CH 16

Chapter 16: More Savvy Students Enter College

TL: Akabane

***

I ended up coming to the lecture hall with my wife holding my hand.

"As expected, it's time for you to let go of my hand, isn't it?"

"Eh? Fine, but won't you run away?"

My wife tilted her head adorably.

"...I won't run away."

When I said that, she smiled in relief and let go of my hand.

"Then where shall we sit? I wonder where would be good. Hmmm."

She looks so happy even though she's just picking a seat. Always no-nonsense and smiling. That part hasn't changed. No, but I guess it wasn't for a while after we started dating. She was mysterious and had an air of not knowing what she was thinking. When I came to realize it, she became a silly, clunky woman.

"Why are you having so much fun?"

"I was always on the hallway side in high school, close to the teacher, and it wasn't a fun seat! So I thought it would be fun to be in college where I could sit in any seat I wanted."

"I see. Well, that's why guys who are bossy become even more bossy. If you don't make friends, you always have to go to class alone."

A common college story. The more lonely you are, the more you sit in the front seat, and the more rear-facing you are, the more you sit in the back seat in a group.

"That's true. But now that we're friends, you don't have to sit alone! Good for you, Tokiwa! You're not a looner anymore!"

"I'm not very, very, very close with your childhood friend, am I?"

I implicitly told her we ain't friends. But.

"What? Does it have anything to do with me that Chusho and Tokiwa don't get along?"

I'm rather mystified as to why you don't think it has anything to do with you. Let's not think about it anymore. Let's just go along with my wife for the duration of this lecture and push this girl to someone in the department or a group of girls. Anyway, I sat in the back of the room by the window because it was available. My wife sat next to me and gazed happily out the window.

"Our university campus is beautiful, isn't it? There are lots of trees and it's very friendly."

"Well, yes. It's a bit of a hassle to get around, though, because it's so big."

"Right! Maybe I should bring my bike or something. It's a pain in the ass to walk to the ground when we're doing club activities!"

My wife was in the cheerleading club. She has been doing it since high school. She went to nationals in high school and was also cheering for a childhood friend of hers who went to nationals in soccer. Of course, I have never cheered by my wife in cheerleading. When I asked her to wear a cheerleading outfit for a night out, she looked at me with a sour expression and said she didn't want to. I guess memories of youth are important. I'm a shy guy, so I don't really understand the preciousness of club activities.

"Yeah. Cheerleading is hard work, isn't it?"

My reply was naturally appropriate. I know my wife well. There is nothing to talk about again. The conversation naturally petered out. It should have been.

"What? How did you know I joined the cheer club? I just turned in my application on Friday."

Oh sh*t! I just said out loud what I knew! Oh no, I had to cover it up!

"Oh, well, that's..."

"All the boys know that! Riri is very famous!"

I heard a female voice. I turned toward the voice and saw a girl. She was wearing a stadium jacket and jean shorts. A vivacious looking girl with her hair pulled back in a bun. Compared to my wife, Ayashiro, and Yuzuriha, she is a notch or two below them, but she is beautiful enough and has a passable face. And I know this woman well.

"Hey there, Tomoe! Why are you here? We're in different departments."

"You're out of it as usual. This class is a lecture common to all engineering departments. It's not only for the architecture department, but for our bioengineering department as well!"

The woman called Tomoe sat down next to my wife. Then she looked at me suspiciously.

"Who is this guy? He looks like a thug who looks like he's in trouble, no matter how you look at him?"

"Thugs are terrible! This guy is Tokiwa! He's my new friend in the same department!"

I don't think friendship can exist between a man and a woman. Especially not with my wife. Even if I die once, unfortunately, it's not going to happen.

"But you look like a thug. Sorry, Tokiwa! I say out what I think right away!"

"Tomoe's a savvy girl! Please forgive her, Tokiwa. She's my best friend!"

I'm in a bit of trouble. I never thought I would have to come into contact with my wife's best friend. In the first round of the world, I hated this woman, second only to the interloper.

"Tokiwa, right? My name is Mashiba Tomoe. You can call me Tomoe."

"Nice to meet you, Mashiba."

I don't like girls who are savvy. I don't like the way they push their familiarity on me. That's why I never call her by her first name.

"What? Ah, maybe you're embarrassed to talk to girls? Haha. You have a cute side to you for the way you look."

No, I just don't like you. It would be easier if I could say. There is no shortage of reasons to dislike savvy people. And the part where they immediately try to play with people like this.

"But that's unusual. I think this is the first time I've seen Riri next to a guy other than Hagiri!"

I've seen plenty of guys other than me next to my wife, right? It's to the level where you could form a soccer team with your ex-boyfriends. I'm on the bench. I'm sure he's the captain. I'd love to be on the cheering section.

"But you better not get the wrong idea! No one can beat Riri's childhood friend! You can be her friend, but you can never be her boyfriend! I've seen plenty of guys in high school who confessed their feelings to this girl, only to be rejected and sunk! Hahaha!"

My wife I knew were easy to get together with if you confessed to them. But she was famous for relationships that didn't last long at all. They all ended with my wife unilaterally rejecting them.

"Oh my God! Stop it, Tomoe! You make me sound like a cold girl! I don't know anything about relationships, I couldn't imagine going out with him, and I just turned him down because I had no choice!"

"That's not true. I always have Hagiri in my heart, so I can't let other guys in. That's what you mean, right? A woman can only love one man at any given time! Riri especially only thinks about Hagiri single-mindedly!"

I don't agree with Mashiba at all. My wife cheated on me. One of the things that annoyed me about my wife was that after she came home after being hugged by the other man, she usually had sex with me as well. A single-minded woman would never do such a thing. I don't understand that anymore. And I don't like frivolous girls. They talk about things that have no basis in fact as if they were wise words and act like they know what they're talking about. Mashiba didn't know anything about my wife.

