Volume 1 - CH 18

The day before the summer vacation started, a piece of paper was handed out to the students along with their report cards.

Fifth place. That’s better than before.

Yuzuru nodded in satisfaction as he looked at the results of the school mock exam.

His school has about three hundred students.

–This school is classified as a “preparatory school,” so the fifth place is enough to be proud of.

(Will Yukshiro make it to the top?)

As a rule, only the students themselves are informed of their grades.

But the students ranked tenth or higher are posted in front of the staff room, so you can find out if you go see that.

Normally Yuzuru doesn’t care about other people’s rankings, but this time he felt like he should go and take a look.

Thus, Yuzuru went to see the ranking list.

It was a little crowded, as it was just after it was posted.

“Yukishiro is …… in first place again.”

It seems that her efforts have paid off.

Even though it was not about me, I felt a little delighted.

“Wow, Yukishiro-san came in first again this time.”

” It seems so……eh.? Ayaka-chan!”

“Hey, Yuzuru.”

Before he knew it, Ayaka Tachibana was right beside Yuzuru.

For some reason, she was smirking at him.

Yuzuru had a bad feeling about this.

“Hey, Yuzuru. Why did you care about Arisa Yukishiro’s ranking?

“We’re in the same class, so it’s not strange, right?

“I wonder if that’s true.. Yuzuru, unless it’s someone close to you, you’re not interested in their grades normally.”

As usual, Yuzuru sighs at how perceptive she is.

And then he glanced at the ranking list and ……

“That’s right, Ayaka-chan. Congratulations on your third place.”

“It’s the same as last time. Soichiro-kun is in eighth place, and Nagiri-san is in tenth place.”

“

Nagiri means Tenka Nagiri Right?…… She seems like a smart girl.”

It’s not that surprising that she’s smart, since her impression from the outside was that she was a very serious person.

“So, Yuzuru. If you don’t care about Nagiri-san, why were you curious about Yukishiro-san’s ranking? Wow, You look blatantly uncomfortable. You don’t want me to pry into it at all huh. So  that means you have some kind of connection right?”

“The only reason I made an uncomfortable face was that I thought it was annoying that when she just happened to mention something that caught my eye, my childhood friend was asking me something like this. She’s a classmate, so it’s not surprising that I’m somewhat curious about her.”

If Yuzuru and Arisa were in completely different classes, it might be a little strange for him to be concerned about it, but they are in the same class. So it wasn’t strange to be concerned about how well their classmates were doing.

When Yuzuru replied like that, Ayaka put her hand on her chin and began to think about it.

“You’re right. When you think about it calmly, it’s just a bit too much of a hunch on my part…But something is fishy. The reason why I suspected Yuzuru is something …… Ah!! I remember!”

Ayaka clapped her hands with a pop.

Then she grinned, a nasty smile on her face.

“The person you gave that birthday present to, was it Yukishiro-san?”

“Who knows…”

Yuzuru’s heart thumped achingly.

But Yuzuru is the next head of the Takasegawa family.

He can at least keep his emotions out of his face, keep a clean slate, and tell a lie.

Even Ayaka, who has good intuition, could not seem to decipher the truth from Yuzuru’s expression.

“Hmm, am I thinking too much?

“You should probably work on your love life with Soichiro rather than my love life.”

“You don’t need to worry about that Yuzuru, Soichiro and I love each other.”

I hope that is the case.

Yuzuru sighed as he remembered the face of his other childhood friend.

‘Come back once for the summer vacation.’

This was one of the conditions for Yuzuru to live alone.

However, since he had a part-time job, he didn’t plan to stay at home for long.

He would only be staying at home for about two weeks at most.

So Yuzuru packed his luggage in his carry-on bag and got on the train to go home.

Then ……

“Huh? Yukishiro.”

“Ah Takesagawa-san, what a strange coincidence.”

Coincidentally, he bumped into Arisa who was occupying a seat.

Arisa looked at Yuzuru’s carry-on bag.

“That reminds me, you said you were going back to your parents’ house.”

“That’s right…What about you Yukishiro?”

“I thought I’d go shopping for summer clothes.”

It seems that she just happened to be there.

However, it is a bit lucky that we met here.

“Once again, …… I’ll see you in two weeks.”

That’s what he told her on Saturday, the last time they saw each other, but it wasn’t the last time since he had school afterward.

And since I didn’t get a chance to say hello to Arisa at school, this was a good opportunity.

“That’s right I look forward to seeing you in two weeks.”

Arisa replied matter-of-factly.

It’s not like it’s goodbye in this life, and it’s not that sad, considering that they can meet in just two weeks and can be contacted by email or phone.

Yuzuru and Arisa exchanged a brief greeting and promised to meet again in two weeks.

At this moment, they had no idea what to expect.

They never thought that they would not be able to fulfill their promise to meet again in two weeks.

To think that something like that would happen ……

It was three days after the summer vacation started.

Arisa was quietly working on her summer vacation assignment.

But as if to interrupt her concentration, the phone suddenly rang.

Eh? Not many people call me, though. ……

When she checked the number, it was Yuzuru.

“Yes, hello?”

“…… Yukishiro?”

“This is my phone.”

“That’s also true.”

Yuzuru’s voice was a little tense.

What’s the matter, he’s calling me?

Arisa was a little worried.

Unless it was an urgent matter, he could just text her.

“What’s going on?”

“No, I have a little favor to ask you. …… Is this a good time?”

“No problem.”

I was just thinking that I need to take a break.

This is a good way to relax.

“I’m not going to force you at all. You can say no if you want.”

“Huh, ……?”

“I’m sorry to ask you to do this.”

“So, what is it?….. If you’re too tense, I’ll start getting nervous too.”

Is this such a serious matter to discuss?　

Arisa felt her heart beat a little faster.

“…… I want you to go on a date with me.”

“A date? At the previous general entertainment center?”

Arisa remembered that it was fun to go there.

But Yuzuru immediately denied it.

“No, no. The old man …… had already prepared tickets for the two of us.”

“I see. …… That’s another meddling huh”

“Well, he said he got it from someone. …… I don’t know if that’s true or not. I tried to say no, but  ‘What couple doesn’t go out once during the summer vacation!’ is what he said… I couldn’t argue with that at all.”

“That’s a …… good argument. Fine, we’ll go out together.”

It was Arisa who proposed this “engagement” to Yuzuru in the first place.

Before Yuzuru’s grandfather made his move, Arisa should have suggested several things to him to keep the image up.

So this was her fault as well.

“Yeah, I’m glad when you say that……”

“So, where is the place we need to go?”

It is a ticket to somewhere, so something like an amusement park or a movie?

Arisa asked Yuzuru while thinking

“It’s …….”

“I’m sorry, can you repeat that?”

–For a moment there was a noise and she couldn’t hear him.

So she asked him to say it again.

“It’s the pool. …… I was wondering if you would go to the pool with me.”