Chapter 3: Miyamoto-san, the Attacker

“Shota! That’s Mizuki Miyamoto!”

“Who’s that?”

“Don’t you know her? She was the one who greeted the new students at the entrance ceremony and it was rumored that she was really beautiful. Well, Hosokawa-san in our class is also beautiful.”

“Hmm, someone like that is …….”

The person at the entrance was the one I was helping yesterday. I hadn’t heard of her by the way ……. It’s a beautiful woman, if you ask me. A bit brownish semi-long hair with a hairpin that had a moon decoration on it – the one I was looking for yesterday. Sumika has the image of a beautiful person, but this person has an appearance that gives off a cute impression. I’m sure you’ll be able to understand why I’m here. ……

“Is Shota Ishikawa here?”

Oh, I knew it. Well, I didn’t want to get involved any further yesterday, so I left like I was running away, but it seems to have had the opposite effect. Why do I have this feeling that Sumika is looking at me like a demon?

“Oh, Shota. You know Miyamoto-san?”

“Ah, no, I just met her yesterday…”

“Oh, Ishikawa-kun! Thanks for yesterday!”

“Uhm, Miyamoto-san? Thank you for being grateful but you told me that yesterday too.”

“Yesterday, you left just as I was about to thank you again. …… I mean, did it bother you?”

The stares of the people around me hurt. In addition to the cold eyes, a beautiful girl who was the talk of the entrance ceremony a few days earlier, was talking to bland and plain person like me, I felt a cold chill run across my back. I’m also being looked at by others as if they were wondering: “did he caused trouble for Miyamoto-san?”

“No, no, it’s not like you’re bothering me. But I was just helping you, so don’t worry too much about it.”

“No, I just wanted to say thank you one more time. Thank you so much.”

“Oh, yeah, you’re welcome…”

　I wonder what’s going on. Compared to yesterday, you seem to be more energetic and aggressive.

“Ishikawa-kun”

“Yes?”

“Can I eat with you?”

…… Goodbye, my quiet school life. To be honest, I’d rather not. I don’t want people to notice me because of this. I might get bullied for this. But if I refuse this, I’ll be bullied for that too. This is what you call the tiger at the front gate and the wolf at the back gate. …… I’m not sure what that means, but it seems to mean that one disaster after another will come your way. Hmmm …… I guess I have no choice *sigh*.

“…… Okay. Can we do it here?”

“Yes! Thank you!”

　Huh, you look pretty happy, ……. I’m not sure if this person understands that I was in a position where I couldn’t say no. You’re not …… doing this, are you?. I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to do it. I’m not sure what to do. I don’t know why I’m complaining when I go out of my way to get involved.

And so, I spent my lunch break with Miyamoto-san.. The eyes around me hurt, but it was fun to eat lunch while talking with three people. …… This combination reminds me of my junior high school days.

This is no good. I’m sorry Ariki and Miyamoto-san, but from tomorrow on, I’m not going to do what I did today. I feel like I’m going to cry or rather, I’m going to vomit. I thought I was getting better after being friends with Ariki for two weeks, but now that Miyamoto-san has joined the group, there are only two boys and one girl, and it reminds me of what happened in middle school. I was fine when I made sure Sumika was there. I’m still scared. I’m afraid of being a friend. I thought that now that Miyamoto-san was here, I would be able to make friends like I used to.

“Sorry, I’m going to the bathroom for a while”

“What, are you going to leave me here?”

　Ariki was whispering in protest, but it was too much for me.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry too, Miyamoto-san.”

“…”

I ran to the bathroom and entered the stall. I tried to catch my breath, which had become a little ragged. I didn’t throw up, but the nausea was terrible.

“Haa, haa, haa.”

(“I can’t help it, I’m just being friendly.”)

(“What do you want, the guy who stole the girl I love?”)

　……. This was said to me by my old childhood friend and best friend, and had nothing to do with Ariki and Miyamoto-san. But I can’t help but hear the voice echoing in my head.

(Not good. Let’s keep some distance from the two of them.)

　After that, I returned to the classroom just as the lunch break was ending.

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