Episode 26 – School’s Madonna Whispers Softly in My Ear

[Brrrrt]

The ringtone of a cell phone rings. People who were watching the sunrise around us also move their faces, curious about the source of the sound.

I, who had initially focused my attention on Watanabe san’s words, can’t ignore this sound coming from somewhere close.

Watanabe san stopped talking with her mouth open and was stunned. After a little while, when I regain myself…….

“Ah, it looks like my phone.”

She pulls her phone out of her yukata, presses the call button, and presses it to her ear.

“H-hello……?”

When Watanabe san answers the phone, a woman’s voice can be heard leaking out. From the sound of her occasional voice, it was probably Ishikawa san.

“Eh? I’m outside…..right now. I was just taking a walk and saw a beautiful sunrise, so I fell in love with it and……yeah. I’m sorry for making you worry. I’m going back now.”

She woke up and couldn’t find Watanabe san, so I guess she called her.

After I finished the call, Watanabe san looked puzzled and confused when she saw me, but she still had an expression as if she wanted to say something.

She looked up, but it was only for a moment, and then she turned her head away from me and finally turned her head down.

“Um…..shall we go back?”

“……Okay.”

An awkward atmosphere flows between us. I was impressed by the sight of the sun rising earlier, because one phone call blew it all away.

I walk along with her, but the sound of her stepping on the sand is muffled, and I realize that Watanabe san is deeply depressed.

I think about how I can cheer her up…….

“Watanabe san?”

“Yes?”

“If you want, why don’t you hold hands with me?”

“Eh?”

I blushed and made a suggestion to her. Then Watanabe san widened her eyes and looked at me seriously.

“Because the road is sandy, so I don’t want to lose my balance, and we were connected earlier, too…….”

I believe the look of happiness on her face when she said, [I don’t mind] which I heard when she grabbed my hand. I’m aware that I made an ill-fitting proposal, thinking that this would cheer her up a little…….

The crunching sound of footsteps echoes, and my hand is tightly grasped. I looked up and saw Watanabe san smiling at me with the sunlight in the background.

“Fufufu, I’m feeling better.”

She said and started to walk alongside me.

“Aikawa kun. Your face is bright red.”

She had an expression on her face that I had never seen before, yet I knew I had seen it somewhere. I’m sure that Watanabe san has shown me many different faces in our time together, and I’m sure that some of those faces have remained with me.

“I think you’re the one who’s all red, Watanabe san, don’t you?”

I take a step forward as she wanted me to and throw a few teasing words at her. Until now, I had kept my distance from her, the madonna of the school.

But just now I felt like being honest with myself, trusting her and taking a step forward.

“Geez ! Aikawa kun is so mean.”

She turned away from me, hiding her face with her right hand. I naturally smile because I find Watanabe san so adorable.

“I have to leave when I get back to the inn.”

She said so, squinting her eyes and looking into the distance as if somewhat unfulfilled.

“…..It was fun.”

I think we spent a short but very intense time together.

“But I have some regrets.”

I look at her as she speaks her true feelings.

“Until today, I have hardly been able to talk with Aikawa kun.”

I think that we are talking a lot now…… She put her lips to my ear and whispered.

“Will you go out with me when you get back home?”

The warmth is lost from my right hand and she runs ahead of me.

I found myself near a familiar building.

Watanabe san looks back once, smiles, and walks back to the inn. After giving a meaningful wink…..

◇

“Hmmm, how do you solve this part?”

In the library, I spread out my textbooks and groaned. Now it is August and summer is in full swing, and I had come to the library to get my summer vacation homework done.

Unlike at home, it was cool and air-conditioned.

At home, my father is not there, and I feel it’s a waste to turn on the air conditioner alone, so I use the library in this way.

There are other high school and university students studying around me, so I can concentrate easily, and since I can get various drinks from vending machines at relatively low prices, so there is not much inconvenience during breaks.

That is why I have been staying here for the past few days……

“Brrrrrt.”

My phone shakes. I had turned off the sound because I was in the library, but I looked at the screen and tilted my head nervously.

“Who is it?”

What was displayed was a number I didn’t know.

At the end of my trip, Watanabe san asked, [Would you go out with me?]

Perhaps because of this, I had developed strange expectations, and I had gotten into the habit of checking to see if the phone had been ringing when I left my seat for a while.

However, I never heard from Watanabe san, and before I knew it, summer vacation had entered August, and I was spending my days anxiously.

I decided to pick up the phone and answer it, since it wasn’t blocked. Nervously, I touch the phone to my ear and…….

[You’re late ! Aikawacchi !]

“…………..What the hell Sawaguchi san?”

I let out a sigh as my nervousness fades.

[That’s so rude, I went to the trouble of calling Aikawacchi ! This has to be a scene to make you jump for joy !]

“Sorry, I’m at the library right now, so I can’t dance.”

I’m just on the break floor, so there’s no problem with the call, but people around me are only whispering, so I lower my tone of voice too.

[Could it be that you’re doing your summer homework !? Lucky, let me copy it later !]

“If you don’t do it properly on your own, you’ll regret it because you’ll have a competency test after the summer break too, you know?”

However, I don’t intend to show it to her. It’s not good for Sawaguchi san, and I don’t like that kind of injustice.

[Tch, stingy. It doesn’t matter, right?]

I heard a lighthearted remark on the phone that Sawaguchi san must have been joking about.

“So, what on earth do you want?”

I guessed that she probably heard about my phone number through Aizawa. Watanabe san is clearly aware of this, so it is hard to believe that she would give out my number without my permission. I know from past experience that Aizawa would do it.

In the first place, Sawaguchi san probably does not even know Watanabe san and I are friends……