Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru

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After the "New Childhood Friend Found" incident came to an end, Masuzu wrapped a white cloth over her uniform.

This was the signal for the start of club activities.

"Due to Fuyuumi Ai-san joining our club, our "Society for Bringing Out Your Maiden Self" has now finally five members, and henceforth we will be recognized as an official club."

"I already prepared the application for us."

Fuyuumi immediately placed the application on the table. That was some very thoughtful preparation. She must have been really motivated.

"Akishino-san, please sign in this s.p.a.ce that you"ll take responsibility as secretary."

"Understood."

Hime nodded with some esteem and immediately started writing. Her handwriting was very beautiful and also very confident. Perhaps she had practiced calligraphy or penmanship before. If so, it really did suit Hime"s image.

"As the first move of our "Reborn Maidens Club", I would like to revisit the plans for this summer"s club activities."

Masuzu rotated the whiteboard and pointed her finger at the backside that had been hidden.

Society for Bringing Out Your Maiden Self • Regarding a Summer Training Trip

"Wow."

"Isn"t it fine?"

Hime and Fuyuumi reacted enthusiastically. It seemed like they were very interested.

I originally thought Chiwa would be the same, but I never expected her to let her head hang down in silence. She was probably still caught up on the incident from earlier.

And I— I couldn"t even let out a sigh.

Summer vacation was such a rare occasion, why did I have to spend it with these people? No kidding.

"Ah— You can count me out. Summer cram school also starts tomorrow, so I"ll be busy."

At this time Fuyuumi who attended the same cram school as me tilted her head and said:

"Next week is when vacation starts, right? Since we have a one week long vacation, it shouldn"t be a problem to spend two or three nights at a summer training camp, I think."

"Uuuh—"

d.a.m.n, is it necessary to reveal all of that?!

"I see. So let"s make arrangements for the summer training camp then."

The marker squeaked as Masuzu used it to jot down the schedule on the whiteboard..

"Where should we go to? To the seaside? The mountains?"

"The seaside!"

Hime exclaimed loudly, which was very strange.

"It"s because I"ve never seen the sea, so the seaside would be good."

Masuzu smiled and nodded:

"Then this time the summer training camp will be our "maiden voyage[1]"."

""Maiden voyage" doesn"t mean that..."

Anyway, isn"t it surprising that she has "never seen the sea"? Or am I the only person who doesn"t know that people like that are somewhat normal?

"Hey, Hime. When you say you"ve "never seen the sea", do you actually mean you"ve "never been there"?"

"Correct. As a result, I"ve usually watch movies on the Internet, and the wallpaper for my PC is the beach at Ouvea island."

"Oh—"

Even though I didn"t know where this Ouvea island was, it seemed like Hime really expressed deep feelings towards the sea.

"This time, we"ll have to make do with Funase beach. After all, there"s no way we go to New Caledonia[2]."

"Ahh, so Ouvea Island was actually there? That"s really far away."

From here it would only take an hour tram ride to reach the Funase coast, so it would be the obvious choice.

—Hey! W-Wait! If this keeps going on, they"ll finish the travel plans.

"O-Oh yeah, Fuuyumi! Isn"t Michel going to come back from Tokyo? Before, you said that you arranged dates with him so you"d be very busy, right?"

"Ahh, it looks like he"ll have to stay in Tokyo for a while longer. It seems there"s something he absolutely cannot miss, no matter what."

"Something he absolutely cannot miss?"

"He said there"s this television station that"s going to re-broadcast his favorite anime."

"Michel———!"

So that hot college student guy was an anime otaku?!

Anyway, you would actually tolerate it when he says that anime is more important than his girlfriend, A-chan?! You have no problem making your fictional boyfriend like that?

"It can be helped. Specially since it"s not being broadcast over here."

"[...]"

The important thing isn"t that—?

Then I guess I"ll have to change the direction of my attack.

"But Masuzu, how will we manage the budget? A trip to the beach, plus accommodations and travel costs, must be at least twenty thousand yen per person."

