Childhood Friend Heroine V2 Chapter 7
Chapter 7
Don’t Decide on Your Own
The tale that follows is but a dream, one seen through the eyes of a certain boy—the love story of a clumsy young man.
Our story begins at a social gathering when he was just six years old, where he met a girl.
“N-Nice to meet you. I’m Shirayuri Koyuki.”
“—Ah!? It’s a pleasure. I am Houjou Takumi, age six.”
The moment they exchanged their first words, Takumi fell in love.
Her greeting was unsteady, a far cry from the composed Koyuki of today. For a five-year-old, it was a commendable effort, but for one destined to stand above others, it was terribly immature and precarious.
Someone needs to watch over her.
That single thought stirred Takumi’s protective instincts.
From that day forward, whenever they crossed paths at social functions and parties, Takumi remained by Koyuki’s side, offering his guidance.
“You only need to give a simple bow to those below you, idiot.”
“How many times must I tell you to memorize the names of every key figure in your Group!? You moron!”
“Y-Yes, I understand.”
But Takumi was twisted. He was incapable of speaking to her with kindness, and though he feigned annoyance, the gentle Koyuki always heeded his advice.
Whether it was due to his efforts or not, a few years later, Koyuki had blossomed into a lady who could be presented anywhere without shame—a beautiful woman who captivated all who saw her, a splendid lady who charmed everyone around her.
But it was also around that time that a change occurred.
“…Good day, Takumi-sama.”
“Your smile is forced. Fix it and come back.”
A shadow began to fall over her expression.
Takumi would later learn from his parents that Koyuki had a strained relationship with her own. Strict and unyielding, they didn’t know how to connect with their daughter, treating her with a coldness that bordered on avoidance. As a result, Koyuki gave up on seeking affection from them and instead turned to those around her.
However, as the sole daughter of a Group representative, she was inevitably treated with special reverence. People respected her, but no one offered the simple affection she craved, leaving her in a state of quiet despair.
It was then that a proposal was made to Takumi, who stood in a similar position.
“Won’t you help our daughter?” Koyuki’s parents had asked, hoping that he, as her peer, could become the supportive presence she so desperately needed.
But sadly, Takumi was still just a shy boy, unable to be honest with his feelings in her presence. There was no way he could offer the straightforward affection she sought. The result was a miserable failure. As always, all he could do was find fault with her, nitpicking at every little thing.
Disappointed, Koyuki’s parents nevertheless bet on the slim chance that Takumi might one day find his honesty and asked him to continue watching over their daughter.
About three years later, a turning point arrived.
Someone appeared who treated Koyuki not as an heiress, but as an ordinary girl, and gave her the affection she yearned for.
His name was Nishizono Haruki.
A new student who had just entered high school, he effortlessly pried open the door to her heart—a door Takumi had failed to budge for years—and stole it away.
You’ve got to be kidding me.
Frustration boiled within him. He was so jealous he could barely stand it. Some nobody who had appeared out of nowhere had snatched away the girl he had loved from afar for so long. How could he possibly find that amusing?
He had to do something.
“Takumi-kun, why don’t you try getting engaged to Koyuki?”
“Huh?”
Just as that thought crossed his mind, Koyuki’s parents approached him with the topic of an engagement, holding onto the hopeful notion that if they were officially betrothed, Koyuki might finally see him in a different light.
Takumi felt a surge of luck. He was about to accept their proposal on the spot, but then the image of Koyuki’s happy face flashed in his mind, and a wave of calm washed over him.
Did someone like him truly have the right to steal her happiness?
Of course not. She would surely be happier with Haruki than with him—a boy who had been by her side for years yet had done nothing for her.
“I’m sorry. I can’t get engaged to Koyuki.”
And so, Takumi turned down the engagement.
“Why!? You’ve cared for Koyuki so deeply all this time!”
“That’s right. You don’t have to lie, Takumi.”
Naturally, his parents pressed him for an explanation. Having teased him about his relationship with Koyuki for years, they knew exactly how much he liked her. Of course they would object.
But Takumi stubbornly denied it, insisting they simply didn’t get along.
His parents, however, were not convinced.
And from that day forward, his painful charade began—a desperate attempt to make Koyuki hate him, all to convince their parents to let her go.
◇
The next day, during lunch break, Saito left the classroom and made his way to the secret garden under a sky heavy with the threat of rain.
“Yo.”
“Ah, it’s you.”
