Oneshot: My Childhood Friend Is a Stupid Woman.

Reading Settings

Translator: Soafp

TL: This is not really an “Oneshot” since there will be sequels (1 oneshot and 4 chapters) related to this.

---

It was a Sunday afternoon.

Having finished lunch and stepped out, I didn’t really have anywhere specific to go. Perhaps it was the aftermath of the troublesome matter that had been weighing on my mind, but lately, I’ve been feeling somewhat lax.

I’ve been teased by my senior at work, calling it burnout syndrome…

I can’t help but think, I really don’t want to hear that from them. Maybe I’ve been getting a bit too cocky.

Sure, I’ve been relying on them for various things, but my usual attitude towards life is what it is.

How many times have I seen the store manager lose it when I ask for an advance on my paycheck just to spend it on gacha games?

Now, what should I do, I thought as I wandered the streets aimlessly.

Was there something I needed to buy? I could directly ask and inquire, but I’m pretty sure Grandpa was working today.

Boredom is a sign of peace, but I wouldn’t mind a little accident to spice things up a bit.

…And then, I felt someone approaching from behind.

It wasn’t just any passerby along the way. Their footsteps were clearly deliberate, clearly conscious of me… Who could it be?

So, I turned around, and immediately regretted it.

“…Huh, uhm, it’s you after all….Sou-kun.”

This is the worst. It’s not something I should even be thinking about.

Maybe it was a mistake to extend my stroll a bit and venture out.

It’s a familiar face, too familiar.

With her semi-long hair and demure features.

The navy blue sailor uniform she’s wearing is from the high school I used to attend.

Nodoka Motono, someone I’ve spent my entire childhood with until I transferred to the school I’m attending now.

In simpler terms, she’s the childhood friend of the opposite sex who lived in the neighborhood.

Looking back on it now is painful, but… she was my first love.

Just seeing her face brings back memories I’d rather forget.

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve had to suppress the urge to vomit from these flashback memories.

I can’t bring myself to vomit just by facing her now, but… my mood is still the worst.

Why is she even here?

Without a word, I tried to leave the scene, but Nodoka grabbed my shoulder.

Instinctively, I pushed her hand away and distanced myself, but Nodoka, with tears in her eyes, raised her voice and insisted on talking.

“Wait! I’m sorry, please. Just for a moment, please!”

“Don’t shout in the middle of the street, you’ll attract attention.”

Even without intending to, I let out a sigh.

…What exactly does she want from me now?

Despite teaching her at every opportunity…

Even though he is a teacher, he is a sh*tty father who cannot resist the temptation of his underage student and reaching out to her.

And the one who tempted him was…

This stupid woman who forced me to leave home.

You, the culprit who caused all this, have the audacity to show up in front of me.

---

“Well, you know, I was at a joint practice with another school for club activities and I was on my way back.…what about you, Sou-kun?”

“Non of your business. I also didn’t ask what you were doing.”

It was too conspicuous to talk there, so I was forcibly dragged to a nearby deserted park, and Nodoka started talking about things I didn’t even ask about.

Her voice, her gestures, everything about her was extremely irritating.

“I was supposed to cut ties with you, the b*stard father. I have nothing to do with it, so just go on boasting like a beast as much as you want elsewhere.”

“Soichiro… It’s not good to talk about Sensei like that. He’s Sou’s father, after all. B-but it’s not my place to say…”

Nodoka realized she addressed my b*stard father by name and corrected herself, but… what’s the point of trying to fix it now?

She probably wanted to catch my b*stard father’s attention from the beginning, even when we were kids, just to please him.

I remember her saying it was love at first sight. I later heard that they had been involved since middle school, so it’s not funny at all.

“And… I won’t see Sensei again. He resigned from his teaching position and moved away. Only I don’t have his contact information.”

“…Did people find out? Well, it serves him right.”

…So the b*stard father ended up like that? I hadn’t paid attention because I heard from grandpa that child support was still being paid, but in the end… it didn’t work out, did it?

Despite saying seriously that he would remarry when Nodoka graduated from high school, and even saying that she would become my mother in place of the mother who died when we were kids.

It’s not funny, but I want to throw a sarcastic word or two at her.

“To correct it… I mean, not to everyone, it’s only my family… Sou-kun found out that we were… doing it earlier than planned, and… left for a week after finding us… doing it, right?”

“…Yeah.”

She’s such a woman who reminds me of unpleasant things one by one. I remember. Even if I try to forget, I can’t. At that time… I couldn’t accept the sight in front of me and vomited everything in my stomach.

Even when only stomach acid came out and I couldn’t stop feeling nauseous… I kept vomiting.

Realizing it, I interrupted the act in a fit of rage, and despite the attempts of the two who approached to help and comfort me, I hurled insults at them and pushed them away as much as I could, and then I ran out of the house without looking back.

“And then, you came back with the person who took care of you… and we had a discussion. At that time, you clearly said that you wanted to cut ties with us. And… ‘It’s impossible for me to see you as my mother,’ you said. …Now that I think about it, that’s really true.”

Nodoka, with tears in her eyes, stares at me.

Her gaze is still unbearably irritating.

She’s always been like that since we were kids.

Even though we’re the same age, she always acted like an older sister, sticking around and acting like she knew everything.

But in the end, she never even realized my feelings.

“After the discussion ended… after Sou-kun left. Sensei… Sou-kun had… a terrible, terrible expression, he said. I don’t know what happened in just one week… but… that was the face of someone who had seen hell.”

And that b*stard father… he talks as if he knows everything.

What do you, what do you all, know about me?

