Chapter 5 Encounter

Encounter

A girl entered the rooftop where no one was supposed to enter. That would be alarming, wouldn’t it? It’s also during the homeroom class. Considering the events that are about to happen, this is the most important class in a student’s life.

Her black hair waved gently. Her skin was fresh, without a trace of sweat, even in the middle of summer. A slightly mysterious look. Her ribbon is red. In other words, she’s a first-year. She had a graceful beauty that made it hard to believe she was younger than me.

I’ve never really talked to her, but she’s a famous person at this school.

Her name is Ichijo Ai.

She was a talented girl who scored top marks in last year’s entrance exams. With her model-like beauty and friendly personality, she has become an idol of this school within a month of enrolling.

She’s the opposite of me. I have no idea why she was in such a place?

“Hello, I’m Aono, a second-year. I didn’t want to be in class, so I skipped it and wandered around and ended up here.”

A lame excuse. I thought for a moment that I wanted to jump off the roof and feel better, so why am I making such a strange statement?

“Aono-senpai?”

I couldn’t help but be stunned by that cute voice. She’s a beautiful, talented girl, but her voice is of a cute variety. The boys in my class were fascinated by her looks and were a bit of a nuisance to her, but to be honest, I wasn’t really interested because I was too busy going out with Miyuki.

For a moment, Ichijo’s face clouded over. Ah, you know my rumor. Well, I can’t help it.

I chuckled with a resigned look on my face.

“Why now?”

She murmured in a weak voice.

Unlike his classmates, she showed no hostility.

I felt a little relieved.

“Sorry. You know the rumors. Please give me a place. I want to hide here until noon and I’m going to eat onigiri here.”

Mom had made me some onigiri. I brought my bag with me when I ran away from the classroom, so I could stay here until lunchtime. I wanted to be alone and think about what I should do from now on.

I don’t know if she had any idea of my feelings, but she showed her disgust.

“I don’t want to. Because this is my place. I can’t give it to you. You, Senpai, go away!”

She seems to have a more distinct personality than I expected. My likability to her increases slightly.

“You sure? You know what they say about me, don’t you?”

When I said this, my heart ached.

Because I still can’t accept this fact.

“I know.”

“Then, hurry up…”

“I don’t want to.”

This idol seems to be quite stubborn.

“Huh?”

The tone was unintentionally strong. I hadn’t expected such a strong reaction.

“I know the rumors. But they are just rumors. There seem to be some strange rumors about love problems, but … I don’t care. In general, love is like a disease. Why should we believe vague and ambiguous stories, such as one-sided claims or rumors? Isn’t that too dangerous?”

It was a stronger refutation than I expected. And it sticks in my mind. The line I wanted to hear from my closest classmates and club members came from a junior girl I’d never met before. Surprise and joy fill the wounds in my heart a little.

“So you believe me?”

“It’s not a question of believing or not believing. This rumor is being spread by your girlfriend, considering the circumstances. I’m just saying that it’s too risky to hurt you with this one-sided and biased information. Rumors spread out of romantic entanglements are the most unreliable information you can have.”

She argues very intelligently, or at worst logically. Normally this would be a cheeky junior line, but it was the one I most wanted to hear.

“Thank you.”

“Why are you thanking me?”

She looked at me with a quizzically annoyed expression.

“If you have no idea, that’s fine.”

I looked at my intelligent junior as I held back my tears.

Heavy rain fell from the sky. Changing the mood in an instant.

“Hey, it’s raining really hard. Let’s just go back inside, we’ll catch a cold here.”

“Please leave me alone.”

I shocked to find out that a proposal I thought would be accepted was rejected.

“Ah, but.”

“You still don’t understand? Why did I come here alone?”

Unlike the rational voice from earlier, this one was clearly filled with anger, leaving me at a loss for words.

“Why?”

“I don’t have to worry about getting wet from the rain and catching a cold. Because for me, tomorrow will never come again.”

Like a spoiled child, only the emotions are ahead.

“Calm down.”

“Leave me alone. I want to die!”

Then she walked slowly towards the security fence. Panicking, I grabbed her arm and stopped her.

“Don’t!”

I just thinking about killing myself earlier, and now I’m trying to stop a junior from killing herself. It was too sudden development to make sense.

“It’s none of your business. Let me do what I want.”

With more force than I expected, she tried to shake me off. But I held on desperately.

“For God’s sake. …”

We were both soaking wet, but I didn’t care. She tried to pull my arm away with her other hand.

With a confused head, I was saying the following words.

“If you’re going to die, at least hang out with me for a day! Let’s skip school together!”

“What?”