My Childhood Friend, Sometimes a Schoolgirl—She Only Wears That Ribbon Around Me - Episode 40

“Hey… don’t tell me your worries about Yushiro are some kind of love triangle drama…?”

“Why would you think that?!”

Minamikata covered her mouth with her palm and whispered quietly to me. I guess I explained it poorly and accidentally gave her a totally wrong idea.

“She’s just a childhood friend. We’ve never dated, not even once. And of course, there’s nothing romantic going on between us.”

“Phew… That’s a relief. Even I couldn’t handle hearing about that kind of thing.”

“What do you mean by ‘couldn’t handle’ exactly?”

“Jealousy, envy, stuff like that. If it were about that, I probably wouldn’t even be able to focus on what you’re telling me.”

Minamikata took a step back from me, pressing her right index finger to her cheek as she tilted her head.

Honestly, the way she put it sounded like something a lot of guys would totally misunderstand. But still, I was amazed that someone like her cared about me so much after just one outing.

“Why do you care so much about our relationship, Minamikata?”

“Why do I care…?”

She paused for a few seconds, gathering her thoughts before answering.

“Tsuzuki-kun, you’re already an important friend to me, right? So if you ended up having a bad relationship with your childhood friend, I’d be sad too. Besides, since you care about Yushiro so much, I want to get along with her too.”

“I see…”

Yua had been suspicious, thinking Minamikata might have some scheme, but to me, she just seemed like a kind girl who cares about her friends.

Maybe Yua was just overthinking things.

“A-anyway… Tsuzuki-kun, let’s continue this conversation outside the classroom. If we don’t hurry, we’ll run out of time, you know?”

Minamikata pointed at the wall clock and urged me to get up from my seat.

With less than twenty minutes left of lunch break, honestly, even if we started the consultation right away, there wouldn’t be enough time to get everything sorted. We’d probably end up not explaining much.

“Sorry, but can we reschedule? Or maybe talk over the phone? I don’t think we can finish this now…”

“Then how about meeting on a day off? We can talk then.”

“R-really?”

Surprised by the suggestion, I couldn’t help but ask again.

“Of course. How about the day after tomorrow? It’s Sunday, but I don’t have plans. Are you free?”

“Y-yeah, I’m free…!”

“Really? Then let’s meet the day after tomorrow. Where should we meet? Should we go back to your hometown?”

“We already went to my hometown last time. If possible, I’d prefer somewhere else. I feel bad having you come all the way just to listen to my problems.”

“I don’t mind, but if that’s what you want, then sure.”

“Okay, then let’s decide the time and place over LINE later. I’ll think of some options.”

If she’s going to listen to me, I want to thank her somehow next time. There aren’t many restaurants around my hometown, so somewhere livelier might be better.

Still, I didn’t expect to get a second meeting so soon… well, it’s more like meeting for advice, so calling it a date doesn’t quite fit.

But really, the name doesn’t matter. Just knowing I’ll see Minamikata again on a day off makes me happy and proud.

“You two look pretty happy.”

But—just as my heart was filled with joy, a tense atmosphere swept over the room.

Excited voices from the girls and confused murmurs from the boys disturbed the classroom.

My childhood friend Yushiro Yua, dressed in the boys’ uniform, appeared—changing the whole mood of the place.

What terrible timing for Yua herself—the very person we’d been talking about—to show up. It felt like she was waiting for us to start our conversation somewhere.

“Yua, why are you here? You don’t really have any important reason, do you?”

“I do. You don’t even make eye contact when we meet in the hallway. I’ve sent messages on your phone, but no replies… Ever since that day, it’s been hard to find a chance to talk.”

It’s true—I’d gotten some notifications from her on my phone. But because of the awkwardness and wanting time to think, I kept putting off replying.

Now that we’re face to face, I don’t even know how to act… That’s why I was trying to make time to sort this out.

Glancing sideways at Minamikata standing next to me, I noticed her blushing deeply, covering her face with her hands and trembling.

Come to think of it, when she first saw Yua near the girls’ restroom, Minamikata had whispered something like “cool.”

Maybe seeing Yua again after a long time has Minamikata nervous too. Kind of like how I was when we first started talking.