Volume 1 - CH 1.3

Aoi had a belief that even heroes need a break.

After all, if one were to be on guard 24/7, it’d be inevitable that they’d be too tired to function. That was why one should rest whenever one had time to spare. To Aoi, that was how a hero should be.

“AAAAAAAAAAHHHH! YUUUZUUUU! Why is everything so annoying?! It’s hard to see Tomoe acting like that! Yuzu, should I really introduce her to that senpai in the arts club? Tell meee!”

“Don’t ask me.”

“Coomee ooonn!!”

“So troublesome…”

Aoi’s day off was mostly her visiting her bad friend’s room and venting her heart out to the poor girl. In addition to that, Aoi would always stick her face in the girl’s belly.

Of course, the bad friend would never appreciate this act and would always try to shove her away from her side. She’d use light violence if necessary sometimes.

“Why are you so mean to me, Yuzu? Heal my heart, please…”

“Let me tell you a fact, Aoi. From the human’s perspective, it feels good to lay their head down on a cat’s belly, but from the cat’s perspective, said human is nothing but a bother.”

“C’mon! We’re friends, aren’t we? Friends are supposed to share their happiness and sorrow, aren’t they?”

“I see. In other words, it’d be justified if I were to inflict as much pain on you as much as you bothered me.”

“AAHH! My chest! You’re hitting my chest!”

The girl who was pushing Aoi away with a book was Amami Yuzu.

Like Aoi, she was also in her first year of high school, but unlike Aoi, her body was slender and her back was a little hunched. The glasses that she wore gave her a rather subdued atmosphere, this atmosphere was further enhanced by the fact that she was wearing all black. At first glance, she looked like your typical shy bookworm, but she had this gloomy air that projected her unwillingness to interact with other people. Aoi gave her the nickname ‘The Gloomy Bookworm’ due to her rarely showing her emotions.

Although they were the complete opposite personality wise, they had been friends since back when they were freshmen in middle school. Yuzu was rather blunt with her words when she was dealing with Aoi, but she was friendly enough to recognize their relationship as friends. Nowadays, they didn’t talk to each other as much due to them being in different classes, but Yuzu was still someone who had been friends with Aoi the longest.

“So mean… Your belly exists to comfort me, does it not?”

And Yuzu was the only person that Aoi would ever show her pathetic appearance to. Well, aside from her own family, at least.

“You’re annoying, do you know that? Anyway, it’s what Tomoe had decided, so just let her do what she wants to do. She wants to suffer, so let her be.”

“But, I don’t want her to suffer like this…”

“You don’t even understand her feelings and you’re still acting like this. You’re as arrogant as ever, Aoi.”

Yuzu hurled more merciless words at Aoi. Words that were so sharp that it’d definitely hurt the other person if they didn’t know her that well.

However, it was this merciless attitude of hers that made Aoi feel comfortable confiding in her.

“Yes, I’m arrogant. It’s because I’m arrogant that I want to help her ease her pain. It’s just, I don’t know how to!”

“You don’t need to know how to. Tomoe had already decided to do this, so just let her be. It’s her decision, you have no rights whatsoever to meddle in this matter.”

Toward Yuzu, who never took her eyes off the book in her hands while spouting out those sharp words, Aoi smiled while saying, “As expected of my bad friend.”

“In any case, instead of trying to do something about what she had already decided, I should just help her with something else, huh? By the way, Yuzu, you were also in the same class as Tomoe and Naotsugu back in middle school, right? What do you think I should pay attention to in regard to those two’s relationship?”

“Don’t ask me. Just pay attention to the obvious things, it should be enough.”

“I see. How about this? Let’s contact our middle school friends. If they heard about this, they’ll definitely feel the same way as us and we can use our collective brain power to think of a way to help Tomoe. There will be some boys who’ll try to go after Tomoe, but I can just protect her from those guys, at least until she is back to normal again.”

“Do whatever. I don’t care. In any case, you can’t solve this problem of yours by yourself.”

For Aoi, Yuzu was her salvation.

Whenever she felt lost, whenever she lost her confidence in herself, Yuzu’s harsh words would always guide her to the proper way. There was proper advice hidden beneath those hurtful words.

Therefore, Aoi always treated Yuzu’s words as encouragement. Even though there was a possibility that she was just being delusional, Aoi ignored that. Yuzu was her only bad friend, the only person who was able to treat her mercilessly.

