Chapter 11: On the Verge of Explosion

On the Verge of Explosion

Because something incomprehensible had happened since morning, Sae’s mind could not keep up, and all she could do was walk to school in a daze by herself.

Deeply confused, Sae kept thinking endlessly about why Natsuki had gone on ahead alone. But no matter how much she thought about it, there was no answer, and her thoughts kept repeating errors without end.

In the end, from overthinking, Sae even developed a fever from mental strain, and soon she was suffering from a stabbing headache.

Sae did not understand.

Why did she have to walk the route to school alone? Why was Natsuki, who was supposed to be by her side, not standing next to her now?

No matter what the reason was, until now Natsuki would always prioritize Sae. If it was something unavoidable like class committee work, he would have explained it to her in advance.

But what about today? Natsuki gave her no explanation at all and simply told her in the morning that he would go on ahead.

That method, which showed no consideration at all, did not feel like Natsuki in the slightest. It was unnatural, as if someone else had used Natsuki’s phone to send the message.

And more than that, what Sae was even more concerned about was that Natsuki’s attitude had been far too strange since after school yesterday.

After school yesterday. Sae had sent an uncountable number of messages to Natsuki. Even she herself no longer remembered the exact number.

At first, she had only been sending messages intermittently. But no matter how long she waited, Natsuki never replied, and as time passed, the interval between her messages gradually shortened.

Eventually, she sent messages continuously, one after another, and when she grew irritated at receiving no reply, she called him dozens of times.

Yet even then, there was no response from Natsuki at all.

It was something that should have been impossible.

Normally, Natsuki would always reply to Sae’s messages immediately. Even putting aside his usual behavior, anyone would have responded at some point before the messages piled up to that extent.

Even if it were contact from someone other than Sae, considering Natsuki’s personality, staying silent was nothing but unnatural.

Everything was unlike the usual Natsuki, and it was clear that something was wrong.

However, even knowing that something was wrong with Natsuki did not make the situation any better. Even now, Sae continued to leave calls for him as she walked. And since she was leaving calls, it meant that Natsuki still had not answered even once.

“…Impossible. It makes no sense.”

Words spilled quietly from Sae’s mouth.

The childhood friend who would normally respond to her was not here now. He had gone ahead without her.

“This is seriously impossible.”

At first, it had been impatience.

That soon turned into irritation, and this morning it had become confusion.

Now exhausted from thoughts that only spun in circles and gave her nothing in return, irritation was rising again within Sae.

As she walked alone, the little thinking ability she had recovered repeated loudly that it was Natsuki’s fault for putting her through this.

“I definitely won’t forgive him right away. I’ll make him swear he’ll never do this again, make him kneel, and no matter what it takes, I’ll make him understand until he reflects from the bottom of his heart.”

Sae drove away the confusion swirling inside her with anger strong enough to burn.

With each step she took, Sae built up her emotions toward Natsuki. If her classmates saw her face now, the image she had crafted until now would probably shatter in an instant.

But Sae no longer had the room to care about such things.

Every bit of her mental capacity was filled with thoughts of Natsuki, and every one of her emotions was being consumed by Natsuki.

Once she arrived at the classroom, she would immediately drag Natsuki somewhere they could be alone and deal with him thoroughly. Then she would make him understand the weight of the sin of leaving her on his own.

No matter what method she used, even if they were inside school, she would show no mercy, and she would firmly tell him so he would never think of doing something like this again.

Because this was also for Natsuki’s sake.

Sae believed that being by her side was happiness for Natsuki as well.

Fueled by something closer to a sense of duty than irritation, Sae reached the school.

All for Natsuki’s sake, to teach him what he must not do.

However, what awaited Sae was a situation even more incomprehensible than what she had felt in the morning.

“Starting yesterday, we began dating! So please give us your blessings!”

Sae had already noticed the unusually excited atmosphere in the classroom from the hallway. Even if she did not know what had happened, the excited voices of her classmates were echoing into the corridor.

