Chapter 34: A Big Step

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Translator: Soafp

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A few months had passed since I transferred schools, and I had become a third-year high school student.

Even after moving into a new class, my classmates continued to casually come up and talk to me.

Perhaps because everyone was preparing for university entrance exams, the quality and amount of lessons and assignments had become more demanding, and the students' attitudes were changing as well.

During self-study periods and breaks, many students could be found reviewing their textbooks and notes.

“Aizawa, could you teach me something?”

It was no longer unusual for a classmate sitting nearby to ask me that.

“Yeah, sure.”

If I were still the person I had been when I first transferred here, I probably would have kept my distance from everyone around me.

I don’t know if it would be accurate to say that I had been mentally unwell, but I had certainly shut myself away inside my own shell to that extent.

“Hey, could you teach me too?”

“Ah, me too?”

Little by little, people began gathering around me like this.

The reason everyone was willing to come and talk to me was because I was better at studying than they were.

If I weren’t good at studying…

If my grades suddenly plummeted from here on out…

Would these people show even the slightest bit of interest in me?

They probably wouldn’t.

I was sure of it.

That was how I had thought until not long ago.

But lately, I had started thinking a little differently.

“Yeah, of course. Let’s all do our best.”

“Th-Thanks, Aizawa-kun!”

“You’re seriously helping me out!”

“So, which part don’t you understand?”

When I taught them, my classmates were genuinely happy.

“Aizawa-kun, thanks as always.”

Hearing those words of gratitude made me happy too.

Watching them like this reminded me of something.

My old school, Kaimei Gakuen High School, when I first entered.

I had realized that the classmates I had back then weren’t all that different from the people standing in front of me now.

Back then, my classmates had also come up and talked to me because I had passed the entrance exam as the top student.

When I hadn’t ranked first in the year on a regular exam, they had encouraged me.

Even when we were preparing for the cultural festival, although they eventually started finding me annoying, they had initially invited me to help in a friendly manner.

There had been plenty of other little signs of their kindness and consideration, too.

I was the one who had pushed them away and deliberately kept my distance.

At the time, I had been so desperate that I hadn’t noticed any of it.

I hadn’t even cared.

Of course, there were probably people who had laughed at me out of malicious curiosity when my grades began to fall…

“Aizawa-kun, do you have any hobbies? Ah, no, sorry. You never liked talking about stuff like this, did you?”

That’s right.

There really had been people who had tried to reach out to me like this.

I think I had been biased.

“No, it’s fine. I’ve actually gotten into manga lately.”

“I read manga too! What kind do you read?”

It was true that these people had approached me because I was good at studying.

And now, I thought that was a perfectly good thing.

It was simply one of my own qualities, and there was nothing wrong with it.

And they simply wanted to know what other sides of me existed besides the fact that I was good at studying.

If we had things in common, we could become friends.

If we didn’t click, there was no need to force it.

Unless both sides made an effort to reach out to each other, we would never be able to build a genuine relationship.

The me from before I transferred would never have realized that.

I wouldn’t have been able to take even this small step forward.

I think I’ve changed a little.

Why was I able to change?

It was because…

“Um… C-Can I join you guys too?”

A girl suddenly approached the place where we had gathered to study.

Yes…

The reason I had been able to change was because of her.

“Yeah. Sit here, Shizuku.”

I stood up from my chair and made room for her to sit.

Shizuku quietly sat down in my seat and looked around at the classmates in front of her.

“…N-Nice to meet you.”

The classmates giggled at Shizuku’s words.

They weren’t laughing at her or making fun of her in the slightest.

“Yeah, nice to see you again today, Saito-san.”

“Saito-san is surprisingly shy, isn’t she?”

Since becoming a third-year, Shizuku had taken a step forward.

It wasn’t because I had told her to do anything.

She had found the courage to act on her own.

It was different from my own small step.

Shizuku’s much bigger step had given me courage.

“Shizuku, let’s do our best on the next test too.”

“I-I don’t need you to tell me that… I’ll do my best.”

Perhaps embarrassed to say that in front of everyone, Shizuku’s cheeks turned slightly red as she opened her textbook and notebook.

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“Yamato, I’ve put dinner in the fridge.”

“Yeah. Take care.”

Mom was heading to work.

She was working the night shift today, so she was leaving for work around the time the sun was beginning to set.

“Hm? Mom, your phone’s ringing.”

“Oh, right.”

Mom answered the incoming call and began talking to someone.

“What? You’re going to work the night shift too?”

It seemed to be a call related to work.

After a conversation that lasted less than a minute, Mom put down the bag she had been carrying and spoke.

“Shizuku-chan’s mother was working the day shift today, but someone called in absent, so apparently she’s going to have to work the night shift too.”

“So she’s basically going to be working nonstop? Won’t that make her sick…?”

“Yeah. The night shift starts at ten, so she said she’s going to take a short nap beforehand, but… Machiko-san has seemed a little different lately. I wonder if she’s going to be okay.”

Shizuku’s mother, Machiko-san, was someone I’d spoken to a little when I first moved here.

She was a gentle and kind woman.

Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen Machiko-san lately.