Not only that, it was Yuzu who always stayed by her side whenever she did stupid things.

For example, back in middle school, Aoi still didn’t know how far she should go to enact her ‘justice.’ Back then, she tried to sneak out to school at night to retrieve an item that one of her friends left at school. It was Yuzu who scolded and went together with her to retrieve the item.

Aoi trusted Yuzu because of this. No matter how inconvenient the situation was for her, Yuzu would always stay by Aoi’s side.

“…Well, there’s only so much a single person can do. But, what if we ask for help from something that isn’t exactly a human?”

“Hm? That’s an unusual joke coming from your mouth, Yuzu.”

“I’m not joking, there’s this urban legend…”

Her words intrigued Aoi.

Yuzu then closed her book and stared at Aoi’s eyes. The words that came out of her mouth afterwards, sounded like a bad joke, though.

“Have you heard of the tale of ‘The Love-Eating Monster’?”

“Yes, well if you live in this city, you’ll end up knowing one or two things about it. It’s a monster that’ll appear in front of a woman who got heartbroken and eats her love out of her heart, right? But, that story was inspired by a ghost story…”

Love-Eating Monster.

Aoi wasn’t unfamiliar with the words that came out of Yuzu’s mouth. In fact, she knew the person who was the source of the story as she had tried to investigate the matter. But, even after that investigation, she didn’t know what exactly triggered the start of the rumors.

“That rumor died down a while ago, didn’t it? Why are you bringing it up now?”

“…It won’t be a bad idea to rely on a monster when it comes down to it.”

Muttered Yuzu before reopening her book and acted as if she had said what she wanted to say.

“Monster, huh?”

Knowing Yuzu, whenever she said something strange like this, she was hinting that something was about to happen. It was something that happened a few times in the past. 

Of course, Aoi was aware that she shouldn’t rely too much on Yuzu’s cryptic advice.

“Too bad, rather than monsters, I believe in heroes more.”

Yuzu tilted her expressionless face at Aoi before asking,

“Hero as in the guy who saved you a long time ago? You haven’t given up on looking for him yet?”

“There’s no reason to give up in the first place.”

Aoi answered Yuzu’s question with a fearless grin.

“You’ve been searching for him for seven years already, no?.”

“Yes. Back then, I asked the adults about him, but none of them knew who he was! I thought they were just mad at me for acting like a brat, but when I asked them about him again after things had calmed down, they still told me that they didn’t know who he was.”

“No other answer then, it’s the ‘girl in a white dress’ phenomenon. A staple of summertime ghost stories.”

“He exists! Stop treating my hero like an illusion!”

Even though she firmly stood her ground, Aoi was still feeling uneasy about everything. After all, it wouldn’t be too far-fetched that she was just experiencing a mild hallucination due to her stress back then. However, that possibility didn’t make her heart waver. She still firmly believed that one day she’d be reunited with her childhood hero.

“I believe in my memory and feelings. He does exist. That’s why until the day I reunite with him again, I promise to live my life proudly!”

“So, helping Tomoe is part of that?”

“No, that’s just for my self-satisfaction.”

Replied Aoi smugly.

“I mean, my friend is suffering, of course I’ll help her!”

“…You and your pretentious bull…”

Aoi said that as if it was a matter of course, meanwhile Yuzu sighed in response.

While the two of them trusted each other with their lives, they wouldn’t depend on each other as much. That was the kind of relationship that two girls have.

*   *   *

After the weekend, Aoi started her week earnestly.

[Oh, the girl who likes foxes? Sure, I’ll do it for you. You owe me one, okay?~]

“Ugh…”

Like what she said to Tomoe, it wasn’t hard to introduce her to the senpai in the art club.

After all, Aoi knew one of the senpais in the art club personally since they went to the same middle school. All she needed was to text and make some arrangements with them so that Naotsugu could meet with the senpai that he liked.

But, Aoi had a bad feeling about all this. That was why, when she received that text from said senpai, she let out a groan. Though, she decided to proceed with the plan anyway.

Since this part of the plan could be finished quickly, she did it before the homeroom started.

“The next step is to make sure that everything will go well.”

Everything went smoothly so far, but it was just the beginning. There was still a possibility that some kind of problem would appear later.

