Popular High School Student Comes Home

“Otou-san, Okaa-san, We are back!”

“Misaki, welcome back. Seiya too…..so you won’t bring your girlfriend home with you huh?”

“I’m back…….Also, I told you that I don’t have a girlfriend right.”

I walked in front of our parents’ car following Misaki who immediately dashed toward it. By the way, my mother always asks such a question whenever I come home.

Usually, it would only amount to a casual exchange between us but…….today Misaki’s here.

“But it doesn’t seem to be long until Onii-chan has a girlfriend though?”

“O, Oi, Misaki!”

“Ara? AraAra? Is it going to be your model friend, Asuka-chan after all? Or is it—-”

“—–Misato-san, pressing too much is no good. If Seiya really made a girlfriend then I’m sure that he will tell us himself. It’s best that we wait until he’s ready.”

Said my father as he looked at us through the car’s window.

“…..Certainly, you might be right, Shinya-san. But Seiya is a late bloomer so he might let his chance get away you know?”

“Late bloomer…….”

“It will be okay, Okaa-san! Onii-chan is not the confessing side, he was confessed to you know! Right? Onii-chan!”

“…..Come on……Well, I mean, I’m fine with it but it might be rude to the other side if you go around and tell everyone about it right……”

“Then there’s no problem. They told me that it’s okay after all.”

“They are fine with this!?”

So this is what beset on all sides means huh? Well, there’s no problem since they both said okay but I still feel like I’m surrounded though…….

“Anyway, why don’t you two get in the car first? See, your father is already tired of waiting.”

“Y, Yeah…..let’s get in.”

“Right, I don’t mind staying here and talking but we can’t just park here either. Let’s go, Misato-san.”

Urged by my father, we quietly got into the car. We are at the boarding station but if we stay here for long, it will still bother other people after all.

Personally though, I don’t really want to continue the earlier talk so instead of being afraid of bothering others, I’m more relieved that my dad threw me a lifeboat.

“It’s been almost a year and a half already. Has Seiya got used to living in the city yet? I’m talking about your job as a model too.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty much used to it already. Rather than letting myself go with the flow, I think I can decide for myself how I want to spend my life there now.”

Well, perhaps because the number of people I am involved with has increased recently, I have been spending my life in a different flow than before but it’s not like I went out and cause trouble late at night so there’s really no problem.

Moreover, it’s not like I have my model work every day. Rather, I have been contacted for a shoot once a week at most. Also, most shoots would end before it gets dark so the work doesn’t cause problems to my life at all.

On the contrary, thanks to the study session with Eih—-Reika-san, I got my highest score yet on the test so there’s really nothing that can be complained about here.

“Come to think of it, I don’t know the result of your final yet but I heard that you got your best score yet in your mid-term exam right? Shinya-san and I were surprised, you know…..Did you finally know what you want to do in the future and put effort into it?”

……….my mother asked about the exact thing I was thinking. Did she read my mind?…….that’s impossible huh.

“No, I just scored more than usual because I had a study session at the library. I think that midterm was special since we didn’t do it for the final though.”

“I see, a study session huh. Hmm….was it with Masato-kun?”

“Nnn…..yeah, something like that.”

Obviously, talking about Ichinose-san and Reika-san here would be bad for my situation. And Masato was actually there so I technically didn’t lie too.

“Ah! That reaction! Reika-san was there too right!”

“You idi–!? Oi! Misaki!”

“Reika-san? Now I’m curious.”

Since Misaki said something unnecessary, all my effort went to waste. Even if she already knows them, she’s too sharp in a case like this.

“Y, yeah. She’s a friend who’s at the top of the test ranking. Also, Masato and Ichinose-san, who’s a friend of Reika-san, were there too. It’s just a big group study.”

“Hmm…..so Seiya finally made other friends aside from Masato-kun huh. Besides, they are both girls too?”

“Well, of course, I can make friends if I try right……”

“In junior high, you said ‘I don’t have any friends but I have a lot of acquaintances!’ so I was worried you know…….well, it’s okay. Let’s leave it at that. Just like Shinya-san said, it’s not good to ask too much about things like this after all.”

Yup, I will make sure to convey my gratitude to Tou-san properly later.

When I was in junior high, I was aiming to be the mob among mobs. Someone that you might be able to spot in a group photo but can’t see their face due to the reflected light.

I didn’t have a friend like Masato so it was so hard for me to evade being categorized as a loner too. Back then I had a lot of people who would say goodbye to me before leaving school but never ask to take pictures with me at the graduation ceremony, the kind of relationship that’s more intimate than simple acquaintances but less than friends.

“Hey, we’re about to arrive. Ready your stuff okay.”

It seems that while I was being bombarded with questions, we were about to reach home.

I feel that the talk got cut off at the right time again though……