CH 1
The Case of a Childhood Friend That I Haven't Talked to in a Long Time is a Pushover
âI knew it. A girl with big br***ts is attractive in her own right!â
ââ¦â¦ whatâs up with you out of the blue?â
In the morning, in a classroom still sparsely populated, my friend suddenly started talking nonsense.
It was a good thing that there were no other people around, but if there were many other people around, I can assure him that they would look at us with disgust.
âDonât you think so, Kazuki?â
ââ¦â¦ Well, the bigger the better.â
Well, Iâm a man, too. I do think women with big things are attractive.
My friend smiled at my words and put his arm around my shoulder. His name is Tomohito Tanaka, a friend of mine from high school.
He often makes stupid remarks, but he is a nice and cheerful guy who is easy to talk to. He is a pervert when he occasionally raises his glasses and looks at girls, but he is certainly not a bad guy.
âFriends at heart. Weâre a lot alike.â
ââ¦â¦ though I canât say Iâve ever seen a similarity that Iâm not this pleased with.â
âYou canât say that.â
This guy is as noisy as ever.
Well, Tomohito is such a guy, but he has a lot of friends and we have a lot of mutual friends.
âJust back off a little bit.â
I undid the arm around my neck and took my study materials out of my bag.
Just then, one of the girls entered the classroom.
âGood morningâ
âAh, Good morning Kasumi!â
Tomohito let out a small gasp when he saw the girls greeting their friends and joining them in the circle.
âShe is as beautiful as ever. Sheâs got great t**s, too.â
âSomeone will get angry at you somedayâ
Thatâs what itâs like to be asked around. â¦â¦ I took my eyes off of Tomohito and turned my attention to the girl he just talked about.
Shirasagi Kasumi, that would be her name.
She has long, silky black hair reminiscent of a Yamato Nadeshiko, white skin without a single blemish, and a face that gives the other person the impression that her eyes are soft and gentle, but not showing many emotional ups and downs. Needless to say, she is a beauty who would be one in the class, and that is exactly the word that describes her. â¦â¦And as an added bonus, as Tomohito mentioned, the bosom that raised her uniform was tremendous.
âThatâs a G for sure, Kazuki.â
âIâm not asking youâ¦.â
Eei, donât give me a slap on the back!
As I was playing with my sometimes dependable and sometimes annoying friends, I suddenly felt her eyes on me, so I turned my attention to her. There I saw Shirasagi, still talking with her friends, and I wondered if I was â¦â¦ imagining things.
âWhatâs wrong?â
âNoâ¦..Nothingâ
Yeah, â¦â¦ I havenât spoken to that girl in a long time and thatâs not going to change. Thatâs how it is with childhood friendsâ¦â¦. And itâs like I walked away from that girl.
Shirasagi Kasumiâ¦â¦ she was a former childhood friend of mine.
We stopped talking just before I graduated from junior high school, and that hasnât changed even now that Iâm a sophomore in high school.
ââ¦.Fuuhâ
We didnât have a particular fight, we just naturally stopped talking.
Childhood friends are like that, they naturally grow apart as they get bigger and grow up. We were never close at our age like in the manga and anime,â¦â¦ and that was evident in the relationship between me and Shirasagi.
Time passed and it was after school.
Tomohito and some other friends invited me to stay up a little later at karaoke. Even though I usually went home, I knew that my father and mother would both be home late today.
âYou sang so much. See you later, Kazuki!â
âYeah. Thanks for today.â
âItâs good!â
I leave Tomohito and the others and walk down the dimly lit street.
This time of year is June, and the thought of a sweaty summer is making me feel heavy. As I prefer winter to summer, summer is my least favorite season.
As I was floating around feeling bad about summer in this way, I saw a figure in front of the house I had finally arrived at.
ââ¦â¦ who?â
A figure â¦â¦ at such a dim light?
Was it someone suspicious? I was a little freaked out like that, but from the slight silhouette I could see, I knew it was a woman.
