/
Chapter 60: Senpai and Kouhai.
The next week in the art room.
“Wakashima-chan let’s have lunch together.”
The moment Yoko called her out, the atmosphere in the art club changed. The person in question stopped her brush and looked up.
She didn’t react at all though, simply her ears perked up. Each reaction in the club was different, but everybody knew the ramifications of “Yoko inviting Koharu for lunch.”
“I um. . .”
“Oh don’t be shy! Sometimes I just want to have lunch with a cute Kouhai. Let Onee-san treat you to some juice!”
“Eh, Ah, Eh!?”
As expected Yoko has a personality that cannot be imitated. Even if I’d do the same thing, it’d be obviously fake. In the first place, if I invited her I’d be immediately refused.
Yoko ignored Koharu’s reply simply saying, “It’s fine, right Shiori?”
I had no choice but to give a nod and a “yeah”. With that show Yoko wasn’t the only one that invited her, she took our kouhai, who was still dazed and confused, to the student council room as nothing special happened.
“Well, I’ll go buy the promised juice, what would you like Wakashima-chan?”
“No, I’m fine.”
“If you don’t answer I’ll buy the infamous cream corn soda.”
“. . .Cafe au lait please.”
I’ve never drank it before, but our high school has a vending machine that sells a cream corn soda. A student from our class drank it in a courage test and said it was a vile taste made from components which forcibly shoves sweetness made into a carbonic acid at an equal concentration. Violent taste with artificial sweeteners added to it. Apparently after that test, the infamy spread throughout the first years.
Yoko left Koharu and I alone, but of course this was all planned. If Yoko was here Koharu would still be wearing her cute Kouhai facade, so I asked for this to happen. Koharu must also realize that? At Least she isn’t looking at me with a disgusted face.
“Are you worried about Shimamoto-san’s reaction?”
A quiet lunch isn’t bad, but that wouldn’t make sense after inviting her out. That stirred the flames for koharu, as Her eyebrows deepened and wrinkled a little after listening to me.
“. . .So it’s Sugirumura-san who told her to invite me?”
“Ah, you found me out. For the time being, I’d like to be cautious. Or would it be better to invite you directly?”
“No, I’m glad you asked Yoko-senapi, because Sugimura-senpai is the center of attention.”
“Although it was against your will. I don’t think it’s bad. . . I wonder if your favorite person Shimamoto-san will read the room more.”
Did that tick her off? Her mouth changed, but she didn’t say anything. After a brief moment, she sighed and said “I think she already read the room.”
“What do you mean?”
“Aoi-chan can read the air around her, and she is a child that can change it to her own. Because of that she has a firm knowledge of how to behave and be liked.”
“Ah, I see. So other than you and I, nobody would feel any unpleasant feelings about Shimamoto-san’s current actions. . . So even if you know that you still like her?”
Innocent and selfish paper thin apart. Even if you are looked at favorably and acting innocently, if there is ill will underneath you are just being selfish or for ego.
It’d be a big deal if you figure it out, to be slightly shrewd or calculated, it wouldn’t leave a good impression.
“That’s none of your business. I know a lot of the good and bad parts of Aoi-chan.”
“I see, sorry.”
“It’s fine. Anyways, why did you invite me for lunch?”
No matter the reason, If I answered it was because she was lonely, would she be angry and reply once again “It’s none of your business.”?
“Do you feel pity? Did you feel responsible for me eating alone, feel sorry for me? Maybe you have a sense of responsibility?”
Ah, she quickly found it out.
Well if she already knows.
“Yeah that’s all true. I’m sorry.”
“You already apologized. It’s fine.”
“Rather than sympathy though, I just didn’t really want to see anybody alone. My dear friend also had a long period where she was isolated. . .in a sense that just reminded me of her.”
It wasn’t that I didn’t also have feelings of pity or responsibility, but that wasn’t enough for me to call out.
When I told Koharu that, she simply nodded and said, “Oh.”
“Is that friend the one with you before?”
“Yeah, and she is fine now.”
“I see. . .Even if you are so beautiful and smart enough to go to Tsubakigaoka, that could happen.”
“Eh, you know she goes to Tsubakigaoka?”
“I’ve seen you with her several times on the train. She always seems on good terms with Sugimura-senpai.”
“Ah- – -”
Was that a thing?
Then Aoi must have also seen her along with Koharu. Should I be glad she didn’t talk to her when I was with her?
Sara doesn’t seem to have a very good impression of Aoi, but if possible I don’t want her to be involved in the future.
“Aoi-chan was jealous. . .I also was.”
“Eh?”
