Chapter 13: CH 13

Okay, let’s do it.

Translated by Dawn

Okay, let’s do it.

The next day, during break time.

“Hey, Akito! Is it true that you got a girlfriend?”

The door diagonally in front of me rattled open and Shuji came in, shouting.

Shut up, you.

I was seated closest to the door, so he did not need to shout.

But the fact that Shuji, who was in the next class, came to me like this to confirm it?

It seemed that the rumor about Mizutani and me had already spread to the other classes in just one day.

No wonder I felt so many eyes on me when I was walking alone in the hallway.

“It’s true.”

I replied, looking away.

I thought I heard a gasp for a moment, and then Shuji asked me more.

“Seriously? With who?”

“…Mizutani.”

When I responded, Shuji reflexively looked around the classroom.

Being caught by that, I also looked at the seat behind the window where Mizutani was probably sitting.

She was probably in the bathroom or something, but she was not in her seat.

When I looked back at Shuji, our eyes met.

“No way! You’re just saying that just because Mizutani isn’t in the classroom.”

“Well, that’s what people would normally think.”

“Oh, that’s pretty bold of you. Then, can I wait for Mizutani herself to come and check with her?”

“That’s fine. She’s right behind you right now, Shuji, if you want.”

“—Huh?”

When I pointed behind Shuji, he turned around.

A beautiful blonde girl with blue eyes was standing there with a quizzical look on her face.

Mizutani had just returned to the classroom.

“What are you two talking about?”

Mizutani’s shapely eyebrows furrowed, much to Shuji’s bewilderment.

“Oh, no, Akito was talking about the fact that Mizutani is his girlfriend, which I don’t understand, and I said—”

“It’s true.”

“…Hee?”

“Aizawa is my boyfriend. That’s right, Aizawa.”

When Mizutani asked me, Shuji, who was caught between us, looked at me with a stunned expression on his face.

When I nodded, Shuji, perhaps too surprised, said in a faint voice,

“For real?”

“I’m telling you, it’s true. Mizutani says so, too.”

“…You two aren’t tricking me, right?”

“…”

He probably didn’t mean to, but he actually hit it on the nail.

Mizutani answered on my behalf as I stiffened.

“That aside, it is my first time to meet you…uh…”

“Ah, I’m Ikeno Shuji. Nice to meet you.”

“…I don’t understand the point of lying in an amusing way to Ikeno whom I have never met before. Let alone if it’s someone I’m close to.”

“That’s…that’s right.”

For some reason, Shuji responded to Mizutani’s seriousness with an honorific.

There was a subtle atmosphere in the air.

The atmosphere was that of two acquaintances of friends conversing with each other.

Are these two okay? And so I looked around,

“Okay, so it’s for real…”

Shuji muttered to himself, then looked up.

He raised his fist and struck a gut pose.

“Then we can finally have a double date!”

“…”

Mizutani looked at me silently. I said.

“Sorry, he’s just this kind of guy.”

Despite our confusion, Shuji continued with a twinkle in his eye.

“And lucky for us, it’s Golden Week right this weekend! Now we have no choice but to go on a double date!”

“…Double dates aren’t usually arranged between two men and a woman”

“Oh, Shuji has a girlfriend, a girl named Ogura from Class C.”

I answered Mizutani’s question on Shuji’s behalf.

“We might have been in the same class last year,” Mizutani said.

Ogura was concerned about Mizutani, but I wondered if Mizutani remembered her, too.

So how about it, you two? Double date. Is that no good? The destination is…I guess, the zoo or the amusement park around here.

Shuji looked at me and Mizutani with sparkling eyes.

I was okay with it, but I wondered if Mizutani would be okay with it.

Shuji had never met Mizutani before, and even if this was Ogura, it would be a little more than a little better.

Besides, even if this was just an act, taking the trouble to go out of our way to go date on a holiday—

“Okay, let’s do it. Double date.”

“Ehh, you don’t mind!?”

Yay! I left the delighted Shuji alone and asked her without thinking.

Mizutani nodded her head.

…Huh?

I was sure Mizutani was the normally serious type of person.

Was I mistaken?

“Well, we’ll talk more about it later!”

As the end of break time approached, Shuji briskly said so and left the classroom.

What did that mean?

I looked at Mizutani and she looked away from me.

Well, it wasn’t something to talk about here and now.

We were going home together anyway, so I should ask her then.

***

“Good thing you said we’re going on a double date.”

After riding the train for two stops, I asked Mizutani.

I looked around and already checked the surrounding area.

There were no students from our high school there at the moment, so I didn’t have to worry that someone would hear me.

Mizutani answered in a matter-of-fact manner.

“If I said no to him there, there was a chance he would doubt that we were together. So I thought I’d better accept the offer.”

“…So you’re trying to add credibility to our relationship.”

That’s right, Mizutani nodded.

It made sense, and it was a convincing reason, but I wonder…if it was true?

If so, there was no need for her to look away from me earlier.

The first time I looked at Mizutani with doubt in my eyes, she looked back at me for a while.

But looking at her again like this, she really did have a well-defined face.

Her eyes are like jewels, and…wait, what am I thinking like a pickup artist?

A toast to your eyes, huh?

Mizutani looked away and said quickly,

“It’s not that I’m interested in a double date. This is true.”

“[This]? Then you were interested in something else.”

“…”

She couldn’t talk back to me.

But I didn’t expect her to self-destruct so cleanly.

She looked cool, but she was surprisingly clumsy in some ways.

As I waited patiently for more, Mizutani began to speak in a whisper.

“…I’ve never been to a zoo before.”

“…I see.”

I guess she was raised strictly, like the cooking matter.

While thinking about this, Mizutani looked at me with a sideways glance.

“…you think I’m a child?”

“No way. Isn’t it nice, the zoo?”

“Liar. Because you’re looking at me right now like I’m a child.”

“I didn’t look at you that way.”

“I said so because I saw it. For the most part, Aizawa can’t even look yourself in the eye.”

Mizutani said sulkily.

I’m sorry, but that attitude is much more childish, Mizutani.