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Chapter 3 – Interacting With Enami-san \nVolume 1\n<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide">\n\n
“You call that selfish? I told you that before. It is because it seems interesting. ……”\n
Even so, Enami-san’s answer did not change.\n
“Then why did you think it would be interesting? Why did you start to come to school seriously in the first place?”\n
“……, you’re so persistent today.”\n
“Tell me. For me, I don’t understand. I don’t know what you’re thinking, Enami-san.”\n
“Is there a need to understand?”\n
It’s not that she’s angry. However, it seems that she’s just answering plainly.\n
“I know, but…”\n
It’s not that I’m worried about Enami-san. it’s just that I don’t feel comfortable being pushed around like this. I feel like I’m getting to know her a little bit, just a little bit. Enami-san is much easier to talk to than I thought. My dislike for her as a delinquent is slowly easing.\n
But I just wondered if that was the right thing to do.\n
“I’m sorry. I said something weird.”\n
“……”\n
When she saw that I had stopped asking, she fell silent. She seemed to be thinking about something.\n\n
The silence continued for a while.\n
Eventually, Enami-san said.\n
“Someone important.”\n
A small voice. \n
I didn’t understand what she was saying right away. I asked back, “What?”.\n
“You said it yourself, didn’t you? You told me to put the important person I care about before my frustrations.”\n
“Yeah, well…”\n
I was surprised. To think that she was going to answer me.\n
“I’ve been thinking about it all day, ever since you told me that. Since you said that, I’ve been thinking about what’s important to me. So, I guess that’s why”\n
She looked embarrassed and looked away. That’s why I can feel that this is Enami-san’s true intention without any falsehood.\n
“What I said at the diner that day: ……”\n
“Yes.”\n
Nishikawa said the same thing. After I let out my emotions that day, Enami-san seemed to be thinking about something for a long time. I wondered if it was about her “important person”.\n
“I don’t know what “important” means. It changes from time to time. Things that were once important to us become less so when the circumstances change. I don’t like that, but I wonder if there are important things that don’t change.”\n
“I see.”\n
Those were very abstract words. But I agree with them.\n
Some things make us feel that they are important even after we lose them. That is why we sometimes regret it.\n
I wonder if Enami-san also had such an existence.\n
“It’s not just that. I wonder if there are things that will become newly important in my life from now on. So I thought I should look forward a little.”\n
Then, Enami-san looked back.\n
She had a complicated smile on her face, mixed with a hint of embarrassment. It looked as if she was trying hard to smile while covering up something heavy deep inside.\n
The outline of her face shone in the backlight. She was holding her bag behind her back, talking to me and looking somewhere far away.\n
“Is that an answer?”\n
I answered.\n
“Isn’t it?\n
“What’s up with that…”\n
The smile on her face was pure and unadulterated, overcoming all the emotions that had been on her face earlier. I wondered what was going on with Enami-san until just now.\n\n
“Do you have something important to you?”\n
“Oh.”\n
“What?”\n
“……My family, I guess.”\n
I realized it when I said it. I was so embarrassed. I understood why Enami-san hadn’t told me about it. I wondered why we were talking about such embarrassing things in public.\n
“That’s how it is.”\n
Still, I felt relieved to be able to say it.\n\n
“Your face is getting red.”\n
Enami-san giggled. She had been saying the same thing a while ago, but her expression had already returned to her usual one.\n
“You’re so annoying.”\n
“It’s fine, isn’t it? I think you’re funny.”\n
“What do you mean, funny?”\n
“fufu.”\n\n
Maybe it’s my reaction that’s funny. For someone like Enami-san, it’s interesting to see me blush so easily and get angry for no apparent reason.\n
I said,\n\n
“I’ll tell you one more thing, Enami-san.”\n
“What’s with the sudden serious talk?”\n\n
She looked at me as if she was watching something funny.\n
“The reason why Enami-san is so selfish is that you can’t communicate properly with anyone other than Nishikawa.”\n
“What?”\n\n
I continued.\n
“You’ve changed your mind, so why don’t you at least learn to treat people properly? Even if someone other than me and Nishikawa talks to you, you should be able to carry on a normal conversation.”\n
“Eh? I don’t want to.”\n
Her mouth quirked up.\n
“Why not? I thought you changed your mind.”\n
“That kind of thing is a little….”\n\n
A bitter look appeared on her face. That’s the thing, isn’t it? I’m not sure if she was good at it before she became a slacker.\n\n
“……You’re a brat.”\n
“H~e~e, so you’ve come to say that. Hmm.”\n
“I mean, it’s like that right. It’s lonely to have only two friends at this age. It makes me wonder if you have some kind of problem with human nature”\n
“I’m just choosing who I want to be with.”\n
“It seems to me that you’re cold to people even when they’re not at fault and that you rebel against your teachers for no reason.”\n
“Hmmm. Try saying that again.”\n
“Yeah, I’ll say it again.”\n\n
We were saying these things to each other as we made our way to the T-junction.\n\n
<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide">\nTN: He forgot to ask how he is involved in her important things…\n\n