CH 63

It's a Good Thing I Made the Call

During a lunch break, we decided to eat our lunch at the pavilion in the courtyard as usual.

But then Alice said she had something to do.

This is strange.

With that in mind, I told Takanashi-san that I am curious about Alice’s condition and decided to go after her.

As I did on our date, I may have been overly cautious.

But I couldn’t help but notice the fragile smile on Alice’s face.

Besides, it will be too late if something happens later.

◆

Alice went to the back of the school building, near the fire escape, where there was no one around.

And there she was.

“I’m sorry for calling you.”

Alice said to the person who was waiting for her.

“It’s fine.”

It was Yurizono-san who replied to Alice’s words.

“Here’s your lunch.”

Then, Alice presented her homemade lunch box to Yurizono-san.

“Wow, it’s from Amane-san? Thank you very much.”

Yurizono-san, who seemed to think I had made it, accepted the lunch with a big smile on her face.

Alice didn’t try to correct Yurizono-san’s misunderstanding.

Why? You worked so hard on it.

“Why don’t you eat your lunch together with everyone?”

Alice didn’t answer Yurizono-san’s question. Instead, she sat down on the fire escape.

“Is there something troubling you?”

Saying that Yurizono-san sat down next to Alice.

Alice, who doesn’t say anything and just stares at the scene in front of her, and Yurizono-san, who doesn’t particularly care about Alice, happily unwrap her lunch and starts eating it right away.

“I don’t have anything, right? Unlike onee-chan, I have nothing…”

I was shocked when she muttered to me.

The expression on Alice’s face as she murmured looked as if she was about to start crying.

There’s nothing? Alice is cute. She’s one of the two most beautiful girls in our school. And it’s not something that just anyone can get if they want it.

Unlike me, who is ordinary, Alice is more than ordinary enough.

“What’s with you all of a sudden? Are you awakened by a philosophy?”

Yurizono-san, who was crunching on her lunch talked.

“I’ve been dazzled by onee-chan lately. Onee-chan has always been wonderful, but lately, she’s become more and more attractive. It dazzles me, and then I realize that I have nothing, nothing at all…”

Alice hugs her knees as she shrinks and makes a shaky voice.

What are you talking about, Alice?

You can find a lot of good things about Alice, she is kind, she is good, she is cute, there is no end to her good qualities.

And yet there’s nothing…

“Huh.”

Yurizono-san, who was eating her lunch with a dumb voice.

“Do you have any tea?”

Yurizono-san’s voice rose as she fumbled with her mouth.

“Eh? Ah, yes.”

She nodded her head and took out a water bottle from her bag.

“I want to drink some tea. Please pour it quickly.”

“What?”

The arrogance of Yurizono-san made the veins in Alice’s temples flare-up.

“What’s wrong with you? I’m giving you advice, you know. It’s only natural for you to prepare tea.”

“Kuuu.”

Alice groaned at Yurizono-san’s unnecessarily arrogant attitude but still poured tea into a cup with blood vessels floating upon her temples. Then, with a twitching smile and a glare at Yurizono-san, she offered her a cup.

“Mm, that should do it.”

She took the cup that Alice was holding out to her and drank the tea that was being poured. And then she let out a sigh of satisfaction.

By the way, she seemed to have finished her lunch.

“How old are Amane-san?”

“Yes?”

At Yurizono-san’s question, Alice raises her voice with a puzzled look.

“I’m asking you how old are Amane-san.”

“We’re twins, so the same age as us.”

“I’m asking how old?”

“Sixteen, like me.”

When Yurizono-san persistently asks about it, Alice replies with a sense of relief.

“If you exclude the time when she was a baby, it would be about 14 years.”

“What?”

Alice, who heard Yurizono-san’s murmur, asked back with a fierce look.

“It’s the number of years Amane-san been working hard. And at the same time, it is also the number of years that she has continued to protect you.”

Alice’s eyes widened at Yurizono-san’s words.

