Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Good morning, senpai. It’s raining.」

「Yeah, it is.」

Kouhai-chan waved her wet umbrella to make the water drop off it, and greeted me.

「But isn’t it okay for it to rain or be sunny today?」

「I have physical education today. I don’t like it cramped.」

I see.

If it’s sunny, the students can use the field, but if it’s raining, they have to share the gymnasium with other classes that have physical education at the same time. Naturally, the amount of their movements will be limited.

For me, wide means I can play some match and do a lot of things which I’m happy with, and narrow means I don’t have to use that much of my energy which I’m also happy with.

「Well, since it is already raining, it can’t be helped.」

「That’s right.」

The announcement echoed, and the train arrived at the platform.

＃　＃　＃

Inside the train, I was facing the window in my usual spot.

Raindrops are falling one after another outside, and the window become blurred due to the temperature difference. When I rub the window with my fingertips, I could see senpai’s reflection behind me.

「『Today’s question』. Senpai, do you like rain?」

「Rain, huh.」

Senpai also glanced out the window when he answered me.

「I don’t hate rain itself. What I hate is the coldness.」

「Today is very cold, right?」

I seriously considered at home whether I should wear a jacket. But since I don’t have any plans to go out after school, I dropped that idea.

「It’s hard to crawl out of the blanket if it’s cold.」

Seriously, this person is really…

「Senpai really loves to sleep, huh.」

「I don’t think there’s anyone who hates sleeping.」

「How about some people with insomnia?」

「Isn’t that more like『want to sleep but can’t sleep』? I never had it before so I don’t know though.」

「I don’t know either.」

But I had times when my feet become cold in winter, making me unable to sleep for a while.

「And then, what about Kouhai-chan? Do you like rain? That’s my『today’s question』.」

I asked senpai about it, but I hadn’t thought of my own answer.

Rain, rain…

I suddenly remembered these words that I heard sometime before.

「Rain, when will it stop……」

I brushed my hair, and made my voice a little bit lower than usual.

「That’s the boat game’s lines.」1

So it was that one, eh.

「Nn, I don’t know.」

「Ha?」

「I mean, I don’t like having cramped space for physical education lesson, but it’s not like I hate it too.」

Eh? I was probably saying something similar to senpai’s answer before.

「Rain is important itself, and it makes the mood a little better as well, right?」

「Dunno.」

「Anyway. What I am saying is, I don’t hate rain itself.」

「Isn’t your answer the same as mine? Don’t steal other’s answers.」

I didn’t steal it.

It’s just that when I noticed it, my answer became the same as senpai’s.

＃　＃　＃

「By the way, senpai. Do you have candy?」

「I don’t like candy.」

Isn’t this candies discrepancy?

Naturally, our conversation stopped here. It’s not like we need to force ourselves to talk anyway. I took out the new book that arrived yesterday from my bag.

The moment I took it out, I remembered.

Speaking of which, I hated rain before. If it was me from a month ago, I would have answered with this immediately. Yet, I didn’t notice it at all until I took out this book.

Maybe this is it. Kouhai-chan’s influence come out even at this kind of thing too, how scary.

「I remembered.」

For me to call back our stopped conversation was almost close to never.

Kouhai who already started to look at her smartphone twitched, and looked at me with a surprised expression. I felt somewhat embarrassed when she looked at me that directly.

「I used to hate rain.」

「Haa. But senpai said that you didn’t hate it before.」

「That’s a lie.」

「So it’s a breach in the contract?」

「It was the truth when I answered it before. Or you can say that I completely forgotten about books.」

I was especially really unwilling to admit it, but it didn’t come to my mind at all.

When I was talking to her, I forgot that papers were really sensitive towards raindrops and water.

「Books? Is there any connection to rain?」

「There is a big deal. I read books at the platform, right? I need to get on the train, right?」

Kouhai-chan made a face that showed that she didn’t understand what I was trying to say.

「And then, since the station is just a small one, the platform roof would be limited, making my book easily exposed with it.」

「The rain?」

「Yes, the rain.」

「Isn’t that pretty normal?」

「But actually you don’t want to get exposed to the rain, right?」

She blinked towards me, her eyelashes fluttered.

「Eh. Uhm. Please wait a minute. It’s just for a moment, right? It would only be a few drops, right?」

「Well…」

「Wouldn’t it dry right away? Inside the train is also warm anyway.」

Nnn…

「That’s not the problem… Not that…」

「But I understand that senpai is taking care of your books so much.」

Kouhai-chan says so reluctantly.

「First, if senpai don’t want it to get wet, you can just put it in your bag, right?」

「Don’t you have times when you are in a very good scene to the point that you don’t want to close the book!」

「What a troublesome person. Is it really important to read it at that kind of time?」

「I have decided to read books on the train.」

「How about now? We are on the train, senpai.」

Kouhai-chan grinned.

「I wonder who is the one getting rid of my peaceful commuting time.」

Thanks to that person, the amount of my reading has been decreasing recently.

「Who is that?」

「It’s you!」

「I understand. But I think senpai is the one who called me out just now, though.」

Kouhai-chan swung the smartphone in her hand. I felt an appeal when looking at her doing that.

Ah, this is bad.

「It means senpai also wants to talk to me, right?」

She returned my words with something extremely unpleasant. Does this mean I can’t run away anymore?

「That’s not wrong, but…」

「Right?」

「…Yes.」

I lost again.

And also, while we were quarrelling, the train reached the station. My precious reading time…

This is the worst. Really.

The things I knew about my senpai㉚

It seems like he hates getting his books wet.