Chapter 9: A good face is meaningless on the battlefield.

“Move!”

“Get out of my way!”

“That’s mine!”

“I’m getting a cutlet sandwich!”

　Purchasing was a battlefield. There was shouting, the winners shouting, the losers lying on the floor.

“It’s a real battlefield.”

　This will be difficult for the new recruits to win.

“Ugh…”

　In fact, the new recruit, Saijo, has already collapsed on the floor. A fresh and handsome man is looking very miserable. It seems that a good face is meaningless on the battlefield.

　I’m looking on with a bowl of curry from the school cafeteria in my hand.

　Fight…fight more…

　As I watched the battlefield, I took a bite of curry.

“………”

　I knew it, but it’s just a retort. The food served in the school cafeteria didn’t look very tasty. In comparison, the bread purchased from the bakery seems to come from a private bakery, and although there are only a few, the bread is made with the care of an artisan.

“I wondered why the school cafeteria was there and the purchasing area was the battlefield, but the bread looked better. Tomorrow, I’ll be on the battlefield.”

　As I was making up my mind, someone called out to me from the side.

“Renya-kun, can I sit next to you?”

　I turned my head and saw one of my childhood friends, Yona Miyamoto, standing next to me.

“Yeah, sure.”

“Thank you.”

　She sat down next to me, her shoulder-length hair swinging in the air.

‘Uwaa, procurement is going great. I don’t think I can mix in there.”

“Of course not.”

　It’s going to be tough for the girls. No, although there is a woman who won the glory (sandwiches of all kinds) by beating the boys. Amazones, am I right?

　It’s an impossible feat for Miyamoto, who is standing next to me.

　Miyamoto has a rather laid-back personality and is kind of cute like a puppy. Also, she has big breasts (important).

“That’s terrible of you, Renya-kun.”

“No matter what you think, you can’t.”

“I don’t care! I’ve got my lunch!””

(Then why the hell did you come here)

　That’s what I thought, but I didn’t say it out loud and took a mouthful of curry. There was no need for me to say anything else. Did she come here to eat with her friends? No, if that’s the case, why is she sitting next to me?

　As I was eating, Miyamoto, who was glancing at me while eating ers lunch, spoke to me.

“…Is that curry good?”

“It’s ordinary. It looks like retort. I probably won’t eat it again?”

“I-I see. ….That’s right! Why don’t I make lunch for you tomorrow? It won’t be too much trouble to make two.”

“No, that’s okay. I’ll buy from there tomorrow. The bread there looks good.”

“I-I see…”

　Even though we are childhood friends, I feel uncomfortable asking her to make my lunch. Miyamoto still looked like she wanted to say something, but she finished her curry and went back to her classroom.

　I wondered what Miyamoto was doing here after all.

[Miyamoto PoV]

“I couldn’t talk much…”

　I, Yona Miyamoto, have someone I like. But we hurt him and he changed.

　I used to be able to talk to him all day long, but now even if I talk to him, he immediately cuts me off.

　I tried to use the excuse of making lunch for him to at least have lunch with me since we were in different classes, but he refused.

　We met when we were in preschool and have been together ever since. It was natural for us to be together and I didn’t have any romantic feelings for them at the time.

　Originally, I liked all of my childhood friends, but I didn’t fall in love with Renya-kun in the romantic sense until I was in the fourth grade of elementary school. It was around that time that my breasts started to get bigger and people around me started to make fun of them.

　I know now that the boys were just starting to get interested in sex, or were at what I would call a “naive” age (not to brag, but we were popular). But at the time, I was hurt. That’s why I lost interest in boys other than my childhood friends.

　But the girls had bad intentions. Maybe it was because they were jealous, but they started to bully me. My childhood friends were not around, and I was told not to tell them.

　I didn’t want to worry my childhood friends, so I acted as usual. But when I was alone in my room, I shed tears everyday.

　Then one day, after a while, the bullying stopped. On the contrary, the people who had been bullying me stopped approaching me.

　I wondered why, and one day, when I was alone for a couple of nights, he apologized to me.

“I’m sorry it took me so long to notice.”

　I don’t know how he did it, but apparently he did something about it.

“…When did you notice?”

“How long do you think we’ve known each other? I noticed right away that you were hiding something. It just took me a while to find out what.”

He was the only one who noticed that I was hiding something. When I saw Renya smiling at me, I felt my shoulders relax. I thought I was behaving as usual, but it seems my childhood friends saw right through me.

“Next time, if something happens, don’t hide it. I, we’re on your side.”

　I’ll never forget the warmth of his hand as he held mine.

　From that day on, I began to hold Renya’s hand whenever I felt like it. In order to feel his warmth.

　However, since that day, I have not been able to feel that warmth.

　After Renya changed, he began to distance himself from us. It’s not blatant, but his personal space has expanded so that he refuses to be touched. It’s the same as the distance he has to others.

　When I tried to hold his hand, he refused, saying, “We’re a man and a woman, and it’s not good to touch each other casually anymore.”

　I was stunned when he said that. I wish I could have said that it didn’t matter, but I couldn’t force myself to take his hand, thinking that he might reject me again.

　I tried to shorten the distance between us, but I couldn’t do it. Since that day, my hand has not been able to reach him.

---