Vol. 2 Chapter 5 – Don’t Get Involved Anymore

♦

Kotarou dragged Kyousuke out of the house.

When she checked outside through the window, her eyes met Kotarou’s as he suddenly turned back. He gave a small, serious nod. He was an incurable, top-tier idiot, but at times like this, his perceptiveness was a big help.

“N-now then, Ayano-cha—wait, whaaat!?”

When she turned around, Ayano was already breaking down, tears streaming uncontrollably.

It was a childish, tearful face that didn’t match her beautiful looks at all.

Sniffling sunu, her shoulders trembled in small shakes.

“What’s wrong!? D-does your stomach hurt or something!?”

“Ugh, uuu…! S-Sayo-chaaaan!!”

“Y-yes!”

Seeing Ayano’s tearful face for the first time, its sheer rarity filled Sayo’s mind with heart symbols.

But given the situation, she couldn’t just squeal in excitement, or Ayano might end up disliking her.

Forcing those feelings down, she leaned in and asked, 『Are you okay?』At that moment, Ayano’s hands grabbed tightly onto Sayo’s shoulders.

“What should I do…! What should I do…!!”

Repeating the same words over and over, she clutched Sayo’s clothes tightly.

“I think… Kyousuke hates me now…!!”

“…Huh?”

Blurting out something completely unexpected, she wailed out loud.

♣

Just as expected, it was unbearably hot outside.

Caught between the sun blazing down with murderous intent and the heat radiating from the scorched asphalt, sweat began to seep out in less than a minute.

“…What’s with you all of a sudden? It’s not like I had to come along.”

“Seriously, man, read the room a little. Sayo was looking out for you, you know?”

Hearing that, Kyousuke seemed to finally understand the situation and lowered his head with an apologetic expression.

“I don’t really know Ayano-chan that well but no matter how you look at it, that was weird.”

“…Yeah.”

“『Yeah』 you say… come on, man…”

Kotarou wasn’t particularly interested in the relationship between Kyousuke and Ayano but having that strange atmosphere in the same space was a problem.

And the fact that Kyousuke, one of the people involved, was acting like an outsider just made it even more exasperating.

“You two got along really well, didn’t you? What’s going on today?”

Kyousuke turned his face toward him, frowning as if troubled.

He quickly looked away again, biting his lip as though trying to suppress his anxiety.

“Maybe… I…”

The sweat that had gathered slid down his cheek, collected at the tip of his chin, and dripped onto the asphalt.

It evaporated in an instant, as if nothing had happened.

“Maybe… Ayano hates me now…”

“…Huh?”

As if overturning the scorching heat, a group of elementary school kids ran past them, shouting loudly.

Glancing briefly at their backs, Kyousuke winced, as if the brightness itself had stung his eyes.

♦

A few minutes later, Ayano finally seemed to calm down. She blew her nose hard and gulped down the barley tea on the table in one go.

That was close.

If it had taken her any longer to stop crying, Sayo might have given in to temptation and taken a photo. Whether she was smiling or crying, Ayano was truly beautiful and cute, enough to destroy one’s self-control.

“S-sorry. I lost my composure…”

“It’s totally fine! If anything, it was more like a reward—”

She started to say it, then realized that was probably a bad idea and swallowed the rest of her words.

Clearing her throat lightly, she resumed as if nothing had happened.

“So then, what do you mean by being hated? From my perspective, it doesn’t look like Fujimura-san dislikes you at all.”

She hadn’t known Kyousuke for that long, so she couldn’t say she fully understood what kind of person he was.

But it was obvious he wasn’t the type of guy who could pull off that kind of『girl-style』social move, like inviting someone he disliked over for a study session.

“…The other day, I went camping with Kyousuke and his family.”

Ayano… camping.

It was a development Sayo was insanely jealous of but now wasn’t the time. She calmed herself and listened seriously. This wasn’t that kind of mood.

“At that time… there was something about Kyousuke that really bothered me. So I asked him. Even though I knew he might not like it…”

“And… did he answer you?”