"Well, since we"ve become an official club, we"ll have club funds that we"ll be able to allocate. Right, Fuyuumi-san?"

Masuzu looked at Fuyuumi with eyes full of antic.i.p.ation, but—

"It"s not possible to obtain funds immediately. We must apply and pa.s.s the student council budget committee review before it"s okay."

"Then let"s pa.s.s it."

"Unfortunately the budget committee won"t be held until next semester."

"Arara…"

Masuzu"s expression looked sullen, but I had a big smile on my face. Great, I was in luck!

Even better, the two o"clock bell just happened to ring, which was the perfect time to end school. Cla.s.ses on the first day ended at noon. Thus, the school closing time was earlier than usual.

"Well then, we"ll settle this thing about a training trip later!"

I put my bag over my shoulder and stood up. In short, I wanted to delay this matter, and leave the entire question unsettled.

"No, we have to reach a conclusion today."

It seemed like Masuzu had seen through my strategy as she spoke decisively.

"We"re going to Eita-kun"s house."

"Ah?"

"We"re going to continue our meeting at Eita-kun"s house."

Hime and Fuyuumi"s eyes glimmered as they leaned forward:

"We can go to Eita"s house? Can we? Is it fine if we go?"

"R-Right! I also want to settle the decision today, so in that case it"s not as if we had another choice!"

"...Just wait, oi..."

These two girls seemed more excited than when the training trip was mentioned.

Masuzu took off the white cloth and packed it into her bag:

"Now that that"s settled, let"s get going immediately."

"I said wait! Don"t ignore me - the house host - and make decisions on your own!"

"Ara, since it"s Eita-kun"s house, isn"t it also considered my house? The boyfriend"s house is the girlfriend"s house. The girlfriend"s house is also the girlfriend"s house."

"That doesn"t make sense!"

The situation was starting to move towards something I couldn"t antic.i.p.ate.

These guys actually wanted to come to my house together. I had a really bad feeling about this.

♦

So I took this group of "self-proclaimed maidens" along with me to my home just like that.

When we pa.s.sed the children"s playground, a lady that brought her child was watching us as we proceeded one by one. "Isn"t that Eita from the Kidou Family?", "Oh dear, he"s even bringing four cute girls with him!", "So incredible!", "Considering that he was like that in middle school..." Wait a minute, Aunt Tanaka. Just a second, what is this that that you"re talking about? What is "that"?!

"So, I wonder what type of spiritual boundary will have Eita"s castle that protects this territory in this world? I"m very interested."

"Eita-kun"s room really makes one full of antic.i.p.ation, fufufu, especially under the bed… right?"

"If Kidou-kun doesn"t have anything against it, I-I"ll h-help with dinner."

Each of those three seemed to look forward to "something", and Masuzu"s looked especially terrible.

Only Chiwa alone stared at her feet while walking with heavy footsteps. Normally she was the noisiest of the lot, but today she seemed to lack the energy, even back when we were in the club room.

I pulled on Chiwa"s arm and led us slightly away from the other three.

"What"s wrong? Are you okay?"

"W-What?"

"You don"t look too well. You shouldn"t be hungry yet."

Chiwa smiled weakly and scratched her head.

"I really can"t compare with Ei-kun. How did you know?"

"It"s obvious that I"ll notice, just for how many years have we known each other?"

Chiwa raised her head and looked at me, her eyes slowly teared up.

She threw her entire body against me and hugged me.

"Ugyugyugyugygyugyuuuu! Ei-kun——————! Ei-kun Ei-kun! Ei-kun Ei-kun!"

"Q-Quiet! What would we do if the others saw this?"

I hurriedly tried to cover Chiwa"s mouth as I glanced to the three of them who still walked in the distance— Phew, they didn"t notice. Perhaps they were still too excited about the "p.o.r.nography in my room". It couldn"t have been something like that, right?

Chiwa hugged me and buried her face in my chest. Her nose spasmed uncontrollably, while sniffling.

"Why? Why was Ai earlier than me? Why aren"t I the first one?"

