Chapter 1 The friendship line has been crossed without me realizing it
“…Time to get up.”
On the morning of the entrance ceremony, I was rudely awakened by an alarm I hadn’t set during spring break.
Pushing aside the slightly heavy winter bedding, I opened the curtains by my bed, and the light from the already-risen sun flooded my eyes.
“So bright…”
The cloudless blue sky and the shining sun seemed to bless the students embarking on their new daily lives.
Principals across the country, seeing this sun, were probably adding the phrase “bathed in the warm spring sunlight” to the speeches tucked in their breast pockets.
“Morning, Mom.”
“Good morning… Wow, you look more mature than yesterday. Is it because you’re officially a high schooler now?”
“Nothing changes in a single day.”
I brushed off Mom’s teasing, still groggy, and mechanically shoveled the breakfast she’d prepared into my mouth.
“—Next, we have an interview with the star of next month’s movie…”
I listened to the morning news like it was background music while finishing breakfast and getting ready. Back in my room, I slipped into the slightly oversized uniform typical of a new high school student.
“…Yup! As expected of someone with your dad’s blood—you can pull off anything!”
“Mom, stop saying that every time I wear something.”
I stepped out of my room and back into the living room, where Mom was waiting, her lips curved into a delighted grin.
Is this what people call being a doting parent? I thought as I picked up my brand-new school bag from the chair.
“I’m off.”
“Have a good day!”
Her voice followed me as I headed toward the elevator at the end of the hall, the lingering sleepiness chased away by the sunlight.
Even the routine act of heading out felt special with the added context of it being my first day of high school. Maybe, deep down, I was excited about it.
“Morning~!”
My thoughts were abruptly cut off by a thud against my back. At the edge of my vision, I caught sight of a brand-new school bag—likely the one that had just collided with me.
“…You’re way too energetic in the morning.”
“Come on, Yuto! When someone says ‘Morning,’ you say ‘Morning’ back!”
“…Morning, Akari.”
“There we go!”
Akari Hotta, my neighbor on the same floor.
We’ve been together since before I can remember, the classic childhood friend.
She’s always been a bundle of energy, and that hasn’t changed one bit.
“Looking at you makes me feel like you’re sucking the energy right out of me…”
“Haha! If I absorbed your energy, I’d probably lose mine too!”
“…Is my energy some kind of poison or something?”
Maintaining the same familiar distance we’ve always had, I let Akari’s pace sweep me along as we stepped into the elevator.
“By the way, you’re so low-energy because you don’t have any stamina, right? You gotta train!”
She thrust her school bag at me, and I took it without a word.
I learned years ago that resisting her is pointless.
“Anyway, I’m kinda nervous… Do you think I’ll make friends?”
“If you can’t make friends, no one can.”
“Ehh? But I’m still worried! Ugh, I wish we were in the same class, Yuto~”
“Our departments are different, so that’s impossible.”
As I held the elevator’s open button on the first floor, Akari stepped out, muttering, “I know, but still…”
Ichiyo High School, the private school we’re attending, is massive, with over a thousand students per grade. It has various departments: General, Advanced, Music, Entertainment, and more.
“Speaking of which, why didn’t you go for the Entertainment Department? I know you’re kinda gloomy, but with that face, you’d definitely get in.”
“At least call me cool, not gloomy. And I told you before, didn’t I? I’m not the type to want attention, and I just want to live a normal life.”
“What a waste… But I guess the Advanced Department has a lot of kids like you, so maybe it’ll be easier to make friends?”
I felt like she was being a bit rude about the Advanced Department, but arguing with her is pointless, so I let it slide.
“By the way, don’t I look super cute in this uniform!?”
She struck a pose, hands on her hips, perfectly pulling off the uniform.
I’ve never once thought she looked bad in anything she wore.
Her face is so striking that she has no peers her age to compare to.
Maybe she’s aware of it, because the confident expressions she flashes only enhance her charm.
“You’d get mad if I didn’t compliment you, right? It looks good.”
“Fufun!” She puffed out her chest, striking a smug pose.
“If I’m gonna be an idol, I have to look good in any outfit!”
Ever since she was little, Akari has loudly declared her dream of becoming an idol, and she chose the Entertainment Department without hesitation.
