CH 12

「……」

That was the question I had been avoiding until now. What does Hatsune mean to me? We know each other too well to be called strangers.

…Hatsune to me, the kind, cute, and perfect girl, who’s also jealous. I don’t know what that Hatsune is to me.

There’s no point in making any excuses here. Let’s just be honest.

「I don’t know.」

「I see—-」

「But, I will make an effort to understand.」

「Eh?」

Yes, it’s irresponsible to give up on thinking just because I don’t understand. I have to face it and think properly. So, in order to do that…

「So, for that reason, I want you to wait until the summer vacation to answer your question, and I’ll answer it on the last day of the first semester.」

「…I understand, well, make sure you give me an answer by then, okay?」

「…Un」

Yes, that’s my answer. I don’t know if this was right or not. I can[‘t give her a perfect answer like the protagonist of a novel. No, I don’t even need to.

We are imperfect human beings, and there is no way we could give a perfect answer. But that’s why I have to be clear about what I want to do.

「Well, I’d better get back to class.」

「…Yeah」

I used to think that Hatsune was the only one with a problem, but that was wrong. It’s my fault as well. That’s why I’ll definitely give her an answer before summer break, in order to ‘find out’ properly.

And eventually, the day’s classes were over.

「Then, So-kun! Let’s go—-」

Ding dong ding dong

『Soumei Saioji, class 2, year 2, please come to the staff room.』

「Eh, me? What did I do?」

「Ah, I think it’s about club activities?」

「Club activities…?」

Ah, I see. I’m a transfer student, and I wasn’t here last year, so I’ll be given an explanation about club activities.

「Sorry, I have to go. You can ho home first.」

「No, I’ll wait for you.」

「Eh, but—-」

「I’ll wait for you.」

「…I understand.」

I felt that this statement, “I’ll be waiting for you”, contained various meanings. It could simply mean that she was waiting for me to come out of the staff room, or it could mean that she was waiting for my ‘answer’.

Then I headed for the staff room. …But I got lost. Isn’t this school too big? And it’s so clean that I wondered if it was a new high school.

「Haa, where is the staff room—」

Bam

I bumped into someone. I’m about 170cm tall, and I weight about 47kg. I’m pretty thin probably because I don’t exercise much. The fact that both of us got knocked backwards when we bumped into each other suggests that the other person was probably a girl.

「Um, I’m sorry.」

「No, everything’s fine.」

The girl stood up, straightening her skirt, and ran her hands through her long black hair. She seemed to have a certain elegance about her.

「By the way, you seemed to be in a hurry, what can I do for you?」

「Aah, no, I couldn’t find the staff room…」

「Eh? But you’re a 2nd year student, right? …No, but I haven’t seen you around before.」

「Yeah, I’ve just transferred in this school.」

What’s with this person? I feel like I’m using honorifics when I talk to her.

「Ah, you’re the new student I’ve heard so much about…」

Eh, there’s a rumor going around. I’m curious about what kind of rumor it is, but I’m in a hurry now.

「Can I ask where’s the staff room?」

「It’s up the stairs on the left.」

「Thank you very much!」

I immediately headed in the direction she had told me to go. Anyway, she was a beautiful person… But it was dangerous to think about it, so I decided to keep it to myself.