Our Dating Story: The Experienced You and The Inexperienced Me - Volume 4 - Chapter 5.1

Chapter 5

Runa’s father delayed having Fukusato-san move in until Runa graduated from high school. Apparently, Fukusato-san had also been worried about suddenly living as part of a family of four and being a stepmother to a girl in high school, so she’d accepted it unexpectedly easily.

“Thank you, Ryuto! It’s all thanks to you...” Runa said after telling me the news on a video call. She had tears in her eyes.

And so, the third school term of the year began.

By the time people finally left the holiday mood behind, January had come to an end. Then, February’s arrival brought with it a very important event for couples...

Valentine’s Day.

Until last year, I’d been mostly indifferent to it as the holiday had nothing to do with me. Even so, some part of me had been excited on the day, just in case some miracle happened.

This year was different, however. I could be openly excited.

Runa came over to my seat at school. “Morning! I can’t wait for our date on Valentine’s!” she said cheerfully on the morning of February 12th.

“Morning. Yeah, same,” I replied. I smiled reservedly at her and minded the eyes around us.

We’d be going to Harajuku for our date on Valentine’s Day. When Runa had asked me what I wanted to do and I didn’t have any good ideas for Valentine’s Day, I’d suggested that we eat chocolate, so Runa was going to take me to a café she liked.

The mood in the classroom had been restless since the morning. At first glance, nothing looked different from usual, but as someone who’d experienced this secret restlessness every year, I knew what was going on.

As for why—Valentine’s Day was on a weekend this year, so today, Friday, was the students’ opportunity to give each other chocolate at school.

And when my group of three introverts gathered for lunch as usual on this makeshift Valentine’s Day, the mood was anything but normal.

“What’s wrong, you two?” I asked the gloomy Icchi and Nisshi. They were sitting at our joined desks and hadn’t even taken their lunch boxes out. “Icchi?”

“Say, did you see KEN’s stream from yesterday?” Icchi asked.

I shook my head. “Nah... I was busy with cram school homework. I was going to watch the recording this weekend.”

“Me neither... I had something to do,” added Nisshi.

At that point, a serious look appeared on Icchi’s face and he clenched his fist he’d had up on the desk.

“It turns out KEN is a graduate of Houo.”

“What?! Really?!” I exclaimed.

Houo University was a famous private university—one of the leading ones in Japan. Any Japanese person had heard of it.

“Is KEN that smart?!” Nisshi asked, surprised as well.

“He’s a former pro, a popular YouTuber, and he went to a great school...? That’s practically cheating.”

“I know, right? It’s so shocking I can’t even eat.”

The two seemed shocked, but some part of me accepted this revelation more easily. When KEN talked about serious matters in his videos, he often said things that just made sense, and even when he’d screwed around in his normal videos, I’d figured he must’ve been smart.

“Damn... You wanna shoot for Houo University too?”

“Yeah, like that could ever be possible... People from our school can’t reasonably expect to go anywhere higher than a C-tier college.”

“Yeah...”

The two sighed and had dark looks on their faces. It was almost like they felt betrayed by KEN—someone who they’d thought had only been playing games and doing nothing else.

Then, a question appeared in my mind. “By the way, Nisshi, why did you look so depressed earlier?” I asked.

Like me, he hadn’t watched KEN’s stream, so it couldn’t have been the same reason as with Icchi.

“Oh...” Nisshi started to fidget all of a sudden. “I made a little something yesterday, you see... I’ve been wondering if I should give it to somebody or not.”

“Huh? What is it?”

“Give? To who?”

Icchi and I both knit our brows at his vague reply.

Averting his eyes from us, Nisshi spoke awkwardly. “Well, it’s chocolate...”

“What? Chocolate?”

“You made chocolate? Why? Is it for us?”

Icchi had a blank look on his face, but I was catching on.

“Is it...for Yamana-san?” I asked.

Visibly alarmed, Nisshi turned to look behind him. “Shh!”

Yamana-san was indeed behind him, eating lunch with Runa, Tanikita-san, and some other girls. They had a lively conversation going on and it didn’t seem like they could hear us.

