The front entrance of the school was overflowing with students on their way ho for the day.
I was a little worried about how I would et up with Ichinose, but my worries were imdiately resolved. She managed to stand out, even among so many other students.
Although her cute appearance could have been part of the reason, it also felt like she had a presence that controlled the area.
Honestly, I didn’t know how to describe it. I could only vaguely describe it as a gentle, yet powerful feeling. Sothing that was amplified by the attention she received from the surrounding first-year students.
It was similar to the attention Kushida received, if not more so. She was popular with everyone, constantly being called out to by the other students one after the other. As a result, I wasted about 5 minutes trying to find the right ti to call out to her.
“Ah! Ayanokouji-kun, over here!”
Ichinose eventually noticed and called out to .
I pretended as if I had just arrived as I raised my hand and joined up with her.
“So, what should I do next?”
“I intend to wrap this up as quickly as possible, so follow .”
I put on my shoes and followed Ichinose to the other side of the school.
We eventually arrived behind the gymnasium. It seed like an ideal place to make a confession.
“Well…”
After taking a mont to prepare herself, Ichinose turned around to face . There’s no way… Ichinose, to !?
“Confess-”
No, sothing like that–
“I… I think soone’s going to confess to here.”
“…Huh?”
Ichinose then showed a letter. It was a sweet love letter sealed with a cute little heart sticker. Although it would be rude for to look inside, I took the letter out as I was prompted to. It didn’t seem like the letter was written by a boy at all. Instead, the handwriting on the inside was pretty and clean, no different from the envelope’s appearance.
I then noticed what I had been feeling curious about ever since coming to this school.
The eting information written in the letter was Friday evening at four o’clock, behind the gymnasium. It was about ten minutes away.
“Wouldn’t it be better if I wasn’t here?”
“I… I don’t know much about love. I don’t know how to respond without hurting their feelings, and I don’t know if I can stay close friends with them after this as well. So I want you to help .”
“I don’t think I’m the guy you should be asking since I don’t have any experience with confessions either. I’m sure there’s plenty of other people you could depend on in Class B.”
“The person confessing to … is in Class B.”
I see, so that’s how it is. I was sowhat able to understand why she asked for my company.
“I’d like this to be kept a secret as much as possible. Otherwise, things would beco rather awkward in the future. If it’s you, Ayanokouji-kun, I think it’s unlikely that you’ll go around spreading rumors.”
“But Ichinose, aren’t you used to confessions by now?”
“Eh?! No, not at all. Of course not. I’ve never been confessed to before.”
If she hadn’t called out here to help, I would’ve never believed it.
“So, really, I just don’t understand why this is happening.”
I could only think that it was to be expected, since Ichinose is cute after all. Moreover, considering the way she had interacted with others since this morning, her personality seems to be pretty good as well.
“That’s why… can you please pretend to be my boyfriend?”
Whoa, is this seriously turning into such a cliche situation?!
“I did so research and found out that if the person being confessed to is already in a relationship, it will hurt the other person less…”
“I understand that you want to avoid hurting the other person’s feelings, but it will only hurt them more if they realise you lied about it, you know?”
“I could say that we broke up, or that you dumped later on.”
I don’t think that’s the problem here…
“Honestly, I think it would be much better to et and talk together with him one on one.”
“But- Ah!”
Ichinose noticed sothing and awkwardly raised her hand.
It looks like the confessor ca earlier than expected. What kind of glam rock appearance is he sporting?
When I gazed upon his face, the visage of a boyish androgynous male was in my presence. He was even donned in a neat skirt.
No, she was definitely a girl no matter which way I looked at her.
I had so doubts after seeing the letter’s handwriting, but it really was a girl after all.
Unlike a confession between boys, it felt like this confession would look a bit better. Then again, that might only be because I’m a guy myself.
“Um, Ichinose-san… who is that person?”
The girl who had co to confess seed to be wary of my presence.
“He’s Ayanokouji-kun from Class D. I’m sorry Chihiro-chan, for bringing sobody along that you don’t know.”
