Childhood Friend Heroine V2 Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Unfair

Lily wandered alone through the noisy, bustling school during her lunch break.

I thought we’d be eating together today like always, she lamented silently, but he just dashed off saying he had something to do. Shuri-chan and Minaka-chan are in the cafeteria, so what am I supposed to do now?

By now, she would normally be on the rooftop with Saito. But today, her childhood friend had canceled at the last minute right as the lunch bell rang, claiming he had an errand to run. Because of his sudden departure, she hadn’t been able to make plans with her other friends, leaving her stranded and unsure of where to eat.

“If you had something to do, you could have at least told me this morning,” she muttered, spitting venom at the childhood friend who had put her in this predicament. For now, she bought a bottle of tea from a nearby vending machine.

“Machigane-chan is seriously so cute, you know?”

“I know, right? I just want to rub my cheek against those pure white legs of hers.”

She glanced over at the outdoor terrace, where every seat was taken. She could feel the gazes of those around her, and among them, one particularly creepy stare sent a chill down her spine. Following her instincts, Lily quickly moved away from the area.

Should she return to the classroom, or head to the rooftop?

Those were her two options. She wished she could find an empty classroom, but the school was strict about keeping them locked immediately after lessons. The security staff checked them daily, so there was no chance of finding one open. It was because of this that, before her time leap, she had sometimes resorted to eating in the bathroom to escape prying eyes—an experience that had been mentally devastating. That was a last resort, a lethal weapon only to be used only when she had absolutely no other choice.

If possible, she wanted to eat somewhere normal.

“I recommend this spot on the rooftop—it’s out of people’s sight.”

Suddenly, she recalled something Koyuki had told her long ago. There was a single blind spot on the rooftop, a place hidden from everyone’s view. It was located by the hedge near the edge of the terrace. At first glance, it appeared to be a dead end, but there was a small opening that led to a secluded space with a bench inside.

With Saito and her friends always by her side, she had rarely felt the need for solitude, so the memory had been completely buried until this very moment.

“Maybe I’ll go there for the first time in a while,” she said to herself.

A wave of nostalgia washed over her, and her feet began moving toward the rooftop before the words had even fully left her mouth. She hurried up the stairs and emerged onto the familiar rooftop, where the usual crowd of students was relaxing. Moving quietly to avoid drawing attention, Lily scanned her surroundings. Once she confirmed no one was watching, she slipped into the hedge.

She squeezed through a narrow gap, just wide enough for one person, and stepped into a small, open space. There, in an area about the size of two tatami mats, sat a single bench—

—and it was already occupied.

“Shirayuri-senpai?”

“Machigane-san?”

It was none other than the person who had told her about this place: Shirayuri Koyuki, an upperclassman a year older than her. She was sitting on the bench, staring at Lily with a surprised expression. For some reason, her eyes were red and swollen.

“How do you know about this place?” Koyuki asked, her voice wavering. “This is supposed to be my secret spot.”

Crap.

A cold sweat trickled down Lily’s back. In the original timeline, this was a secret haven known only to Koyuki until around July of her first year. Koyuki had shared it with Lily out of pity after seeing how much she feared the attention of others. Her question was perfectly reasonable, and Lily’s mind raced to come up with a plausible excuse.

“Um, well, during lunch, Saito said, ‘Doesn’t it look like there’s some space over there?’ and just plunged right in. We found it by chance.”

“I see,” Koyuki replied, seemingly satisfied. “That does sound like something he would do.”

Having narrowly escaped the crisis, Lily let out a quiet sigh of relief.

“If you’re going to use it, Machigane-san, I’ll take my leave,” Koyuki said, noticing the bento in Lily’s hands. She stood up and prepared to go.

“U-um, Senpai, are you okay?” Lily stopped her. “I can go somewhere else—”

The fact that Koyuki’s eyes were red and swollen meant something had happened to upset her deeply. The one who truly needed to be alone was surely Koyuki. Lily’s words were meant to be considerate, but it seemed she had touched a raw nerve.