"I'm not aiming to be a boyfriend or a husband. Mashiba, what you're thinking is groundless."

"But you want to get along with her and have sex with Riri if you can, right! What are you thinking about? Aiming for a chance? Kyahaha!"

"Not everyone thinks about love and sex all the time like you do."

"What? Are you trying to tell me that I'n all love-brained b*tches? You're pissing me off."

She was a romantic brain. In the first round of the world, after she found out my wife was cheating on me, she kept saying to me, "I feel sorry for Riri and I want you to rebuild the relationship. You really love her, don't you? A good man is capable of forgiving a girl!" and he kept saying to me, "You really love Riri, don't you? I think it's painful for a grown man to call a woman a girl!" My wife, however, sensing that I was really annoyed by Mashiba's insistence on following me around and trying to persuade me, broke off the relationship with her. It is a shame for a savvy person to make things complicated by intervening in a situation without regard to the parties involved.

"Tomoe! Stop it! That wasn't good! Tokiwa is a good person! You can't suspect ulterior motives! Apologize!"

My wife was quietly but seriously angry. The voltage of this anger is on the quite high side. Specifically, it was about the same level of stiffness as when Mashiba, in the first round, came to the room where my wife and I were living together before we were married, got drunk, slipped up, and started talking about my wife's ex-boyfriends, which made my wife angry. As expected, Mashiba sensed this and shrugged her shoulders. But she didn't say sorry. It's because she's the conservative type.

"Well, I provoked her too much. Calm down. I don't mind."

I scolded my wife who was glaring at Mashiba.

"I hope you really don't mind, Tokiwa..."

A subtle air flows between the three of us. This is an opportunity. How about using this as an excuse to walk away?

"Well, my presence will make things awkward for you two. I'm going to go have a smoke, and while I'm gone, you can make up..."

"Tokiwa! I made coffee in my water bottle today."

Ah, the smoke escape plan was thwarted in a roundabout way. She pulls my jacket sleeve tighter with a smiling smile. This woman is getting smarter!

"On second thought, it was my imagination that made me thirsty. Umm.... How long have you two known each other?"

I know how long these two have known each other, but I dare to ask. I want to get out of the awkward atmosphere by bringing up the subject like this.

"Since middle school! We went to different schools, but we were in the same cram school class, and then we went to the same school, so we became friends! We got accepted to the same high school and were in the same class for three years, and the three of us went out a lot! Mmmmmm..."

"Always and everywhere with her! Why can't we at least be in different classes? Seriously, it's like we're destined to be together."

"That's right. Riri, me and Hagiri are best friends. There's no room for someone new."

Mashiba proudly flaunted the hardness of their friendship. But after GW passes, my wife and the other man will become boyfriend and girlfriend. There's no room for someone new, But someone who was already there got kicked off.

"I wonder? Isn't a circle of friends sure to expand? Even the space flight is a connection! Connection! It has been bothering me every day since I entered the university. Oh, that's right! Chusho is buying lunch for us today. Let's all get together to collect Chusho's lottery winnings!"

My wife is making a smug face as if she's just come up with a great idea. But what he just won was only 2,000 yen. It's probably not enough for that expensive school cafeteria. I don't think she really understands that Hagiri and I don't get along, or maybe she's just ignoring it. I'm sure that from his point of view, it should be a lunch date. And yet, she easily stomps it out by inviting someone else, so I guess my wife is rather savvy, isn't she?

"Eh...you were originally planning to have lunch...just the two of you?"

I sense a slight shade in Mashiba's complexion. My wife doesn't seem to notice and continues talking.

"Yes. This morning, we drew the lottery at the lottery shop in front of Komaba Station, and only Chusho won...isn't that awful? Why don't I always win? It's so sad."

"...Oh...? Did you two come on the same train today?"

"Yeah. Yes, we did. We live next door to each other. Chusho recently bought a car, so he gave me a ride to the local station! It was so easy! Ufufu."

My wife was just talking in a normal, happy way. Mashiba was also listening with a smile on her face, but she looked somewhat stiff and sad.

"Oh, I see... ah... hahaha..."

It was clear to me that she was disheartened. My wife didn't seem to understand at all. Her two best friends are the rear end of a morning driving date. And the other best friend is left out. She's so savage! What a poor girl! No, seriously, I feel sorry for her.

"I'm not going. You three go ahead."

Of course I don't want to see his face, so there's no way I'm going.

"What! Tokiwa, you're not going? I hear the expensive menu there is delicious!"

"I've already been there, so it's fine."

By the way, it was normally delicious. I'll take Yuzuriha there next time.

"Oh, I see. Hmmm. I went to the trouble of inviting him. Tomoe. I'll stop asking him to buy me lunch."

Huh? What is this girl talking about? I seriously can't read her thoughts!

"Huh? Riri. You promised Hagiri, didn't you?"

"It's not that big of a promise. You heard what Tokiwa just said, right? If the person you invited doesn't show up and I go to lunch, don't I feel like a bad kid? It's like I'm making him feel left out!"

I don't know where to start rambling on. I don't want to think about anything else.

"But it's so frustrating that the winning money is going to Chusho's allowance, so you should go, Tomoe! Let me know later what kind of menu you got! Uh-huh."

"Eh...u...umm, just me and Hagiri.... I'll let, I'll let him know. But what about Riri's lunch?"

Mashiba's cheeks seem to turn just a little red. On the contrary, my wife was smiling loosely.

"Hmmm? I'll think about it when the time comes!"

Too random! I wanted to hold my head. But soon the lecture pre-bell rang and the instructor in charge of the class entered the lecture room. And so our meeting ended in a huff.