CH 71

Chapter 71: One Day

Sara and I promised to go see a movie in two days.

“So that’s why I’m going to be off tomorrow.”

I spoke to Koharu and Yoko about it at lunch break the next day. 

I won’t talk about yesterday in detail, but I have to give some details about why I’m taking a break.

Up until that point we were just having normal small talk, however it then changed to a lukewarm mood.

No, stop it, those faces. There is nothing going on. . . Well, maybe. But there isn’t.

“Yeah, yeah, so you have a date. Have fun.”

“A date. . .”

“Don’t worry about it, don’t need to lie.”

“I do worry.”

Koharu no longer intends to hide her cynical tone, but is it safe to say she has opened her heart. I don’t feel as bad because that terrible gaze that she used to have has disappeared, but I feel like people around me have recently stopped holding back. Sara, Koharu, and Yoko all have no restraint.

I wonder why. Neither in this life nor my previous should I have been this type of character.

“If Shiori isn’t coming, then perhaps I’ll take a break. How about you, Wakashima-chan?”

“Yeah. I’ll also take the day off, it’s nice to take a break once in a while.”

Hearing that I pat my heart in relief. Aside from Yoko, I was a little worried about leaving Koharu alone. Originally, I was prepared to invite Koharu, and have Yoko go with her.

It seems that I don’t have to worry too much because they are getting along better than expected.

“Good for you Sugimura-Senpai. Schoolwork, love perfection, it feels like such a rosy colored youth.”

Koharu is said as she threw a sausage into her mouth. I hope normies would explode is what she is hinting at. I wish you’d say that to the person who is grinning next to you.

Aside from schoolwork, I’m still in an unrequited love.

“Aa-ahh, I still haven’t fixed Aoi-chan’s misunderstanding.”

Koharu grumbled.

Well, I am responsible for that, so I think I should do something about it?

Right now Koharu doesn’t seem to be in the mood of listening. 

Geeze, despite the fact that Aoi usually pays attention to those around her, I wonder why she is like this with Koharu.

Whether it’s the influence of the game or the childhood friend dependency, it’s a little too biased on Koharu’s side. 

I can’t run away from Aoi forever, so perhaps I should find an opportunity to talk in the near future.

“I don’t like being misunderstood, so I’ll try to talk to Shimamoto-san at once.”

“Thank you very much. From my point of view, it seems that whatever we do has the opposite effect. If this cold attitude continues I feel like my heart will break even more.”

“That’s tough.”

A broken heart? I haven’t even confessed yet, and Sara doesn’t seem like she has a crush, but what if I got a broken heart? Or rather, what’s the best thing I could do?

Do we continue meeting as friends? Keep a distance? Do I just dwell on giving up?

All of those seem possible, and all seem painful.

“Geeze, the person I’m complaining to is my love rival. By the way, what movie are you going to see?”

“I’m guessing because it’s Shiori she’d choose a cheesy romance movie.”

“Ah, I can see it. Sugimura-senpai seems like the type who’d sing love songs while looking at her crush in karaoke.”

“Yeah~! She’d insert their name into the song and stuff!”

“Why do you both have such a terrible image of me!? It’s an action movie we are going to see, and I don’t sing like that at karaoke!”

Aside from karaoke, I did think about seeing a romantic movie for a moment! But it was just a thought! Sara said she likes action movies, so we chose that. . .It’s good that we did.

While patting my chest in relief, I said the name of the movie we were going to say. Koharu after hearing that shouted “Eh?”. What’s wrong?

“Senpai, do you know what that movie is about?”

“Um, it’s an action movie about a female spy, right?”

“That’s true, but there is a sex scene between women in that movie.”

“. . . You gotta be kidding?”

I didn’t know that! I didn’t check at all! How did it completely slip through my yuri information network! This just shows the harmful effects of me not being able to catch up with recent yuri, no way it would have gotten past otherwise!

More than that, I’m going to be watching that with Sara.

Geeze, recently hollywood movies are more liberal with throwing in homosexuality in their movies. Thank you! I love it! But I wanted to enjoy those kinds of things alone!

“I’ve already bought our seats online, I can’t change it. . .”

“Ahaha, my condolences.”

“Um, well the scene is pretty short. . .”

“Okay, thank you. It was better to know about it before going in.”

If I watched it without knowing I most certainly would have been thrown into the fires. I still see myself being burned by it, however there is a big difference if you are able to mentally prepare. Thank you Koharu for telling me, I just hope that Sara won’t say anything about the scene tomorrow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“That was amazing!”

The following day we watched the movie as planned. We went to the pancake shop after buying the movie’s pamphlet.

