CH 1

Arc-1 Chapter-1: I'll Be There Before You Arrive At School

￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣

The next morning. 

As I waited at the ticket gate of the station closest to the school, Koyuki arrived in a hurry. It was still three trains too early for us to meet.

Naoya walked up to her and raised one hand.

"Good morning, Shirogane-san. I guess I'm first in line today." (Naoya)

I thought that Koyuki would blush and whisper back, "Oh, good morning to you too."--

"Tsk...!" (小雪)

What he actually heard was a menacing click of her tongue.

That was not an attempt to hide her embarrassment. It was 100% pure seriousness.

Knowing this, Naoya could only shrug his shoulders.¹

"What? It was Shirogane-san who asked if we could go to school together in the morning." (Naoya)

"Yes, that's right. I did." (小雪)

Koyuki shook her head in a musing manner.

"Yesterday, Sasahara-kun disrupted my pace, but today I'm going to start fighting back. And for that reason, I don't want to give you any advantage, no matter how trivial it may seem. That's why I came early... But...you're already here." (小雪)

"Who arrives first at the rendezvous point is trivial, isn't it?" (Naoya)

"Then why did you come early too?" (小雪)

"Well, it's kind of embarrassing......" (Naoya)

Naoya scratched his cheek and confided in her honestly.

"The thought of meeting Shirogane-san in the morning made my eyes light up. That's why I got up so early." (Naoya)

".....Because you wanted to see me...?" (小雪)

"That' s right. Like a kid before a field trip." (Naoya)

"Fufu. yeah, you're a child aren't you." (小雪)

Koyuki gives a nod with a straight face.

However, her mouth is grinning and I can tell that she's nervous.

Rather than having to read her, so many things are already dangling in the air.

(Hmm... if I point that out she's gonna get angry, I better shut up about it.)

Naoya had learned his lesson by now, so he didn't say anything else.

Yesterday was easy to understand in many ways, but today was even easier. Naoya vaguely recalled what had happened after he left the coffee shop.

ー

At that time, the sun was just about to set when I went outside. The streets were bustling with housewives and students on their way home from shopping under a sky dyed Akaneiro.

In the midst of this scenery, Koyuki was about to disappear, saying, "See you later," when Naoya hurried to stop her.

"Wait a second. Shirogane-san, where do you live?" (Naoya)

"I'm from Yotsumori... Why?"² (小雪)

"Oh, you're going the opposite direction. Well, it's getting late, so I thought I'd walk you home." (Naoya)

"No, thank you. I have no obligation to let a mere classmate to do so much for me." (小雪)

"No, but it's getting dark soon. Isn't it natural for a man to worry about the girl he likes?" (Naoya)

"Er...ah....eh...!"² (小雪)

Koyuki's face turned bright red as she made noises. But then she took a few deep breaths and sat down again.

"Fufu. That's the last time you can be so frivolous. Tomorrow, I'm going to strike back. I'm going to attack you so hard that you won't be able to live without me!" (小雪)

"No, but I like you enough already, don't I?　If you keep boning me like this, I'm going to turn into a jellyfish." (Naoya)

"It's not about that, it's about making it impossible for you to resist me!" (小雪)

Koyuki was so angry that she started to steam.

What she was saying was tyrannical, but she didn't seem to be afraid at all because she seemed to be so occupied.

Naoya analyzed her calmly.

(Hmm... I see. Pride, favoritism and a bit of curiosity.)

[I like Naoya, but my pride won't allow me to be honest with him. On top of that, I've been falling into Naoya's pace since earlier and it's completely uninteresting.]

That's why she chose to "cage" him in order to somehow gain an advantage over him.

[If I could bone Naoya, my self-esteem would be somewhat satisfied. I won't be confused when Naoya comes on to me like this.].....That's about right.

However, it was a good thing for Naoya. The girl he likes is attacking him aggressively. It was a perfect reward.

Apparently, Koyuki doesn't understand that. Her own goals come first, and her means are completely out of order.

It's kinda childish and clumsy...

"Shirogane is so cute." (Naoya)

"Something about that nuance really annoys me..." (小雪)

Koyuki scowled at Naoya as he spilled the beans sullenly. His wild instincts were getting the better of him.