That boiling noise was especially painful to Sae, whose headache had worsened. Already consumed by irritation, she did not want to be exhausted by something meaningless any further.

So as soon as she entered the classroom, she planned to find the cause of this excitement and put a stop to it, no matter what it was. However,

“…Huh?”

The center of the uproar was immediately obvious upon entering the classroom.

A pair of a boy and a girl stood at the center of the classmates, gathering everyone’s attention. It was clear at a glance that they were the cause of all the excitement.

But that was as far as Sae’s understanding went.

As Sae tried to push through the crowd, the girl among the pair made a bold declaration, and Sae’s mind went blank.

A raw, genuine question escaped Sae’s lips. It sounded almost pitiful, but it was swallowed by the noise of the classroom and reached no one.

Even the sharp headache that had tormented Sae seemed to vanish in shock.

Sae, who had intended to remove the cause of the commotion and quiet things down, could no longer move.

That was how overwhelming the shock of the words spoken by the girl at the center, Haga Yukina, had been.

Yukina had just declared to the entire class that she had begun dating someone.

Yukina was someone with a strong presence in the class. For the boys especially, her love life was something they would be very interested in. But for Sae, it was a different story.

Sae had no interest in Yukina. Even if told Yukina had begun dating someone, it was something she would not care about in the slightest.

However, right now, Sae was experiencing the greatest shock of her life from Yukina’s words.

Because,

“Come on, Natsuki-kun, you say something too.”

“Ah, yeah. So, um, I hope everyone can support us warmly.”

The boy shyly smiling beside Yukina was, without any doubt, Natsuki.

“What?”

Sae’s voice sounded less like anger and more like a cry for help, but Natsuki, surrounded and overwhelmed with questions, did not hear her at all.

Sae could not take her eyes off Natsuki’s expression, which was blushing in embarrassment but radiating happiness even more strongly.

“Which one of you confessed first?”

“Oh, that was definitely me!”

“Seriously? Haga-san, you liked Natsuki?”

“Yep, I loved him! We were always together because of the class committee, and he helped me a lot.”

“Damn, I’m jealous. But hey, good for you, Natsuki.”

“Y-yeah. I didn’t think it would be mutual, so I’m really happy.”

From Sae’s perspective as well, Yukina and Natsuki looked truly happy.

Their faces clearly showed how they felt, and the classmates around them were swept up in the mood of celebration.

Only Sae alone could not fit in with that atmosphere.

No, she could not fit in.

The excitement in the classroom did not settle down until the homeroom teacher arrived.

During that time, Natsuki remained beside Yukina, surrounded by classmates and receiving endless questions and congratulations.

Shoulders touching, and at times their hands brushing together, Natsuki naturally stood at Yukina’s side.

With the closeness of real lovers, Sae could do nothing but watch Natsuki stand beside another girl.

There was a physical wall of classmates between Sae and Natsuki. But even without that wall, Sae probably still would not have moved.

Faced with a situation beyond understanding, Sae felt fear.

It was like she had wandered into a world similar to reality but not quite the same, an uncanny and terrifying distortion.

From Sae’s perspective, the idea that Natsuki liked Yukina was beyond absurd. He had never shown such signs, and even when Sae had been wary, she had never noticed anything.

Sae could not believe or accept the unbelievable scene unfolding in front of her.

But this was undeniably reality, and time moved forward normally, and class proceeded as usual.

In a world that continued on as if nothing strange had happened, Sae felt as if she alone had been left behind.

Even so, no matter if the world left her behind, Sae could not possibly accept what had happened this morning.

While class continued normally, Sae focused intensely on herself and gradually regained her composure.

And the first thing Sae thought was that she had to question Natsuki.

What in the world was going on? What was he thinking? She had to hear it directly from Natsuki. Without that, she could not even begin to understand.

Having recovered enough to think, Sae immediately tried to catch Natsuki.

