“Hey, it’s a nice spot, right?”
“Y-yeah… It really is…”
Isn’t this place a little too deserted?
Past the trees behind the school building stood a quiet azumaya. I had no idea this high school even had one. The sunlight filtered pleasantly through the leaves, making it feel quite comfortable, but it also seemed like a rather questionable spot for a boy and a girl to be alone together. This was borderline indecent.
“I-it really is a nice spot. The sunlight filtering through the trees and all…”
“Right?! I always eat here!”
Nobody knew about this place. It was so empty that you could do anything and no one would ever find out. Why was this girl bringing a guy she had only just met to somewhere like this…?
No, calm down. This had to be a trap. Her friends were probably hiding nearby with their phones out, ready to record some prank. I was onto them!
“…”
“Hm? What’s wrong?”
“Ah, it’s nothing.”
I scanned the area carefully, but nothing seemed out of place. Besides, if they had that kind of goal, they would have researched me thoroughly beforehand. In that case, they would already know I was still a fairly noticeable student in my class. From Aizawa Rena’s perspective, making an enemy of me carried too much risk.
There was no reason for her to do something this risky… Ah, that’s right.
“You said you always eat here? You’re not alone, are you?”
“Ehh~? Are you jealous?”
“What are you talking about?”
We had only known each other for a few hours. Under normal circumstances, I shouldn’t have felt anything like that, but sadly, the average guy would start acting like her boyfriend after something so small. Still, the way Aizawa Rena looked at me gave off the clear impression that she thought “That’s just how guys are,” so as long as I kept that in mind, I wouldn’t fall for any tricks.
“We’re here to talk about manga, right?”
“Ehhh~? That’s way too sudden!”
“A true fan should be able to talk about it anytime, anywhere…!”
“W-what the heck…! Fine then! Who’s your favorite character!?”
“The Master’s daughter!”
“Ehh~!? But she’s such a spoiled phony! See, this is exactly why guys always go for that type of——”
Aizawa Rena. She seemed bright, energetic, and a bit airheaded, but she clearly knew how to make herself look cute and understood exactly what guys liked. She probably had plenty of experience dealing with boys. Naturally, I didn’t think she had approached me because she actually had any interest in me. After all, there was no way a rom-com development like this would happen without some major reason.
This azumaya was tucked deep behind the school building. It wasn’t the kind of place where chatty girls who liked to eat with their friends would gather. If she had really been eating here before, she was most likely spending time here with a male student, just like now. Because if it had been a female friend, Aizawa would have been the one getting ditched.
If Aizawa Rena really did have some kind of scheme in bringing me here, I should start by looking into her relationships with guys.
For now, I decided to make her understand the hidden effort behind acting like a spoiled girl.
“——Hey, let’s eat here together again tomorrow!”
“So because she’s a spoiled phony—— Huh? Tomorrow too!?”
“Yeah! Tomorrow too!”
I get to eat with a girl this cute again tomorrow? At this point, who cares about the whole spoiled-phony thing… Maybe I should just go ahead and get closer to Aizawa Rena…? Honestly, I’d forgive her even if she was trying to trick me.
◆
For some reason, that day I ended up spending time with Aizawa Rena until it was time to go home. She even came all the way to the classroom and called my name loudly. Thanks to that, everyone around me teased me about cheating, and the girls gave me cold stares. It was good to lose their interest, but being disliked in a negative way still dealt a lot of damage…
There was no doubt that Aizawa Rena was starting to negatively affect my peaceful school life. I needed to deal with this quickly…! Ugh… She was cute, so it really was a waste!
“…Ugh.”
“What’s wrong~? Something on your mind?”
Despite thinking that, the next day I still found myself coming to the same spot with Aizawa Rena. Was this some kind of divine reward? I guess God really was watching how good my daily behavior had been—— Wait, hold on, wasn’t I just obsessively chasing after Natsukawa’s ass this whole time?
Anyway, there was no way I could tell Aizawa Rena, “I’m actually worrying about you.” I had to dodge the question somehow.
“Hey, Aizawa… Isn’t that a bit too big?”
“Too big…? What are you—— Hey, that’s the worst! Where exactly are you looking!?”
“The shape.”
“Don’t look!”
Crap. The first thing that came to mind was pure guy-talk. N-no, it was fine! If that was the direction she wanted to take this, then I would go along with it. If she was approaching me with some goal in mind, then I would deliberately push further! If I made some kind of sexual harassment comment, she would have no choice but to endure it for the sake of her objective. Yes, this was simply unavoidable…!