“…Okay? How could I possibly be okay!?” Koyuki’s voice rose, her face contorted with a rare display of anger. “Why? Why is it always you!? Why do you get to have parents who cherish you, a wonderful childhood friend, and all his affection!? It’s unfair, unfair, unfair, unfair, unfair! I should be allowed to have at least one of those things, shouldn’t I!? So why? I finally got to start over, so why do I have to suffer all over again!? Why are you always getting in my way!? I deserve to be happy too! I hate you. I hate you, I hate you! I utterly despise you for making me suffer this much!”

“…Huh?”

Lily froze, completely stunned by the sudden onslaught of intense emotions.

“So please, just leave me alone!” Koyuki pleaded, her voice a mixture of spite and desperation. “Don’t come near me! I’m begging you!”

With that, she rustled through the hedge and disappeared, leaving a dumbfounded Lily in her wake.

What the hell!? Nobody told me Koyuki-senpai time-leaped too! Well… even if she had, I doubt she would have told me. Huh? No way. A third person is completely unexpected. Isn’t the usual setup for this kind of thing one or two people!? Ugh, I can’t make sense of this!

Left alone, Lily was in a full-blown panic. The sheer volume of new information was overwhelming, and she couldn’t begin to process what had just happened.

“Breathe in… breathe out…”

C-c-c-calm down, calm down. F-for now, let’s go througheverything step by step andconfirm. First—

Taking a deep breath, Lily tried her best to get a handle on the situation.

Why was Koyuki crying? —She didn’t know.

Why did she suddenly get so angry? —She didn’t know. Maybe she was just in a bad mood?

Why did Koyuki take her frustrations out on her? —Apparently, because she harbored a complex mix of feelings toward Lily. Envy over her kind childhood friend and loving family. Irritation that Haruki’s attention was directed at her. Frustration that things weren’t going her way despite having time-leaped. And above all, an intense jealousy toward Lily, who possessed everything she had ever wanted. All these emotions had festered and swelled until Lily’s simple question had caused them to burst.

While that answered one question, she still didn’t understand why Koyuki had been crying in the first place.

“What happened, I wonder? I bet that bastard Haruki did something weird.”

For her emotions to be that volatile, her ex-boyfriend had to be involved. He really only does unnecessary things, Lily sighed, slumping onto the bench.

“…What should I have done?” she muttered, covering her eyes with her right arm.

It wasn’t like she wanted to hurt her. Koyuki had been one of the few people who had been incredibly kind to her in the previous timeline. She had no intention of standing in the way of her happiness. In fact, she genuinely wished for Koyuki to find it.

“Should I have tried to help those two get together? But I also want Mizuki-chan to do her best, and that other girl who’s coming soon too… Ugh, this is so difficult.”

The other girls who had fought over Haruki were all good kids, except for one. Lily couldn’t bring herself to choose a side. Still, she couldn’t just leave Koyuki to suffer alone. Caught between a rock and a hard place, she let out a groan of helpless frustration.

Then, she heard a rustling sound.

“What’re you doing, Lily?”

Her childhood friend appeared.

“Saitooo~”

In that instant, a mysterious sense of relief washed over her, and she clung to him with a pathetic whimper.

“There, there, good girl. Did you miss me while I was gone?”

“That’s not it, but let’s just go with that for now.”

To Saito, she must have looked like a lost child, because he began patting her head gently. While she felt a little annoyed at being treated like a kid, the comforting gesture felt too good to complain. She savored the moment of head-patting heaven.

“So, what happened?” he asked after he stopped, sitting down beside her on the bench.

She was tempted to tell him everything, but that would mean explaining the time leap, an option she had to tearfully reject.

“Well, I kind of got into a fight,” she explained vaguely. “I was feeling a little down.”

