Volume 1
Chapter 4-2
Part 2
And so, the following Monday morning….
“Ah, good morning, Aki-kun…aaaah.”
“….”
Upon entering the classroom, the first thing Katou did was greet me in a very natural way.
After having spent the entire Saturday cooped up in my room, Katou went home during the early hours of Sunday morning, looking rather sleepy. It seems that she is still drowsy at school today.
“Aaah…what?”
“You’re not one to shy away, if I may say so myself.”
After all, it’s incredible that she is still talking to me normally like this.
Her current state is like that of a bodhisattva who has already attained enlightenment. If I were in her shoes, I’d be ignoring myself.
“That impromptu sleepover was a bit tough on me. Even though I called home during that night, my mum still questioned me a lot when I got back.”
“Yeah, I thought that’d be the case.”
Of course she would be questioned. If she wasn’t, I’d be suspicious about a breakdown in their parent-child relationship.
“Well, even if I had told my mum what had actually happened, you wouldn’t expect her to believe me, right? So I ended up dramatising my story a bit.”
“And what did you end up saying to your mum?”
“I told her that Sawamura-san had let me stay ‘with her’ overnight.”
“…So, through some rather suspicious wordplay, you avoided lying to your mum, huh.”
The two girls left my house together at seven on Sunday morning.
Basically, you could say that Katou was always staying ‘with Eriri’.
“My mum was also surprised when I told her that the mansion at the top of the hill belonged to the Sawamura family.”
“…You’re more of a wicked girl than I expected.”
By conveying a completely unrelated fact in that situation, she had perfectly deceived her mother. There was nothing lacking about her way with words.
“Anyway, Aki-kun, we still didn’t end up making any progress despite our all-nighter.”
“Could you not say anything that suggests we’ve already created the circle?”
“Ahaha, I can do that. I’ll just say that it was a training camp where we were trying to gather members, but only ended up playing around, instead.”
“Just right after I told you not to say things like that, you’ve gone ahead and blurted it out.”
“Ah, but with that being said, it was very enjoyable.”
“Oh, I see. That’s the best result I could hope for.”
“I was beginning to get more and more serious about the dates we were going on, and I was getting quite worried over what to give as a present too…and so, because of all that build-up, I felt really moved when I was confessed to in the end.”
“…That’s good to hear.”
“What’s wrong, Aki-kun? You look a bit odd.”
“Oh no, not at all….”
Actually, I am feeling odd.
I’m positively shaking in my boots over whether or not someone might have overheard what was just said.
‘Sleepover’, ‘All-nighter’, ‘Date’, ‘Present’, ‘Serious’, ‘Confession’….
Just now, Katou had spoken out into the open, a sentence full of words in the vicinity that have the potential to invite various misunderstandings, all at a reasonably audible volume.
Was this on purpose? Was this on purpose, Katou? Do you want this to be a known fact?
Do you have an interest in me, Katou?!
“…Abnormalities, nil.”
“What doesn’t have any abnormalities?”
At present there was still some time left until class would begin. Excluding me and Katou, about half the class was here in the classroom.
Katou’s heedless words, should anyone have paid even the slightest amount of attention to them, would have been heard by no less than five people.
Yet….
“Really now, there’s nothing abnormal at all.”
“What are you trying to say then?”
Then again, everyone sees me as a 2D-loving otaku. I’d also be the first to admit that I’m the most disconnected from reality out of the entire class.
So, I guess I’d be alright with that? However, for Katou, it might….
“Enough talking. Head back to your seat; class is about to start.”
“You’re being kind of strange here…ah.”
She’s a cute, openhearted, and all-round good person. Not only that, but she’s a very fashionable girl too.
Yet for such girls who would be a ‘good, carefree partner’, the amount of attention they get contrasts with the top performance you’d expect them to get in rankings.
The road to being a heroine is steep, isn’t it?
