CH 68

Chapter 68: See you later.

I don’t take this lightly. Ever since my memories of my past life came back, I was very careful not to let Sara have that bad ending. 

However, even though it was a dream, seeing that scene made me realize how little I was actually prepared. I knew it would happen, but it was completely different seeing it upfront. It was just horrifying, a scene where there was only despair.

It’s good now though. There is no direct contact between Sara and Aoi, on the contrary, Sara doesn’t have a very good impression of Aoi. With this Sara shouldn’t be stabbed by Koharu.

However if something happened and momentum caused Sara and Aoi to get close to each other, there’s a possibility that Koharu will attack Sara.

I remembered the sight of Sara shivering and collapsing into her pool of blood. What the hack is this joke, little mistakes I make and oversights could kill them. That responsibility is too heavy to place on a 16-year old girl.

Above all, even if I know what caused this tragedy, I haven’t thought of a solution. Until a while ago, I thought as long as Koharu and Aoi could have mutual love it would be fine, but now it doesn’t seem that simple. Unlike the games, our lives continue after the ending of the game. I don’t want to make choices that could lead to an anxious ending.

“What should I do. . .”

After all, I couldn’t think of anything even until the sun rose. Seeing as I was reincarnated I wish I had a cheat ability. The memories of living as a 26 year old aren’t useful at this time. The only advantage I got is that dream, but reality is so different that it isn’t that useful. 

While chewing over my powerlessness, I dragged my body out of bed. Thanks to the lack of sleep I felt like I was 70kg(154 lbs). Ah, I want to see Sara. Why do I have to have that kind of dream during summer vacation, it’s during the time we can’t easily meet. I want her to drag me out of that nightmare with her cute smile.

I don’t want to go to club on a day like this, but I’m reluctant to throw Koharu to Yoko, so I have to go. I gave up on having my Sara therapy and just sent one stamp to her saying “Good morning”

Once I was on the train, I received a stamp back saying “Good morning Chuu.” with a rabbit blowing a kiss. It was funny that I was worried about her destructive power. The Sara therapy was indirect, but still effective.

“Yikes, you look terrible.”

Please stop pointing your finger at my face and saying it’s terrible. You could at least say good morning. There is only one person this rude, but still I have no retort.

My eyelids are puffy, bags formed under my eyes, and my skin is bad. If I was in an anime, there would probably be a dark background with cloudy purple air behind me.

“I had a little sleep deprivation.”

“Eh, well I wish you would have taken a break and not overdo it.”

“Yeah, I’ll head home early after lunch.”

After I said that, Yoko nodded with a convinced face. She hit my shoulder and said “What a kind, Senpai.”. Ugh, I wanted to smack that smiling face.

By the way, Koharu silently headed to her usual spot and faced her canvas. She’s not that isolated from everybody, but there still seems to be a little gap with the other first years.

“What made you stay up so late?”

“I wasn’t staying up, I just had a nightmare. . . I couldn’t sleep after waking up.”

“What kind of nightmare?”

“I. . .forgot.”

I can’t just say that it was a dream where Sara was stabbed by Koharu.  She doesn’t look like she is buying it, however she swept it aside and didn’t pursue the topic. I gave a complete sigh of relief.

After finishing that up, we prepared for club activities, time went by as usual, before I noticed it was already noon. Around that time, the first year got hungry and left the room to eat. Huh? I noticed something unsettling. 

Did they just leave without even inviting Koharu? Up until yesterday, they would normally at least invite her, but today they didn’t.

Did they stop inviting her because she started eating with us? I can’t think of another reason. This isn’t good, I didn’t mean for the cracks to widen too much. I thought about while looking at Koharu’s back, I couldn’t guess what she was thinking about, perhaps we could have a little talk while eating lunch.

–   – Sure enough, it was a good idea. After I heard from Koharu, I was again annoyed by my lack of competence.

By inviting Koharu for lunch, I thought that it would make Aoi have some sort of jealousy. That’s what I expected, but a new problem then started from there.

“No way, she thinks that Wakashima-san likes me, and you wanted to keep a distance from Shimamoto-san to out maneuver her and get closer to me. . . How did she come up with that?”

“Sugimura-senpai never looked at her, then her childhood friend suggested they start keeping their distance, but now for some reason the two of them are eating lunch together. She didn’t know why, but things still seemed suspicious. . . is that good enough?”

“Thank you for your commentary. It’s surprisingly logical.”

“Yesterday night, I suddenly got a phone call, I was shocked and confused after hearing that. . . I panicked, but somehow I was able to calm down.”

My heart was able to relax a little after I saw the calm eyes of Koharu, it was like she had reached enlightenment. Aoi’s case now hurts my head, but after last night’s dream the gap between them is so big that I can’t keep up with what to do. 

No no, this might be for the best.

“It’s impossible for Wakashima-san to like me. I’ve been thoroughly told she unreasonably hates me to death.”

“Eh, I didn’t know that. Wakashima-chan did you say that?”

