I had headed to the school entrance to go home, only to find someone waiting for me—
"……Kuroki?"
It was the most famous girl in the tenth grade, the perfect superhuman beauty, Rui Kuroki.
Everything about her—her silky, lustrous black hair, her meticulously cared-for skin, her sharp features, and the long lashes framing eyes like jewels—was a perfect ten. Even on a rainy day, her presence was undeniable.
Why is she standing there holding my umbrella?
Completely unable to process the situation, I slipped on my outdoor shoes.
Calm down. This has to be a mistake.
Surely, she had mistaken me for someone else—
"Izumiya-kun, I’ve been waiting for you."
"……!"
Apparently, it wasn't a case of mistaken identity. I’d suspected as much since she was holding my umbrella, but still...
"Airi told me she was going on a date with her boyfriend today, but she supposedly lost her folding umbrella. She said she was out of time and asked to borrow mine, so I lent it to her."
Even though I hadn't asked a thing, Kuroki muttered the explanation as if talking to herself.
So that busty airhead did all this... I’ll never forgive her. Actually, let me just grope those things first.
"But if I lent mine to Airi, I wouldn't be able to get home. So, Airi said she asked you for a favor, Izumiya-kun. Since we went to the same middle school and live in the same direction."
I had absolutely no knowledge of such a request.
"I'm sorry for dragging you into this, Izumiya-kun."
There were limits to being "dragged into" things. Since Miyama was under the delusion that Kuroki liked me, she must have intentionally manufactured this absurd romantic event where we shared an umbrella.
Fine, I could wrap my head around it being Miyama's fault if I stretched my imagination... but even then, one point didn't sit right.
How does Kuroki even know that navy blue umbrella is mine?
"Honestly, Airi is such a handful. She’s so head over heels for her boyfriend... I’d almost like to see at least one photo of the guy."
I had wrapped masking tape featuring a chibi character from a moe anime I liked around the handle of my umbrella. I’d done it so I could identify it at a single glance. Naturally, I was the only person who knew that.
So why the hell is Kuroki holding it?
"Hey, shall we get going?"
"……Yeah."
The atmosphere didn't exactly allow for a refusal. If I turned her down here, things would get ugly between us. No matter how much I struggled to deal with her, I wanted to avoid an awkward relationship with the person who was fated to sit to my immediate right for the next six months.
Besides, if it were Kuroki, she should have been able to find a spot under any other friend's umbrella. I didn't understand why she was fixated on me.
Kuroki lived in a massive, Japanese-style house in my neighborhood. Miyama’s logic—that I could walk her all the way to her door—was surprisingly sound. But even so, usually, a girl wouldn't want to walk home with a bottom-tier loner like me, right?
"Hey, can I open it?"
Before exiting the building, Kuroki moved to open the umbrella.
"You've been using this umbrella since middle school, haven't you?"
"Eh, o-oh. Yeah."
"Hehe…… I thought so."
Then how the hell do you know that?!
"There we go…… This umbrella is actually quite spacious."
"I-I'll hold it."
"Hmm, how kind."
Kuroki maintained her usual calm, but I felt like she was being more charming than she was with other people.
It’s true that she doesn't usually show this much expression in front of guys...
I felt like I finally understood a bit of what Miyama had been talking about.
"Well then, I'll leave it to you."
I took the umbrella from Kuroki and welcomed her into the dry space beneath it.
"Pardon the intrusion."
"…………"
I was speechless with nerves. She was the school idol, and I was just a background loner who spent his time eating oranges under a kotatsu. We were absolutely not the kind of people who should be sharing an umbrella.
To think we hadn't spoken even once until the seat change.
Kuroki's stride was surprisingly long, which felt like a trait of someone in the track and field club.
"Hey, Izumiya-kun."
Shortly after we started walking, Kuroki looked up at me from my left side.
"You've gotten a girlfriend recently, haven't you?"
"……Huh?"
I froze. The question was so out of the blue that I stopped in my tracks.
"Is it…… Yuria or Airi, by any chance?"
"N-No, no way! Why would a bottom-tier loner like me ever date a beauty like Miyama or Ichinose?!"
"Obvious agitation, a sudden fast-talking denial despite usually being quiet, and a noticeable tremor in the hand gripping the umbrella…… Conclusion: definitely a lie."
What pointlessly sharp observational skills. Was she a detective?
"Hey, why lie to me? We were classmates in middle school, weren't we? Right?"
We were classmates, but we were nothing more than that!
Kuroki suddenly leaned her face close to mine. I couldn't pull away because of the rain, and while my face grew hot, I forced myself to endure it.
"It's not a lie! I'm not dating anyone!"
"Then why were you getting along so well with Airi?"
"Miyama?"
"You were having lunch with her in the cafeteria yesterday. I heard it from a friend in the track club. Why did you two become friends?"
Had having lunch with Miyama already become common knowledge?
"Hey, answer me."
Maybe Kuroki was genuinely concerned. I suppose if your best friend was getting along with the class loner, you'd worry. In other words, her behavior this morning was just an attempt to peel me away from Miyama.
"That was…… I was just thanking her. We happened to meet at a shop the day before yesterday, and she let me have something I wanted."
I wasn't lying. We happened to meet at a shop (where she worked), and she (held) the thing I wanted (Volume 1 of Opa-sui) for me.
"Is that true? There’s really nothing between you and Airi?"
"Of course not. Someone like Miyama would never fall for a loner like me."
"……Hehe, I see. What a relief."
Kuroki let out a visible sigh of relief. She must have been incredibly relieved that her best friend wasn't dating a piece of filth like me. That refreshed expression on her face was so beautiful it belonged in a gallery.
She really is a top-tier beauty…… It’s hard to believe she’s even real.
Kuroki didn't have much in the way of a chest or thighs, but her face was more perfectly proportioned than any girl I’d ever met. The more I looked, the more I felt drawn in.
"It's embarrassing to admit, but I’ve always been a bit of a perfectionist," Kuroki began, her voice calm now. "Perfect grades, perfect at sports—I’m the type who isn't satisfied unless my reputation with my parents, teachers, and peers is perfect too."
Ah, so she meant "If my best friend was dating someone like you, my social circle wouldn't be perfect anymore," right? Then rest easy, Kuroki. I’m not in that kind of relationship with Ichinose or Miyama—
"That's why I'm so glad you don't belong to Airi, Izumiya-kun……"
……Huh?
The rain intensified. Beneath the umbrella in front of the deserted school gate, Kuroki and I stood still, staring at each other.
"Wait, what do you mean by that—"
When I asked, Kuroki simply smiled.
"Out of all our middle school classmates, you were the only one who didn't confess to me, Izumiya-kun."
Only…… me……?
No…… way……