Volume 6 - CH 10

“Aaand I’m done! That’s all, folks!”

“Wha, you’re so fast, Sajocchi! Share some of that good stuff!”

“That’s right, that’s right!”

“That’ll cost you—Gah! Don’t fire your pencil lead at me! Hey, give me back my eraser!”

I finished the classic literature homework and leaned against my chair, when Ashida, who sat with Natsukawa behind me, threw a complaint my way. I felt like teasing her a bit, only to be bombarded with pencil leads. They actually hurt quite a bit, and they could technically slip down my uniform at my back…And for some reason, Yamazaki is Yamazaki, trying to erase my answers.

Including Natsukawa, four people had forgotten their homework for classic literature. Natsukawa obviously finished her homework quicker than the rest of us, so Ashida and I obviously acted as slimy as possible to get the answers from her, but she just averted her face with a pout. To that, Ashida clicked her tongue, and seemingly gave up immediately. I don’t know why, but it felt like another big push may have done the trick. You can’t give up just yet, Ashida…! At one point, Yamazaki joined in, copying the answers I wrote down. Natsukawa didn’t give us the answers because ‘You don’t learn anything through that’, but Yamazaki’s fine. Avada Kedavra.

“It’s gotten a lot cooler outside, huh~” Yamazaki said.

“I was feeling a bit cold this morning…It’s a bit too early for a blazer, so maybe I should buy something like a cardigan.” I commented.

“Both of you guys went from blazers straight to shirts, after all. I do use my hoodie for volleyball practice, so maybe I should buy a cardigan myself. Aichi’s looked really cute.”

“Y-You think so…?”

“Ah! Let’s get the same one! We’ll rock that partner look!”

“Huh…? I wonder where I bought it.”

“I think a cardigan long enough to hide your skirt would be the best.”

“That’s just your personal interest, Zakiyama, so no thanks. Why not have your girlfriend wear that?”

“Um, that’s because…I don’t have a girlfriend.”

Urk…for some reason, even I received damage with that comment. Keeping the conversation under the premise that one has a girlfriend despite that not being the case is just far too cruel. Well, Yamazaki’s just rather unfortunate. On the inside, he’s a middle-aged man. One really shouldn’t reveal their preferences in front of girls, really. However, I do agree that a cardigan being long enough to hide the skirt sounds wonderful, quite. If a girl were to scream while looking like that, I don’t think my wallet could take it.

Still, clothes for the fall, huh…Natsukawa in a cardigan is hella cute. I think her profile picture in the messenger is exactly that. When I first saw that, I immediately saved it, laminated it, and cried over it for the next three days…Man, I was a creepy guy back then. It’s not even an idol we’re talking about, she’s just a classmate of mine. Well, it would have been just as creepy with an idol.

“Also, I was wondering. Where are we supposed to buy our men’s cardigans, Yamazaki?”

“Amazon, Uniqlo.”

“Right-o.”

Weird…I don’t feel any excitement at all. I guess it’s only really fun if you look through the shop in person? I can’t tell if this entire delivery system is a benefit or not.

“It was pretty chilly this morning, but the weather’s great. How about we eat lunch outside?”

“Ah, that sounds nice…”

“Seriously? Should we join them?”

“Huuuuh? You’ll make too much noise, Zakiyama.”

“I think the feeling is mutual, Ashida.”

Although the initial storm on Natsukawa subsided, a certain group of girls always stayed close to her on a daily basis. However, if you add like five or six people, it still ends up pretty noisy. Then again, since they’re all girls, Natsukawa and Ashida don’t seem to mind much. Me? I have a good feeling about this.

“But if we invited everybody, we won’t have any place to sit.”

“And we’ll stand out.”

“Tsk. Well, our group’s been up and about lately. Can’t tell which group Sajou belongs to anymore.”

“Don’t call it a group. I was just busy lately, and ate somewhere else…”

In reality, I would often hang out with Yamazaki’s group while joining Natsukawa…and Ashida’s group from time to time, so in that sense, I never really belonged to any group. Then again, I was and always will be a faithful follower of the Natsukawa Cult. I’m just not good with a group of people, aye. My eating habits are all over the place, too. Sometimes I have a lunch box, another time I get something from the convenience store, the next day I eat at the cafeteria, and the day after I buy something from the school store. Each time, the places where I eat are different as well, and so are the times. And these changes all depend on how I’m feeling.

