Start of a new chapter. Won't tell you the name until the next sub-chapter, for spoiler reasons.

Translator - Vodka

I am dead. The author is doing a real job on me. Holy c.r.a.p, I was losing it, trying to translate this chapter. It's a mess of Thanos proportions. All due respects, but sorry man, you need some vodka. Anyways guys, I know I am late yet again, but at least your translator is still alive, so drink away.

How many dramatic events could occur in a person's life?

Maybe one, or two?

Perhaps, there were people to whom it had happened several times even.

There wasn't any doubt that a dramatic event had taken place in my life the other day.

Now I didn't know whether that event would be the harbinger of good fortune or bad luck, but I could say this one thing.

We couldn't return to the way we were. Our relations.h.i.+p had changed.

June.

With the summer increasingly drawing nearer every day, the tension of the students was apparent on their faces. The stress levels were starting to rise.

As always, I was sat at the corner of the cla.s.sroom and looking outside of the window. I went on with my life as usual.

The same seat, the same spectacle.

The same noisy cla.s.sroom.

The scent of the wind wasn't any different either.

However, it wasn't as if there weren't any changes at all.

There were. Big ones at that.

The cla.s.sroom was noisy as usual, but one of the persons who should have been at the centre of that liveliness was missing.

That's right, s.h.i.+zuku wasn't in the circle that our cla.s.smates had formed.

At school, she would always be surrounded by students. What was someone like that doing now, you asked?

"Minato-kun! Let's have lunch!"

"Don't wanna"

"I am going to sit over here"

Without any regard for my answer, s.h.i.+zuku sat in the seat in front of me during lunch break. She wore a smile that would bewitch a large populace of male students.

There was something different about her.

The expression and the tone of her voice suggested authenticity. Even when in the cla.s.sroom, there wasn't any trace of her putting on an act. It was all very natural.

I won't care about my surroundings

Indeed, she was sticking to her words.

s.h.i.+zuku was sitting in the same seat as the one where Yuuto had previously sat that one time when we had our lunch together.

With practised hand movements, s.h.i.+zuku spread her bento on top of the table and brought out a flask from inside of her bag.

Then she brought out two paper cups and poured green tea into them. She placed one before herself, and the other one before me.

"I expected your att.i.tude to be a tad bit more different……" (s.h.i.+zuku)

"……Human beings aren't creatures who can change that easily" (MC)

"As expected of Minato-kun. The persuasiveness is remarkable when you say it" (Kirasaka)

Kirasaka returned such words of understanding. She took the cup in front of me and drank from it.

Human beings weren't creatures who could change that fast.

So, that was how my neighbour Kirasaka made her way into the conversation, and there was nothing unusual about that.

Be that as it may, I guess this was it meant to have flowers in both hands.

Irrespective of the school year, there must be a mountain of people who would even be willing to pay to have the opportunity of eating lunch together with two beauties, huh.

Naturally, s.h.i.+zuku's coming over to talk to me like this was garnering an awful lot of attention, and it was quite unpleasant.

I had a feeling that I had turned into the panda from the zoo.

Surely, those pandas too were living every day with a similar kind of feeling, right?

I had thought that they had an easy life. I had thought that they must be happy since they only had to be chewing away at bamboo gra.s.s all day long and do nothing else. I apologized to them in my heart for my rude a.s.sumptions.

I could sense the jealousy in the air, but it wasn't as much as I had imagined it to be.

I was prepping myself for some childish bullying from the male students. I mean if you were in my situation, and you were careless, you might very well be made subject to such things, right? However, looking at how the situation was turning out to be, it was anticlimactic.

When I put this thought into words, s.h.i.+zuku said this to me.

"It's because Ogiwarkun had been spreading around the news of our relations.h.i.+p, little bit at a time "

Kirasaka followed up on that.

"That's true. I heard him mention your name a few times"

s.h.i.+zuku explained that he was doing this in order to reduce the doubt and hindrance that s.h.i.+zuku will have to face while talking to me at school. Since she had decided to not care about her surroundings anymore, she would be proactively interacting with me, and that would attract a lot of unwanted attention.

However, it wasn't strange to be on good terms with a childhood friend and talk with him in the cla.s.sroom.

If the people around us were aware of us being childhood friends, then s.h.i.+zuku could approach me without having to worry about unwanted attention.

He really didn't need to do this, more so since s.h.i.+zuku had rejected him, but I guess it was like him to be unconsciously doing things for the sake of other people.

However, I must say that I was amazed at how he could just slip it in everyday conversations naturally.

Well, he could pull it off because of his high specs.

Thanks to him, the severe criticism that I had imagined that we would have to confront, had dwindled. The situation wrapped up without having to worry about handling it.

I had thought that I would suffer hindrances while I was carrying out my student council duties, but I had one less thing to worry about now.

However, the major issues hadn't been solved yet.

"I don't recall giving Kanzaki-san permission to sit there?"

"Ara? I didn't know that I had to receive your permission in order to have lunch with Minato-kun?"

The two glared at each other.

Kirasaka and s.h.i.+zuku have always had a strained relations.h.i.+p, and s.h.i.+zuku's confession had just aggravated the situation.

Well, it would be correct to say that their relations.h.i.+p was back to square one; they were now, how they used to be when we had just changed cla.s.ses at the beginning of the school year.

Kirasaka would react to s.h.i.+zuku's words, while s.h.i.+zuku would meet her head-on, expressionless.

When you had to spectate this kind of exchange up close, it would send chills down your spine. It was really bad for the heart.

"Minato-kun! Let's return together, ok?"

"Ara, that is unfortunate. I plan on borrowing him first"

"What are you saying? I asked Minato-kun first, though?"

"……Ha"

I sighed at the sight of them quarrelling. It would seem that there was no place for me to voice my opinion here.

The smartphone inside of my pocket vibrated a few times, thereby notifying me of an incoming message.

I brought the phone out of my pocket, but before I could check who the sender was, s.h.i.+zuku and Kirasaka peeked at the screen of my phone.

At the actions of these two very proactive girls, I unconsciously drew myself back and waited for them to retreat.

"It is from Kaede-chan"

"The s.h.i.+nra house is supposed to go shopping tomorrow, right? I wonder what it is then……"

[TN - it is like how on certain days, households would go out for shopping groceries and the likes]

"Don't just look at other people's phones……wait, why do you even know when we are supposed to go shopping?"

"……That's a secret"

Kirasaka had closed in one me to look at my phone, our cheeks almost touching. When I questioned her about the possession of the queer piece of information, she flashed a meaningful smile and retreated.

An uncanny feeling a.s.sailed my whole body as chills came racing down my spine.

"Ara? Do you hate it when I get close to you?" (Kirasaka)

"No……That's absurd" (Minato)

To my words, she put on a displeased face and glared at me. She might have perceived my true feelings, veiled by my sarcasm.

"Yes, you are very annoying" (s.h.i.+zuku)

Then there was s.h.i.+zuku. She put on a displeased face and forced her way in our conversation.

I left these two who have started quarrelling all over again for some reason, to their fate. I tapped on the receive b.u.t.ton and answered the call. Then I heard Kaede's somewhat agitated voice over the phone issuing a few unexpected words.

"Mom is coming back for some time!"

It was at this moment when I became sure of one thing – my days were soon going to become turbulent.

And here I thought that I could have a little bit of calm, back in my life.