12 - Anyone other than me?

POV Nagi.

Yuichi and I followed Akane as she led us to a room at the end of the hall, just as she had mentioned earlier.

The door looked like it could collapse at any moment, while the outside of the room was covered in dust. If the outside looked like this, I couldn’t imagine the inside...

"Come on in!" Akane pulled Yuichi's hand enthusiastically, while I followed behind.

"E-eh? Wait! Akane-san!"

Akane turned around after realizing something. "I almost forgot... Nagi-kun, you too, come on!"

"Okay..."

Did it take her that long to notice..? How invisible is my presence...

Click—!

I turned on the light in the room, and the dust made my nose itch, almost making me sneeze.

Contrary to what Akane described earlier, this room was labeled as a storage room, but in reality, there wasn't a single item stored in here.

Rather than a storage room, this place felt more like an abandoned room... No wonder no club wanted it. When most spaces were full, they probably preferred giving up on forming a club instead of cleaning this place up.

"Cough—! Cough! There's so much dust..."

"Yui-chan, could you grab a duster and broom from the classroom?"

"Should I get a mop too...?" Yuichi asked, just in case.

Akane nodded.

Yuichi quickly rushed to the classroom. There was still plenty of time left during the break, at least enough for us to clean part of this room.

Now, it was just me and Akane in the room.

"Nagi-kun," Akane suddenly called out. Her previously cheerful and excited expression turned serious. Like Yuichi said, this girl is hard to read just by looking at her posture and face.

"Yes...?"

Akane sighed a few times, exhaling deeply.

"It's exhausting pretending to be cute all day..."

Huh?

"What do you mean?"

"Don’t think too much about it. I just have a few important things to discuss with you, Nagi-kun."

"Since Yuichi-san hasn’t come back yet," she added.

She even changed how she calls Yuichi...

I nodded awkwardly. This was the first time Akane had spoken directly to me in years.

Even though we were childhood friends. Ever since we met again in high school, Akane only stuck close to Yuichi, making me feel like a third wheel between them...

But now... Why does Akane suddenly want to talk to me? Is this "important" thing she mentioned really that important?

"...."

"Nagi-kun, I want to talk about— Yuichi-san's gender change."

THUMP.

It felt like I was struck by lightning; my heart stopped for a moment. I clenched my fists, and just from her words, my palms were already sweaty.

Is there someone else who knows that besides me..?

"Akane-san, how did you find out?"

I tried to read what Akane was thinking through her expression and posture, but nothing. I couldn't decipher her emotions.

"…"

Akane remained silent. Her eyes were fixed on the dusty floor of the storage room, but I knew her mind was elsewhere.

"Nagi-kun," she suddenly called out.

"Eh—huh!?"

I got startled just by being called. The atmosphere was very awkward…

Her eyes bore into me sharply, and she wore a cold expression.

I swallowed hard; my throat felt dry, and my breath grew short, while my vocal cords tightened.

Ugh... Why's it turning out like this?

Noticing my nervous expression, Akane let out a small laugh. She's such an unpredictable girl… "No need to be nervous. I just want to vent a little since, aside from Yuichi-san, you're the only one I'm close to."

I quickly nodded at her statement.

"Nagi-kun, this might be a bit surprising for you. But actually, I've always liked Yuichi-san, you know?" Akane said with a wide smile, showing off her perfectly aligned teeth.

That wasn't surprising. I had known that for a long time.

Ever since we were kids, Akane's eyes were always on Yuichi, and her pupils always dilated when she talked about things she liked with him.

Even though Akane often called us a trio of best friends, I always felt like a third wheel in their love story.

I've always known that Yuichi isn't an unattractive guy, plus he's smart. If only he wasn't so reclusive, didn't have social anxiety, worked out a bit, and, well… if his gender hadn't changed. Maybe he would've gotten plenty of phone numbers from girls when he entered high school.

"But now I'm confused, where should I lead these feelings to? At first, I was shocked when I saw Yuichi-san introduce herself in front of the class."

"I thought, "Why did her gender change? Was Yuichi always a tomboy girl?" So many questions ran through my mind, but I chose to act normal for these past two weeks," she continued.

