Living with the Arrogant Queen from High School is Surprisingly Not Uncomfortable

Around the time Silver Week ended, I was riding a train back to my hometown alone.

My father’s condition had suddenly worsened. I, who had received such news from my mother, was thinking about someone I hadn’t wanted to see just a few days ago, my face turning pale.

As Yamamoto kindly took care of me, I got a train ticket and was on my way home on the first express train the next morning.

Yamamoto couldn’t come with me because of his part-time job and lectures. I remember the remorseful and pained look on his face when he told me that.

“Oh, Yamamoto isn’t with you?”

My mother said that as I arrived in my hometown and got into her car.

“He seemed busy too.”

“I see… Okay.”

“Did you want to see him?”

“Yeah, my father did.”

A strange atmosphere flowed in the car.

“Every time I visit him, he keeps asking me how things are going with you and him. When I tell him vaguely that everything is fine, he always gets upset. What’s wrong? Doesn’t he even get a decent update? Try calling him now. I don’t care if it’s you… To be honest, I wish he’d give it a rest.”

“…Ha ha.”

I could only force a dry smile.

I didn’t know this until high school, but hearing this, my father seems to be a perverse and selfish person.

When we got to the hospital, my father was sleeping peacefully.

He was sleeping so peacefully that I couldn’t help but wonder if he had passed away.

Come to think of it, my father was living in a four-person room until recently, but now he’s in a private room.

A bad feeling washed over me.

“Ah, Ms. Hayashi.”

“Ah, doctor. Hello.”

“…Hello.”

Soon after, the attending doctor came into the room.

“So doctor, how is my husband’s condition?”

The attending physician had a serious look on his face.

Both my mother and I held our breath a little.

“Fortunately, he’s over the worst of it.”

“…Is that so?”

My mother was obviously relieved.

I probably felt the same relief as my mother, even though I didn’t say it out loud.

“However, his condition is still critical… Just keep that in mind.”

After the attending doctor left, we tidied up my father’s room for a while. We probably stayed for about an hour, but in the end, my father didn’t wake up that day.

In the car on the way home,

The doctor’s cautionary words wouldn’t leave my mind.

“Mom, I think I’ll stay here for a few days.”

“Is that okay with Yamamoto?”

“…Yeah. He’d forgive me for a little while.”

I think Yamamoto wouldn’t get mad at me, no matter how many days I stay at my parent’s house.

As soon as I got home, I sent a message to Yamamoto on my smartphone. I’ll call you later. I wanted to tell him properly over the phone.

Five minutes later, Yamamoto called me back.

“Hello?”

“Ah, Hayashi. Are you okay?”

Yamamoto’s voice was brighter than usual. Probably, he was trying to cheer me up.

“Yeah. I… and my father, are okay for now.”

“…That’s good to hear.”

“I worried you, didn’t I?”

“Don’t say that. I’m your roommate. It’s only natural for me to worry about you.”

“…Yamamoto, can I stay here at home for a while?”

Yamamoto didn’t reply.

“Just until my father wakes up. I’m a bit worried.”

“Don’t worry about me. Stay there until you’re ready. …I also want to visit him on the weekend, is that okay?”

“Eh?”

“I might cause unnecessary stress.”

At his words, I chuckled a little.

My father wants to see Yamamoto, and yet. He’s such a thoughtful person.

“…It’s okay. My father wants to see you, so please come.”

“Ah, thank you.”

“…The one who should be saying thank you”

Is me.

I started to say that, then I stopped.

…Because.

Because, saying something like that, it would seem like I’m conscious of Yamamoto, and that’s embarrassing.

…Well, I actually am conscious of him.

“Yeah. See you later.”

After about ten minutes of casual conversation, I ended the call with Yamamoto.

…It was a strange feeling.

Was it because I had distanced myself for a while?

I wish the weekend when Yamamoto will come would arrive sooner.

I, Hayashi Megumi, was thinking of such things.

Right now, I feel a sense of fulfillment inside me.

…But, I remember.

I remember how I once committed the mistake of public execution against Yamamoto, who is currently fulfilling me.

With the sudden critical condition of my father, I had no time to think about that… but once I felt a bit relieved, I began to feel pain again.

I feel pained about having done such a horrible thing to none other than Yamamoto.

Several days have passed since my reunion with Maeda.

I have noticed something.

That is… that it was not Yamamoto’s fault that the festival was canceled afterward.

I don’t have conclusive evidence of the incident.

I just realized that the premise was wrong.

I thought about the original circumstances.

Why did the cancellation of the festival become Yamamoto’s fault?

