Chapter 14 | I Don’t Understand My Childhood Friend – Airi’s Point of View

[Airi’s Point of View]

“… Haa~”

“What’s wrong, Himeda-san?

“Huh? No, no, I’m fine, Ishida-kun.”

Airi shook her head bitterly.

Ever since Yuuji told her how she felt yesterday, Airi has been feeling down.

She was depressed beyond compare to when Yuuji had a girlfriend, and after that incident, she was lethargic and unable to do anything at all.

She is currently on a date with her boyfriend, Ishida.

Since today is a holiday, they are having lunch over coffee at a coffee shop.

Yuuji does not like coffee very much, but Airi likes the place so much that he frequently goes there with her.

That is also the reason why Yuuji gave coffee coupons to the three boys… Now that he’s cut ties with Airi, he won’t be able to visit this shop anymore, which Yuuji doesn’t like.

And Airi’s mind was not in the mood for dates.

She wants to go home right now. She wanted to concentrate on how she could improve her relationship with Yuuji.

But going out with Ishida had already been decided. I can’t cancel it anymore. Even just yesterday, he broke his promise to go home with him.

As expected, Airi is reluctant to cancel plans with her boyfriend in quick succession, but she is coming on a date as promised.

…If she had shown this concern for Yuuji, her relationship with him would not have become so strained…

The fact that they were childhood friends and Yuuji’s usual attitude of forgiving her for everything had made Airi feel worse.

It would be extremely difficult for her to improve her relationship with Yuuji. At least, it would be tough for Airi.

Because even after what he said to her, she doesn’t realize her own mistake…

“…It looks like you’re not feeling well after all… Are you really okay? Shall we go home today?”

“…Uh-huh, I’m fine. I’m a little worried about Yuu-chan…”

“…Yuu-chan, huh.”

Ishida frowns when Yuuji is brought up.

However, Airi doesn’t even notice.

This kind of thing didn’t change even when dealing with someone other than Yuuji.

“Come to think of it, Himeda-san…you always talk about your childhood friend every time we meet, right?”

“… Huh? I don’t think that’s the case?”

“Is that so?”

(It happens… Even though we greet each other in the morning, the second thing she says is that she wants to introduce him to me. Are you kidding me?)

─ Before he started dating Airi, Ishida had heard about her relationship with Yuuji in advance.

Ishida is quite popular. Some of them confessed their feelings to him even though he had a girlfriend because Ishida had an experience of going out with someone without knowing it and getting into troublesome situations.

Hence, he had asked her about her relationship with Yuuji, and at that time, Airi clearly said.

‘Yu-chan and I have known each other since childhood!’

She confessed to him, but contrary to his expectations, every time she meets him, she talks about her childhood friend.

(Even if they are childhood friends, he is a boy, so I would like for her to be a little more considerate of him…)

He allowed her to meet alone with Yuuji, but this was only a pretext, and he was not at peace with it.

The coffee that Airi ordered was almost gone.

Ishida had just ordered his second cup.

Despite the fact that they had been talking face to face for that long, Airi let out a sigh and looked blank.

Ishida is fed up with her constant worries about her childhood friend, so he says to her…

“Hey, just to make sure I’m clearly one more time… you and he are really just childhood friends, right?”

“…just childhood friends…?”

“Hm? What, did I offend you in some way?”

Ishida felt an extraordinary presence radiating from her, and he was upset.

It was obvious that she was clearly angry… but Ishida did not know what had upset her.

“What do you mean, “just childhood friends”? Yuu-chan and I have been together for more than ten years, you know. We’re like family! So it’s not fair to call him just a childhood friend.”

“I’m sorry… it’s just that you seemed to be concerned about your childhood friend for a long time, so I’m sorry for talking about him in such a bad way.”

“Ah…! I’m sorry too! But since you’ve acknowledged my relationship with Yuu-chan, it’s not like you’re going to say anything too mean, right?”

“Yeah…I understand.”

Ishida had no idea what was so bad about saying that they were just childhood friends.

After that, they left the coffee shop and eventually parted ways.

Ishida had originally planned to ask her to go see a movie with him, but he was no longer in the mood.

“Yuuji’s house…”

Airi came in front of Yuuji’s house.

And when she was about to ring the intercom, she thought better of it and stopped. She was afraid of being abused like yesterday.

After that, Airi circled around Yuuji’s house.

There is no particular meaning to this action. She just wanted to look at Yuuji’s house from different angles.

“…Ah”

After a few dozen rounds, she coincidentally meets Yuuji’s eyes as he peeks out of the window. Feeling a sense of fate, Airi waved her hand happily at Yuuji.

─Pishan!

Yuuji noticed Airi and closed the window vigorously.

He did not even want to look at her face. Many people say that the opposite of love is indifference, but not in Yuuji’s case.

He simply hated her. Yuuji hated Airi. She is depressing. Just feeling her presence annoys him…

“It’s still not working… Why is he so angry?”

─Airi stared at the window of Yuuji’s room for about 30 minutes before returning home.

…

Even when she goes home, Airi thinks about Yuuji.

Now and then, that hasn’t changed. It’s just that recently, the frequency has increased dramatically.

“Yuu-chan… A romantic relationship doesn’t last that long, you know? I’m only with Ishida-kun because I want to enjoy a thrill that I’ve never experienced before… but you’ve mistakenly thought that I’ll always be with Ishida-kun.”

For Airi, this incident is just an unfortunate misunderstanding. She thinks it’s enough if she tells Yuuji that he is more important than Ishida… If Yuuji still doesn’t agree, she thinks that at worst, she has no choice but to break up with Ishida.

“Besides, Yuu-chan is my childhood friend, my family, and a part of me… but I can’t drop the whole lover thing now…”

There’s no way I would accept a confession that would cause a downgrade in our relationship… And yet, Yuu-chan is horrible

I consider Yuu-chan to be an important family member… so it’s only natural that I’m not nervous to be with him.

And yet, you don’t understand anything…

But maybe I didn’t say it well enough… I’m going to have to think about that and explain it to you tomorrow!

I have to make him understand that we are a family!

Airi went to Yuji’s house one more time before going to bed.

Then she looked at the window of his room. Believing that a coincidence like earlier would come…

…But this time, after waiting for almost an hour, the chance of a coincidence did not come, so she had no choice but to go home.

“Huh…”

“- Um, miss? May I have a word?”

“Oh, Officer, good evening… can I help you?”

“No, what are you doing here at this hour?”

“I was just checking on Yuu-chan. It’s just a short walk from my house right in front of you.”

“Yuu-chan? No, well, I hope you’re in the neighborhood, but be careful, if you were to meet a strict cop, you’d get pulled over, okay?”

“Yes, I’ll be careful.”

“And there was a report of a suspicious person wandering around the area.”

“A suspicious person?”

“Yeah, they’re also staring at the same house. That’s a complete stalker, isn’t it?”

“Yes… that’s totally stalking…”

“So it’s not safe to walk out now, even if you’re close to home, okay?”

“Yes, I’ll be careful. I hope they catch that guy soon!”

“Yeah, stay safe! Good night!”

“Yes, good night.”

I can’t believe there’s a stalker… that’s scary…

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