Sara was sitting on her seat as she flipped through the movie pamphlet while sharing her impressions.

Of course we weren’t attacked in the movie theater lobby. Koharu, the supposed attacker, is relaxing at home.

“The action scenes were so cool, and enthralling!”

“Yeah, I was surprised by some of the scenes.”

Also there was a certain scene I was really surprised about.

I heard from Koharu that the scene would be short, and she was right, however it was very passionate. Sitting with my favorite person and watching a beautiful woman licking and entinwing herself with another beautiful naked girl is bad for the heart! It was beautiful though!

“Speaking of surprise. Oh my god I was shocked that her partner was another girl.”

“Eh, ah, yeah.”

Ah, here comes the talk.

“I was a little more nervous after being confessed to by Tomoda-senpai.”

“Ah, that’s right. I mean, that scene would normally make your heart race.”

“Shiori-san also forcibly pushed me down before-.”

“Ah, that. . .Sorry.”

“Ahahaha, sorry sorry. That was a little mean to say.”

Please forgive me. I know it’s my penance, it’s worse for my heart than the movie.

Sara happily looked at me as my head hung down. Recently this has been my usual role.

It’s been 3 weeks since Tomoda-san’s confession. I wonder if this will help with processing it a little.

“Out of all the people who confessed to me, I liked Tomoda-senpai the most.”

“. . .Is that so.”

“Yeah. I knew it wasn’t love, but I’d be lonely if she wasn’t by my side, so I thought about going out with just a little to stop that.”

I raised my face involuntarily to those words. I met Sara’s eyes, with a strained smile she said “I didn’t go through with it in the end.”

However I know. If she didn’t have me or her classmates like now, Sara is a girl who would’ve gone through with it and taken her hand. The result would be that distorted relationship like with Aoi in the game.

What did she think about at that time? Did she think about it after? She seemed to have declined immediately. Perhaps she was quietly worried about it when she slept beside me.

“So when I was watching the movie, during that scene I thought about if I had that relationship with Tomoda-senpai, however I wouldn’t have been able to kiss her let alone go further. So I wonder if that was the right decision.”

“It was right. Even if you went out that way, you’d only hurt each other later on.”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“And I’d want you to have a happy romance with someone Sara really fell in love with.”

And if possible, I’d like it if that person was me. I couldn’t look at her as I had those thoughts.

With the same amount of love I’d want for her to have a happy love, I also don’t want to see Sara fall in love with someone else. I hope that that won’t happen anytime soon, and that we could continue to talk like this.

“If I find someone I like, Shiori-san will be the first to know.”

“. . . I’m honored.”

My chest was stabbed by Sara’s pure goodwill.

Her words filled with trust, her smile, telling me to my face that there is no piece of romantic feelings towards me.

She may not be aware of my feelings for her. Based on the way she is acting and seeing it before my eyes.

Ahh, the confession is far away. Not because of Koharu or Aoi, but because of my own problem.

“By the way, have you thought of a matching accessory that would look good?”

The unpleasant story can now be replaced. When I changed the flow of the conversation to accessories, Sara’s eyes shone.

“Um, I think a kamikazari are good, what do you think?”

“It’s okay. What kind do you want?”

“I’ve seen a lot of kinds online, but I’m worried. Ornament Hairpins are cute, and it’s cute to have some flowers on it!”

With that said, she showed me some screenshots, they are definitely cute. If it’s an ornamental hairpin you’d look more adult, but if anything, the flowers would make Sara’s cuteness stand out more.

Even if you say the word flower, the impression it’d give changes considerably based on size and material.

There is a wide range of flower faces with refined designs, or gorgeous ones decorated with organdy. Anyways there are many kinds of accessories.

“Shall we decide in person?”

“Yeah!”

It’s no good staying gloomy. I have to enjoy our time together right now.

Sometimes I feel the pang suddenly hit me, but it’d be a waste if I spend this important time with Sara feeling like that.

One day I will tell my true feelings to her, to the girl who adores me like an older sister. I don’t know what kind of face she’d make. Despair or delight? I’d prefer the latter, but right now it’d seem to be the former.

As I thought about it, another thing came to mind.

I became aware of my feelings for Sara about a month ago, and it’s been painful. What would it feel like harboring it for years? Koharu had an unrequited love for years, she felt it everyday.

I remember Koharu having back turned, sitting in the corner of the art room painting a picture silently, pretending not to notice Aoi. Not just her love.

Her family, friends, her own abilities- –  thinking about how much suffering she had to endure even though she is a child. Just thinking about it was a little heart wrenching.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once again, big oof for Shiori. If only she could catch a break. Sara needs to hurry up or something. Become more self-aware.