Not to mention that nobody would really try to make plans for a lunch break. Eating alone at your own leisure is one of the best possible methods for that. Though whenever I saw Shirai-san or Saitou-san trying to invite Sasaki in a really bashful way, I always got way too close to leaking it all to his little sister Yuki-chan. You better be thankful, Sasaki, I’m the reason you’re still alive.

“All right, I’m all done myself! Bye-bye~!”

“Ah, not fair, Zakiyama!”

“He just wanted to copy, huh…”

He’s been doing that a lot lately, which is slowly starting to get on my nerves. I understand why Natsukawa didn’t want to share with us before.

“It’s fine, I’ll have Aichi teach me!”

“Wait, I can—”

“Sajocchi…No thanks!”

“Hot dang, did you have to hurt me this way?!”

I know I can’t compete with Natsukawa, but why did you have to be so cruel? I want to be taught by Natsukawa myself. I just can’t look at her face.

“…Should we eat outside, then?”

“Hmmm…What about you, Sajocchi?”

“Hm? I’m eating with Ichinose-san today.”

“Huh…?”

“Wha…?”

……Err? Why are those two staring at me now? The way they went silent out of nowhere is terrifying. Is it that surprising that I’d be eating with Ichinose-san? They know we’ve been talking with each other from time to time…and I get that it’d be our first time eating together at school, but we mostly ate together when I was still working part-time and shared any shifts with her.

“Um…Sajocchi? You’ll eat with Ichinose-san?”

“Huh? Yeah?”

“That’s…because you felt like it?”

“Now hold on, I don’t go around eating with whatever girl I feel like, okay. She just invited me.”

I don’t have the guts to be such a playboy.

“You’re…talking with Ichinose-san…at night?”

Now it was Natsukawa’s turn to question me. Or rather, it felt like she interrogated me. That almost makes me feel as if I was Natsukawa’s boyfriend…Huehue. Also, I wouldn’t eat lunch with another girl if I had a girlfriend. Even more so if that girlfriend was Natsukawa.

“Talking…Well, we do message each other from time to time. Mostly at night.”

“H-How often?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Every day?”

“No, not that many times…On the days she worked part-time.”

“H-How often?”

“N-Natsukawa…?”

“You really should answer her, Sajocchi.”

Um, what is this tense atmosphere about? Am I going to get arrested or something? Why is she so concerned about Ichinose-san? That never happened when I was talking with Shinomiya-senpai.

“Um…four times a week?”

“Huuuuh?! You text each other four times a week?!”

“Gah, don’t scream like that!”

Luckily, Ichinose-san sat away from us, because this isn’t something I would want her to hear. She’s definitely the type who doesn’t want others to know who she invited and where.

“Sajocchi, what the heck is this about…?! I was wondering why you were so quiet in our group, but it’s because you were busy flirting with another girl…?!”

“We weren’t flirting! We mainly talk about work! She would tell me what kinds of customers would come by, and what the store manager said.”

These two really are bothered by this, huh? They look like they’ve seen a ghost. If I can just push Ashida away, I might find a path to escape—However, Natsukawa closed off that route.

“Do you…message her as well?”

“Huh? W-Well, sometimes…?”

“What do you talk about?”

“Um…I would ask if any weird customers came by, or if she’s doing fine.”

“You’re her Dad! You’re in absolute dad mode!”

“I’m not her……Maybe I am.”

“You seem pretty satisfied by that, you know!” Ashida grumbled.

No, you’re definitely on the wrong track there. I just have this desire to protect her, there’s no fatherly love involved. I’m simply trying to look out for her as her former senior at work. Though, if I get reborn six times, I wouldn’t mind being her father one out of these times.

“I’m just worried…She’s gotten somewhat used to it, but can you imagine Ichinose-san serving customers?”

“…Even though yesterday…you…dummy.”

“Huh? Dummy? Yesterday? What?”

“Forget about it?”

“Wha…”

“You dummy dummy! Super dummy Sajocchi!”

…Ehm.