âA guest? No, but who the hell is she?â
Who â¦â¦ at a time like this anyway I approach because I have to get home.
Finally, I was able to see the woman in her entirety, much to my surprise.
âEh? Why!?â
âAh, youâre home at last.â
A woman â¦â¦ approached me staring at me in amazement, she was wearing the uniform of my school.
ââ¦â¦.Shirasagi?â
Yes, it was her, a former childhood friend of mine, Shirasagi Kasumi who was there â¦â¦.
âDidnât you see the message from â¦â¦ mom?â
âMessage?â
I hurriedly took out my phone to check and found a message from my mom. The message said that she would not be home as she would be late for the second time and that she had asked Shirasagi to make dinner.
âIâll make a quick stew. Come on, unlock the door.â
ââ¦.Is it fine?â
No, honestly, Iâm panicking all of a sudden,â¦â¦ Shirasagi nodded.
âIâm not sure if Iâll be able to do that. It was rather a good opportunity, so â¦â¦ open it early.â
âO-Okay!!â
I unlocked the front door as if rushed by Shirasagi. Without any hesitation at all, Shirasagi took off her shoes, went to the living room and took out the groceries from the shopping bag. Iâm not surprised at the fluidity of her movements, â¦â¦ because Shirasagi used to come over often in the past.
âWhat are you staring at?â
ââ¦â¦, I just thought itâs been a long time.â
ââ¦â¦Yeah. How come itâs been so long?â
âEt-toâ¦.â
What is this air â¦â¦.
Anyway, I headed for the bathroom to escape from the living room. After a brief cleaning of the bath, I filled it with hot water and got it ready.
Back in the living room, Shirasagi had already started cooking, wearing an apron.
âYou remember where the knives are and everything.â
âOf course. Iâve been here many times.â
ââ¦..I seeâ
âYeahâ
ââ¦â¦â¦..â
ââ¦â¦â¦â¦â
I-I canât stand this air â¦â¦!!
Why did mother suddenly ask Shirasagi to do this? Itâs true that when Iâm alone at night, a cup of noodles is my partner, just like my wife. â¦â¦ I guess thatâs not good enough, so she asked Shirasagi to help me out.
âIâm going to go take a bathâ¦..â
âTake careâ
I took a quick shower, soaked in the bathtub, and left the bath without taking that long.
Without talking to Shirasagi, the dishes were finished and placed on the table. It seemed she had made a white stew as the main dish, along with my favorite fried fish and other simple dishes.
âLooks goodâ¦â¦â
I scooped up the stew with a spoon and brought it to my mouth.
ââ¦.So goodâ
The rich flavor of the stew, the meat and the other ingredients were really delicious, with plenty of flavor brought out in the stew. I felt Shirasagiâs mouth relax a little, but it was probably just my imagination, and she returned to her usual expression.
â â¦â¦itâs really delicious, seriously. hmmmm, Thanks for that?â
âNo, thatâs totally fine.â
ââ¦â¦â
ââ¦â¦..â
â¦â¦The air is dead.
I thought to myself, âI canât wait to eat it,â but the Shirasagiâs voice reached my ears.
âHey, â¦â¦ Kazuki â¦â¦.â
âYeah?â
âWhy â¦â¦ have you stopped talking to me?â
I was surprised to hear my name called for the first time in a long time, but more than that, the expression on Shirasagiâs face when she asked me that made a very strong impression on me.
It was because I had a vision of her in the past, the one who used to claw at my back and never leave. She looked just like that time when she cried for me to wait if I walked a little faster.
âHeyâ¦..Why?â
âThatâsâ¦.â
A sudden visit, a sudden questionâ¦â¦ I was staring into herâs eyes and completely out of the running!
Well, I know Iâm late, but let me introduce myself.
Rindou Kazuki , thatâs my name. Now, how to answer Shirasagiâs question â¦â¦ , I was lost for a while.
(TL/N : Well here it is, a new one, the moment I saw this WN I felt that I wanted to read much more, so, here it is~)