My Childhood Friend Who Was Doing Personal V-Tubing Got Ntr’d by a Singer (LOL), but I’ve Decided to Just Sit Back and Watch the Two of Them Roll Down the Hill of Life and Fall Into Ruin - Chapter 11: It Seems My Childhood Friend Is Skipping School, But It Has Nothing to Do With Me

Chapter 11: It Seems My Childhood Friend Is Skipping School, But It Has Nothing to Do With Me

“Huh, Shiota…… no, Masao, more crimes came out.”

This morning, I was looking at the hot online news again, but it seemed a girl Masao had targeted had sued him, and he got rearrested for additional underage indecent acts too, which made the news.

Apparently, videos of the acts were saved on his PC, and he had used those videos to force her into silence so she wouldn’t spread word of their relationship. Testimonies from others besides me who had faced violence from Masao were tipped off to an inflammatory influencer.

We had turned him into joke collage material like crazy, but the internet crowd was in an uproar, wondering if Masao was seriously mentally ill?? Man, Masao was really Masao.

By the way, that aside, the shitty collages didn’t stop. Net denizens had no mercy or pity; Masao was public plaything.

And at lunch break, today as usual, I was having a lively meal with Kusaka and Asakura, but Kusaka finally dragged Asakura shopping with her half in tears.

Watching her fix her chest position every day because her bra didn’t fit anymore had been too much for her. She invited her to go buy underwear with eyes full of sorrow and light gone out.

Asakura stubbornly refused because it was a hassle, but then she got an idea and said she’d go if Tak-kun came too, so things fell apart like that, and I got dragged along shopping too.

This Sunday, it was shopping at the mall with Kusaka and Asakura…… I couldn’t help thinking what was I supposed to do while the girls bought underwear, but going against today’s Kusaka felt impossible, and I could sense the sadness of Kusaka, who had none, so I had no choice but to agree to go out.

Also, from what I heard, after her father got arrested, Himeko had been absent from school. Well, after causing that kind of uproar, she couldn’t just come back to school easily, right? Of course, I brushed it off like it was someone else’s problem. It had nothing to do with me!! What about her attendance days? Would she get held back, or even expelled? I didn’t know.

……Right when I was thinking that, after school, Shūko-chan called out to me.

“Takao, got a minute?”

I thought it was the usual helper chore, but it wasn’t, so Shūko-chan led me to a place with no people, up the stairs to the rooftop, unlocked it with her key, and we went in. It was open to students at lunch, but locked after school.

“Sit,” Shūko-chan urged, so I sat on the bench, and she sat next to me.

“I hear you were close with Urakiri from Class E. You know she hasn’t come to school lately, right?”

I nodded, putting in feelings of yes, I know her well. I knew Himeko hadn’t come to school, and though Himeko herself hadn’t caused the direct problem, her father’s arrest was bad, so yeah, that made sense.

“You probably know this, but Urakiri was an excellent student with top grades, expected to go to a famous national university after graduation. But with her father arrested and her not coming to school, it’s causing a stir among the staff too. Have you heard anything about how Urakiri is doing now?”

Ah, so it was becoming a problem after all. Yeah, Himeko was smart. Her parents seemed good at studies too, so she must have inherited that brain. She was competing for top in the grade, I think. From the school’s view, she was their star good student.

“If that’s the case, I’m out of the loop. I’ve broken up with Himeko and cut ties.

I don’t need to hide it from you, Shūko-chan, but the violence incident with Himeko’s father―――he came barging into our house and punched my dad.”

When I said that, she dropped her non-smoking pipe in surprise, her eyes widening.

“What…… did you say……”

Her reaction was like someone in a black kimono swinging a Japanese sword, kinda cringy.

“That…… sounds…… really tough. Is your dad okay?”

“Thanks to that, he’s been fine since, going to work every day.”

I replied like that, but Shūko-chan’s face showed regret, like she’d asked something bad. Ah, I see. This question wasn’t her own will; someone―――probably her boss―――had asked her to check on “Urakiri Himeko” with me, who was close to her. Shūko-chan had it tough too.

“……Well, life has all kinds of things. I’ve had good stuff, bad stuff, and way worse stuff too.”

I said it brightly to keep Shūko-chan from worrying, and she looked at me, then up at the sky―――farther away―――and started speaking slowly and haltingly.

“……Aren’t you too detached for your age?

I look like this now, but back then I was a serious good student, putting all my effort into studies and club activities. When I was around your age.

I believed in things like perfection and harmony and worked hard for them.

……But stuff happened, and life became a repeat of setbacks; now I’m a teacher with no boyfriend, history equal to my age, whose only joy is smoking time. ……But you’re still in high school; isn’t it too early to give up?”

As she put away the dropped pipe into her portable ashtray and bit down on a new non-smoking pipe, Shūko-chan’s profile looked―――mature but like a girl her age, lonely.

That expression Shūko-chan showed sometimes might be why I ended up conscious of her.

“……I can’t say anything about what Shūko-chan has gone through so far, but even so, to me, Shūko-chan looks like a cool teacher. Like big bro! I think it’s great.”

When I said that, Shūko-chan’s eyes rounded in surprise, then she laughed like a wry smile.

“……Don’t call a woman big bro. Or Takao, do you want to be my little brother or something?”

“Whoa, invitation to form a hellish sibling pair?”

“I’m kidding. ……Jeez, you’re a student I can’t just leave alone.”

After that, I roughly explained my current situation and the troubles after Himeko’s cheating too. Her face turned kinda iffy at was the broken arm because of Masao?, but had Shūko-chan something with Masao??

“―――Stuff with guys and girls, it happens a lot. Not for me to say, but if you’re broken up, you’ll meet someone new. Oh, but while you’re a student, have healthy guy-girl relationships like a student should.”

“Then I want Shūko-chan!!!!!!!”

“After you graduate high school.”

Tch, shot down! ……Just kidding. I could say it because Shūko-chan would brush off jokes like that.

After that, Shūko-chan said she’d rest on the rooftop a bit more, so we parted, I went down from the rooftop, turned the corner, and there was Kusaka.

“Why are you hitting on Shūko-chan?

I exist, right? Asakura exists too, right? Or Tak-kun, are you really just after b00bs?

Asakura’s my friend too, so that’s fine, but hitting on Shūko-chan too?

That’s no good…… stuff like that. Tak-kun, you’re a high schooler, right? Getting close to a teacher…… how about that?”

She tilted her head slightly to the right, her left half of her face hidden by hair. Her right eye had no light, cloudy and murky. Lately, from Kusaka, I felt some kind of…… “weight”…… Like she’s depressed or something… this sticky, slimy thing I could see.

Hmm, better call it my imagination, yeah, let’s do that!!