Chapter 6

Suzuno, sitting on a plastic sheet under the shade of a tree, rolled her eyes when she noticed me.

“What are you doing here, Yamaoka-kun?”

“What are YOU doing here, Suzuno?”

The shade casted heavy shadow under her eyes.

“Since I’m a ‘loner,’ I’m sneaking out here for lunch.”

She held up a convenience store bag.

“Don’t tell me you’re eating melonpan for lunch…”

“Rude. I’m eating salad AND melonpan for lunch.”

“I got the melonpan part right.”

Sitting down beside her while having such pointless conversation, made me feel alive.

“If I knew you were eating here, I woulda gone here for lunch too…”

“Why? A normal person like you should eat where the sun shines with your friends.”

“I prefer to eat with you than eat in that hot and stuffy place.”

Suzuno opened his eyes wide before casting her gaze down.

“What a weirdo. You’re supposed to be the center of your class. Why are you worrying about me?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“…You’re doing so well for someone who’s supposed to be forced into that role.”

Doing so well? Who? Did she misunderstand something?

“Uh, no? I had to do a lot of things because the one in charge, Motoyama, is incompetent. Everyone just dumped everything onto me. Honestly, it’s troublesome.”

Suzuno chuckled before nodding.

“See? You’re doing your job properly.”

“Huh?”

She ended up misunderstanding me even more. Oh no.

“Yamaoka-kun, do you realize that you look like a different person now? Compared to last year, at least.”

The girl then let out a weak smile.

“Back then, you tried so hard to become a ‘proper middle schooler’, but nowadays you started to act like boys your age.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I’ve always noticed that you were pretending to act like a proper student. There was a part of you that felt numb to everything that happened around you. Nowadays, though, it feels to me that said part is gone.”

I understood what she was saying, but at the same time, I didn’t.

Suddenly, the school bell reverberated through the air, announcing that the lunch break was almost over.

“Woah, it’s this late already?”

“The next game is the relay, right? They picked me as the first runner because I ran the quickest.”

As expected of her. She truly was different from ‘the rest of the crowd.’

“Alright, I’ll cheer on you then. I’ll make you the hero of your class.”

“…Stop saying nonsense like that.”

WIthout hesitation, she turned her back on me. Toward her moving back, I uttered a few words.

“You know, I’m not doing this out of pity for you…”

She stopped and turned to face me. After a beat of hesitation, the word “Thank you” came out of her mouth.

Followed by a faint voice.

“I’m glad to know that you’re always by my side, Yamaoka-kun.”

ED: samheart564