Chapter 8 | Starting Line

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“So, you’re staying at Ryoko-san’s house tonight, huh.”

I was relieved to see the message sent by my younger sister.

Ryoko-san is a neighbor who has taken care of me since I was little.

She’s also a teacher at the high school I attend.

Ryoko-san often looks after the Asahioka siblings, whose parents are away from home for long periods of time, and when I’m away from home for club training camps or away games, she takes Miori into her home.

Even so, I don’t think she would allow me to stay at a girl’s house due to my position as a teacher…

I told my sister that I’m staying at a friend’s house, so I think I’ll be able to keep it a secret.

That aside, there was no report from my sister that Ria had visited my house in her message.

Did I misread it?

Or perhaps Ria had judged that I wouldn’t go straight home and was wandering around outside?

No, maybe she’s with that guy somewhere…

“It’s ready.”

Futaba’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

The meal that Futaba had prepared was Japanese cuisine.

Rice, miso soup, teriyaki yellowtail, rolled omelet, and kinpira burdock.

It was quite the homemade meal.

“It looks delicious…”

“Of course it’s delicious. I made it with love for you, the one I love so much.”

I was startled by the words that unexpectedly came from Futaba’s mouth.

I didn’t think that I would be so easily charmed.

I don’t know if the feelings that I have for Futaba right now are just admiration anymore.

If we hadn’t met in such a special way as this, the situation would have been completely different.

If I hadn’t met Futaba while I was heartbroken, and wasn’t told of her feelings, then the story would have been completely different.

I’m not sure about my feelings for Futaba.

It feels like admiration, but it also seems like she’s the best person I could start a new love with.

I’m not a saint.

Even if I were to list off good reasons in my head, and act like a sensible person, I don’t have the strength to clearly reject such a beauty when she’s trying to get close to me.

Or rather, it would be more accurate to say that I’m not completely devoid of impure feelings.

Futaba said that I’m someone who cares for others.

If I was the person that she thought I was, then I wouldn’t hold on to a woman I didn’t love, and I wouldn’t embrace her.

But I’m just a normal high school boy in the middle of puberty.

Now that I’ve broken up with my cheating girlfriend, if I’m sought out by Futaba, I might seek pleasure over ethics.

In the end, I’m just someone who acts on momentary feelings.

If I’m consumed by the desire to embrace Futaba, then I would probably act on it.

Until that time comes, I don’t know how my heart will sway.

There are plenty of men and women who only have one-night stands in the world.

It’s like a relationship where you take home the person you like from a mixer that day.

I’m just inexperienced in love and want to take things step by step, but if you were to ask me if I want to have a pure relationship, then it’s not really like that.

I simply want to deepen my relationship slowly because I can’t keep up emotionally.

To put it another way, I don’t want to sprint at full speed and then reach the goal while I’m out of breath.

I just want to walk slowly and reach the goal without getting out of breath.

And, Futaba is probably the type who wants to sprint to the goal.

I think that it’s important to stand at the same level as the other person, read the room, and match the conversation when it comes to interacting with people.

I’m sure that’s the same when it comes to love.

If that’s the case, then maybe I should try going along with Futaba’s full sprint.

Whether we have a one-night stand or if we continue a relationship in the future depends on Futaba and me.

“Well… I’ll dig in.”

“Please, enjoy your meal.”

I had skipped lunch today, so I was very hungry.

At the karaoke place, I had only drank some of the drinks that I ordered, and hadn’t eaten anything.

“Is it good?”

“Yeah, it’s really good.”

Futaba’s cooking was delicious, without a doubt, as she had boasted that she was a good cook.

“More delicious than what Shiina made?”

Ria’s name came out of Futaba’s mouth for the first time.

As for the timing, it was the absolute worst.

I slowly placed the chopsticks I was holding in mid-air down.

“Well, I guess you can’t answer that. Even if she’s the one who cheated on you, the food is innocent.”

“…”

“By the way, Shinse, do you think this world is fair?”

“Eh, why all of a sudden?”

Are we going to start some philosophical debate all of a sudden at a time like this?

As for me, I’m grateful that we’re going off of that awkward topic.

“Fair… I can’t say that it’s fair. I think that it depends on what you consider to be fair, but I think that certain abilities and looks are decided when you’re born.”

Of course, when it comes to abilities, I think there’s a possibility that you could improve like how I improved my grades from the bottom of the grade to the second spot.

But on the other hand, I don’t have the potential to become a professional soccer player in soccer. I think that the people who are going to become professionals in the future have talent.