Maybe it’s just my bias as her childhood friend, but her bright personality feels like the kind that could light up a room, like the idols you see on TV.
As we walked along the school route, more students in the same uniform started appearing around us.
At the same time, the number of eyes turning toward us—well, toward Akari—grew.
Her striking features and snow-white skin, the kind that would make any girl her age jealous, drew the attention of everyone we passed.
“I’m starting to feel less nervous!”
“…Is that so?”
I was dumbfounded that she could say that while the stares kept increasing, but her carefree attitude was reassuringly familiar.
Exchanging our usual banter with my childhood friend, we eventually reached the school gate, marked by a sign reading “Ichiyo High School.” The gate was far too grand for a high school.
The sheer volume of people coming and going was unlike anything I’d experienced in middle school, a clear sign of the new life awaiting us.
As expected of a school with thousands of students.
By the time we reached the first-year building at the far end of the sprawling campus, I felt like I’d just finished a light stroll.
The first-year building on the north side of the campus was divided into a practical training building, mainly used for Entertainment and Music Department classes, and a study building with homeroom classrooms.
I parted ways with Akari, whose homeroom was upstairs, at the staircase and walked alone down the first-floor hallway where the General and Advanced Departments’ classrooms were located.
At the very end of the row of classrooms was the single Advanced Department class: Year 1, Class 1.
When I arrived, I noticed a seating chart posted on the front door.
First column by the window, second seat from the front.
As someone with the surname Aoi, I’d always been number one on the attendance list, but it seemed my reign as the “strongest” had come to an abrupt end in high school.
Feeling the weight of the school’s high standards, I made my way to my seat, glancing at the mostly empty, pristine desks.
The classroom was quiet, probably because it was the first day.
As I sat down, my eyes were drawn to the view outside the window on my left. A large garden with a fountain at its center somehow calmed my nerves.
Though there were quite a few people in the classroom, conversations were sparse, likely because everyone was meeting for the first time. The only sounds in the quiet space were cautious exchanges and the faint trickle of the fountain.
The person sitting in front of me, attendance number one, Aida-san, seemed completely unbothered by the tense atmosphere. Her long black hair swayed in the spring breeze coming through the window as she immersed herself in a paperback wrapped in a brown book cover.
I found myself watching her absentmindedly when a female teacher, likely our homeroom teacher, entered through the front door.
Apparently, there wasn’t much time until the entrance ceremony, so after a brief self-introduction, we were promptly led to the event hall where the ceremony would take place.
The hall, which could easily hold two thousand people, was used for various events, including exams for the Music Department.
Following our teacher’s instructions, I took a seat on the soft cushioned chairs and waited for the ceremony to begin.
As I marveled at the sheer scale of the building—something I’d never see in everyday life—an elderly man who seemed to be the principal and two female students stepped onto the stage.
“—Bathed in the warm spring sunlight…”
I half-listened to the principal’s predictable speech, my gaze shifting to the two girls behind him.
One of them was a classmate—the Aida-san who sat in front of me.
After the principal finished, she took the microphone and delivered the new student representative speech in a calm, clear voice.
Her composed demeanor, free of any visible nerves, highlighted her intelligence.
Next to be introduced was Nagisa Minase-san from the Entertainment Department.
Apparently, she’d been a child actor since she was young and was still active as a high school actress. Now that I thought about it, I vaguely recalled seeing her in dramas or variety shows Mom watched.
I remembered her name and child-actor image because she’d co-starred with Dad in a project a few years ago, but I hadn’t realized she was still thriving in the industry.
The excited buzz in the hall when the microphone was passed to her suggested her popularity was significant.
My quiet murmur of “That’s impressive…” was drowned out by Minase-san’s bright, cheerful voice, a stark contrast to Aida-san’s.
◆
After the ceremony, I stretched my stiff body from sitting so long and left the event hall. A message from Akari popped up on my phone.
{Meet me at the fountain!}
The fountain in the courtyard must have been visible from her second-floor classroom too.
As I circled around from the entrance and approached the fountain, I spotted Akari’s familiar face—and another female student chatting happily with her.
Judging by the blue ribbon tie, she was a first-year like us.
I stopped a short distance away from Akari without hesitation.
