← The Studious Boy and the Secret Account Girl
Volume 1
Chapter 10: I Don't Know the Right Answer – Part 1
Chapter 10: I Don’t Know the Right Answer – Part 1
He dozed, nodding off.
Barely had he settled after putting his lunch in his belly when a fierce drowsiness assailed him.
The cause was clearly that he hadn’t slept well the night before.
The ‘reason’ that made Tsutomu end up fighting off sleep was shining brightly right in the middle of the classroom, even today.
‘Tachibana Matsurika’
The girl who’d won the beauty contest at last year’s school festival — very likely the most beautiful girl in the whole school.
Merely being there, she somehow looked splendid. Perhaps it was her good posture.
Her slender arms and legs — especially the white legs stretching from her short skirt — were truly a sight to behold.
Her chest also exuded a nearly violent presence, while not a single ounce of excess fat existed anywhere on her.
Big black eyes, long narrow gaze. The parts composing her face — nose bridge, lips, brows, ears and so on — were all perfect.
Not only did she possess a beauty that would not be overstatement to call peerless, but she was also intellectually brilliant and had outstanding motor skills.
Her communication ability was tremendous, too — truly a perfect heroine. There was no room for complaint.
The very existence of Matsurika brightly illuminated the classroom. It wasn’t the delusion of a drowsy Tsutomu.
—Tachibana is ‘RIKA’… the secret account…
That Matsurika was the true identity of Tsutomu’s beloved secret account ‘RIKA’… was, at this stage, no more than imagination.
The only thing was one common point he’d happened to see yesterday — that the mole behind her knee matched.
Beyond that, it was just a vague matter of ‘Tsutomu felt like it was so.’
After that, he’d searched the internet once more about secret accounts.
As before, it said that women of the type who display erotic self-shots on a secret account tend to be tormented by loneliness and driven by a desire for approval.
Both ‘loneliness’ and ‘desire for approval’ were utterly unsuited to Matsurika, who shone at the center of the classroom, surrounded by her classmates, flashing a dazzling smile.
—Perhaps I really am mistaken.
That ‘Tachibana Matsurika’ and ‘RIKA’ were the same person started to feel like an impolite delusion of Tsutomu’s.
But… if it were a delusion, there should be a reason he’d come to harbor such one.
No matter how long he searched his mind for a reason to want to treat Matsurika as a secret-account girl, nothing came to him.
“Yo, whatcha looking at, Tsutomu?”
“…Amakusa, is it.”
Looking up, there was a man with a frivolous smile.
‘Amakusa Shiro’
One of the few friends Tsutomu had at school — and even outside of it.
Naturally lightened, sort of brown-colored hair. Taller than Tsutomu, with well-proportioned features.
Unlike Tsutomu, who tended to keep his classmates at a distance, Shiro was good with people regardless of gender.
“Yo, it’s Shiro-sama. So, whatcha looking at?”
“…Nothing.”
Shiro ignored Tsutomu’s answer and sat down in the empty seat in front of him.
Following Tsutomu’s line of sight, he found the target of it——
“Ah, it’s Matsurika-san.”
“I wasn’t, like, looking at Tachibana.”
The direct hit made him fluster.
Without enough sleep, his head wasn’t working well.
As a result, his retort came out a little too quickly and lost any persuasive power.
“Come now, be honest. It’s fine, isn’t it? Matsurika-san. A feast for sore eyes.”
Shiro nodded along with a knowing air.
This was a guy who wouldn’t listen no matter what he said.
“So spring’s finally come, huh?”
“Summer’s almost here.”
Though Golden Week was over, it was still May.
In terms of Japan’s weather, the rainy season comes before summer.
Tsutomu’s phrasing of ‘summer’s almost here’ wasn’t exactly right.
“Hahaha. Judging by how you’re trying to dodge the subject, you’re serious, huh.”
“Serious, nothing… I’m pretty sure Tachibana has a boyfriend.”