However, look out world, because one day I will definitely turn Katou into a global, no wait, Japan’s, err, the industry’s…err, I’ll at least turn her into the school’s heroine….
“Me-Megumi, Megumi!”
“Hey you, what’s the meaning of this?!”
“Oh wow! How did you…?”
Yes, I’ll make her exactly like this….
“I’m so glad I finally found you…Katou Megumi-san.”
“…Sawamura…san.”
“Wait, what?”
In a flash, Katou and I were surrounded by more than half the class.
As I noted, the amount of attention being focused in this direction was immense.
Before long, everyone had their eyes on Katou….
“Ah, I wanted to express my gratitude over what had happened yesterday. Unfortunately, time was short and you had left before I could give you my thanks. Did you know it was hard to find you? …Ahaha, anyway, it was rather insensitive of me to not know what class you were in, so I’m sorry for that.”
“Huh? What?”
I didn’t know anything about that.
In any case, standing in front of Katou right now was a figure, whose luscious, lustrous locks of impeccably and smartly-tied twintails were the very definition of blonde itself.
With white, porcelain-like skin that girls yearn for and bright blue eyes so often the talk of boys, it was the regular Eriri as everyone else knew it. However, to me, it was Eriri in that flawless disguise of hers.
“Eh, what happened, Megumi? What happened between you and Sawamura-san yesterday?”
Having drawn the scant attention of the nearby students, Katou was, of course, bombarded with questions from those curious souls.
“Nothing happened really…I just stayed over.”
“She lent me her handkerchief!”
“Guh?!”
“A-Aki-kun?
Damn that Eriri…why is she stepping on my foot?
It was Katou who had blurted out those careless words earlier. I, on the other hand, hadn’t spoken a single word at all. Even then, all the attention was being focused elsewhere, so I’d been completely out of the spotlight.
…Ah, it might be that, because I’m not in the spotlight, she’s doing this, so no one but Katou could spill what had happened….
“I was being a bit careless at the time and ended up injuring myself…then Katou-san, who happened to be passing by, went out of her way to assist me.”
“Oh! So that’s what happened! That’s incredible, Megumi!”
Hey, hang on a second here. What’s so incredible about that?
The way they react to Eriri is just completely over the top.
I mean, when people from other classes decide to make a grand entrance into another classroom, it’s the norm for them to be greeted with hostile stares!
This is just like…a heroine, isn’t it?
“To receive such kindness from Katou-san was really….”
“Ah, um, has the swelling gone down? That clunk noise was really something.”
“I pricked my hand on some rose thorns!”
“Gah?!”
“A-Aki-kun?”
This time, the beguiler of a main heroine had aimed her kick at my shins.
How come no one noticed my distress yet? There’re at least ten people around us too.
“I came across some beautiful roses in your front garden, and let’s just say that, against my better judgement, I tried to touch them…right? That’s what happened, right, Katou-san?”
“Er, ah, um….”
Oh, I see what’s happening. An enchantress’s work is afoot here.
Swaying that blonde hair to and fro, combing, streaking it upwards with her fingers, flashing no less than the needed smile in the situation….
Using such techniques, she could draw everyone’s focus onto the upper half of her figure, creating an opportunity for her foot to freely assault me.
…A truly pointless technique to protect that outlandish vanity of hers and a disgusting, wasteful way to improve her standing.
“Your handkerchief was most helpful in that situation. Although it is just a simple way to express my gratitude…, I would like for you to have this.”
“Ah, there’s no need….”
In Katou’s hand was a checkered ribbon from Eriri.
“I bought that item during one of my shopping trips. It may be on the less expensive side, but….”
“Ah, I see….”
I know what that item is.
If I recall, that item is from a high-class English brand that the Spencer family has long been regular customers of.
During elementary school, there was this single moment when Eriri had thrown a tantrum towards her parents. I, who had finished school and was coming over to play, got caught up in it and taken along with her ‘shopping’.
