Chapter 13: Enough is enough.

Reading Settings

Translator: Soafp

---

Although we fell far behind schedule, we managed to complete all the assignments safely.

As a precaution, a teacher supported Katsurama by the shoulder and took him ahead to the point where vehicles could access the trekking course, then back to the lodging.

Needless to say, Katsurama glared at me when I reached the finish.

Each group prepared dinner at the outdoor cooking area.

Tonight's menu was curry.

Curry eaten while looking out at nature was the best.

It was the only thing I had been looking forward to in this whole program.

Katsurama, injured and useless, was reduced to being a decorative object while the rest of us began cooking.

Hiiragi and Shinonome cut ingredients with practiced hands, their knives making crisp, pleasant sounds. Masaki nodded in admiration.

“Wow, you two are good at this.”

Hiiragi puffed out her chest proudly.

“Heheh. I'm working hard at bridal training for my darling! I even make my own lunches every day, you know?”

“Haha, Sakura's boyfriend is a lucky guy.”

At that, Shinonome glanced at Masaki and muttered:

“I… help with cooking at home.”

“Oh, that's impressive. I've never cooked even once, so I couldn't imitate you.”

“It's not that big a deal.”

“I'm bad at it, so I'll stay out of the way and do the washing up. Mind if I work next to you?”

“…Sure.”

Shinonome's face turned red and she quickly lowered her gaze, but then she noticed me giving her a lukewarm look and glared back.

Katsurama, sitting there like an ornament, was also looking at me as if I were his mortal enemy.

As for you, blame Masaki, not me…

Don't act sweet around Masaki and tough only toward me.

Assigned to make the salad, I started cutting vegetables with Amanatsu.

Amanatsu held her knife like a hammer, taking suspicious breaths—“Hoo, hoo”—before I could stop her and bringing it down.

Thud.

The cutting board shook from the violent impact.

“…Amanatsu, you—”

“N-No, it's not what it looks like!”

In a panic, she held up the completely uncut cabbage.

“It's like… the knife refused to cut something so trivial at the last second!”

“What is your knife, Zantetsuken?” [TL: I think it’s a weapon from Final Fantasy]

You were really planning to make me a lunchbox with skills like that?

Amanatsu dropped her head sadly.

“I'm bad with knives, but I have good aim in FPS games. Really.”

Nope. This girl should never be allowed near a knife.

“Give it to me.”

I took the knife from her and taught her how to hold the handle.

You didn't need force to cut cabbage. If you forced it, the fresh leaves would get crushed and turn soggy.

The important thing was to hold it lightly and picture yourself drawing the blade through the cabbage.

So Amanatsu would not imitate me in some reckless way, I deliberately kept my pace slow while I shredded it.

“Try it like this.”

My cabbage was neatly sliced into thin strips while retaining its crisp firmness.

It would keep its texture and taste good that way.

“…Hatsukade-kun, you can cook too?”

“When I eat alone at home, I don't want to eat bad food. I got better without realizing it.”

“Even your reason is so Hatsukade-kun…”

After that, I watched Amanatsu so she wouldn't injure herself, until we had finished cutting every vegetable.

I silently swore that if she ever tried to make a lunchbox, I would stop her with everything I had.

The curry was very good.

Eating with Hiiragi was unpleasant, but the flavor itself was balanced and satisfying.

The curry roux, packed with corporate effort, was truly admirable.

After cleaning up, we had free time for a while.

I leaned against a magnificent beech tree in the square and opened my book.

When I lifted my eyes slightly, a few passing students furtively laughed at me from a distance.

They were probably thinking something stupid, like, He's a loner even here.

After watching their backs disappear, I listened closely.

On the cool evening breeze rustling the leaves, I could hear students laughing in the distance.

“Arima's going to confess during the fireworks tonight!”

“Whoa, gutsy. But I want a girlfriend too.”

Why did everyone pursue romance so desperately?

No. It would be wrong to dismiss it out of hand.

Before my childhood friend betrayed me, I had probably been one of those people too.

I once wanted a happy future beside her.

But even if none of that had happened and we had dated normally, we might have broken up later anyway.

That was what romance was like.

It was only one part of youth.

There were plenty of other enjoyable things.