“So you’ll admit you were looking at Matsurika-san, then.”
“…”
Called out on it, he fell silent.
If he didn’t produce some clever retort here, he’d be prodded further, but——
“You’re right.”
He gave up denying it.
Plenty of boys harbored feelings for Matsurika, and she was always in the spotlight.
It was no surprise that Tsutomu had been looking at her. Forcibly denying it would only look more suspicious.
“Since you’re being honest, here’s a fresh scoop. She’s supposedly available right now.”
“Is that so?”
Shiro, who was good with people, had high information-gathering skills.
He especially preferred subjects involving relations between men and women, and was valued when it came to advancing such matters.
“So the boyfriend, or rather ex-boyfriend, was in the soccer club?”
“Basketball club. Soccer was before that.”
“Quite the playboy.”
A beautiful girl with a superb figure.
A high-spec girl excelling in both academics and athletics.
The school idol who was fun to look at and fun to talk to.
The boys who targeted such a Matsurika were in the countless, irrespective of seniority.
“Normally, a heroine like that is default to not dating anyone, you know.”
“Is that so?”
“That’s how it is.”
From Tsutomu, who was unversed in the subtleties of men and women, a popular girl like her struck him as having no shortage of romantic partners.
But to Shiro, who’d spanned dramas and films from all ages and places to anime and manga, a ‘perfect heroine never dates anyone.’
“What about you, Amakusa?”
“Hm? Me?”
He nodded at Shiro, who pointed at his own face.
Different in gender, but this man’s specs were high, too.
Between such quality specimens, they seemed well-matched.
“Matsurika-san, huh… Hmm, I’m fine just looking at her.”
“Oh? And what reason is that, again?”
As far as Tsutomu knew, Shiro was heterosexual.
Adding to that, like a typical adolescent boy, he loved naughty things, too.
He did acknowledge that Matsurika was a beautiful girl.
And yet saying he was fine just looking at her was hard to accept.
“How rare. For you to bite so hard on something like this.”
“Right. I’m surprised myself.”
Tsutomu had never shown much interest in others.
Shiro was a rare exception — or rather, he’d come poking around regardless of being brushed off, and before long they simply talked normally.
…Even with that Shiro, he’d never really pressed into private, personal matters.
“So you don’t know yourself well, huh.”
“Something like that. Anyhow, why are you not interested in Tachibana?”
“I never said I wasn’t interested.”
“If you were interested, you wouldn’t just be looking.”
Leaning his elbows on the desk and resting his chin on his hand, he asked.
His gaze stayed fixed on Matsurika, scattering smiles around.
“Hmm… It’s good that you’re taking an interest in me and the other classmates, so I’ll answer honestly.”
“You were planning to answer half-heartedly?”
Pressed, he got back a cynical smile with ‘all depends on the other person.’
Shiro let his gaze wander in the air for a while, then spoke.
“As you said, I’m interested in Matsurika-san, too. But… Matsurika-san has no interest in me — no, in us. Or so I feel.”
“No interest?”
It was an unexpected answer.
Surrounded by that many people?
Smiling that much?
To begin with, the very notion of dating while having no interest was beyond his understanding.
He wasn’t doubting his friend’s character, but… was there a basis for it?
“Yeah. If she truly had interest, she wouldn’t change guys so easily like that.”
“What about the line that once you date, it turns out different than you thought?”
“I can’t say there’s none, but it’s not like she’s waiting to see, either.”
Shiro murmured deeply.
’Tachibana Matsurika’s relations with the opposite sex were glamorous and intense.
She’d never had one end in a long-lasting relationship. That was also well known.
Owing to her overwhelming charisma, she was never overtly criticized, but——
—I can’t make sense of it.
“Ah, she’s looking this way.”
“Hm?”
In the moment his attention drifted, Shiro’s voice overlapped.
When he turned his gaze back — Matsurika’s black eyes were piercing straight through Tsutomu.
A chill ran down his spine. An unidentifiable trembling ran up his back.