CH 5

Couples were like that, I guess.

Translated by Dawn

Couples were like that, I guess.

The next day at lunchtime.

I was eating my lunch on a bench in the courtyard of the school building.

But I was not alone.

“……Hey, I’ve been thinking about this for a while.”

“Hmm? What’s wrong?”

When I called out to him, a man who was eating his lunch box next to me on my left turned to me.

He had a chiseled face and brown hair that was a little long for a man with a perm.

His name was Ikeno Shuji.

My only friend in the school…I wasn’t sure if I could count him as one, though.

Well, I felt like we were close to that.

“Can I stay here?”

“What are you talking about? Of course, you can! You’re the reason we’re together. Right, Natsuki?”

Shuji looked back the other way from where I was.

The girl who was eating lunch tapped my left shoulder without hesitation through Shuji.

“That’s right, don’t be shy, Aizawa-kun!”

She had reddish brown hair that was just long enough to reach her collarbone, and the ends of her hair were spiked here and there.

She was Ogura Natsuki, Shuji’s girlfriend and a classmate of mine in junior high school.

Shuji and I were in the same class in the first year of high school, and our attendance numbers were sequential.

I wondered how he could talk to me from behind at that time, but it seemed that he heard that a girl in the next class whom he was interested in at the time – and who was now in front of me – was from the same junior high school as me.

The motive for talking to me was much more impure, but in Shuji’s case, it was not disgusting.

Perhaps it was because Shuji was an idiot in a good way, he couldn’t hide his intentions.

At first, I thought, “This guy is really working hard,” as if I were a stranger.

Then I was made to act as an intermediary between the two of them, and somehow I was dragged along on their date, and before I knew it, they were dating.

I myself didn’t think I did anything in particular.

I was just dragged outside and taken around by these two people.

But apparently, these two people were grateful to me.

As proof, they sometimes asked me to have lunch with them.

Even now, in my second year, we still had lunch together.

…No, no, no, I still don’t get it, you know?

“I mean, don’t you two…on the other hand, want to flirt with each other without being seen? If I were next to you, you wouldn’t be able to do it, right?”

“……you, what an idiot.”

When I asked cautiously, Shuji turned over and muttered.

Huh? Did I offend him in some way?

“Of course, we have plenty of time for flirting elsewhere!”

Shuji looked up and said with a crisp look on his face.

Yes, this guy was an idiot. I realized how much I’d lost by worrying about him.

I was even more annoyed that his face was kind of handsome.

“Shu-kun…!”

You shouldn’t make heart marks in your eyes with lines like that either, Ogura.

I mean, if I thought about it, the two of them were not the kind of people who would stop flirting with each other just because I was around. Maybe I should be more worried about the possibility that I might be emotionally scarred by this stupid couple’s expression of affection than the possibility that the two of them would refrain from flirting with one another.

…Well, those two were the extremes, if anything.

Couples were like that, I guess.

It was like they only had eyes for each other and couldn’t see what was going on around them.

Especially when you were our age, I felt like there were a lot of couples like that around us.

It wasn’t like we were old enough to fall in love, but…

I thought it was a good decision to refuse Mizutani’s request.

Even if Mizutani and I pretended to be in a relationship, people would have immediately seen through us.

There was no true love there. There was probably no sign of budding.

“Or rather, why doesn’t Akito have a girlfriend?”

Shuji’s question startled me.

It wasn’t as if he could read my thoughts, was it?

There was no way he knew what Mizutani was asking for.

For the time being, I decided to play it safe.

“…If it were that easy, men wouldn’t be in such trouble. If you don’t have a partner, there’s nothing you can do.”

“If Akito is looking for a partner, you will find one soon enough. So get yourself a girlfriend and go on a double date with us!”

Shuji’s suggestion was met with an enthusiastic response from Ogura.

“Good, that’s it! So if that happens, where should we go on our date?”

“Well, if it’s around here, maybe the zoo or an amusement park…”

“Oh, either one would be great. I like going to the zoo first, I think.”

“If Natsuki says so, then let’s go to the zoo first.”

“….Shu-kun.”

“….Natsuki.”

“….”

Scary, scary, scary.