Barging into a conversation between a friend and someone they’re talking to for the first time is way too risky.
I pulled out my phone to send a message saying I’d join them after her friend left, but of course, my idiotic childhood friend started shouting, “Yuuuto~!” at the top of her lungs.
With students’ eyes turning toward me, running away wasn’t an option, so I reluctantly approached the two.
“Yuto! You’re late!”
“It’s not my fault… Class 1 was the last to leave the hall, you know.”
I gave a perfectly reasonable explanation, but Akari let out an exasperated “Mou!” before quickly switching gears. Turning to the girl beside her, she said, “Oh, this is the childhood friend I told you about, Yuto!”
She gave me a quick nod, then turned back to me. “And this is my new friend from today, Hinata Murai-chan! She’s in my class and wants to be an actress!”
“Uh… nice to meet you…”
“Hinata-chan, be nice to him, okay? He probably hasn’t made any friends yet and is feeling down about it.”
“…I’ll start making friends tomorrow.”
“So you haven’t made any yet~?”
Akari peered up at my face, teasing me, when Murai-san’s murmur reached my ears.
“…Akari-chan, that’s not what you said.”
“Hm? What’s that?”
“He’s a total ikemen!”
Her fists clenched and trembling, she launched into an unexpected rant.
“Well, yeah, maybe, but… what’s the problem?”
“When you said your childhood friend had a gloomy personality and was smart enough to get into the Advanced Department, I pictured some super nerdy, gloomy guy! You know, like… with glasses or something!”
She passionately laid out her grievances, and I couldn’t help but think the phrase “birds of a feather flock together” was spot-on.
A weirdo attracts another weirdo.
“I can’t stand ikemen! Those smug faces that scream ‘life’s so easy for me’—I hate them! You’re like that too, Childhood Friend-san!”
“I don’t think that at all…”
“Liar! With that face and brains, you must have girls fawning over you left and right! You’re the worst!”
“Ha…”
“You don’t get it, do you!? Look at my face! I’m mad, right!?”
I looked at her as she demanded, but her cute, well-proportioned face and petite stature—small enough to lose to a middle schooler—made her furrowed brows look like nothing more than a tiny dog’s attempt at intimidation.
I let out a sigh at her flip-flopping complaints.
“…Akari, you sure found a great friend.”
I laced my words with sarcasm, but my weirdo childhood friend beamed, “Right!?” as if I’d genuinely complimented her.
…Apparently, to weirdos, sarcasm sounds like praise.
◆
“Still, it wasn’t what I expected.”
“What wasn’t?”
On the way home, Akari muttered as we walked along the school route.
By the way, Murai-san, who was apparently going to Akari’s place to hang out, was still eyeing me warily, like a cautious cat. No, more like glaring.
How do you even get close enough to invite someone to your house on the first day of school?
“Well, I’m not planning to get a boyfriend since I’m aiming to be an idol, but I thought the Entertainment Department would have a lot of cool guys, you know? I was kinda looking forward to it~”
“I wasn’t looking forward to it at all! I only joined the Entertainment Department for my dream, but as expected, it’s full of shallow, flashy types!”
“‘Shallow’… That’s such an old-fashioned word…”
Still half-hiding behind Akari, Murai-san’s expression oozed disdain for the classmates she’d met today, her hatred for “cool” people as strong as ever.
“So, what’s your issue, Akari?”
“It’s not a big deal or anything, but everyone felt kinda… childish? Like, I was hoping for some shoujo manga-style romance, but it doesn’t seem likely…”
“Why’d you pick the Advanced Department, Childhood Friend-san? With that annoying face, you could’ve dominated the Entertainment Department.”
“Yuto, not Childhood Friend-san. I just wasn’t interested. Plus, I take pride in the effort I’ve put into studying, and I don’t want to live relying solely on the DNA I got from my parents.”
“Yeah, Yuto’s mom is super pretty, after all~”
“Oh? Then your dad must be quite the looker too. I’d love to meet him.”
“Oh, Yuto doesn’t have a dad, so you can’t.”
Akari, knowing that neither Mom nor I care about Dad’s absence, said it casually. But Murai-san, hearing this, immediately dropped her guarded expression, her brows lowering as she looked apologetic.
