Chapter 1

Translator: Soafp

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The summer vacation that the second-year high school student Daiki had thoroughly enjoyed with his beloved girlfriend Reina came to an end. Stricken with a melancholic mood, Daiki had grown accustomed to the weariness of commuting every morning, all while being entangled in a sense of gloom. This morning, since Reina wasn’t occupied with student council duties, Daiki walked to school alone while listening to music.

Muttering that it might have been a bit better if he had commuted by bicycle given the almost melting temperature since morning, Daiki arrived at the school’s entrance and changed into indoor shoes at the shoe lockers.

“Hot…”

As he started walking to escape the humid entrance and head towards the well-ventilated classroom, he noticed a small pouch on the ground, seemingly something Reina might have. He picked it up.

“…Whose could this be?”

Since the pouch didn’t have a name written on it, Daiki decided to head to the staff room in the opposite direction before going to the classroom, in order to report the found item.

“Hey! Give that back! It’s mine!”

Startled by the voice echoing through the quiet morning corridor from behind, Daiki turned around and saw the trio of classmates: Kaoru Inatani, Shizuku Ichikawa, and Kaede Misaka. They were close friends.

“G-Good morning… Something wrong?”

Daiki greeted them as usual, but sensing that something was different about them today, he couldn’t help but ask.

In response to their accusing words, Daiki was taken aback.

“Why do you have that, Daiki-kun!?”

“That? Oh, this?”

As Inatani questioned him, her gaze fell on Daiki’s right hand, where he was holding the pouch, and she seemed displeased. He understood what she was asking.

“I’ve been looking for it forever, so why do you have it, Daiki-kun!?”

Despite having picked up the dropped item, Daiki wondered why he was being accused in this manner, and he emotionally retorted with a slightly raised voice.

“What? It was just lying near the shoe lockers, so I picked it up, that’s all!”

“Eek!”

The trio recoiled at Daiki’s uncharacteristic behavior, and Inatani, who had been pressing him, sat down in the corridor, tears welling up.

Other students who were coming to school paused to watch the scene of Daiki and the others arguing. Among them, a female student spotted a male teacher nearby and called for help.

“…Oi! What are you all doing so early in the morning!?”

The male teacher who appeared before Daiki and the others was Tatsuya Wakamiya, a popular figure among female students. He was known for favoring girls to gain popularity among them.

“Sensei, Daiki-kun stole Kaoru-chan’s important pouch. He won’t admit it…”

“That’s right!”

Misaka, who was next to Inatani, informed Wakamiya, and Ichikawa added fuel to the fire. Hearing this, Wakamiya approached Daiki and asked.

“What are you holding in your right hand?”

“Eh? Th-this is something I found earlier, a lost item…”

“I didn’t ask you that! Whose is it?”

Intimidated by Wakamiya’s pressure, Daiki’s thoughts became unstable, and he struggled to find the right words.

“Um… well… this… it’s not what you think… so…”

“”Give it back to Kaoru-chan!!””

“…Ah, yes.”

As Daiki tried to return the pouch he was holding in his right hand to Kaoru Inatani, confused about the situation, he took a step forward. Just at that moment, Reina, who hadn’t been able to come to school with him this morning, entered his field of view and he stopped.

“Daiki? What’s wrong?”

“Reina… it’s not what you think… it’s not me… please believe me.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m telling you, Reina… I…”

In a panic, Daiki stretched out his right hand, holding the pouch, wanting to explain to Reina and seek her help. However, Reina’s gaze shifted from Daiki’s eyes to his right hand, and her concerned expression turned into suspicion.

“…Daiki, is that…”

Reina instantly realized that the pouch was a girl’s essential item, and before she could question why Daiki had it, a sense of disgust enveloped her. She unconsciously distanced herself from Daiki.

“…Reina?”

Even though he called Reina’s name, she moved away from him as if rejecting him. Shocked, Daiki’s legs gave way, and he collapsed to his knees.

Daiki’s trembling fingers lost their grip on the pouch he was holding, and it fell to the corridor. Tatsuya Wakamiya, taking charge, forcefully grabbed Daiki’s trembling right arm, lifted him to his feet, and without a word, led him to the student guidance room.

Reina picked up the pouch that Daiki had dropped when Wakamiya took him away and walked toward her crying classmate and childhood friend, Kaoru.

“Kaoru-chan.”

“Ugh…”

Kaoru looked up, received the pouch from Reina, and checked its contents.

“Huh? No way… it’s not here. It’s stolen. My spare underwear…”

“””Eh?”””

In Kaoru’s muttering, Kaede, Shizuku, and Reina, without exchanging words, assumed that Daiki had stolen Kaoru’s underwear and was the culprit. Simultaneously, they turned their faces in the direction Daiki had been taken.

