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Chapter 111 –  Compromise
After that, there was a brief chaotic period in my school life, but it never got too rough for me to handle.
All my classmates thought that it was a given that we would be going out. Some of them even thought that we had been together since the very start. In reality, I still left her hanging.
I wanted to explain everything to them, but it was too late for that.
“It’s so hot…”
I dressed up appropriately following the season’s trend, but it still felt hot. This was the time of the year that I particularly hated because I had to change my clothes every morning.
Other than that, during this time of the year, I had to keep my gazes in check. The girls’ body lines became more pronounced because of the way they dressed and sometimes their shirts became transparent because of their sweat.
Of course, there were some of them who took advantage of this to get closer to a boy that they liked.
“It’s so hot… I’m going to lose my mind…”
There was a Succubus right in front of me. Her name was Mugiyama Kaya. Her underwear color was black. I didn’t know if she was showing it on purpose or not, but the thing that mattered was I could see it clearly.
“Get out of my sight, Kaya.”
“Eh? Why?”
When I said that, she shamelessly approached me.
Look at this pervert, trying to distract me from my studies.
“I won’t say it to your face directly because I’m a gentleman, but try to wear a lighter color next time. Please. I beg you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I hope I won’t see you becoming a dancer in a strip club in the future.”
I had no reason to complain about this and I would become a public enemy if I were to tell her off, so I decided to kill her in my mind. Goodbye, Kaya, I’ll make sure to pour some lotion on your grave.
Then, I ran away to the toilet to escape from her. The men’s toilet was off limits to her so it was the best place for a refuge.
After giving the urinal a good dose of my lemon juice, I checked the hallway to see if she had already gone away or not.
“She’s finally gone.”
If I were to stay around her any longer, I felt like I would be awakened to something. She was truly a gentleman’s worst enemy.
While I was wiping my hand with a handkerchief, Kaya and Rion came out from the women’s toilet.
“UWAH!”
“Huh? Why are you screaming?”
Rion looked at me with a stunned look on her face. The reason why I screamed was because Kaya was in the middle of buttoning up her shirt. What the hell? Was she stripping herself in the toilet? What the hell did she do there? Mom, I’m scared.
“Ah, Mugi! You can’t do that in front of the boys! Sure you’ll become more popular with the boys if you do that, but you still can’t!”
“Sui told me to wear a lighter colored bra, so I took mine off.”
“What?! Sui… You…”
Of course they would blame me for this.
“Yes, I’m the pervert who told her to do that. At this point, I don’t mind being called a criminal even.”
“You weren’t this perverted back in the sports festival… So, is this your true nature?!”
“Yes. Deep inside, I’m an ugly beast.”
“And someone like you is going out with Arina… I can’t believe it… The school idol…”
“We aren’t going out though.”
“Huh? You two aren’t?”
“We aren’t going out. I have no reason to lie to you.”
“Eh? I thought Arina confessed to you?”
“That happened, yes.”
“So, she confessed to you after all. You know, I thought you guys were already together back at the festival…”
The member and ex-member of the cheerleader club showed their confusion while tilting their heads to the side.
When I saw this, I immediately ran away from the scene. I heard Kaya calling me a pervert from a distance even though I didn’t take a peep inside the women’s toilet at all. It seemed like she was determined to mark me as a pervert.
She was my classmate, so I still had to deal with her whether I liked it or not. There was a time when I thought that it would be better to be a pervert to fight her pervertedness, but I abandoned that idea because the whole country would crumble if I became one.
*   *   *
Whenever I heard the word ‘summer’, I thought of certain activities.
Beach and pools. Unfortunately, the third year didn’t have swimming class, so I was unable to show off my body to the girls of the country. No biggie though, as I could just release a photo book full of them instead.
Also, the whole galaxy except for me were waiting to see Arina in her swimsuit. I didn’t have the same sentiment as them though because I hated beaches.
“Let’s go to the beach!”
Suggested the bully, Tsuru. She was probably trying to make me drown in the sea.
“Can’t. Sea. Scary.”
“Eh, pathetic~”
“Yes, so what? I wanna spend my summer vacation studying.”
“You sure you don’t want to see us in our swimsuits?”
“Just send me a picture.”
“Jeez.”
It sounded like fun, but I wanted to focus on my entrance exam. The entrance exam was incomparable to the high school one I took years ago after all. It would affect the rest of my life heavily, so I had to make sure that I could do my best during the D-Day.
Tsuru flinched after seeing my resolution.
“Arina will wear a swimsuit too, you know?”
