Vol 5 Prologue (1/2)
#0: Prelude
I remember something that probably took place during elementary school.
When I had cut out a healthy piece of fried pork chops for lunch and shared it with my childhood friend, Harusaki Chiwa, her response reverberated through the entire cla.s.sroom...
'Ei-kun, I love you~♪'
Not only did the entire cla.s.s laugh at me, but my homeroom teacher also even teased us and said, 'she's going to be Kidou-kun's wife in the future!'. It was honestly way too embarra.s.sing. I only gave that portion to Chiwa because I had already been full and couldn't eat anymore.
On the way home from school, I had let a rain-drenched Chiwa duck under my umbrella and heard her say:
'Ei-kun is so sweet! I love you!'
No, in this kind of situation, anyone would do that kind of thing, right?
We were going home together and I had an umbrella while Chiwa was drenched. Where did that insult come from? What kind of weird play was this?
In short, Chiwa's 'I love you' was her way of expressing 'thank you'.
As expected, after we had moved onto middle school, she very rarely said that in front of others. But when we were alone, Chiwa would continue to say 'I love you' like always. I had also been completely used to it, so I would always reply disinterestedly with 'oh' or 'yeah'.
After all, we grew up as childhood friend and she was like a younger sister to me.
Basically like family.
Even if there was love, it wasn't a 'romantic' kind. It was a 'familial' love.
That's, what I always thought.
Until now, when Chiwa kissed me.
♦
”[...]”
I opened my mouth to ask why, but nothing came out.
Every time I moved my lips, I could clearly feel the aftertaste of the kiss.
The building that we used for summer training camp wasn't very far off from the sea, so as we stood there silently and alone in the living room, the sound of the rising and falling waves could be heard in the distance.
All of my senses were concentrated in front of me—
This wasn't a dream.
”—Because I have always been next to you, you didn't notice it, right?”
Chiwa's voice was a little hoa.r.s.e.
Even as tears dripped down, she still wore a smile and looked up at me.
”You didn't notice, right? I even said it so many times. Hey, this time, will you listen carefully?”
Chiwa did not wipe away the tears on her cheeks and instead continued:
”Ei-kun, I love you.”
At the same time, the sound of the door opening seemed to overlap.
By reflex, I looked back— only to discover the person standing there was my 'girlfriend'.
”If 'I love you' could solve everything, there wouldn't be a need for the police, right?”
Natsukawa Masuzu also smiled.
”This seems like quite a happy moment. Miss Childhood Friend, may I join in?”
But her voice was extremely cold.
Masuzu lifted her ice-like hair without letting her gaze off of Chiwa.
Across from her, Chiwa also smiled slightly.
Even though her tone was as if she was making a joke, she stared straight at Masuzu and spoke resolutely.
”Can't you see the atmosphere? Girlfriend, why don't you come back in nine years?”
Even if she didn't say it, nine years was the amount of time Chiwa and I had spent together.
This was undoubtedly a provocation.
Her implication was—
You and him don't have the same relations.h.i.+p that we have.
This was simultaneously her declaration of war.
”Waiting nine years, it would be impossible for me.”
Masuzu maintained her smile and unhesitatingly a.s.serted.
”If the meaning of all of that is to continuously acc.u.mulate a meaningless day to day life, yet be unable to step across boundaries together, I certainly wouldn't want to become that kind of person”.
The violent blow made the smile disappear from Chiwa's face.
On the contrary, the smile on Masuzu's face deepened.
”If that nine years thing is what you are so proud of—————— don't you think that that's lamentable? It's like saying, 'I just want to live a long life' with pride.
In an ordinary situation, Chiwa would probably have started crying now.
If it was an argument, there was no way Chiwa could keep up with Masuzu. Take me as an example. When I confronted that venomous girl, I was tortured to death. There was no way Chiwa could match her.
But today, Chiwa wasn't the usual.
”...Yeah, it might be as Natsukawa says.”
She conceded it very openly.
That straightforwardness made Masuzu and me dumbstruck.
