CH 4

Chapter 4 – The Urushibara and Moriyama Families After The Incident

Anyway, I decided to report and consult with my mother, and hurried back to the house.

I ran into the kitchen without changing my clothes, and half-crying, I reported what had just happened.

“What should I do, Mama? I kicked him with no restraint, I’m sure he’s hurt…”

“F-For now, you need to calm down… Ah, that’s right! Let’s ask the school. Maybe we can ask the school for Moriyama-kun’s home address.”

Mama immediately contacted the high school, but in the end the school replied that they could not give out personal information about students, so she was unable to get Moriyama-kun’s contact details.

“We have no choice now. Himeka-chan, get the contact information and address directly from him, and we’ll come visit and apologize again.”

“Yeah… I’ll try that.”

I had no choice but to give up on this day, so I changed clothes and ate dinner.

All the time I was eating dinner, taking a bath and spending time in my room, I was worrying about Moriyama-kun, thinking about how I should apologize to him tomorrow, or what if he was badly injured.

Naturally, I couldn’t even concentrate on my studies because I was thinking about Moriyama-kun.

Moriyama-kun’s first name is…I think it was Ichiro-kun.

I have the strong impression that he is always alone in the classroom and eats his lunch alone during lunch breaks.

I don’t remember seeing him talking to anyone who looked like a friend.

I’ve never really paid attention to his presence, but now that I think back on it, he really is a boy who is always alone…

And then I realized there’s nothing else I know.

Next, I calmly reflected on today’s events.

Sensing the presence of a suspicious person from behind, I unleashed a roundhouse kick.

However, it was not towards the prowler, but towards Moriyama-kun, and a direct hit at that.

Moriyama-kun protected the prowler and took his place?

No, I don’t think so.

From the conversation after Moriyama-kun woke up, Moriyama-kun knew that there was a prowler, and Moriyama-kun himself called that person “prowler.”

Furthermore, he was also concerned that I might have been attacked by a prowler.

Based on the conversation with Moriyama-kun, he noticed a prowler and either tried to catch him or stop him.

The prowler sat down thanks to Moriyama-kun’s arrival.

At that moment, I launched a roundhouse kick, which hit Moriyama-kun, who was standing there as if he was replacing the prowler.

That’s right.

Moriyama-kun tried to help me.

After he woke up, he was more worried about me than his own injuries.

Today’s Moriyama-kun was very gentlemanly and kind, far from his usual image, and seemed to be a nice young man who cared about me, who had attacked him.

The more I think about it, the more I hate everything I did today.

I kicked a classmate who was trying to help me and knocked him out, and then sent him home without checking his injuries after I realized what had happened.

When I arrived home, I forgot to check his injuries and to treat him, and I sent him home, only to realize now that he was trying to help me.

Tomorrow at school, I have to apologize and thank him again, as well as getting his contact details and address. I’ll do whatever it takes.

This time there can be no more blunders.

I, Himeka Urushibara, am determined to do so.

◇◆◇

Meanwhile, in the Moriyama family…

“What’s wrong!? Hey, Onii-chan!? I was getting worried that you went for a walk with Dozle for too long and didn’t come back, but your clothes are really dirty and your lip is cut and bleeding? Mom~! Onii-chan came back and he’s injured~!”

“Ah, sorry I’m late. I ran into some trouble by accident and got a bit involved because I meddled. It’s nothing serious.”

“Did you get in a fight?”

“No… It’s not like that… I’m sorry I made you worry, Haruko. But it’s really no big deal.”

Onii-chan said this and went upstairs to his room.

Onii-chan said it was no big deal, but from the looks of it, he must have been beaten up.

Considering how he used to be, and how he usually is, it’s very hard to imagine.

Until junior high school, Onii-chan was a typical good-natured man and a very caring older brother.

He was always looking after me and Kasumi-chan, who lived next door.

If I had a problem, he would help me immediately, and he was the kind of person who always put Kasumi-chan and me before himself.

I loved that Onii-chan so much.

Kasumi-chan thought the same.

But when Onii-chan was in the second year of junior high school, he suddenly started to distance himself from others, as if he had changed.

It’s not so much the distance but rather that he built a wall around himself.

He stopped playing with Kasumi-chan and his friends and rarely paid attention to me anymore.

When I asked him for something or consulted with him, he said, “I’m sorry, Onii-chan can’t help you, you have to try your best by yourself.” At first, I didn’t understand why and I was confused, so I talked to Kasumi-chan about it.

But from what Kasumi-chan said and how she reacted, I realized that the cause was Kasumi-chan.

Kasumi-chan was annoyed with Onii-chan.

She also said that Onii-chan was a pushover when it comes to kindness.

Maybe Kasumi-chan pointed that out to Onii-chan.

A good brother to me, but an annoying childhood friend to Kasumi-chan.

Actually, I wanted to say something back to Kasumi-chan.

But I couldn’t.

I was very sad about that, but when I thought that Oni-chan was also at fault, there was nothing I could do as a child to help him, so I was very frustrated.

Since then, Oni-chan has avoided all troublesome situations, stopped socializing with his friends and has stopped associating with anyone.

This is still the case almost three years later.