“Just send me a picture.”
“I’ll cover her whole back with some oil~”
“Just send me a picture.”
“Stop saying that!”
“Just send me a picturet.”
“You… Jeez, you’re so stubborn!”
“Haha! You can’t beat me with just this much, Tsuru!”
I managed to win against her. Glory to the going-home club!
“Then, should we make a study group instead?”
“Sure.”
“Jeez, even though it’s our last summer as high school students… Why are you wasting it by studying, dummy?”
“Better being a dummy now than later when I graduate. Can you teach me, Tsuru-sama?”
“Jeez, fine!”
She withdrew to her seat with a reluctant expression.
Sorry, Tsuru. I really wanted to see you in your swimsuit, but the exam was more important.
“Do you… Not want to see… Mine?…”
Arina suddenly said that. I turned around to see her leaning toward me. What the hell, why did she look so cute? Ugh!
Now I feel nervous.
“It isn’t like I didn’t want to see… It’s just…”
“Sorry, that was a little mean of me. So, how are your studies going? Did you do well in the mock exam?”
“Barely made it there. If I study a bit more, I’ll be in the safe zone.”
“Is that so? That’s good.”
“What about you?”
“I got straight As, so I should be fine. Though, I won’t count on them. They’re just mock exams after all.”
“Amazing. You can get into a national university if you want to.”
“I doubt it. Well, it depends on the university…”
Jeez, I hoped that was me. I wanted to get straight As too, hell, give me straight S. I hoped that everyone who would be taking the test with me got diarrhea and would be unable to attend it.
In any case, I still had to study. I got a lot of benefits by studying anyway. This wasn’t a shounen manga, I wouldn’t get a sudden power up by doing nothing, I had to put in a lot of effort first.
Arina would definitely get into a national university, there was no way that we would get into the same university.
If that were to happen, would she still be willing to go out with me? LDR would be hard to do, no? Besides, could I even love her properly? All this time, the only thing that I ever loved was tomato juice. Perhaps, I should try to learn how to love other people during this summer.
*   *   *
After school. Since it was Friday, I planned to immediately go home.
I had another mock exam next week, the pressure was starting to kill me.
Before that, cleaning. I took a broom while pretending that I was Harry Potter together with Makoto. Tsuru mocked us by saying that we acted like five years old children, but I retaliated by saying, ‘that would be rude to the five years old children.’ Don’t worry kids, I’m on your side, I won’t let this gyaru taint your honor.
After that was done, I slang my bag over my shoulder.
“Ah, wait for me.”
Arina stood up as she whispered those words to me.
I paused for a second before giving her a reply in a hurry.
“O-Okay.”
“Let’s go.”
What the hell was going on? Was this it? The so-called romcom situation?
I was so nervous to the point that I forgot how to walk. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t move both my hands and feet properly. I should try to look up how people normally walk on the internet.
“Weirdo.”
“I know. People have been calling me that for my whole life. I prefer the word crazy over that though.”
Ahh, why the hell did I start to walk like a robot? Should I start making a clunking noise too?
Should I tell a joke here? Maybe something like ‘we’re like lovers, walking together like this’ would be good? No, wait, she would definitely get angry if I were to say that.
I restrained myself by muttering that I was currently single in my heart.
Our shoulders were so close to each other. I had to keep my guard up to maintain this distance. If we were to make contact it would be dangerous after all. Well, if we got too far apart it would also be dangerous. In other words, I was stuck between a rock and a hard place.
“Should we stop by a cafe?”
Cafe. Yes, cafe. In Japanese, it would be a coffee shop. A place where we could get some tea. A coffee shop.
“Let’s.”
What’s with that response, me? That was cringy as hell! Ah, just kill me already!
I decided to go with the flow and went into a cafe. It was a familiar cafe, so I felt a little more at ease. But, I wonder what I should talk about with Arina? Space? Tomatoes? Foreign movies? Or should I just shut my mouth and take some selfies instead?
When I was about to take my seat, I saw a familiar person.
“AAHH!!”
“GYAAH!!”
We pointed at each other’s faces. It was Ugin.
“What’s with that hairstyle?! I thought you loved keeping it long? Did you sell them to China?”
She was having some tea with her friends. It seemed like she cut her hair earlier today. She used to have decently long hair, but now she cut it into a bob. With that hairstyle, she looked like a Hollywood actress. Her bewitching look didn’t match her age at all.
My sister… You’ve changed.
In any case, this was a bad time for us to meet.
TL: Iyo
ED: Dodo