The spare underwear that Kaoru had muttered wasn’t stolen by Daiki. It had been forgotten by Kaoru herself in the school infirmary after a PE class the day before. However, due to this misunderstanding, Daiki’s life was about to take a significant turn…

Still held by Wakamiya, with aching right arm, Daiki couldn’t understand the reality he was placed in. He was led into the student guidance room, forced to sit in a chair, and kept staring at the desk in front of him.

“…Your class and name?”

“…2-A, Daiki Sudou.”

“Sudou-kun, do you… understand the crime you committed?”

“Crime? Teacher, I haven’t… I just picked up the pouch that was lying in the corridor.”

“Just that, and you think a girl crying makes it alright?”

Without lifting his gaze, Daiki remained in a bowed position. Seeing this, Wakamiya assumed Daiki was the one who had stolen a girl’s important pouch and interrogated him.

“So, Sudou-kun, listen. Stealing someone’s belongings is a crime called theft. Do you know that it’s a serious act that can lead to expulsion?”

“N-No, I didn’t do it… I haven’t committed any theft! Please believe me! I just picked it up!”

Upon hearing the word “expulsion” from the teacher, Daiki finally raised his head and protested, but his pleas were met with continued denial. After a while, the door of the student guidance room opened without knocking, and Vice Principal Tagawa entered.

“…..Wakamiya-sensei, can I continue from here?”

“Yes…”

“Wakamiya-sensei, please proceed with your class preparations.”

“…Understood. Excuse me.”

As Wakamiya bowed to Vice Principal Tagawa and exited the student guidance room, he left Daiki, whose face had turned pale, and Vice Principal Tagawa slowly sat down, facing Daiki.

“Sudou-kun, how did you come into possession of Inatani-san’s personal pouch? Please explain it to me.”

Unlike Wakamiya, Vice Principal Tagawa spoke gently. Trembling, Daiki recounted the whole situation in a shaky voice.

“I see. I’ve heard that you and Inatani-san are close classmates. Of course, I’m also aware of your good attitude in class and your good behavior.”

“Yes…”

Upon hearing these words from the vice principal, which seemed to convey understanding, Daiki’s hopes were lifted slightly, believing he might be able to clear his name. However, Vice Principal Tagawa added the final word.

“But, you know, stealing an underwear is something I can’t overlook.”

“Eh?”

Upon realizing that he was being accused of stealing underwear, Daiki was left speechless and frozen in place.

“Sudou-kun. I will talk to Inatani-san and decide how to proceed. Is there anything you’d like to tell me before that?”

Realizing that no one was there to believe him and that he had nowhere to run, Daiki weakly exhaled his words like a final confession.

“I… I really haven’t done anything… I’m sorry.”

“I see.”

Vice Principal Tagawa sighed and slowly stood up. He stopped at the door of the room, turned back to Daiki, who was sitting with his head bowed, and fixed a cold gaze on him.

“Stay in this room until after school today. Don’t return to the classroom. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll come to get you after school.”

After hearing the door close, Daiki’s emotions, already in disarray, overwhelmed him, and tears welled up. He quietly cried, suppressing his sobs.

The chime signaling the start of classes that he had heard in his everyday life seemed distant to Daiki, whose heart was breaking. His phone kept vibrating in his pocket, indicating incoming messages, but he couldn’t bring himself to pick it up. He spent the entire time until the end of the school day buried in his desk.

Thinking that no one would come for him today, Daiki was shaken from his thoughts as Vice Principal Tagawa entered the room.

“Sudou-kun, go home today. Tomorrow, don’t come to the classroom. Come here instead.”

“Yes.”

With his backpack, which he hadn’t opened once since the morning, Daiki left the student guidance room, his head hung low, and walked out after a few hours.

“Excuse me.”

“Don’t make any detours, go straight home.”

“Yes.”

Without making eye contact, Daiki responded and walked down the corridor. On his way to where the shoe lockers were located, he stopped by the boys’ restroom. After not having eaten anything all day, he drank water from the sink to quench his thirst. Having relieved his parched throat, he stepped out into the corridor. By coincidence or fate, Reina was standing there alone.

“”… … …””

Their gazes met, but they didn’t exchange words. They stared at each other in silence, both feeling the weight of the moment. Unable to bear the heavy atmosphere, Daiki turned to walk away, but Reina called out to him.

“…Sudou-kun.”

Daiki stops and looks back slowly, thinking that not being called Daiki has made him distant from Reina.

“What?”

Daiki, who could not call Reina by name, slowly returns only one word.

“I never thought of you as that kind of childhood friend. I feel so embarrassed that Sudou-kun, who used to be my childhood friend and boyfriend, is associated with this.

“… Used to be?”

Hearing the words pouring out from Reina, Daiki felt as if their boyfriend-girlfriend relationship had become a thing of the past. He asked for clarification.