”I realized it now, up until this moment I have been too naive. Solely to rely on the amount of time I've spent together with Ei-kun in the past. That's why I can't forgive Natsukawa, because that position of Ei-kun's girlfriend, that place where… that where I've always wanted to be, but I just couldn't get there————— Yet, it came so naturally to Natsukawa. 'That's too unfair', I used to think that, because even though I've always liked Ei-kun, and for so long at that, how did she manage to become Ei-kun's girlfriend after knowing him only since high school, for just two months?”
Chiwa clenched her fingers into fists, and her voice became forceful.
”But after I saw what happened on the stage yesterday, I understood. It's because I think like that, that I can't win against Natsukawa Masuzu.”
This was probably the first time I've ever heard Chiwa speak so seriously.
”I haven't been honest. Even though I always wanted to be Ei-kun's girlfriend, someplace in my heart I felt that 'keeping things like this isn't bad after all'. But that's wrong, because it won't last forever. I should have realized it earlier, but I simply didn't get it. The only reason I've noticed it now is thanks to Natsukawa, so———— thank you.”
”Thank you?”
Natsukawa opened her eyes and her voice became distorted.
”Are… You saying that for real?”
”Sincerely and seriously, I really want to thank you… Though from Natsukawa's perspective, it probably looks like I'm shooting myself in the foot.”
Chiwa smiled slightly.
—What kind of situations is this?
Before I even noticed, the exchange of blows already happened.
”Eita-kun is my boyfriend, you now? So you shouldn't interfere with that...”
Masuzu's voice shuddered slightly.
”That isn't important!”
Chiwa's retorted with a threatening tone.
”I won't be jealous anymore, I won't hold back anymore! I like Ei-kun! I love him! I love him greatly! Love of the love! I don't want to repress my feelings anymore! I'm not going to lie about it anymore!”
”There's no common sense in this.”
The venomous Masuzu, ordinarily capable of pulling preposterous arguments out of subs.p.a.ce, had yet to appear.
Normally, someone else would say that Masuzu was the one who had 'no common sense'.
”That's why I said that he already has a girlfriend. A partner. Not throwing the glove to someone who has someone, is one of the rules of love, right? Hey, Eita-kun is mine. That's already set in stone. Why won't you give up?”
”Obviously because I love Ei-kun!”
”That's simply not a reason! Why don't you understand?!”
”Then why don't you understand?”
Chiwa's words were filled with pa.s.sion.
”Because I love him, it can't be helped! This has nothing to do with girlfriends or childhood friends! This feeling can't possibly be stopped! This is what people call true love, Natsukawa surely understands this!”
Natsukawa's body trembled substantially.
Her legs were completely unsteady and her silver hair fluttered helplessly.
”'True Love', is it?”
Her voice was hoa.r.s.e and furthermore quiet. Because I was standing right next to her, I was the only one who could hear it.
”What's so great about that 'true' thing? Just what's so beautiful about it? Someone like me who has to cling to the fake one like if my life depended on it, then what happens to those like me?”
”Natsukawa…?”
Chiwa was about to draw closer, but Masuzu immediately lifted her head with a severe look.
”Even if you say stuff like that, I absolutely won't give him up. Since you can't have him, you might as well go look for someone else——— because Kidou Eita is the only one for me.”
An angry fire ignited in Chiwa's eyes.
She glared at Masuzu who was an entire head taller than her.
”This kind of thing isn't something you can decide! Because for me, too, Ei-kun is the only one!”
…Oi.
Did it really devolve to this unmanageable mess?
The two of them had already closed in within range of each other's hands.
If I don't quickly come up with something to control the scene, there's probably going to be a dispute between those two. No, it is entirely possible that it ends up in a physical fight.
...But, how should I stop them?
Whenever there was a scene of mayhem like this in TV dramas or manga, I always retorted, 'Why don't you just pick a side'!
But in my situation, I had already declared myself to be 'Masuzu's boyfriend'.
And since Chiwa insisted she 'wasn't giving up', this approach was useless.
I really needed to come up with a plan, though.
It was fine if I couldn't reconcile them. I just needed to get them to stop them from fighting temporarily.
I didn't want to see my girlfriend and childhood friend fight. The mayhem or whatever should just stay in the fictional world!
”Hold it, you two!”