CH 2

I always have lunch in the classroom. It is a blissful time for me to read a novel on my phone and eat my mother’s lunch.

Some people are so embarrassed to be seen alone that they hide in the bathroom to eat, but I try not to worry about the stares of those around me. I do this because I’m comfortable being alone, so I should accept a certain amount of misery.

Today’s lunch was a little salty, and the tea in my bottle was not enough. I got up from my seat and headed for the vending machine near the purchasing department.

When I got out into the hallway, I saw Makabe Kan. He was the only guy in the school I could call a friend. He was chatting with the guys from the soccer club.

Makabe is not a member of the soccer club. Or rather, he was a go home club member like me. He also has a gloomy  appearance. His bangs are annoying and he has dark eyes behind his glass. However, for some reason, he has an unusually wide circle of friends, and the other day he was standing and talking with an old man who works as a school janitor. Apparently, he traveled alone in Southeast Asia during the summer vacation. He’s such a mysterious guy.

Makabe noticed me and approached me with a faint smile on his face. This smile is peculiar to Makabe and it’s just that his facial muscles are structured that way, and it doesn’t seem like he intended to be disrespectful.

“Izuma, are you enjoying being alone again today?”

“I just finished reading a novel.”

“Wonderful.”

Said Makabe in a musical tone.

“You don’t have any group. I still feel sympathy for you, Izuma.”

“Thank you.”

Although he is one of a different kind, I certainly feel a sense of familiarity with the fact that he is a lone wolf who does not belong anywhere.

“I have a question for you, Makabe.”

“That’s unusual. What is it?”

“It’s about a first-year student named Urushibara.”

“Urushibara…… Urushibara Yua  from class D, right?”

As expected from a network of information.

“Yes, that girl. What kind of girl is she?”

After Makabe gave me a stern look, he nodded in agreement, smiled and put his hand on my shoulder.

“You know……, it’s only in fiction that gyarus are nice to otaku, you know?”

“That’s not it ! !”

“What then?”

I was curious about Urushibara san after that. But I shouldn’t talk about the heartbreak.

“…She came to my part-time job during the summer vacation.”

“It was a long time ago. Why now?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Makabe thought for a moment and then opened his mouth.

“Well, it’s just as I imagined it. A gyaru. Playing around. Having a flamboyant relationship. There are rumors that if you get down on your knees. She will be your ‘partner’.

Well, I guess ‘partner’ means that, in other words.

“I’m sure it’s probably an exaggeration. But well, She certainly has a bad taste in men.”

“That means.”

“Most of them cheated on her or threw her away. She’s been played.”

“As expected, you know that well. So, how is she doing?”

“I don’t know that much. I’m not her doctor.”

“If you were a doctor, you wouldn’t be able to tell me that because it would be an abuse of confidentiality.”

“Do you have that kind of strictness?”

Makabe raised one of his eyebrows and looked bitter.

“If it bothers you, don’t do it. You live in different worlds.”

“Like I said, it’s not like that-“

“I know how you feel. Younger gyarus are kind of sexy.”

“It’s not like that !

At that moment, I heard a girl’s voice coming from the classroom.

“I could never go out with a creepy guy like that.”

The words were like a spitting sound, and old memories flashed back to me.

Middle school students, first love, confession, heartbreak. It’s a common story. Normally, it would be a sweet and sour memory or a funny story. But the reason it didn’t turn out that way was because of a line that the other person said.

[Eh, stop it, it’s disgusting…..]

I confessed to her, and she said it with a look of discomfort on her face.

The girl looked a bit like gyaru, cheerful, talked to me a lot, and we had a lot of skinship, so it was no wonder that a sensitive middle school boy would fall in love with her.

I confessed my feelings to her. It was a magnificent honorable death.

My true feelings for her seemed to be gross. I still dream about that time, and it haunts my heart over and over again.

There is a sequel. She started dating a guy right after that. He was a high school yankee. I was still eyeing her with a lot of regret, and he started to get on my case, saying [You’re making eyes at my girl.]

He didn’t beat me up, but he grabbed me by the collar and threatened me.

The first clear hostility and violence I received from a person made me shrink completely. Ever since then, I’ve been afraid of both gyarus and yankees.

“What’s the matter, you looked so dazed.”

Makabe looked at me suspiciously.

“No, it’s nothing. –Anyway, it’s really not like that.”

I was just a little worried to see if she had recovered properly. According to her image, she seems like that kind of girl, and I may have been meddling.　

◇

After school, I was doing my daily routine as usual on a bench by the riverside after taking a walk.

And then someone sat down next to me. I glanced to the side, wondering why she sat on this bench, which wasn’t the only bench in the area.

I reluctantly glanced twice. Then I looked Rinna on the screen of my phone and looked next to me again.

Rinna was sitting next to me.

–……A R?

No, I never heard of such a feature being implemented. I mean, it can’t be AR since it’s not through the camera of my phone in the first place. Either my eyes went crazy, or my head, or…….

“Senpai.”

Rinna (?) opened her mouth.

“How do you like it? Does it suit me?”

Saying that, she tugged the ends of her bangs and beamed with embarrassment.

I recognized her voice.

“……Urushibara san?

“Right. Who did you think I was?”

“Rinna.”

“Rinna?”

“No, I’m talking to myself.”

Once again, I looked at Urushibara san.

Her blonde, loosely permed hair had turned black and straight. Her eyelashes, which used to be narrow, had gone down, and her lips, which used to be a poisonous red, had turned a pale pink.

Her eyes and nose are now coming to light  for the first time, thanks to the fact that she remove all of the heavy makeup that used to make her look as if she were planting trees on the pavement.

“……”

I’m a little speechless at how beautiful she is. Eyes like almonds, a clean nose, and soft, plump lips. They are all neatly lined up on her small face.

“I’m embarrassed if you look at me like that.”

“Oh, oh, I’m sorry.”

I’m simply fascinated by her.

“So, how do you like it?”

“I think it looks good on you.”

“Yay……!”

She squeezed her hands together and made a gut-pose.

Finally, I realized that Urushibara san makeover was caused by me.