“You’ve got it good, surrounded by all these beautiful girls like this.”
On the train ride home, Sakuna, sitting next to me, muttered in a small voice that only I could hear.
If I shifted my gaze just a little, Ruri and Kiritsuki immediately came into view, so denying it outright would be impossible.
“If I had a girlfriend, things probably wouldn’t turn out like this, so yeah, I might be in a pretty good position.”
“Speaking of which, this is kinda late, but do you even want a girlfriend, Himura?”
Sakuna asked me that as if it were an afterthought, and I answered honestly.
“Huh? Nah. Looking at the situation now, you’d think I don’t need one, right?”
After all, like Sakuna said, I’m apparently in a good spot, surrounded by beautiful girls.
But my answer seemed to dissatisfy them, and while Ruri was one thing, Kiritsuki and Sakuna both furrowed their brows deeply.
“Why is your sense of delicacy always so lacking at times like this? Last year, it wasn’t like that… or so I was about to say, but actually, it was pretty bad from the start…”
Yeah, that’s about right.
I feel like I was pretty much the same last year. There were plenty of times when my thought process was as casual as “Oh, a cute girl sitting next to me—score!”
“Even hypothetically, saying ‘I don’t need one’ in front of girls who’ve said they like you is just not okay.”
“I don’t think Kiritsuki would mind that sort of thing, though…”
As I said that, I shifted my gaze to Kiritsuki.
“Huh?”
She seemed to have been listening to our conversation, but she hadn’t expected the topic to turn to her.
Kiritsuki opened her mouth, looking unusually a bit flustered.
“Well… that’s up to you, Himura-kun, and it’s not something I get to decide, right? I mean, I did say that being just friends isn’t enough for me, but if there’s a chance you’d end up with someone else, then staying friends isn’t so bad, you know? It’s not like there are things we can’t do unless we’re dating, and anyway, it’s only been about half a year since we met, so maybe there’s no need to rush it that much, or at least that’s what I think sometimes, and besides, to begin with—”
“—Okay, that’s enough, Kaname. You’ve said plenty—I get it.”
She was speaking really fast, but basically, it boiled down to “I’m not thrilled, but it’s not bad,” and on top of that, it’s better than me ending up with someone else.
It feels weird for me to say this, so I won’t voice it, but there were moments when if Kiritsuki had asked me out, I probably would’ve said yes.
If she asked me now, what would I do?
I don’t think I’d have to turn her down no matter what.
She did say she’d confess if it were after Kaori moved away…
“You really like Aoi-kun, don’t you, Kiritsuki-san?”
“Y-Yeah…”
“Even back in middle school, he had a lot of secret fans.”
Ruri probably didn’t mean anything particular by murmuring that.
But even so, I had to interject.
“Nah, that can’t be right.”
“Huh? I mean, the one who bullied Aoi-kun the most was Kamase-kun, right? Honestly, no one, including me, could stop him, so everyone kept quiet about it, but…”
Somehow, I had a feeling I didn’t want to hear what came next.
“In the girls’ group chats and stuff, he came up as a topic pretty often. Aoi-kun has such a cute face, after all.”
If that’s the case, then there was no need for Kaori to go through all that trouble by herself—everyone could’ve just told a teacher or even gone to the PTA, and it would’ve been solved, right?
I don’t know who came up with it, but when it comes to bullying, bystanders are essentially the same as accomplices.
I’m not trying to play the hero and say people should intervene in every problem, but if a dozen or so people noticed the same issue, couldn’t they have done something about it? That’s what I can’t help but think.
And it seemed like Kiritsuki and Sakuna thought the same, as their expressions clouded over a bit.
Noticing that, Ruri let out a small, bitter smile.
“It’s not like no one was there, you know? There were kids who spoke up to Kamase-kun, saying ‘Isn’t that going too far?’… Well, apparently, they stopped coming to school the next day.”
“What…? What did he do?”
“I have no idea. But that’s how much influence Kamase-kun had. He was like the son of a big shot or something? A lot of kids in class benefited from being on his good side.”
“Ah…”
“I see.”
I don’t really want to accept it, but I guess it was just bad luck that I got on the bad side of someone who’s good at making allies.
Even after getting off the train, we somehow kept walking while continuing the conversation.
“I know I probably shouldn’t say this, but…”
After saying that much, Ruri hesitated a little, shrugging her shoulders as if unsure.
“…I ended up thinking that if Nanami-san just stayed away from Aoi-kun, everything would’ve been solved. No matter how you look at it, the bullying started because Kamase-kun had a thing for Nanami-san.”
“Ah, so that’s really what it was.”
I’d been pretty sure that was the reason, but hearing it from an objective perspective still left me with mixed feelings.
“Did Nanami-san feel the same way?”
“…Well, sort of.”
“Yeah, I figured as much.”
I was right there nearby, but maybe because of my perspective, I never noticed.
Was it really that obvious just from watching?
“Hey, hey, Jushinin-san, just to check, but you’re not like that, right? Honestly, I don’t need any more romantic rivals.”
“Ahaha, I’m not like that—I don’t know Aoi-kun well enough to fall for him. Right?”
“Well, that’s mutual, I suppose.”
After all, we just had the potential to get along, and today was the first time we really talked about ourselves properly.
If things developed into romance that easily, the world wouldn’t be flooded with love advice books.
“Ah, this is my stop. See you later.”
Sakuna suddenly stopped walking. It seemed like today we’d part ways here. And since it was Sakuna, that meant…
“Kaname, come on, let’s go home.”
“Ah, yeah. See you, Himura-kun. And Jushinin-san… um, if there’s a chance.”
“In that case, let’s exchange contact info. There’s the thing with my mom, too.”
In response to Ruri’s words, both Kiritsuki and Sakuna’s expressions clearly conveyed “We don’t really need a connection to Teacher Jushinin, though.”
After parting with the two at the fork in the road, we stopped at the T-junction, and Ruri turned to face me.
“Is your house a bit further ahead, Himura-kun?”
“Yeah, it is… I’ll walk you home.”
“Really? Then I’ll take you up on that.”
We started walking again, and for a little while, the area was quiet, with only the light sound of our footsteps echoing.
“Actually,”
“Hm?”
“We’ve met once this year, you know.”
Ruri suddenly said that.
I thought about it for a bit, but nothing came to mind.
“Yeah, you wouldn’t remember.”
“Nope, not at all.”
Ruri hesitated a little, going “Ah—um,” as if reluctant to say it.
And then, she said something a bit shocking.
“New Year’s Day, the first of the year.”
“…Huh? Wait, that day I…”
That day… I was at the shrine, but…
“On the day of the first shrine visit, you dance at the same eye level as the visitors, not on a prepared stage, right?”
“…Ahh… you noticed?”
“Yeah, I did.”
“Wow, that’s impressive you figured it out.”
It’s the first time someone’s figured out my identity.
I never thought anyone would notice.
“I think you’re not supposed to spread it around, right?”
“Definitely not. Don’t tell anyone, okay?”
“I haven’t said anything—I only confirmed it today. When I saw you with makeup on, at first I thought ‘That’s the dancer!’ not that it was Aoi-kun.”
So that’s how it was.
Apparently, she thought it was someone else.
Even so… huh.
“…So it can get found out…”
“Probably just me, I think? I was watching from the closest spot, after all.”
If Ruri, who I haven’t seen much, noticed…
Then maybe someone like Kiritsuki would figure it out.
I wonder what’ll happen at this year’s summer festival…?
