My Childhood Friend, Sometimes a Schoolgirl—She Only Wears That Ribbon Around Me - Episode 4

When I saw him glancing around nervously, clearly on high alert, I instinctively ducked behind a wall near the stairs.

After making sure no one was around, he slowly cracked open the door to the girls’ bathroom, peeked his head inside, and carefully checked if anyone was in there.

Then—like he had made up his mind—he swung the door open and walked right in.

“…What am I supposed to do here?”

I stepped away from the wall and stood in front of the girls’ bathroom, frozen for a few seconds.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d witness something like this.

Was he some kind of pervert? Or maybe—despite looking like a guy—he actually identified as a girl?

He could be transgender. I wasn’t biased against that, and I didn’t want to make assumptions. But at the same time, I couldn’t rule out the possibility that he was just some pervert sneaking into the girls’ bathroom on his first day at school.

And honestly, if he was a creep, what good would it do me to get involved? But I couldn’t just ignore what I’d seen either.

Flustered, I started pacing in front of the girls’ bathroom, just like he had done earlier.

Should I wait for a female student to show up, explain the situation, and ask her to check inside? Or maybe just give a heads-up so no one accidentally walks in and gets caught in something weird?

As the minutes ticked by, I still couldn’t figure out what to do.

No girls came by to use the bathroom.

After running through a bunch of options in my head, I realized it wasn’t right to jump to conclusions about someone I barely knew or spread rumors about them.

So maybe the best thing I could do now… was wait for that pretty boy to come out of the bathroom and see what he had to say—

“…Tsuzuki-kun?”

A voice called out from behind me.

That sweet voice I’d been hearing almost every day in class since becoming a second-year made me instantly stand up straight.

If only this were a different situation—how happy I’d be right now.

Slowly, I turned around to face the person who had spoken.

“M- Minamikata -san…!”

Saho Minamikata —my crush—was standing right in front of me.

My voice cracked, and I couldn’t even meet her eyes. But it wasn’t because I was nervous talking to my crush or anything innocent like that.

Of course not—because just like that transfer student, I’d been lurking around in front of the girls’ bathroom acting suspicious.

Just like how I found him sketchy, Minamikata probably thought I was a creep too.

She narrowed her eyes and looked at me with suspicion.

“Tsuzuki-kun, what are you doing here?”

“Uh… I was just going to use the bathroom. But someone’s in the boys’ one, so I was just… waiting here…”

“You were waiting for someone to come out of the boys’ bathroom… in front of the girls’ bathroom?”

Crap—if I try to lie my way out of this, I’ll just dig myself deeper.

Should I just tell the truth and hope she understands? Like, “Some guy walked into the girls’ bathroom, so I was waiting to stop him”? Even if that cleared me for now, standing here like this still made me look like a total weirdo.

“I don’t want to believe it, but… were you trying to sneak into the girls’ bathroom, Tsuzuki-kun…?”

“No! It’s not like that! It’s a misunderstanding—I was just worried about the person who went inside!”

“Worried about the person inside? S-So you’re a stalker?! Wait—what? You were standing here because of that? That’s totally messed up!”

“No, that’s not it! The person in there is a guy—I just saw him! I wasn’t trying to stalk anyone—!”

My mind was a complete mess, and I couldn’t even get my words straight. Minamikata looked just as panicked, probably struggling to make sense of what I was saying.

Seeing what she thought was a pervert right in front of her, she crouched down and held her head, muttering something under her breath as her shoulders started to shake.

From an outsider’s perspective, this situation looked really bad.

If someone else walked by and saw this, I’d definitely be branded a pervert—probably get bullied by the girls in our class and Minamikata ’s fan club—and be emotionally crushed enough to transfer schools. No doubt about it.

But I couldn’t explain myself while Minamikata was like this, and running away would only make me look guiltier. That would basically confirm I was a stalker.

“—Hey.”

Suddenly, Minamikata stood up.

“W-Wait, what are you—?!”

“We’re going to the teacher’s office. Before this gets worse and someone gets hurt.”

“The teacher’s office? But I wasn’t stalking anyone, and I didn’t go into the girls’ bathroom—!”

She grabbed my hand and started walking, dragging me along. I planted my feet, trying to resist, but she wasn’t backing down.

“Come on, let’s go.”

No way. Is she seriously doing this?

Tears welled up in her eyes, and behind them was a look of disgust—like she’d completely given up on me.

That’s when I realized: to her, I was already just a stalker. No matter what I said, she wasn’t going to listen.

All the strength left my body, and I slumped my shoulders.

Even if I cleared things up with the teachers, the damage was done. Once people think something of you, it’s hard to change their minds.

“…Let’s go, Tsuzuki-kun.”

“…Yeah.”

Head down, I let her lead me toward the teacher’s office.

My high school life was over.

“…Whatever. Let it all fall apart.”

But just as I gave up completely—

The door to the girls’ bathroom suddenly opened from the inside, without warning.

“Tsuzuki…? Are you Sora Tsuzuki…?”

It was the handsome transfer student who had gone into the bathroom just a few minutes earlier.

And at that moment, one big question popped into my mind:

“How does he know my name…?”

He said my name, even though we were supposed to be complete strangers.

I froze, completely confused, and turned to look at him—

“Wha—!?”

And then, everything went black.