I only nodded slowly, waiting for her to continue venting.

"I thought that maybe, I had simply mistaken Yuichi's gender all this time. But when I dressed her up for a date with you, her reaction… wasn't normal for someone who's been a girl for a long time."

"I figured Nagi-kun might know something about it, so today, I took a chance and decided to ask you directly," Akane added.

I smiled awkwardly at her words.

"And… you guessed it right."

"…"

"Hey… Nagi-kun, what do you think about Yuichi's gender change?"

Huh? Out of nowhere...

But if I had to answer—

"To be honest, I'm happy. Even though Yuichi would never admit it, she seems happier now than when she was a guy. She's regained her confidence, made more friends, and much more," I explained.

"Oh, and she also—"

"That's not what I meant," Akane cut me off. It seemed like the answer I gave wasn't what she wanted to hear.

"What I mean is, do you like Yuichi-san the way she is now?"

ARGH—!

So that's what she meant!

I get it, Akane has always liked Yuichi from the start. She might see me as a rival now, maybe that's why she asked that ambiguous question earlier.

But what should I say..?

Yuichi now is a beautiful girl. Her short, smooth hair has always been my type of girl.

She's got a pretty face, and her eyes are captivating. Her chest… is big.

On top of that, her usual tsundere attitude, and the face she makes when she's embarrassed, always make me want to tease her.

But do I have feelings for her..?

I shook my head slightly.

"MAYBE— not..."

"Maybe?" Akane asked with her typical flat smile.

"Oh, come on…"

"Fufu, I'm just kidding."

Akane then patted my shoulder lightly, laughing softly. "Don't worry, I don't see you as a rival or anything. We're friends, right? Besides, Yuichi-san is a girl now, so I no longer have a chance."

What a lie.

If you'd really moved on, why do you keep staring at me like that..? At least pretend to have moved on...

"I created this club to gather information about Yuichi's gender change. If we have our own space, we can be more open, right?"

I nodded.

"Oh yeah, Nagi-kun, do you have any other clues or information about this miracle?"

"Star wish," I answered in a small tone.

"Huh..? A star wish? What do you mean—"

THUD—!

The makeshift door at the front of the storage room fell off when someone outside tried to open it.

I had a feeling that door would collapse; after all, this room was really old...

"See? It fell!"

"Yui-chan?"

Yuichi appeared, holding three feather dusters in her left hand, two brooms tucked under her armpit, and a mop in her right hand.

"Sorry for taking so long, I had to go to the bathroom for a bit, " she said.

"Which bathroom did you use?" I asked, teasingly.

"Why did you even ask? Of course, the girl's one."

I grabbed one of the feather dusters from Yuichi's hand and immediately started cleaning the dust off the windows.

Meanwhile, Akane resumed acting like her usual self in front of Yuichi.

But after realizing Akane's true motives for acting so cute…

I found it amusing.

I sighed.

Maybe Akane's behavior like this isn't so bad, she always acts like a mood booster and brings a cheerful atmosphere to those around her.

I guess this is still better than Akane's scary true self...

At least, there was some progress today. Thanks to Akane, I now know that there's someone else besides me who knows about Yuichi's gender change.

For now, it's just one person, but the number might grow in the future.

Oh, and as a side note; we already did a video call with my parents and even Yuichi's father directly.

But none of them seemed to notice. They themselves said that Yuichi was born as a girl? I was even accused of being drunk when I talked about it with them.

Not stopping there, they even teased us about love or such during the call. They might not know it, but I was pinched by Yuichi a dozen times during the call.

"What are you staring at?" Realizing my gaze, Yuichi shot me a sharp look.

"Nothing."

Maybe today's conversation could be a clue. It's impossible this was a mistake from the star wish; if the wish itself was this miraculous, then the "it" couldn't possibly make a mistake.

Recalling my conversation with Akane earlier, I wondered whether someone’s awareness of this miracle might be connected to "love", but of course, that’s just a theory for now.

There's still much we need to figure out.

TO BE CONTINUED.