Lots of people spent the rest of their lives regretting something that happened because of romance.

It felt like a game too dangerous for immature high-school boys and girls to handle.

After washing off the day's sweat in the lodging's communal bath, I changed into a tracksuit.

I wanted to get into bed, read a book, and go to sleep, but fireworks were part of the program, so I had no choice.

Reluctantly returning to the square, I accepted the handheld fireworks distributed to each group by Shinonome, the person in charge of supplies.

We were technically supposed to stay in our groups, but almost no one followed that rule. The teachers seemed to think everyone should simply enjoy themselves, so they looked the other way.

Beside me, Amanatsu was struggling with a lighter, clicking it over and over.

Tilting her head, she peered at a firework that stubbornly refused to light.

I took the hand holding her firework.

“You'll get hurt if it catches fire like that. Be more careful.”

Still holding her hand, I turned the firework downward.

Amanatsu blushed and looked up at me through her lashes.

“Y-Yeah. Thanks, Hatsukade-kun.”

“…”

Ignoring her heated gaze, I lit the candle included in the firework package.

“Here. This is safer.”

“Then let's do it together.”

“Okay.”

When we held the paper tip of the firework to the flame, the powder caught with a crackling burst.

I watched the bright flame burn vividly against the night.

“Hehe. It's pretty. I wanted to do fireworks with you, Hatsukade-kun.”

“I see. That's good.”

I glanced at Amanatsu's profile, illuminated by the firework's glow.

She smiled happily, her face fully made up.

Still, what did she hope for by choosing to stay beside me?

I had clearly told her I had no intention of returning her feelings.

As the fireworks neared their end, only sparkler fireworks remained.

That was when it happened.

“Just stop it already!”

A sharp voice rang out.

I looked over and saw Shinonome, who had shouted, and Katsurama, shaken and fidgeting in front of her.

The atmosphere was clearly dangerous.

Shinonome glared at Katsurama with irritation, roughly running a hand through her hair as she yelled:

“What is wrong with you? You're always following me around!”

“S-Shi-chan, what's wrong?”

“Don't play dumb! You know I don't like it!”

“I just wanted to do fireworks with you…”

The warm mood vanished in an instant.

Students who had been loudly enjoying the fireworks now watched the exchange.

But Shinonome, consumed by anger, did not notice.

“I told you not to come! So why do you keep following me!?”

“B-But—”

“You saw that I liked Masaki-kun and got rejected, didn't you!? You know there's no way we could ever date! It's already hard enough to be in the classroom, but every time you treat me like I'm special or keep bothering me, you make it even harder! Please, just stop!”

“Wait!”

Shinonome tried to run away, but Katsurama grabbed her arm, making her cry out in pain.

“Let go!”

“I didn't mean it like that!”

No one was enjoying the fireworks anymore.

Only then did Shinonome seem to notice the heavy silence. She turned her head, checking her surroundings, and opened her mouth helplessly.

“Ah…”

“What are you two doing!”

A male teacher, sensing something was wrong, intervened to separate them.

“What happened here?”

Shinonome's face turned pale. She shook slightly and could not answer.

Katsurama also remained silent.

Then one girl from a group of female students stepped forward and raised her hand.

“Sir, I saw it. Katsurama-kun was being considerate because Shinonome-san looked lonely by herself, so he invited her. But Shinonome-san seemed to be in a bad mood and snapped at him.”

The girl spoke with a chillingly blank expression. The teacher put a hand on Katsurama's shoulder.

“Is that true, Katsurama?”

“…Um… yes.”

The quiet giggles of the girls reached my ears.

“And what about you, Shinonome?”

“…”

Ignoring the teacher's question, she turned away.

The teacher's brow creased with concern as he spoke calmly.

“We'll hear each side separately. For now, wait at the lodging. I'll call the other teachers as well, so come with me.”

Once they disappeared from view, the tension eased and anxious murmurs broke out all around.

“Seriously, Shinonome again? We were having fun. How many times is she going to ruin the mood?”

“I was about to confess to someone, but now it doesn't feel like the right atmosphere.”

The girls from earlier came closer, echoing the boys' complaints while wearing expressions of wounded innocence.

“Seriously, because of Shinonome, the mood in class has been so gloomy lately.”

