Volume 5, Chapter 4: How Their Relationship Came to Be Part 1

Saturday morning.

I was, along with the 3 Idiots gathered in my room, having fun talking about something stupid. Of course, for the most part I only listened to the conversation with the occasional interjection here and there. Since the basketball club was unable to make use of the gymnasium, today Sudou happened to be enjoying his day off. Basically leaving me aside, the three of them were living it up.

They had each brought a cup they had bought in advance and pouring hot water into them, they waited for 3 minutes.

"Ayanokouji, what flavor is yours?".

"Spicy tom yum goong. I don't know much about it so I tried buying it".

"It looks delicious. Please swap with my salty ramen".

He extends a cup with the illustration of a salted squid on it truly making it seem mismatched.

"...no thank you".

Why would he even go out of his way to buy such an undelicious looking ramen?

"Hey Ken. Do you have any plans of telling Horikita?".

"Huh? What is it all of a sudden?".

"No, it's just I feel curious about it. Right, Haruki?".

"Y-Yeah".

After looking at me awkwardly, Yamauchi formed a fake smile. Over the summer vacation, after honorably confessing to Sakura determinedly, he had brilliantly suffered an honorable defeat after all.....

"It depends on the outcome of the sports festival. If I get official recognition maybe I'll do it then".

"Ohh---it's about that declaration of calling her by her first name right?".

Sudou, who is obstinately determined to take 1st place across the school year, as if to show off his motivation, showed off his well-developed biceps.

"Honestly, there's no one who's better at sports than me after all, amongst the 1st years".

"The only opposition, Kouenji, probably won't be doing it seriously either".

For Sudou, Kouenji's lack of motivation is both rejoiceful and unfortunate.

"Well, as for me, if I can participate seriously to a certain degree I've got no complaints".

Speaking of which, I decided to cut in and ask Ike and the others something I had been curious about.

"There's a student named Sakayanagi in Class A, right? The one whose legs are crippled. Do you remember her?".

"That beautiful girl, right? Of course I'd remember her".

Rubbing the bottom of his nose, Ike answered with that.

"Have you not heard the rumors about that girl?".

"Rumors? You mean with men? How should I put it, that girl doesn't have much of a presence. Like she won't be the topic of a conversation at all".

Having heard that, and as though agreeing, Yamauchi answered as if adding onto Ike's answer.

"From a few I've heard that she's the class's leader but she's quite mature isn't she?".

Since the two of them seemed to be of the same opinion, and it appears as though there won't be any valuable information on Sakayanagi to be gained here. As I was talking, the sound of a mail received came from my phone.

Then as I checked its contents, I could feel suspicious gazes from Ike and Yamauchi.

"You've.....been receiving quite a lot of mails recently haven't you?".

"Ehh? No, I wonder. Isn't it usual?".

I answered that way, but since they have been increasing as a matter of fact, the suspicious eyes only became more pronounced.

"It can't be that you've found yourself a girlfriend or something like that, right?".

"That's absolutely not the case so relax. There's no way I could find a girlfriend before you guys. Right?".

"Well, that is true I guess.....".

Just by putting it in a way that would slightly stir them up, the two of them returned to a milder attitude.

"I don't care about Ayanokouji not being popular. More importantly, let's talk about me and Suzune's future".

"Speaking of which, Ken, you're partnering up with Horikita for the mixed gender three-legged race right?".

"Yeah, along with giving her victory as a present I'm going to getting more intimate---".

Sudou had been trying to cultivate such an uninteresting discussion but my phone rang yet again.

But this time it's not a mail but an alarm.

"Sorry but I've got something planned from now".

"What do you mean by that? Things were just getting good. Well fine, I'll have Kanji and Haruki listen up well".

"Geh---!".

No, more importantly I'd like you to leave my room though.....but rather than hear out that request, I had to leave the three of them behind in my room as I left.