CH 49

Real Intention and real intention (2)

Translator – Vodka

Editor – Soju

With all these thoughts revolving around my head, I couldn’t concentrate in class.

When I finally came to, I could hear the school bell. The fourth period had come to an end.

The teacher held on to his teaching materials and exited the classroom. As if that was a cue of some sorts, a large number of students simultaneously exited the classroom afterwards.

They were definitely going to the cafeteria, huh.

In our school, the number of seats in the cafeteria area was overwhelmingly small when compared to the number of students who used the cafeteria.

So, when it was time for lunch, the students who would be using the cafeteria would break into a run as soon as the class ended. They did this to try and save themselves seats. This was an everyday spectacle at our school.

It would also seem that the limited number of egg sandwiches instigated the mass too.

At the Student Council meeting held on last Friday, President did say that it was dangerous for so many people to be running like that inside the school during the lunch break and that we as student council members should have to warn them against doing so, but……well, isn’t it ok?

At any rate, it had just been a few days since I had joined the Student Council, and I didn’t even know most of my classmates.

I, who was in the bento faction, looked at that spectacle with a sidelong glance. I, who had my own bento didn’t need to get flustered like those guys. I could just stay in my seat and eat my food. I opened my sister’s deluxe bento and then looked around the classroom.

Beside me was Kirasaka, another person from the Bento faction. On her table laid various luxurious foods, but she didn’t move her chopsticks towards them. Instead, she had been fixedly looking at something in front of her.

“What are you looking at……?”

As I followed her line of sight, I saw Yuuto bringing out a bento box from his bag.

“That’s unusual, huh”

“You’re right……”

Certainly, that was unusual……

I had seen him carry a bento several times during middle school. However, in high school, this was the first time that I had ever seen him carry a bento.

We had been looking at him curiously. Having noticed our gazes, Yuuto walked up to us and sat down in front of me.

“Once in a while, it’s ok to have lunch together, right?”

“……I don’t mind”

There were still a lot of his followers in the classroom, but……let’s deliberately ignore them.

Since Kirasaka was also here, there weren’t any students that would come near us.

Yuuto spun around the desk in front of me, connected it to my desk, and then dragged a chair over in a nostalgic fashion. It made me recall the school meals from the elementary school days.

“Well then, shall we eat?”

“Wait a moment, I haven’t said anything about us eating together being ok”

……Well ya, I guess that’s how it is

I didn’t think that Kirasaka would keep quiet in a situation like this.

Her words seemed to embody genuine hate towards the idea of having to eat together with Yuuto.

Yuuto realized the hate in the air, as he looked at Kirasaka with a sidelong glance for a bit. Then, he extended his chopsticks towards his bento and asked,

“Kirasaka-san, would you like to join us as well?”

“I’m not joking”

“I see”

He wore a bitter smile, but it was only on the surface.

I didn’t have any basis for that, it was just a feeling I had.

“……”

“Ah, this is delicious”

We were having our lunch together, but there were no conversations that could qualify as one.

I ate in silence, and Yuuto would sometimes talk about his positive impressions towards his bento.

I thought he had received the bento from one of his female admirers. However, the moment I looked at the contents of the bento, I concluded otherwise.

This wasn’t a bento that a female high-school student would make.

There were lots of boiled vegetables and such, so his mother must have had made him this bento.

Yuuto’s mother worked very hard.

Worrying about his mother, Yuuto seemed to have said that he would take care of lunch on his own. Though, it looks like she had cooked him a bento today.

He was a good son who cared about his mother’s feelings.

I felt like I had never said something like that about Kaede’s bento.

Should I also make her a bento?……but I couldn’t guarantee the taste.

Time went by.

I didn’t ask him anything, while I waited for him to make the first move.

If I were to be untactful about this and he dodged the question, that would simply ruin the conversation. Then my efforts would be meaningless.

Besides, he must have had realized that I wanted to ask him about the veracity of those words. Hence, he had come to have lunch like this together.

In that case, I shall wait for him to initiate the talk.

In a manner that exuded a lack of interest, I looked outside the window and said,

“……There is something you want to ask, right?”

Yuuto had finished eating his bento and was wrapping it up. He then said to me this,

“If it’s you, don’t you already know what it is……?”

“Ya, I guess”

He brought out a bottle of tea from somewhere and poured it into his throat. Then in a similar manner, he too looked at the sky.

What was that face thinking about?……

It looked like he was even smiling. Maybe he was feigning it on purpose like always, so as not to give away his thoughts.

Kirasaka who sat beside me, also seemed interested in the matter as she had been stealing glances now and then. Though since the conversation went nowhere, she was tapping her fingers on her desk, seemingly irritated.

“Say, Minato. Do you have time after school today?”

While looking up at the sky, he asked me so.

“……If you are ok with it being after student council”

He seemed satisfied with my answer, as he stood up.

“Well then, I shall talk to you later”

He left only these words and returned to his seat.

“Are you coming too, Kirasaka?”

“Yes, of course”

She was also involved in this predicament.

I didn’t have any complaints about her tagging along.

I rested my body against the back of the chair and closed my eyes.

I was recalling the words Shizuku had said when we were making a stop at the service area en route to the amusement park.

“……What I care about……is only myself”