/
“I… I’d like to go running together with you, Kaho… Is that alright?” Karen Miyamoto spoke up cautiously.
“That won’t be necessary. Go ahead and get some more sleep, Sister, or prepare breakfast or something,” Kaho replied in a disinterested tone while walking past Karen.
“Breakfast’s already been prepared.” Karen followed her younger sister while speaking in a weak voice.
‘Just how early did you wake up!?’ Kaho helplessly thought as she failed to think of a suitable retort.
She knew what her older sister wanted, but it really wasn’t necessary for her sister to do things to such a degree!
“If it’s already finished, then go back and rest.”
“But… I want to have a morning jog together with Kaho.”
“I already said it’s not necessary! Your weight is fine—there’s no reason for you to exercise more, so don’t tire yourself out needlessly.”
After she finished speaking, Kaho began jogging.
“I won’t get tired!”
Karen began jogging as well, causing her ample chest to jiggle.
“Kaho… you’ve changed recently. I’m so happy, and I want to do things together with you…”
“Why be together? We’re not little kids anymore!” Kaho increased her running speed.
“This doesn’t have anything to do with our age!” Karen also sped up, causing her breasts to bounce up and down even more violently.
“Even though I don’t know the reason, my younger sister’s begun to make an effort to change herself and is currently working hard. Naturally, as your older sister, I should…”
“That’s pointless!” Kaho glared at her sister.
“It has meaning to me!” Karen glared back at her: “It does, to me!”
“You’re being unreasonable!’’
“Is there something wrong with a girl that wants to be together with her sister!?”
“Karen, don’t say something that could be misunderstood as a double entendre!”
“I don’t know, I just… I just want to be by your side, Kaho—”
Honestly, what an annoying sister.
A wet glimmer sparkled in Kaho’s eyes.
‘You’re so perfect, so I feel like I’m nobody when I’m standing next to you. But, as a family member, you’re the best sister I could ask for!’
“Forget it. If you want to follow me, just come along…”
“Kaho!” Karen was delighted.
“Hey! Don’t pull my hand while we’re running! Your chest is getting in my way, let go—”
The sisters ran down the street at dawn, into the rising sun…
The end.
The end—what the hell!?
This wasn’t a cliché idol drama!
When Kaho arrived at school, she felt fatigued as she’d overexerted herself and spent her “youth” together with her sister earlier this morning.
But she instantly saw someone that could have come right out of an idol drama, which erased all her weariness.
Seigo Harano.
He looked handsome today as usual. It was almost as if he was shining brightly. He walked into the school grounds chatting and laughing together with the tomboy prince Chiaki Wakaba from the drama club as well as the cute and lovely girl next-door-type who was surprisingly innocent, Mika Uehara.
With the gentle sunshine beaming down upon the three of them, if someone took a cell phone picture of them right now, it would probably be mistaken as a scene right out of an idol drama.
After all, that was just how brilliantly each of them seemed to be shining!
Kaho Miyamoto stared at his face for a long period of time.
Suddenly, he seemed to detect something and turned his head in her direction!
Then, before she could even react, he smiled and nodded at her.
Wah!
Kaho hurriedly averted her gaze and felt her face was burning hot.
‘He noticed me! He even smiled towards me. How embarrassing…’
“Hey hey, was Harano-kun just smiling in this direction?”
“It seemed like it? Who was he smiling towards?”
“I don’t know… But he’s so handsome! Just like an idol.”
“I know! He’s so tall and strong, and he seems reliable as well—it’s amazing!”
The girls around her were gossiping idly.
‘He smiled towards me!’
A sense of pride welled up in Kaho, combined with some other complex emotions.
Harano-san was so popular.
He was handsome, had a nice body, a good personality, and he wasn’t bad at academics… Not to mention his physical ability that was way overboard… Kaho still remembered what happened two days ago when he had been surrounded by all those club presidents desperately trying to recruit him.
Because of that incident, his reputation as the “destroyer of clubs” became even more well known within school.
