CH 28

The next day. After class, Saijo-senpai and I took the train to the shopping mall and spent an hour or so buying a birthday present for each of Ageha.

It was getting late, so we decided to have lunch and went into the food court.

We sat down, me with my bibimbap and Saijo with his champon.

We clasped hands together and ate our respective dishes in silence for a while, when suddenly Saijo-senpai bowed his head lightly.

“Well, thank you. You really helped me out today.”

“No, no, no. I was planning to come to buy it anyway. Rather, I’m worried if I chose a good present.”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure she’ll like this one.”

Saijo-senpai said so and lightly lifted up a pink paper bag on an empty chair.

I also looked at the cream-colored paper bag on the chair on the other side of the table.

Saijo-senpai said yes, but I still felt uneasy inside.

I think I’ve chosen what I think is best for Ageha, but I don’t know if she’ll like it or not.

… It’s a strange tension that I never had until last year.

However, I don’t feel bad about it.

There is a quiet elation in my heart, a mixture of nervousness and anticipation.

I can’t wait until tomorrow to give her this gift.

“Even so, you were just as Aizawa-san said.”

“Karen?”

With a somewhat fragile look on his face, Saijo-senpai muttered a few words.

Come to think of it, I think she said something like that before.

Something like Karen talking about me to Saijo-senpai.

I couldn’t ask her what she was talking about.

I was at a loss for a response, so Saijo-senpai took a gulp of water and nodded his head in agreement.

“When I am alone with Aizawa-san, she often talks about you. For example, when we have lunch together, she talks about your likes and dislikes. When we leave school, she talks about the old days with you. Listening to them, I realized that you must be a very kind person.”

… Good. At least she wasn’t complaining or anything like that.

As I stroked my chest and felt embarrassed at the same time, Saijou-senpai suddenly raised his gaze.

“I was listening to Aizawa-san’s story casually at first, but as your personality began to emerge, I gradually became impatient. I wonder if I was more possessive than I thought.”

“Impatience? Saijo-senpai?”

“……Oh. That’s right, I’m impatient. Aizawa-san’s memories are mostly made up of other men, not me.”

“I think you worry too much. It’s just that until now we’ve known each other for a long time because we were childhood friends.”

That’s right. I and Karen were simply in close proximity, nothing more, nothing less.

Perhaps the anxiety that Saijo-senpai seems to have is just a groundless fear.

The fact that a person of Saijo-senpai’s stature would be concerned about such a thing is a little surprising to me.

“I don’t know if it’s rude to talk about this, but Saijo-senpai confessed his feelings to Karen, didn’t he?

“Hm? Oh, what, you knew about it?”

“Well, it’s quite a rumor. I’m sorry.”

It is a well-known story that Saijo-senpai called Karen to the back of the school building after school.

No one knows directly what happened there, but it goes without saying that the two started dating after that.

“No, it’s okay. I called Aizawa-san, knowing that she would know about it. Yeah, you’re right. I confessed my feelings to her.”

“Karen accepted it. Then there is nothing for Saijo-senpai to worry about. You wouldn’t go out with a guy you don’t like.”

“I wonder if that’s so…”

On the table, Saijo-senpai grasped my hand tightly.

His voice is shaking with anxiety.

I let out a small sigh, closed my eyes and replayed the scene of that day behind my eyelids.

A week before Christmas.

The sight of Karen happily looking at me on the riverbed in my neighborhood.

I remember it even if I don’t want to remember it, and my heart aches when I recall the scene over and over again.

But now, when I remember it, I don’t think about it.

I was deeply relieved to know that.

I raised my closed eyes while raising the corners of my mouth and looked back at Saijo-senpai, who was looking at me anxiously.

“Karen seemed really happy to be going out with Saijo-senpai. If Saijo-senpai has any doubts about the relationship between me and Karen, they are unfounded. Both Karen and I are just childhood friends of each other.”

“… I see.”

“Yes.”

Even though it is an unshakable fact for me, Saijo-senpai still seems to be uneasy about it.

Love, it seems, weakens people’s hearts.

I’m not sure if it’s fair to make Saijo-senpai talk about his love life so openly, and more importantly, it’s not good for him and Karen to get on bad terms because he’s worried about something strange.

I’d like to share a little bit of my feelings here.

To turn Saijo-senpai’s eyes toward me again, who looked down as if he was convinced, I added, “And besides,” and grabbed a cream-colored paper bag on the chair and held it up slightly.

“I have someone I love.”

Saijo-senpai looked at me with a stunned expression on his face, and then immediately turned up the corners of his mouth.

“You’re a good person, aren’t you?”

◆

“Huh…”

After parting ways with Saijo-senpai at the station, I went home and entered my room.

I couldn’t believe that Saijo-senpai, who is the most popular person in the school, was considering me as a rival, even if it was just a misunderstanding.

Apparently the misunderstanding has been cleared up, but anyway, I’m going to complain about this thing the next time I see Karen.

…In general, I was trying not to go home together so as not to be misunderstood, but there is no point in this.

For the time being, I gently put the birthday present for Ageha on the desk and changed into my loungewear.

While I was doing so, I received nyain from Saijo-senpai.

“Thank you for today, and I’m sorry.”

“I’m the one who should be thanking you”

I did not understand what Saijo-senpai’s apology meant, so I will not go into that.

Although my reply was read, no further message was received.

Just as I was about to close Nyain, thinking that things would be back to normal, I received a new message.

“Can we meet again sometime? I’d like to thank you for today.”

It’s probably a common social expression.

I hope that I don’t have to say, “If I get another chance,” so that the opportunity doesn’t actually present itself too often.

Well, I’ll follow that convention here.

“Of course, I look forward to the opportunity.”