CH 2.1

The Begging Of My Daily Life (Part 1)

I saw Suiguchi on my way to school this morning and tapped him on the shoulder.

“Yo.”

“I was wondering who it is, but it’s you, Tonomura.”

He greeted me with an “Un,” and I replied with a similar tone.

“Yesterday, you made the classroom a living h**l.”

“What? You’re the reason I lost all my s*x drive.”

“And you will be stuck  with that for the rest of your life.”

“I was hoping for something a little more… realistic. There’s no such thing as tanned gals nowadays.”

I don’t know.

“God, it just started, it was too sudden.”

“At least your body is more honest.” Sugiuchi, who had been wearing a blank expression on his face, burst into laughter with my words. .

I’ve known Sugiuchi since junior high school, and we’ve been in the same class for two consecutive years in high school.

I could count on one hand the number of friends I had in high school, so he was a reassuring presence.

”Aren’t you dating Hinagata-san?”

“I’ve never dated her, alright?”

“What a waste, even though you are so close that girl who looks so similar to Seina, the actress.”

Seina is Sugiuchi’s favorite actress, Hishikawa Seina. It seems that she was originally a model or something.

Because of this guy, I had to learn useless information that I wasn’t interested in.

“We’re not really close, …we’re just sitting next to each other, so we talk.”

“Hmm.”

“Everyone is overreacting. You’ll lose interest quickly if you constantly look at beautiful women. How can I say that? It’s because I’m used to seeing her.”

“So you admit she’s beautiful?”

“Don’t be a prick.”

We walked with the handles of our school bags slung over our shoulders and our hands in our pockets. I’m taller than average, and Sugiuchi is shorter than average, and when we stand together, we stand out even more.

“So~ even if I do ‘those’ things to Hinaga-san, you won’t mind right~?”

The way he muddled up the words, “those things,” was a bit realistic.

By Hinaga-san, he is actually talking about Hinagata. It’s just how Sugiuchi calls her

I’ve known him since junior high. He’s a good guy, so if there’s a girl he likes, I would want to support him.

“Only if you mean it, Sugiuchi.”

“By the way….. can you even support that f*****g s**t?”

“Ah… well… I don’t know if it’s f*****g s**t or not.”

Sugiuchi looked up at me and laughed, ‘buhaha.’

“I’m kidding. Please don’t make a serious face. You know what I’m joking about. I kind of figured out that you don’t like it when other guys mess with you.”

“That’s not the case.”

“Isn’t your body quite honest?”

“It’s not like that. It’s different from what you’re imagining.”

I know that a lot of boys have been messing with Hinagata.

The first time was probably in the fifth grade.

That was the time when I discovered that she was confessed to by a boy who was in first grade of middle school—quite an older boy when seen from the perspective of a fifth grader in elementary school. 

I’m not sure how that happened.

It’s quite often to have such puppy love happening with a boy classmate. But, to Hinagata, that’s not it. For her who may be in the adult field romance, will only see them as a child plays.

And thanks to that huge influence, she can’t even remember those faces who had confessed to her before.

Maybe it’s because they weren’t my friends.

“Have you heard of Hinaga-san in the backstage beauty pageant?”

“Backstage?”

“Yes, the girls who didn’t participate in the beauty pageant secretly voted on who was the best. It’s different from the official one because all the girls can vote, so it’s pretty serious.”

“I knew she was popular, but I didn’t know she was that popular.”

“Your childhood friend is very popular,” said Sugiuchi, looking like an expert.

I’ve heard the phrase “the most beautiful girl in school,” but apparently she’s really the best.

I could tell that the boys in my class were aware of Hinagata, because they would look at her and see where she was or what she was doing. There was no shortage of boys who would come to show off to her, regardless of their grade or class.

The same goes for the boys who tried to join in the conversation with her whenever she was chatting about something unimportant.

All of these events were enough to confirm the fact that she was the first runner-up at the backstage beauty pageant.

“Many of the girls who participated in last year’s beauty contest were not very good, right? Some of them were just flashy, some of them were just in the mood, and some of them just wanted to show off.”

Let’s not listen to Sugiuchi’s diss.

“Oh, speaking of rumors…” Sugiuchi’s gaze met Hinagata’s.

She was walking in a group with some of her clubmates.

Hinagata, who was probably listening to the conversation, reacted with only about 10% gesture and a small smile.

