CH 57

Chapter 57 – Haruko’s Flick to the Forehead

Sunday, the day after Urushibara-san stayed at our house.

After Urushibara-san left, I was devastated.

Damage from a broken heart.

Guilt of feeling sorry.

The weakness of myself, who could not bear those stresses and vomited just by listening to her voice, and the embarrassment and shame of being seen by Urushibara-san.

Moreover, even though I had let Urushibara-san-san down, she consoled me by saying, “Moriyama-kun did nothing wrong.”

I feel pathetic.

I guess I got carried away when I was appointed vice president of the student council.

If I had remained a loner in the shadows, I would still be playing games on my phone alone in the classroom, with no sign of my presence.

I don’t know what to do now.

Now, just thinking about a life without Urushihara-san makes me scared.

Even though I called myself a genuine shady loner, it seems like a shameful thing to do.

While I was thinking about this, the door to my room was opened without a knock, and Haruko was standing there.

“Onii-chan! Himeka-san was depressed! You need to be more crisp!”

“Yeah…”

“Mou~! What a face you have! You look like an abandoned puppy!”

“Because I actually let Urushibara-san down, I’m as good as discarded.”

“What nonsense are you talking about! There’s no way Himeka-san would be disappointed in Onii-chan!”

“You say that, but last night, I…”

“Did Himeka-san tell you that she was disappointed in you?”

“No, she didn’t say that, but…”

“Then you’ll be fine!”

“But even this morning I showed my pathetic side by vomiting and getting sick…”

“If someone’s not feeling well, anyone can be like that!”

“Yeah…”

“Are you going to be like this again, whimpering all by yourself and shutting yourself up in your shell like you did in middle school!”

“I don’t know…”

“Mou~! Both Onii-chan and Himeka-san are so indecisive!”

I was flicked between the eyes when Haruko, wrinkling her brow and snorting, came thuddingly up to me.

“Ouch!”

“Now you’re fired up! Come on, you’ve got to be honest with yourself!”

Haruko said this and walked out of the room with a bang, leaving me writhing in excruciating pain.

I’ve pissed off Haruko again.

Instead of getting fired up, I felt even more depressed.

◇◆◇

The following day, Monday, the final exam began at school, but I did poorly on the exams.

The reason was that Urushibara-san’s hair had changed and her eyelids were swollen like a boxer’s after a fight. The class was also stirred up by the change.

The long, black, straight hair that had been a trademark of Urushibara-san, an orthodox beauty, was replaced by short hair.

Of course, her hair was long when she was at my house yesterday.

Her face wasn’t even swollen yesterday.

It means that after she returned from my house, she cut her hair and did things that made her face swell up.

What’s the reason she cut her hair?

Is it from a broken heart, after all…?

What’s the act that caused her face to swell up?

Since it’s Urushibara-san, is it karate?

No way would she ever get into a street fight.

After the test was over, it was time to go home.

I was so worried that I tried to talk to Urushibara-san, but she gave me a quick explanation as if to restrain me from speaking.

“I suddenly had the urge to restart my karate training yesterday! Because I’d been slacking off quite a bit, my body didn’t follow me at all and I was a wreck from day one! Tehehe.”

“Why all of a sudden!?” almost came out of my mouth, but I managed to swallow the words.

In fact, I wanted to stop her from doing anything that would hurt her body.

But it seemed wrong for me to say that.

For Urushibara-san, karate is a way of life.

Whether she cuts her hair or has a swollen face and bruises, it’s Urushibara-san’s way of life.

It’s not my place to interfere.

So what should I do? What can I do?

Can I only encourage and support her?

I managed to squeeze out a few words and asked her to take care of her body, and Urushibara-san listened to my words and smiled gently back at me.

Just as Haruko had said, I didn’t get the impression that Urushibara-san was disappointed.

However, even though she had resumed karate training, I felt as if she was distancing herself from me.

Maybe we’ve been too close lately.

This is how it was originally.

When I started interacting with Urushibara-san, I was trying to maintain a certain distance from her.

I’m sure Urushibara-san is now trying to do the same.

From now on, I think it’s my role now to look out for Urushibara-san from a respectable distance and be ready to help her if something happens.