Chapter 98 - Volume 6 (1/2)

Volume 6, Chapter 9: I became a Fifth Grader, Part 3

“Yuzu-chan, so cute!”

After waiting a while, a boy emerged from the crowd, gleefully calling out my name as he found me, a relieved expression on his face.

“Ah, Ouji-kun, sorry for making you come and fetch me.”

“No, it was good to see Yuzu-chan. Ah, uhm……”

“Hmm?”

“Your dress suits you… I was surprised by how beautiful it is.”

“T-thank you……”

Kouki-kun was like that too, but really, Ouji-kun could say things like that so lightly.

No, it wasn’t lightly said at all…… I was embarrassed, and it seemed that Ouji-kun was incredibly embarrassed at his own words too.

“Well, let’s go. Yes.”

“Okay.”

As he put out his hand in the same way that he did back in kindergarten, I took his hand like normal.

Come to think of it, we’d stopped holding each other’s hands since the second grade in elementary school. Why did that happen…… was it that as he slimmed down, he didn’t feel the need to hold my hand?

“……What’s the matter?”

“Nothing”

Is that…… did you mature as a man? I thought that I could see the shadowy profile of Ouji-kun as an adult.

“Ah, that’s right. Yuzu-chan, I will be changing my name officially.”

“……Ehh?! Really?”

“Yuzu-chan has always called me Ouji, no? Recently, my family has started calling me that too, and since I’m called that even in school, the court accepted that it was in common use.”

“That’s good! …… Should I be saying that?”

“It’s alright, thank you.”

Somehow, I subtly feel that being called ‘prince’ is not really okay, though, it seems that it’s a load on his shoulders. With this, I’m going to have more trauma and stomach pain, too.

After that, we walked in silence.

“……Yuzu-chan, thank you……”

“……Nnn?”

On our way toward Ouji-kun’s parents, Ouji-kun suddenly murmured such in a mostly-empty corridor. Is this some continuation of what he was saying previously?

“Hey, you remember Onzada-san who I introduced to you who’s in middle school?”

“……Ahh, Onzada-kun. Was that person helpful to you?”

“Yeah, he taught me a lot. I was also able to be at ease…… thanks to Onzada-san, or I would have been worried about Yuzu-chan.”

“Is that so……… Onzada-kun pledged that he would protect me from quite a while back, though.”

Thanks to that… I seem to have made a very weird contract….

“……Yuzu-chan seems to be quite close to Onzada-san.”

“I wonder about that, though? It’s certainly true that it’s easy to talk to him.”

“I spoke with Onzada-san and received a bit of a shock. ……That’s *different*, though.”

“……What are you talking about?”

“Yuzu-chan”

Ouji-kun stopped at the corner of the corridor where there was no one and looked me in the eyes.

“I like you, Yuzu-chan.”

“………!?”

“But, as a childhood friend that I’ve known forever, I also feel like you’re family. I was so happy to hear of the engagement. I thought that I could stay with Yuzu, my favorite, forever.”

“…… But I don’t dislike it, you know?”

“I know. Yuzu-chan thought of me as family too, no? But I feel that Yuzu-chan would be better if she could stay with someone who needed her.”

“Ouji-kun, am I no longer necessary?”

“I need you, but it’s not just me, but other people *need* Yuzu-chan too.”

“…………”

“From what I heard from my father, I think he wants to introduce you to everyone as my fiancée today. I’ll go speak to father about this, and is it alright for us to associate until we reach middle school?”

“To associate with you…… an engagement?”

“Yes, so. Although I thought that I was incompatible, I wanted to prevent some strange person from coming onto Yuzu with the rumors of the engagement for a while. Of course, I wished for Yuzu-chan to fall in love with me during that time…… there was that desire too.”

As he spoke, Ouji-kun laughed ruefully. …… And I don’t know what kind of face I should be making.

Ouji-kun…… he was seriously watching out for me, wasn’t he?

“Well then…… Should I become a pest repellent for Ouji-kun?”

“That’s right. But even if you weren’t here to repel pests, I won’t let myself be caught up with that funny transfer student, so feel relieved.”

“Yup. I will quit being your friend if that happens.”

“It seems that Kouki-kun is being aimed for more than I am, though. Shijiyuuin-san is also in for it.”

“Certainly……”

I replied to Ouji-kun and we exchanged gentle smiles.

This…… is it okay for me to be shaking……? Well, it can’t be helped. I think that I only ever saw Ouji-kun as a younger brother.

If I were older, my feelings might change, but then it would be rude to Ouji-kun.

But…… for Ouji-kun to be this determined, what kind of conversation did he have with Onzada-kun?

＊＊＊

“My body itches…… what is this, this ain’t a rash. Good grief, is it because of this cheesy dress after all? Well, papa’s only good for his money, but even so, if I want to have a dress custom made, that’s a no. Really, I can’t even make use of him. ”

Matsuri prowled the venue alone, looking for Kouki and Handsome.

If it was in the original timeline, this event shouldn’t have happened while they were in elementary school, but Matsuri had talked to Kouki and Handsome many times, trying to raise her favor points with them.

Kako still hadn’t done anything to Matsuri, so she wasn’t able to raise the conviction event, but Matsuri was hoping internally that the engagement event with Handsome would happen.

“Kako you knave, I managed to avoid all of your pitiful traps, so why didn’t it advance? That steak was surely Kako’s work…… The teachers must surely have noticed.”

Matsuri had surrounded herself with mob character girls who were timid for the past few years, and hence obtained some influence in her year.

Even though she flirted with the male teachers, it was only to the extent of getting noticed by them, and she was sure that this was due to Kako.

“Given that I’m so cute, there’s no way in the world that there could be a man that wouldn’t fall in love with me……”

Matsuri chewed her nails as she thought of the event progression that wasn’t going well.

*don*

“Ouch! What the heck?”

It seems that Matsuri had accidentally bumped into someone else while thinking.

Even though there was no sense of pain at all, looking down instinctively and stepping back, she saw a ball-likegirl that had fallen on her butt, looking up at Matsuri.

Was she in the junior classes? The girl stood up, and beating the dust off of her dress with a *pon pon*, she bowed her head to Matsuri.