CH 48

Monday

I was ready and went to school as usual.

I go through the school gate, change my shoes at the shoe box, and enter my classroom.

In the classroom, there were a few classmates who had arrived before me, and the girl sitting next to me was already sitting in her seat, reading intently from this morning.

“Good morning! Shi-chan!”

“Oh, oh, good morning, Takkyun!”

Oh, she bit it.

Shi-chan’s face turned red as she looked at the sky, and she shyly hid her face with her book and said again, “Good morning Takkun.”

I couldn’t help but blush at Shi-chan, who was so cute and full throttle in the morning.

“Hey! Good morning, both of you!”

“Good morning, you two!”

To us, Takayuki and Shimizu-san came to the classroom again today, in good mood.

“G, good morning!”

“Good morning!”

We greeted each other back, and I looked at Shi and we laughed at each other, thinking about the exchange we had just had.

“So, Takayuki, how was the tournament?”

“Hmm? Ah, we ended up losing in the first round of the prefectural tournament. I didn’t expect our first game to be against the top four ……. Well, it’s good that we were able to take the seniors from prefectural tournament.”

“But Takashi kept up, and he was cool. ……”

“O-oh”

I was supposed to be the one asking about the results of the basketball tournament, but somehow Takayuki and Shimizu-san created a space for just the two of them.

The two of them seem to be becoming more and more of a couple every day.

I thought to myself, “They’ve been making out in front of me since this morning,” and turned to Shi-chan next to me to ask for her approval.

Shi-chan looked at the two of them enviously with a slight blush on her face.

If it had been me before, I would have pretended not to see her like that.

But now I know.

And I’ve promised to have fun with Shi-chan this summer.

I’m not the same person I used to be, so I take a step towards her.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be there to cheer you on. And thank you for your hard work.”

“Oh, thank you. I don’t care about cheering.”

“Is that so? I ate Shi-chan’s homemade lunch! It was so good.”

I replied to Takayuki in a slightly boastful manner.

And then Takayuki smiled at me, and my classmates, who heard me talking, all looked at me in astonishment and jealousy.

Shi-chan, the person in question, was surprised, rolling her eyes, as if she didn’t expect me to talk about that day like this.

By the way, I told Takayuki and Shimizu-san that Shi-chan was a girl I used to play with in elementary school in Lime.

Takayuki, like me, had no idea that the girl I used to take around and play with back then was Saegusa-san, and he was surprised to hear that such fate was possible.

Shimizu-san replied, “I guess you two were meant to be together, so good luck!”

I don’t know which kind of “good luck” she meant, but I just said, “Thank you! I’ll do my best!”.

Then I called out to the confused Shi-chan next to me.

“Now everyone knows.”

I smiled a little mischievously and told her that, but she was still not used to the way I treated her, and she replied hurriedly, “Yes, that’s right.”

She was so cute that I got carried away and continued to talk.

“I want you to let me eat your homemade lunch again.”

As soon as I said that, I realized what I was saying.

What I’m talking about?

I immediately started to sweat and wondered if I had overdone it.

No matter how long I’ve known her, I felt like I’d overstepped my bounds with that line.

No matter how long ago I found out that I knew her, the line I just said was too much, and who the hell do I think I am?

Thinking I’ve made a mistake, I fearfully check Shi-chan’s behavior.

She looked down and made her fists clench on her knees.

Oh, this is not good ……, I thought, regretting what I did a few seconds ago.

Then, Shi-chan looked up and stared at me, and opened her mouth as if she had made up her mind. That’s how I feel.

“If you want to eat so badly, I’ll make you a lunch box tomorrow, okay?”

With a single phrase from Shi-chan, the classroom instantly fell silent.

And then.

“””EEEEEHHHHH!?”””

Everyone in the class shouted in surprise at the same time.

It wasn’t just my classmates who were surprised, I was surprised as well because Shi-chan’s comment was so unexpected.

My lunchbox? Made by Shi-chan? No no, I thought it was a dream …… no matter how much, but when I saw Shi-chan in front of me with her face all red, waiting shyly for my reply, it proved that what I had just seen was neither a dream nor an illusion.

“A-Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

“Well, well, ……, thank you very much.”

“Yes, You’ve asked me to do it.”

Shi-chan’s face turned red, but she smiled happily.

Then, the classroom buzzed even more at Shi-chan’s words.

I could hear the boys in the class screaming from everywhere.

As we realized that the situation had become too complicated to back out, Takayuki and Shimizu-san looked at us with a bit of amusement.

The fact that Shion Saegusa would make and bring a lunch box for one of the boys spread throughout the school that day, and I became a person of the moment.

Well, this is what it means to face Shi-chan, an idol in the world and in school.

I had prepared myself for what might be said at school, or maybe even in the world.

This is how I’m able to eat Shi-chan’s homemade lunch the next day.