I wondered if she was about to confess, but that wasn’t the case. I stared at Koharu urging her to go on, she gave a slight lonely smile, even though there was still the usual straight face.
“I was jealous of Senpai and her partner. Both beautiful, smart, and having a loving true friendship. I just look normal, and Aoi must feel the same. . .”
“Thank you. But Wakashima-san is also cute.”
“Compliments are fine.”
I think both Sara and I have easy to understand and well defined features, but Koharu is also perfectly cute.
It’s comparing pretty flowers like margaret and lily in the valley with roses and lilies. It’s awkward to say that I’m a rose or lily, but they are completely separate things.
Apparently Koharu seemed to have little self-esteem. I felt that when I praised her painting, it must be low.
“Apart from Shimamoto-san, I’d say the Wakashima-san is truly cute. You have a standoffish personality, but I think that’s good.”
“Is Senpai a masochist?”
“Pardon me. . .But when I saw Wakashima-san’s picture yesterday, I wanted to get along.”
That’s why I suggested to Yoko to invite Koharu, but at that point I was still wondering how much I would get involved. Given my disadvantages in approaching Koharu, I also wondered if I shouldn’t invite her.
“Are you about to say that your art shows their personality?”
“I don’t want to say that, it’d be embarrassing. I mean it’s common for eccentric weirdos to paint masterpieces. That is a personal ideal, but the personality appears in the posture. I think yours appears in the love for your work.”
For posture I don’t mean like actually spine position. A better word could be painting style?
Carefully choosing colors, checking the painting order, many times and applying it carefully, it shows how sincere and meticulous her personality is.
Besides, although she is just painting, I can feel the love for her subject.
The love was surprising. It felt like when I read the thin book in my previous life, but that feeling is common in doujinshi. Even if they are poor, you could feel the heart from the author, and on the contrary, even if the technique and quality is high, if there is no love for the work it will feel empty and boring.
I could feel that in the pictures drawn by Koharu. The first picture of the cherry blossom was for Aoi, and the current one being painted is for her cat.
By the way, I once met the person in charge of the scriptwriter in the circle responsible for distributing “Fragmented Rhapsody”, but I wasn’t particularly impressed.
I remember them giving a troubled thank you after telling them I enjoyed their work.
“You’re saying this while saying you hate me, even now you answer me earnestly. I like that kind of thing.”
The mysterious thing about Koharu is why she went out of control on the Sara route. In front of me Koharu is very calm despite talking to me, somebody who should be her love rival. She doesn’t seem like the type of person who’d do such a thing. Another reason why I decided to approach  Koharu is that I might be able to stop that tragedy if we get along well. It wasn’t just those previous beautiful things.
“. . .I hate it.”
“Ara, That’s unfortunate.”
Is it me? Or just her personally?
I’m sure she wouldn’t answer which one, and it’d be insensitive to ask.
“Shall we change the topic? How do you feel about starting to eat lunch with us from now on? Don’t you wonder how Shimamoto-san would react?”
“Well, she’d want to eat with you too.”
“True, but I’m not going to eat with Shimamoto-san.”
I said with a smile, she saw my devious side. The eyes can show much more than the mouth.
Well it is Koharu’s favorite person who fell in love with such a devious girl. Both of them have bad taste. The only one with good taste is me with my crush Sara.
“If that happens, she may get closer to me this time.”
“Correct. I wonder if that would happen, but why don’t you stop chasing her, and use me as bait and get her to chase you?”
“Bait. . .”
“I mean, you don’t want to stay apart forever? But it’d be a shame if you just came back to her, so I’d like it if she could come to you at an appropriate place.”
Koharu’s eyes widened, and the next moment she glared with moist eyes.
Yeah yeah, good. That’s the reaction I expected.
“As I thought, you are wicked. . .”
“What are you talking about? I’m just a senpai that wants to help out her kouhai. Oh Yoko has arrived.”
Her eyes directed at me swiftly towards the door, and my bad friend called out with a smile, saying “Yeah, yeah.”
“Well, I had fun hearing how a pure first year student was tempted by a bad Senpai.”
“That’s weird to say, Sugimura-senpai is wonderful! Is what she supposed to say?”
“No no, I won’t.”
She didn’t even look at the cafe au lait placed before her, she was simply dazed, “Shiori was the one that thought about it. I was just told what to say.” Yoko added.
Even though I did everything.
“It shouldn’t take that long to go to the vending machine and back. Don’t you think it was strange?”
“. . .As I thought, wicked.”
Koharu’s face distorted with regret, as Yoko and I looked at eachother and apologetically laughed.