CK 08

Chapter 08…

First Year 

Section 1 – Reunion
I Don’t Want That

A few days after the exchange in the nurse’s office, during homeroom:
The sunlight streaming onto my seat felt incredibly comfortable, and I was zoning out, only half-listening to my homeroom teacher’s lecture.

Yui and Hiyori haven’t approached me since that day.
Instead… there was something else troublesome.

The day after that battle:
Because of the flashy fight at school, I was summoned and harshly questioned by the teachers, including Vice Principal Chōji Midō, who handles student guidance.

However, in the middle of it, a man named Nariaki Kaneshiro, the school chairman, stepped in to defend me and calm the situation.
“Since you fought monsters and protected the safety of the school, let’s turn a blind eye.”

I was relieved, of course… but who exactly is that chairman?
I had met him during the entrance interview, but I still can’t figure out what he’s thinking.

And now, there’s no one in this town who seems to know anything, so I can’t ask.
Well… I’ll ask later if I remember when I return.

At that moment, someone stood in front of my desk and placed a hand on it.
Annoyed, I pretended to be asleep.

Then the person shook my shoulder, saying, “Ma-kun~!?”
…It’s Yui.

I had a feeling ignoring her would only make things worse, so I reluctantly opened my eyes and answered.

“What is it? I told you I wouldn’t get involved anymore.”
“I never said that! I just stopped trying to force a conversation! And now, monsters don’t even matter… wait, were you even listening to the teacher?”

I had only half-listened to the homeroom lecture, so I didn’t remember. Honestly, I wanted to ignore her.
But ignoring her would probably make things even more troublesome.

Besides, for now, during homeroom, neither the Stagnation nor the Falling Star matters.
…Running away seems impossible.

Fine, I guess I’ll have to go along with this conversation.
I looked at the blackboard and read aloud what was written:

“Class groups for the excursion… right? So what?”
“It’s not about ‘so what.’ You weren’t listening at all, were you?”
“…What?”
“The groups. What are you going to do?”

I obviously hadn’t decided. I’d been sitting in my seat the whole time.
Honestly, I don’t really care about the school trip.

Thinking that, I looked at Yui.

Her cheeks were slightly puffed, and she had her hands on her hips.

…She’s angry.
Why am I being scolded?

I had no choice but to speak the truth.

“I haven’t decided. So what?”
“It’s not ‘so what.’ …Ma-kun, are you really this bad at conversation?”
“What do you mean, bad?”
“No, I mean… you haven’t decided, right? I came to invite you because I thought we could be in a group together.”

Unnecessary meddling.
Besides, why should I take part in an excursion with someone I told not to get involved?

Also, I can already imagine how exhausting it would be to be in a group with her.
I definitely want to avoid that.

I tried to think of a way to refuse.
But Yui didn’t wait and continued relentlessly.

“If you don’t want to be in a group with me, you can join someone else.
But Ma-kun, that attitude might be fine with me, but it wouldn’t be okay with anyone else, you know?”

That’s also unpleasant. But it’s true.
So now I had to choose between being in a group with her or with complete strangers.

…Neither option is appealing.

I thought hard for a solution.

And immediately, a third option came to mind.
This would let me avoid both.

However, before I could voice that thought, Yui spoke again.

“Oh, and no skipping the excursion, okay? I don’t mind if you do, but… if the teacher finds out the reason, you’ll probably get scolded.”

…What is with her today? Why is she so bold?

With the third option blocked, I had no choice but to pick one. I reluctantly chose the lesser of two evils.

“…Fine, I’ll be in a group with you.”
“You said it~! Then it’s settled!”

Saying that, Yui left my seat and went to the teacher sitting in front of the blackboard.
The storm had passed. I closed my eyes again.

I honestly didn’t want to go, and I wasn’t thrilled about being with Yui, but it couldn’t be helped.

Besides, Stagnation and Falling Star probably won’t appear at the excursion site.
Thinking that made me feel a little better.

However, a few minutes passed, and Yui still hadn’t returned.
The classroom was filled with the excited voices of students, drowning out Yui’s voice.

