CK 50

Chapter 50…

Want to Go Together?

“Rain again today, huh~”
“…Yeah.”

With that kind of conversation, we walked down the rainy road to school, umbrellas open above our heads.

The sports festival had ended, and it was now late June.
The rainy season front must have reached our town, since it had been raining nonstop for several days.

At some point, Yui and I had started walking to school together every morning.
I’d already gone through the trouble of refusing her once when we reunited, but since she kept showing up anyway, I’d stopped bothering.

So, as usual, I walked the familiar route to school, giving the occasional response to Yui’s cheerful small talk.

After about twenty minutes, we arrived at school.
It was the usual rush hour, so the area was filled with students wearing the same uniform as ours.

We were swept along with the crowd and stepped through the school gate.

Once at the shoe lockers, we closed our umbrellas, changed shoes, and headed for our classroom.
But when we got there, something was different from usual.

“Why are you sitting in my seat?”
“Good morning, Insei-kun. I’m just borrowing it.”

Right there by the window, Hanayama Chiharu was sitting in my seat, looking at her phone.

“Sit in your own seat,” I told her flatly.
But she pointed at her desk and replied, “I can’t. Someone’s sitting in it.”

I glanced over—and indeed, a boy I didn’t recognize was sitting there. Probably from another class.

Still, this was my seat.
Now that I was here, I wanted it back.

As I was thinking of how to get him to move, Yui came over after putting her bag down.

“Morning, Chiharu-chan~… What are you doing?”
“My seat’s taken, so I borrowed this one.”

I immediately said, “No, give it back,” but Chiharu didn’t budge.
“It’s almost time for homeroom anyway, so just until then,” she said.

Meanwhile, Yui ignored our back-and-forth and curiously asked what had caught her attention.

“By the way, Chiharu-chan, what are you looking at?”
“The planetarium show schedule.”
“You’re going to the planetarium!? Can I see too?”

She leaned in to peek at Chiharu’s phone, asking excited questions with a bright smile.
Surprisingly, Chiharu actually answered her properly.

I muttered, “Go to your own seat,” but my voice clearly didn’t reach them.

Giving up, I circled around to the front of my desk and gazed out the window.

A few minutes later, Yui suddenly called out,
“Hey, Maa-kun.”

“Want to go to the planetarium together?”

☆☆☆

“I can’t remember the last time I went to a planetarium~! I’m so excited!”
“How many times are you going to say that?”
“Come on, it just means I am that excited!”

As we talked, I stared out at the rainy roundabout of the big city.

It was the weekend after Yui’s invitation.
We’d arranged to meet at a station a few stops away from Seiun City.

Yui was already with me because—for some reason—she had come all the way to my house to pick me up. So we came together.
And now, with a cheerful “Thanks for waiting!” Hanayama appeared.

“Not at all! We just got here!” Yui replied.
Though in reality, we’d arrived two trains early.

Now that everyone was here, I murmured, “Let’s go,” unfastened my umbrella strap, and stepped into the rainy city.

But Yui grabbed my shoulder to stop me.

“Wait, we’re not all here yet!”
“When we talked about this, it was just the three of us.”
“Another person’s coming!”
“…No one told me that.”

Seriously, no one had told me.
I’d only been given the date and meeting time.

So I’d assumed it was just us three.

But Yui tilted her head with an “Oh?”

“Anyway, you know this person, Maa-kun! So it’s fine!”

Fine, she says. Yeah, right.

If it was someone I knew and Yui had invited them… maybe Hiyori?

No, Hiyori doesn’t really know Hanayama.
Then maybe Nagasawa Mayu, who was in the same group during the field trip?

As I was thinking that, Yui waved and called out, “Over here~!”

And the last person to arrive was someone completely unexpected.

“Am I the last one? Sorry to keep you waiting!”

It was Hirahara Shirou.
…Wait, Hanayama doesn’t even know him. Why did she invite him?

But before I could ask, Yui opened her umbrella and cheerfully shouted, “Let’s gooo!!” before walking off into the rain.

We couldn’t just let her leave us behind, so we followed.
As we walked, Hanayama quietly asked,

“Hey, I wanted to ask… Hirahara Shirou—is he that guy from the rumor?”
“The one who supposedly beat up his classmate?”
“Yeah. Is that true?”

So that rumor had really spread far.
But should I be the one to explain it?

Still, for Shirou’s sake, I should probably deny it.
Choosing my words carefully, I said,

“No, it’s been blown way out of proportion.”
“Really?”
“…He’s not the kind of person who hits someone for no reason. I can vouch for that.”
“Hmm. For you to say that, Insei-kun…”

Her tone carried some sort of hidden meaning.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.
“Nothing,” she replied, looking away.

She didn’t say anything more after that.

…What was that about?

But knowing her, she wouldn’t answer even if I asked again.
So I gave up and instead raised my voice over the rain to ask the two walking ahead,

“Why’d you invite Shirou?”
“Huh? Was I not supposed to?”

…She took that the wrong way again.
I quickly said, “No, that’s not it.”

“Hanayama and Shirou have barely met. Yui, didn’t you think it might be awkward?”
“Well, yeah, but… Shirou-kun’s going to be fighting too, right? I thought it’d be good for him to know Chiharu-chan.”
“…So, Hirahara-kun’s the third one?”

At that, Shirou stopped walking and murmured, “The third one…”

…So Hanayama already knew about the existence of a third. Maybe she’d seen some kind of report.

Then Shirou leaned toward me and whispered, “Does Hanayama-san know about all that?”

He was being considerate, but Hanayama already knew about the Stagnation and the Fallen Stars.
So I answered in my normal voice,

“She’s been helping by passing on appearance reports about the Stagnation and Fallen Stars.
The one who told us about Shoji-san’s case was Hanayama.”

Hearing that, Shirou’s eyes lit up.
“Ahh, that was you! Thanks a lot! And nice to meet you properly!” he said enthusiastically, stepping in front of her.

“Nice to meet you too,” Hanayama replied, a little flustered. “And, um, you can just call me Chiharu.”

“Got it! Nice to meet you, Chiharu!”

After that, Shirou returned to Yui’s side and continued chatting happily as they walked.

…So Yui really did think this through when she chose who to invite.

She’s not the carefree girl who only cares about fun anymore, huh.
Well, I guess that’s what being a high schooler does to you.

But even then, I didn’t miss Hanayama’s small mutter that followed.

“…Another extrovert joins the party.”