Chapter 3: Severance

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Translator: Soafp

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Today, the wind feels a little stronger than usual.

It's already September, and the end of summer is near, but it's still hot and humid.

However, right now, I don't feel the heat of summer at all.

My hands… my whole body is ice cold.

“Asano, are you okay? Oi!”

“Huh?… Oh, yeah.”

I was led out of school by Endo.

Now, the two of us are sitting side by side on a bench in a small park on the way home.

Just a while ago, I was in a state of panic, but I've calmed down.

Rather than saying I've settled down, it feels more like my heart has gone numb… is this what they call emptiness?

“Sorry, Asano.”

“Why… are you apologizing, Endo?”

Yeah, this girl didn't do anything wrong.

The one at fault… is me—me, who got all excited without even knowing how Shiho truly felt.

“Even so… I'm sorry.”

Still, Endo continues to apologize to me.

I can more or less guess the reason.

“You knew, didn't you? That Shiho… felt that way about me…”

“Yeah. I knew.”

…So that's it.

That's why she tried to keep me away from Shiho.

“Now you see, don't you? That girl doesn't belong in your world, Asano.”

“That's not…”

How pathetic… I am. Even after what I just saw.

I still want to cling to the hope that things might work out with Shiho.

“…Yeah, you're right.”

It's over. What happened back there—says everything.

“Haa… I feel like I don't care about studying or anything anymore.”

“You're surprisingly calm, Asano. You were totally spaced out just a little while ago.”

Am I really calm?

I'm definitely mentally drained, that's for sure…

“Endo, you said it before, didn't you? That I was dependent on Shiho?”

“Yeah. I think, to some extent, you were.”

So in the end, I was the only one clinging to her…

“What now? You want me to say something to Fukase? Want me to give her a piece of my mind?”

Endo doesn't need to do that.

We're already the kind of people who get side-eyed by everyone else.

We're at the bottom of the social ladder. Shiho is at the top.

If it turns into a conflict, we'd be the ones getting blamed. That's easy to imagine.

“No, forget Shiho. …I don't care anymore.”

“Gross!” …Those words hit hard.

I didn't want to hear something that cruel… in Shiho's usually gentle voice.

No… enough. It's over.

I need to end it… these feelings I have for Shiho…

“Um… Endo.”

“What is it?”

“Can you let go of my hand already?”

Endo had been holding my hand tightly ever since we left school.

“Your hand was freezing cold. I was just trying to warm it up.”

Back then, my hand had gone cold from the shock, but now it's warm again.

I can feel Endo's warmth… her kindness.

“Thanks, Endo—”

“Haruki!”

My words were suddenly interrupted by a loud voice from somewhere.

I knew immediately who it was, just by the familiar way she called my name.

“Shiho…”

Catching her breath, Shiho walked up to me with a serious look, still in her gym uniform.

She gave Endo, sitting next to me, a quick glare before turning her attention back to me.

“H-Haruki… about earlier—”

“Oi! What the hell are you doing here now!?”

Just as Shiho tried to speak, Endo stood up from the bench and cut her off with a hostile tone.

“This has nothing to do with you.”

Shiho didn't back down. She stood her ground firmly, showing she wasn't going to yield…

“Haruki… you heard that conversation earlier, didn't you? I-I'm sorry.”

“Sorry? Do you even understand how Asano felt hearing your words!?”

“I told you, this has nothing to do with you!”

A storm of emotions was swirling inside me.

Looking at Shiho's apologetic face made me want to forgive her.

After all, we were… supposed to be close childhood friends.

“H-Haruki… I only said those things to go along with everyone else… That's really all it was.”

“Fukase, you always talk crap about Asano, don't you? I've overheard you a few times by chance. I've heard you making fun of him like it was the most fun thing in the world!”

“That was… like I said… I was just trying to fit in with everyone…”

So it wasn't just once… she spoke badly about me regularly?

And even… like she was enjoying it…?

“I didn't say anything before because I knew it would hurt Asano… but I'll say it now. You're still hiding something, aren't you?”

“W-What are you talking about? What could I possibly be hiding…?”

Shiho is hiding something?

There's already so much going on… I can't process it all.

“Asano. Do you remember Senda-senpai?”

“Eh… Ah, yeah. The guy I punched last year.”

Yeah. That fight with Senda… was the reason I ended up completely isolated.

“She was sucking up to Senda.”

“Shiho… was flattering a thug like him? Why…?”

“To set Asano up.”

To set me up…? Shiho did that?

I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

“They say she told Senda she’d go on a date with him. Then she suddenly canceled, which made him furious… and Asano ended up stepping in to help, right?”

Now that I think about it, Shiho called me out behind the gym that day.

When I got there, the two of them were already arguing, and when I jumped in, it turned into a fight…

“T-That's not it! He was the one who said he wanted to go on a date with me! So I just—!”

“So you're not denying that you were cozying up to Senda?”

“T-That's…”

Shiho had set things up to escalate into a fight…

Just to isolate me…

“Whatever. I'll just call Senda right now. We're from the same neighborhood—I've got his contact.”

“D-Don't!!”

Shiho's loud voice echoed through the park, which was empty except for the three of us.

“Shiho… is that true?”

“N-No… I just…”

Shiho pleaded with tear-filled eyes.

“I didn't want to lose Haruki to anyone else… that's all…”

Endo spoke plainly and directly.

Shiho, on the other hand, couldn't hide her agitation.

Just looking at the two of them—it was obvious which one was telling the truth.

But even more than that, there was something I became absolutely certain of.

I could tell that Shiho, crying and shaken in front of me, was lying.

Because we're… childhood friends. I know her.

“Haruki… I'm sorry for all the things I said behind your back. I'm really sorry.”

She was apologizing so much. Anyone looking at her would think, “That's enough, right?”

I might've thought so too—just a little while ago.

“So what if I've got scary eyes and dyed brown hair? Sorry I look like this.”

“Eh…? H-Haruki…?”

I remembered every insult she ever said.

“Sorry for being violent and a piece of crap.”

“N-No… that's not true! It's not!”

There's no way I'd forget the words of someone I loved so much.

“SORRY FOR BEING DISGUSTING!!”

“I-I'm… sorry. I'm sorry…”

At that moment, everything was decided inside me.

My relationship with Shiho… was over.

“Fukase. You think apologizing is enough to make it all okay?”

“That's enough, Endo. It's fine now. I don't care anymore.”

Seeing the look on my face, Endo understood too.

“Shiho, thanks… for everything up until now.”

“W-Wait, Haruki… what are you saying…?”

“Don't get involved with me anymore.”

“N-No… That's not what I wanted…”

I was ending it. Right here.

“Goodbye, Fukase.”

I turned my back on Shiho…..on Fukase and walked away.

Calling her by her last name was my way of declaring it over.

No matter what path I take from now on… and no matter what happens to Fukase… it has nothing to do with me anymore.

From behind me, I could hear her crying, screaming my name at the top of her lungs.

Naturally, I didn't look back.