V3Ch1: Part 2

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Translator: Soafp

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“You know, ever since you and Otonashi-san started dating, Shu-kun has changed.”

“…Yeah.”

That’s right, it’s about Shu after all.

I know that Iori has no intention of blaming me for changing her beloved Shu. She continues to stare at me as she speaks.

“I also noticed that Shu-kun had feelings for Otonashi-san, and I was aware of that. I was even approaching him while liking him. Although I got to know Shu-kun through Otonashi-san, I started to like him as I talked to him sincerely.”

“……….”

Iori… She really likes Shu from the bottom of her heart.

As she fiddles with the hair near my ear, I find myself almost mesmerized by her sorrowful expression.

[Towa-kun?]

Oh no, just when I felt that way, I thought I heard the voice of the Demon King… no, Ayana. But I want to believe it’s just my imagination.

I need to focus on Iori’s words now!

“I’ve never liked anyone before… but the time I spent with Shu-kun was really enjoyable. No other boy has talked back to me or competed with me like he did. Yes… it was really fun.”

“……….”

“So I thought the current situation was good for me, and for Uchida-san too. But Shu-kun only has eyes for Otonashi-san. He always looks down and mutters something as if resenting someone…”

“…I see.”

I felt reassured because Iori often came to call Shu, and he always responded, but does he still drag Ayana’s matter so much?

But… even hearing such stories, I have no regrets and no sympathy—I suppose that’s what love is about.

“Whatever I do or whatever words I say, Shu-kun doesn’t pay attention to me… and that makes me feel a little empty when it continues.”

“That’s… maybe the same for Mari too?”

“She said the same thing. She still seems to love Shu-kun, but she wants to keep her distance for a while.”

I see… So Mari decided to keep her distance from Shu.

I see Shu talking to them as usual, but I don’t know what they’re talking about.

From Iori’s story, it seems that Shu is dragging Ayana’s matter too much, even in front of them… I’m sure Iori and Mari don’t like that.

“…And what about you, President?”

“I… Well, I don’t particularly want to keep my distance, but as I said earlier, it’s painful to feel empty. It would be easy if he just relied on me without thinking… but there probably wouldn’t be happiness beyond that.”

“……….”

“Love is difficult, isn’t it?”

Iori says with a smile.

Despite saying that it’s empty, painful, and there’s no happiness, she doesn’t seem to be affected at all. I don’t think there’s any need to worry about Iori—she’s really strong.

“Well, I’ll continue to think about Shu-kun slowly while dating him. So don’t make such a face, Yukishiro-kun.”

“…Eh?”

“You can’t hide a look of apology, can you?”

“…Really?”

I didn’t mean to show such an expression, but… Iorilightly taps my cheek, and then she gently strokes my cheek… huh!?

“W-What are you doing?”

“Your face looked red and a little painful, no? But I understand now.”

After staring at me for a moment, Iori says something like this.

“You’re handsome, Yukishiro-kun, but there are moments when I want to pamper you. Even I find you so cute that I get flustered… Does Otonashi-san feel this way while being by your side?”

“…I wonder.”

“Fufu♪”

Iori smiled beautifully once again. After parting ways with her as she mentioned about returning, I also headed back to the classroom.

“Welcome back, Towa-kun.”

“!?!”

As soon as I entered the classroom, I was greeted by Ayana, who was smiling cheerfully.

“Why are you standing at the entrance like this?” I wondered, ignoring her somewhat imposing expression. When I glanced away from Ayana towards the classroom, I noticed that Ayana’s friends seemed to be having fun, but what caught my attention was how the boys quickly averted their gazes as if they had seen a demon.

“Ayana…san?”

“Yes♪”

Is that a hallucination, seeing flame effects behind her smiling face!?

As if infected by the atmosphere of the other boys, I found myself cautiously observing Ayana’s demeanor… But what’s really going on?

“What’s wrong?”

“No, no, it’s nothing like that! I didn’t feel any indication of you being attracted to another girl while I wasn’t around, Towa-kun♪”

“……………”

“Oya, oya, why are you looking down, Towa-kun?”

K-Kkkkkkkkoooooooooeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee?!?!?!?

