Chapter 4
There was a strange feeling in the air on the last day of the first term at school.
“Oh, look...”
“Huh... Impressive for a plain-looking guy like him...”
When I showed up at school, some classmates I’d never talked to before were looking my way and whispering.
Was this related to Shirakawa-san? Still, I’d revealed my relationship with her a while ago, so why now?
I entered the classroom and proceeded to head to my seat. Icchi was already at his desk, but his face changed once he saw me.
“Kasshi!” he exclaimed. He hurriedly got up and came over to me, swinging his massive body.
“Morning, Icchi...”
“The hell are you doing, dude?!”
“Huh?”
“Just come!”
He led me outside the classroom and to a corner of the hallway.
I looked at my friend’s face in confusion. “Wh-What happened, Icchi?”
“What happened to you?! They say you’re cheating with Kurose-san!” he shot back.
“What...?!”
My head went blank. Of course I hadn’t cheated...at least not as far as I was concerned. However...
“Who said such a thing?” I asked.
“Everyone’s saying it! When I got to school, everyone was talking about it, and even I’ve had some sunny types walking up to me and asking if it’s true.”
“Why...?”
“Looks like something’s coming to your mind, yeah?”
Icchi glared at me with narrow eyes, and I couldn’t help but look away.
“Well, I didn’t cheat, but...”
It was true that I’d met with Kurose-san for personal reasons several times over the course of two days. If someone saw us together and misunderstood things... But still, was such flimsy circumstantial evidence enough to determine I was cheating?
Could it be...?
“Ah, hey! Wait, Kasshi!”
Not hearing Icchi’s attempts at stopping me, I headed back to the classroom.
“Did you do her?! Did you sleep with such a beauty while you already had Shirakawa-san?! Damn it, you bastard! You’re such a fake introvert!”
As I left the hallway where Icchi was throwing a loud fit and came back into the classroom, my classmates’ gazes quickly gathered on me. In the next instant, the looks dispersed.
Shirakawa-san wasn’t here yet.
I headed to my seat and placed my bag down.
I turned to the girl in the seat next to me. “Kurose-san, can I talk to you for a second?”
Her shoulders trembled and she looked at me. She seemed to have expected me to talk to her.
“Sure,” she replied, looking surprisingly dispirited.
We went to an empty classroom nearby. No sooner had I closed the door than Kurose-san began to speak.
“It wasn’t me.”
She really did wear a melancholic expression. The area around her eyes seemed faintly swollen, and there were signs that she had cried until late at night the day before.
“But then...” I began.
“Getting revenge on Runa was a low priority for me. I just wanted to be loved by you...” she said, lamenting. “I wouldn’t do such a futile thing as spreading rumors when I didn’t get what I wanted. Even I have my pride.”
Seeing her like that, I couldn’t imagine she was lying.
“Okay. Sorry,” I apologized after a moment’s pause.
A limp smile appeared on Kurose-san’s face. “Sorry I caused trouble for you. I’ll block you on LINE.”
“Okay...” I figured that was necessary now that things had come to this. “Well... Let’s go, then,” I said, reaching for the door in order to return to our classroom.
“Hey, Kashima-kun.”
As I turned around at the sound of her voice, I saw Kurose-san smiling. Unlike moments earlier, her face had joy written on it now, even amidst dejection.
“If I’d accepted your confession back in the day...would I be the one by your side now instead of Runa?”
Kurose-san...
As I remained silent, unsure of what to say to her, her smile once again changed to a dark one.
“Just kidding. There’s no point in thinking such things. Let’s go.”
“Yeah...” I replied and opened the door.
Then...
“Ahh!!!”
Someone in front of me shouted, and something fell near my feet, making a loud noise as it hit the ground. It was a phone case I knew very well, which caught me by surprise. I looked up.
The one standing there was Shirakawa-san. And behind her was Yamana-san, with a terrifying look on her face.
“Ryuto...” uttered Shirakawa-san. She wore a look of disbelief and lightly shook her head. “So the girl who rejected you in the past...was Maria...?”
Oh. She heard us. I hadn’t told her yet...
“Why... Why didn’t you tell me...?”
“Sorry, that’s...” I began.
“Why are you apologizing?” Shirakawa-san had a look of sorrow on her face. Her lips were trembling. “Did you do something you need to apologize to me for...?”
“No, I just...”
“I don’t wanna hear it!”
As I heard Shirakawa-san raise her voice for the first time, my body froze up and I couldn’t move. She looked stricken as she gazed at me. Something glistening welled up in her eyes.
“Why, Ryuto...? I can’t take it... It’s too much.”
With that, she turned around.
“Shirakawa-san!” I called out.
She went running down the hallway, never looking back.
I wanted to chase after her, but I reached out for the phone she’d dropped in front of me first. My hand froze in the process.
Displayed across the whole phone screen, now cracked like a spider’s web, was a picture of Kurose-san and I embracing each other. The screen had probably broken from the impact of the fall.
I was stunned by the sight. It was a photo of us in the park yesterday, taken from diagonally behind me and zoomed in. At this angle, you couldn’t tell that Kurose-san had been crying and that I hadn’t had my hands on her.
As I came to my senses and tried to pick up the phone, someone snatched it away right in front of my eyes.
It was Yamana-san. Glaring at me with the face of a demon, she swapped the phone to her left hand and raised her right one high into the air.
“You asshole!!!”
With a smack, a sharp pain ran through my cheek. My face turned to the side all by itself, and that was when I realized I’d been slapped.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login