Chapter 5 | The Waiting Childhood Friend

“I think I sent you an email yesterday saying I’m going to school with her starting today?”

“Yes, you did. But I wasn’t convinced, so I wrote back right after that, right?”

“………”

I took out my phone from my bag and checked the history.

That’s true… I’ve received two new messages from Airi. I didn’t check because she went to bed right after I sent her.

But what do you mean you don’t agree?

I don’t understand. I’m just sending you a message, and I don’t need you to be convinced.

Once again, I think back to yesterday’s events.

I don’t think it’s a bad thing that Airi has a boyfriend. In fact, I think it’s a good thing if my precious childhood friend is happy.

However, Airi neglected to confess her feelings to me, and even after she got a boyfriend, she made it clear that she would hold off on her answer.

I just can’t forgive her for that.

Even after a night’s sleep to cool my head, I still couldn’t get over it. I am disgusted with my own narrow-mindedness.

Of course, I don’t mean to say that I’m going to insulate myself just because of that.

However, it would be bad for Airi’s boyfriend if I stay with her as before, and I don’t want to be with her [right now].

That’s why I want to keep my distance from her. Will she not understand if I don’t tell her?

I’ve told her how much I liked her, and I think she would normally understand.

“No, I need to go to school with her. It’s almost time, and I don’t want anyone to think you’re cheating on me, so why don’t you go ahead?”

Yuuji thought he had said something very simple and straightforward… but Airi didn’t get it at all.

“I’m sure the three of us can handle it. Just introduce me as your childhood friend and we’ll be fine! You know…? Then everything will be as it always has been, right?”

What is this woman talking about?

Is she really the Airi I know? I’m sure she’s not the kind of person who would think so shallowly… but seriously, since yesterday, I don’t know what Airi is thinking.

“…Isn’t it impossible?”

“If you talk to him, he’ll understand! Ishida-kun was the same way!”

“Ishida is different from you.”

“…And even though you confessed to me, you got a girlfriend right away…I don’t know what to do?”

He was beyond annoyed and dismayed. Yuuji resisted the urge to shove hard and somehow managed to take a deep breath and catch his breath to keep the conversation civil.

“Fuu… you mean to say that that’s dishonest?”

“Uh, yeah…  because I’ve never heard of such a thing before.”

You’re the one who’s going to say that… you’re a rotten head, aren’t you?

You don’t really forget that you dumped me, do you?

“Anyway, she’s my first priority, so you’ll have to give up going to school with me.”

“No, you can’t do that!”

Don’t suddenly start yelling.

“Oh… what’s wrong?”

“Because… I go home with Ishida-kun, and we can only be together when we go to school so…”

“Sorry to keep you waiting, senpai!”

I was beginning to wonder if I should reject the offer, but then the long-awaited savior arrived.

It was the arrival of my girlfriend, Nakagawa Youka, who had arranged to meet me. She arrived a little earlier than scheduled. She is usually punctual, but this is unusual.

The junior who appeared deliberately clung to my arm and stared at Airi with a frightening expression. I was surprised to see her acting far more flirtatious than I expected.. but I was having trouble getting through to Airi, so I’m really glad she came!

“Who is this woman…? Don’t tell me you cheated on me right after we got together!”

This was also deliberate.

But it really was mistaken for an affair, and Airi seemed to be in a panic.

…

…What? Not really?

Instead of denying it, she’s staring back at Youka.

“… No, Yuu-chan… That child is no good. You’ve only been dating for a day, haven’t you? It’s weird to hug her like that.”

She hits Youka with a gaze of absolute zero. She might even be harboring hostility… or even murderous intent if it’s bad enough. She is throwing such negative emotions at Youka.

However, the person in question was not moving at all…

“What? What are you talking about? Whatever our relationship is, you, a stranger, have no right to tell me what to do.”

“I’m not a stranger! We’ve known each other since childhood! You and I have been together since we were kids!”

“The world knows that childhood friends are strangers to each other. You can’t even understand that? Maybe you should learn a little more about common sense.”

“What the hell! Yuu-chan!!. I don’t even know anymore!”

“You’re the one who ran to some random guy.”

“…Damn it!

“Youka, you are out of line.”

But you said it so well!

I was actually thinking the exact same thing! You said it so well! I’ll buy you a steak on the way home!

“Se, senpai… sorry, I got heated up before I knew it….”

First, I calm her down.

Of course, I wasn’t defending Airi, so I immediately whispered a few words of thanks in her ear.

“Nice acting… really made her look jealous, didn’t it? Thanks.”

“That was… acting…?

“What are you two mumbling about?”

Noisy… and shut up…

But now that Youka seems to have calmed down, let’s tell Airi to calm down too, huh. It’s a pain in the a*s to deal with this one.

“Well, as you can see, Airi I’m sorry, but she doesn’t want me to go with you. You understand I can’t go with you under the circumstances, can I?”

“But, but…”

“It’s not a but. Besides, we’re in the same class, so it’s not like we can’t see each other all the time, right?”

“Yes, but it’s noisy in the classroom.”

“Well…”

He doesn’t understand me at all… I’m starting to hate talking to Airi. It seems that my evaluation of Airi will be fixed as someone I don’t know well.

First of all, if I don’t do this, I will be late.

If this happens, my record of no lateness and no absences will be broken, and I won’t be praised by the teacher at the end of the school year. I don’t want that. I want to be praised to the fullest on the last day of the school year. I want to get better grades than anyone else so that I will have a better chance of going on to college.

And…

“We’re going to be late if we don’t get going soon, so let’s go. I can see Nee-chan watching through the doorway.”

As I raised the subject, I heard a loud bang and the sound of a door closing from the doorway behind me.

It seems that Nee-chan was peeking through the door. It seems that she was in a hurry to close the door when I noticed her.

Because of the argument in front of the house, she couldn’t leave the house even if she wanted to.

The way she was panicking was very funny, but it was not good for the public to have siblings late at the same time.

It’s time to head off to school…

“Yes… we can’t bother Yuka-san can we?”

But surprisingly, Airi was the first to break down when she noticed Nee-chan.

Well, Airi knows Nee-chan too, so she probably doesn’t want to make her angry. That’s how bad  Nee-chan is.

“But we’re going in the same direction, so we can walk together, right? I won’t get in your way, so… you’re not going to tell me to be late, are you, Yuu-chan?”

“Well… I guess so.”

We decided to go to school together today while keeping an open distance between the three of us.

I’m really sorry for getting Youka involved in such a trivial dispute. It’s a little scary that she’s smiling all the time next to me.

And by the way, I’m sorry to Nee-chan too.

But it was more than I expected.

I knew that given Airi’s personality, she wouldn’t listen to me if I refused to go to school with her. That’s why I set it up to go out with Youka, but it still doesn’t work.

I don’t just don’t like her anymore, I think I’m going to end up hating her.

Airi, what the hell are you seriously thinking…

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