Chapter 22: CH 22

The Current-Girlfriend’s Rivalry

Together with Takane-san, I submitted the application to join the club, and we became members of the same reading club.

The advisor, Kobayashi-sensei, was in the staff room. She looked crisp and stern in her suit and had this adult woman aura around her, but when she saw us, she smiled happily.

“Takane-san, you were on the tennis team in middle school, weren’t you? I’m sure the advisor will be disappointed to have let you go. You’re the biggest recruit of the year after all.”

“I apologize for not being able to live up to your expectations. I retired to study for my high school entrance exams and then decided to continue tennis only as a hobby.”

“I’ll talk to the tennis club’s advisor then. I just thought of explaining it to you beforehand, but if this is what you want to do, I’ll respect Takane-san’s decision. You only get one shot at high school, and it’s best to do what you want.”

“Thank you, sensei.”

She seemed to be a good teacher who cared about her students, though she was a bit more casual than I expected.

“Um, It’s not that I’m trying to probe you, so please feel free to not answer. I don’t know how a teacher should ask this, but what kind of relationship do you two have?”

“…Um… We-We just got to know each other, and we kind of got along…”

When I thought about it, it was only natural that we would be asked such a question if we were to sign up for the club together or something – I hadn’t thought of preparing an answer beforehand.

“Senda-kun and I just happened to want to be in the same club, so we came here together.”

“That’s great… Just like youngsters these days to enjoy their high school.”

“Ye-Yes… No, that’s…”

The teacher seemed to be joking and enjoying Takane-san’s initial reaction. Takane-san seemed to be trying hard not to show that she was flustered, but it came out in the gesture of putting her hair over her ears.

“Fufu, well, club activities are like a place to meet people. It’s best to find someone you’re comfortable with and have fun.”

“Yes, sensei.”

“Good answer. A girl who looks lost at a time like this, won’t show up to the club. The two of you seem like you’ll be able to keep up with all of our club activities.”

All of our club activities? Did that mean we were gonna do something besides reading books like I did on the reading club in middle school?

“How should new members plan to participate in the club activities?”

Takane-san had already taken out a pen and a notebook. The teacher blinked admiringly, but turned her gaze diagonally upward as if she was thinking about it a bit.

“I’m planning the first meeting for next week, so until then, you can focus on getting used to school life first. We’ll decide roughly what kind of schedule we’ll have for the club at the meeting.”

“I understand. Thank you very much.”

“Ah, I love how honest the first years are. The second and third years don’t have enough respect for their advisor. We’re treated as casual as friends these days.”

The teacher’s expression was rather whimsical… I wondered if the ideal image of a teacher-student relationship she had was a little out of touch with reality.

“There’s a girl named Nakano who joined the club before you. Be careful with that girl. She seemed to be a bit of a n*****y girl.”

“Ah, I was in the same club as Nakano-san in junior high school, so we know each other.”

“Eh, is that so? So you have a girl from the same club from middle school and a new girl you just met?”

“……?”

I had a feeling that the teacher was imagining something strange – if I looked away now, it would look like I was dawdling among the girls, so I endured her probing gaze and faced her.

“Well, you seem serious, so I guess I just worry too much. Good luck next week, you two.”

“Ye-Yes… Please take care of me.”

“Please take care of me. Then, if you’ll excuse me.”

Takane-san and I said our farewell and left the staff room. I walked out of the entrance and waited for Takane-san and when she came out, she somewhat had a sad expression on her face.

“I just got a call from home. They’re going to pick me up at school by car.”

“I see, then, today…”

“Ah, um… Nagito-san, would you like to get in the car with me? I’ll take you home.”

“Really? Ah… but I came on the bicycle.”

“Ah… I-I’m sorry, I completely forgot… Then, I’ll go with you to the bicycle parking lot.”

Not very long ago, if I heard her say this I would have said no.

Now, even though I was afraid, I was becoming more assertive.

She wanted to be with me even if it was just for a little while. That’s what she really wanted.

“We’ll start our club activities together next week, right?”

“Yeah, once again, please take care of me, Takane-san.”

“…Tomorrow, and the day after, we’ll be seated next to each other.”

“Ye-Yeah, if you think about it, we’ll be together for a long time…”

As we were having this conversation, my body temperature was gradually rising – I looked to the side to see how Takane-san was doing.

As she walked, she twirled her hair around her chest with her fingertips. She was red up to her ears. When she looked at me and realized I was watching her, she turned away.

“Nagito-san, if we spend a lot of time together… Will you be more calm?”

“We-Well… the time we spent together hasn’t been too long, and we’re just meeting each other normally…”

“Time… that means…”

“…We’ve just started dating and whenever I think about that, I get nervous all over again…”

I know people would say, ‘What are you talking about now, after all the time you’ve spent together after school?’, but Takane-san was really beautiful, and even walking next to her was already like a dream come true.

