CH 9

Aizawa, please take care of me from now on.

Translated by Dawn

Aizawa, please take care of me from now on.

However, I did not know Aizawa’s name at that time.

I just wondered how often this boy would get on the same train as me.

He was wearing my high school uniform and his tie was the same red as my ribbon, so I knew we were in the same grade at the same high school.

I was listening to a contest song on my phone with my eyes closed.

Then I heard a yell, “Excuse me, you!” I stopped the song and opened my eyes.

Aizawa, who was supposed to be sitting across from me when I saw him earlier, had gotten up from his seat before I knew it.

And the gray-haired old lady standing next to him was scolding Aizawa.

“I’m not old enough to give up my seat yet! Don’t make assumptions about me!”

Ah, it’s that type of person, I thought to myself.

There were people like that sometimes, you know, troublesome people.

But I thought I was being cool like that, and I was still afraid of being yelled at up close.

I didn’t have the courage to offer a helping hand, so I watched the situation with some trepidation.

Then, Aizawa said to her.

With a faint smile on his face.

“I didn’t give it to you. It just happened that the next station was the one I was getting off at.”

“…Ah, well, that’s fine. Then, no problem.”

The old lady seemed to be at a loss for words.

Aizawa went to the door and the old lady sat on the seat Aizawa occupied the seat.

—Ah, you’ll sit down after all.

Everyone who was on the train at that time, watching the whole thing, probably thought so.

But the fact was that none of them sided with Aizawa.

And I was one of them.

I felt so guilty that I couldn’t even listen to the song anymore.

Because I knew that Aizawa would not get off at the next station.

I had seen him get off at the same station as me many times.

And yet, I couldn’t do anything about it.

I guess out of apology.

I was watching Aizawa standing by the door and was surprised when he really got off at the next station.

I followed him with my eyes and saw Aizawa move to the next car. I was relieved on my own that it was quintessential.

****

“I was the one who thought at the time that Aizawa was too kind. I would never go that far for someone who yelled at me unreasonably. Or rather, I could never do that.”

“…I see.”

After a brief pause, the train arrived at the platform.

We boarded our usual train car together and sat down on the seat next to each other, just as we had done the other day.

Mizutani was leaning against the back of the seat, staring at me with her blue eyes.

Now, after listening to Mizutani’s story, I had many things to say.

But first and foremost, what I wanted to say was this—

My image, isn’t it too much beautified in her mind?

If one only listened to Mizutani, I sounded like a good-looking boy, but I definitely wasn’t like that. I was a modern kid, so I wasn’t used to being yelled at, and what was with the faint smile in the first place? Maybe it was just a face twitch.

I opened my mouth to clear up the misunderstanding.

“I gave up my seat instead of talking back to the old lady because I just couldn’t be bothered to expend the energy on a shouting match.”

“Then what about moving cars?”

“I think it was……probably because I felt awkward being in the same car as the old lady after that exchange. That would be best if that person moved first, but it doesn’t look like she’s that type of person, so I just moved. In other words, everything was done for my own reasons. I didn’t give much thought to the other person’s feelings.”

“…Then I don’t think about others’ feelings either. I’m just doing it because I want to, and that’s not kindness.”

Mizutani said so.

Hmmm. If I kept arguing with her like this, we’d probably just keep running into parallel lines.

I wonder if I could somehow attack her from a different angle…ah, I just thought of one.

“You know, just to change the subject a bit……Mizutani, you didn’t ask me to pretend to be your boyfriend because you remembered what we just talked about, did you?”

“…..”

Mizutani turned over silently. Did I just hit the nail on the head?

As I silently observed the situation, Mizutani eventually looked up.

She brushed her hair over her ears and looked me up and down with glaring eyes.

“Yes. No good?”

“N-no, it’s okay, but…”

That was dangerous. Mizutani just then looked awfully cute.

I’d thought she was beautiful before, but this was the first time I’d ever thought she was cute.

I was flustered so much that I was stuttering, now.

“That’s a lie. Aizawa, you definitely think I’m a creepy person, don’t you? Six months ago, when I didn’t even know your name, I remembered every single one of those things, and I actually think it’s creepy myself.”

“I’m sorry, that stings me too, so don’t say that.”

“Eh…why.”

“No, because I knew Mizutani’s name from back then.”

She was famous since our freshman year.

And she stood out a lot on the train.

“…Hee, really?”

Mizutani restlessly played with the ends of her hair.

What was with that reaction?

I thought she would give more reaction to that.

It was embarrassing for me, too, when you come at me like that.

Now Mizutani was a little too destructive for me.

I looked away and looked out the car window across from me to cover up the awkwardness.

But the awkwardness didn’t go away at all. In fact, it was itchy.

I had never experienced this kind of atmosphere before, so I didn’t know how to deal with it.

But this was not the time to be thinking about this. The main issue was yet to come.

“Mizutani, so, how do you plan to solve Yamamoto’s case after all?”

“I don’t know. That’s to me…”

Mizutani glanced at me.

With that gesture, I understood roughly what he was trying to say.

Just in time. I was going to talk about that now, too.

“If you can’t think of any other solution……what Mizutani told me to forget about the other day, I’ll do it. I’ve changed my mind.”

“….”

I said boldly, and Mizutani stared at me with an emotionally unreadable face.

Huh? Could it be that it was none of my business anymore?

Or, in fact, she’d already asked someone else to do it.

‘Oh, no, of course, if it’s none of my business anymore, that’s totally fine—”

“Thanks. I’m glad.”

Mizutani’s face slowly broke into a smile.

A different kind of smile, like a blooming flower.

“…A-ah”

For a moment, I was petrified and stunned.

Pull yourself together, me. You’re replying like Kaonashi.

“But why the sudden change of heart?”

“Hmmm, I wonder why…”

Why did I decide to accept Mizutani’s request?

It was hard to say when I think about it again, but…

—I don’t want to be bothered if I don’t accept the request.

When I thought about it through, I came to such an answer.

It was certainly significant that Ogura asked me about Mizutani and that I learned about Satomi’s situation.　

But more than that, I got too involved with Mizutani in the past few days.

I was probably stupid, but I had already developed feelings for her to the point where I didn’t want to leave her alone.

“Well, whatever. But, Mizutani, are you okay with me playing the role of your boyfriend?”

“Of course, it’s fine.”

“…Ah, yeah.”

When I jokingly asked her about it, she said it out loud with an unexpectedly strong tone.

Thanks to this, I couldn’t think of what to say after that.

After riding the train for a while in silence, we arrived at the station where Mizutani and I were to get off.

As I got up from my seat and went down to the platform, I heard the sound of a door closing behind me.

With a clatter, the train sped away.

I went down the stairs alongside Mizutani and passed through the ticket gate.

It seemed that our homes were in opposite directions, so we parted at this point when we returned home together almost two weeks ago.

I raised my hand to indicate goodbye, but Mizutani, with her usual expressionless face she said.

“Aizawa, please take care of me from now on”

When she said it with that look on her face, it was as if she was about to start a duel.

As I was thinking about unimportant things, Mizutani added.

“I will definitely thank you in due time. Aizawa, please think about what you want it to be.”

“…got it.”

Thus began our fake relationship.