At that question, Ayano shook her head slightly.

“…He looked scared. I think… he really didn’t want me to know.”

Sayo didn’t know what Ayano had asked, or why Kyousuke couldn’t answer.

But everyone had one or two things they couldn’t tell others, especially when they were close.

“I did apologize, though. I told him I wouldn’t ask again. …But that doesn’t change the fact that I hurt him. And even today, he felt really distant.”

“…So that’s why you think he hates you, Ayano-chan.”

After a pause, Ayano nodded slowly.

She sniffled lightly and rubbed her eyes, as if wiping away something that might spill out again.

“First, I want to make something clear. Do you like Fujimura-san? Not as a friend, but as someone of the opposite sex.”

“…Yeah, I like him.”

She admitted it so easily that it wasn’t even surprising.

Since April, the closeness between the two had already gone beyond just friends, and before summer vacation, Ayano had even mentioned skipping school to go to the beach with him. The fact that they called each other by their first names made it obvious how far their relationship had progressed. More than anything, the way Ayano looked at him wasn’t how one looks at a friend.

“Because I like him… I ended up wanting to know everything about Kyousuke. I was only thinking about myself and didn’t consider his feelings… and because of that, I hurt him…”

She spoke painfully, clenching her fists tightly on her lap.

“If it’s like this… I wish I’d never fallen for him…!”

Outside the window, a group of elementary school kids ran past along the road in front of the house.

Without the slightest regard for Ayano’s feelings, their cheerful voices echoed into the room.

“…I see. As I thought, Ayano-chan, you’re really wonderful. You’re just… incredibly precious.”

“W-why would you say that? I’m a terrible girl… right?”

“It’s only natural to be curious about the person you like, isn’t it?”

“But still… I asked something I shouldn’t have…”

“But you properly apologized afterward, right? That’s not something people can easily do, apologizing honestly like that. If you went that far, I think Fujimura-san has already forgiven you.”

“…Sayo-chan, what do you even know about Kyousuke?”

Her slightly displeased tone made Sayo think, this side of Ayano isn’t bad either but she kept her composure and replied,『I don’t know anything.』

“I haven’t even talked to him one-tenth as much as you have. Even so, I think I understand at least that he’s sincere, kind and broad-minded. There’s no way you wouldn’t know the things I can see, right?”

When she asked that, Ayano’s eyes widened slightly, and after a brief pause, she nodded.

“…B-but, you know, there’s one more thing I’m worried about.”

“What is it? Go ahead, I’m all ears.”

“I mean…am I actually cute? When I’m around Kyousuke, I start worrying about it a lot. I even ask him directly, but… does he find that annoying? Is it okay?”

“… ”

What kind of reward is that?

“Before, I knew exactly what I was doing. I enjoyed making Kyousuke say things like『you’re cute』or『I like you.』He has really interesting reactions.”

“I’m so jealous!!”

“Huh?”

“Ah, n-no, that was just a sneeze.”

Switch places with him right now, she thought, glaring inwardly at Kyousuke while shedding tears of blood, all the while maintaining a refreshing smile on the outside.

“Is that really something to worry about? Ayano-chan, even if a trillion people looked at you, they’d all agree you’re cute, so I don’t think stating an objective fact counts as being annoying at all.”

“You can say that because you’re my fan, Sayo-chan. Kyousuke’s different…I mean, if I push too hard, won’t he start to dislike me?”

While feeling something close to resentment toward Kyousuke for being in such an enviable situation, Sayo was also grateful to Ayano for showing her this full-on lovestruck side. Carefully suppressing those conflicting emotions, she kept her smile firmly in place.

“First of all, I don’t think it works like『annoying means dislike』and『not annoying means like.』For example, Kotarou-kun is unbelievably annoying and comes on way too strong, to the point I sometimes want to punch him but I’ve never once truly disliked him.”

“I-is that so?”

“If you didn’t know anything about someone, then yeah, you might end up disliking them over a single bad point. But I know plenty of good things about Kotarou-kun too.”

