Chapter 14

──side Natsuki──

「I’ve liked you since the first time I saw you. Please go out with me!!」

「I’m sorry. I want to focus on my studies right now…」

I wonder how many confessions this makes. Days continued where I was called out somewhere almost every day to hear the same lines.

They say it was love at first sight.

They say they’ve liked me for a long time.

But even so, I don’t know these people well. Even if they say for a long time, they’re all people with whom I can count the number of conversations I’ve had.

My friends tell me to just ignore these calls, but I think it’s important to be clear to avoid strange rumors, and above all, I think it’s disrespectful to the other person.

Despite living relatively close, almost no students from my middle school went on to this Kujou Academy. Even if there were, none were close enough to call friends.

So even if they say they’ve liked me for a long time, it’s probably less than a year since I entered. For me, “a long time” means since I was aware of things.

That’s why when they say “a long time”, to me it just seems like a temporary whim. No matter how serious their attitude, nothing resonates in my heart.

To begin with, there’s also the question of what love even is.

For someone like me, who has only ever faced one boy, I can’t understand the sensation of love at first sight.

Like feeling an electric current run through your body, or your heart racing.

When I see the happy expressions of my friends with lovers when they talk about their romances, I do feel a bit envious, and I’m not completely uninterested, but when my friends ask, “What about you, Natsuki?” I can only reply curtly, “Right now, studying is more important.”

Maybe it’s correct to say I’m closing the lid on my heart. I know that behind my back, people say things like I’m a serious honor student, or a cool girl who doesn’t let boys approach her.

That’s why, when I’m confessed to by people who only know the surface of me that’s spread through such rumors, “Do you really know the real me? Can you give me more peace of mind than he can?” I can’t help but feel an anger that may be called unreasonable from their perspective.

At least, he wasn’t special to me. Rather, he was someone whose presence was natural, and just being with him gave me a sense of security. As long as I had that, I didn’t need anything else.

That’s why the moment I lost that presence, I fell into despair. I seriously thought about wanting to die.

Thanks to Okaa-san and Hinata, who has now become my real sister, I’m gradually regaining my daily life, but even now, it’s as if there’s a big hole in my heart, and nothing I do fills it.

Originally, this Kujou Academy was just a means to achieve my goal, so I don’t expect my school life to fill this void.

Although recently, I’ve been thinking more about whether reaching my goal would even have any meaning now.

I spent my school life with these conflicts in my heart.

As my high school life was about to reach the end of its first year, it happened. I had stayed late for extra practice in club activities, so I was walking down an unfamiliar road trying to hurry home. I thought it was the shortest route in terms of straight-line distance.

Although there were streetlights, the deserted road made me anxious. I wondered if I had made a mistake in choosing this path, and just as I thought, I felt someone’s presence behind me.

I had often felt eyes on me on my way home before. I tried to think it was just my imagination, but I cursed myself for not being more careful than ever at this moment.

「Are you alone, miss? It’s dangerous around here because there aren’t many people.」

The man’s words seemed to express concern for me, but they were utterly insincere. I face the man, readying my shinai still in its bag.

「Otto, a dangerous young lady, aren’t you? But are you okay? Your hands are shaking.」

Of course they are. There aren’t many high school girls who could stay calm in such a situation.

I don’t want to cause a violent incident here, but by all appearances, the man is a suspicious person. If I could just land one blow, just buy enough time to escape…

But the opponent is an adult male, even if I land a blow with the shinai, if he grabs me, I won’t be able to escape. Then, wouldn’t it be better to just run away with all my might now?

As if seeing through my hesitation, the man slowly walks towards me. He probably has confidence that he can catch me even if he’s hit with the shinai. Or maybe he thinks I won’t fight back at all.

As a result of taking no action, the distance between us has closed a bit, and now even if I turn and run with all my might, my chances of escaping have decreased.

「I’m so happy. That you’re not running away.」

The man closes the distance little by little, looking pleased with himself. I try to back away without taking my eyes off him to maintain some distance, but even with the same step, his stride is longer.

「Still, I’m lucky today, to catch such a cute girl.」

What girl would be happy to be called cute by a pervert? Against the gradually increasing fear, I think I need to stay calm, but my mind accelerates into confusion, wondering what to do, what to do.

「Well, it looks like this young lady with dangerous things needs some discipli!?」

Just as the man was about to attack, a familiar face appeared behind him and pushed him down.

It must be some kind of self-defense technique, after knocking the man down, he twisted his arm and straddled his back. With that, the opponent wouldn’t be able to move even with some difference in strength.

「Nanami-san!! Call the police quickly!!」

Hearing my name snapped me back to my senses, and I take out my smartphone from my bag to call the police.

Fortunately, when I explained the situation, the police officers came quickly. The man was taken away by the police.

I received a light scolding about the dangers of walking alone at night, but I told them I had learned my lesson and thanked them.

One of the police officers offered to escort me home, but the male student who had helped me──Amano-kun, said he would take me home and declined on his own.

「Nanami-san, are you okay!? He didn’t do anything to you!?」

He must have been worried about me. I told him nothing happened and thanked him for saving me.