Good grief, she"s like this because of that?

"There"s no reason for you to be so fixated on that. After all, there is no such a thing as "the earlier childhood friend wins"."

Chiwa"s swaying body made a motion that spelled, "No, no, no".

"But I am Ei-kun"s childhood friend! I"m obviously the only one!"

"As if it could be like that. Try to think, didn"t you too have other friends when you were little?"

"Yeah, for example, Mi-tan who moved to Hokkaido, or Sakaki-chan who left to Fifenel Middle School."

"You see? It"s the same for me. Fuyuumi just happened to be one among them, right?"

Chiwa gave a "uuh~~" sound and lowered her head.

"Also, when we"re talking about childhood friends, there is no need to consider the time period."

"Time period?"

"That would be the "length" of the time two people have spent together. If the getting to know as early as possible mattered, then wouldn"t the obstetrician at the birth clinic be the one with the deepest relationship? That can"t be correct, right?"

Chiwa raised her head, and stared at me with wide teary eyes, just like a Chihuahua.

"I am the person who Ei-kun has known for the longest?"

"Yeah, it"s you by far."

Chiwa"s formerly very upset expression brightened like a blooming flower.

"[...] ...Ehe♪"

Chiwa jumped onto me and hugged my back, forcing me to carry her.

"H-Hey, get off, Chiwa! This is really embarra.s.sing!"

"Butbutbutbut, but, for me, Ei-kun has also been the absolute first!"

Chiwa"s ribbons pattered as they hit my face. It seems like she was rubbing her face against my back. The lady nearby began to whisper again, "The feeling from the old days is better.", "When they get married, the wife will definitely be the one running the household.", "I think his wife will act up with him all the time and will have to make a living off of a ten thousand yen allowance." About that fourth thing, Suzuki-san, please do not play predictions with my future.

"Shouldn"t you just give it a rest already?!"

Right when I yelled that, Chiwa nimbly jumped off my back.

I looked back over my shoulder, and found Chiwa with her skirt fluttering and wearing a special smile.

"Ei-kun, I love you!"

After she made this shocking confession of love, she ran ahead to the front where Summer, Autumn, and Winter were walking.

"Yeah, yeah…"

I love you, huh?

Since we were small, how many times has she said that?

Each time I shared a snack with her, made a hamburger steak, and things like that, she"d always confess— If I counted all of them, the number should be in the three-digits by now.

"Really— Everyone. You guys are too excited, we"re just going to Ei-kun"s house— I"m going over every day, so I"m tired of it already— Even for today, I"ll have dinner there—"

Thus, akin to the airs of a senpai, Chiwa displayed the "air of a childhood", she addressed everyone with her usual att.i.tude. On the other hand, Fuyuumi looked as if she tasted something very sour. You could call this a trade - off of sorts.

As we arrived in front of my house, we all spotted the tall woman walking over from the other side.

She was wearing a white shirt with vintage jeans, dressed casually, and swaying unsteadily as she walked.

Lack of sleep combined with eyes open or closed, one could barely tell— It was impossible to mistake who this was.

"Saeko-san, welcome home!"

"Heya there, Eita, might as well say welcome home!"

I ran near her and Saeko-san smiled, revealing her white teeth.

This was my aunt Kiryuu Saeko-san.

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She had taken the role of my guardian as I had been abandoned by my parents. She usually slept over at her company due to work, so we typically saw each other only once every ten days.

"Ah— It"s Saeko-san! h.e.l.lo!"

"Hey Chihuahua-chan, how are you?! You"re full of energy, as usual."

Chiwa rushed over and greeted Saeko-san, and the other three followed suit.

"I heard about you guys. You"re the "Society for Bringing Out Your Something Something", right? I am Kiryuu Saeko, Eita"s onee-san! Kyun-Kyun[3]!"

"Wuah—"

I didn"t want have anything to do with this. Even though she was my guardian, I didn"t want anything to do with this.

Probably perceiving everyone"s subtle expressions, Saeko-san laughed out loud.

