I Went Out With a Losing Heroine, But Before I knew It, My Childhood Friend, Who’s Supposed to be Th

(TLN: Due to the amount of complaints, we decided to change MC name from You to Yō)

“Probably, on the roof…”

　The sound of footsteps coming up the stairs, which Yō could still hear, made him realize where Marin was going.

　That’s why he didn’t rush after her, but changed his thoughts on how to talk to her after he caught up with her.

　Eventually, he arrived in front of a rusty door.

　As he slowly opened it, he heard a deafening sound.

“Haru-kun, is that you…?”

　Because of the sound, the person ahead of him gave Yō a teary-eyed look, as if she was expecting to see him.

　However, when she realized that the person she saw was someone else, her expression instantly changed to an awkward one.

　Because of that, she immediately looked away.

“Sorry, it’s not Kinoshita.”

　Yō apologized for betraying her expectations.

“No, I’m the one who’s sorry. I haven’t spoken to you since our first year, have I, Hazakura-kun?”

　In response to Yō’s apology, Marin turned her face away and tried her best to sound cheerful.

(As expected, she’s got a great mental attitude…)

　In fact, Yō knew about her outside of rumors.

　No, to be precise, he was acquainted with the trio including her.

　After all, Yō was in the same class as them during their first year.

“Well, that’s right.”

“What are you doing here today? It’s unusual for you not to be going home at this time. What’s more, you even came to the roof.”

“Sometimes I like to come up to the roof after school.”

“Is that so… I’m sorry, but… I can’t afford to talk to you right now, Hazakura-kun…”

　Yō understood from her words that she was not going to leave immediately.

　He stopped trying to make up for it and told her honestly about his current condition.

　The reason why she didn’t tell Yō to go somewhere else was because she was kind.

　She is a girl who doesn’t want to cause trouble to others or do anything to hurt them.

　That’s why she is the only one who talks to Yō as an equal.

“Don’t mind me, I’m not going to talk to you.”

“Thank you…”

　Marin thanked him and moved to the corner of the rooftop area along the fence.

　Yō doesn’t think she’s going to jump off the fence, but at least he’s keeping an eye on her actions.

　However, she only put her hand on the fence and did not try to climb it.

　Instead, she looked over the fence to the sportsground.

　It was now after-school, and the various sports clubs were energetically working on the sportsground field.

　Marin’s love interest was not in the sports club, so she could not have been there, but perhaps she just wanted to admire the scenery.

　But of course, that was not the real purpose of coming to the rooftop.

　After a little while, she squeezed the fence and started shaking her shoulders.

“*Hic… *gulp….”

　A small voice leaked out, riding the wind and reaching Yō as she mercilessly told him how she was feeling.

　Just as he had said, Yō did not offer any words of comfort to her, but simply closed his eyes in silence.

　Instead, he just closed his eyes and waited for the time to pass.

　Eventually― after two hours, she finally looked up.

　By that time, the sun had begun to set, and the rooftop, tinged with sunset, was wrapped in a beautiful orange color.

　Meanwhile, she smiled towards Yō.

“I’m sorry, I made you see something miserable.”

　She must have noticed that Yō didn’t walk away, because she didn’t hear the rooftop door open.

　Still, instead of blaming him for being seen crying, she showed her concern for You.

　To be honest, Yō is not used to dealing with people like Marin.

　During his first year, he wanted her to leave him alone, but instead of talking to him, she meddled with him in various ways.

　On top of that, whenever something goes wrong, Marin always blames herself and never tries to blame anyone else.

　She seemed to be the epitome of a good girl, and Yō didn’t know how to treat her.

　The fact that she was so kind made it difficult for him to shun her away from him like he did towards other people.

“I don’t know why you’re apologizing to me, and I don’t mean to be disrespectful.”

“…May I ask you a question?”

　Seeing Yō’s attitude, Marin thought for a moment and then said she had something to ask.

　Although he could guess what she wanted to ask him, Yō just nodded curiously and returned the conversation ball to her.

　Then she smiled awkwardly and opened her mouth.

“Could it be that you saw my exchange with Haru-kun and the others earlier…?”

“Well, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just came to watch this beautiful sunset.”

　It was obviously a poor deception, but Yō insisted that he wasn’t looking and turned his gaze to the setting sun.

　This was not a deception because he thought that he would be blamed for looking at her.

　She had been dumped, and there was no way she would be happy about someone seeing that scene, so he faked it.

　Of course, he knew that Marin would not be fooled.

　He was on the rooftop very early to see the sunset, and she didn’t seem upset or even questioned her when she saw Marin, who doesn’t usually cry, was in distress.

　Therefore, if she analyzed the situation properly, Marin would know what’s going on.

　That’s why Yō thinks that Marin won’t be fooled.

　Because the important thing here is not to say in words that you saw it.

　At least if he doesn’t even mention it, he can show that even if he knew, he doesn’t have any intention of telling anyone.

　He decided that this was enough for Marin, who understood Yō’s personality in no small way.

“Do you like sunsets…?”

　As expected, Marin didn’t mention the earlier topic anymore.

　On the contrary, she seemed to have expanded the conversation to what Yō had said in order to use it as a change of pace.

“I like them. Doesn’t Akimi think anything of this beautiful scene?”

　After answering Marin’s question, Yō threw back a question of his own.

　When he turned his gaze towards her, she had just begun to stare at the setting sun with moist eyes.

“You’re right… it’s beautiful…”

　She seemed to like the scenery too.

　However, the expression on her face looks somewhat sad and lonely.

　Her figure illuminated by the setting sun― although rude, Yō thought it was beautiful.