I had a strong feeling from Ayana’s words, and I even had auditory hallucinations of her voice in my head… Eh? Is Ayana some kind of psychic or something?

“Just kidding, Towa-kun.”

“……Phew”

“I’ll ask for more details after school, okay?”

“……Yeah”

She’s starting to look like a demon to me now.

Although it’s a chilling exchange for me, perhaps to my classmates, it might seem like a heated couple exchange. Or maybe the girls’ gaze just feels lukewarm after all.

“Well then, Towa-kun, see you later.”

“Ouyo.”

After that, I returned to my seat, and soon the afternoon classes began, starting the battle against drowsiness.

Despite spending time with Ayana lately, I don’t intend to stay up late enough to feel the effects the next day, but I still end up feeling incredibly sleepy.

Even so, I try to avoid sleeping by pinching my cheeks or thighs to stay awake, as it’s already nearing the end of today’s final class, physical education.

“I’m tired…”

“Fufu, good job.”

I was cleaning up the equipment used in physical education with Ayana.

Although both boys and girls had outdoor physical education, I volunteered to clean up, and Ayana is helping me.

(Two people alone in the equipment room… this is quite a common situation.)

In romantic comedy manga or anime, the scene where the heroine gets locked in the equipment room is a classic, but it’s not realistic for someone to lock it from the outside.

“This… is the scenario where the heroine gets locked in, right?”

“Aah… Did I say it out loud?”

“No? That means Towa-kun was thinking the same thing, right♪”

Well, it’s natural to think about it in this situation.

Usually, there’s a lucky pervert situation or some exciting romantic exchange when you’re locked in, but we don’t need any lucky pervert situations anymore… But maybe I wanted to experience it a little.

“Well then, shall we head back soon?”

Let’s go back. Just as I was about to say that, the door of the equipment room where we were closed with a clang.

“Eh?”

“…Ara?”

Ayana and I both turned our gaze towards the back.

The door we entered through was neatly closed, and the sound of it being locked reverberated through our eardrums unexpectedly. Stunned by this unexpected turn of events, neither of us could move, and we stood there blankly for some reason.

“Ah…”

“…Ha!”

Finally, we hurriedly rushed to the door.

Because we were too slow to react, there was already no sign of anyone outside the door, and there was no response even when we called out.

“Seriously?”

“Is this really happening…”

We had been talking about the situation of being trapped in the equipment room, saying that it wouldn’t happen in reality, and now this unexpected turn of events left me scratching my head.

“What should we do?”

“Hmm…”

Since it’s time for the end-of-day meeting, there probably won’t be anyone nearby, and although there’s a small window letting in light, it’s barely big enough for a person to pass through, so I don’t even consider attempting to escape through there… Well, that would be a last resort.

“Anyway, they’ll notice that Ayana and I are missing during the meeting. Even if we’re ignored, someone will probably notice once club activities start.”

“That’s true… fufu.”

“What’s so funny?”

“Sorry. It’s just that, with Towa-kun here, any accident seems fun to me.”

I was about to say she’s a troublesome girl, but I ended up laughing along with her.

Ayana was already resigned to wait until someone came, and she sat down on a stack of vaulting boxes.

“How about you sit down too, Towa-kun?”

“Right. I might as well take it easy too.”

I brushed off the dust from the mat and lay down beside it.

Perhaps because of the exercise, the drowsiness that should have disappeared from my body returned, and I yawned unabashedly enough to make Ayana laugh.

“You look really sleepy, huh?”

“Yeah… I’ve been feeling it since the fifth period.”

“You shouldn’t have stayed up too late… Well, sometimes you just feel sleepy no matter how much you sleep, so it’s not weird.”

“Yeah… *yawn*”

I feel like closing my eyes… I’m so sleepy.

Since there’s nothing else to do but wait, I decided to sleep comfortably, but then I heard the sound of someone lying down nearby—the one and only Ayana.

“Ehehe, maybe I’ll lie down too. I want to see Towa-kun’s sleeping face up close.”

“…It’s not funny.”

“It’s not about whether it’s funny or not. I just want to see the sleeping face of the person I like.”