When I pieced together the stories I had heard, the reason for the festival’s cancellation became Yamamoto’s fault because he had forgotten his task of ordering the wood for the campfire.

In other words, it was treated as his fault because he forgot the job he was supposed to do.

…But, is that really correct?

After all, wouldn’t you think?

The festival committee is an organization, not a group that leaves things to individual stand-alone plays.

In a normal organization, the responsibility for a work mistake would never fall at the level of the person in charge.

The failure of the person in charge is the responsibility of the chairman, and the responsibility of the chairman should be the teacher’s responsibility.

…Yet, as a result of that incident, Yamamoto was blamed.

If asked why…

“Because he, whenever he goes to do committee work, always complained arrogantly to his seniors, didn’t he?”

Because the festival committee of the first year was such a naive and childish organization.

“And, anyway, while everyone was chattering among themselves, he suddenly spoke up arrogantly to the seniors, ruining the mood! So, everyone thought. When rumors circulated that he had forgotten to order the wood, they thought he had done it out of spite for things not going his way.”

Because everyone despised Yamamoto for disrupting the harmony.

And then…

“Ah, I forgot to order the wood for the campfire. My bad.”

Because Yamamoto apologized.

“…Everyone is really the worst.”

The members of the festival committee must have felt relieved when they saw Yamamoto, who was the first to admit his fault.

Thanks to him willingly taking the front line, they no longer had to worry about responsibility pursuing them.

They really are the worst.

They must have thought they were saved.

Yamamoto took all the blame. And then, they casually enjoyed their student life afterwards.

“I’m the worst too…”

But in the end, I don’t even have the qualification to be angry or complain about the members of the festival committee.

I, who pursued responsibility from Yamamoto in front of me without even investigating the facts, am just as guilty.

So, I thought I shouldn’t give in to the anger welling up inside me any longer.

Right now, I have something that bothered me more than anger…

“Why did Yamamoto say it was his fault at that time?”

I wondered.

Why, the day after the cultural festival, did Yamamoto tell me it was his fault?

If he hadn’t said that, he would have…

No, in the end, I might have coerced him into saying it.

But, after graduating from high school, quitting college, and seeing Yamamoto again, I also had a thought.

He’s quite stubborn, for all his mild manner.

If it were something he didn’t feel guilty for, he would never apologize.

But he apologized.

Did he feel that he had some responsibility?

…I think so.

He’s kind, so it seems like he could easily bear the brunt of the blame.

…But wait.

Taking the blame.

Ever since I remembered the incident of the post-festival cancellation, I’ve had a sense of unease.

Knowing him better than in high school… and being made to feel affection, that unease held me.

I remember a phrase he once said.

“If something happens to you in the future, everyone will come to me because I was involved with you. They’ll ask, ‘Why didn’t you stop her?’ Depending on whether I can say I did stop you, people’s perspective might change.”

When I said I was going back to my ex-boyfriend, Yamamoto stopped me with a sophistry-like tone.

Remembering Maeda’s comments, in his first year, Yamamoto seemed to have caused a lot of trouble in the cultural festival committee.

What kind of trouble was it?

I, who only knows fragmentary circumstances, can guess to some extent.

Probably, Yamamoto was pointing out the improvement points of the cultural festival committee.

Even I, who only heard from Maeda, can tell.

Unauthorized absence.

Lack of motivation.

And the omission of the wood order.

Probably, the working environment of the cultural festival committee in his first year was horrible.

Yamamoto was feeling a crisis.

At this rate, some kind of mistake would definitely happen.

So he raised his voice. In a low motivation environment where there were even people slacking off, he kept shouting every day.

But in the end, the environment didn’t change, and a mistake occurred.

The cancellation of the post-festival is probably… the worst mistake you can think of.

Borrowing Yamamoto’s previous words, he should have been able to evade responsibility for that mistake.

Yamamoto noticed the poor environment before the mistake was exposed and asked for improvements around him. Since the mistake occurred in that context, Yamamoto should have been able to say to those around him, “I told you so.”

At that time, without apologizing to me, he should have been able to condemn the other cultural festival committee members with me…!

But he didn’t do that.

…Why is that?

“What should I do from now on?”

Like with Maeda, I could investigate the cultural festival committee and talk to each person.

But probably, I wouldn’t be able to grasp the truth of that time at all.

After all, everyone managed to scapegoat Yamamoto and escape.

If their past is dug up now, they’ll say they’ve forgotten, or they don’t know. I didn’t feel like I could get a straight answer.

…So.

That’s right.

I realized.

I’ve come back to my hometown anyway.

I’m staying at my parents’ house for a while anyway.

I decided to visit my old school tomorrow.