"I was just trying to start off with a little gag~~ Well, I"m Eita"s aunt."

"We don"t need that kind of opening joke..."

Well, she does look younger than her age. If her appearance or her personality were the only things considered, no one would consider her in her thirties.

"Well, which one of these girls is Eita"s girlfriend?"

My childhood friend, ex-girlfriend, and fiancé"s expressions all froze and went "hic"!

Only my "girlfriend" revealed a rosy smile and stepped forward.

"I am glad to meet you, Oba-sama. My name is Natsukawa Masuzu. Please let"s get along from here on. I am currently in a pure relationship with Eita-kun ."

Saeko-san smiled wryly and shook her head as soon as she heard her:

"No, no. The one I want to know about isn"t this "fake" kind."

Masuzu and I simultaneously held our breath and looked at each other.

How come?

How come Saeko-san"s able to realize about this fake deal?

Saeko-san laughed, and used her finger with nail polish on it to poke my chest:

"Come on, just say it. The one you really like, which one is it?"

"N-No! I"m..."

Because it was too sudden, I couldn"t let out a confident voice.

The one I really like? What is Saeko-san talking about— Does she mean, like, being lovers? If that"s the case, the answer would be, "none of them". Not only was there "no one" among the girls here, but there was "no one" in existance anywhere. There is no such thing as a girl I like.

However, if I said that out loud right here, it would completely destroyed my arrangement with Masuzu as a fake boyfriend, and it would cause all of our hard work to dissolve into thin air.

Of course, the other three girls did not remain silent.

"Ei-kun?"

Chiwa"s wide eyes stared at me, and they looked as if they were antic.i.p.ating something.

"Eita...?"

Hime grabbed my shirt and pulled hard. Ah— Hime-chan, you"ll pull my shirt out of shape. Please don"t pull that strong.

"Stamp…?"

Of course the person who whispered that was Fuyuumi. And I certainly wouldn"t stamp it!

The only one left was, most critically, Masuzu— but she only used her eyes to stare at me.

The expression was very rare, as if it exposed Masuzu"s "fragility".

d.a.m.n...

What"s wrong, Natsukawa Masuzu? Isn"t this the right time for you to use your witty language abilities and pull through?

Why do you acting like an ordinary person receiving a huge shock?!

Why are you staring at me with those eyes…

I have no choice but to pull this off by myself, huh?

"What are you saying, Saeko-san? I don"t get what you mean."

"Un?"

Even though my back was sweating like mad, I still desperately declared the love achievements that Masuzu and I had.

"Masuzu and I are really ~ seriously going out, we are totally lovey-dovey. We always go home together, and we go to the cafe to drink tea, coffee, and cola… After that we always go home together."

"You go home after you finish drinking, it"s kinda disappointing~"

"No— At that time when Masuzu confessed to me, I really couldn"t stand it! After all, it was in front of the entire cla.s.s! The first thing that I thought was that it was a curse from the G.o.ds! Hahahaha!"

Giving praise to one"s wife. This should do it, right?

Is it just me, or does Masuzu face look very disappointed in me…?

"———Eita, you are missing the point."

My heart jumped a little bit.

What? W-Was there something strange I said?

"Well, I for one, Eita—"

"Y-Yes!"

"I"m hungry."

"....Ha?"

My eyes turned into small dots.

"It so happens to be that I am suuuper hungryyyyyy gyuu~~"

Saeko-san leaned on me as she collapsed little by little.

Her face was ghastly pale, and her hands were shivering cold.

"Because of the continuous mayhem lately, I haven"t slept, haven"t eaten, haven"t slept, haven"t eaten…"

"Please say that kind of thing sooner!"

"I"m sworry~ I wanted to first establish the ident.i.ty of Eita"s cute onee-san. Dokyun-Dokyun."

"Enough with the "kyun-kyun"! Please think about your age!"

Honestly, this person.

She"s my guardian, but actually a weird person. She"s a weird person, but actually my guardian. That"s Kiryuu Saeko-san.