Ayana stared at me intently.

I thought it might be okay to sleep while she’s staring at me like that, but as I closed my eyelids… I seemed to have fallen asleep for a little while.

Because when I opened my eyes again, the door of the equipment room was open.

“So, you were here after all…”

“Ayana! Are you… okay?”

I didn’t look towards the door, but I recognized the voices.

The male voice belonged to Somiya, who had previously been involved in the incident with Shu, and the female voice was probably Todo, who always gets along well with Ayana.

“Towa-kun, help has arrived.”

“…Yeah.”

Even though I had only slept for a short time, my head felt a bit foggy.

With Ayana’s help, I sat up, and then my gaze finally met the blushing faces of Somiya and the others who were staring at us.

(Why is this happening… ah)

The first thing that they opened the door to the warehouse was the sight of a man and a woman lying down and staring at each other… There’s nothing particularly suspicious going on, but there’s definitely room for imagination, indeed.

“…I might have shown a bit of a bad timing.”

“But we didn’t do anything. Shall we get up, Towa-kun?”

“Yeah.”

We promptly got up, and Ayana and I exited the equipment shed.

“Thanks, Somiya .”

“No problem, but… I was relieved when I realized it wasn’t anything lewd.”

“As if we would.”

Somiya laughed at my quick comeback.

By the way… similar exchanges were happening behind us.

“I’m glad nothing happened.”

“Oh, were you expecting something to happen?”

“No way!!”

“Fufu~♪”

…Was there some sort of expectation?

While I’d like to say I’m aware of the time and place, given Towa’s memories of doing such things with Ayana at school, if the atmosphere and various other factors align, I might not be aware of what’s happening…?

“At any rate, I’m glad we’re safe. I was prepared to wait until club activities started at the worst.”

“I noticed you weren’t there when the rehearsal started. Then I realized you weren’t here either.”

“Really?”

“Thought maybe you two were fooling around.”

“…Did you say that?”

“Nah, nah! That was Todo!”

The way he’s panicking seems suspicious…

As I gaze at Somiya, he desperately waves his hands in front of his face, as if to say it’s not him… Hmm.

“You and Todo-san seem to get along well?”

“Ou! We even went out together recently… Ah, never mind.”

“Hoh~?”

I’m curious about Somiya’s demeanor… but I’ll refrain from probing further.

By the way, Todo, whose name has been mentioned several times, is the girl who came to search with Somiya. She’s the girl in class who gets along best with Ayana.

A while ago, it was Setsuna Todo-san who invited Somiyato karaoke during the dispute with Shu.

(Come to think of it, Ayana mentioned a bit about it. Seems like Somiya and Todo-san get along pretty well.)

While I’m not particularly close to Somiya or Todo-san, I like seeing Ayana happily talking about her friends.

“Well, I hope things work out for them. Seeing Ayana happily talking about her friends makes me happy too.”

“Is that so… ehehe, I’ll do my best.”

As we exchanged such remarks and tried to enter the classroom, I bumped into someone.

“Oops, sorry.”

“No, it’s fi–“

The person I bumped into… was Shu.

Shu initially seemed flustered and said it was okay, but as soon as he realized it was me, his gaze sharpened.

He doesn’t need to show that much hostility… But I think pointing it out here would only make things worse, so I didn’t say anything. However, Somiya was different.

“You both bumped into each other, so what’s with that attitude?”

“It’s fine. It’s a delicate time right now.”

I said, and Somiya, true to his character, fell silent.

If he knows about Shu’s situation as a classmate, he should understand what’s going on with him, just like Aisaka. And if he’s close to Todo-san, he must know even more.

“So please don’t worry too much.”

“Got it. I won’t say anything to Sasaki.”

While I wouldn’t take that as a sign of gratitude, I appreciated it nonetheless. I thanked him and entered the classroom.

After that, it was soon time for dismissal.

“Towa-kun. Shall we go home?”

As Ayana approached with her bag, I nodded, and we left the classroom.

Today, we planned for Ayana to come over to my house and then go home after getting her things organized.

It’s a bit sad that she’s going home….but it’s already decided, so there’s no use worrying about it.