“Ah, it was just a little exaggerating! . . . I’m sorry, I was just jealous.”

Breaking that calm state, Koharu quickly apologized to me. Yeah yeah, it’s good to be honest.

Certainly I don’t feel the same hostility from Koharu that I did a while ago. I feel like I’m not hated. If Aoi didn’t like me, Koharu probably would have opened up more by now.

Koharu may have gone a little overboard, now she couldn’t help but feel bad.

“After all, Sugimura-senpai is beautiful, has good style, has a beautiful girlfriend, is also liked by Aoi-chan, and her scores are the first of her grade, so I’m just jealous.”

“Wait, be that as it may, I don’t have a beautiful girlfriend!”

“So is calling her a cute girlfriend what you prefer?”

“No that isn’t what I mean, She isn’t my girlfriend! We aren’t dating yet!”

Ah, it’s too late. I said it before I could think. I let the cat out of the bag accidently. “Yet”? “Yet”! I thought no one would make such a stupid mistake in real life, but the day came were I did.

Those painful lukewarm eyes pointed at me. . .! Stop! Don’t look at me!

“You said she was just a friend, as I thought you did like her.”

“. . . .I only became aware of it recently.”

“Wait wait, what. Wakashima-chan knows about Sara-chan?”

“Yeah, I also know about Yoko-senpai.”

I didn’t mean to bring up Sara. Of course I don’t want to be a point of contact between them, above all Sara is my weakness. If by some chance Koharu’s hatred for me grows, I don’t want Sara to be involved. By letting Koharu know that I’m thinking of Sara there is the plus that I’m saying I’m indifferent to Aoi, but if I weigh that with the cons, Sara’s safety is my priority.

“D-Don’t worry about me! Other than that, I’m sorry. Because I invited you to lunch, this happened. . .”

“No, I also didn’t expect it to happen.”

“I didn’t think that Shimamoto-san was the type to believe.”

As far as I know, Aoi is a positivity monster. She doesn’t give up on people if they act cold, rather than jealousy or hurt somebody’s feelings, she acts first with kindness. She should have that personality, at least in the game.

The only exception is the response to Koharu when entering the route of another heroine, so this seems to be that scenario, but I’m not sure if it’s that or the characters are too different now.

“Maybe somebody influenced her into thinking that. Aoi-chan is very simple like that.”

“Ah, I see.”

“. . .This may be a good chance for me to separate from Aoi-chan. This time I know that I’m completely not in her eyes.”

Unfortunately I can’t deny that. If there were any romantic feelings, she wouldn’t say it.

I can’t speak for Koharu, but it seems there is a difference of intensity for their friendship, let alone love. Does Aoi think as hard about leaving Koharu as Koharu thinks about leaving Aoi? Either way, it’s very bitter for Koharu.

In yesterday’s dream, I realized that both aren’t always happy in their happy endings. It might not be a bad thing If Koharu gives up on Aoi.

“If there is anything I can do, please tell me.”

“Well, then please quickly win over Sara’s heart.”

“. . .If possible, so don’t worry about it.”

“That’s good.”

That isn’t something I can do, but I wish I could do it.

Win over Sara’s heart! I’ve been trying to do that for a long time! !

“Haah well I’m definitely liked as a friend, but I wonder what I could do to leave the friendzone.”

“T-h-a-t is the thing. You should seduce her with your hot bod, Shiori.”

“Yoko, you sound like an old man.”

“So mean! Or rather, how about if you head home already? Your head isn’t working. You are even slipping up.”

“That is. . .Well yeah.”

My head is slower than usual. My lack of sleep is messing with thinking.

I finished eating with Koharu so perhaps now I can go home and sleep. Maybe it was because I was distracted up until now, but I feel like I can sleep if I just lie down.

“If you’re so tired, why don’t you tell Sara-chan “I’m so sleepy” and ask for a lap pillow!”

“Why a lap pillow. . .!”

Did she hear about it from Sara? I was unintentionally shooken. With my bad friend clearly surprised by my reaction, I knew I messed up.

Ahh, it’s because I can’t think well. I’m usually not one to dwell on simple mistakes, but now those two in front of me are grinning. How they are looking at me is making me regret it.

“Wakashima-chan, doesn’t she look like she already received a lap pillow~?”

“Doesn’t she? But I don’t know what that means if they aren’t dating.”

“Should I tell Sara-chan that Shiori wants a lap pillow?”

“Sounds like a good idea.”

“That doesn’t sound good at all! Wait. . .Stop, Yoko!”

In the end, I couldn’t stop Yoko. She was too dexterous typing on her phone while running around. Sending Sara a message saying I was lacking sleep and wanted a lap pillow. A few minutes later I got a reply on my smartphone.

A precise “Come by”, after seeing that I collapsed onto the desk. My bad friend and junior both said in sync “See you later”. They are on the same wavelength.

Yeah. I will go. I’m happy to go, but. . .I will remember this. Especially you, Yoko.