Translator: mii
Editor: Ryunakama
I finally made a blunder.
I am currently running towards the station with all of my strength.
The reason is because I"m almost late for the train. There"s no way to express what I am feeling right now.
Actually, it"s not like I will be late if I missed this train. But still, I have to hurry as much as I can… for what? I became panicked unconsciously, my head was a total blank.
Hmm. As I thought, it must be because she is there, right? Maybe I myself also look forward to talking to Kouhai-chan every morning.
Today is Wednesday, and it is unusually sunny in the middle of the rainy autumn.
If it was raining, I will walk to the station, but since I can go with my bicycle in sunny weather, I can sleep as much as I want until the last minute.
And then, I got spoiled too much by that ‘last minute.
When I realized that the time is already very bad, I immediately woke up and rowed my bicycle, of course I still followed the traffic light, and after parking my bicycle into the parking lot near the station, it was just one minute left before the train arrived.
And then, now. I left the ticket gate around five seconds after the train arrived at the platform.
I scanned the platform. Around the groups of black-suited office workers, there was Kouhai-chan who was wearing a cream cardigan. When the departure bell sounded, our gaze met. The distance between us was pretty far, and my voice wouldn"t reach her at all. For the time being, let"s just get on the train first. I pointed towards the train, trying to tell her to meet up inside later.
I ran to the train door that was still opened with full speed.
When I looked at Kouhai-chan, she stayed at her position for some reason, not even trying to get on the train. She also shook her head towards me.
Eh? Why?
As soon as I stopped my feet, the train door closed. The people who got off the train headed towards the ticket gate, leaving only Kouhai-chan and me on the platform. I could hear how the chilly wind blew.
I always took the train together with Kouhai-chan. That much was a matter of fact. I approached her, and Kouhai-chan started talking to me.
「Good latening.」 1
「Isn"t it fine. We didn"t especially make a promise that we need to take that train too anyway.」
「In spite of that, it seems like senpai had been running with all of your strength, though? Look, isn"t senpai still out of breath even now?」
I didn"t have enough exercise. As I thought, just relying on school physical education was no good.
「Is that bad?」
「It"s not. Rather, I am happy.」
「Ha?」
「This means senpai is treating me with great importance, right?」
「Haa…」
Great importance, huh.
I wonder if it"s Kouhai chan herself who is important, or it"s the relationship between Kouhai-chan and me which is important, or even not both of them. Maybe, it"s just having someone to talk with on the train every morning which is important?
I myself didn"t know the answer. The last option sounds like treating her as the subst.i.tute of books, though. Or rather, the one who had accompanied me on the train had always been books.
「But, senpai is also a little bit uncool.」
「Shut it.」
Did you never learn that you shouldn"t make fun of other people who are doing their best?
「By the way, senpai. Why did something like this happen?」
Ah, it"s not her「today"s question」, eh? But well, there"s no reason for me to hesitate in answering this.
「In short, it"s because today is sunny.」
「Today is certainly sunny, but what is the relationship with that?」
Because it was sunny, I could use my bicycle. I could stay at home until the last minute, but I became too relaxed instead, or so I retold today"s events to Kouhai-chan.
Kouhai-chan"s answer was only this.
「How stupid.」
「That"s not how you should treat your senpai.」
「But senpai, you didn"t deny that you"re stupid.」
I tried to change the topic, but she corrected the trajectory back. As usual, she is really a girl who can make everything go as she wishes.
「I also think that I myself am really stupid.」
「Then, senpai is stupid, right?」
「Isn"t it different to say it ourselves and to have other people say that to us?」
「Stuupid, stuupid.」
「But, I"m also happy that today is not raining.」
「Why?」
「When I am having my breakfast, I don"t have to worry about which umbrella I should use today.」
In our high school, the school building , cafeteria, and school store have their own seperate building, and they are also not connected by a roof. In other words, the students need to prepare their own umbrella to pa.s.s the building, or get a little drenched in a rainy day.
By the way, how did senpai have his lunch? I haven"t decided on my today"s question, so let"s go with this.
「Ah. 『Today"s question』. Senpai, where do you eat your lunch?」
「In cla.s.s.」
It was an immediate reply.
「With who?」
「I eat alone.」
「Eh?」
Well, I thought that it would be the case.
「Do you buy them?」
「It"s a lunch box. Isn"t it troublesome having to go and buy lunch everyday?」
「Lunch box? Senpai, do you…?」
「It"s my mother, my mother. I"m thankful for that, though.」
Senpai felt like he can unexpectedly cook, but as expected from senpai, eh?
Since both of us didn"t really care about each other at school, this kind of question was really refreshing.
「Then, this is my『today"s question』as well. Where does Kouhai-chan have your lunch?」
「I always eat at the canteen. It"s cheap too.」
There is a school canteen adjacent to the school building. It"s cheap, quick, and tastes good. Student"s best friend.
「Is it okay for you to eat at a place that is not instagram material?」
「I did that for a week, and I felt tired after that.」
I don"t know about that.
「Senpai, do you know? It is okay to bring a lunch box in the canteen. Would you like to have lunch together next time?」
Having a meal face to face with a beautiful Kouhai-chan who is one grade lower than me, in the school canteen?
I"m alright if it is just eating, as long as there is no one. But there will be lots of students in the canteen, especially at lunch break, right?
「Ehh…」
「What makes you feel like you need to be reluctant here, senpai!」
「It"s you.」
「Eh」
「Well, what we are doing now is okay because no one is looking at us. But then, there will definitely be both your and my acquaintances in the school canteen, right? That"s why, it will be troublesome to deal with it later, or well…」
If I am having a meal with a girl just the two of us, people will definitely see us with strange eyes, right? I don"t want that.
「Then, I will bring my friends together too. There won"t be any problem if it"s like that. It"s decided, senpai.」
「Ehh?」
「If senpai doesn"t come, I will go and call you in your cla.s.sroom… but, I don"t know which is senpai"s cla.s.s.」
Our high school has ten cla.s.ses per grade. It will be quite troublesome to search for someone cla.s.s by cla.s.s.
「I won"t tell you, okay?」
「It can"t be helped. Then, I will wait until tomorrow.」
Kouhai-chan continued by telling me that I need to make my decision tomorrow.
Not only that I began to interact with her outside the school, but now even inside the school. I wonder what kind of resignation was that. Haa…
The things I knew about my senpai㉜
It seems like his mother always makes a lunch box for him every morning.
She is saying “osoyou gozaimasu”, not “ohayou gozaimasu” which means good latening. ↩