“It’s impossible for me to believe you would steal her underwear. So, let’s break up! And from now on, don’t come near me or talk to me at all!”

“Reina…”

Daiki softly called Reina’s name, turned the corner of the hallway, and watched her until she was out of sight before heading home.

Daiki, who didn’t want to talk to anyone, went straight to his room without going to the living room after entering the house. He locked himself in his room, refusing to eat dinner. When his father, who had returned from work, called out to him from behind the door, he obediently went to the living room.

“Why are you sitting in seiza on the floor instead of on the sofa, Daiki? Sit properly on the sofa as your father told you.”

“No, Dad, I’m fine like this.”

“That’s not right. Do as your father says and sit on the sofa, Daiki.”

“Yes.”

Upon seeing his parents’ faces, Daiki, who had thought he would be scolded for today’s events, was more bewildered by their calm demeanor than angered. He waited for his father’s words, still sitting on the floor.

“Daiki, your mother told me about what happened at school.”

“Yes…”

“I want to hear it directly from you. Can you tell me?”

“…I… I just thought it was lost and picked it up. I didn’t steal anyone’s belongings.”

“…I see, understood.”

“Dad?”

Daiki, who hadn’t expected his father’s response, lifted his head after bowing.

“I can tell by looking at your face, Daiki. You would never commit the crime the school accused you of.”

“…Why? The teachers didn’t believe me… and neither did Reina.”

Upon hearing his father’s words, Daiki shed tears in front of others for the first time that day.

“Because you are our son. Daiki, I can tell you didn’t commit the crime because you’re our child. It’s the right decision to break up with Reina-chan, who didn’t believe you and didn’t help.”

The unconditional trust that parents have in their child due to their parent-child relationship overwhelmed Daiki with joy, and he couldn’t stop his tears.

Although comforted by the presence of someone who believed in him so close by, Daiki’s school life changed drastically the next day into a daily hell.

He endured bullying at school, clinging to the fact that he had understanding parents waiting for him at home, but the days of loneliness took his toll. One month after that incident, during lunch break, Daiki found that his textbook had been hidden. He had come to the classroom to search for it, as he hadn’t attended classes for a while.

Since he was in the same class as Kaoru Inatani, considering her emotional distress, the school had temporarily transferred Daiki to a special class. Among them, he came to the classroom during lunch break to look for the missing textbook.

As he approached the classroom, he heard the voice of his childhood friend and former best friend, Nobuharu Kinoshita, with whom he had grown distant.

“…Seriously, Daiki has fallen so far and become a total hidden loser.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

Talking with Nobuharu Kinoshita, Daiki’s ex-girlfriend and classmate who had been with him for the past month, their voices reached him just as he was about to enter the classroom.

“Reina-chan, are you ready to start dating me again?”

“I’m not sure about being in a relationship right now… Sorry, Nobuharu-kun.”

“…Still hung up on Daiki?”

“That’s…”

“Daiki was dating cute Reina-chan, but then he acted like a criminal, right? It’s seriously disgusting.”

“Yeah, but…”

Daiki stood there, not entering the classroom as he heard their conversation. It was Reina’s voice, and he could also recognize Nobuharu. Despite Reina’s warnings to stay away, since he hadn’t been stopped from entering the classroom a few times, he decided that today it wouldn’t be a problem to approach and talk to her. He took a deep breath and then opened the door to the classroom, facing the classmates’ cold glances.

As he opened the door, Daiki could feel the gaze of his classmates and also the gaze of Reina and Nobuharu. However, he focused on ignoring them, walking toward his seat in the special education class.

“Found it.”

Inside the special education class, Daiki muttered to himself as he found the missing textbook he had been looking for, relieved to have found it. As he prepared to leave the classroom, he encountered Nobuharu standing in the hallway.

“…”

“What, are you ignoring us?”

“…”

“Is the perverted loser still sticking to his silence? Hah?”

“I think you should stay away from me.”

“You’re really getting on my nerves, you know…”

“I don’t have anything to do with you.”

Daiki’s defiant attitude provoked Nobuharu further. Suddenly, Reina entered the hallway as well, and Nobuharu grabbed her hand and pulled her close.

“Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention this, but Reina and I are dating now.”

“Wait, Nobuharu-kun!?”

After Nobuharu’s sudden and unexpected remark, Reina let out a surprised exclamation. She then turned her gaze toward Daiki, who didn’t even spare her a glance. This act of being completely ignored by him tightened her chest.

“Oh, is that so? Even though you didn’t need to tell me… But, you two look good together. Be happy.”

Daiki’s words felt like a tightening grip on her heart, as he spoke those words to her while not acknowledging her presence in the slightest.

“Tsk… What a boring reaction, that guy.”

“Hey, Nobuharu-kun? What you just said was a joke, right? It’s impossible.”

