Maki’s PoV
“—Aaaand that’s how we got here.”
After finishing her story, Nitta-san sipped her cafe au lait through her straw, clearly flustered. How could I tell that? Well, she had already drunk the whole thing while she was telling her story, and she had been slurping the ice for a while now.
Or maybe she just didn’t want the atmosphere turning awkward with silence, that was why she purposely slurped up the lted water from those ice, making loud noises.
After everyone’s parent-teacher interview was done, we all moved to a family restaurant nearby.
On the four-seater table, there were three glasses lined up; iced coffee, cafe au lait, and lon soda, they were respectively Umi’s, Nitta-san’s, and mine.
By the way, Amami-san wasn’t with us, if that wasn’t obvious already.
“Nina.”
“…Yes?”
“That was really out of character for you.”
“Right? I swear, a certain soone had been a bad influence for . What do you have to say to that, Rep?”
“Why are you trying to shift the bla on …?”
Anyway, looking back, I really did quite the…immature things. I never thought that my actions would leave that much impact on anyone at all…
There should be so of my actions that weren’t particularly worthy of praise, but… I guess beauty was in the eyes of its beholder, huh…?
Nitta-san was probably influenced by that.
“Also, there’s still more to the story, do you two want to hear the rest of it? Well, I don’t rember all the details, but I still rember the gist of it.”
“I’ll pass. What about you, Maki?”
“ too. I just wanted to know why you and Amami-san were fighting, and now I already know why…”
I could already tell that they got into a huge argunt after that. While it might be nothing physical, the argunt should still be huge since they seed to be really angry at each other.
‘Co clean and express your feelings,’ versus ‘continue to hide your feelings’. At the end of the day, their argunt could be dumbed down into that. But the one important thing to note here was that, neither of them were wrong here.
…Although, I honestly didn’t think I had the right to judge that since I was the ‘cause’ of everything…
“But still… I see… So Yuu really did end up falling for Maki, huh?”
“Huh? Did you already know, Umi?”
“Well, we’ve been friends since forever, you know? Of course I’d notice it if she acts a little differently, like if she’s feeling unwell, or if she’s fighting with soone, her parents, friends, whoever… This is the first ti she has ever agonized about love, though. Not to ntion, that the other person is my own boyfriend… Honestly, that was really unexpected, even for …”
It was unexpected for too. Like, if you were to tell that Amami-san would fall for , I’d just laugh it off and say, ‘You’re kidding,’ and that was it.
Before Amami-san beca my friend, I was already quite close to Umi. It was only after Umi and I had grown close enough to harbor feelings toward each other did Amami-san co into the picture.
But, I guess that was why I let my guard down around her. I assud that to Amami-san, I was her ‘best friend’s boyfriend’, so there was no way that she’d see in ‘that way’ as a mber of the opposite s*x.
It seed like I unconsciously expected her feelings to stay the sa throughout and never considered the possibility that she’d fall for .
Of course Amami-san treated as ‘friend’ at first and nothing more, but… After we beca second years, we just had more opportunities to be alone together, and that was how her feelings towards changed little by little.
It had been about six months since we beca second years, a lot of things had happened during that ti, and Amami-san was there in most of them. While I spent most of my life with Umi during that ti, if I were to limit it to only my school life… I spent more ti with Amami-san than Umi.
Although sotis she was a little too much for , her dazzling smile always helped cheer up. Also, it was because of her help that I got to realize my feelings for Umi.
She was soone I was thankful to, and one of my most precious friends. That would never change, or rather, I didn’t want that to change.
…But, there was one thing that I would never compromise on.
“Rep.”
“Yes?”
“What are you going to do from now on? Also, sorry for doing things on my own, even though I have no right to ddle in your affairs…”
“Don’t worry about that. As for what I’m going to do… Well…”
The ice on my lon soda had lted, its temperature had turned lukewarm. I took a sip of it, feeling the bland taste on my tongue and began to think.
Now that I finally found out what those two were arguing about, I was feeling a little better. But that still didn’t erase the confusion in my heart.
From now on, things would probably get more complicated. Now that Nitta-san told us all this, there was no way our relationship would stay the sa as before. We’d still be friends, of course, that much was a given, but it would be hard for our group of five to hang out together again.
Honestly, I didn’t want that kind of outco. For , who never had even a single friend before, this was the first proper connection I had made with anyone my age, so I didn’t want to lose it just like that.
…But…
I didn’t know if this was an appropriate answer to Nitta-san’s question, but… This was my honest feeling.
“Honestly, I don’t care. If Amami-san were to confess her feelings to , I’d reject her and put a closure to this, but if she doesn’t, then she’s free to do whatever she wants… Because, at the end of the day…there’s only one person who matters to more than anything…”
“Maki…”
I tightly held Umi’s hand and she held mine back, just as tightly.
Umi was the most important person to and I’d always prioritize this girl—who’d always be there to warm my cold hands—above all else.
Ever since we’ve beco lovers, this was the one principle that I would never compromise, no matter what.
“So, you’re just going to wait and see for now, Rep?”
“Rather than that, I’m just not going to do anything. I’ll still treat her as a ‘friend’ no matter what. If she’s having trouble with her studies, I’ll help her out, if she needs my help, I’ll lend my hand… Of course, only if Umi is okay with it, and I’ll ask everyone to help her out too.”
“That’s quite decisive of you, as expected. Poor Yuuchin though…”
Normally, in a situation like this, the best course of action would be to distance myself from Amami-san and let everything die down first. But considering her surprisingly perceptive nature and her tendencies to overthink things, that was the obvious wrong choice and we’d just end up getting estranged if anything.
While personally I wouldn’t mind it that much if that were to happen, I knew that Umi would be sad, so I couldn’t just let that happen.
She wanted to stay as best friends with Amami-san, that was what she had told Amami-san a year ago, so as her boyfriend, I’d need to honor that wish as much as possible.
“I feel sorry for Amami-san, but… I think she should try to co up with an answer that she’d be satisfied with on her own… Well, I know that it might sound irresponsible of , but I don’t think this is the wrong choice to make.”
Yes, I knew this was irresponsible of , but this was the only way that I know to handle the situation as her ‘friend’. Also, I didn’t really feel the need to change my actions because of all this.
‘It’s completely on her that she fell for , so she had to figure it out on her own,’ that was my view on this matter, quite similar to Amami-san’s.
Of course, I didn’t think that Nitta-san’s view was bad, it was good and it would definitely settle things up for all of us quickly, but at the end of the day, it was Amami-san who’d need to decide on her own.
That was why I decided to play dumb until Amami-san ca clean to herself.
“But that’s just what I think. What about you, Umi? What are you going to do?”
“…I’ve always been planning to just follow whatever it is that you’re going to decide. If that’s what you’re planning to do, I’ll do the sa, Maki.”
“I see… Also, Umi… I’m sorry, because of , everything turned out like this…”
“Yes, it’s all because of you, hmph. Seriously, you’re way too kind to everyone, Maki. While you could be clumsy at tis, but you’re always so straightforward with your kindness, now see what you’re getting yourself into, hmph, hmph. Well, it’s because of that side of yours I fell in love this deeply with you, so it’s all good, I guess.”
“Alright, from now on, I’ll hold back on that and pour everything on you instead, Umi…”
“Yes, yes, that’s what you should do. Spoil as much as you want, but don’t do that to others, okay? Be moderate!”
“Got it, I’ll do that.”
‘Here we go again…’ Nitta-san mumbled in an exasperated tone. Well, this was just how we were, so she just had to deal with it.
In any case, no matter what Amami-san feelings toward were, my feelings towards her wouldn’t change.
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