NOVEL NEXT Chapter 62
After a day had passed, it was late afternoon.
My smartphone vibrated.
“Looks like a notification came through.”
“Mm.”
While doing the dishes, I responded to Yamamoto’s reply.
After finishing lunch, Yamamoto began cleaning right away. Before eating, he swiped his finger along the top of the TV and frowned deeply. That probably triggered his cleaning spree.
Well, the dust that supposedly accumulated on top of the TV was barely noticeable to my eyes. But by swiping his finger, through Yamamoto’s neurotic lens, it failed his inspection.
Once I finished washing the dishes, I wiped my hands and returned to the living room.
“Where are you cleaning up to?”
“I’ll start at the source of the dust. That’s the surest and quickest way.”
Faced with such neurotic, or rather pathological behavior, I let out a sigh of exasperation and picked up my phone.
The one who made my phone vibrate was Akari.
“I found Maeda’s contact info.”
After that message, Maeda’s contact info was listed in the message.
Come to think of it, did Akari get permission from him to leak his contact info?
“Did you get permission from Maeda?”
“I got it through a friend.”
“Well, that’s good.”
“He responded immediately, so he probably has ulterior motives.”
Akari sent a grinning emoji, but that was a bit of a heavy conversation.
“Right. Anyway, I’ll reach out and see if we can meet tomorrow.”
“Okay. Good luck.”
I was a bit taken aback.
For this situation, I thought for sure Akari would accompany me on my endeavor. I was surprised by her pushy encouragement.
…What should I do?
This matter involves that cleaning freak, so I definitely can’t invite him.
“Cleaning dust is so fun!”
…He’s making weird noises again.
If Akari doesn’t feel like coming, I’m a bit anxious…or rather, scared.
Can I hold a conversation on my own with someone who has ulterior motives?
Of course I can.
I remember I had a strong personality in high school, even being called a queen.
Maeda should know how I was back then, and if I glare at him, he’ll back down.
I quickly sent Maeda a message.
It was just in time for Silver Week. Maybe he was free, because Maeda replied very quickly.
After a quick conversation, I successfully scheduled a meeting with him for tomorrow.
“Yamamoto.”
“Mm?”
“I’m going out for a bit tomorrow.”
“Is that so? Where to?”
…I remember, I’ve been taking Yamamoto along with me whenever I go out… Yamamoto probably thinks he’s supposed to come along whenever I go out.
Oh, what should I do?
If I say I’m going to see Maeda, would this guy say he’s coming along?
What Yamamoto might say.
Like, “Who?” maybe.
…Does he even remember the faces of our high school classmates?
“Rin?”
…What should I do?
Of course, I can’t tell Yamamoto the reason why I want to go out tomorrow.
Should I just say I’m going to see a guy and leave it at that? No, I absolutely don’t want to do that.
“…”
Seeing my reluctance to speak, Yamamoto tilted his head.
“Job interview.”
“…Ah.”
I felt like I had successfully come up with a reasonable lie.
“Right. Good luck.”
And then, Yamamoto encouraged me. Why does consideration from the person you like make your heart flutter so much?
But soon, I realized that I had just lied to the person I like and felt a little down.
The next day.
“Dinner is in the fridge. Don’t take a long bath. Use the leftover bathwater when running the washing machine. Also, only clean for one hour a day!”
“Are you my mom?”
After eating lunch, I ran out of the house.
The meeting place with Maeda was a chain coffee shop at Shinjuku Station.
Of course, if I could get the information I wanted there, I planned to leave right away.
“Hey, Rin!”
At the meeting place.
Five minutes before the meeting time, I entered the coffee shop and heard a loud voice.
A man waving his hand at me cheerfully. It was Maeda.
I was immediately taken aback by Maeda.
Yelling in a cafe without considering the annoyance to those around, he’s a man with no morals.
However, I didn’t feel like calling him out on it since I did similar things back in high school.
“It’s been a while.”
“Mm. It’s been a while.”
We exchanged brief greetings.
My relationship with Maeda during high school was…not even worth such a brief greeting.
