← The Studious Boy and the Secret Account Girl
Volume 3
Chapter 28: After School on a Certain Day in the Rainy Season - Part 2
Chapter 28: After School on a Certain Day in the Rainy Season - Part 2
Despite having agreed with Shiro that the smart move was to head home fast, Tsutomu stayed at school for a while longer.
He was hunting for books in the school library—the place he frequented second-most after the classroom.
For a public school, its library held a surprisingly large collection.
In sheer numbers, the city library probably had more, but it also had far more users.
The school library, by contrast, didn’t see many students outside of exam season.
The elderly librarian seemed to be a conscientious type, and bestsellers went on display with impressive regularity.
For Tsutomu, a mere student, borrowing books from the school library was simply more convenient.
“The teachers are nothing special, but the library has value.” That was Tsutomu’s assessment of the school.
It was not, by any stretch, the sort of thing that would ever appear in the “Student Voices” column of a school guide for prospective applicants.
Today, though, even the library was closing up shop early, and he found himself booted out without waiting for the official dismissal time.
No part-time job, no urgent errands—a place where he could read books for free should have been perfect for killing time.
He’d been planning to try a novel from a genre he rarely picked up, but that had come to nothing.
Well, it couldn’t be helped, he thought, shrugging as he headed for the entrance hall. He could see their side of the argument.
No one wants students dawdling around on a day with weather this foul. If an accident happened, it would be no laughing matter.
Tsutomu was rebellious where teachers were concerned, but he had no particular desire to go looking for trouble, either.
“…Guess I’ll head home.”
Dragging his feet to the entrance hall, he found a smattering of students still lingering.
Not one of them held an umbrella; they all stared up at the sky with sour expressions.
Presumably they were waiting for someone to come pick them up.
The trains were probably running on pretty shaky footing, but what about the cars?
Buffeted by gales, blinded by sheets of rain—anyone driving in this looked to be in for a miserable time.
Even if it’s for their kids, being a parent is rough.
Tsutomu wouldn’t want to be behind the wheel on a day like this. He didn’t have a license, but even if he had, he’d want no part of it.
But… if your kid called begging for help, you’d probably want to do something, parent or not.
Then again, since “leave them stranded at school” wasn’t an option, going to get them was the only choice there was.
In any case, it had nothing to do with Tsutomu, who lived alone within walking distance of school.
“Oh? Kariya-kun?”
“Tachibana?”
He had just changed into his street shoes when a voice came from behind him.
A clear voice, gentle on the ears. Sweet, refreshing, addictive.
He turned, and there she was: the school’s idol, Tachibana Matsurika.
Her black hair, which normally flowed without a weight to it, looked heavy today, damp from the humid air.
Just seeing her face made him acutely aware that, for some reason, his spirits had lifted.
Shiro’s face surfaced in his mind. His imaginary friend was asking, Is that what you call friendship?
He drove an invisible fist into the face of the friend in his head—smirk included—and shut him up.
“You hadn’t headed home yet?”
“What about you, Tachibana? What were you doing up until this hour?”
“Hmm~ I was just chatting with a friend.”
For all her “just,” she sounded oddly evasive.
It didn’t seem like a topic he should press for details on.
When she said the word “friend,” a dull ache shot through Tsutomu’s chest.
He pressed a hand to his chest, and the ache vanished as quickly as it had come.
But, setting that aside—
“On a day like this? Why not just do that over social media once you’re home?”
“When you put it that way… I mean, sure, but there are things you just want to talk about in person, you know?”
People apparently brought their troubles to Matsurika, the school’s charismatic figure, on a regular basis… or so it seemed.
Her appeal went beyond her looks; plenty of people relied on her.
For Tsutomu, whose interpersonal relationships were a disaster zone, it was a world he couldn’t begin to imagine.
“Is that how it works?”
“That is indeed how it works.”
Matsurika slipped on her shoes and danced her way to the exit with light steps.
“Wow, the rain’s really coming down.”
