Chapter 18: 3 friends
Translator: Soafp
Happy 1 year anniversary!
“Not…..my…..best?”
I don’t want to. Don’t look at me like that. Why, why, why …… It’s my fault. Then what should I have done? It’s my fault. It’s all, it’s all my fault. I was just trying to help. I was just trying to help. I don’t know why I did that. ……
Nausea rushed into my body as if my head had been shaken. Only Sumika’s face remained in color, while the rest of the objects had lost their color and turned monochrome. My vision is distorted, and every time I blink, it returns to normal and begins to distort again. More and more, my body loses a sense of reality, and I feel as if I’ve been thrown out into empty space–
“Ishikawa! Are you okay?!”
A well-pitched voice rang in my ears. The sound was not a piercing sensation like Sumika’s, but rather a sensation that spread to my head. Then, something warm touched my left shoulder.
“Hey! Are you sure you’re okay!”
Obata-san’s face comes into view. As usual, she is looking at me as if to peek in and ask how I am doing.
“I’m fine. …… Sorry. Thank you.”
“……”
Even when I answer, her worried eyes remain the same. But I really am fine. The shaking has stopped, and my body sensation and vision have returned to normal.
“What is it? I’m talking to him right now.”
“Ha? What are you talking about? And what were you looking at?”
“?”
Maybe she’s saying that my condition was strange. But Sumika had an expression of not understanding. I was unconsciously trying not to let people around me know what was going on, but from Obata-san’s point of view, it was more unbelievable that she didn’t notice anything.
“I’ll be fine, Obata-san.”
“……”
I recall Sumika’s words as I go back in my memory. It was like they were only in my ears, but I could remember what she had said.
“………I’m not cutting corners.”
“Lies. If you’d done your best, we wouldn’t have lost.”
“Wha, are you trying to say that you lost because of Ishikawa?”
“N-Not exactly……”
As usual, she was giving me a hostile stare, but thanks to Obata-san, she seemed to be losing momentum.
“Then that’s enough. Come on, Ishikawa, go!”
“Aah, yeah.”
And just like that, I left the place, with Obata-san pushing me. After walking a bit, I asked Sumika how she was doing, and I could see her walking away, looking dissatisfied.
Sumika had always had a strong sense of justice, or rather, she was the type of person who could not tolerate …… evil people. When she was in elementary school, she once isolated herself by poking at someone who was the central figure in her class. I even overheard stories of her being smoked out by boys during chorus competition practice in junior high school. In my mind, Sumika was the type of person who could not forgive people who did wrong or did not do things right.
In this case, my play must have fallen under Sumika’s category of “people who don’t do things right”. And now I am the “person who did something wrong” to Sumika.
“Are you sure you are okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine. Thanks.”
We walk together and have a conversation.
“That’s Hosokawa-san, isn’t it? ……. I can’t believe she is that person.”
“Ah, I don’t think she’s like that to everyone.”
“……It seems you know eachother?”
“I guess so. It went something like that?”
“I suppose so……”
Looking back on the conversation, she was satisfied. But from the looks of things, it seems that her opinion of Sumika has dropped significantly. I felt a little sad about that and tried to follow up a little more, but Obata-san opened her mouth first.
“Hey, …….”
“Yes? What?”
“Ishikawa ……, you know, if there’s something that’s …… bothering you or something, just let me know, okay?”
“What do you mean ……?”
“Well, you know, if you don’t want to tell me or something, that’s fine. …… It’s just that you always seem to be in pain or a little sad or something. …… So I was wondering if there’s something painful ……”
“You’ve been watching me very closely. Obata-san always looked at me as if to ask how I was doing, but I wondered if that was a look of concern.”
“Well, you know, we’re friends, and I’d like you to talk to me about anything, or …… you know, sometimes it’s easier just to talk, okay? Ah, if you really don’t want to tell me, you don’t have to. ……”
She cares about me to the utmost. She really tries to help me. It’s not that I don’t want to tell her. It’s just that no one will believe me if I tell people. I think Miyamoto-san and Obata-san would believe me even if I told them …….
“……Obata-san knows about the rumors about me, right?”
“Yes, ……No, I don’t believe it⁉ I know that those rumors are false as soon as I spend time with you.…… ……As I thought……”
“Well, that’s where the rumors come from. There’s been a lot going on.”
“……”
Obata-san was fully prepared to listen, but we were already in front of the gymnasium, so we would have to talk later. Not only that, but also because I wanted Miyamoto-san to listen if I was going to talk to Obata-san.
When I told her this, she said, “Well, at lunch.” When I entered the gymnasium and checked the battle situation, I found that Yuki had the upper hand and Miyamoto-san was outnumbered.
