Episode 68 – Idol sama Shouldn’t Be Dragged Along….

I, Reizei Ayano, was rejected.

It was by one of the many men Kawabe…..no, Kaizei Riku kun.

I remembered when he was in middle school and his existence changed when he cut his hair.

He was a loner, but after cutting his hair, he became popular among his classmates.

While many of the girls were looking at him, I was a little impatient. Of course, I know that his personality hasn’t changed.

I can tell by looking at him that he’s confused by the change around his surroundings.

I know that, but I was somewhat impatient because I got enrolled in this school despite my parents’ opposition.

I don’t know if I was impatient because of the love letters overflowing his shoe box or the fact that he was walking with a woman I didn’t know, but I went crazy and confessed to him without telling him I went to the same cram school as him, and I was completely rejected.

I was so shocked and I couldn’t recover from it after finding out that he was in love with someone else.

I wanted to change my aura, so I cut off my long hair. I thought I had cut my hair for a classic reason, but it felt better than I had expected.

So the next day, I was able to go to school without dragging out my confession.

At school, my classmates were surprised that I had cut my hair, and he rolled his eyes at me when he saw my hair.

When I saw this, I went over to him and whispered into his ear.

“…..I’m not worried about it, so please continue as you were”

……Throb.

The moment I say out loud that I’m not worried, my heart screams.

Of course. I liked him when I was in middle school and followed him to this school. It’s not that I don’t care about it, and there’s no way I’m okay with it.

But I tried my best to smile, trying not to let him know that. This was my first love, my first heartbreak.

There was no reason for me not to feel regret.

I had no choice but to endure desperately until this wound healed.

But reality was cruel.

There was someone I liked in the same class as me.

It was a painful reality, and on top of that, my classmate Sora chan had been coming to school with him more and more often lately.

I was really surprised that the two of them were step siblings. I had a feeling that Sora, who at first pretended to be a stranger and treated him ill, was slowly softening.

When he took her to the infirmary with a desperate look on his face when she got sick, I thought they were dating or that she was the one he had a crush on.

They lived in the same house and the distance between them should be close, I am sure that there is no way that……I could get in between them

The more I thought about it, the more depressed I felt.

One day after such gloomy days, my friend Izumo san invited me to go out to a shopping mall.

When I was in middle school, I didn’t often go shopping with my friends, so it was a refreshing change of pace.

……No, it’s not that I didn’t have many friends, okay? Just so you know ! !

But it was fun to see all the cute clothes and general goods while chatting with friends, as we lost track of time and enjoyed shopping.

“Oh, it’s already this late ! ! Shall we  go out for lunch?”

Izumo san looked at her phone and started talking.

I looked at my phone and saw that it was just before one o’clock in the afternoon, which meant it was time for lunch.

“You’re right, I agree ! !”

I clapped my hands lightly in agreement with Izumo san as I put my smartphone away in my shoulder bag and walked toward the food court.

When we arrived at the food court, it was refreshing to see a variety of stores, including udon noodles, ramen, hamburgers, pasta, crepe shops, and ice cream shops.

I had never been to such a restaurant with my family before, so I was excited to see the food court for the first time.

“What would you like?”

I looked around at all the different foods, but ended up lining up at the pasta store to order pasta from the same restaurant as Izumo san.

While chatting with Izumo san, we waited for our turn to order.

Izumo san was a gyaru at school, and at first she seemed somewhat difficult to approach. But after we became friends and talked a lot, she became less intimidating.

However, the day before yesterday and today, the atmosphere was somewhat different. Perhaps the reason is that she’s not wearing her school uniform, but her makeup and clothes are more subdued than her image at school.

…..I’ll ask her when we get to our seats.

Since it’s my turn to order, I put aside anything that bothered me for the time being, and order the pasta first.

Izumo san went to save a seat, so I ordered carbonara with boiled egg along with a receipt with the number of the dish she ordered, and I had to wait for the dish to be ready at the counter.

At first, I was thrilled by the unusualness of it, but as I got used to it, it became a common sight.

Then, a certain scene began to appear in my eyes.

There were many couples at the food court where various customers gathered such as groups of friends like us on holidays and a tired old man returning to his family with two trays in his hands, and so on.

The girlfriend happily clings to a man who talks a lot, perhaps in a desperate attempt to put her in a good mood, or to an unsociable boyfriend. I sighed as I watched these ten different couples gather.

It’s  a shopping mall where people gather on holidays.

It’s only natural that there are couples like that, so I can’t help but feel depressed.

Witnessing such a scene makes me wonder if there was a different world line from….the one I lived in now.

……I wonder what it would be like to have a date with Kawabe kun on a holiday.

I try to compare myself and Kawabe kun to the couples that passed in front of me. It’s not like I can’t help it…….

The sigh that came out from my mouth clearly reflects my regrets.

“Why are you sighing so loudly?”

“Eh? Whoa ! !”

Suddenly, Izumo san called out to me right in front of me, and I was startled out loud.

“H-hey ! ! You don’t have to be so surprised !?”

Izumo san looked a little embarrassed at my loud voice.

The customers who were passing around us stopped at the sound of my voice and looked at us. I was also embarrassed by their stares and apologized to Izumo san in a small voice [Sorry…….].

….If there was a hole, I’d want to get in it.

As I shrink back in such a mood, Izumo san scratched her cheek and said […..What happened?].

“…… It’s just.”

I couldn’t tell her that I had been rejected, so I gave her a curt response, and Izumo san looked at me suspiciously. Just then, an announcement came that the food was ready.

[[Thank you for your waiting. Customers number 13 and 14〜! !]

“Oh, aren’t we getting called? Please tell me about it when we get to our seats.”

“…..Okay.”

With that said, we go to receive our food.

We didn’t know that this time was just the beginning of the incident that was about to come.