“There’s nothing? It’s up to you to think so, but that’s insulting to Amane-san, isn’t it? Amane-san has been protecting you through her efforts, and you have been protected and pampered by her. The reason why Amane-san has suddenly become so attractive is simply that her steady efforts have paid off and blossomed as a result. You, on the other hand, have done nothing. You have done nothing and you are lamenting that you have nothing. Are you an idiot?”

Yurizono-san spoke plainly, and Alice listened to her words in silence.

Even though Yurizono-san had called Alice an idiot, I could not see any anger in her expression. On the contrary, she accepted Yurizono-san’s words honestly and seemed to be convinced.

“And what do you want to do with what you’ve got? Do you want to be on par with Amane-san? What will you do if you do? Do you want to challenge Amane-san to a match? Do you want to challenge and win? What are you aiming for when you use the person who has been protecting you as a stepping stone? What do you have in mind when you challenge Amane-san to a fight and beat her because you have nothing?”

At Yurizono-san words, Alice huffed out a breath. She then dropped her shoulders and smiled as if her spirit had left her.

“That’s true, too.”

At Alice’s muttering, Yurizono-san giggled.

“It’s common to lose your way in a hurry. But no matter how lost you are, you’re still you.”

“You’re very persuasive when you say it. After all, you’re the one who keeps losing your way.”

“I’m the best at losing my way, you know.”

“That’s not something to be proud of.”

They exchanged conversation and laughed.

“I see. Fourteen years. That’s the number of years onee-chan has been working hard and protecting me. I never thought about it.”

“I spent as many years as that to make my onee-chan sad. When you think about it, you’re still better off for not having done anything.”

They were laughing at each other, muttering to each other, and then letting out a sigh as they gawked at each other.

“I didn’t think I’d be able to get rid of my problems when I talked to you about it. It didn’t solve anything, but at least it made me feel a lot better. So I’ll just say thank you. Especially.”

She looked down at Yurizono-san, sniffed, and spoke in a dignified manner.

“I don’t think that’s the attitude of someone who is saying thank you, but I’ll take it as a thank you. Especially.”

She tapped her lunch box with the chopsticks she was holding.

“Also this lunchbox is worth sixty points.”

At Yurizono-san’s words, Alice’s face instantly turned bright red. The blood vessels on her temples instantly rose.

It seems Yurizono-san is aware that Alice made this lunch for her.

“You’re only good at eating…”

“You can’t make progress unless I say so.”

Yurizono-san says and laughs.

“It’s okay. One day I’ll make you a lunch so good that you’ll cry.”

“I’m looking forward to it. By the way, the upper limit of my evaluation is one hundred points, but Amane-san’s lunch has five hundred points. If you add the pudding, you get a thousand points. It’s a long, hard road ahead.”

“Sixty points aiming for a thousand points sounds like a long and steep road…”

They were angry, blabbering, amazed, and laughing at each other.

As I stared at them, I quietly left the scene.

I think they were praising me a little too much, but they both had a radiant look on their faces.

The two of them had been fighting each other, but it was because they had been fighting each other over and over again, that they could say what they really felt.

When you think about it, all the time they’ve spent together has not been in vain.

◆

That night, I was feeling lonely and called Kanau-kun.

Kanau-kun answered the phone as usual, and of course, he was the same Kanau-kun as always.

He asked me what was wrong, and I answered honestly that I wanted to hear his voice.

『I see. If Amane wants to see her onii-chan, then I’ll go see you.』

I knew Kanau-kun was the one who could say such a joke in a serious voice.

“Yeah, I miss you. I miss you, onii-chan.”

I pretended to play along with Kanau-kun’s joke and said so with a laugh.

To be honest, I really want to see Kanau-kun.

Alice is growing up so fast, but my heart can’t keep up with her growth.

I know I shouldn’t be lonely, but I’m feeling lonely.

After that, we made some small talk and hung up the phone.

After hearing Kanau-kun’s voice, I felt a little calmer.

If it had been me before, I’m sure I wouldn’t have talked to anyone about it, and I would have cheated myself.

In the end, I couldn’t talk to him about Alice, but I guess just calling him made me feel better than before.