“So, Sensei was pushed to the point of saying his son wanted to cut ties with him…As a parent, as a teacher, as a man…He did something he shouldn’t have done. Maybe Sou-kun liked me… and with those words, I finally realized, after cooling down, that maybe it was true. And I thought… let’s end it with me too… I’m just… an irredeemable piece of trash.”

…Making a fool out of me.

If that b*stard father were here right now…

I would have wanted to grab him by the collar and shout, “Don’t joke around now,” but… there’s a part of me that understands.

That’s why he readily agreed to leave me with my grandparents back then.

Basically, I got caught up in his old man’s love, messed everything up, and then suddenly sobered up and felt guilty, so he ran away. That’s all.

“And then, immediately after that, Sensei contacted my parents… and confessed everything and apologized profusely. Of course, there was a big commotion… but in the end, they made sure I wouldn’t see him again, no matter what. And that’s it. I won’t… see Sensei anymore. I can’t even contact him. It’s truly over.”

At that point, Nodoka pauses and takes my hand, intertwining her fingers with mine.

I’m perplexed by the faint warmth transmitting through my palm.

What are you trying to do, and I reflexively pull away.

In response, Nodoka stares at me with a deeply sad expression, and I can’t understand her at all.

…What are you thinking?

“It’s stupid, isn’t it? To think we could really become a family… I never doubted that the three of us could get along. In the end, all I did was deeply hurt Sou-kun… and destroy that family in a way that can’t be fixed.”

“…Yeah, that’s right.”

That much, I can’t disagree with.

What escapes naturally is… a sigh.

I always thought she was a stupid girl from that time…

But having to be reminded of it with a story I didn’t want to hear makes me feel depressed.

“I’m sorry… Whatever I do, I don’t think it’ll ever be enough to make amends. I didn’t even notice Sou-kun’s feelings at all…”

With that, Nodoka leans closer to me.

Back when we were still in elementary school…

When my mother died and I was in despair, she hugged me from behind, just like that.

I try to shake her off, but she seems to have expected my reaction from before and clings to me, refusing to let go.

What’s with her? What is she trying to…

“Even so, if it helps clear Sou-kun’s mind even a little… You can do whatever you want with me. I’ll do anything… forever, for whatever reason. It’s okay if you make me yours, Sou-kun.”

Nodoka leans closer, her face so close that her warm breath brushes against mine, her eyes moist as she peers into mine.

With a firm embrace, she tries to press her lips against mine.

It’s an unlikely scenario, but… perhaps… if it were before I knew about that incident with the b*stard father, I would have gladly accepted this.

But the memories of that time are ingrained in my mind, impossible to erase.

The woman in front of me… seems terribly repulsive.

Something long forgotten, something suppressed, stirs deep within my heart…

“Are you….F*CKING KIDDING WITH ME RIGHT NOW!”

Before I know it… I’m pushing away the stupid woman in front of me, rejecting her with all seriousness.

Was that reaction unexpected?

As she sits there, stunned, looking up at me with a bewildered expression…

What wells up from the depths of my being is… a surge of pent-up anger.

“Eh?… S-Sou-kun?”

“DO YOU SERIOUSLY THINK I’D BE HAPPY TO BE HANDED DOWN FROM THAT B*STARD FATHER LIKE SOME HAND-ME-DOWN? IT’S REVOLTING… NAUSEATING!”

“Sou-kun…”

Since leaving home… I’ve encountered many people.

There are friends with whom I can fool around… and unlike the b*stard father, there are people whom I genuinely respect.

I’m living a new life now.

And yet… despite that.

Despite that, she…

The fury I had buried deep within my heart starts to overflow.

“EVERYTHING IS ALREADY OVER. YOU B*STARDS DESTROYED IT ALL AND FINISHED IT! DON’T YOU DARE BRING IT UP AGAIN NOW!”

What should have been overwritten, buried, and forgotten by what I gained anew, this idiot woman…

With her garbage-like self-satisfaction, she went out of her way to dig it all up.

…In the end, she hasn’t changed at all since that time.

She’s still the selfish idiot woman who only acts on her own feelings at that time.

“…YOU’RE KIDDING ME! NODOKA… YOU… YOU NEVER REALLY LOOKED AT ME PROPERLY, YET NOW! ――DON’T F*CKING MESS WITH ME!”

“Ah… ugh…”

Tears begin to overflow from Nodoka’s eyes, trickling down her cheeks and forming stains on her chest and the ground.

Repeated apologies pour out like a broken record, and as she continues to cry, my frustration grows even more.

I can’t control myself. My clenched fist tightens even further, creaking with strain.

As I’m being tossed around by the overflow of emotions, as I try to take another step forward――my hand stops.

What stopped me was a stupid story that crossed my mind, something a senior at my part-time job once told me.

Stories about being dumped, cheated on, or two-timed.

Those seniors would laugh off such stories, turning them into drinking anecdotes.

By mingling with them, I thought maybe… I could laugh a little, too.

Yet here I am… over something like this?

“…This is ridiculous.”

The intense anger I had been feeling now seemed incredibly absurd.

Lowering my clenched fist, I start to walk away from this place.

As Nodoka reaches out towards me, pleading for me to wait, I clearly express myself.

“I don’t care if you go looking for that b*stard father, or if you hook up with another guy. I don’t give a damn. Just… stay away from me. I think I’ve told you this before… but this time, please, just respect it.”

Nodoka is left speechless by my words.

I don’t wait for a response.

I walk away quickly… leaving Nodoka behind in the park.

I don’t know what happened to Nodoka after that.

I couldn’t bring myself to care.

However, I heard from my grandfather sometime later…

The b*stard father was found dead in a cheap apartment in the countryside, his body hanging from a noose. It seemed he had committed s**cide.

Again, even that… doesn’t seem to matter to me.

---

TL: Next will be the female PoV