“Uh, I mean… I don’t like ikemen, but I didn’t mean to insult or make fun of you or anything…”
Her sudden shift to meekness was so drastic I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Hey, why’re you laughing!? I’m seriously sorry!”
She seemed slightly relieved that I wasn’t bothered, but her body language screamed indignation as she narrowed her eyes.
“Sorry, sorry. It’s fine, I don’t mind. But for someone who’s so hostile, you’re surprisingly decent.”
“I only hate ikemen who make girls cry! I’m not some rotten person!”
Her tiny frame radiated maximum anger, and I felt another chuckle bubbling up.
“Got it. So you’re not a bad person.”
“Yosh! We’re here~!”
While we were talking, we arrived at our destination.
“Wow… it’s so big. I live in a house, so this is kinda exciting.”
“Ehh? It’s not that great. When you’re running late and the elevator doesn’t come, it’s the worst.”
“Having an elevator as part of your daily life sounds exciting, though.”
“Really? Is it?”
“Well, when you use it every day, it can feel like a hassle.”
“Is that how it works?”
“Murai-san seems like the type to get excited about elevators, based on her vibe.”
“Hey, are you thinking I look like a middle schooler or something?”
“Nah, more like an elementary schooler.”
“That’s even worse!”
“Hinata-chan, wanna press the elevator button?”
“Even you, Akari-chan!? Fine, I’ll press it!”
She stomped over and jabbed the button, making us both laugh.
Her cheeks flushed slightly, probably from embarrassment, as she puffed them out to express her displeasure.
But, separately, she diligently pressed the open button when we reached our floor.
“Huh? Childhood Friend-san’s getting off too?”
“We live on the same floor… And it’s Yuto, not Childhood Friend-san.”
“Well… calling you by your first name feels kinda forward…”
“It’s fine, just call me Yuto.”
“Uh… um…”
“Oh, Yuto’s last name is Aoi.”
“Then Aoi-kun it is!”
Her forceful use of my last name felt like an indirect but firm rejection of using my first name.
Maybe I was being too forward. Without Akari’s natural charisma, this kind of closeness on the first day is tough…
“Mou! Yuto, you’ve gotta be more considerate! Hinata-chan’s shy about using first names.”
“But you’re fine with…”
“It’s different with boys!”
“Ugh, Yuto. No matter how good-looking you are, if you can’t be that considerate, no one’s gonna be your girlfriend.”
“Mind your own business…”
The two stopped in front of Akari’s place, which was closer than mine.
“This is my house!”
“Hmm. So this is the Akari-san’s residence…”
I didn’t know which Akari-san she meant, but seeing them happily start chatting, I figured this was my cue to leave.
“Well, Akari, see you tomorrow. You too, Murai-san.”
“Yup! See ya~!”
“Uh, thanks.”
I walked toward my apartment a little further down, reaching for the door.
“Ah.”
“What’s up?”
I overheard their voices.
Having already said goodbye, eavesdropping further might get me scolded by Akari.
I opened the door to step inside.
“Yuto!”
I was surprised to hear my name called when I wasn’t expecting it.
“What?”
“I forgot my parents aren’t home today, and I don’t have my key…”
“…And?”
“Can I come over?”
I sighed at my utterly clueless childhood friend.
“Fine…”
“Uh, should I head home then?”
“No, no! Come hang out! You came all this way, and Yuto’s place is basically like mine since the layout’s the same!”
“Why are you inviting her?”
“Is it… okay? I mean, we just met…” Murai-san asked hesitatingly.
“It’s totally fine. It’d feel worse sending you home now, so I’d rather you come in.”
“Well… I’ll take you up on that, then…”
“Here you go.”
I opened the door, let them in, and closed it behind us. Footsteps approached from deeper in the apartment.
“Welcome back~ Oh, Akari-chan and…?”
“Sorry for intruding…”
“…Your girlfriend?”
“No way. Akari’s friend.”
“Well, I guess Yuto doesn’t have the guts to bring a girlfriend home on the first day.”
Mom’s rude assumption was annoying, but since I wouldn’t have the courage to bring a girlfriend home even if I had one, I couldn’t argue.
We moved to the living room, where Murai-san, still as tense as a borrowed cat, and I sat at the dining table, while carefree Akari lounged on the sofa—a temperature difference that could give you a cold. Mom brought out drinks.