“Yo~ Everyone~ Good morning!”

“Good morning, Tomoe.”

Just before the homeroom started, Tomoe entered the class while greeting everyone. Aoi returned her greeting while watching her closely.

“Good morning. You’re so energetic this early in the morning, Tomoe-chan.”

“Morning. Isn’t morning practice tough, Tomoe-chan? It’s amazing that you willingly attend it… Track club members are something else…”

“I know right? Even the soccer club doesn’t have morning practice.”

“That’s because you kept skipping on your practice!”

The moment Tomoe entered the classroom, the atmosphere brightened up. Before long, she became the main topic of the conversation.

This was part of Tomoe’s charm. Unlike Aoi, who had the charisma of a leader, Tomoe had the charm of a class mascot, something that made her loved by everyone. Not only was she dependable as the girls could freely rely on her, she was also easy-going and treated everyone the same way regardless of their gender. It was no surprise that she was so popular in her class.

Yet, this popularity of hers could also become a source of trouble for her.

*   *   *

“Tomoe, if this continues, your childhood friend will be buried in the schoolyard. May I receive your permission to lay down the necessary groundwork first?”

“What?! Did someone send death threats to him?!”

Lunch break.

Aoi decided to take Tomoe to a less populated place for lunch, on a deserted stairway at the end of the hallway. Of course, Tomoe understood that she did this to help her out with her love problem.

“Huh? Did that idiot offend someone by accident?”

However, she didn’t know why that childhood friend of hers received a death threat from someone.

“Well, that part was a joke, but it’s the truth that if this keeps up, his reputation will plummet to the ground quickly.”

“H-How could that be?!”

“Tomoe, stop pretending. I know you’re aware of the cause.”

“…”

Seeing Tomoe’s hunched back, Aoi let out a deep sigh.

“Everyone regarded you and Naotsugu as the perfect couple. If that guy were to go out with someone else, it wouldn’t look good to other people around you two. They’ll probably think that he hurt you somehow. If that were to happen, who knows what they’d do to him.”

“Really?! I-I know how they are thinking about us, but will they really go that far?!”

“They will. At least in our class, there are more people who care about you than you think. I’m planning to spread a rumor about you and him growing apart, they wouldn’t immediately bite it, but it’s fine, the rumor will serve its purpose as a damage control when things come down to it.”

“…”

At Aoi’s words, Tomoe nodded with her eyes downcast.

“Tomoe.”

“Yes?”

“You know what to do, don’t you? To make everyone believe the rumors I’m going to spread, you need to do this. Avoid Naotsugu for a while. Any excuses with work, like you’re busy with your club and such. Also…”

Aoi stopped her words for a moment.

She was hesitating. After all, she knew what kind of pain that her best friend would experience if she were to hear her next words. But, it wasn’t like she had any choice in the matter. If she were to stop now, her best friend would suffer a more painful experience.

While sending her a quiet glance, Aoi mercilessly slammed down her words at Tomoe.

“When he finally gets a girlfriend, you won’t be able to stay by his side anymore. Your role will be taken by his girlfriend. Though, I don’t think I need to tell you this…”

“…A-Ahaha… Yeah…”

The smile on Tomoe’s face looked fragile, but she didn’t shed any tears.

The sight of her twitching cheeks and her trembling shoulders made Aoi’s mind wander, so she asked her a question.

“You love him as a man, don’t you? Then, why are you hurting yourself like this?”

“I’m wondering, if you’re in my position, what will you do?”

“I’ll just abandon him.”

“Ahaha, you’re so scary…”

Hearing Aoi’s harsh words, Tomoe let out a weak laugh.

In fact, Aoi knew that it was impossible for Tomoe to just abandon him. If she could do that, she wouldn’t be struggling like this.

“…But, yeah, I love Nao. I’ve always loved him for a long time.”

Since her best friend was doing this far to help her out, Tomoe decided to not hide anything from her anymore.

“Then, why? If you still love him, you could just push through, I think it’ll work out well. Well, it’ll be hard for you to do it alone, but you can always ask for help. I refuse to believe that you don’t have a chance to go out with him.”

“Well, maybe that’s the case. If you were to help me, I could probably go out with him in the end since you’re that amazing, but Aoi, I already made up my mind.”