“…It-It’s okay if Senda-kun is like that… because I am also nervous…”

“Eh… Ah, Ta-Takane-san…”

Takane-san took my hand – Ah, this was bad. I could feel my heartbeat getting really fast. This was still too early for us.

“Wait… I mean, we’re still in school, so…”

“…I’m sorry, I did that on my own accord…”

That’s totally fine – But, as for taking my hand, Takane-san was getting bolder.

“…It was too abrupt, wasn’t it? This too is my first time dating and yet, I’m doing something like this…”

“It was just so sudden… I haven’t been able to do that at all, so I was wondering if Takane-san was being thoughtful of me when she did that…”

“No, it’s not that… I’m just selfish…”

“Selfish… No, Takane-san, that’s not the case at all.”

“I wondered if you had ever held hands with Asatani-san or something… When I’m at home and alone, I start imagining those kinds of things.”–The answer to that question was- yes, we did. It wasn’t as lovers, but such a thing did happen.

“We’ve… held hands…”

“…How so?”

“It was… when we ran away. Asatani-san was becoming more and more famous as a celebrity. We were in a crowded place and someone noticed her.”

“So that happened… Then…”

“I mean… We’re dating, so of course I won’t be holding her hand…”

I wondered what Takane-san was thinking. What I did with my ‘ex-girlfriend’, wasn’t that something people usually didn’t want to hear about?

But that’s something that happened ‘usually’. Takane-san was not the same as everyone else.

“Then…  in a relationship, the first time you held a hand was…”

“You are the first to do so, Takane-san. This is happening in high school, I wonder how that happened…”

“If that’s the case… I’m really happy. As the ‘current-girlfriend’, I did something with Nagito-san for the first time. It’s like a competition.”

“I confessed my feelings to Asatani-san, but I couldn’t do anything boyfriend-like at all. That’s why…”

“Then, I have to work harder to show Asatani-san that she wasted her time with Nagito-san.

I was sure Asatani-san would say ‘I support you’ with that perfect smile no matter how well Takane-san and I got along – That’s what I felt like.

It was not that I was thinking about her. There was no point in that. More importantly, I was happy with Takane-san’s feelings.

“I’m glad I met you, Takane-san.”

“You can’t say that… If you put it like that, I feel lonely.”

“Oh, I see… Then, um… I’m really happy to be Takane-san’s boyfriend.”

“…….”

If I could afford to be a little more selective with my words, I wondered if I could’ve said it without making her so embarrassed.

I didn’t have as much experience in dating as Takane-san thought I did. That’s why I had to work as hard as Takane-san.

“When you suddenly say something like that, which you usually don’t, I get so surprised.”

“Ah, I guess that really doesn’t suit me, does it? That kind of thing. It’s not in my character.”

“It-It’s not like that… I didn’t think it was a bad thing… I’m just selfishly happy…”

“I see… but I don’t think that was selfish.”

I could not express how happy I was to be able to express my fondness in words and have people say they were happy about it.

–I knew.

I could never get any sort of nuance from the way she acts happy or sad.

It’s just that she didn’t reject me.

It’s just that we were going to the same high school so it’s just a relationship to keep in touch.

There was no road ahead of us. When our relationship ended, I didn’t know anything about Asatani-san, which was a good thing.

I arrived at the bike parking lot, raised the stand, and started walking.

“…Takane-san?”

Instead of walking side by side, Takane-san usually walked a step behind me. But when I looked at her, there was no sign of her there.

“…Just for a moment, is that okay?”

“…….”

Putting my strength into my arms, I supported the bike so that it didn’t lose its balance. Takane-san sat sideways at the back of the bike. The wind blew and her long hair was swept by it.

“I know you can’t ride with two people but… I saw it in a movie once and I always wanted to try it.”

On this school ground, there was not much space. I got on the bike and started riding with Takane-san.

Someone might see us, but we didn’t care about that.

Before we reached the path leading to the school gate, Takane-san touched my back so I stopped the bike. She got off and walked a bit.

“It was so much fun riding with you.”

“…I had fun, too. Then, I’ll see you tomorrow, Takane-san.”

“Tomorrow… is that so?”

Listening to Takane-san, I laughed, and she did too.

“I’ll call you later tonight.”

“Yes, I’ll be waiting… Be careful on your way home.”

Takane-san started walking away. As I watched her back, I seriously thought for a moment – What if something were to happen and I won’t be able to contact Takane-san?

(I want to live as long as possible, even if it’s just a second longer…)

I used to think that the love brain was an unimpressive thing to look at from the side. But now, I was aware that I had changed enough to think it was not so bad after all.

On Thursday, and today,  Friday – I sat next to Takane-san, whom I started dating. There were even some situations where we had to pair up in class.