Winning a national boxing title just to protect the girl he likes… that’s basically something out of a manga.

Even when no one asked him to, he’d still go that far. 

And sometimes, that was genuinely something to be grateful for.

“Even if Fujimura-san did think it was a bit annoying when you kept asking if you’re cute…is he the kind of person who would deny everything about you just because of that one thing?”

“…I don’t think so.”

Ayano looked much better now than when she had been crying.

She had probably sorted things out in her head. If this helped, Sayo was honestly glad.

“Besides, I think it’s important to make your feelings clear like that. After all, Fujimura-san hasn’t even realized your feelings yet. Of course you should be a little pushy.”

“I-I guess that’s true…!”

『Funssu』Ayano nodded, letting out an excited snort.

Now completely back to her usual self, Sayo finally let a natural smile appear on her face.

“I was kind of surprised but Sayo-chan, you actually like Toujou properly, don’t you? I thought it was just one-sided on Toujou’s part.”

“Huh? W-why would you think that?”

“Because earlier you said that even if you think Toujou is annoying, you’ve never disliked him.”

“…It’s actually harder to dislike someone who’s been thinking about me for over ten years, who works hard at everything and who does his best to stay by my side.”

“So that means you like him, right?”

“Well…I mean, it’s just that it’s harder to dislike him—”

“Say you like him.”

“I-it’s! Harder! To dislike him!!”

She raised her voice and pip-pip lowered the air conditioner temperature.

Her face felt like it was on fire. The words Ayano wanted to hear were still too heavy for her to say.

“Then you should just tell Toujou that.”

“There was a time I thought about doing that. Back in middle school. But…”

“But?”

“It’s simple, really, but…don’t you want to be confessed to? Like, for them to say they want to go out with you, that they want you. I want to hear it from his mouth.”

“I-I get that!!”

Ayano slammed both hands on the table and leaned forward with intense energy.

“In your case, Ayano-chan, you need to make Fujimura-san fall for you first.”

“…Yeah.”

Her excitement, which had been building up, melted away pitifully at those words, like a slug sprinkled with salt.

♣

“Ow—!”

After hearing the full story about what happened at the camp from Kyousuke, Kotarou suddenly found himself lightly smacking him on the head with a fist.

Kyousuke’s dull cry echoed through the quiet residential neighborhood, and he immediately glared back.

“What was that for!?”

“Sorry. It just pissed me off.”

“If you’re gonna apologize, don’t do it in the first place! What if I end up getting even shorter…!”

Rubbing the top of his head, Kyousuke protested with teary eyes.

“…So what exactly pissed you off? I didn’t do anything to you.”

“It’s not about me. It’s about your attitude toward Ayano-chan.”

“My attitude?”

“You think you’re a hundred percent the victim here, don’t you?”

At that question, Kyousuke tilted his head, clearly not understanding what he meant.

“I’m not blaming you for having secrets. I’ve got stuff I can’t tell Sayo either and there’s even more I can’t tell my parents.”

“Y-yeah…”

“But to keep your secret hidden, you ended up making Ayano-chan apologize, didn’t you?”

“…Yeah, I guess I did.”

“And now Ayano-chan’s hung up on the fact that she stepped on one of your landmines, and even though you know that, you’re not doing anything.”

“N-no, I invited her to work on the homework togeth—”

“And then what did you do? Nothing, right? You just stayed quiet and watched Ayano-chan feeling down. Honestly, aren’t you kind of glad we were there? That it made things less awkward.”

It must have hit the mark.

As if even the pain on his head had vanished, Kyousuke stared back at him with a pale face, completely at odds with the scorching heat outside.

“I get that for you, Fuji, things like inviting Ayano-chan to study or letting her into your house are a big deal. But she’s the one feeling down. Don’t just leave her like that and expect her to cheer you up like she always does.”

“… ”

“If you can’t properly take responsibility, then you should’ve just told her everything the moment she asked. Or just don’t get involved with her at all. Because you’re acting all hesitant and unsure, Ayano-chan is getting anxious and ended up like that.”