By now, most students had learned that Year 1, Class 5 in Genhana High School had a new handsome transfer student who was ridiculously amazing at sports, to the extent where several club presidents had stated that as long as he joined their club, he’d easily be able to become the ace and go to the nationals!
Unfortunately, the transfer student didn’t seem interested in joining any club, which disappointed all the club presidents, although each of them maintained a sliver of hope.
Many students were curious about him simply due to the rumors, and girls were constantly falling in love with his physical appearance.
In addition to this, his personality was indeed nice, so he was given an excellent assessment by the girls in his class. Even all the boys that were jealous of him found it difficult to find any flaws; all they could do was make a few snide comments.
If it wasn’t for the fact that he had two beauties accompanying him at all times, and the fact that he hadn’t joined a club yet and shown off his true abilities, he’d probably be even more popular with how outstanding he was.
The more she thought about it, the more Kaho felt the vast distance between them.
That day, she wasn’t dreaming, was she… No!
‘I can’t deny reality. Don’t get depressed—be more spirited!’
Kaho Miyamoto clenched her fists in order to galvanize herself.
She didn’t want to become his girlfriend; she wanted to become his friend.
Besides, he already reached out to her; she just temporarily decided not to take his hand.
‘There are no problems and no obstacles. All I need to do is change myself slightly!’
“…What are you doing?”
A familiar voice abruptly sounded from behind her.
Startled, Kaho turned around and was greeted by a round face staring at her.
“Don’t scare me like that, Momoko!”
Momoko Matsuoka was one of Kaho’s classmates and good friends. She was short and petite with a roundish face, light orange short hair, light yellow eyes, and a quiet personality.
“I wasn’t trying to do that intentionally… You were lost in thought about something, and you didn’t even notice me standing right behind you.” Momoko tilted her head. “Were you perhaps thinking about Harano-san?”
She hit the mark on the first try.
“N… No!” Kaho reflexively denied it.
“Heh, your face is reddening. Kaho, you’re so bad at lying.” Momoko chuckled, “You probably saw Harano-san pass by and were awestruck by his presence.”
“Er…” Kaho couldn’t come up with any words to say.
“Stop being silly and standing there! Hurry up and go to class—it’s almost starting… Honestly, you can stare at him all you want in class, but you insist on watching him while outside.” Momoko began walking as she glanced at her friend out of the corner of her eye.
“It… It’s not the same!” Kaho followed her friend’s footsteps.
“You’re not denying it anymore?”
“Fine. I admit it, I admit it!” Kaho could only give up the act helplessly. “Is it wrong for a girl to enjoy looking at a handsome boy!?”
“Of course not. Harano-san’s quite handsome indeed—he’s much better than any of those other idiots in our class in both appearance and personality,” Momoko stated calmly. “However, precisely because he’s that way, he’s on such a different level from all the other boys that he’s not the type of person ordinary girls like us can hope to approach. You should realize this as well.”
“I… I know.” Kaho pouted.
“If you understand, then don’t fall too deeply in love with him.” Momoko sighed before continuing, “I know that he’s helped you before in such a gentlemanly fashion; it’s only natural for you to fall in love, but… I don’t wish for my friend to get her feelings hurt.”
“Momoko…” Kaho could feel her friend’s compassion. She felt a sense of warmth along with an apologetic feeling.
“Don’t worry about it—I won’t have my feelings hurt, so relax!”
‘Because I don’t wish to overstep my boundaries—I simply want to be able to shake the hand that he reached out to me.’
…
In the classroom.
Seiji saw Kaho Miyamoto entering class with another girl and couldn’t help but take an extra look at her.
He just nodded towards her in greeting, but upon seeing her instantly turn away from him at an amazing speed, he felt a little hurt.
Did she really hate him? He didn’t think he did anything to deserve it.
He didn’t really understand… Well, forget it.
What Seiji cared more about currently was that Chiaki had informed him that she wanted to discuss something important with him after class.
When Chiaki told him this, Mika’s expression turned strange. It was obvious she was aware of what Chiaki planned to discuss with him.
Just what could it be?