“Let’s order a drink first. I got all sweaty on the way here. I want something cold.”
“That sounds good. Let’s do that.”
“Ah, Rin, you stay seated. What do you want to drink?”
“…It’s fine. I’ll go too.”
“It’s fine. Men should treat women.”
…Ah.
Ah, this is bad.
This kind of condescending consideration is repulsive. It makes my skin crawl.
Why?
Probably because it reminds me of my ex-boyfriend.
“It’s fine. Let’s go.”
“Eh, ah…okay.”
In response to my stubborn attitude, Maeda lost his previous vigor. He followed me with a dejected attitude.
Come to think of it, Maeda had dyed his hair brown. His attire was flashy.
“What happened to soccer?”
“Hm? I quit. It was hard, and my parents forced me to start it. There was nothing good about it.”
“…You shouldn’t do things that will disappoint your parents.”
Again, Maeda fell silent.
“Well, I’m not one to talk.”
In fact, my rebellious phase was probably much worse than his.
“I’m sorry. Forget it.”
“…Okay.”
His earlier energy was nowhere to be found.
We ordered coffee at the counter and returned to our seats.
While watching Maeda add gum syrup and milk to his coffee, I thought it was time to get to the point.
“Weren’t you a member of the culture festival executive committee in our first year?”
“Eh, ah, yes.”
“The truth is, there’s something about that culture festival that’s been bothering me. That’s why I wanted to meet with you.”
“…Ah, I see.”
“Okay. I’ll ask you straight out, were there any problems with your work on the culture festival executive committee?”
“…Eh? Well…”
Maeda crossed his arms and looked up at the sky.
At the very least, he should have heard the big news that the evening party was canceled. But he didn’t seem to let out any information about such an incident.
“More specifically, I want to know about the evening party.”
“The evening party?”
“Yes. That year, the evening party was canceled.”
“Ah, now that you mention it.”
…Even though he was supposed to be involved as a member of the culture festival executive committee, his attitude was completely dismissive. What was he doing at the time?
…I remembered that I had no right to blame him, and I tried desperately to calm my feelings.
“It was Yamamoto’s fault that the evening party was canceled.”
“…Is that so?”
“Yeah. I mean, you must have heard the rumor. It was because he forgot to order the wood, right?”
“You were on the culture festival committee, but you only talk about rumors? Don’t you know the truth?”
Maeda fell silent.
Maybe he thought I was right.
“But I thought it was a plausible story, because he would always complain arrogantly to the seniors whenever he went to the committee work.”
I could imagine Yamamoto clashing with seniors.
“Occasionally?”
But there was something else that caught my attention in Maeda’s remark.
“Eh? …Ah, well, I wasn’t there every day. I had club activities…and I was quite busy.”
“Club activities were prohibited during the culture festival preparation period.”
“…Well, other guys were the same, right?”
So, it’s not his fault.
“Anyway, he would suddenly talk back to the seniors in front of everyone, ruining the atmosphere! So everyone thought the same thing. When the rumor spread that he had forgotten to order the wood, they thought he did it out of spite because things didn’t go his way.”
“…I see.”
I understood Maeda’s point.
“I’m going to leave now.”
“Eh?”
“Thank you for today. I got to hear some valuable stories.”
“Eh? Wait…”
Ignoring Maeda’s voice, I left the coffee shop.
Now all I had to do was go home. That’s all.
…Inside, my feelings were a mess.
I don’t know what Yamamoto was thinking at the time, and I can’t make sense of it because I don’t know. That’s the cause of this situation.
But there’s one thing I know.
Maeda said that the reason for the missing wood order was Yamamoto’s spite… But Yamamoto wouldn’t do that.
Think about it.
Maeda absolutely refused to admit his faults.
On the other hand, Yamamoto admitted his faults and apologized.
…Why would Yamamoto need to keep apologizing to everyone if he had done it out of spite?
Normally.
A normal kid… would throw a tantrum and shift the blame like Maeda did.
…That’s why I know.
Yamamoto would never do such a thing.
That’s the only thing I know for sure.