Honestly, he knew he was being harsh.

Among everyone Kotarou hung out with, Kyousuke was definitely the most fragile. That couldn’t be helped, and he had no intention of blaming him for that.

But that didn’t give him the right to treat a girl carelessly. Even if it wasn’t intentional, it still pissed him off.

“…Toujou.”

“Yeah?”

“…I feel like you should hit me one more time.”

He had held back quite a bit earlier, so this time Kotarou put a little more strength into the punch he brought down.

Kyousuke writhed for a few seconds, but instead of complaining, he gave a small nod and said,『Thanks.』 That kind of sincerity was honestly something Kotarou could respect.

“You’re right… I was acting like it’s normal for Ayano to be lively. Like it was her fault for being quiet…”

He said it with frustration and guilt, shoulders slumping.

His voice sounded so weak that Kotarou almost wanted to pat him on the shoulder and tell him not to be so down but he stopped himself. It wouldn’t help Kyousuke.

“Guess it really is different when you’ve got a girlfriend. I didn’t think that far at all.”

“Girlfriend? I’m not dating anyone.”

“Huh? W-what about Shijima-san? You always say you like her, don’t you?”

“Saying『I like you』is basically like a greeting. …I don’t know, I just can’t find the courage to take that next step. I mean, if I got serious, I know Sayo wouldn’t reject me.”

Even though he had just been lecturing Kyousuke like he had it all figured out, Kotarou didn’t think he was perfect either.

The reason he couldn’t confess was simple. He was scared. She probably wouldn’t reject him. That was exactly why it was scary. One word from him could easily change their relationship.

And to make it worse, he’d been telling himself she was like a little sister, as if that somehow meant they’d grown closer. Sometimes he wanted to punch himself for being that stupid.

“Hey, that’s not the way to our place.”

When Kotarou turned right at the road, Kyousuke called out from behind.

“I know. I looked it up earlier, there’s a cake shop this way.”

“Yeah, there is, but… what are you planning to do with cake?”

“We’ve gotta cheer Ayano-chan up, right? When it comes to lifting a girl’s mood, sweets are the go-to. That’s been the rule since the Cretaceous period.”

“I’m all for cheering her up but cake…?”

“I’ve calmed down a furious Sayo with cake plenty of times. If you give her dozens of them, there’s a pretty good chance she’ll smile.”

“…Isn’t that just her being too exasperated not to laugh?”

No way.

Sure, he’d made plenty of mistakes when it came to gifts for Sayo, but this was one thing he could confidently recommend.

“More importantly, even if we buy that much, we won’t be able to eat it all. Ayano’s on a diet, you know.”

“We’ll all eat it. If you put your mind to it, Fuji, you can handle about ten, right? If there’s leftovers, just give them to your family or eat them tomorrow. Ayano-chan’s willing to eat ice cream, so cake should be fine too.”

“I-is that so…?”

“Just imagine it. A cake buffet at home. There’s no way that wouldn’t be fun. …If you still don’t believe it, then come up with a better idea yourself, Fuji.”

Kyousuke groaned, going『hmm, hmm』as he thought it over, but no matter how long he considered it, nothing came to mind.

“…There might not be anything more fun than a home cake buffet.”

“Right!? Glad you get it!”

“I just got my part-time pay too, so we’ve got the budget. …Yeah, this could work.”

“Let’s do it! Let’s buy like thirty cakes and blow their minds!”

Under the blazing sun, they dashed at full speed toward the cake shop.

With their hearts swelling with anticipation, certain it was going to be fun.

Ayano:

“It’s time for the strange story gathering.”

Kyousuke:

“Huh?”

Ayano:

“Tonight, you won’t be able to sleep.”

Ayano:

(Voice call – 1 minute 20 seconds)

Kyousuke:

“Good night.”

Ayano:

“Wait.”

Ayano:

“I’ll wait until you fall asleep.”