“Oh, by the way, Towa-kun.”

“Hmm?”

“Do you remember what happened at lunch?”

“Lunch?”

“Yes.”

Ayana smiled, reminding me of what happened that afternoon.

“You felt captivated by someone, remember?”

“Ah…”

I must have had a dumbfounded expression at that moment.

Ayana smiled silently, but her intimidating presence from earlier in the day still lingered, making me feel a bit terrified—not that I was scared, but her presence was… almost like a demon lord!

I braced myself.

Like a brave hero who never fears even in front of a demon lord without any weapons, I stood there, showing courage!

“Don’t waste your time with nonsense. Just surrender already.”

“Alright.”

I admitted defeat!

I straightened up and, since there was no need to hide anything, I told her everything that happened during lunch break.

“I see. So you talked with Honjo-senpai and Mari-chan about that?”

“Yeah, well… that’s what happened.”

After I explained what happened during lunch, it seemed that Ayana had something on her mind too.

We continued walking, and as if she had organized her thoughts, Keina continued speaking.

“In the end, it’s just a heartbreak for Shu-kun. There’s no need for you and me to worry too much. But it was me who involved those girls more than necessary with Shu-kun… In that sense, I do have some thoughts about it.”

However, Ayana continued.

“To be honest, at this point, there’s no need to worry about anything. When I decided to give up on the path that was supposed to continue… Well, I don’t think I’m at fault.”

“Haha… Well, that’s true.”

Certainly, at this point, Ayana didn’t do anything wrong.

If things had gone as originally planned, what Ayana did could have been the beginning of a catastrophe. But in the current situation, all she did was help Shu expand his circle of friends.

“This is already like resignation. Normally, in a typical relationship, one would worry about the current state of Shu-kun. But in our case, things have already become complicated. So, all we can do is wait for time to resolve it. That’s all there is to it.”

“…..Right.”

I really am thinking too deeply about this, aren’t I?

I guess it’s better to think a bit more flexibly, like Ayana, and just believe that time will resolve things… Alright, I’ll do that too.

“Life doesn’t always go as planned, huh?”

“Have you suddenly aged?”

“That’s not something you say to a girl, Towa-kun.”

“Sorry.”

“I forgive you.”

We both chuckled in sync with each other’s rhythm.

Thanks to the conversation with Ayana, it felt like a weight had been lifted off my chest… Thanks, Ayana.

“Now then, let’s talk more about that incident where you were captivated by Honjo-senpai.”

“Didn’t we finish talking about that?”

“Nope, not yet!”

In the end, the topic was dragged out until we reached home… Haa.

And then—

“Well, Towa-kun, that’s it for today.”

“Ah… I’ll miss you.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll see each other at school, and most importantly, we can go on dates on weekends.”

“We can even go on dates after school.”

“Yes♪”

After tightly embracing Ayana at the entrance, feeling a tinge of reluctance as she walked away with a smile, I returned to the empty house and sank deeply into the sofa in the living room, which seemed unusually spacious.

“It feels bigger… Was it always like this?”

Just her absence makes it feel like this… It makes me realize how significant her presence is.

“Mom must be out shopping? …Ah, it’s so quiet.”

With nothing to do, I turned on the TV to pass the time.

Comedians were performing their routines on TV, but I didn’t even crack a smile. Time passed slowly.

“…It’s peaceful.”

While I miss Ayana, there’s something profound about this empty, idle time, a result of my own actions.

After spending about an hour and a half leisurely, when I returned to the room, I found something unexpected.

“Eh…?”

On my desk lay Ayana’s phone.

Since she’s not at home, there’s no reason for it to be here. That’s when it hit me—I had forgotten about it.

“…It must be inconvenient for her. What should I do?”

She might come back for it if she realizes she’s forgotten it, but realistically, she’s probably not coming back. Maybe she hasn’t even noticed it’s missing yet.

“…………”

Considering how inconvenient it would be without her phone… I made a decision.

“I’ll take it to Ayana’s house.”

After sending a message to my mom informing her that I’ll be out for a while, I securely put Ayana’s phone in my pocket and left the house.