A Pretty Girl Has Her First Kiss Stolen By an Equally Handsome Classmate - Episode 4.11

We went back to the hotel room from the large bath.

“Welcome back!”

“Welcome!”

My two roommates, who had already dried their hair, greeted us.

I sat down in front of the sink and started drying my hair with a towel. Then I felt someone behind me. When I turned around, Masuda was standing there, her face like a doll—so perfect.

“Ah, are you still using the hair dryer?”

“Nope! I just thought I’d put some hair oil on for you.”

Masuda was holding a small bottle in her right hand.

“Really? That’s okay?”

“Of course! Your hair is so smooth, I actually want to touch it!”

With a cheerful smile, she stood behind me and started working on my hair.

I never imagined someone like Masuda, one of the top girls in class, would be doing my hair. I looked at myself in the mirror, feeling nervous.

“Haha, Mizuhara, are you nervous or something?”

Ariyoshi, sitting cross-legged on the bed, looked at me warmly.

Like Wakamatsu, she naturally changed the way she called me. I remembered the day we bumped into each other at the drugstore. The way she shortens the distance between people is something I can’t do.

“It’s just… I didn’t think someone like Masuda would…”

“Huh? What about me?!”

“Ah, I-I didn’t mean it in a bad way!”

Maybe the bath relaxed my heart too much, and I slipped up.

Masuda widened her big eyes and looked at me with curiosity. Her beautiful face came so close, I almost backed away.

“You two shine so much… you’re different from me…”

“Haha! You’re the only one who thinks that, Mizuhara!”

Masuda cut through my words with a loud laugh.

“We haven’t changed at all.”

Ariyoshi, still on the bed, gave a quiet smile.

“But, I’ve always…”

I didn’t want to remember elementary or middle school.

I was shy and not good at talking to people. I didn’t have many friends and school life felt lonely.

“Mizuhara, you need to live in the now! Cut those old memories off!”

“…That’s not easy…”

“You just have to do it! Let go of the past!”

Masuda didn’t stop applying the oil as she spoke strongly again.

She was born with such beauty and a bright personality—someone like her lives in a different world. I couldn’t help but feel jealous of her strength, something I didn’t have.

“Well, Masuda is a little too energetic sometimes.”

Unlike Masuda, who spoke brightly, Ariyoshi had a calm and gentle tone.

“I agree with her though. Thinking about the past is a waste of time.”

“The past…”

“Don’t you think it’s important to treasure the present?”

Forget the past. Don’t look back. Don’t remember.

I understood that in my head. But I couldn’t do it alone.

If she wasn’t by my side—

“Ah! I’ll tell you something good!”

Masuda picked up a comb and began drying my hair.

“Something good?”

I raised my voice so she could hear me over the dryer. I focused so I wouldn’t miss her words.

“You should find someone!”

“Someone…?”

“Yeah! Someone you feel like, ‘This person is on my side.’ Keep that person close!”

Ariyoshi, still sitting on the bed, nodded strongly. Her face said she completely agreed.

“Someone on my side…”

Masuda laughed loudly and increased the hair dryer’s wind. My hair smelled sweet—like something expensive I’d never used. I let Masuda take care of my hair and replayed her words over and over in my mind.

“Are you getting along with Kanzaki-kun?”

The three of us sat on the same bed, chatting late into the night. The topic moved to love.

As I applied lotion, I listened to their conversation.

“Didn’t you guys have a big fight recently?”

“Ah, yeah, that happened! But he’s handsome, so I forgave him.”

“You’re so honest.”

Top students date other top students. Toru Kanzaki from the track team entered the school on a sports scholarship and was really athletic. At the sports festival, he took the baton from Wakamatsu and kept the lead without falling behind.

“What about you, Mizuhara?”

“Eh?”

Masuda, sitting diagonally in front of me, suddenly asked and I froze.

“I… don’t really do that kind of thing…”

“Weren’t you dating Ohara from the literature club?”

“Eh, ah… that was in the past…”

It shocked me that someone knew about my love life, even though I’m not popular at school.

“What about you, Ariyoshi?”

Trying to dodge the attention, I threw the question to Masuda instead.

“I don’t date. I’m aromantic.”

Aromantic—people who don’t feel romantic attraction.

I had heard the word before, but I never thought I’d meet someone like that. My hand stopped while doing my skincare.

“She used to worry about it a lot.”

“Yeah. Thinking about the future made me feel anxious…”

I was surprised.

Even Masuda, who seems to enjoy romance the most, understands her.

“The future—like marriage and kids…?”

“Exactly. I’m scared of the day my parents start begging for grandkids.”

“If that day comes, Ariyoshi, just tell them off!”

Masuda responded with strength.

“Sorry if I surprised you.”

“No, not at all.”

“I know it’s not normal…”

Ariyoshi gave a wry smile.

She probably didn’t plan to come out. But she told us anyway.

“I… I’m attracted to girls too.”

“I’m not against guys, but I fall in love with girls more often.”

“Um… I think I’m bisexual, maybe.”

Unlike her, I couldn’t say it clearly. It was the first time I talked about this with anyone.

“I know it’s different from what you feel, Ariyoshi…”

“I’ve also felt different and worried about it…”

“But, having you here with me now makes me feel really strong.”

I didn’t speak well. My words were vague and clumsy.

But I said what I honestly felt after hearing Ariyoshi’s story.

I rarely talk to anyone about my real feelings without editing them first. But for Ariyoshi, who opened up… and for Masuda and the others here now, I felt like it was okay.

They’re not the type to make fun of anyone.

“Yeah. Having someone who accepts you is really special.”

Ariyoshi put her arm around Masuda’s shoulder. Masuda smiled and did the same.

“No matter what happens, I’ll always have someone on my side.”

Ariyoshi smiled.

In her eyes, I could see a strong and kind heart.