Chapter 168 - After That

◆Sanada Seiji◆

It was after school.

“Hiiragi-chan fought with another girl in the preparation room. Is that about you?”

“No idea.”

From the perspective of students who only had a graduation ceremony left, it was quite an important event as the information about the first-year girl spread throughout the school.

Fujimoto, who had heard about the information pretty quickly worriedly told me that it was about Sana.

I have somewhat of an idea why they fought.

“You won’t get mad?”

“Huh? Why? You don’t know anything right?”

“T-that’s right.”

She’s so easy to understand.

“I don’t know why it became like that, but… rather, isn’t it that? If she makes you cry, I’ll hit her…?”

Sana looked downward without any expression. Aah, that seems to be it.

As she was so easily let off, so it probably ended with just an attempt.

“If you got mad for my sake, then thank you.”

“It wasn’t for you Nii-san. Sana was just really annoyed.”

So, it was you.

For the few days left in that week, Sana didn’t go to school.

She said it was for self-discipline, but it was really nothing like that. It seemed like she just wanted to skip school.

As for Hiiragi-chan, we hadn’t contacted each other since.

Even during world history class, she would never make eye contact, and having the reality of us breaking up hit me like that really made me want to cry during class.

I knew this would happen as I’ve seen it multiple times in the present time, and yet—the shock should have been about half—however, actually experiencing it directly, I am experiencing a whole different level of sadness.

Hiiragi-chan, of course, no longer appears for club activities. The world history preparation room was also locked, and our points of contact were finally beginning to disappear.

Originally, this is how the distance between a student and teacher should have been…

I now understand how much Hiiragi-chan went out of her way to come to me.

Soon, the graduation ceremony ended, and it was time for the closing ceremony. There was a sense of release as it would be spring break starting tomorrow, however, I had no idea what to do.

…We had even promised each other that we would go view the sakura trees together as we couldn’t do it last year.

After the club activities award ceremony and some closing words from the principal, he informed everyone with a statement “There are a few teachers that will be leaving this school in March.”

About five teachers that were lined up along the wall went up on the stage. Everyone in the gymnasium made some noise.

Among them, Hiiragi-chan was dressed in formal wear. It was probably because of that incident.

Teachers leaving this school— I didn’t know at the time when I was a high school student, but this is a so-called change of personnel.

It could be because her relationship with me may be revealed, or maybe it’s also due to the fight she had with Sana.

I didn’t hear very much about teachers leaving in my sophomore year. Of course, I didn’t hear anything about scandals or special transfers.

With an introduction from the principal various teachers gave their greetings.

Hiiragi-chan gave a few statements on the memories she made here at the school, expressed her gratitude and closed it off with some bland statements on how much she enjoyed spending her time here at school.

The principal said that she would be taking a leave of absence. He didn’t explain how long though.

Fujimotot butted in.

“Why is Hiiragi-chan quitting? Is it because of her fight with Chan-Sana?”

“I have no idea. Taking a leave of absence isn’t the same as quitting anyways.”

My wording was unconsciously a little bit blunter, causing Fujimoto to reveal a surprised expression.

“If you don’t know, then I guess there aren’t any students that do…”

After saying that, he patted me on the shoulder as if trying to cheer me up.

At my part time job at the HRG company, I’ll probably meet face to face with Natsumi-chan often.

She probably knows about Hiiragi-chan. There’s no way Natsumi-chan wouldn’t know. Despite that, she’d probably try to interact with me normally while trying to be considerate.

A school life without Hiiragi-chan… it’s all normal, but—anyways, the pacing of it is just different. An everyday routine of going to school, spending time at school, and once school is over, going home. My everyday was consumed in a blink of an eye by such a bland way of life.

Recently, my time leap hasn’t released at all. I can’t see what has happened in the present time.

I have a hypothesis on why that is the case.

In the present, the adult Rei-chan had tilted her head and asked me if it was over then with that. That probably isn’t that I was done with going to the past.

Thinking back, the time leap releases were often a way for me to see the results of what happened in the past.

I’ve already finished making any changes in the past, and so even if I were to return to the present, nothing would change. That’s why I would never be released. I don’t know the logic behind why I am in a time leap, so the hypothesis is still only a hypothesis in the end, but when I think about it like that, I can accept it.  After rising to my senior year, I did my best to study. I was able to take it easy in the summer, but once spring started, I tried hard. Due to that, I was able to get into a higher-ranking university, and was able to proceed to a public university.

My second college life was quite enjoyable if I do say so myself.

Going to class, skipping class, working at the HRG company (with a significantly higher hourly wage, and I was there long enough to be the person most familiar with work on the floor), and sometimes, I would hang out with friends. The chances I had to meet other girls also increased. Cute girls, beautiful girls, airheaded girls, interesting girls, somewhat erotic girls. However, none of them could compare to Hiiragi-chan.

During that time, Sana, who had become 21 years old, set out to make herself a name as a freelance illustrator. It seems that some sort of contact came from a game company, as she flaunted a business card in front of me. It was the ASW company, but I won’t say anything here. Kanata graduated from a vocational school, and I know that she got a job, but because we’ve distanced ourselves from each other, I don’t know if she’s working at ASW.

Rei-chan entered her third year of middle school and turned into a splendid erotic and cute little devil JC. “The middle school boys are such kids. As expected it has to be an adult-like Senpai.” She said, the last time we met.

The weird relationship by far, was the one with Natsumi-chan.

If you aren’t going to marry Haruka, then you should tie the knot with Natsumi—just like that, we were forced together by Airi-san. Giving out to her persistence, Natsumi-chan said to at least have a relationship on the surface. So, now, we were not fiancés but just dating each other.

From this point on, she changed her way of calling me to Seiji-san. Aaah, so this is where it changes. Knowing about the future, it really felt like a historic moment.