How could they get that excited with just their fantasies when I hadn’t even found my partner yet? And for some reason, I was feeling good about the situation.

There was no point in worrying about the two of them any longer, so I proceeded to eat my bento.

After a while, even that idiotic couple should calm down, and as I was putting the rice in my mouth, Shuji suddenly mumbled something.

“Ah, the famous Mizutani.”

I looked up from my lunch box.

Mizutani was walking down the hallway in front of us sitting on a bench in the courtyard.

Apparently, she was unaware of our presence.

At that moment, a breeze blew.

The wind came in through the window that separated the courtyard from the hallway, and Mizutani’s long blonde hair fluttered in the breeze

Reflecting the sunlight streaming in through the window, Mizutani’s long blonde hair seemed to shine brighter than ever.

“…I knew it. It’s so beautiful.”

At first, I thought my inner voice had leaked out.

Not good, did they hear me?

I impatiently checked next to me and saw Shuji with his mouth hanging open.

What, it was Shuji who just said that? Thank God it wasn’t me.

No, it was still not good.

If you think about it, it was much worse when Shuji said it than me.

I mean, this guy had a girlfriend right now.

As a guy, I could understand that, but saying something like that in front of a girl you were dating?

I heard a crack.

A few seconds later, my brain realized that Ogura had given Shuji a full swing to the head with her hand.

With a thud, Shuji fell down.

Ogura, the one who had knocked him down, kneeled down on Shuji’s head as she lay down.

“Hm? What’s wrong?”

“…it’s nothing.”

I looked away from Ogura, who was giving me a big smile.

Let’s just pretend I didn’t see anything.

It would make both of us happier, right?

Ogura continued as if nothing had really happened.

“Aizawa-kun, by the way, you’re in the same class as Mizutani, right?”

“Y-yeah. Why?”

“You know, I was in the same class as Mizutani when I was in the first year, right? She seemed to be being followed by a guy named Yamamoto. I wondered if she’s okay now.”

“…That’s been going on since the first year?”

“…So, does that mean he’s still following her?”

Ogura asked fearfully.

By the looked of it, she was apparently seriously worried about Mizutani.

Surprising. Just because Shuji was fascinated by her, it wouldn’t be surprising if she was jealous of Mizutani.

Wasn’t it pretty amazing to be able to separate that?

Except for the part where she knocked Shuji unconscious, though.

When I nodded, Ogura muttered, “I see.”

I forcefully stuffed the octopus sausage into Shuji’s mouth as he lay on his knees.

Shuji chewed it with a pained look on his face. Oh, so he was awake.

“Why is that Yamamoto guy so confident, by the way?”

“I wonder why…But I guess it has something to do with the fact that he is the ace of the baseball team. I heard that our baseball team is pretty strong. So even if he was sleeping in class, the teachers would pretend not to notice.”

“…I see, so that’s how it was.”

The strength of the baseball team was well known to any student enrolled in our high school.

It stood out even more because we were a reasonably advanced school and there were no other sports that we focused on.

If the team made it to the top 16 or so in the prefectural tournament, the whole school would cheer for the team.

Last year, I was forced to go to the stadium in the heat of the summer because of that.

But the heat was more than just the fun of the game. I thought I was going to die.

But yeah, If he was the ace of the baseball team, it was no wonder he had such a confident attitude.

From Yamamoto’s point of view, he must be thinking, “There is no one else who can get that girl but me.”

Ogura turned to me with a serious look on her face.

“Hey, Aizawa-kun. If Mizutani seems to be in trouble, please help her out.”

“…Was Ogura good friends with Mizutani?”

“Not so much close, but……she didn’t seem like a bad girl. I feel sorry for her that she’s still being pestered by that guy. And since I’m not in the same class this year, I can’t really pay much attention to her.”

“….”

Ogura might have been helping Mizutani, who was in the same class as her last year, in an unintentional way.

Ogura did not say so herself, but I thought so after talking with her.

Otherwise, I did not think she would have been able to make this kind of request to me.

“…Well, I’ll do my best.”

“Really!? Thank you, Aizawa-kun!”

I turned my face away from Ogura, whose eyes were shining.