CH 33

8-9 minutes 09.04.2023

Translated by Dawn

Edited by Dawn

Thanks for hanging out with me today, Aizawa.

Early July. The time when summer was about to get serious.

When I stepped outside, the glaring sun was mercilessly eating away at my stamina.

I really appreciate being indoors in an air-conditioned room during this time of the year.

I would be happier with sunny skies in seasons other than summer, but not during this time of the year.

It would be more comfortable if the skies were cloudy.

Unfortunately, however, the sky was clear today.

The endlessly blue sky almost made me feel dizzy.

Well, today was a holiday, though.

Normally I would like to stay indoors on such a nice summer day, but I was at an amusement park in my neighborhood. To be more specific, I was sitting by the window of a café in the park. Until a few minutes ago, I was cruising through the various attractions. I felt as if my body was about to melt.

In front of me was a single, dazzling blonde girl in a white one-piece dress.

Her blue eyes were like the ocean, and just looking at her made me feel as if I were being sucked in.

Mizutani Karin. She was my classmate and…no, just a classmate.

“Thanks for hanging out with me today, Aizawa.”

Mizutani, who was sipping her Frappuccino, took her mouth off the straw and said. Her white arms stretching from the sleeves of her one-piece dress were dazzling.

“Well, it was a promise I made.”

I was no match for Mizutani when I looked at her head-on. I looked away and said.

I had promised Mizutani that I would go on a date with her more than a month ago.’

I made her angry, and I was supposed to go on a date with her as an apology for that.

Mizutani said it was to create an alibi for the fact that she had told Ogura and the others that we went on date many times. However, when I thought about it, I found that logic strange. If that was the case, she just should have said so from the beginning, because I would have gone out with her even if it wasn’t an apology.

However, if the destination was an amusement park, it would make sense. Even if creating an alibi itself fell into the category of pretending to be a boyfriend, the amusement park was simply Mizutani’s desire. I already know that since Mizutani already said that she never went to the amusement park.

But—

“If it wasn’t a promise, would you have come with me, Aizawa?”

Mizutani tilted her head as she smiled mischievously.

Again. It was as if she had read my mind and anticipated what I would say.

It seemed I had no chance in the battle of the minds.

The reason was that she could read my mind, but I couldn’t understand Mizutani’s thoughts at all. It was unfair.

“More importantly, it’s been a month since then, right? Have you had any contact with Yamamoto without my knowledge?”

“…Not once.”

She was not happy that I changed the subject.

Mizutani lowered the temperature of her voice and sipped her Frappuccino through a straw.

I took a sip of my iced coffee, too.

Bitter. I wanted milk and sugar…but Mizutani would laugh at me, so I decided not to.

“But it was surprising. I didn’t expect Yamamoto to keep his word.”

“…That’s right.”

I agreed with Mizutani’s words. With all due respect to Yamamoto, I couldn’t deny that it surprised me.

Since the day the midterm test results were handed over, Yamamoto had become quiet.

Not only did he stop coming to see Mizutani in the 2A classroom, but he also stopped ambushing us and everything else. I heard through the rumor that this incident had spread to the other grades and that he had been stuck with the older members of the baseball team.

I also have not had any contact with Satomi since then.

She, too, had been the subject of many rumors, and her standing in the class seemed to have declined significantly.

As someone who had been subjected to the same rumors, I would like to sympathize with her, but I was afraid that if I got involved, it would become even more troublesome, so I decided to ignore it.

Speaking of rumors, the rumor that I was two-timing had been gone for some time now.

They said it would take 75 days for a rumor to die down, but it hadn’t even lasted a month.

I guess everyone finally realized that a guy like me couldn’t possibly be so great that I could get two girlfriends. They were realizing it too late.

“What Satomi said was unexpectedly true.”

“Being childhood friends isn’t easy, huh.”

As we were talking like that, I didn’t know what triggered it, but suddenly Mizutani started staring at me. No, not me exactly. This feeling…is she looking at my clothes?

Mizutani, with her chin resting on her hand, points at my clothes with a slender finger.

“…Come to think of it, that outfit you’re wearing today.”

“Oh, this? …What, did it not look that good on me?”

No, it’s not. Rather, it looks great on you…did you really pick that out for yourself?”

“……”

Of course, I didn’t choose it myself.

It was Satomi, whom we had just talked about, who chose this outfit for me.

When I went out with Satomi in the middle of May, I was quite pleased with this outfit she came up with.

…Oh, I get it. Mizutani noticed the outfit because Satomi came up in the conversation.

I told her the whole story about how I went out with Satomi.

I was wearing clothes that were very stylish for me, so Mizutani had just now connected the dots in her head.

Well, it doesn’t hurt to be honest, does it?

“This is the one Satomi picked out for me.”

“…As I thought.”

There was a hint of dissatisfaction in Mizutani’s voice as to what was wrong with it.

She had said earlier that it looked good on me, but was she just being flattering?

As I was thinking about this, she smiled at me in an unusual way this time.

“Then can I pick out Aizawa’s clothes next time?”

“…Wait a minute. Isn’t this some kind of a leap? Maybe I’m not understanding you well enough…but I don’t understand why it would come out to this.”

“Why, huh…then why did you have Satomi pick out clothes for you?”

Mizutani stirred her drink with a straw.

There was a clinking sound as ice clashed with ice. She was still smiling, but her eyes were not smiling. It was a strangely powerful expression.

“…I get it. No, I honestly don’t know what it is, but I can be a dress-up doll or whatever. It’s just that I’ve been a little short on money lately. We’re coming to the amusement park today, too, and I don’t have money. We can pick out clothes next month or—”

“If that’s the problem, should I be the one to buy it?”

“Please don’t do that.”

Asking someone to pay for your clothes was not good.

“Hmm, next month…”

Mizutani, who had been pondering unconvincingly, says as if she suddenly realized something.

“But come to think of it, next week there’s that…”

“What is it?”

“Nevermind. It’s not a big deal…”

Mizutani smiled and unfolded a map of the park. It was a signal that the clothing discussion was over.

“Where do you want to go next, Aizawa? I like this one.”

“Isn’t this…bungee jumping?”

“…are you not good at this kind of thing?”

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m not good at it, but…”

“Then let’s not do it.”

“No, I’ll give it a try.”

“…are you pushing yourself again?”

Mizutani was looking at me with a concerned look on her face.

I guess she remembered what happened at the zoo the other day.

Even though it was nothing to worry about.

Chuckling inside, I shook my head.

“I’m not. It’s not that I can’t do it or anything. I just thought…that I would never have ridden it by myself.”

“…We should not do it then.”

“Hmm, that’s not what I mean…”

—I feel like I could somehow do it if it’s with Mizutani.

I could never have said such a cheeky line, of course.

“Anyway, let’s ride it next. I love Bungee Jumping.”

“…something is fishy.”

I ignored Mizutani’s quizzical look and gulped down my iced coffee.