“Hmm? I’m serious, Reina-chan.”

“That’s not happening. You’re not my type at all. I wouldn’t even talk to you if we weren’t childhood friends.”

“Again~”

As Reina decisively rejected Nobuharu due to him not being her type, he awkwardly attempted to approach her and made flirtatious remarks, causing others around to tease him. However, he remained oblivious to Reina’s genuine discomfort.

As the bustling lunch break came to an end and students were returning to the classroom, an unusual sight appeared: the school nurse, Shibata, made an appearance.

“Hey, hey~ Is Inari Kaoru-san in this class?”

In her early thirties and possessing a gentle and soothing aura, Shibata was popular among the male students, and she was known for her approachable demeanor. She responded to the male students’ calls with a smile as she searched for Kaoru Inari.

“Sensei, do you need something from me?”

“Oh, there you are, Inari-san! You left something behind in the health room quite a while ago, so I’ve come to deliver it to you.”

Kaoru, unable to recall what she might have left behind in the health room, stood up from her seat and made her way to Shibata’s location near the door.

“Sensei, what did I forget?”

“Well, it’s a bit awkward to give it to you here, so how about we step into the hallway?”

“Sure…”

After the two of them stepped into the hallway, Shibata handed Kaoru a gray bag whose contents were not immediately clear.

“T-this is…?”

“Yeah, spare underwear. It’s something important for girls, right?”

“…”

As Kaoru realized that the item Shibata handed her was the one missing from her important pouch, a chill ran down her entire body.

“Kaoru-san!?”

Although Shibata had only delivered the forgotten item to her, her sudden pallor prompted Shibata to call out to her in a loud voice.

Reacting to the voice calling her from the hallway, Reina, who had left the classroom, approached the two figures in the corridor. Her gaze naturally turned to the item Kaoru was holding.

“Kaoru-chan, is that…?”

“Shh, it’s okay. It’s just a spare.”

“Eh? Why did Sensei give it to Kaoru-chan?”

“Kaoru-san had left it in the health room for a long time.”

“Since when?”

“Hmm, I think since right after summer break.”

Upon Shibata’s words, a worst-case scenario raced through Reina’s mind, and her emotions became chaotic. She firmly grabbed Kaoru’s shoulder, turning her around to face her.

“Kaoru! How did you not notice!?”

“W-Well, you see… I mean…”

On that day, Kaoru hadn’t realized that the pouch she lost was the one she had dropped when taking out her wallet the night before Big Test Day. The next morning, when she realized she had lost it, Kaoru was searching with her classmates, Itsuka and Shizuku, and it was a mere coincidence that she happened to find it in Daiki’s possession.

She was embarrassed to tears by the thought that her childhood friend Daiki might have seen its contents and, forgetting the fact that she had left it in the health room, she jumped to the conclusion that her underwear had been stolen.

Only now did Kaoru realize that she had hurt her childhood friend Daiki, who was also her classmate, by joining in the ignoring and bullying that had taken place over the past month.

Becoming aware of the fear in Reina’s teary eyes directed at her, Kaoru lowered her gaze, scared.

As the footsteps of someone running down the hallway reached their ears, the three of them turned their attention.

“Ah! It’s Wakamiya-Sensei!”

The person running down the hallway was Wakamiya, the guidance counselor.

“Wakamiya-sensei, it’s not allowed for teachers to run in the hallway.”

“Haa… haa… I’m sorry. Anyway, have you seen Daiki Sudou from this class?”

“I haven’t seen him. Have you guys?”

“W-Well, Sudou-kun went that way with his textbook.”

After Reina informed Wakamiya of the direction Daiki had walked, Wakamiya ran off again without saying anything.

“Ara, even though running isn’t allowed… I’ll be heading back.”

Saying so, Shibata muttered and walked in the same direction that Wakamiya had run off to. Watching her walk away, Reina’s smartphone vibrated with a notification. She immediately took out her phone and saw that it was an incoming short message conversation using a phone number, which was unusual. As she opened the messaging app, her eyes widened significantly.

[I’m sorry for everything until now. The time when I was with you, Reina, I was incredibly happy. Even now when I remember it. Thank you, Reina. I hope you and Nobuharu will be happy together.]

On that day, Reina had pushed Daiki away, rejecting him harshly. However, she hadn’t blocked his messages. She knew his character, that he would keep his promises no matter what. But she hadn’t expected to receive a message from him like this, not a single message until now.

“…No, it can’t be, right? Daiki… Daiki!!”

Facing a message that made her feel like she might never see him again, Reina forgot about the afternoon classes and ran through the hallway with all her might, desperately searching for Daiki.

At the same time that Reina was searching for Daiki throughout the school building, there was a male student, unnoticed by anyone, slowly ascending the stairs that led to the rooftop…