Chapter 13: 25 January: from jealousy …….

Translator: Soafp

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[Suzune PoV]

“Hey, isn’t Yuran-kun handsome~?”

“Huh?”

I found myself joining in the usual girls’ talk. The group consisted of me and three other classmates, and when we arrived at school every morning, we always engaged in casual conversations.

I honestly couldn’t remember why we had started talking as this group or how it had come about, but it had become a morning routine. We always chatted about trivial matters without fail.

However, today was different.

“…Yuran…kun?”

“Eh? Suzune, don’t you know him? He sits next to you in class!”

“How uninterested can you be in boys?”

“Hahaha.”

“…”

I became convinced that today’s conversation was not going to end as a simple chat. The person who was my boyfriend, my savior, and likely future husband became the topic of discussion.

And while it was perfectly fine for him to come up in conversation, the tone of their conversation made me wonder if they had some ulterior motive. No, that couldn’t be it… probably not.

With those thoughts in mind, I continued to listen to their conversation.

“Yeah, he’s not so much handsome as he is cute.”

“Oh, yes! Yuran-kun is incredibly cute, isn’t he? His face is just perfectly put together.”

The topic of discussion was about praising my boyfriend. Normally, if someone’s boyfriend was being praised, they wouldn’t feel bad about it. But I was different.

[Who is looking at my boyfriend… without my permission?]

Such an unusual thought raced through my mind like an electric current.

“Because he’s cute, I feel like I want to… try some things with him.”

“? What things?”

“Like dressing him up in girl’s clothes and training him in that appearance!!”

“…I don’t understand what S people think.”

“…!?”

Ha? What is this person even saying?

Not only is she looking at my boyfriend without my permission, but she also want to “train” him? I wish they’d stop fooling around. I could feel an emotion similar to anger boiling up inside me.

“…What’s wrong, Suzune? Why that scary look…”

“….Oh, sorry.”

Ah, it was showing on my face. I have a bad habit of letting my emotions show too easily. I need to cover it up somehow.

“It might have looked like I had a bad expression because there was something in my eye and I squinted. Sorry about that.”

“Oh, I see…”

I made a casual excuse, and it seemed like they bought it.

The chime rang out, signaling the end of our chat time. Everyone headed back to their seats as the morning homeroom began. Today had brought an unexpected bombshell. I never would have imagined that Yuuan-kun would be seen this way by other girls.

Yuran-kun suffers from gynophobia, and his condition doesn’t apply to me. In other words, Yuran-kun only has eyes for me, and it’s impossible for him to have feelings for other girls. I understand that very well.

But there was another part of me, consumed by intense jealousy.

“I wish they wouldn’t look at Yuran-kun like that… He’s mine.”

Creak

“Heyo!”

With a rather unsettling voice, Yuran-kun entered the classroom. First period had already started, so Yuran-kun was officially late. Yuran-kun had always been very punctual and had never been late since transferring to our school. So, it was quite surprising to see him arriving late today.

I wondered why he was late. Did he oversleep? Was there a train delay?

“Ah…”

Maybe it was because we continued to exchange messages until late at night, and he ended up oversleeping.

Messaging with Yuran-kun was one of my life’s pleasures, so I couldn’t help but get carried away. As a result, we often exchanged messages until the early hours of the morning. However, Yuran-kun always replied to my messages without fail. That was something I cherished about him.

But when we exchange messages that late and then have school the next day, there’s a high chance of being late. For reference, yesterday we were messaging each other until 4 in the morning.

I live quite close to the school, so being late was never an issue for me. However, Yuran-kun’s house was relatively far from school. If he woke up at the same time as me, he would inevitably be late.

It’s my fault… Yuran-kun is late because of me…

The fact weighed heavily on my conscience.

I’m sorry, Yuran-kun…

As Yuran-kun took his seat beside me, he made eye contact and greeted me with a subtle nod, but I couldn’t help feeling guilty. I responded with a subdued acknowledgment.

How should I apologize?

In the never-ending, hellish cycle of classes, I spent my time pondering this question.

It was undoubtedly my fault that Yuran-kun was late. Moreover, I had tarnished his spotless record of punctuality and attendance.

Naturally, I felt obligated to apologize.

The only problem was figuring out how… What could I do?

Hmm?

I suddenly noticed something.

I could feel a gaze coming from the girl sitting diagonally behind us. Even though it’s during class, I can’t turn around, but I’ve lived my life feeling various glances, and I consider myself quite adept at detecting them.

But the problem is that the gaze is directed at Yuran-kun, not me.

Why are they looking at Yuran-kun?

Yuran-kun is mine.

I wanted to shout it out loud. I didn’t care about grades, status, or image; I just wanted to scream.

“Don’t look at my Yuran-kun!”

But if I were to say something like that, it might lead to rumors and damage Yuran-kun’s reputation too. So, I clenched my fist and suppressed my emotions.

Yuran-kun has warned me not to act like we’re anything more than strangers at school. But in reality, I want to keep looking into his eyes and talking with him.

Is there any place at school where we can talk without being seen?

If there is one,

it’s the rooftop.

This school has unnecessarily long staircases. No one would willingly stop by the rooftop. On the rooftop, I could be alone with Yuran-kun…

But how do I lure him up there?

I might be a genius. It only took me three seconds to come up with a solution to the question of how to get Yuran-kun to the rooftop.

[I want to apologize, so please come up to the rooftop.]

I feel guilty for being the reason behind Yuran-kun’s tardiness. I want to talk to him right now, but the rooftop is the only place where we can do that.

It’s a reasonable excuse, and although I feel a bit uneasy about handling my regrets this way, there’s no other choice. I’ll go with this plan.

Once I decided, I swiftly wrote a message to Yuran-kun in my notebook.

“Please come to the rooftop. I want to apologize.”

Yuran-kun seemed surprised, but even his surprised expression was endearing to me. I couldn’t help but suppress a smile.

I’ll create a good excuse and successfully lure Yuran-kun to the rooftop.

[I won’t let you go, Yuran-kun.]

As I mentioned earlier, my emotions tend to show on my face easily.

So I can tell what kind of expression I’m wearing right now.

I’m probably wearing a sinister, creepy smile, just like I did before. I’m almost certainly making that kind of expression.

I can’t let anyone see me with such a face.

Desperately hiding my face, I sincerely wished for the class to end quickly.