SCPK 17

Chapter 17 

The Troublemaker Girl

They say today will be a midsummer day nationwide.

Even though it’s already late August, it’s still unbearably hot. Better than rain, perhaps, but still… this heat.
It’s only seven in the morning, and it’s already hot. The cicadas are noisy, and the asphalt is scorching.

I came to the apartment to wake up the Kaminagi siblings again today, but I worry about them getting heatstroke since there’s no air conditioning.

Climbing the stairs to the second floor, I saw a woman standing by Seiya’s door.
Her hair was a light brown, shoulder-length, soft and fluffy, with strands sticking out here and there. Her beautiful face made her look like a classic, proper beauty from the side.
If only she didn’t talk… if only she didn’t talk… But I had to speak up, so I called out from a little distance:

“Misato-san, what are you doing here?”
“Eek!”

Misato Kagaya is a second-year student in the advanced program at Kochu Private Academy, in the same class as Seiya and me.
Actually, she lives next door to Seiya. She’s a transfer student who came all the way from Tohoku, and we’ve known her since this past winter.
She had gone back to her family until yesterday, so it’s been a while since I last saw her.

“Ah, it’s you, Taiyo-kun. Geez, I got scared for nothing. To think I’d be startled by someone like you… I guess I still have a lot to learn,” she said.
“Why am I being dissed first thing in the morning…”

To avoid disturbing the neighbors with loud voices, I approached her.

“Aren’t you coming in?”
“Well… um…”

Misato spoke hesitantly. It was the first time I’d seen her so modest. I could kind of guess why…

“After that thing at the end of July, I went straight back home, right? Since then… I haven’t seen Seiya-kun, and I don’t even know what face to make…”
“Oh, I see—you’ve fallen for him!”
“Why do you have to be so blunt!?”

Misato grabbed my collar and shook me violently. My head bobbed painfully.
I usually avoid saying anything rude to girls, but with her, I don’t hold back much.
I hope she understands that’s how our relationship works. She speaks frankly too, and I call her by her first name, which probably has something to do with it.

Blushing and desperately shaking me, Misato looked really cute—but somehow, she wasn’t my type, so it didn’t stir anything in me. Preferences matter, after all. I like girls like Tsukiyo.

I’m not directly involved, so I don’t know the details, but it seems that a lot happened between Misato and Seiya around the end of the July term.
She won’t tell me the specifics, but it’s definitely a romantic matter—her feelings for Seiya.

“Well, there’s no point standing around, so let’s go in.”
“Y-yeah… ah!”

Misato suddenly remembered something and spoke up.

“Taiyo-kun, you were in the hospital, right? Good job! Did you have fun?”
“Wow, that’s casual… You really don’t care about me, huh? Fun? What do you mean by fun?”

It’s hard to respond, considering I ended up hospitalized because of that late-July incident.
Since that incident brought me closer to Tsukiyo, I don’t want to blame it entirely for that.

We entered the Kaminagi household. The windows were open, and the fans were running, so I don’t think anyone’s at risk of heatstroke… but it’s still a hot house.

“Okay, Misato-san, can you take care of Tsukiyo? I’ll wake up Seiya.”
“Roger! Leave it to me!”

Misato ran off toward Tsukiyo’s room… then stopped.

“Wait, what did you just say?”
“…I’ll wake up Seiya.”
“You definitely said Tsukiyo! Why did you say that!? Taiyo-kun said Tsukiyo-chan’s name… what’s going on!? Love!? Was there love involved?”

Ugh. This is the kind of thing about her that irritates me. I can’t help thinking, if only she didn’t talk…
At times like this, there’s only one way to handle it.

“Right. Hey, Seiya. Misato-san is going to—”
“Waaaah! I get it! I won’t say anything, stop it!”

And so, with me, the Kaminagi siblings, and the troublesome Misato Kagaya, daily life returned to normal.