「I see, that’s good. I was worried because you seemed to be going home later than usual today.」

「You followed me?」

「Yeah, I thought it was dangerous to leave a girl alone at this hour.」

I see, he’s popular with the girls, and if he’s this considerate, it’s understandable. But then I thought he should have spoken up sooner, but I realized I would have probably declined his offer anyway and swallowed my words.

「Come on, your parents must be worried too, so let’s get you home quickly.」

「Right…」

But something bothers me. The timing and place seemed too perfect, as if planned.

But I couldn’t figure it out even if I thought about it, and above all, I thought it would be ungrateful to my benefactor, so I decided to accept his offer just for today.

When I got home, I saw my father waiting outside, worried because I was late. I explained the situation to him and told him that Amano-kun had helped me.

My father seemed to know Amano-kun, and after thanking him, he said he wanted to invite him over to properly thank him another day.

Amano-kun didn’t refuse, and that meeting did happen later.

At that time, my father treated Amano-kun very friendly, praising him as a good young man and a courageous youth.

I remember my heart becoming prickly, thinking he had never praised “him” like that.

Later I found out that Amano-kun was the son of the director of Amano Hospital, where “he” had been hospitalized, and that his family had a business relationship with the pharmaceutical company my father works for.

Amidst all this, I heard from my father himself that he was talking about how, since our children had coincidentally formed a connection, it would be beneficial for work if Amano-kun and I developed a good relationship.

He even went so far as to say that if was okay with it, we could discuss future prospects, as if suggesting an arranged marriage, but I firmly refused, and since then, I’ve made it a point to leave the room whenever this topic comes up.

As for Amano-kun, although we’re in different classes, we’re in the same club, so since that day, he started approaching me every day.

At first, he just greeted me casually, but then he started asking if I was going home alone, offering to walk me home. If interpreted favorably, he was probably worried about me, but he started acting as if he were my boyfriend, especially in front of others.

Since then, I’ve tried to go home with my club friends as much as possible, but because I was chosen as a representative player for the upcoming match, I had to stay for extra practice with the senpais.

At those times, I had no choice but to go home alone, but Amano-kun would wait for me and try to accompany me, as if anticipating it.

Even when I tell him not to follow me, he says, “Because of what happened before”, and follows me anyway.

With such scenes playing out repeatedly, it was only natural that people started to see us as lovers.

At first, it was within the club, then within the class, and finally throughout the grade.

Since then, the number of people trying to confess to me decreased sharply.

Even if I deny it to those around me, saying “It’s not like that”, Amano-kun doesn’t deny the rumors, and even makes statements that seem to affirm them.

Feeling dissatisfied with this, I told Amano-kun to stop making affirming statements.

「But thanks to these rumors, you’ve been called out less, right? Fortunately, my father and Natsuki’s father get along well, so it’s fine, isn’t it?」

He doesn’t take me seriously at all. On the contrary, he started calling me by my first name at some point.

「Stop calling me by my first name.」

I told him that, but he replied.

「You don’t have to be shy. You’ll get used to it soon, and after all, we’re approved by our fathers, right?」

He started talking as if I had feelings for him.

No matter how many times I refused, it didn’t change, and I even started to think that being called out and confessed to was better than this.

One day, as the match approached, I stayed late again for extra practice.

I regretted not telling the advisor about the situation to avoid staying late, or not telling the senpais that I had to decline being a representative, even if it meant apologizing to them.

However, since it was already late, I quickly changed from my kendo uniform to my school uniform and hurried out of the school gate to get home as soon as possible.

「Hey Natsuki, good work today. It’s late, so I’ll walk you home.」

I thought he might be there, and as expected, he was waiting.

I try to refuse and head home alone, but.

「I’ve already told your father that I’ll walk you home, so don’t worry about it.」

When did he become close enough to exchange contact information with my father? I really want him to stop.

Nonetheless, by the looks of it, he’ll probably follow me even if I refuse. And arguing here would only make me get home even later.

Concerned about this, I started walking towards home without saying anything.

Without exchanging any conversation, we finally arrived before my house, and regardless of the circumstances, it’s a fact that he walked me home, so I turned around to thank him and quickly parted ways there.

──And at that moment, a strong wind blew.

「Ouch!!」

I cried out as something small was blown into my eye by the wind.

「Are you okay, Natsuki?」

「I’m fine, it’s just something in my eye.」

Remembering that you’re not supposed to rub your eyes when something gets in them, I close my eyes and wait for the pain to subside.

「Let me see, I’ll take it out for you.」

I felt him approaching me as he said that.

「I’m fine, so don’t come closer.」

「I can’t do that, what if you’re injured?」

The response came from such a close distance that I was ashamed of myself for not realizing he had gotten that close. He ignores my words to not come closer and shows no sign of moving away. At the same time, I heard the sound of shoes scraping against sand from behind and the footsteps of someone running away.

──Someone saw us?

I hurriedly thrust my hand towards where I sensed Amano-kun was and pushed him away.

From an outsider’s perspective, it might have looked like a kissing scene. If this spreads to the neighborhood… I feel gloomy again.

After blinking a few times to let the tears flow and the foreign sensation in my eye subsided a bit, I oriented myself towards my house, said goodbye to Amano-kun without looking at him, and rushed inside.

After that, Amano-kun continued to invite me to lunch, not caring at all the gazes of those around us, and his actions gradually escalated.