriously. You’re such a pain in the neck… You’re just hopeless.”
I walk home side by side with Mashiro.
It looks like we’re still a long way from home.
▽ ▽ ▽
A few days have passed since then.
The situation was successfully resolved after Mashiro flatly denied the rumors that we were dating.
However, the wound on my face hasn’t healed, and the fact that Mashiro and I did it twice hasn’t gone away.
“‘…Ah’”
I run into Mashiro at the shoe rack in the morning.
“Good morning, Mashiro.”
“…Morning.”
That said, Mashiro has definitely softened her attitude toward me quite a bit.
I still don’t have a handle on a lot of things and don’t really understand them, but I guess it’s okay for now… Thinking that, I opened my locker and found a letter on top of my indoor shoes.
“……Huh? Is this……”
Pink stationery with a heart-shaped sticker.
It even says “To Kita Kensuke-kun”…
“…………Huh?”
No, no way…
—Behind the gym.
In front of me were seven burly third-years… or rather.
A female student who could easily be called a beauty—just one.
“Kita-kun, if you’d like… would you go out with me?”
…………Wait, she just confessed to me.
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