“But I’m so glad. Even if it’s through Akari-chan, I was a little worried Yuto wouldn’t make any friends since he’s so low-energy.”
Mom, looking relieved, served tea to me and Murai-san and handed Akari a pack of orange juice she’d apparently prepared just for her.
Akari, sprawled on the sofa, chirped, “Thanks, Yuto-Mama~!”
…Is she more relaxed here than at her own house?
As I harbored that suspicion, Murai-san, sitting beside me with her shoulders hunched, tugged at my uniform sleeve.
“Um… are we friends?”
“…I don’t know.”
Where does friendship even begin?
For someone like me with less-than-stellar social skills, that’s an eternal question.
The real issue is, “Would you be okay with me calling you a friend?”
Where does friendship start? Where does morning begin?
Vague things always throw people off.
“So, where does friendship start?”
“…Maybe people you talk to a lot at school?”
“Then are we friends?”
“…Not yet?”
“I see. Mom, turns out we’re not officially friends yet. So my friend count for today is zero.”
“Oh… really? Well, that’s okay! There’s tomorrow, and I’m sure…”
“We’re friends! Friends! Right!?”
Murai-san, probably feeling bad for Mom’s slightly sad expression, frantically waved her arms to deny my claim.
“So we are friends?”
“You made me say it…”
“Honestly, I wanted friends.”
“Then just say that… You’re so sneaky.”
She let out a small “kusu” laugh, still cat-like.
◆
“Man, it’s always so relaxing here~”
After some chatting, Akari suggested we hang out in my room.
She’s a regular here, so she immediately flopped onto the oversized, soul-destroying sofa she’d brought over herself.
“Come on, Hinata-chan! This one’s mine!”
“Why does Aoi-kun’s room have your stuff…?”
Murai-san said, but her curious expression betrayed her as she joined Akari on the sofa.
It’s big enough that both of them could lie down comfortably.
“I come over a lot when I’m free~ Oh, the manga and games over there are mine too.”
Akari’s manga filled nearly an entire bookshelf separate from my novels and study materials.
And the TV I bought last year for watching movies? She hooked up a gaming console to it the day I got it.
“You guys are really close… I’d be more nervous about being in a boy’s room…”
“Haha~ Hinata-chan was totally nervous before coming in, wasn’t she~?”
Akari laughed, grabbing a manga from the shelf.
“Don’t laugh! It’s my first time in a boy’s room besides my brother’s…”
“But to me, Yuto’s like a little brother, so it’s not that different~”
“Why? My birthday’s before yours.”
“Yeah, yeah, fine, Onii-chan. Happy now?”
“I wasn’t asking for you to call me that. It’s just a fact.”
“Do you two always bicker like this…?”
Murai-san asked, half-confused, half-exasperated, at our umpteenth familiar exchange of the day.
“Yuto’s the one who keeps picking fights~”
“Just spend one day with her, and you’ll see she’s the weird one.”
“Yeah, Akari-chan is weird. Aoi-kun’s got a point here.”
“Ehh? Hinata-chan, you’re taking Yuto’s side~?”
“I mean, her first words to me were, ‘You’re so cute! Wanna come to my place today!?’ That’s not normal. It’s weird. Weird.”
As expected of an aspiring actress, her tone and gestures perfectly mimicked Akari’s scene, making me burst out laughing.
“Akari’s the same everywhere, huh.”
“Am I that weird~?”
“You are.”
“Super weird.”
Her expression screamed “Gaaan!” as our voices hit her.
“But I think that’s what makes you great, Akari.”
“Yuuuto…!”
Her quirky, carefree nature has saved me when I’ve been down.
Being different from others is a strength, a unique charm.
“Yuto’s such a great onii-chan! As a reward, you can join me and Hinata-chan in the game we’re about to play! Grab the controllers and start the game! Oh, the racing one!”
“Why am I the one setting it up…? Murai-san, ever played this?”
“Uh, I’ve only watched my brother play…”
“So it’s your first time. Would a steering wheel controller be easier?”
When the console arrived, I’d bought a steering wheel controller because I couldn’t get used to the stick controls. I set it up and started the game.
“Yesss~! I’m number one again~!”