“Is he possibly… Ichinose-san’s boyfriend?”
“Ah, uh…”
Ichinose tried to speak, but she paused. She probably intended to say “that’s right” but the words got stuck in her throat due to the guilt she felt for lying.
“Why is this Ayanokouji-kun person here?”
Confused by the unexpected situation, tears began to form in Chihiro’s eyes.
‘Is he her boyfriend? Why would he be here if he wasn’t?’; these were thoughts that were most likely going through her head as she seed unable to understand the situation.
Noticing her tear up, Ichinose quickly began to panic, not knowing what to do.
I had expected her to be a fairly reliable person, but it seems like she has so unexpected weaknesses.
“Um, could you please go sowhere else? There’s sothing important I’d like to talk about with Ichinose-san.”
“W-Wait a minute, Chihiro-san. That’s, uh- To be honest, Ayanokouji-kun is…”
It seed that Ichinose intended to turn her down first.
She probably thought it would have made things harder for her if Chihiro actually confessed her feelings.
“…What is it?”
“Ayanokouji-kun? He’s, you know, my-”
There was almost nothing I could do in this situation. If there was, it would have to be this…
“I’m just a friend.”
I cut in before Ichinose could say the word.
“Ichinose, it may not be convincing for to say this since I’ve never been confessed to before, but I think calling out here was a mistake.”
I spoke honestly for their sake.
“Confessing to soone isn’t such an easy thing. Every day, you spend your ti in endless worry, simulating the situation over and over again in your head. Yet, you still can’t confess. Even when you gather the courage to do it, the actual words get stuck in your throat and can’t co out. I think that’s just how it works. Don’t you think that these desperate feelings deserve a proper response? If you give a vague answer in a situation like yours, both of you will only co to regret it afterward.”
“Ugh…”
It’s likely that Ichinose has never seriously fallen for soone before.
Therefore, she didn’t know the right thing to do, or if she was making a mistake.
Trying to prevent sobody from having their feelings hurt is a fruitless effort.
When refusing a confession, hurting the other person’s feelings is unavoidable.
If you muster your wisdom and co up with a decent excuse, it’s true that you can sowhat smooth it over.
An excuse like: ‘I want to concentrate on my studies right now’, ‘There’s sobody else that I like’, or, as what occurred here, ‘I’m already dating soone else’. No matter which excuse you give, the other person is still bound to get hurt.
Not to ntion that if that excuse is built upon a lie, the other person would only be hurt more if they ever find out the truth. I left the area without waiting for Ichinose to reply. Instead of heading back to the dormitory, I stopped and waited along the tree-lined pathway.
I leaned against the handrailing and sighed as I looked up towards the green leaves.
After about 5 minutes, a girl rushed past from behind the gymnasium.
There were faint traces of tears in her eyes.
Despite that, I continued to kill so ti without moving from the spot.
Around the ti the sun began to set, Ichinose wearily walked back from behind the gym.
“Ah…”
Upon seeing , she hung her head a little awkwardly. However, she looked back up imdiately.
“I was wrong. I was trying to avoid hurting her. I didn’t even think about properly responding to her feelings, and instead tried so desperately to run away from them. That was my mistake.”
Ichinose mumbled, “Love sure is difficult…” as she sat down on the handrail next to .
“I asked if things could go on as they always have tomorrow, but I wonder if that’s possible.”
“That will be up to the two of you.”
“Yeah…” She trailed off.
“Thank you for today. Coming with on such a strange request.”
“It’s fine. There are days like this from ti to ti.”
“Our positions reversed huh? I ca to you because I intended on lending you a hand, but I ended up relying on you instead.”
“I’m sorry for speaking like a know-it-all back there.”
Ichinose looked at and blinked a couple of tis as if I had said sothing peculiar.
“There’s no need for you to apologize. None at all.”
Stretching her hands up towards the sky, she then hopped down onto the ground.
“This ti, it’s my turn to help you. I’ll try to do all that I can.”
I wonder what Class B’s Ichinose Honami intends to do to confront this difficult situation.
I was looking forward to it a little bit.
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