← The Studious Boy and the Secret Account Girl
Volume 2
Chapter 19: The Exposed Relationship
Chapter 19: The Exposed Relationship
“Hey, is Matsurika going out with Gariben?”
The voice of a girl that echoed through the classroom at lunch was by no means loud.
Yet, precisely because its content was sensational, no one let it slip by.
The love life of the school idol ‘Tachibana Matsurika’ resembled a celebrity’s scandal.
Being someone you could meet up close, without going through TV or the internet, Matsurika’s was all the higher in attention and vividness.
Tsutomu, engaged in a casual chat with Shiro, one of his few friends, lifted his head sharply at the voice.
His gaze, through his lenses, naturally went to the center of the classroom.
There was the back of a glossy black-haired girl, perched on a desk.
‘Even if it was my own choice, it’s definitely a pain.’
The figure of her grumbling when they’d decided to lend the notebook came to mind.
To keep on shining as a charismatic idol, she didn’t want her effort seen. Not known.
She resembled a waterfowl gliding gracefully on the surface. That bird, beneath the surface, paddles its feet desperately.
Having their relationship exposed here would amount to wasting her effort.
—What should I do?
If it were only Tsutomu’s problem, he could have barked ‘what’s it to you?’ and been done with it.
There were few eccentric enough to actively want to get involved with Tsutomu, who was hardly good at human relations.
Were he to reject flatly, no one in this classroom would press any further.
…Though, whether he was even the object of any interest, to begin with, was unclear.
Casting a glance sideways, his eyes met Shiro’s.
On the face that sold a made-to-order cheerfulness, a bitter expression now settled.
It wasn’t a long acquaintance by any means, but he felt warned: ‘don’t say anything rash.’
A light in his eyes he’d never seen before. An indefinable shiver ran down Tsutomu’s spine.
“E-eh? What, all of a sudden? What’s the matter?”
Matsurika’s answer was dry… so it seemed to him.
Despite the same bright, gorgeous pitch as always, the voice stirred unease.
Straining his nerves not to miss a single word of what she spoke, without turning around.
Suddenly, the tension rose. Unconsciously, he swallowed his saliva gulping.
“Because, aren’t you two too friendly lately?”
“So? I’d say we’re normal.”
We’re classmates, after all.
Each of Matsurika’s light replies stirred in Tsutomu an indefinable irritation.
Amid a baffling impulse, he stayed silent, feeling at a loss——
“I saw it, you know. Matsurika and Gariben, on a date during lunch break.”
After the clingy tone, murmurs spread from here and there in the classroom.
The voice itself was by no means loud. But it showed no sign of settling down.
Its manner resembled the aftershocks that follow a great earthquake.
Matsurika, still with her back turned, had fallen silent just like Tsutomu.
Only—the girl who drew the room’s attention so entirely, her shoulders gave a start.
—We’d been watched!
He ground his teeth.
He’d meant to pick a spot for the notebook transaction that avoided as many eyes as possible, but it hadn’t been perfect.
Even from a distance, watching only from behind, it was plain to see that Matsurika was flustered.
Even so——
“Is this something you ask in front of everyone?”
“No, that’s not it, Tsutomu.”
To the petty, near-groaning retort, Shiro reacted.
Combined with the denial of ‘that’s not it’, Tsutomu took his eyes off Matsurika.
Lowering his voice, he asked the meaning.
“What do you mean, ‘that’s not it’?”
“That’s not a question, man. She’s making them listen.”
Shiro’s face was twisted.
It was a cynical smile.
“Making them listen? To whom?”
To Tsutomu, aware of being slow at the subtleties of human relations, it was beyond him.
To Shiro, who had many friends across the divide of gender, a different world was visible than to Tsutomu.
Even dull Tsutomu could grasp that much.
“So, let me put it this way…”
By Shiro’s account, there was a boy in this classroom who was interested in Matsurika (name withheld).
And the girl (the one asking), was interested in that boy.
That’s precisely why she was trying to establish the truth (?) in the public field of the classroom.
‘Tachibana Matsurika’ was the school idol and, at the same time, known as a girl of many loves.
From upperclassmen to underclassmen, her partners were countless. And every one of them, without exception, never lasted long.
It was one of the common-sense facts any student of this school knew. That Tsutomu didn’t was the deviation.
If Matsurika answered yes to this question, that boy would be disappointed in his love.
If Matsurika answered no to this question… well, the situation wouldn’t change.
The inconvenience wrought on Tsutomu, dragged in without consent, was surely of no concern to the people of this classroom.
Either way, the questioner came out without loss.
“Even if that boy gives up on Tachibana, he won’t necessarily turn to that girl, will he?”
“Well, that’s true… but with this sort of thing, it’s not about logic.”
On Shiro’s sigh-laden face, an emotion akin to resignation surfaced.
This man, too, was the object of affection from many women.
Perhaps something similar had happened around him before.
Which was why, perhaps, Shiro was casting a sympathetic gaze toward Matsurika.
—How galling.
Tsutomu was irritated at being used as a pawn.
At the same time, he had to admit his difficulty justifying that anger, being one who wrote off others as ‘doesn’t matter.’
Whether a lack of interest turns into indifference or into attack is a big difference, but the fundamental part wasn’t.
Whatever happened to someone who didn’t matter was no concern of his. He couldn’t feel the need to fret over it.
Realizing it wasn’t quite unlike self-loathing, he hurriedly shook his head to blow away the gloomy thoughts.
The important thing at this moment wasn’t that. He had to clear the suspicion cast on Matsurika.
—For me it’s neither here nor there, but I’ve got to do something about Tachibana’s side…
As he thought that far, a voice echoed in Tsutomu’s mind.
A crisp voice, etched into his heart through his ears.
The voice of Matsurika, delivered through a smartphone.
‘You’ve got to love yourself with all you’ve got, and treasure yourself with all you’ve got.’
He’d thought it a fairly sweet-reasoned thing.
He’d thought it a fairly kind consideration.
Loving yourself, treasuring yourself—things like that, he’d never once considered.
But… Matsurika’s words, thrown out of a value system entirely opposite his, seeped gently into Tsutomu’s chest.
The voice he’d heard one night revived, and strength gathered in the fingers of both hands gripping the edge of the desk.
“Tachibana isn’t moving.”
“I don’t know what kind of relationship you two have, but she’s probably thinking if she says something weird you’ll get hurt, or something.”
You two are pretty close, huh.
Shiro’s voice was oddly calm, making it uncomfortable. He scratched at his short-cropped, shaved-back head.
Had it been the usual flippant, teasing tone, he might have brushed it off with a ‘none of my business’ while covering his embarrassment.
But that was something Tsutomu’s pride wouldn’t allow. He didn’t want to be a shallow person who abandoned a Matsurika in trouble.
If there’s something more important than yourself, then yourself—doesn’t matter. No matter what anyone thinks, it doesn’t matter.
—Sorry, Tachibana.
Pressing his hands together in apology within his heart, he kicked back his chair and stood.
At the sudden, rough sound that rang through the classroom, everyone’s surprised eyes turned to Tsutomu.
Looking down over the noisy lunch-break room, he met each gaze in turn.
With a confidence bordering on refreshing, he puffed out his chest, adjusted his glasses, then opened his mouth.
The unpleasant emotion that had been churning in his chest went up through his throat and left his lips.
“Always so noisy. She consulted me, saying she couldn’t keep up with the classes lately, so I was just teaching her.”