“It is the rainy season.”
Listening to her adorable grumbling, Tsutomu pulled a folding umbrella out of his bag.
Right beside him, Matsurika’s eyes gleamed.
“Kariya-kun, I have a favor to ask.”
“…What is it?”
The sudden formality in her tone was fishy beyond measure.
A bad feeling crept in. Memories resurfaced of being run ragged by her blunt requests.
He scanned the surroundings… the crowd had thinned out considerably, but students were still visible here and there.
He could feel clingy, sticky stares on him. Thanks to the Gariben Notebook affair, the general understanding had spread that Matsurika had set her sights on Tsutomu.
Kariya this time, huh…
Gariben, of all people?
Wonder how long that’ll last.
Tachibana-san really has no standards, does she?
As the newest boyfriend candidate for Matsurika—the charismatic girl with a long line of romances—he’d been catching a different flavor of resentment than before, and more of it.
Honestly, it was a considerable nuisance. The unfamiliar sensation sat uncomfortably, and he felt no obligation to feed the gawkers fresh material.
The problem was—he had no idea how the other party involved saw all this. Which meant he couldn’t afford to move carelessly.
On the surface, Matsurika seemed calm… but her familiarity with romance-related drama was simply on another level.
She wasn’t throwing up a barrier and rejecting everything the way Tsutomu did; she parried it all with practiced ease, keeping everything harmless and inoffensive.
It didn’t look like the sort of thing you could pull off just by imitating it. He couldn’t quite picture himself managing it.
“You don’t need to be so on guard, you know.”
Matsurika’s voice was exactly as it always was.
She seemed to have chalked his flinch up to her own “favor.”
The audience’s curiosity didn’t appear to concern her in the slightest. Her nerves were impressively thick.
“…How about you take a moment to reflect on your own conduct so far?”
With those jet-black eyes fixed on him from point-blank range, his mouth stopped working properly.
Hearing the words Tsutomu had barely wrung out, Matsurika laid a hand on her ample chest and closed her eyes.
The way her pale palm sank softly into the twin swells beneath her thin summer uniform stirred a man’s baser instincts.
She was absolutely doing it on purpose. They hadn’t known each other all that long, but he knew at least that much.
This beautiful girl pulled these borderline sexual-harassment moves constantly—and only ever on Tsutomu.
His body did jolt with the startle, but if he blatantly showed he’d been tempted, she’d be overjoyed, so he kept his silence.
He was staring shamelessly through his lenses, but her eyes were closed, so she hadn’t caught him… probably.
After a short stretch of silent contemplation, Matsurika opened her eyes and beamed.
“So anyway, Kariya-kun, I have a favor to ask.”
No idea what she could possibly mean… or so she had apparently decided.
She really was a girl built to lead people into sin.
For the one being jerked around, it was unbearable.
…And precisely because it wasn’t unpleasant, it was all the more unbearable.
“Fine, fine—just spit it out already.”
“Geez. I’d like to lodge a protest about that rude treatment.”
“Denied. Come on, out with it.”
When he rushed her, for some reason he got a sigh so theatrical it had to be deliberate.
Truly baffling behavior. Tsutomu was the one who wanted to sigh.
“Um, let’s see… I’d like you to walk me to the station, maybe?”
Matsurika tilted her head at him, begging sweetly.
Black hair spilled smoothly down past her shoulder.
Just as he’d expected, it was a thoroughly unreasonable request.
After all, the station nearest the school was in the exact opposite direction from his house.
Avoiding an instant answer, he looked outside. Still raining.
He remembered the forecast: it was only supposed to get worse.
Walk her to the station, she says…
The folding umbrella in his hand suddenly felt flimsy and inadequate.
When he turned his gaze back, he was caught in Matsurika’s expectant, shining eyes. He nearly stopped breathing.
There was no way on earth he could refuse in this situation. Abandoning her was emotionally impossible, too.
Tsutomu’s plan—head home fast, take it easy—was in total, unstoppable collapse from the ground up.