She doesn’t say much and tends to keep her face expressionless, but she’s not the type of person you can’t tell what she’s thinking.

A tall girl walking next to Hinagata, Uchino Kura-san, noticed us walking behind and tapped Hinagata on the shoulder.

When she saw me, she turned around so quickly that I thought she had a spring in her step.

“Hey, Tonomura, I think they don’t like you…”

“No, no, it’s not me. Then you’re the one who’s hated.”

“What?”

“Huh?”

While we were joking around and lightly punching each other on the shoulder, we heard the word “tanned gal” coming from the group of Hinagata.

“…”

“It’s Tonomura after all.”

“It’s your fault.”

I thought I hit him lightly, but it seemed to have hit him in a strange place, and Sugiuchi was in agony.

I’ll give it back to him for the prank he played on me yesterday.

But Hinagata doesn’t talk to her about it, even though she has a girl she goes to school with like that.

I wonder if being close to her is not the same as being able to talk to her about anything.

I don’t know about me.

When I find someone I really like, I wonder if I’ll talk to my good friend (or so I think) Sugiuchi about it.

I might be embarrassed too to do so.

Hinagata thought she could talk to me about it, right?

I’m in a mixed mood, happy and not so happy.

At the end of the orientation and the 10-minute break, I confirmed yesterday’s progress with Hinagata.

“What’s happened since then?”

“What do you mean?”

I spoke in a low voice so that no one would hear.

“No, I was just wondering if you were able to get the contact information.”

Yesterday or today, you still haven’t talked about that?

“I asked.”

“Ahh. Okay…”

Even though she’s shy, she has a great ability to act.

Is it the power of a maiden in love or something?

If it were me, it would take me about a week just to get ready.

…Well, if it’s about SNS, maybe you can find it through your friends.

“Hey, don’t you want to say ‘hi’?”

Hinagata shook her head.

“What are you going to do with …greetings?”

“What will I do…”

What do you do with them?

I thought that if one said something like, “Nice to meet you,” girls would get excited about it.

I glanced at Hinagata.

“?”

Is she a shy talker, even on SNS?

On the internet, I don’t like it when people talk so much that they change their characters.

“But now that we have it, we have to do something with it.”

“What?”

“You know, Wh-“

“I’m sorry, I’m just a young child. I have no idea what you’re talking about~~” Hinagata was spoken to by another girl when the conversation was cut off, so the story ended there.

It was the night of that day.

*Ring* *Ring*—

I noticed the ringing of the phone and picked up the phone.

The display showed “Shiori”.

What is it? Did you have something you wanted to ask me?

“Hello?”

“…………”

What? No response.

I checked the display again, but the call was still active.

“Hello—o?”

“………n”

I can vaguely make out what seems to be a presence.

Does that mean that the microphone is bad or the volume is too low?

“Hello? Am I not audible?”

“Ryu…..”

“Ryu?”

I can hear the quiet sound of breathing.

“Ryunosuke…. Ah, no. Tonomura-kun, are you there?”

Are you there?  Or are you not? Is someone becoming one?

Well, I’m glad you can hear me.

“Um, Hinagata? If you ask for Tonomura-kun, this is his phone, so you get that right.”

“Ahh…”

I heard a sound effect and checked the screen again to see that the call had been cut off.

“Huh…?”

What is it now?

Did she overhear the conversation? While thinking about that possibility, I tilted my head to the side as I read the message.

It was from the one I received “Are you there?”

Ding And then I received another message.

When I opened the message box, there were two stamps of a bear on its knees.

Then, the same stamps were shot 10 times in a row.

“Oi oi oi oi!? calm down, Hinagata!”

I said looking at my phone.

“Mistake.” A message appeared.

Well, which one are you talking about? The one where you called on the spur of the moment like an old friend looking to catch up? Or the “Are you there” thing? Or that you shot off a series of bear stamps?

I didn’t know what to say, so I just sent a message saying, “Don’t worry.”

The message was read in a second.

Let’s just forget about the little mistakes. I’m not a kid to make a big deal out of such things.

I hear an incoming tone and bring my eyes back to the screen.

“Can I come to you tomorrow morning?”

Morning? You mean you are coming to my house?

As I wondered, the message was deleted.

Hinagata didn’t say anything about the deleted message, and I didn’t pursue the matter.

Hinagata didn’t come to my house in the morning, and I went my way to school without a hitch.