CH 1

Author’s Note:

I wrote this on a whim.

Both of my parents were working, so they would leave home early in the morning for their job, and return home late on their way back. When I was still young, my mother would see me off and pick me up, but I went to school and back all on my own once I got to elementary school, and when I realized it was for my own sake, I didn't try to be selfish. Well, I had these circumstances, so I spent my childhood with feelings of solitude towards my parents.

Because my parents were relocated, I couldn't make friends at school at the time, so while I was spending time at home alone, one of the manga series that my mother had placed on the bookshelf caught my interest, so I picked it up and started reading the contents.

A boy and a girl who knew each other since childhood went through numerous encounters at school, acted memorable events, and finally tied the knot with the sunset behind their backs.

I forgot all about my loneliness, and my eyes were glued to the story written inside.

It all started when I read that romance manga.

Even though I understood that it was something beautiful and precious, I didn't know the word 'love', but after reading the manga over and over again, before I knew it, I had a vague understanding of what love was.

―― I want to have this kind of love someday!!, I thought.

Because of that, I asked my parents while they were back from a holiday, 'Do I have a childhood friend?', and when they replied, 'Unfortunately, I don't think so.", I understood that my wish had failed.

My parents smiled wryly at my sudden sulking, and patted my head to calm me down.

I felt frustrated that I couldn't be just like the novel was, so I went back to read that romance manga over and over again until the pages were wrinkled, and then I realized something.

I was only interested in the main characters, so I didn't realize there was a best friend cheering them on, devoted to supporting them behind the scenes.

And when I saw that character was so happy to see the couple get together as if it was himself, I knew that this was it.

It was a bolt out of the blue.

Without a childhood friend, I would never be anything like this story. And if I kept going as I was now, I would be the same as those student mobs that appear in panels here and there.

―― If that was the case, then I should be like this best friend character and be the one to bring this scene to reality, I thought.

Once I set my sights on that goal, I moved quickly. I listened around school for a boy and a girl who were childhood friends, and was so grateful that they miraculously existed at the same age as me that tears came out of my eyes, and so I earnestly asked of them.

"My name is Shindou Yoshihiro! Happy to make friends with you!"

☆☆☆☆☆☆

"And we became best friends, and that's how I got to be where I am today."

"Really..."

After school today, a week after the entrance ceremony.

In this deserted classroom, there were only two people, which was me, who was proudly talking about my past, and Takagaki Shiori, who sat on the opposite side.

She had a reddish-brown bob cut, eyes slanted as if she was glaring at you, so mature that you'd think she wasn't the same age as me, and we became friends after being introduced by her best friend. Truly a cool beauty.

I felt a bit of pressure with the way looked at me with a serious face back when we first met, but once we got to know each other, she was an easy person to talk to.

Takagaki, after hearing about my past, had a dumbfounded look to her face.

"A romance manga, huh. That's hilarious."

"I'm just trying to support them so they can become a lovely, sweet couple."

"As a result, the flower attracted an insect...how pitiful."

"..."

As for what happened after that recollection.

I was able to make friends with the two childhood friends. They suddenly received a friend request from a guy they'd never met before, and they looked like they were thinking, '...What's with this guy?'. It was only natural, looking back at it. If a teary-eyed boy suddenly started talking to me, I would think the same.

The two people who thought this was suspicious immediately returned to smiling and extended their hands towards me, saying hello. I was so grateful that my tear gland collapsed.

After that, as Takagi likened it to, I followed them like a bug. Every day, we talked about our favorite foods, dreams, classes, and more in order to deepen our friendship. When they asked me to hang out with them on holidays, I was so happy that I kept my fists clenched until they turned red.

As we lived our lives, grew up, and moved up to middle school, the two of them became even more popular than when I met them.

One of them had become so handsome that even girls would do a double-take.

The other grew up to be such a beautiful girl that guys would unconsciously stare at.

As for me who had been watching them all my life, I didn't see the change right away, and it wasn't until people started talking about them that I as well thought they were cool and cute.

I was thinking that the two, who were probably in love with each other, were conscious of the other as they bettered themselves, and as a result, attracted the attention of others.

Childhood friend power amazing, so I thought. (Declined boasting ability)

Middle school students in their prime. There was no reason for the people around them to leave them alone.

I grinned at the time where I asked the two of them to be my friends, and now they were my best friends.

Gradually, more and more people became their friends, liking their personality, and some fell in love at first sight and confessed their feelings. In the end, neither of gave out an agreeable reply, and never dated anyone. And in the midst of all this, I decided.

Just like that scene I saw in the manga, I wanted to support their love so that I could arrive at that moving scene.

From that point, I read magazines about situations that school couples would like, and I read more information from the internet for certainty, and when I had a enough information available to me, I put the idea into practice.

Whenever we went out to the city to hang out, it was basically just us three. There, I invited the two of them on an outing, and then I stepped back, saying 'I can't go because I have errands at home! Hehe ☆, you two have fun today!'.

At the sports festival, I encouraged them, saying 'Let's show that person how cool you are!', and gave them encouragements while they were practicing for the events they were going to participate in.

At the cultural festival, I started a fire by saying, 'Hold that person's hand and go take a look around.' as their best friend.

And on school trips, I would use my free time to take them to places where either one could confess their feelings to the other while saying, 'This is a beautiful spot, isn't it?'

Consequently, there were many failures, but I worked hard enough to say with pride that I had done all I could to support them.

It had been a year and a half since I started. I was convinced the two of them would get together through those various events.

And when they did, I decided on the words to say with applause: 'As your best friend, I congratulate you.'

―― Or so it should have been.

Never...they never got together even until now. I hadn't heard rumors that one of them confessed to the other.

"Why...why don't the two of you go out?"

I was so upset that these were the only words that came to mind.

I covered all the school scenarios that would bring them together. So why, I thought.

The three of us took the entrance exam to the same high school, all while thinking about what went wrong with them, and what was the reason they didn't get together, and now here we are.