Curious, I opened my eyes and saw her still talking to the teacher in front of the blackboard.
…This is probably going to be troublesome.

But I couldn’t just leave it, so I got up from my seat and moved toward the blackboard.
I called out to Yui’s back: “What are you doing?”

“Oh, Ma-kun. Well, the teacher said just the two of us isn’t allowed.”
“Two people? …Don’t you have any other friends?”
“I do~!?”
“Then why are there only two of you?”
“Well… that’s…”

Yui hesitated.
So she’d been so focused on making a group with me that she hadn’t thought about anything else?

I sighed and asked her:

“So, what do we do?”
“Well… what should we do…”
“Did you really not think about anything?”
“Well… I’m… left over.”

A female student spoke up.

“Um… you’re Chiharu, right? Is that okay?”
“Yeah. I’m left over anyway.”

After that conversation, Yui shouted, “Tamusen!” and started talking to the teacher again.
The student’s name was Chiharu Hanayama, apparently.

But listening to the teacher and Yui, it still wasn’t enough.

“So, four people would be fine, but three isn’t. You’d have to join another group individually… what do you want to do?”
“Either is fine.”
“You decide.”
“Hmm… the teacher said we could pull someone from another group if we wanted four….”
“So if I join, that solves it, right?”

Another female student spoke up. …Mostly girls, huh. Well, whatever.

Yui responded: “Mayu!?”

“But… shouldn’t I be in a group with Sakurako-chan and the others?”
“No… there are three boys and four girls. I thought it’d be better if you joined Yui-chan’s group.”
“Mayu… thank you sooo much!!!
Tamusen! Then it’s fine, right!!”

Yui said this while taking the student called Mayu to talk to the teacher again.
The girl’s name was Mayu Nagasawa. She seemed to be good friends with Yui.

“Now that we’re four, there’s no problem, right?”
“Yeah! Thank you so much, Mayu!”

I could hear their voices. Then Hanayama spoke:

“Hey, are those two outgoing types?”
“…I don’t know about Mayu Nagasawa, but Yui Shirakami is definitely the loud type.”

Hanayama sighed at my words.
She was probably thinking the same thing I was:

“This is going to be a lively excursion.”

☆☆☆

After the final homeroom, I quickly left the classroom.
I had a feeling Yui would bother me again today.

While changing shoes at the shoe rack, a female student spoke to me:

“You’re really in a hurry to go home, huh?”

“…You are…”
“I’m Mayu Nagasawa. We didn’t get a chance to talk earlier. Since we’re in the same group, I wanted to talk a little.”

So she’s the same type as Yui.

Feeling annoyed, I didn’t reply and started walking away after putting on my shoes.
It’s better not to deal with people like this—it’s a waste of time.

But she was persistent too.

“Hey~? Insei-kun~? Isn’t ignoring me too harsh?”

She followed me as I walked toward the school gate.

I couldn’t have her stick around forever, so I finally responded: “What do you want?”

“…Do you act like this to everyone?”
“So what?”
“Well, you know… there’s a rumor? About a boy who made a female classmate cry on the first day of school.”

…That sounds familiar.
But I don’t really care.

…But did she come here just to talk about something so trivial?
Suspicious, I asked: “So what? What are you trying to say?”

“Yui-chan’s been your friend since forever, right? You should be nice to her.”

I’d heard that countless times before.
I sighed.

Still, no matter how annoying, a conversation once started has to end.

“That’s none of your business. Did Yui ask you to say that?”
“No, that’s not it.
It’s just… even the closest friends might suddenly never be able to talk again one day. I just thought you shouldn’t regret it.”

Her words carried weight.

As if she herself had experienced that before.

“You’re saying that because…”
“That’s all I wanted to say. Thanks for listening.
See you at school~.”

With that, Nagasawa left.

Regret.

I have a lot of it.

I never want to do something like that again.

That’s why I can’t be with the two of them anymore—to prevent it from happening again.
This should be the best solution for both them and me.

With that conclusion in mind, I walked in a different direction from Mayu Nagasawa.