Chapter 7

It seems like the student council is in charge of broadcasting that students must leave before the end of school time. I was released 30 minutes before the school closes.

Isn’t this too much work for the first day? I worked for almost 2 hours. I can’t do this every day of the week.

I stretched out my completely stiff body and headed to the entrance. Suddenly, I saw a familiar group going down the stairs. It’s the flashy group led by Ashi-san.

Too bad I’m currently alone. Where are you, Shinozaki!

I have nothing to do with them so I’ll just pretend I didn’t see them and send a text message to Yuna telling her to cook since I’m only going home now.

「What are you doing here at this hour?」

When I reached the entrance, Hirose spoke to me. Areh? The others are already going home, are you not going with them?

「I was working. How about you? Why are you still here?」

「It’s almost golden week so we’re making a plan.」

「I see.」

Our conversation was interrupted by silence. Maa, I don’t have anything to say to her so it’s okay.

We don’t have anything in particular to talk about but I can’t find the right timing to say goodbye so we sluggishly go down together. How uncomfortable. I should have pretended to be in a hurry and left her at the gate.

「Ano, Amane.」

Just as Hirose was about to say something, my cell phone, which I rarely use, started ringing.

I didn’t even know my cell phone had that ringtone. I forgot about it.

「Let me answer this.」

I bowed and answered the phone. The one who’s calling me is Yuna.

「What’s wrong?」

『That’s my line. What’s wrong with you, oniichan? Did you get caught by a scary oniisan because of yesterday’s incident? 』

She sounded rather worried. However, what she’s worried about is kind of wrong, isn’t it? Was she adversely affected by her oniichan?

「I was not caught by a scary oniisan. However, I was caught up with a more scary job. It will continue until before golden week so it will be like this for a while.」

『Then, let’s go out for dinner. Can we meet in front of the station? 』

Yuna seemed to be paying attention to me in her own way. To be honest, that saved me since I didn’t have the energy to make dinner. If she hadn’t suggested it, our dinner would be simple dishes like stir-fried meat and vegetables for a while.

「We can.」

That’s it! The phone was hung up.

「So, you were saying?」

I decided to focus and listen to Hirose until we arrived at the station and asked her to continue what she’s about to say.

「It’s not a big deal, I only want to know what happened to your lunch? It seems like you didn’t have a bento.」

Shinozaki asked me the same thing. I wonder if everyone is so worried about other people’s lunch situation.

「They started serving school lunch this year. There’s no need for me to cook anymore.」

「Is that so? I’m glad she didn’t hate it.」

「Ah, well, I bought it from the convenience store since I’m going to deal with Shinozaki today but starting tomorrow, I’ll be eating while working in the student council room. I’ll be a little busy because of that. You’ll probably notice it immediately.」

「I see. By the way, is it my fault that you’re working?」

Hnn? Are you actually bothered by it? Maybe Hirose is actually a good girl. I really don’t mind it but since she’s a good girl, she felt responsible that I got punished. She’s also talking to me because of Ashi-san’s group. That’s what I’m currently concluding. I’ll follow up with her to make sure she won’t feel guilty. By the way, how should I follow up?

「You don’t have to feel guilty about it. It was Ashi-san who locked the door.」

Silence again. Maybe it’s because Hirose-san and I don’t have much to talk about. Maa, I guess it’s fair to say that we have nothing in common.

-0-

Thankfully, we arrived at the station before the awkwardness crossed the limit.

「Onii-chan」

Yuna found me and is calling me loudly while waving her hand. She’s a little petite so I can understand her need to do that. I replied by raising my hand.

「That girl is Yuna-chan?」

「Right right. I will eat dinner with her so see you later.」

「Ah, yeah. See you!」

Hirose waved her hand vigorously without losing to Yuna while walking towards the ticket gate. Is this kind of hand waving popular among girls? I think this trend will give you stiff arms and shoulders.

「Fumu fumu. She’s a pretty cute girl. Is she the rumored Hirose-san?」

Yuna, who was already beside me before I knew it, asked so. She looked curious.

「That’s right.」

「So, you are already in the kind of relationship where you go home together? Is that right?」

She also said, “Spring has finally come to oniichan”. However, didn’t I tell you that she only confessed to me because of a punishment game? I wonder if Yuna’s memory is okay. She’s a student that’s preparing for the entrance exam and having a memory like that is kind of disappointing. She might end up like Shinozaki. Oniichan is worried.

「It’s nothing. We just happened to meet at the stairs on our way home.」

「Fuh」

She replied in a casual way as if she had suddenly lost interest. You’re so easy to read.

AAHHH! And suddenly, Yuna screamed. Everyone’s line of sight gathers to us. I apologize for my noisy little sister.

「Why did you suddenly scream?」

「I should have exchanged contacts with Hirose-san.」

Yuna lowered her head deliberately making herself look depressed. If this is a manga, there would be an onomatopoeic word like “gakushi” on her panel.

The two of us walked into a family restaurant in front of the station as I admired her ever-changing expressions.