Volume 1 - CH 14

Arai-san wears plain clothes.

It was the first day of the May holidays.

After passing through the ticket gate, I got off at the station closest to school in a large downtown area and headed for the meeting place. Since it was the first day of the consecutive holidays, the area in front of the station was crowded with people.

I’m not good at being in crowded places. I always get motion sickness.

I walked through the crowd of people coming quickly from the front and tried my best not to go against the flow of people coming from behind. By the time I passed the station, I was exhausted, even though I had only walked a few hundred meters.

This does bode well for today’s club activities…

I was already feeling a bit broken down, but I still proceeded to the meeting place.

We chose to meet in front of the bronze statue of a dog at the station.

This statue is a landmark that people usually use to meet, and the area around it is always full of people. Since today is the first day of the consecutive holidays, the number of people increased as I approach the statue.

I have been walking hard through the crowds of people up to this point, but I finally got motion sickness from the crowd of people, and my walking speed slows down due to the queasiness. I realized that it was about five minutes past the meeting time.

I don’t know what Harusame-san will say if I’m late.

As I hurried to the statue, fighting back due to my nausea, suddenly (poof!) stopped. I wondered if something had happened up ahead.

I walk quickly to reach the statue, happy that it has suddenly become easier to walk. Then I realized why there were no people around here.

“Let’s go together, A-chan! I’m sure that movie will be fun. It looks like your favorite actor is in it! Oh, and we have to buy popcorn when we go to the theater!”

There was Harusame-san, happily conversing with a life-sized panel of an anime character. Harusame-san continues to talk to the panel without interruption.

“Which one do you prefer the flavor of popcorn? I’d have to say caramel popcorn… but I also want to keep the basic salty flavor!”

Wearing a pale pink cardigan and a short pleated skirt with a checkered pattern, she looks dazzling with the absolute body area created between her black knee socks and skirt. She has a well-defined face with wide-open eyes and a slender nose bridge. She is petite, and by all accounts is one of today’s popular girls, but I wonder why she is such a disappointment.

And another one.

Next to Harusame-san, who was talking to a life-size panel of magical girls, was Kamiyama-san.

She was wearing a long skirt of mature design, a summer sweater, and a denim jacket, which looked good on her slender yet tall body. Her large, melon b*****s, which were attached to the front of her body, puffed out the summer sweater, and only there did the knit mesh extend fully, both vertically and horizontally. The simple, spring-like light-green paper bag might become a trend this spring. No, there is no way it will. And of course, her whole body was drenched with sweat.

That’s why there are no people around here…

I reflexively wanted to leave, but I told myself that I was doing it for the sake of the conversation club, and by extension, for myself. So I called out to the two of them.

“I’m sorry, I’m a little late. I guess I made you wait.”

Kamiyama-san said hurriedly when she noticed me.

“Ah, Kominato-kun, you’re here…! No… I didn’t wait for you at all, I just got here too…”

Sweat dripped more intensely than usual from Kamiyama-san’s clothes as she hurriedly waved her hands in front of her body while saying this. Looking closely, one could see that her clothes, paper bag, and even the ground beneath her feet were drenched with more sweat than usual. If someone had told me that a super-local squall had fallen on Kamiyama-san alone, I would have believed them.

With this amount of sweat, She must have waited here for thirty minutes…

Harusame-san notices me and opens her mouth as she turns to face the panel.

“Oh, oh, you’re late! I thought you might have been skinned in the face by some… passing murderer, but it seems you’re safe and sound… I’m just a little relieved…”

“That idea is sick.”

“Well, because… you don’t know what’s out there, do you? I was worried… about you…?”

They were worried about me. I was so late, so I decided to apologize.

“Sorry, I’m late. Speaking of which, where’s Arai-san?”

Kamiyama-san answers while sweating.

“Arai-san… doesn’t seem to be here yet…”

Just as Kamiyama-san was about to say something, she heard Arai-san’s voice coming from the other side of the crowd.

“I’m sorry, I was wondering what to wear and ended up being a little late.”

Arai-san ran up to us while saying so. She was breathing heavily as if she had run all the way here. I asked Arai-san a question as I watched her catch her breath.

“No, it’s fine, I was a little late too… but why are you wearing your school uniform…?”

In front of us was Arai-san, dressed in her school uniform as usual. Arai-san says casually as her breathing returns.

“Hm? these are my plain clothes, is something wrong with what I am wearing?”  

“Plain clothes? This?”

I take a closer look at Arai-san’s clothing from top to bottom, but no matter how I look at it, it looks like a school uniform. Perhaps noticing the meaning of my gaze, Arai-san says.

“Oh, this is my holiday uniform. The one I usually wear is the school uniform.”

I thought I heard “holiday uniform,” but I wondered if my ears had gone crazy. I repeated the question.

“Um, what do you mean by that…?”

“Well, these are my personal uniforms. I have a few that matches my uniform.

“Um… why?”

“Why? Because I’m a… high school student…?”

I don’t know why you’re even asking. Arai-san answered with a smile.

Yup, Arai-san is still a little strange.

The fact that she was wondering what to wear meant that she was choosing from the same uniforms.

The three of us then discussed where to go shopping today. I suggested to everyone as I looked at Arai-san.

“Let’s go shopping for clothes… that aren’t uniforms…”