He found Takumi watering the plants and was met with a simple acknowledgment. After exchanging light greetings, Saito stood beside him.
“…”
“…”
Perhaps because of what had happened the day before, an awkward silence hung between them. Saito, however, hated that kind of atmosphere; the quiet made him restless. His patience wore thin almost immediately, and he decided to cut straight to the chase.
“President, what does Shirayuri-senpai mean to you? As your childhood friend.”
“…So you found out,” Takumi murmured, his hand freezing in mid-air. He looked at Saito, his expression a mixture of resignation and defeat, then set the watering can down on the ground. It seemed he was finally ready to talk.
“One thing,” Takumi began, turning the tables. “Before I answer, let me ask you the same question—what does your childhood friend mean to you?”
“Someone I feel comfortable with,” Saito answered, though he felt slightly caught off guard. “We’ve been together for so long that I know what she likes and what she hates. Well, even with that, I still mess up sometimes. But she’s an irreplaceable, precious person who sticks by me no matter what.”
“That’s such a you answer,” Takumi said, his voice tinged with a deep, undeniable envy.
“You think so?” Saito was just stating the obvious, so he didn’t understand the look he was getting.
“Yeah, it’s very you. The world’s childhood friends are far more superficial than you imagine. They might have been close in the past, but now they rarely see each other, let alone talk. Most are treated as mere acquaintances. Some even have a falling out and become completely estranged. A relationship like yours and Machigane-san’s is extremely rare. The fact that you’re still so close is surely a testament to your own efforts.”
According to Takumi, Saito’s idea of a childhood friend was anything but normal. The reality, he explained, was a much colder, more distant relationship. He was told his closeness was his own doing, but he couldn’t quite grasp it. To him, he was just acting naturally.
“I see. Then let me ask again—what is your childhood friend to you, President?” Saito pressed, still feeling unconvinced.
“An old acquaintance. Not a special existence. To me, the term ‘childhood friend’ is just another name for an acquaintance.”
The answer was exactly the image Takumi had just described—a thin, cold relationship with Koyuki. But Saito knew it was a lie. A shadow had crossed Takumi’s face as he spoke.
“So you wouldn’t mind if she, a mere acquaintance, came to hate you?”
“No. If our relationship ends, it’s no problem at all.”
“Even with all this talk of an engagement?”
“—!? Where did you hear that!? Answer me!”
Suddenly, Takumi’s demeanor shifted. He lunged forward, grabbing Saito by the collar, his face a mask of fury. He had been trying to get to Takumi’s true feelings, and it seemed he had struck a nerve.
“Whoa! U-Uh, a friend in my class mentioned hearing a rumor like that.”
“I know of no such rumor. Is this my father’s doing? Give me a break. Hey, call that friend right now. I’ll get a description of whoever started this.”
“Please calm down, President. What’s gotten into you all of a sudden?”
“What do you mean, what!? …Damn it, give me a break. I told him not to make any unnecessary moves. Is he trying to render all my efforts meaningless?”
Saito was bewildered by the sudden outburst. He managed to peel Takumi’s hand from his collar and urged him to calm down, but it was no use. Takumi was muttering irritably to himself, lost in his own frustration. Seeing that words wouldn’t get through, Saito took a more direct approach, delivering a sharp chop to Takumi’s head.
“—! What are you doing!?”
“Well, you didn’t seem like you were going to calm down and listen. My apologies for that.”
“Minazuki, you…! …No, I’m sorry. I got a bit heated. I’ve shown you an unseemly side of myself.”
Takumi was naturally furious, but as expected of the intelligent student council president, he seemed to grasp the intent behind the action and quickly regained his composure.
“It’s fine. Also, I’m not entirely sure, but it seems you’re misunderstanding something. This ‘rumor’ might just be something the girls in my class cooked up. They saw an article about your parents and Shirayuri-senpai’s getting along and found out you two were childhood friends. According to my friend, she said something like, ‘An engagement between childhood friends is a classic, right~?’”
“What’s with that tone? …Well, it was hasty of me to jump to conclusions. It’s true that girls tend to connect everything to romance. That’s a plausible story. …Still, I should investigate, just in case.”
“Even so, that was quite a panic earlier. Something about your ‘efforts’ being meaningless. You don’t really think of Shirayuri-senpai as just an acquaintance, do you?”
It was a brief slip, but that was more than enough. When Saito pressed him with a knowing grin, Takumi flinched, averting his gaze with an “Ugh” before letting out a sigh of resignation. From that point on, it was Saito’s game.
