Chapter 18 Is It a Step Ahead or...

Is It a Step Ahead or…

It had been three days since I went to the café with Aoi-senpai.

After seeing Shiramine-san that day, I went home as usual. Yoka was at the entrance and asked me where I had been, but the day passed without incident.

One, two, three days have passed since then, and nothing much has changed, but I still go to school with Yoka every day, and I often see Shiramine-san and Kanzaki-san on the way.

I wondered if they had something to do with Yoka, but if I was not mistaken, Shiramine-san and Yoka would often stare at each other, and Yoka would even yell at Kanzaki-san.

What the hell was going on? There is no way that Shiramine-san would want to make contact with me, and I’m sure that Kanzaki-san would as well.

I tried to think with all my brain, but I still couldn’t find the answer.

“Good morning, Hiiragi-kun.”

“Good morning, Shiramine-san.”

And today she was back where she was yesterday, greeting us.

I wonder if it’s just my imagination, but the circles around her eyes seem to be getting worse since the day before yesterday. It looks like it’s even worse than yesterday.

“Why are you here again today, Shiramine-senpai?”

“It’s just a coincidence, Yoka-chan.”

They looked at each other when they said that. It seems that Shiramine-san isn’t here because of Yoka.

No, maybe there is a saying that the more they fight, the better they get along. So, I decided to accept that it might be their way of saying hello or something.

“It can’t be a coincidence, can it? I told you yesterday to stay away from my brother.”

“You told me to stay away from your brother, but Yoka-chan can stay away from him too, can you? Can you please not put what you did on the shelf? Besides, I’m … I’ve made up my mind.”

“…?”

“I won’t lose again, and I can’t keep losing.”

“Maybe …”

“Yeah. So, I’ll go one step ahead of Yoka-chan. Yoka-chan, you stay there forever.”

They were talking about something, but I couldn’t understand any of it. I thought I heard my name in the middle of the conversation, so maybe I did something wrong again.

Yoka looked impatient, but Shiramine-san looked distraught, but also happy.

After that, Yoka and Shiramine-san got off at the station without speaking to each other.

As usual, Kanzaki-san came to apologize, but yesterday Yoka said things like “Stay away from me”. Yoka seemed to be impatiently thinking about something from earlier and just warned her firmly to “Don’t come near me again”.

As for Shiramine-san, she had a relaxed expression on her face.