“Well then, let’s cheer for them in high spirits!”
“You’re right.”
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8 Comments
MC is literally Ishigami (Kaguya-sama) with glasses. This seriously reminds me of that particular arc where he's having panic attacks just by seeing Kyoko Ootomo.
Yeah that reaction was indeed a very good depiction of something close to an anxiety attack, 10/10
Also the childhood friend actually believes he was in the wrong and that's why she spreads those rumors? Very shitty for someone with such a sense of justice, huh, spreading lowly rumors like that.
Thank you for the chapter !
If I had to guess, Sumika, the shitty childhood friend, is likely motivated by a mix of self-righteousness and spite. From what the MC has said, while she may be well-meaning (somewhere deep-down...maybe), Sumuka seems overbearing and insufferable in how she goes about promoting her "sense of justice". She won't accept anything short of 100% effort, good results, and the best of intention from others, regardless of how unreasonable that may be. These types are almost always self-centered (often to the point of narcissism) and hypocritical. I’ll bet she probably does not live up to her own standards and deflects if/when called on it.
To speculate further, she likely holds a grudge against the MC for distancing himself from her. She probably does not realize that he overheard her talking to her friend in the classroom that one time, when she said she was getting along/on good terms because they were childhood friends. This implies that she does not/never really cared about him, never believed he operated with good intentions, interacts with him out of a sense of obligation, etc. It remains to be seen whether she was being an embarrassed tsundere or cold-hearted bitch.Regardless though, she is still in the wrong. Why?
Because when their mutual friend (and Shota’s best friend) turned on him out of envy and frustration, she stabbed the former in the back too. Not only did she not try to mend things between her two friends, or even ask for the MC’s side of the story, she apparently made him out to be the villain when she told his family about what happened. Finally, she left him to twist in the wind and suffer at the hands of their classmates/schoolmates, emboldened by a negative image of him born of false rumors and jealousy. Hers too probably.
See, my money is on her getting jealous and butt-hurt that her friend/crush was getting so much attention from other girls (while in her mind, ignoring her and her feelings). This was likely exacerbated by the nasty rumors that sprang up every time Shota turned down a confession, and the fact that he stopped talking to her other than to greet one another in passing. He was being painted as arrogant jerk and/or player with a big ego in need of deflating. The straw that broke the camel’s back was the falling out between the two boys, and the perfect opportunity to “punish” him for all his “misdeeds”; chief among them being slighting her. Then, once he had learned his lesson and repented, he would come crawling back to her remorseful and repentant.
Problem is, he has been innocent the whole time, and the pain of what he has suffered has caused him to withdraw and shut out others as much as possible. Sumika probably does not realize (or is trying to not acknowledge) just how badly people have treated him (due in part to her actions or lack thereof); remember him mentioning her being surprised when he came back to the classroom slightly injured after getting called out. But what likely really surprised her was when she saw people suddenly starting to surround him and become his friends. And, what’s this? One, no TWO girls?! And the (presumably) cuter one seems to have taken a romantic interest in him?!! “No, this should not be happening!”, she thinks. He has not accepted blame, apologized, repented, or changed his ways. It can’t be that he’s innocent, and she was wrong.
If that is the case, then she is really just a sanctimonious hypocrite who brought undue suffering upon her childhood friend/possible crush. And that is one bitter pill she will not want to swallow willingly or easily. Hopefully, the MC has a backbone and makes it known that their relationship is forever changed, and their friendship has long-since ended, before peacefully moving on to heal with his new friends by his side.
I'm already low key hoping that Obata and the MC end up getting closer to one another.
She's a good egg.
.....................THIS SLUT....................SHE DOESN'T LIKE INJUSTICE AND WHAT DID SHE DID TO HIM???......................I REALLY CAN'T BELIEVE I WILL FOUND A CHILDHOOD FRIEND EVEN WORSE THAN HINAGI, BESIDES THE ONE IN FOUR COLORED GODDESSES(LOL)...and another novel with a bithc girlfriend.....well there are other novels with worthless childhood friends(female) but i haven't read them all.............rather i think she is a fusion between Hinagi and the class president...........BUT WORSE...............now, one thing i can think to save whatever she has of justice might be the case the other childhood friend lied and this bitch believed in full without doubting anything.........................*sigh*...........this is exactly why childhood friends never win in romcoms...............
Well, is time for our MC to reveal the real cause of the incident and for his friends to be furious. I'm guessing they will start the plan to clear his name and take her down. For good.
I wonder if his family will hear and will come apologizing though i hope he forgives them but still keep them at distance like he is doing. Their own fault.