The Silent Me Who Talks on the Phone at Midnight with the Class’s Most Beautiful Honor Student - Chapter 2

                      The Honest Words I Accidentally Heard

Right then, one of the guys in class noticed something was off with me and came over.

“Hey, Muku-kun, you okay?”
“Mm… yeah…”

Times like this, I’m actually grateful for my “quiet guy” image.
My heart was pounding so hard I could barely stand straight, so I just gave a short answer and stepped back, pretending everything was fine.

Wait—hold on.
This means… Sakura’s totally into Muku, isn’t she?!

I can’t say that out loud, of course, so I’m just going to scream it inside my head!
Sakura-san, the person you’ve been talking to—it’s actually me!
The one you said was fun to talk to—that’s me!

What do I do… I’m so ridiculously happy right now.

And as for everyone else in class—heh, heh, heh.
You have no idea, do you?
I know sides of Saginuma Sakura that none of you have ever seen!

Like how she secretly loves mint chocolate ice cream.
Or that, even though she’s in an athletic club and tries not to eat too many calories, she always lets herself have some on Saturdays.

Okay, maybe some people already know that part… but still!
I want to brag so badly that I’m the one she talks to!
I can’t, but man, do I want to.

“Hey, can we ask a few more questions?”
“Nope! I’m closing shop for now. I’ve got to go to the student council room!”

With that, she hurried out of the classroom, leaving my heart spinning in a storm of emotions.
And just like that, lunchtime came to an end.

“Chiyu-kun, did something good happen to you?”
“Eh? Me?”

On the way home, I was walking with Shizuku.
She kept brushing her bangs out of her eyes, like they were bothering her, as she walked beside me.

“Well, nothing big… but maybe a little. Am I that easy to read?”
“Of course. I’ve been watching you since we were kids. I can read you like a book.”

She smiled, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
That’s childhood friends for you.

“Wait a sec, Chiyu-kun. Don’t tell me—you’ve got someone you like?”
“S-someone I like?! N-no, it’s not like that!”

Crap.
Guess I really am easy to read… she totally figured it out, didn’t she?

“I mean, not that I like her… I just kind of, you know, find her interesting.”
When I said that, her eyes lit up, and she gave my shoulder a friendly pat.

“No, no, that definitely means you like her. Don’t worry, I can tell.”
“Uh… y-yeah? You think so?”

How can she say that so confidently?
She doesn’t even know who I’m talking about—Sakura, of all people.

“You’ll understand once you spend more time with her,” she said softly.
“You think so?”

“I know so. Oh, right—when are we going to get sweets together? You promised, remember?”
“Eh? Oh, that. Did we really say that?”

I think she mentioned it before… maybe.
She puffed her cheeks a little.

“It doesn’t have to be sweets, you know. We can grab lunch or tea—whatever. Let’s just hang out! I’ll text you some possible dates later!”

She really has been more forward lately.
Not that I mind—it’s kind of nice, actually.

“Alright, sounds good.”
“So, anything you’ve been craving lately?”

“Hmm… I feel like eating chicken nanban tonight.”
“Not tonight! I meant something we could eat together!”

We laughed as the bus to our neighborhood arrived, and we got on together.

Since I don’t talk much at school, getting to chat with Shizuku like this on the way home always feels refreshing.
And since she’s inviting me, maybe I really should take her up on it sometime—get something sweet together, just like she said.

“Oh! It’s Yossy-san!”

That night, I got a DM from her:

“I think I’ll be free to talk tonight—how about you?”

Of course, I said yes right away.
I’d been wanting to talk to her too.

“Good evening, Yossy-san.”
“Muku-san! Thank you for calling!”

We’d set a time, and when I called, she picked up almost instantly.
Just hearing her voice made it easy to imagine the smile on her face.

And the very first thing she said answered the question I’d been dying to confirm.

“Today, my classmates asked me some questions at school, and I… kind of ended up talking about you, Muku-san.”
“Eh? Really?”
“Hehe, I had to explain how we knew each other, and it was hard dodging the ‘#Tsuwabo’ part.”

I knew it!
I was already ninety-nine percent sure, but hearing that finally confirmed it—

Yossy-san was definitely Sakura.

Just picturing it made my heart pound.
That Sakura, fresh out of the bath, sitting in her pajamas, talking to me on the phone…
My heartbeat was so loud, I was sure she could hear it.

But of course, I couldn’t tell her that I knew.
As much as I wanted to, I had to keep quiet.
Instead, I decided to just enjoy this strange, secret connection of ours.

“So, what kind of conversation was it?” I asked.
“Um… someone asked what my recent hobbies were, so I mentioned our calls.”
“I see, I see. Makes sense.”

I could tell she was nervous.
She probably didn’t want to say that her classmates had asked about romance, so she framed it as a “hobby.”
Too bad for her I already knew the whole context.

“Hehe, Yossy-san, did you say anything nice about me?”
“Of course! I said you’re fun to talk to. Although… there was one more thing I almost said but didn’t.”

“Oh? What was it?”
“I was going to say… that I could talk to you forever.”

My heart thudded so hard I thought it might explode.
She hadn’t said that part in class this was something just for me.

“Ah… uh… are you sure you should be telling me that?”
“Eh…?”

Sakura froze for a moment, and then—

“W-wait—ahhh, I said it out loud! I actually said it!”
“Haha, n-no, thank you…”

Nope. I was way too flustered.
All I could manage was a shaky “thank you.”

Still, seeing this clumsy, flustered side of Sakura made me smile.
It was so different from the confident version she showed at school.

“L-let’s change the subject, Muku-san!”
“Y-yeah, good idea!”

If we didn’t, there was no way we’d be able to talk normally again.
So, we took a breath and tried to reset everything back to normal.