Volume 4 - Me, Her, and our Changing World
Chapter 6
It happened about two days before the start of the new school term.
That morning, Chinatsu offered to help Hajime with the new year’s cleaning, but he turned her down, insisting that with her around, they'd only get distracted and they’d end up lazing the day away. He also had his part-time job in the evening, and since Chinatsu was meeting her friends for the first time that year, it marked the first full day they had spent apart in a long while.
Chinatsu was sure their relationship had been progressing smoothly since the start of the year. While she didn't stay over every single day, she would often be at his house to greet him when he got back late from work, and it felt perfectly natural for her to end up spending the night.
Incidentally, she hadn’t directly told Suzuka about it, but the moment Suzuka saw her, she simply said, Yeah, just be sure to use protection, like I told you.
Chinatsu had no idea how she could tell.
Although they occasionally went out to buy groceries and other necessities, most of her dates with Hajime weren’t the “going out” kind, but rather home dates and spending time together quietly at his place. They had been together so often lately that not seeing him even for a single day felt strange.
Maybe that’s why she was a little careless that day.
But perhaps in the future, when Chinatsu looked back on the result of her carelessness that day, she would also always remember it together with her and Hajime’s first shrine visit of the year along with the thought――
――I wonder if that was the moment I was given the chance to finally move the wish I made forward?
And now, she truly believed that it was.
◇◆
“Happy New Year!”
“Happy New Year, Chinatsu! Rena said she’s on her way, and Yukko just got here too! It’s great that everyone’s on time for once!”
“Saki-chan’s always ten minutes early. So punctual.”
When Chinatsu entered the family-style Italian restaurant near the station, one that was wallet-friendly to students, she saw Toudou Saki and Sakurai Yuuko waving from the seats they’d already reserved.
Even Hojoin Rena, who tended to be quite laid-back and often ran late, was coming today, so it looked like everyone would make it on time for once.
“Ugh… my muscles are killing me from that new year training camp.”
Saki hunched her tall frame and trembled slightly, making Chinatsu laugh softly.
Thinking that having a training camp right at the start of the year was quite a demanding schedule, Chinatsu folded her coat, placed her smartphone on the table, and opened the menu.
Lately, she felt like her body had gotten a little rounder, even though her weight hadn’t changed. She wondered if it was because Hajime’s cooking was so delicious, or maybe just because of some hormonal thing going on. Still, she couldn’t help but be tempted by the sweets from a place like this.
“Being in a sports club sure sounds rough. Also, isn’t this year’s camp mixed with the boys’ team?”
“Yep, yep! And guess what…” Saki’s expression suddenly brightened with excitement. “I finally know Satou-kun’s account! Well… because of the training camp group chat, but still!”
With Yuuko nodding along, Saki grinned from ear to ear and proudly showed them her phone.
The group chat was simply called ‘Basketball Club Mixed-Gender Group’, and among the members was Satou Hajime’s account and his profile picture was a basketball.
(Huh? That’s the same profile picture Hajime uses… oh, right, he said he took that from a picture of that recently remade basketball manga movie that was popular.)
Chinatsu mused that it was probably a classic choice for basketball lovers. She figured it would be a bad move to point it out and put Yuuko, who would almost certainly know who it was, on the spot. So instead, Chinatsu was the one who replied.
“Ohh, that’s great, Saki! One step closer, huh?”
As Chinatsu said that, she glanced at Yuuko who smiled cheerfully but, under the table where Saki couldn’t see, clasped her hands together in a little “prayer” gesture.
Chinatsu thought that she had guessed right, making her sigh in relief.
It was a bit complicated, but both she and Yuuko were genuinely rooting for Saki.
Saki had spent most of her time devoted to basketball, and with her tall, model-like looks, she was actually more popular with girls than boys. During the basketball club’s first-year social event, though, she had fallen in love for the first time, with Satou-kun, a guy even taller than her, and with almost superhuman skills and looks.
Chinatsu had heard that Saki was putting in a lot of effort, even though they were in different classes, she made an effort to interact with him through club activities.
With how pretty Saki was, Chinatsu had secretly wondered why Satou hadn’t fallen for her yet. But remembering how Satou had acted toward Yuuko when she’d seen them together once, Chinatsu couldn’t help but think… maybe it was a matter of preference, or maybe he still had lingering feelings for her. Whatever it was, it seemed complicated.
Saki was a tall, slender, model-type beauty, while Yuuko was petite, the kind of cute, curvy girl you’d expect to see in a video game. Their personalities were completely different, too.
Some guys might be fine with any cute girl, but Satou didn’t seem like that kind of person, at least not from what Chinatsu had heard about him, nor from what Hajime had said.
If he were that type, he probably would’ve dated someone already, but as far as she knew, he was still single.
――So then, could it be Yukko…?
That was as far as Chinatsu’s thoughts went before she stopped herself.
No matter how she looked at this situation, it was way beyond her ability to handle.
Perhaps the past Chinatsu might’ve been naive about these kinds of things. Now, she could understand what it felt like wanting someone you liked to notice you, wanting to take care of them, to treasure them.
Besides, if Hajime had a childhood friend who was the total opposite of Chinatsu herself… Someone who is small, cute, sweet-natured, and blessed with an enviable figure, and on top of that, had fans all across different grades――
――…There’s no way I could handle that.
Just imagining it made her feel stressed already. Even if she didn’t know all the details about Yuuko and Satou’s actual relationship, she could understand why Saki might be feeling anxious.
And as for Yuuko’s feelings toward Satou, Chinatsu honestly couldn’t tell how complicated those might be. Both Saki and Yuuko were good girls. So Chinatsu decided that all she could do was quietly cheer for both of them from the sidelines.
That was the resolve she came to that day.