“It’s true that I think of Koyuki as more than an acquaintance,” he admitted. “As a childhood friend.”
“And how do you see her?”
“…As a little sister figure who needs looking after.”
“What else?”
“A woman with a good face and personality.”
“There seems to be more. One more thing.”
“…Tch. Enough already. Fine, I’ll say it. I’ll say it! I like her, okay? I think of Koyuki as precious.”
“Whoa~, seriously!?”
“Why are you the one who’s surprised!? You had some idea already, didn’t you!?”
“Yup. But I was expecting something more twisted. Hearing you say it so directly was a little unexpected.”
As Saito continued his relentless questioning, Takumi’s true feelings for his childhood friend came pouring out, and in an instant, Saito understood everything.
“Haah… so what are you planning to do now that you’ve made me confess all this? You’re not going to tell me to stop being harsh to her at this point, are you?” Takumi sulked, his feelings laid bare. His eyes pleaded for understanding, but unfortunately for him, Saito wasn’t the type of underclassman to be so easily swayed.
“Yup, that’s exactly it. You figured it out. Are you a psychic?”
“Are you an idiot!? If I have a deep reason for doing this to someone I care about, there’s no way I can just stop!” Takumi snapped, incensed that Saito was making light of his resolve.
“And that ‘deep reason’ is something like, ‘This way, Shirayuri-senpai will be happier,’ right?”
“—!? How did you know?”
“There was a character just like you in a manga my childhood friend made me read, President. He was doing the exact same thing, saying he couldn’t make her happy himself.”
“…Am I that easy to read?”
“It’s apparently a standard trope. And from my perspective, it’s seriously pointless.”
“Wha—”
That resolve, however, was a perfect echo of the manga plot, and to Saito, it was utterly absurd. He looked at Takumi with contempt, unable to comprehend why anyone would do such a thing.
“What do you mean, you can’t make her happy yourself? You won’t know unless you try! And what’s this ‘it’s for her sake’ crap? Hurting someone with that as an excuse makes no sense! Don’t decide things on your own. Don’t just move the story forward by yourself and act all satisfied. Who told you to do that? Did she ever say she didn’t want to be misunderstood by you, so you should stay away!? She didn’t, did she!? You can’t know what she wants unless you ask her directly! Don’t run away to the easy path and satisfy yourself! Don’t take the easy way out—face her properly, President!”
Saito grabbed Takumi by the shoulders, pouring all his feelings into his words. He spat them out in a rapid-fire torrent, as if venting all his pent-up frustration, and it seemed to strike a chord deep within Takumi. The pupils behind his glasses wavered violently.
Eventually, Takumi looked down and, bit by bit, began to speak of his relationship with Koyuki. It was less a story and more a confession.
He spoke of his irritation with himself for never being able to be honest with her.
His feelings of inadequacy for being unable to help his suffering childhood friend.
His ugly jealousy over having the girl he’d loved for years stolen away by another man.
The unbearable pain of being hated by the girl he liked.
And above all, the crushing anxiety of whether someone like him even had the right to face Koyuki now.
After hearing it all, Saito let out a cheerful laugh, as if to blow away all of Takumi’s fears. He gave him a thumbs-up and said, “It’ll probably be fine! My intuition’s telling me so.”
“You’re suddenly being so irresponsible at this point!?”
“Huh? My intuition has a pretty good reputation for being accurate, you know.”
“Even so, that’s not convincing at all! Couldn’t you say something more?” Takumi protested, taken aback by the careless encouragement.
Saito, having offered the best he could think of, scratched his head, wondering what more he could do. I’m not really good at thinking up clever words, you know…
As he made excuses in his mind, he saw Takumi looking at him with pleading eyes.
Well, if my senpai’s about to give it his all, it wouldn’t be right for me not to work hard too.
“Got it, got it. Then let me just say one last thing.”
Saito steeled his resolve. The words he was about to say would surely change Takumi’s future, for better or for worse. The responsibility was heavy. He thought hard, then offered his encouragement once more.
“There’s no way she would reject someone who has worried this much, suffered this much, and gotten this hurt for her sake. I thought so from the start, but after hearing your story, I’m certain of it. So let’s go at it boldly, like always, yeah? President?”
This was the best Saito could do. The serious atmosphere didn’t suit him, so he added a touch of playfulness at the end. But that was what made it uniquely his.
Takumi snorted with a “Heh,” then nodded with satisfaction.
“You’re right.”
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