Chapter 44

Chapter 44 – Idiot

For the first time since last week, I was finally able to have a one-on-one conversation with this friend of mine. It wasn’t long since the last time we had a talk like this, but it felt like it’s been ages. After all, this dumbass had been avoiding me all day long.

“Idiot… Seriously, you’re such an idiot… If you act like that in front of everyone, of course I’d have no choice but to meet you like this… Even Yuu conspired with everyone to help you… Seriously, what’s with all of you?…”

It seemed like she found out. Well, I had been watching Amami-san since we started our scheme. Even in my eyes, it was obvious that she was bad at sneaking around, let alone in the eyes of her best friend. Her movements were way too conspicuous.

“That’s on you. If you didn’t try to avoid me, none of this would’ve happened, you know?”

“T-that’s…”

She came here because she had no other choice. But it seemed like she hadn’t made up her mind about whether she wanted to talk about it.

Though, with the way she was acting, if I were to put a little pressure on her, she would probably start to talk.

“Well, whatever. Let’s finish our job first. Amami-san said that everyone had gathered around half the amount we needed.”

“…Are you okay with that…?”

“I mean, I called you here mainly to do this. Or do you want to talk first before we start working? I’m fine with that too.”

“…Let’s do our job first…”

“Okay then, I’ll open the storage, so don’t run away.”

“…I hate you… Idiot…”

She didn’t say that out of hatred for me, but rather because she was sulking.

I mean, if she actually hated me, she wouldn’t act meekly like this. I knew her well enough to know that.

I unlocked the storage room door and went inside.

In anime and manga, this would be the beginning of a scene where a boy and girl got locked inside a dark storehouse and no one would find them until the next morning. Sadly, reality didn’t work that way. The door could easily be opened from inside, and the room had a lamp installed in it. That kind of cliche event would never happen in real life.

“Uhh… Amami-san said the cans are inside a big black trash bag… Is this it?”

I turned the light on and looked around the room and saw a big black trash bag to my right. I heard that they sorted the cans by their colors, so counting them shouldn’t be difficult, but it would still be tedious.

“We should split up our roles. Asanagi, start counting the colors that had fewer numbers. After we’re all done with this, I’ll take everything back to the classroom.”

“…Mmm…”

Well, I had a lot of things to talk about with her, but I still need to prioritize our job.

“This group is black colored… Yikes, there are still cigarettes and other junk in there. Seriously, is it that hard to clean the cans properly first before you collect them? Asanagi, how’s your side?”

“No problem here. Maybe we should put the dirty cans aside and wash them properly first before taking them back to the class. I’ll warn everyone about this, so we won’t have to deal with this in the future.”

“Alright, I’ll leave it to you.”

“Mm.”

The more we worked together like this, the more I realized that Asanagi and I were on the same wavelength. She understood my intentions and I understood hers. Everything proceeded smoothly because of this.

I’m starting to feel hopeful toward our exhibit now.

“…”

“…”

Outside of conversation regarding our work, the storage room was enveloped in silence.

The only sound that could be heard was the clanging of the empty cans.

…It felt awkward.

It wasn’t the first time that we did something without saying a word to each other, we did this a lot whenever we were reading manga or watching a movie together.

But those times never felt this awkward. Unlike those times when we were absorbed in whatever we were doing, this time, it was clear that she was consciously trying not to talk with me.

“…Ugh.”

“…”

As we were working, our eyes would occasionally meet and whenever that happened, we would immediately turn our gazes away.

Normally, we could always talk about trivial things to fill this silence, like pizza, B-movies, manga, games and so on… But, I couldn’t just bring those topics up at this moment.

“…Hey, Maehara.”

“What?”

“Aren’t you curious?”

“Curious about what?”

“…About why I’m avoiding you.”

“You want to talk about it?”

“…No, I don’t…But at the same time, I know that this situation shouldn’t be dragged out any longer… Especially the things with Yuu…”

All three of us, me, Asanagi and Amami-san, were trying to repair the crack that had formed in our relationship.

To Asanagi, Amami-san was her best friend while I was her ‘kindred spirit.’

Of course, the best case scenario for her would be for us to make up rather than being estranged like this.

Still, I couldn’t help but wonder.

The source of this whole thing was the fact that Asanagi didn’t tell Amami-san about our relationship. She said that she couldn’t find the perfect timing to tell her, but they were together all the time, no? There should’ve been at least one or two times when she could bring up the topic.

“…To tell you the truth…”

“Mm?”

“I want to know what’s on your mind. I’ve been brooding over it throughout the weekend, but I thought that it would be best if I give you more time… And then Monday came and you suddenly started to avoid me… I don’t understand what you’re thinking.”

“…Sorry.”

“Don’t be. Everyone has something that they want to keep to themselves. Like me for example, I never told you about my parents’ situation, right? I assume you’re similar to me. Your problem probably isn’t something that I should hear.”

To other people, those things might be trivial, but to the person themselves, that wasn’t the case at all. 

“Of course, you could tell me if it makes you feel better. But, I’d rather not force you to talk if you don’t want to.”

While I wanted to know the reason why she did all this, I also wanted to respect her feelings. That was why I decided to leave it up to her.

Call me indecisive, but I couldn’t help it. This was my first time having to deal with people like this, I was just trying my best to be mindful of her feelings,

“…In short, I have a lot of questions to ask you, but if you don’t want to tell me, I can always wait.”

“Are you sure? What if I end up not telling you anything at all?”

“Then, it is what it is, I guess.”

…Though that would make me feel sad.

“Anyway, that’s that. Let’s finish our work quickly. If we don’t, the other classmates will be suspicious.”

The talk didn’t solve any of our problems, but my chest felt lighter after telling her all that.

I guess being able to talk properly with her was good enough for me.

“…Fine…”

“Huh?”

“…Don’t mind me…”

“What are you on abou–!”

The moment I tried to turn around to look in her direction, a sweet smell entered my nose as a warm feeling enveloped my body. 

It took me a few seconds to realize that Asanagi had embraced me from behind.

“Eh? Ehh?”

“Maehara… You idiot…”

I was too panicked to notice what kind of feeling was contained in her words.