Chapter 19: Give it back this time

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Translator: Soafp

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Amanatsu and Shinonome stood frozen like statues, staring at each other with pale faces.

“Nakina…”

“Ah, um, ahaha… Wow, my timing is seriously terrible, huh? It's fine—I absolutely won't tell anyone what I heard!”

“That's not it… Could it be that Nakina feels the same way too?”

At that question, Amanatsu gave a forced little “Heheh,” tracing a finger between her nose and lips.

“My bad, my bad. I'm famous for not being able to read the room, so I have no idea what Shi-chan is talking about. Impressive, right?”

What exactly was there to be proud of?

Something was clearly wrong with Amanatsu. She kept giving empty laughs for no reason.

“No, I didn't know anything. I never thought this would happen…”

“Ehh, what are you talking about? It's not like I noticed Shi-chan was looking at Hatsukade-kun with the eyes of a girl in love and thought, Oh no, we're totally competing for the same guy, or anything. Not even a little. Really?”

“Nakina!?”

In a panic, Shinonome grabbed Amanatsu and shook her. Her face flushed, and she turned toward me for a moment.

“Hatsukade, don't look!”

You were doing this right in the doorway. How was I supposed not to?

“Nakina, calm down. Let's think this through rationally!”

“Sure, sure. I have absolutely no idea what's happening right now.”

Sweat poured down Amanatsu's forehead. She suddenly spun around.

“Oh! I think I just remembered a super urgent errand!”

“Wait, Nakina.”

“Right! Shi-chan… I'm really happy we made up too!”

Looking as though she were about to cough up blood, Amanatsu sniffled, gave a thumbs-up, and sprinted down the stairs at full speed.

I walked past the stunned Shinonome, sat in my usual spot, and peeled open the wrapper of a convenience-store egg sandwich.

“This can't be real…”

Shinonome muttered blankly, then shuffled after Amanatsu like a zombie.

I watched her go while taking a bite of my sandwich.

As expected, it was nowhere near as good as an egg sandwich from a bakery.

---

Several days passed.

In the end, Shinonome received a one-week suspension after reporting herself.

It might seem like a rather severe punishment.

I did not know exactly how the school reached its decision, but I suspected Shinonome herself had strongly wanted it too.

She had apologized so openly in front of the entire class. She probably wanted to settle everything cleanly.

That fake-confession incident could have ruined someone's life if she had chosen the wrong target.

Amanatsu had managed to return to school, but if things had ended differently, a one-week suspension would not have been enough.

Seen that way, it might have been a fair decision.

Shinonome resolved things with the people directly involved and accepted a proper punishment. From now on, no one had any right to point fingers at her.

I thought it had been a meaningful suspension for her too.

As the person Katsurama had punched, I was told the details of what happened to him.

Put simply, the school recommended that he voluntarily withdraw, and he left the school.

It was effectively an expulsion.

I did not particularly care, but Shinonome would never feel safe if he remained in the same environment. That seemed fair too.

After the last class ended, I packed my things and saw Hiiragi happily chatting with some classmates.

“So that's why Shi-chan and I are best friends. We talk every day even while she's suspended, and we have, like, girl-to-girl consultations too.”

“Oh, yeah. Shi-chan was just rejected, so she must be worrying about a lot. What do you talk about?”

“Th-That's absolutely secret. But, basically, I'm going to support my friend's love with everything I've got!”

How did she not get tired of talking about romance every day?

I stood and headed to the clubroom.

Amanatsu was already waiting there.

Her back looked gloomy, and she had been like this ever since the rooftop incident.

Even after I sat across from her and opened my paperback, she said nothing and kept her head lowered.

Recently, I had felt that my life was gradually going off course.

I had intended to spend high school enjoying things in my own way, without hanging around with anyone.

It all became strange because of Amanatsu's fake-confession incident.

Since then, I had felt as if I were slowly approaching a point of no return.

Honestly, I was not especially oblivious.

Shinonome's words, behavior, and expressions on the rooftop the other day—

And Amanatsu and Shinonome's reactions and the course of their conversation.

I could more or less infer what it meant.

If I were the kind of guy whose brain had been taken over by romance, perhaps this would be the moment to celebrate that my popular phase had arrived.

But I had no intention of dating anyone.

After the incident with my childhood friend, I had become sick of it all and made that promise to myself.

If I were ever to date, it would have to be with someone older and more sensible. I could not accept anything less.

Amanatsu, Shinonome, and Hiiragi were all clearly being swept around by romance.

Watching them only made that conviction stronger.

“Amanatsu, just so you know, I have no intention of becoming Shinonome's boyfriend.”

“…Hatsukade-kun, you really aren't suited for youth.”

