Part-2 Ch-06 Ep-01

“Why are you avoiding me?”

“No, I’m not avoiding you or anything…”

Summer vacation of my second year of high school ended in the blink of an eye, and school began again.

I went to school as usual, attended classes as usual, and what I believed would be an ordinary daily routine had resumed.

--Or so I thought. At that very moment, I was being confronted by my childhood friend, who was clearly in a foul mood.

The opening ceremony had just ended, and as soon as the first class was over and the break began, I stood up from my seat and tried to leave the classroom, only to have my arm grabbed from behind.

Before I could react, she said, “Come here for a second,” and dragged me into an empty classroom.

With the wall behind me and Maki standing in front of me, my escape route was completely cut off.

“If you’re not avoiding me, then why did you come to school alone today, when I’ve been coming to your house every morning to pick you up?”

“Well, um, you know… preparations for the sports festival and stuff.”

“Really? Even if there are preparations, would anything start right away on the day of the opening ceremony?”

“Uh… y-yeah.”

“Which is it?”

It was a lie. Completely.

I couldn’t bring myself to admit it and instead forced a vague smile.

There was no way I could say something as embarrassing as, “It’s hard to face you, so I woke up early and came to school on my own.”

And even if I did say it, I was scared she would explode.

Ever since that day at the amusement park, during the remainder of summer vacation, I deliberately increased the amount of time I spent with classmates and students from other classes, gradually reducing the time I spent with Maki.

Using that as an excuse, I kept turning down her invitations with reasons like being tired or needing to do homework. Maki must have noticed, at least vaguely, that I was avoiding her.

Normally, even while at home, we would casually message each other things like, “I’m heading to the convenience store, wanna come?” and then meet up in front of the house to go together without any fuss.

But from that day at the amusement park until today’s opening ceremony, I had only seen Maki a handful of times.

There was no way she wouldn’t notice.

“…If you’re that busy, I can help again.”

Maki said this in a dejected voice. If she were a cat, drooping ears would have suited her perfectly. Cute.

“Thanks. But I’m fine for now. If it really gets busy, I’ll let you know.”

I replied while deliberately avoiding meeting her gaze.

“…Ma-ri.”

“Oh my. The next class is about to start for both of you.”

The sliding door to the empty classroom opened, and our homeroom teacher peeked inside.

I let out a sigh of relief without meaning to.

Perhaps sensing that, Maki made a displeased face once more and left the classroom ahead of me.

“…Are you fighting with Ichinose-san?”

“Yes…”

The teacher waited for me to step out of the classroom, watching Maki’s retreating figure as she asked.

“Ah, but it’s not like Maki is at fault. I’m the one to blame.”

“I see.”

We ended up walking down the hallway together.

It felt as though she was deliberately giving me space to talk.

Even so, I wasn’t ready to confide these feelings to someone else.

“Oh, we’ve reached your classroom. Well then, let’s talk again sometime.”

With a gentle smile and narrowed eyes, the teacher turned and left. The staff room was in the opposite direction, so perhaps her next class was farther down the hall. Or maybe she had simply escorted me all the way here.

When someone treats me kindly, I start to feel as though I’m being seen as someone fragile, someone who needs careful handling. That thought made my heart sink again. I was probably overthinking it.

“But for Maki’s happiness, I have to properly advance the story and clear the events…”

The words I murmured softly dissolved into the air, unheard by anyone.

--Or so I thought.

“Eh?”

The voice behind me startled me so badly that I jumped on the spot.

“Eh?”

When I hurriedly turned around, Seishuku-san was standing there. Worse still, she leaned forward with clear curiosity.

“I’m sorry for interrupting while you were so nicely immersed in sentiment, but Nagase-san, what did you just say?”

“Nicely immersed in sentiment” was an unnecessary remark, wasn’t it?

That thought crossed my mind, but in my panic, no words came out properly.

“I see. So that’s how it is with Nagase-san.”

What do you mean by “that’s how it is”?

I protested inwardly, but if she meant something like, “So Nagase-san is a chuunibyou,” it would take me a long time to recover.

With no other choice, I decided to brush it off and accept being labeled as embarrassing.

“U-um, about what I just said…”

At that moment, the chime rang, and a voice called out from inside the classroom.

“Nagase-saaan, hurry up and come in. Seishuku-san, you should head back to your class too.”

Startled, Seishuku-san dashed toward her classroom.

“Ah, Nagase-san!”

I turned back at her loud voice.

She waved energetically and said, “Can I have a little of your time later?” before disappearing into the classroom.