“You, a guy, made chocolate for the demon gyaru? You even made it yourself, huh. That’s hella diligent, man,” Icchi said in apparent admiration.

I couldn’t tell to what extent he’d noticed that Nisshi was in love for real. Icchi had always been a bit ignorant of people’s feelings, but ever since he’d become an active Kid, he had seemed to have grown even more detached from the real world.

When Icchi later went to the bathroom, Nisshi spoke to me as though he didn’t think he could count on our friend.

“Hey, Kasshi, would you mind coming with me when I give her the chocolate?” he asked.

“Huh?”

“I’d get too nervous alone... Please.”

“O-Okay...”

First, it had been Icchi with his confession to Tanikita-san, and now this. Why did these two want me to keep them company when approaching the girls they liked?

That said, I was kinda happy to have a friend rely on me, so I agreed to go with him and see how his tradition-breaking chocolate-giving would go.

***

School was over before we knew it.

Runa and I had arranged to leave together, so I didn’t have much time to spare.

Icchi was on class duty, so while he had to fill out the class journal, I took the opportunity to quickly leave the classroom and meet up with Nisshi in the hallway.

“I just messaged her on LINE to come out here,” Nisshi said. There was a nervous look on his face.

Soon after, Yamana-san came into the hallway, alone. She seemed to have done so after reading the message as she headed straight for us the moment she saw Nisshi.

I sneaked far enough away from Nisshi that I wouldn’t hear their conversation.

After they said a couple of words to each other, Nisshi held out what he had in his hand—a small wrapped object. It must’ve been the chocolate. Yamana-san looked at him and said something, sounding dubious, but she accepted the gift. Then, it looked like she thanked him, at which point she went back to the classroom with the chocolate in hand.

She’d accepted it, at least. And as I felt glad for Nisshi...

I thought I saw familiar silhouettes appear in the corner of my vision. Looking over, I spotted Kurose-san and Tanikita-san.

Ever since the day it had become public knowledge that Runa and Kurose-san were twins, the former had been dragging the latter around. Kurose-san started to join the group of sunny girls. She’d grown close particularly quickly with Tanikita-san as they both had geeky hobbies and were in the same group for our upcoming school trip. These days, I frequently saw Kurose-san talk to Tanikita-san with a smile on her face during breaks.

Right now, however, the two were clearly hiding—they were tucked into a space between some pillars in the hallway as they chatted. Was it about something they couldn’t discuss in the classroom...?

As that thought passed through my head, Tanikita-san pushed the paper bag in her hands at Kurose-san.

“It’s a matter of life and death! Please!”

I could only hear Tanikita-san’s voice. She now had her palms together in front of her face as if she were praying.

“You’re the only one I can ask to do this, Mia! Nikki and Runy would definitely make fun of me... So please!”

Kurose-san accepted the paper bag, looking like she’d had no other choice. While her face said she was in a bind, she nodded timidly, perhaps overwhelmed by Tanikita-san’s desperation.

Tanikita-san’s expression became cheerful. “Thanks! Okay, good luck!” she said, and swiftly left.

And as I looked on from a distance, wondering just what she’d asked Kurose-san for...

Kurose-san looked around, and our eyes met all of a sudden. I averted mine in a hurry, but for whatever reason, she walked toward me. I turned around to leave, feeling awkward.

However, I heard her voice. “Kashima-kun...” She sounded like she was at a loss.

“Wh-What is it?” I asked.

This was our first time talking in private since the night I’d put an end to our friendship. When doing group study during integrated studies periods, we only talked if necessary.

Kurose-san looked around, her expression utterly perplexed. “Come with me for a moment,” she said, taking my hand and starting to walk away.

“Huh? Wh-What...?”

“Just come. Please!”

She was being uncharacteristically pushy. Kurose-san opened the door of an empty classroom, and I saw Nisshi in the distance, looking confused as he witnessed me being taken away.

“K-Kurose-san? Um...”

“It’s not what you think,” she said. “I want you to give this to Ijichi-kun.”

With those words, Kurose-san gave me the paper bag she’d received from Tanikita-san just moments ago. There was a box inside with a bright red heart drawn on it. Given the time of year, anyone could tell at a glance it was the kind of chocolate that would be given out of genuine sentiment.