“I already knew her personality was awful when she set up that fake confession.”

Amanatsu's face twisted with mixed feelings.

At least from what I had seen when we went shopping for trekking gear, she and Shinonome seemed to have reconciled to some extent.

But no matter how much the two of them made up, it would not improve everyone else's opinion of Shinonome.

“Come on, everyone, calm down! I'm sure Shi-chan had her own reasons. Instead of saying stuff like that, let's enjoy the fireworks!”

Hiiragi said this with her usual smile. The boys gave embarrassed grins and easily followed along.

“Yeah, you're right!”

The girls who had been shut down retreated with dry smiles.

---

The rest of the overnight training trip had a miserable atmosphere.

I did not know what the teachers discussed, but officially, Shinonome and Katsurama apologized to each other, made up, and remained in the same group through the end.

Judging from Shinonome's state when she was taken away, she probably said nothing at all.

It was exactly the kind of thing someone as proud as her would do. She probably thought even asking someone for help was uncool.

On the bus ride home, only the space around Shinonome felt heavy.

If Hiiragi and Amanatsu had not spoken to her, she probably would not have opened her mouth even once.

And naturally, once something reached this point, time would not immediately solve it.

Even after the overnight trip ended, Shinonome's bad reputation remained in the classroom during the following week.

Even when she was simply going about her day, I heard people gossiping about her a few times each day.

The hostility was probably so strong because her reputation had been so high to begin with.

What had they called her again… the class's “healing presence”?

I did not know who had started that, but the reversal was impressive.

Hiiragi struggled to get Shinonome to fit back into the class, but it seemed pointless to me.

There was the issue with Katsurama, but if you traced it back, Shinonome herself was unquestionably the original cause.

No matter how much people tried to help, it would ultimately be her own problem.

And with Shinonome acting the way she did, nothing could change.

She was perfecting her isolation, as if cutting herself off from everyone else.

Her opportunities to speak even with Hiiragi and Amanatsu had noticeably decreased.

And most astonishing of all, Katsurama still spoke to her occasionally.

He said things like, “I don't care about it anymore,” acting like some kind of good person.

As a result, people's opinions of Katsurama actually improved. The mood became: “After she said all that to him, he's really the bigger person.”

What an absurd farce.

Friday, when I headed toward our usual vending machine in the courtyard, Shinonome was sitting alone on a bench.

I ignored her and bought the coffee I wanted, when her gloomy voice reached me.

“So, are you satisfied now?”

After opening the tab, I took a sip and tilted my head.

“With what?”

“Isn't it obvious? The world really works itself out, doesn't it? What you do comes back to you. You think I'm pathetic too, don't you?”

It was so ridiculous that I was exasperated.

Standing in front of her, I slowly tasted the bitterness of my coffee.

“I think it still isn't enough. I've said it over and over: you still haven't apologized to me.”

Shinonome breathed out and raised only her lips in a hollow smile, her eyes dead.

“That's so like you, Hatsukade. You really show no mercy until the end. But too bad—you won't get that chance anymore.”

She stood from the bench and spoke as she passed me.

“I'm talking to my dad tomorrow. I'm transferring schools. I'm not coming from next week onward either. I don't need a place like this anymore. You must be relieved.”

I watched her back as she left, then threw my empty can into the bin.

---

The next day, with nothing in particular that I wanted to do, I relaxed on the sofa at home.

Sometimes, at moments like this, I remembered.

What my childhood friend had done to me.

And what I had done in return.

Honestly, I had no regrets about cutting ties with her.

I had been that angry, and she never apologized to me—not until the end.

After the fake-confession incident in middle school, I became the laughingstock of the class.

But I forced every person involved to take responsibility and shut up, and their hostility turned toward my childhood friend.

There were opportunists everywhere.

Once my fake-confession video stopped being a topic on social media, apparently a video of her crying foolishly became popular instead.

I did nothing.

I had no reason to forgive her.

I was the victim, so why should I have been the one to reach out?

But if she had sincerely apologized, perhaps there might have been another path.

When I drank my coffee, it hit my empty stomach strangely hard.

I looked up at the digital clock.

—Saturday, 2:41 p.m.

Maybe I'd go get some ramen.