Not long ago, I’d often run into her coming home after a night shift, and we’d exchange a quick greeting, but…

“Shizuku-chan is home right now, isn’t she?”

“Yeah, she probably is.”

Mom immediately went over to the neighboring apartment and rang the intercom.

The resident, Shizuku, quickly opened the door and appeared.

“Oh, Yamato’s mom. Good evening.”

Yamato’s mom…?

So that’s what Shizuku called my mother…

“Good evening, Shizuku-chan. Machiko-san… Your mother, I mean, she’s been asked to work the night shift starting tonight.”

“What!? Really?”

Shizuku looked surprised, but her expression soon turned lonely.

“I’m sorry. There have been a lot of staff shortages lately. I’m heading to work too. Shizuku-chan, do you have something to eat?”

“Ah… well…”

Shizuku swallowed her words and scratched her cheek with her right hand as though she was having trouble saying something.

The thenar area of her right hand was stained black.

I could pretty much figure out what had happened.

“Shizuku, you got so absorbed in drawing that you forgot to make dinner, didn’t you?”

“Ugh… Y-Yeah, I did. But I’m alone tonight anyway, so I’ll just buy some cup noodles at the convenience store. It’s not a problem!”

Her voice was unnaturally high.

What was she trying so hard to act tough about?

“Shizuku-chan, if it isn’t a bother, why don’t you have dinner at our place? We always make more than enough.”

“Huh? Really!? …But…”

She was obviously hesitating because she didn’t want to impose.

“Shizuku, you can eat at our place. I mean… I’d be lonely eating by myself too.”

With the way I’d put it, I knew Shizuku would take me up on the offer.

“I-I guess I can’t say no. If that’s what Yamato wants… Th-Then I’ll intrude.”

“Hehe, Shizuku-chan, please take care of Yamato.”

“Y-Yes! I’ll lock up first, then I’ll come over.”

After Shizuku briefly returned to her own apartment, Mom looked relieved.

“Shizuku-chan has really become more cheerful, hasn’t she?”

That’s right.

Shizuku had broken out of her shell.

When I first met her, she had been incredibly short-tempered and deliberately kept other people at a distance.

She was growing emotionally right before my eyes.

“Hey, Yamato. Shizuku-chan is really beautiful, isn’t she?”

“Uh… yeah… I can’t deny that.”

“Whenever I look at Shizuku-chan, she reminds me of that girl you were close with when you were little…”

That girl…

She must have meant my childhood friend…

“I don’t think Shizuku and… her… are very similar…”

“Really? Look, they’re both beautiful girls.”

Well… I couldn’t deny that either.

“But I still think they’re similar. Shizuku-chan and Aoi-chan have almost exactly the same expression when they’re looking at you, Yamato.”

The expressions Shizuku and… her… had when looking at me?

I didn’t understand.

Even if the way the two of them looked at me really was similar, I had absolutely no idea what that was supposed to imply.

“Well then, Yamato, I’m off. Take care of Shizuku-chan for me.”

“Ah, yeah. Take care.”

Mom was about to start walking toward the station, but she suddenly turned around.

“Yamato, make sure you send Shizuku-chan home before it gets too late. And don’t do anything indecent, okay?”

“W-Why would I do that!?”

I couldn’t believe she was saying something like that with such a serious expression.

Did she really trust me that little?

“Come on, go already. You’ll be late.”

“Yes, yes. You’re right. I’m sure it’ll be fine. Shizuku-chan looks like she’s quite the strong-willed girl, after all.”

I thought Mom understood Shizuku and didn’t understand her at all at the same time.

“Huh? Yamato’s mom already left?”

The moment I saw Mom off on her way to work, Shizuku appeared.

“Yeah. Well, let’s eat.”

“Yamato, look, look! I drew this today!”

Shizuku opened the sketchbook she was carrying and showed it to me with a huge smile.

The picture she’d drawn was an architectural drawing…

The moment I saw it, my eyes widened.

“…”

“Y-Yamato…?”

“Hm? Ah… what?”

“Is it… not very good?”

“…Of course not. It was just so incredibly high-quality that I couldn’t find the words. You’re seriously amazing, Shizuku.”

“R-Really?”

“Yeah. I like your drawings, Shizuku.”

“T-Thank you. Hehe.”

Lately, I had been seeing Shizuku smile shyly and happily like that more and more often.

“Shizuku… why did you decide to draw that building?”

“Yeah. My mom used to work there a long time ago. I’ve been there a few times…”

After saying that, Shizuku stared intently at me as though there was something she wanted to say.

“…I see. It almost feels like I’m looking at a black-and-white photograph. It’s really impressive. After we finish dinner, let me take a closer look at it.”

“Yeah! But in exchange, I’m going to draw you again today, Yamato!”

I let Shizuku into my room and began preparing dinner.

“Dinner is nikujaga!? Yay! That’s my favorite!”

“…I see.”

I responded rather flatly to the excited Shizuku.

“You like it too, Yamato!?”

The picture Shizuku had shown me earlier…

“…Yeah… I like it…”

That picture…

I couldn’t get it out of my head.