It was clear that her own words hurt her, but Tomoe looked resolute.

“I want to help Nao out.”

Aoi sensed an iron will behind that fragile smile. The will that would never crumble even if her action ended up destroying her heart.

That was when she realized that no amount of persuasion would be able to make Tomoe change her mind.

“Surely he doesn’t want you to go through this…”

“Of course he doesn’t. This is just my selfish desire. Hehe, I sound like an idiot just now, huh?”

“Yes. You’re an irredeemable idiot.”

Aoi stared at Tomoe in dismay.

“Well, I’m the same as you. Only an idiot would help out her friend going down a path filled with thorns like this.”

“…Sorry, Aoi.”

“Don’t apologize or else I’ll get angry.”

“Good grief.” Aoi put her hand on her forehead before letting out a sigh.

I only want to make my best friend happy, but why does it turn out this way?

*   *   *

Despite her inner complaints, Aoi proceeded with the plan and things had been proceeding smoothly.

The timing and Aoi’s social skill made it a success. It was a month after the school year had started and everyone was starting to get used to their new school life. During this time, even though they were busy, they had the lenience to care about their surroundings. If Aoi, someone who was well-liked among them, were to spread a rumor like that, they wouldn’t question the authenticity of it.

After that, if Tomoe were to act as planned, the rumor would gain even more credibility.

And so, the plan was entering its next step.

*   *   *

“Eh, seriously? I can go to a mixer with senpai?!”

A few days after Aoi started her plan, she stopped by a restaurant on her way home. With her was a good-looking boy with a shaved head, Mihara Naotsugu. The boy was smiling at Aoi innocently.

His body looked well-built and he was quite tall compared to your average boys. He was even taller than Aoi, not to mention Tomoe, whose height was just average at best.

“Yes. I know a senpai in the art club. Well, I called it a mixer, but it’s more like a meeting between the sports club and the cultural club. But, remember that other people will attend the meeting too, so you have to work on it yourself if you want to approach her.”

“That’s enough for me! Thank you, Miyama!”

“Don’t thank me, thank your childhood friend instead. If she didn’t ask me to do this, I wouldn’t even bother.”

“I see! Thank you, Tomo!”

Completely unaware of what was going on, Naotsugu expressed his gratitude to Tomoe.

Aoi almost stepped forward to sack him in the face, but she managed to hold it in.

“Being thankful isn’t enough! You should worship me, respect me and take this gratitude to your grave– no, to your next life!”

“O-Ow! Stop slapping my back like that, it hurts! Even the senpais on the baseball club wouldn’t hit me as hard! You’ll give me rashes on my skin!”

“Before worrying about that, you should worry whether your crush would be creeped out or not if you were to approach her so suddenly! Your body has grown to be this big, but you’re still acting like a child!”

“Speak for yourself! You haven’t changed at all! You always slapped my back whenever you got the chance to!”

Tomoe gently patted Naotsugu’s back, in which he responded to her without holding anything back.

“Hah?! I did it to encourage you! Instead of complaining, you should be grateful to me for it!”

“I’m grateful to you, but I don’t appreciate the violence!”

Tomoe had the same attitude as usual– No, she tried to act the same way as usual. She was trying to reenact the exchange that she did countless times in the past with Naotsugu. The action gave Aoi a sense of deja vu.

If one didn’t know her circumstances, they wouldn’t feel any discomfort after seeing that exchange. In fact, even her childhood friend didn’t notice anything.

But this only made Aoi feel even more worried about her. What kind of pain did she have to endure to pretend that nothing actually happened? How long could she endure that pain before she eventually broke down? Aoi couldn’t help but feel anxious about Tomoe’s unstable state of mind.

“Your body is massive, but you’re still a big a** loser! Are you sure you’re okay? Can you even greet her properly later?”

“O-Of course I can! Back when she asked me to be a model for her painting, we talked quite a bit! Rather, we got along well! She must have a good impression of me!”

“That could change for the worse if you’re too pushy, so be careful, okay?”

“Roger!”

“But, if you’re acting too distant, you’ll just creep her out, so be careful.”

“Roger! …W-Wait, then what should I do?!”

“Keep your eyes off her chest for starters.”

“D**n, that’s a tough one!”

In the end, Tomoe managed to keep her act up until the moment they broke up.