Chapter 153

Chapter 153 – Apology

The class match was over and class 10 was finally at peace.

It had always been quiet inside the class, but when Arae-san and Amami-san were at each other’s throats, the atmosphere was very uncomfortable.

Now that those two had made amends, the tension in the air melted away.

“Morning, Nagisa-chan, nice weather we’re having today~”

“I don’t care about the weather– Wait, stop calling me that, you aren’t my friend!”

“I can still talk to you even if we aren’t friends~”

“Tch… Do whatever you like.”

“I’ll do just that~”

After that, Amami-san brought her chair closer to Arae-san’s. Even if the latter tried to brush her off, it was already too late.

It had been a few days since they started acting like that. They stopped being hostile toward each other, they stopped avoiding each other and talking behind each other’s backs.

The other girls in the class were surprised at first, but they got used to it after two to three days and managed to blend in.

Things were still a little bit awkward, but that would go away with time.

We would still be classmates for ten more months, they had all the time they needed.

“By the way, Nagisa-chan, do you want to have lunch with me today? I know a good spot!”

“…Why me? Ask that girl to go with you.”

“That girl? Umi? I want to be with you today, though…”

“But I don’t want to.”

“C’mon~”

“Jeez, you’re so persistent!”

Arae-san let out a sigh in exasperation. She said no, but it was obvious that she wasn’t averse to the idea. What a troublesome person to deal with.

In any case, they had reconciled to the point that they were able to talk casually in front of other people.

“Look, I don’t hate spending time with you or anything, but I’m busy today, so I have to pass this time.”

“Fine then. But, what are you going to do?”

“…I have to talk with someone.”

After saying that, she stood up and casually walked up to me.

I haven’t talked to her since the after party, I wonder what she wanted?

“Do you have time?”

“…F-For what?”

“Don’t look so scared, I just want to talk to you and your girlfriend for a bit.”

“To Umi and me?”

“Yeah, at lunch break. It won’t take long, I promise… That’s all, see you.”

After that, she went back to her seat and chatted with Amami-san with a bored look on her face.

I don’t think that she had any bad intentions, but I decided to keep an eye out, just in case.

* * *

Lunch break.

I was with Umi at the back of the gym.

The back of the gym would normally be a popular spot for those that needed to sneak around, but in our school, the handball court was right next to it alongside a storeroom where the sports clubs put all their equipment in. This place was normally crowded with people.

But since it was lunch break and people were eating, we had the space to ourselves.

“…Finally.”

When we arrived, Arae-san was already there. I thought she would bring Amami-san along, but I guess she wanted to talk to both of us only.

“So, what’s the deal? Just get to the point, I have no time to talk with you.”

“The feeling’s mutual. Anyway, first things first…”

They immediately became hostile, but right after that Arae-san did something surprising.

“…I’m sorry, for everything.”

She bowed to us as she said that.

Her apology was blunt and she couldn’t even bring herself to look at us, but I was more shocked that she was actually apologizing than anything.

As shocked as I was, I quickly regained my composure. Umi too.

“I couldn’t apologize properly back then, so I had to call you two out here… I’m sorry.”

“I get that, but I’m curious about something… What exactly did you mean by ‘everything’, Arae Nagisa?”

“Just… A lot of things…”

“Stop beating around the bush, tell us what exactly you are apologizing for!”

Umi’s words were a little harsh, but I agreed with her, so I didn’t stop her.

This girl in front of us had been baring her fangs toward us since the start of the school year for no reason.

Trying to brush everything off by saying ‘I apologize for everything’ wouldn’t make us sympathize with her at all. She might have had a reason to do all the bad things she had done to us and that probably tied directly to her past, but that had nothing to do with us.

She probably understood what we were getting at, as she nodded before opening her mouth again.

“…I’m sorry, everything was my fault. Ever since that day back in middle school, everything that I worked so hard for to that point, collapsed… I desperately tried to hang on to something to keep it going but it was no use… From then on, I started hating everything that I used to love… And that went on until I entered high school…”

“…So, what does this have to do with you hating Yuu?”

“…Back in first year, I heard rumors about her. Everything that I heard about her repulsed me… When I saw her for the first time in class… She was smiling without a care in the world… It was as if she had an easy and carefree life up to that point and that made me hate her even more… I know I’m wrong now. I’m petty, jumping to conclusions on my own and couldn’t even judge a person’s true nature properly… So pathetic…”

It was easy to misunderstand Amami-san. I didn’t even know about the hardships Amami-san had to face and how amazing her mental fortitude was to maintain that smile in front of other people. That girl worked harder than anyone and she definitely wasn’t living a worry-free life either.

“Somewhere in my heart, I knew that what I was doing was wrong, but whenever I made fun of her with my friends, it made me feel better… I tried my best to not make everything escalate beyond harmless jokes, but I could only do so much… I knew it was wrong, but I was too hard headed to admit it… Then we ran into each other at the arcade and things went downhill from there… I’m sorry for that…”

She calmly explained everything to us, but this time I wasn’t surprised. Considering that she was an amazing athlete back in middle school, she knew better than anyone on how to properly self-reflect.

The air of arrogance that had always accompanied her was now gone, replaced by a serene one.

I understood why Amami-san refused to tell us about her. This was something that she had to tell us herself.

“Seriously, I told everyone that they’re lame and sh*t, but I’m the lamest of them all. Both you and Amami were right. If the past me ever saw me like this, she would call me ‘lame’ too… I became the same kind of person as my old teammates… So f*cking lame…”

She let out a sigh after expressing her self-disgust.

The incident in middle school left a scar in her, but without realizing it, she almost did the same thing to someone else. I understood her feelings better than anyone. It was exactly what Umi and I did to Amami-san back then.

Thinking back, Amami-san really was an angel. Even after all that, she easily forgave us.

“Anyway, I’m sorry. I’m not asking you two to forgive me, I have no right to do so. I promise I will have nothing to do with you guys in the future…”

“Sure, I’m fine with that, what do you think, Umi?”

“I mean, I’m in a different class anyway. But, what about Yuu?”

“…Well, I let her do whatever she likes… But, I swear, that girl is driving me insane!”

She said that, but she looked happy whenever Amami-san went over to talk with her.

I wouldn’t say that out loud though, I valued my life, thank you very much.

“Anyway, that’s it, that’s everything, so see y–”

“Arae Nagisa, wait.”

Just as she was about to turn her heels, Umi called out to her.

“Yes? Do you need something?”

“Yeah, I have something to tell you. I’m going to say this once, so listen carefully.”

After taking a breath, Umi continued.

“At the class match back then, we won because of the rock-paper-scissors, but in truth, we were completely defeated by you. You were good. I’m sorry for every harsh word that I said to you.”

“…Alright. I have something to say to you too. Your last play when you broke through our double-team was brilliant. If I have to nitpick though, I can’t say I commend you for flirting with your boyfriend in the middle of the match like that.”

“…Urk… Y-You saw that?!… T-To be fair, the match was ending anyway!”

“But you were the captain. As a captain, you had the responsibility to watch over your teammates. Ugh, what am I saying? Forget about it, this is annoying. I still have to talk with Nitta after this, good bye.”

She left after saying that. I noticed that her usual mood had come back before she left.

That girl just had to spout some nonsense before she left, but what she said was true, so I couldn’t rebuke her for it.

“Maki…”

“Hm?”

“I hate that girl.”

“…Yeah, I know how you feel.”

I guess that’s life. We always had that one person who we hated, even if we knew that they weren’t evil by any means. But you couldn’t help but dislike the notion of getting along with them.

Anyway, that should end everything. Finally I could get a good night’s sleep.