I have a male childhood friend.
His name is Iizuka Masato, and I’ve called him “Masa-kun” since we were kids.
Masa-kun and I lived in the same neighborhood and were the same age, so we were already close playmates by the time we became aware of our surroundings in kindergarten.
We would visit each other’s houses without hesitation, and our families were close as well.
However, to me, Masa-kun is just a childhood friend.
Nothing more, nothing less.
I don’t have to be overly considerate, but he’s still just an acquaintance.
And I’ve never seen him as a potential romantic interest.
We didn’t have any of those typical “childhood marriage promises” either.
We often played together, but it was just playing games and such, and there are no particularly sweet memories.
Even on Valentine’s Day, I only ever gave him obligation chocolate.
Moreover, even when I emphasized that it was just “obligation” chocolate each time, he would say creepy things like “You don’t have to be shy”.
So, from middle school onwards, I stopped giving even those obligation chocolates.
Masa-kun is what you’d call an introverted, socially awkward loner.
He has no one he can call a friend besides me.
Maybe that’s why I think he’s probably dependent on and obsessed with me.
Especially since middle school, he calls out “Kiyoka! Kiyoka!” at school and tries to interact with me excessively, but he doesn’t even try to converse with anyone else.
He’s not being bullied, but it feels like he’s shutting himself in his own shell.
In the past, I felt sorry for such Masa-kun and tried hard to help him get along with others, but he stubbornly refused, so I gave up on that.
I’m not his caretaker, nor am I his girlfriend.
Just a childhood friend, and ultimately a stranger.
To be honest, it’s troublesome to be depended on one-sidedly. While thinking this, I ended up going along with it and couldn’t treat him coldly, so I continued to deal with him.
──Light Novels──
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After spending my middle school days like this, I thought I would be able to separate from him when we became high school students, but Masa-kun had taken the entrance exam for the same high school as me.
I found this out at the time of the acceptance announcement.
Masa-kun may be a socially awkward loner, but he’s good at studying.
So he was supposed to take the exam for a higher-level high school than the one I was aiming for.
But apparently, he lowered his standards and took the exam for the same high school as me in order to go to school with me.
I heard this from him at the time of the acceptance announcement.
「We’ll be together for the next three years again! Kiyoka must be happy too, right!」
At that time, I could only sigh.
Fortunately, in our first year, Masa-kun and I were in different classes.
But in the end, he still clung to me.
He would come to pick me up from my classroom after school every day, and he would frequently appear in front of me during break times.
Each time he would call out “Kiyoka! Kiyoka!”, and everyone around us completely recognized us as childhood friends, to the point where rumors even started spreading that we were dating.
I deny the dating rumors with all my might, but even my close friends think I’m just being shy, and they treat Masa-kun as if he were my boyfriend.
I really wish they would stop that, but the more I deny it, the more everyone enjoys teasing me, so I’ve been feeling a bit resigned lately.
After such a first year ended, we advanced to the second year.
I ended up in the same class as Masa-kun.
It’s giving me a headache and I’m thoroughly fed up.
Masa-kun, as usual, remains a loner and doesn’t try to get along with anyone, only interacting with me, and sure enough, everyone in the class misunderstood that we were dating.
Each time this happened, Masa-kun would look happy and not seem to mind, and even when I desperately denied it, even my friends wouldn’t take me seriously.
So I tried to avoid making eye contact with Masa-kun in the classroom as much as possible, and I hardly ever approached him to talk.
I don’t deny the existence of our childhood friend relationship, but to me, he was nothing more than a troublesome existence.
At best, you could call it an unwanted bond.
If I were to say it maliciously, an annoying same-age male loner with a twisted personality who lives in the neighborhood.