233 Theres More Choices Than What You Gave Me! (1/2)

‘Believe in the me who believes in you.’

This sounded like a familiar sentence… it was probably copied from some anime, wasn’t it?

That was Kaho’s first reaction, and then she really wanted to laugh out loud.

She had been encouraged by him once again.

Whatever it was that had been making her feel disheartened disappeared, and she felt more spirited again. Immediately after, she felt angry at herself for needing his encouragement to become spirited again.

‘Honestly, I... I’m such an idiot. Is it really alright for someone as foolish as me to become your friend, Harano-san? No… I can’t say this out loud, or I’ll look more foolish!’

Kaho's eyes flashed. Being self-confident… was rather difficult. However, believing in Seigo Harano was quite easy.

And Harano-san believed in her, so it was just as he said.

”I can’t bring out too much self-confidence yet, but I believe in you… I believe in the you who believes in me, which is why I’ll continue working hard!” she said, looking at him while she spoke.

‘I want to become this excellent girl that you speak of.’

Seiji smiled reassuringly as he stretched out his right hand.

Kaho’s face reddened as she looked at his hand. She stretched out her right hand as well.

The two of them shook hands.

”Please take good care of me from now on.”

They said that almost simultaneously, and both of them laughed.

...

Seiji returned to school. Kaho wanted to return home, so she said goodbye and he returned by himself.

He returned to Year 1 Class 5’s store, and found Chiaki and the others.

Mika wasn’t there.

”Mika said that she needed to go somewhere by herself and left,” the tomboy explained before Seiji could even ask.

”Oh…”

”How’s Miyamoto-san?” Chiaki asked.

”She’s alright; she said that she just made a mistake with her words…” Seiji gave them a rough explanation.

”Made a mistake with her words… is that really the case?” Chiaki’s tone was one of suspicion.

Seiji ignored her as he turned around to look at Mayuzumi and Saki.

He discovered that the manga author’s complexion was obviously worse compared to earlier.

”Sensei, what’s the matter?” he asked.

Mayuzumi smiled weakly at Seiji’s concern and wanted to say something, but Saki spoke up first.

”Mayuzumi’s not feeling well, and she needs to go home and rest. I’ll take her home… go ahead and have fun with your classmates, Harano.”

”Ah… Okay.” Seiji nodded in understanding. ”Actually you guys didn’t need to wait around for me. If Sensei needs to go home, you should have gone back immediately; all you had to do was tell me over the phone.”

‘This must be because she didn’t sleep well last night, plus she just played that rather active laser tag game with us and got a lot of exercise,' Seiji thought to himself.

”No need to be so polite, Sensei. I had lots of fun as well. In the future… we’re going to go to a hot spring hotel together, right? We can make more arrangements after that as well, and we’ll have plenty of chances to see each other again.” Seiji smiled. ”Your body is the most important thing; if you need to rest, then make sure to have a good rest.”

”Okay… Harano-kun. Thank you so much… for the past few days.” The manga author thanked him sincerely, her eyes on his face.

Afterwards, she left the classroom store together with Saki.

Seiji looked back at Chiaki after watching them leave.

”Come, let’s have some fun together, handsome~” the tomboy said seductively, gesturing at him with her hand.

”Stop acting like you’re a veteran at this.”

”Would you like to feel really good, uncle~?”

”That’s even worse!”

”It’s okay to do it outside as well, but you’ll have to pay me extra~”