NOVEL NEXT Chapter 26
“Hello, Sato-kun!”
On my day off, at 1 in the afternoon, the doorbell rang. When I went to the door, Shirasagi-san was there in casual clothes, holding two boxes of cake.
“Uh, hello…”
What on Earth is going on? Why is Shirasagi-san at my house?
“This is to thank you for yesterday!”
“Ah, thank you…”
While thanking her, I took the cake boxes from Shirasagi-san.
“See you tomorrow!!”
So that’s what she meant…
What should I do? It would be rude to let her go back after she came all this way, right?
Should I… invite her into the house?
Yeah, that’s it! What if I invite her in like Kaneda, with ulterior motives? Then she would probably decline!
“Um, would you like some tea? Uh… there’s no one home right now. Heh, heh.”
Wow, I feel really creepy. I feel like dying…
Well, it’s not a lie. Surely, Shirasagi-san won’t come in after that.
“Really!? I’d love to! Thank you for having me!”
What!?
You’ve got to be kidding! Who would come in after that? She should be creeped out and go home!
“Please, come in.”
Confused, I let Shirasagi-san into my house.
“Let’s go to my room upstairs.”
“You know, it’s pretty inappropriate to invite a girl straight to your room, right?”
“I’d be on guard against anything creepy happening.”
Ah!!
“Sorry, let’s go to the living room instead.”
“Huh? Okay.”
Phew, close call… I almost took her to my room again. Thanks for the advice, Kuromiya!
“Wow, so this is Sato-kun’s house!”
Shirasagi-san looked around with shining eyes. She seemed to be having fun even though there was nothing particularly interesting around.
“Would you like coffee or tea?”
“Tea, please!”
I prepared coffee for myself and tea for Shirasagi-san. I remembered there were some teabags my stepsister left… ah, here they are.
We finished preparing and began eating the cake. Mine was a matcha tart. Had Shirasagi-san remembered that I liked matcha? Little things like this make me happy.
“How was it? Delicious?”
“Yes, it was great. Thank you, Shirasagi-san.”
“Hehe, I’m glad you liked it.”
I stared intently at Shirasagi-san’s face as she drank her tea. There was something I wanted to ask her.
“What’s wrong?”
“Um… why do you do so much for someone like me? Like taking me to karaoke.”
“Hmm, well, I guess I could tell you.”
Shirasagi-san straightened her back and looked intently at me. Seeing her serious expression, I inadvertently straightened my own back.
“I was just like you, Sato-kun.”
“Huh?”
“I didn’t have friends in elementary school either. I was always alone.”
I couldn’t believe it. Shirasagi-san, who’s now popular with everyone, had no friends?
“So in middle school, I decided I couldn’t go on like that. I worked hard to improve myself in various ways, like studying and grooming.”
That makes sense. To change herself, Shirasagi-san put in the effort to become who she is now.
“That’s why I’m just doing what I wished someone would have done for me.”
She said, smiling.
“Can I use your bathroom?”
“Sure, it’s at the end of the hall.”
“Thank you.”
I sighed deeply. After hearing about her past, I thought again about how kind and amazing she is.
And she’s friends with me?
“That’s too presumptuous…”
The words slipped out, unheard by anyone.
“Shirasagi-san, you’re taking a long time, aren’t you? It’s been like 10 minutes… Is this normal for girls?”
I stepped out of the living room and noticed that the door was open.
The door to the room filled with my dark past.
“…!”
Could it be?
As I headed towards the room, I found Shirasagi-san inside.
“Uh, Sato-kun… all these trophies and certificates in this room…?”
Her face looked genuinely surprised as she asked me.
Yes, this room was filled with gold medals, trophies, and certificates I had won in various fields during middle school.
It seems like I’ll have to tell Shirasagi-san about my past too.