I wouldn’t have believed it if I didn’t see it…but none of the items in the shop were under five digits in price.
I also remember old man Spencer telling me to ‘Choose one thing that you like’. I ended up panicking and crying. It’s a bit of a dark memory for me…
“Hey, Katou-san. Do you want to hang out in the arts classroom next time?”
“Huh, why…?”
“I want to talk to you more, that’s why…and if I could trouble you a little bit further, I would like to ask you to be a model for me. Would you be up for it?”
“M-model?”
“That’s right, it’s for the upcoming exhibition.”
“Woah, that’s amazing, Megumi!”
“I can’t believe you’re being asked by Sawamura-san to be a model for her pictures!”
“Ah, I’d even let her paint me nude if it were me!”
“Hehe, keeping your clothes on will be fine. So, will you consider it?”
Eriri continued to smile as she leaned in closer to Katou, however there was something devilish beneath that refined, elegant smile of hers.
For the people surrounding us, this scene might have been a reflection of two people narrowing the distance between their hearts, a sign of a deepening friendship.
However, this move by Eriri is probably….
“S-Sawamura-san, um, what exactly are you….”
“I told you, Katou-san, it’s about yesterday….”
“If you tell anyone, you realise I won’t be letting you off?”
“Gu…?!”
That faint whisper of intimidation was drowned out by the gulping noises of Katou, meaning that it wouldn’t have reached any of the surrounding ears.
No one else but me had read the movement on Eriri’s lips as she whispered directly to Katou.
“Well, I’ll be heading back now. I’ll be ready to welcome you at any time…, Megumi-san.”
With those final words, Eriri left the classroom with an air of grace trailing behind her. There was, however, no mistaking that devilishness in the enigmatic smile she wore as she departed.
“….”
“Oi.”
“….”
“Earth to Katou, Earth to Katou, anyone there?”
“…Huh?!”
“…Oi, are you alright?”
As soon as Eriri had left, the home room teacher had come in, signaling the start of home room.
After a few quick minutes, the home room teacher left, followed by the rest of the students who made their way out. Katou was, however, still sitting in her seat with a dazed look on her face, unable to stand up.
“Ah, Aki-kun…what was that, exactly?”
“That was nothing in particular…just a friend you talked to over the weekend at a pajama party, right?”
“I wasn’t wearing pajamas…you didn’t tell me to bring any, either.”
“No need to get worked up, Katou, pajamas aren’t the issue here.”
That being said, would you have prepared for a pajama party if I had told you to bring them?
“Anyway, Aki-kun, why did she come all the way to our classroom?”
“It’s because you had seen too much of her true self. It’s most likely that she’s come to the conclusion that you’ll have to be put under closer watch.”
“So, I’m being treated as though I’m on probation?”
“It’s more like a stay of execution, isn’t it?”
“A stay of execution?! Even though I’m just a minor?!”
Our comedy act continued back and forth for awhile in this vein, due to the shock of what had just happened.
Somehow, though, we still managed to match up our verbal jabs at each other.
“It doesn’t seem like I can win against Sawamura-san….”
“Well, it doesn’t really matter if a quirky character can’t win.”
My cute, crybaby of a childhood friend in the past…why did she end up like this?
“I was scared…during that moment, I was really scared, Aki-kuun.”
“Did you feel as though you were going to wet yourself?”
“Uu…is it really appropriate to ask a girl something like that?”
“Sorry, my bad. I got too carried away there, just forget what I asked.”
“We-well, it certainly did feel like that, I guess.”
“Ah, what a waste. In eroge, someone wetting their pants can be seen as a moe attribute, but trying to show that in a dating sim is downright forbidden. At any rate, we won’t be able to use that as an event….”
“…Sawamura-san ended up being less of ‘that’ than I imagined, but Aki-kun, you’re exactly how I imagined ‘that’ to be, aren’t you?”
And so, our choice for the concept artist skipped happily back to square one.