That’s especially the case when it comes to sports where your physique is important.

There’s a genetic limit to how much you can improve.

And as for looks, compared to the good looking Takanashi siblings, my face is…

“I mostly agree with that. Humans are born with different starting lines.”

“When you say that, Futaba-san, who is good at both academics and sports, and is beautiful, it sounds like you’re being sarcastic…”

“Even I can be delayed at the start sometimes. For example, well… with love, or something.”

“Love…”

“When I started having feelings for Shinse, I found out that you were dating Ria Shiina. Rather than being delayed at the start, it’s more like it was too late, wouldn’t you say?”

If even a beauty like Futaba has trouble winning over the person she likes, then it would probably be when the person she likes has a lover.

“To be honest, if it’s someone like me, then it would be easy to make a person who already has a lover mine. If I were to use any means necessary, and try every trick in the book, I’m confident that I could make them mine.”

“That’s… quite a lot of confidence…”

But actually, I don’t know how many high school boys there are that would refuse a beauty like Futaba when she’s trying to get close to them.

There are tons of guys at our high school that have confessed to Futaba and been rejected.

Even a person who has a lover, you don’t know how their heart will move.

“But, I thought that it was impossible for me to make you mine. With your personality, there’s no way that you would betray Shiina-san. Or rather, if you were the type of person who would betray her, then you wouldn’t be the you that I love.”

“I guess…”

“That’s why, I was going to confess to you as soon as you broke up with her. I didn’t want to be late ever again.”

“Eh, is that so?”

“That’s right. Actually, wasn’t that what I did as the conversation flowed? I told you that I love you, right?”

Come to think of it, it wasn’t just that she told me the love lives of the other 4, but Futaba also told me that I was the one she had her eyes on.

Normally, it takes courage to honestly express your feelings to someone, and that makes love difficult, but Futaba told me her feelings like it was nothing.

“There was one other thing I had decided on from before. And that was that the day you became free, I would make you mine.”

“To that extent…”

“That’s right. The person that I had been thinking about that much appeared before me right after breaking up with his lover. Don’t you think that I would see that as fate?”

Certainly, if I were in the opposite position, I would feel like it was fate.

“…Shinse, do you feel like we were destined to meet?”

“I… was curious about Futaba-san from before. After all, you’re a celebrity.”

She’s a genius who’s the top of her class and is good at sports. There’s no room for doubt, she’s the most beautiful girl in school.

“I’m happy. But those feelings are…”

“Yeah, it’s curiosity. There aren’t any romantic feelings. All of my love was directed towards Ria.”

“…What about now?”

Now, huh?

Humans don’t live in the past, and they don’t live in the future.

Even your feelings are the most important right now, and no matter how you felt in the past, or how you’ll feel in the future, you live with the feelings that you have now.

“Right now… I don’t know. It’s not like I’m not starting to turn to you, now that you’re getting close to me with your emotions that have nowhere else to go…”

“…Then, just become mine already.”

“…Huh?”

“No, that… That’s not it. Please, become mine.”

Futaba’s face turned red, and she made a pleading expression.

It looked the same as the expression that Ria had made on the day that Ria and I started dating.

That face where she was blushing and had some modesty.

“Please, direct that love… only to me.”

What kind of response should I make?

I don’t know Futaba well, so should I even be responding at all?

But even with Ria, if you were to ask if I was dating her after getting to know her well, I didn’t know anything about Ria’s true nature.

I’ve already failed at trying to date after getting to know someone well, and at taking things step by step before dating. There’s no guarantee that things will work out if I do things the same way again.

“Futaba-san… is that okay with you? If I say that I’ll date you, wouldn’t that mean that I’m not thinking of you as precious?”

“Why?”

“Because… isn’t dating someone that you’re not sure if you like means that you’re not thinking of them as precious? You didn’t fall for that kind of me, did you…”

Futaba shook her head silently and then sat back down next to me.

“This is just my selfishness. I want you to become mine right now because I don’t want you to be taken by someone else, or for someone else to get to you first. It’s a request.”

“A request…”

“With that selfish request of mine… will Shinse listen to it?”

Futaba looked at me with a dreamy expression.

“If you’ll date me… will you kiss me in return for your answer next time?”

“…”

So much happened today.

I thought a lot about life, about myself, and about others.

I feel like my values have changed. I feel like my outlook on life has changed.

That’s why, if it was the me from before, I definitely wouldn’t have acted so boldly—

I gently placed my lips on Futaba’s lips.

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