“I see. So you beat them up too badly and were feeling regretful.”

“Yeah, yeah. Wait, I didn’t do anything like that! I think we need to have a serious talk about what exactly you think of me.”

“Ow, ow, ow, I was wrong, okay? I’m apologizing, so forgive me.”

With that, Saito seemed to understand that Lily didn’t want to go into detail. Their exchange devolved into their usual meaningless banter, and her gloomy mood began to lift.

“More importantly, what were you doing, Saito?” she asked once the conversation lulled. “You left the classroom right when lunch started, saying you had something to do.”

“Oh, I went to see the president. To talk about Shirayuri-senpai’s situation.”

“You moved fast! So, how’d it go?”

“It went well. He said he’s going to work hard to make up with her. Seriously, if you don’t want to be hated, don’t do things that make people hate you. What a pain in the ass.”

“Ahaha, yeah, you’re right.”

From the way he talked, it sounded like he had strong-armed a solution to Takumi’s problem. That was very much Saito’s style. At the same time, she couldn’t help but sympathize with Takumi for catching her childhood friend’s attention. Saito made it sound simple, but honestly expressing your feelings is difficult, especially during the turbulent years of adolescence. For someone as rough around the edges as Saito to motivate a teenage boy, he must have done something pretty forceful.

Poor guy.

Though they didn’t interact much, Lily offered her silent condolences to Takumi.

“After hearing what the president had to say, I realized Shirayuri-senpai is amazing,” Saito said, recalling his exchange with Takumi. “That guy has been constantly making snide, nasty comments to her since way back, but she told me, ‘We’re on normal terms.’ If it were me, I’d definitely say he’s someone I can’t stand.”

She hadn’t just been a childhood friend; she’d been one who made snide comments.

“Me too,” Lily nodded. “If I were in Shirayuri-senpai’s position, I definitely couldn’t say that.” She would hate maintaining a relationship with someone like that and would probably try to cut ties at some point.

“…Well, but considering Shirayuri-senpai’s circumstances, maybe she was actually happy about it deep down,” Saito murmured suddenly, as if a thought had just occurred to him. “That he treated her as an equal.”

“What do you mean?” Lily asked, a question mark forming in her mind. Was Koyuki a masochist? No, judging from his serious tone, that couldn’t be it. She waited quietly for him to continue.

“Apparently, Shirayuri-senpai hasn’t gotten along well with her parents for a long time. So… she’s lonely, I guess. But everyone around her treated her specially, so she couldn’t make any real friends. Amidst all that, the student council president was the only one who treated her the same as everyone else. I think she liked him for that. Well, this is just my hunch, though.”

“I see.”

Saito’s speculation revealed a vulnerable side of Koyuki that Lily had never known. She was surprised, but more than that, she felt a sense of relief.

“…What do you know. Koyuki-senpai does have a wonderful childhood friend after all.”

The very things Koyuki had envied Lily for, the things she despaired over not having—she already possessed. However, at this rate, just like in the first timeline, she was going to lose it without ever realizing its worth.

“Alright!”

“What’s up? That was sudden.”

With a sharp clap, Lily slapped both her cheeks and stood up, leaving her confused childhood friend on the bench. She spun around to face him, a mischievous smile playing on her lips.

“I just psyched myself up for what’s to come,” she declared. “Hey, Saito? Help me make sure the student council president and Shirayuri-senpai can properly make up, okay?”

What she was about to do might be nothing more than selfish meddling, but Lily believed it was the right thing to do. Just as Saito had acted for Takumi’s sake, she would act for Koyuki’s.

“…Sure thing.”

After blinking a couple of times, Saito stood up, mirroring her smile. What they were about to begin was a secret operation orchestrated by two selfish childhood friends, aiming for a future where everyone could be happy.

“For now, let’s go talk to Akashi-kun when lunch break ends.”

“Got it.”

And with that, they quietly began to move.

Previous          Toc          Next