But during every break, Yukina was always beside him, and the excited classmates would immediately surround the pair.

Sae could not just pull one of the central figures away under those circumstances, so she tried to get Natsuki’s attention through messages and calls.

But Natsuki did not check his phone at all.

No matter how many messages Sae sent or how many times she called, he did not show even the slightest sign of noticing, as if his phone were turned off.

Sae had wanted Natsuki to come to her on his own if possible, but after being ignored since yesterday, her patience ran out quickly.

“Natsuki, come here for a second.”

“Huh? Ah, Sae? What’s up?”

“Just come with me for a moment.”

“W-wait, Sae.”

Pushing aside the classmates surrounding him, Sae grabbed Natsuki’s slender arm.

The warmth of Natsuki’s body in her palm.

Even though she had touched him yesterday, the moment she felt it now, Sae nearly burst into tears.

Because she could feel that Natsuki was right here.

But she could not allow herself to be satisfied with just that. Closing her eyes tightly to hold back the tears, Sae tried to pull Natsuki out of the room.

However,

“Wait a moment, Kurokawa-san.”

At the same moment she was stopped, Sae felt her arm being grabbed.

For a moment, she considered ignoring it, but the grip was surprisingly strong, and when she tried lightly to shake it off, it did not move. With a sigh, Sae reluctantly turned around.

“Do you need something with Natsuki-kun?”

Yukina, who had grabbed Sae’s arm, stepped in between them as if to block Sae from Natsuki.

She was smiling, but her eyes were not smiling at all, and Sae noticed immediately.

“Yeah. I’m just taking him for a bit. That’s okay, right?”

“No no, that’s not okay! Don’t take my boyfriend away.”

Yukina exaggerated her voice, deliberately loud enough for the classmates around them to hear, causing more of them to gather.

Sae nearly clicked her tongue at the situation that had been created to make things difficult for her.

“Natsuki and I have always been together, and it would be a problem if you restricted that.”

“I know that, but that was because Natsuki-kun was single before, right? Now he’s not. So from now on, I’d like you to give space for his girlfriend. After all, Kurokawa-san is just a childhood friend.”

The moment those words were spoken, Sae found herself glaring at Yukina.

Though Yukina was smiling cheerfully, her words were unmistakably a provocation.

To the rest of the class, it may have looked like her usual bright smile, but to Sae, that smile looked pitch black.

“You call it ‘just’ childhood friends, but that’s not such a shallow relationship.”

“But we’ve only been dating for two days, right? You could at least back off just a little, couldn’t you?”

“It’s just talking for a bit, so shouldn’t you be the one backing off? They say being controlling is bad, you know.”

“It’s fine. I think about Natsuki-kun properly.”

Perhaps there was no deeper meaning to Yukina’s words.

But to Sae, the way she emphasized I sounded like a deliberate provocation.

Without hearing the full situation from Natsuki yet, Sae could only be pushed into reacting late, and dragging Natsuki away was proving difficult.

Yukina clearly had no intention of yielding, and as Sae began to feel her irritation rising, the surrounding classmates finally stepped in.

“Sae! Everyone knows you take good care of people, but you should let Haga-chan have him this time!”

The classmates stepped into the discussion as if to admonish Sae.

Naturally, the side being supported was Yukina, the girlfriend, and Sae was once again forced to feel how worthless the title of “friend” was.

“When people first start dating, they want to be together all the time! That’s what love is!”

“…Fine. I get it.”

If Sae continued arguing with Yukina in the center of the classroom like this, the atmosphere would clearly become strained.

Sae had no choice but to outwardly appear calm and withdraw while hiding her irritation.

As she did, she turned her gaze toward Natsuki.

Just before their eyes could meet, Yukina deliberately moved her body to block him.

Sae looked away from Yukina’s narrowed, smiling eyes. If she continued looking any longer, she felt she would no longer be able to control her emotions.