CH 53

Real Intention and real intention (6)

Translator – Vodka

Editor – Soju

Hiatus over. Vodka is back drunk translating.

This chapter is short, hm. Don’t blame me. There are days like this.

I was now in front of a swing, that was now too small for me. I grabbed it and gave it a push. As it gained momentum, the rusty iron parts produced high-pitched sounds.

The painting was redone and at a glance, the swing seemed to be in good condition. However, it had been damaged at various places including the sitting plank. I could see that it had been long a plaything for children.

“I was forced to push both Shizuku and Kaede who were riding the swing”

“That was sudden”, said Kirasaka.

It was tough since I had to keep on repeating that tedious task from morning till evening. My hands would become as heavy as lead and my sense of time became distorted. It was harsh.

“I told you that Shizuku used to be lively in the past, right? It’s true. On holidays, Kaede and Shizuku would forcibly take me around with them everywhere”

“Looking at the present her, it’s hard to imagine that” (Kirasaka)

“That’s right……”

The current her couldn’t be said to be much lively.

Rather, she was more the quiet type, if her surroundings permitted her so.

Next, I went towards the location of circular shaped rotating jungle gym. More bitter memories were starting to come back.

[TN – Hell, I actually had to google what a jungle gym was. A rotating jungle gym is……well, google 回転ジャングルジム]

“Shizuku made me ride this once and spun it for about an hour. Then I threw up”

“Are you an idiot?” (Kirasaka)

I had decided that never again in my life, was I going to be on board a rotating ride. It was a memory that had become a trauma.

It was impressive that my fear of rotating machines had won over the shame of throwing up in front of people.

“She was really different then, huh”, said Kirasaka

“……If the environment changes, then people will change too”

The biggest changes in students happened during Middle school. During the transition from their innocent elementary school days to the pubescent middle school period, there would be a big change in their environment.

This could be when their true personalities and thought processes started taking shape.

Upon entering high school, the number of people who underwent a drastic change in the impression they gave off, were few.

If such a change did happen, then, it would either have been the phenomenon of a stereotypical high school debut, or something must have had happened to them which warranted the change.

I am thinking it must be one of those two.

In Shizuku’s case, the once lively girl had become an obedient schoolgirl because of her surroundings in middle school.

“We had been commuting to the same school since we were elementary school students, but middle school was different. Once children had reached the age of puberty, they would be meeting many new students”

“Yes, that would indeed be the case if the elementary and middle schools were not combined. I was in a combined private school, so even when I had entered middle school, there wasn’t much of a change” (Kirasaka)

“Shizuku and I were commuting to the local municipal school like everybody else, so there were only strangers around us”

It was spring, and the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. I sat down on a bench that had been built underneath a cherry blossom tree.

Now that I thought about it, I came here on the day of the entrance ceremony too.

If my memory served me right, that was the last time I had come here.

“Right from the day of the entrance ceremony, she became the target of attention of the male students. In elementary school, every year, it was the same people around us. The guys had known her for a long time, so they didn’t make a fuss, but new classmates were a different issue”

“If it’s her, there is nothing strange about that kind of situation”

It was as Kirasaka said. After all this time, there was nothing strange about that kind of situation. Since every day, I could see a similar spectacle of Shizuku being the target of attention of the boys.

“Suddenly being surrounded by male students in droves……she must have hated that. She had even said that it was scary once”

It was on the first day of the school entrance ceremony. We were walking in front of this park, when we saw splendidly blooming cherry blossom trees, so we decided to stop by. That was when she had muttered to me how she felt scared.

“Then, what did she do?”

“……As you know, she can basically do anything. She got along well with not only the boys, but also the girls. However, she wasn’t the lively girl from the past anymore, who would always be in high spirits”

Also, that was when the time that Shizuku and I spent together had decreased. We wouldn’t be playing with each other like in the past.

Since she was too perfect, the people around her wouldn’t leave her alone.

Even now, nothing had changed. In our current school, she was still a vastly popular person.

The degree of her popularity was so much so that the male students would be delighted by just being able to talk to her.

However, since I had known her past innocent self, it seemed to me like she was wearing a mask. It might have been due to this, that I found it harder to approach her.

Kirasaka was listening to my story with deep interest. Then, seemingly having thought of something, she asked me this.

“So, that was when Shinra-Kun and Handsome-Kun started getting along with each other?”

“Well, ya”

It was like she said. At that time when Shizuku and I had stopped hanging out with each other, the person that had appeared in front of me was a male student who went by the name Ogiwara Yuuto.

Author – It had become a chapter of nostalgia.