“Come on, Akari, go easy on Murai-san. She’s a beginner.”
“Fine, fine. Then Hinata-chan and I will team up and crush you!”
“Isn’t that just bullying me?”
Well, as long as Murai-san’s having fun, I guess it’s fine. I sorted out the teams.
“Oh, Yuto. You eating at the cafeteria tomorrow?”
“That’s the plan.”
With thousands of students, Ichiyo High has cafeterias divided by grade, offering a wide variety of tasty, affordable food—so popular that some students choose the school just for it.
“Hinata-chan’s bringing a bento, but she’s gonna eat with us at the cafeteria. You in?”
“Me? That okay?”
“‘Cause you’d just eat alone sadly, right? If I saw that while eating, it’d ruin my meal.”
“I’m not eating sadly… Murai-san, you cool with that?”
“I don’t mind at all. Three’s more fun, right?”
Murai-san answered while tilting her body in sync with the steering wheel, a classic beginner move.
She was so into it, I worried she’d fall off the sofa.
“Well, if that’s the case, I’ll join you guys.”
“Cool, so we meet at the cafeteria?”
“Nah, that’d be a pain to coordinate. I’ll come pick you up at your classroom.”
“Got it. You know where it is? Second floor, last classroom.”
“Gotcha.”
◆
“Fwaa~…”
The next morning, before first period.
The warm spring sunlight streamed through the window, lulling me back into the sleepiness I’d shaken off on my way to school.
“What’s your fetish?”
As the classroom grew noisier with chatter, I felt a spark of hope that I might talk to someone today.
“Hey~? What’s your fetish?”
Some people were already chatting with new friends, while others were cracking open textbooks way beyond the first-year curriculum, fresh off entrance exams.
(They’re way too intense…)
“Hey~? You hearing me?”
On my second day, I’d already figured something out.
The Advanced Department is full of high-achieving, studious kids.
Most of them are hard workers.
About thirty percent are the stereotypical “giri-giri” nerds buried in their books.
Sixty percent, like me, are diligent self-studiers.
The remaining ten percent—no, one percent, no, one tenth of a percent—are a different breed.
They are Geniuses. Weirdos.
“Hey, Aoi-kun? That’s your name, right? What’s your fetish?”
“…We’ve never talked before, right?”
“We locked eyes yesterday, so this is our second meeting.”
“Is that how you count it?”
The person sitting in front of me should be Aida-san, but she’d stepped away, and someone else had taken her seat.
I recognized him.
In our thirty-person Advanced Department class, he was number thirty on the attendance list: Soma Yamada.
I vaguely remembered him as the guy who barely made it to class on the first day, right before the bell.
“…What’d you say?”
“I said, what’s your fetish, Yuto?”
“Your way of closing the distance is insane.”
“Oh, just call me Soma.”
“…Soma, don’t people usually ask stuff like, ‘What middle school are you from?’ when they first talk to a high school friend?”
“Huh? What’s the point of asking that? You gotta ask stuff that’ll help with future conversations.”
“And my fetish helps with that…?”
I’d thought, after all these years, I’d never meet anyone as weird or carefree as my childhood friend Akari.
This guy’s on another level.
There’s an overwhelming pressure that won’t let me escape his pace. A true weirdo among weirdos.
“So, what’s your fetish?”
“…What’s yours? It’s weird if I’m the only one answering.”
“Fair point. Mine’s boobs.”
Even weirdos have normal, or rather, extra normal preferences?
“And you, Yuto?”
“Why do you care so much about my fetish?”
“I just thought, ‘Whoa, there’s a super ikemen here,’ and it’d be fun to hear what an ikemen’s into, right?”
I tried to dodge, but this guy probably wasn’t going to let me off.
“You’re such a weirdo… Um, alright it's Thighs…”
“Oh? Cool.”
His reaction to my hesitant confession was so nonchalant that I felt a wave of embarrassment.
React properly! Give me some kind of reaction!
Having a carefree childhood friend like Akari, I knew arguing was pointless. It's as they say I lost by not ignoring him.
“Can you not have crude conversations in someone else’s seat first thing in the morning?”
Aida-san had returned, and her clear voice from yesterday now sounded icy, sending a chill down my spine.