“I'll take that as a compliment.”

“Girls will never be rewarded if you won't at least pretend to be more oblivious.”

“Don't look to someone else for salvation.”

“Even now, you're so Hatsukade-kun.”

Amanatsu finally looked up. Her face was wrinkled with stress like a pickled plum.

“I don't know how much you've noticed or what you know, but that isn't the only reason I'm down.”

“Did something happen?”

“Watching Sakura be so open and straightforward was kind of cool… I have something I need to apologize to you for, Hatsukade-kun.”

She looked at me anxiously.

“When I returned to school, you spread that false story so I could come back to class more easily, right? You made everyone think I stopped coming because you insulted me and drove me away.”

“…”

“I should have immediately told them that wasn't true. But I'm selfish, so I thought that if things stayed this way, I could have you all to myself. Since you weren't going to get a girlfriend, at least during high school, you would stay with me and look only at me. Even though I knew the class would hate you for it… I'm sorry.”

Amanatsu sniffled, and tears rolled down her face.

How many times had I seen her cry now?

I took a handkerchief from my pocket and held it out to her.

“…Here.”

“…This is the one from back then.”

Amanatsu unfolded the cloth, which had been folded into thirds. An Akita dog's face was embroidered on one corner.

It was my favorite.

“Amanatsu, I did that by my own choice. It is not something you need to feel responsible for.”

“…But—”

“If you think it caused trouble, then I'll apologize. I'll explain it to the class myself. But if you don't, leave it as it is. Otherwise, there was no point in taking the mud on myself. I've said it many times: I don't care if other people hate me. What matters much more is that Amanatsu can spend her time at school comfortably.”

“…H-Hatsukade-kun.”

“Do you understand?”

Amanatsu nodded repeatedly and wiped her tears with the handkerchief.

“Thank you… I'll wash this and give it back.”

“Don't steal it again.”

“I-I never stole it even once!”

Amanatsu stared warmly at the handkerchief and murmured:

“Hatsukade-kun, you always act so distant, but you can casually do gentlemanly things like that.”

“Well…”

I started to say more, but stopped.

The reason these habits were ingrained in me was because I had spent too much time with my childhood friend. She cried easily.

But if I said that, the girl sitting in front of me might get jealous and start acting strange again.

“Maybe it's because of how my parents raised me.”

“Yeah, you do seem well brought up.”

She really was far too easy to convince.

---

Now, I should probably face my own problem.

Unintentionally, I was the one stirring up Amanatsu's emotions.

I still did not have proof, but if Shinonome was going to involve herself too, things could become even more troublesome.

Pushing them away would be easy.

I could simply shut everything out.

The problems they carried were theirs to solve.

I could draw that line.

In fact, Masaki had done exactly that.

He rejected Shinonome without lingering feelings or giving her false hope.

If Shinonome were the only one involved, I would probably do the same.

But Amanatsu's emotional state was far too unstable.

If I abandoned her, I could not imagine what would happen.

Or was I simply meddling too much?

Perhaps I was only doting on her because of my own personal feelings.

Maybe the merciful thing would be to split Amanatsu cleanly down the middle with the Japanese sword of my words, leaving no loose ends.

“Hey, Hatsukade! Let's walk to the station together!”

As I left school, someone tapped me on the shoulder from behind.

There was only one person this familiar.

When I turned, Hiiragi was smiling eagerly.

Her two best friends were both so depressed, yet she seemed as carefree as ever.

“No.”

“Hey, that's way too cold! I want to talk to you about something. About Nakina and Shi-chan!”

“It's fine. The situation will get worse than you're worried about.”

“Don't screw with me! Let me worry too. They finally made up, but ever since that day they've been acting awkward around each other. At this rate, won't Shi-chan have a hard time coming back? And Shi-chan asks me all kinds of things about Amanatsu every day. I want to help her.”

“What kinds of things?”

Hiiragi gave a scheming, suspicious smile.

“You'll have to promise to seriously listen to me before I can tell you.”

That smile was definitely the one she wore when she was about to suggest something awful.

Still, the person I could trust most in the present situation was this girl, who had stayed faithful to her childhood crush for years.

I tried to weigh the risks and rewards—

No, it was hopeless. My dislike for Hiiragi won before I could even think it through.

“I'm going home.”

“Whaaat!? I thought we could talk slowly at my house.”

“…Your house?”

At that moment, my heart gave a sudden thump.

What was this strange surge of excitement?

Without realizing it, my feet were already heading toward the station.

I turned back toward the carefree Hiiragi.

“What are you doing? Hurry up.”

To see Rooney-kun, of course.

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TL: Well, there goes his handkerchief O7