We had been having a lot of fun, and today we even had lunch together at the terrace table. Takane-san said that she wakes up early at least twice a week to make a lunchbox and I decided to also make lunchbox on days that coincide. When I was with Takadera and Ogishima, I went with them and bought food at the cafeteria.

“Nakkun, do you have any plans for the holiday?”

At dinner time, Ruru-nee asked me that. Today’s menu was hamburger steak – As she served it to me, she said, ‘Onee-chan’s hand-kneaded hamburger steak’. I felt a subtle hurdle at the first bite, but when I ate it, of course it was delicious. My sister’s hamburgers were the ones that won.

“If Nakkun doesn’t have any plans, I’m thinking of buying you clothes for Golden Week, we can do it next week. Ah, will Golden Week already start from next week’s holiday?”

“No, it doesn’t look like the holidays are connected this time.”

“We sisters and brothers don’t live free enough to voluntarily take time off and connect the holidays, do we?”

“Well… I guess I did grow up watching Ruru-nee’s back a little…”

“Eh, what? Is this because Onee-chan said she’d buy you clothes? Or maybe you got a girlfriend and you’ve rounded up?”

“I didn’t mean to say anything that would make you that happy… Why don’t you eat too, Ruru-nee?”

“Yes… So, what are your plans, Nakkun?”

“Nothing in particular… and it’s not that I had a fight with Takane-san or anything like that. It’s just that we haven’t talked about it yet.”

“Then, it means you have something urgent to do soon.”

Ruru-nee seemed to think that there was a good chance that I would have something ‘urgent’ to do – But we hadn’t really talked about that, so it was likely to be a day of nothing.

“I want to say hi to Nozo-chan, but a big sister on her brother’s first date is usually a turn off.”

“I’m not saying it never happened before but I’d rather you don’t… Also, Nozo-chan is…”

“Takane-san’s last name is nice, but her first name is cute, so I wanted to call her that.”

“Well, I’m sure Takane-san won’t be offended, but it’s going to be quite a while before you see each other, don’t you think?”

“If you’ve been dating for quite some time, don’t you think I should be called her sister-in-law? Also, can I take Nozo-chan as my little sister?”

“You’ll have to wait until you meet her in person to make that kind of confession.”

“In-In person… My heart is not ready, can you give me a minute?”

Wanting to say hello – I was not going to tell her that. My sister was a bit of a private person, so she was more outgoing towards me.

While Ruru-nee was taking a bath, I sent a message to Takane-san. Then, after a short moment, she called me.

[Good evening, Nagito-san. I’ve just finished my assignment and was taking a break.]

“Yeah, good work. You don’t turn in your assignments on weekends do you, Takane-san?”

[Yes, I try to do my assignments on the day they are due.]

“I think I’ll finish mine today too, then, following Takane-san’s example.”

[No, no. Nagito-san can do them whenever you want… But, I’m happy.]

“Takane-san, did something happen?”

[…….]

I felt Takane-san’s voice harden a little, so I casually asked her.

[…Tomorrow, will you be home, Nagito-san?]

“Yeah… That’s the plan…”

[Oh, I see… at home…]

“What’s wrong, Takane-san?”

[…Um, If you’re going to study, do you want me to play the piano for you?]

“Eh… Are you in a place where you can play the piano right now?”

[For lessons, the room is soundproof. It’s to not disturb the neighbours.]

She had a soundproof room in her house, which probably meant that her house is quite big. She also mentioned before that she had a study room.

[For my break, I was thinking of playing… I was hoping Nagito-san could hear me play.]

“…Ah, that’s no good.”

[…I-I’m sorry, is this perhaps not a good time?]

“I haven’t been able to give anything back to Takane-san. You’ve done so many wonderful things for me.”

[…I’m the one who likes to do it, so it’s fine… Ah, what I meant by like is…]

I wondered if it meant something different, but my fears were unfounded.

[…It meant exactly what I said, but… that’s no good, saying that was…]

“…I don’t think it was bad… In fact, me too, I’ll stop saying no.”

[Yes, I’ll make sure not to run away right away. If I get embarrassed saying things like that, I’ll be disqualified as a ‘current-girlfriend’.]

I wondered if this was a good idea. In rivalry with Asatani-san, what if Takane-san did something daring?

[Nagito-san, do you have any song requests?]

“Anything is fine. I’d like to hear Takane-san’s recommendation.”

“Then I’ll play a song with a quiet melody so that you can concentrate on your studies…”

I heard a faint thumping sound. I switched the audio on my phone to my earphones and Takane-san started playing the piano.

–It was as if we were in the same room. I couldn’t help but look around, even though there was no way she’d be here.

I was so lucky to be able to study in such an environment. I found the energy to concentrate on my assignments, which I hadn’t been too keen on earlier, and made tremendous progress – so much so that I was able to just listen to Takane-san play the piano after I finished all my assignments.