Imagining three years of her disdain for this kind of talk made me feel a bit depressed.
“Oh, Yume-san! Sorry, I was borrowing your chair!”
“…That’s fine, I don’t care about that.”
Soma stood up casually, unfazed, and Aida-san, seeing no need to press further, reined in her irritation and sat down.
“Catch you later, Yuto.”
“Y-Yeah, later.”
Is that carefree, weird type just naturally good at worming their way into people’s lives?
Between casually using my first name and probably memorizing everyone’s names in a single day, I couldn’t help but respect Soma’s boldness.
◆
After four uneventful periods free of weird classmates, I left the classroom and climbed the stairs to Akari’s class.
Pushing against the crowd heading to the cafeteria or courtyard, I reached the second floor and peeked into the classroom directly above mine.
The open door revealed a dazzling atmosphere, different from the Advanced Department, as I spotted Akari and another girl chatting happily by the teacher’s desk.
Trying not to stand out, I approached them.
“Yo! Finally here, Yuto~”
“You guys finish early?”
“Yup. We were at the practical training building, but they let us back to the classroom early for fourth period. Cafeteria gets crowded, you know.”
“Nice… Good work.”
“Good work to you too, Aoi-kun.”
“Hey, it’s been since yesterday.”
“Yup.”
“Let’s go!”
I followed slightly behind the two as they started walking toward the cafeteria.
“Hinata-chan makes her own bento, apparently.”
“That’s impressive.”
I glanced at Murai-san’s cat-patterned lunch bag, letting out an impressed sound.
“No, it’s not a big deal. I make my brother’s too, so it’s not much extra effort.”
“You make your brother’s too?”
“Yeah, my mom’s busy with night shifts, so I started making them when he entered middle school.”
“Wow, Hinata-chan’s gonna make a great wife someday. Right, Yuto? Now’s your chance!”
“Uh, ikemen seem like they’d cheat, so…”
“I’m not looking for a wife. And Murai-san, stop rejecting me like that. It’s a joke.”
“Oof, zero wins, one loss~”
“Don’t keep score.”
We continued chatting until we reached the cafeteria.
The seats were mostly taken, but the ticket machines and pickup counters weren’t too crowded.
The QR code on our student IDs made ordering quick, likely keeping the lines short.
Murai-san, with her bento, offered, “I’ll grab a seat!”—a welcome suggestion—so Akari and I lined up at the pickup counter.
“Man, being with you makes me stand out, Yuto~”
“Yeah, people probably think we’re a couple.”
We’d gotten those curious looks plenty of times before.
“That too, but~… You’re so clueless about the attention you’re getting…”
She covered her mouth and leaned in to whisper, so I glanced around before tilting my ear toward her.
“Yuto, you’re getting pretty famous in the Entertainment Department. They’re talking about this ikemen they saw during the commute who’s somehow in the Advanced Department instead.”
“…Couldn’t it be someone else?”
“Nope. Some girls from other classes asked me the name of the guy I was with, and even my Advanced Department friends were talking about ‘that Aoi guy.’”
Apparently, Akari had already made friends in the Advanced Department, something I hadn’t managed.
How does she do it across departments?
“I give off a pretty gloomy vibe, though. Am I really that noticeable?”
“You are. You used to have a bit of a baby face in middle school, but lately, you’re starting to look like him.”
She paused, glancing around, then lowered her voice.
“Yuya-san.”
“…What do you think?”
“…Compared to his younger days, a little.”
“Really?”
“Quite a bit?”
So it wasn’t just Mom’s parental bias.
Akari knows some of the situation.
It started when Mom let it slip, but since we were in middle school when she found out, Akari understood and has kept it a secret.
She usually avoids joking about it out of consideration, so her words now made my fears feel more real.
What if someone finds out I’m Yuya Kitajo’s son?
Sure, looking alike doesn’t mean people will jump to that conclusion.
But what if someone starts to suspect?
Even the biggest fires start from a single spark.
The thought was a little terrifying.
“Well, right now, people are probably just wondering if you’re my boyfriend or not. But if you’re alone, you’ll definitely stand out.”
“…Got it. I’ll keep that in mind.”
“…Good!”
She flashed her usual grin, and I stared at the moving line, silently vowing to avoid standing out too much.
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