CH 35

A week has passed since then.

In other words, the day of Takayuki’s competition has finally arrived.

For the past week, I’ve been consulting with Takayuki and Shimizu-san about their love lives, but neither of them has shown any signs of being different, and they’ ve been treating each other as normal.

I was relieved to see the two of them, and I should be able to behave as I always have.

The only reason I say “should” is because there was someone who made my problems seem trivial.

The name of that person is Shion Saegusa.

She is a former super idol beauty who was the center of a national idol group, and she is the worst at deceiving people.

At best, she is incapable of lying, but for some reason, every time Shimizu-san and Takayuki talked to her, Saegusa would fidget and panic, so it couldn’t be helped.

However, thanks to the suspicious behavior of Saegusa-san, both Takayuki and Shimizu-san were able to relieve their tensions by smiling wryly, so it turned out to be a good thing.

After all this, I took Saegusa-san and Shimizu-san, two beautiful girls, and rode the train to the high school where the competition would be held.

Today, Saegusa-san was wearing a dress she bought at Ken-chan’s store the other day.

When she arrived at the meeting place in front of the station, she happily spun around in front of me, folded her hands behind her back and bent forward, asking, “Do you like it? Does it look good on me?” She tilted her head

To be honest, it was really really hard.

I felt as if I had wandered into a parallel world, as if the heroine of a movie was talking to me in real life.

I shouted with joy in my heart, “Shiori is the only one who can win!” but I replied calmly and sincerely, “Yes, it looks great on you! You look cute again today,” while trying to keep my composure, and Saegusa-san put her hands on her cheeks and wiggled them happily.

That’s how much she liked the dress she was wearing today, I thought. She looked at me warmly, smiling as she wiggled happily.

Shimizu-san came in a little later, wearing a white blouse and a long beige flowery skirt, a very girlish and cute outfit.

She was carrying a pink mini bag on her shoulder and a large basket in both hands.

“uhm, is it weird?”

I guess she was referring to her outfit today.

Shimizu-san was so cute that I wanted to hug her when she shyly asked me that.

“It’s okay, you look really cute.”

“Yes! Saku-chan is so cute!”

When both Saegusa and I complimented her, she smiled happily, her cheeks turning pink.

The smile of such a maiden in love is really cute, no joke, and I couldn’t help but admire it, and for some reason, Saegusa-san next to me was looking at me with cold eyes.

When I arrived at the venue, the tournament had already started.

As this was the last competition for the third year students, all the high schools were enthusiastic in their support.

Looking at the schedule, it seemed that our high school’s first game would be the next one after the current one.

If they could win this game, there would be a second game in the afternoon.

“Oh! You’re here!”

Takayuki, wearing a basketball uniform, came running up to us.

“Of course! You’ve got to win!”

“Good luck, Yamamoto!”

“Oh! Thank you!”

As Saegusa and I cheered him on, Takayuki gave a thumbs-up and smiled.

I’m not sure if it’s because he’s in serious mode today, but he looks even cooler than usual.

Shimizu-san, who had been fidgeting behind us, perhaps embarrassed in front of such a cooler-than-usual Takayuki, mustered up the courage to call out to him.

“Good luck, Yamamoto-kun. ……”

“Oh, oh, ……Thank you, ……I’ll do my best, ……”

Takayuki and Shimizu-san were both red in the face.

“Okay, well, I have a halftime up, so I’m off!”

As if to hide his embarrassment, Takayuki said this and went back into the gym.

Good luck in the game and in love, Takayuki! I sent him a shout of encouragement as he walked away.

“”Oh, hey! Are you by any chance Shiorin?”

“No, I’m not!!”

” Eh, but ……”

“No, I’m not!!”

“Ano….”

“No, I’m not!!”

If you look away for a moment, you’ll see that Saegusa-san has been approached by students from other schools, but again today, her smiling face and “No, I’m not!” kept all of them at bay.

Incidentally, she was wearing her usual large round-rimmed sunglasses today as well, but the fact that she was wearing them in the gymnasium made her stand out from the crowd, and combined with her excellent looks, she attracted the attention of everyone around her.

However, Shimizu and I couldn’t help but look at each other and laugh as Saegusa-san managed to get through all the people who were trying to talk to her.

It seems that my worries about Saegusa-san are unnecessary.

After the previous game, our high school’s first game was about to start.

Our high school was an ordinary public school, so our basketball team was not particularly strong.

There were no students who had been recommended by the school, it was just an ordinary high school.

However, it was precisely because of this that Takayuki’s presence was so unique, and he was truly a promising new star.

Takayuki is not only tall (over 6’4″)(193.04cm), but also has excellent basketball skills. In junior high school, he was a one-man team that made it through the regional tournament, and he is a very good basketball player.

Naturally, Takayuki was approached by some of the top basketball schools, but even so, when he went to the top tournaments, there were many players who were taller and had better techniques than Takayuki. Takayuki did not give up on basketball, but he chose to prioritize balancing his studies with his future and is now attending the same high school as me.

It was only natural that Takayuki was expected to be a big newcomer to a normal public high school.

–And finally, Takayuki and his team’s match began.

The cheering was so enthusiastic that the game was over before we knew it.

The result of the first game was an overwhelming victory for our team, 113 to 63.

Takayuki, who scored the most points in his first year, as well as the other members, were all very good and kept the other team at bay.

It’s been a while since I’ve seen Takayuki play basketball, but his play was even more impressive than before, even to the untrained eye.

“That was awesome.”

“Yeah, it was …… cool. ……”

Next to me, Shimizu-san was nodding happily, her face turning a little red at Saegusa-san’s words.

Well, that’s true.

I nodded to Shimizu, who was in love with him, that anyone would be able to see such a cool figure of her lover.

Then Takayuki joined us for lunch as he some time before the next game.

Shimizu-san told us in advance that she was going to make sandwiches again and bring them to the event, so we decided to have them in a space away from the gym.

“Anyway, congratulations on getting through the first round!”

“Thanks a lot! I’ll do my best in the next game!”

I congratulated Takayuki on his victory, and he smiled and did a little gut-punch.

“You looked good, Yamamoto.”

“Oh, even Saegusa-san! Oh, thank you. And I’m a little touched. ……”

Takayuki was then praised by Saegusa, and he was honestly happy, blushing a little.

From Takayuki’s point of view, Saegusa-san is his super idol Shiorin.

“Yamamoto-kun, …… you …… looked cool, didn’t you ……?

“Oh, I guess so. …… Haha, I’m happy to be told by Shimizu-san.”

In the end, Takayuki also replied with a blushing face in front of Shimizu-san who praised him while blushing.

Then the two of them looked at each other, smiling shyly.

I felt a little embarrassed to be looking at these two people who, no matter how you look at it, have feelings for each other.

When I looked next to her, I saw that it was the same for Saegusa, who was staring at the two of them with her hands on her cheeks, looking a little envious.

I looked at her and thought to myself, “Well, I guess she wants a boyfriend, too,” and then I felt a stinging sensation in my chest—–.