Even after I made a sexual harassment comment in this deserted azumaya where we were completely alone, she kept up her friendly demeanor. I could tell from her eyes that she genuinely thought I was gross, so I was now convinced there really was something going on. If she really wanted to butter me up, she should have been using more physical contact… Damn it!!
Even so, I still couldn’t see Aizawa Rena’s true objective.
◆
After that, my relationship with Aizawa Rena continued for several days. Since I felt like I was getting plenty of benefits out of it too, I decided to just quietly observe for now. A girl who could make you think “It’s fine even if she’s deceiving me” was truly terrifying.
But maybe even Aizawa Rena felt she had moved too fast… Little by little, it seemed like the frequency of her visits was decreasing. Could it be that her objective was about to be fulfilled…? At this point, I’d even pay her to keep coming back…
“——U-um… Hey.”
“Hm…?”
Ever since that day I had been hit with a reality check, on the days Aizawa Rena didn’t come, I ate in the cafeteria or the courtyard. After all, sitting next to Natsukawa would be way too awkward…
That day, I was eating normally on a bench in the courtyard before heading back to the classroom. While I was preparing for fifth period, Natsukawa—who sat next to me—unusually spoke to me. This was truly rare. O Goddess, what business might you have with this insignificant, lowly me?
“U-um… Do you eat with Aizawa-san every day?”
“Not every day, but… well, most days.”
“You eat outside, right? Some people saw the two of you leaving the building together…”
“Ah, yeah. That’s correct.”
“……I-I see.”
When I answered honestly, Natsukawa lowered her gaze and placed her hands on her knees. It looked like she had something she wanted to say. When you thought about it calmly, the guy who had been aggressively pursuing her until just recently was now wagging his tail at another girl. That would be pretty infuriating, wouldn’t it?
…Wait a second. Natsukawa was a beautiful girl—in other words, a girl. As a girl, she should have an information network roughly thirty-eight times wider than a mob character like me (※biased opinion). If I wanted to know more about Aizawa Rena, maybe I should make use of that.
“Um… Hey, Natsukawa. Did you already know about Aizawa before?”
“Eh…!? Y-yeah, I knew about her. What about it?”
“I want to know more about her.”
“……There’s no way I’d tell you, you idiot! Stop chasing after every girl’s ass already!”
“Ah, wait…”
The moment I answered why I was asking about Aizawa, she got angry. Ah, did this mean she thought I was targeting Aizawa…? No way, did I just mess up? Maybe if I bought her some fan goods she would forgive me… If they were actually for sale, I would get the display version, the missionary version, and the daily-use version—— Wait, what even was a “daily-use version”?
While I was lost in my own thoughts, I sensed a shadow suddenly drawing close.
“Must be nice, Sajocchi~”
“What do you want, Ashida?”
“Who knows? Maybe just saying hi to the enemy of all women?”
“Enemy of all women…”
As I watched Natsukawa leave the classroom with an irritated expression, her best friend Ashida approached me with a meaningful look on her face. Maybe because she was tall from playing volleyball, being looked down on while seated gave her a surprisingly intimidating presence even though she was a girl.
“Sajocchi, have you stopped liking Ai-chan?”
“Pretty much. Because it evolved into love.”
“I was asking seriously, you know… And of all people, it had to be Aizawa-san, huh…”
“I’m always serious—— Hm? ‘Of all people’…?”
I caught a concerning phrase from Ashida’s mouth. Her tone made it sound like she knew a lot about Aizawa Rena. Was there some dark rumor about her? It was fine… Even if it was the kind of rumor girls found hard to tell boys, I would listen with a straight face (excitedly).
“Did something happen?”
“Did something happen? She’s the girl who was glued to her boyfriend walking down the hallway ever since enrollment! Practically everyone knows about it! Grr, I’m so jealous!”
“Glued to her boyfriend…? Ever since enrollment…?”
“Oh~? Are you jealous of her ex-boyfriend who actually had a girl who cared about him~? The rumor is they started dating back in their first year of middle school~”
“Eh, from that long ago…?”
Girls’ information networks were insane!! So scary!
But with this, I learned one thing about Aizawa Rena. At the very least, she had a boyfriend from the time she entered high school until very recently. If it was true they had been dating since their first year of middle school, she must have been pretty invested. It was hard to imagine she could get over it so quickly and then come straight to me. This… might be when I started to see Aizawa Rena’s true objective.
Girls’ information network > Internet