Chapter 5

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Pom Pom!

“Aaaaaah!?”

The sound that came from nearby triggered Shou to return from his daydream.

“Haa, haa… W-What was I thinking…!”

His face turned bright red as he recalled what he had just been daydreaming about, but he quickly shook his head to forget it.

“Ugh, what am I thinking about!?”

Shou, who didn’t fully realize it himself, had a habit of daydreaming, and sometimes he would daydream about such things while on his bed at home.

However, this time it was mixed with real experiences, making his daydreams progress much further.

Unconsciously, he was still touching his lips, and he suddenly realized it and slapped his own cheek.

“Gah… W-Why would I imagine such a thing! I won’t forgive you, Kumin…!”

He blamed Kumin for his daydream, even though it was his own fault.

In fact, if Kumin hadn’t said such things, he wouldn’t have had such daydreams, so most of the responsibility could be placed on Kumin.

“By the way, I heard RINE’s sound.”

The communication app had interrupted… or rather, prevented his daydream from getting worse.

It makes a unique sound when someone contacts you.

Looking at his smartphone screen, it seemed that someone had indeed contacted him.

Opening the RINE app, he could immediately see who had contacted him.

It turned out to be Shihō.

Opening the chat with Shihō, he saw…

“Huh!? W-Why…!?”

“Shou-kun, after we parted ways in the classroom… were you with Kumin-kun?”

“W-Why does Shihō know…?”

Could Shihō have seen such an embarrassing scene…!?

If so, it would be too embarrassing to face her.

But before that, it was even more confusing how he should face Kumin.

“Well, I’ll reply first…”

He hesitated about how to respond to Shihō’s message but decided to reply anyway.

“Yes, Kumin came to the classroom after that.”

He sent that message and waited to see Shihō’s reaction.

If she had seen the scene where Kumin passionately confessed, it would be incredibly embarrassing.

Besides, before the confession, he had mentioned that he had some feelings for Jūhon.

He had no idea where Shihō had been listening from.

Ideally, he hoped she hadn’t heard about his feelings for Jūhon.

But now, all he could think about was Kumin.

“Where did she hear it from…?”

The message was read almost immediately.

And within a minute, a reply came.

“Of course. That voice was Kumin-kun. Shou-kun, did Kumin-kun confess to you?”

“Gah…!?”

Indeed, it seemed Shihō had heard the confession.

Even that alone was a huge blow to Shou, but another message came quickly.

“But Kumin-kun, he called you ‘Shou-kun,’ right? That was a surprise too.”

“Well, I was also very surprised the first time he called me that…!”

Until just before the confession, he had been called “Shimada” as usual, but suddenly he was called “Shou-kun.”

For some reason, Kumin seemed very accustomed to calling him that.

(Maybe Kumin called me ‘Shou-kun’ even when I wasn’t around…? What a shame…!)

Though he wasn’t sure why, he didn’t mind it.

In fact, it felt quite natural, which was a bit confusing for Shou.

As he was thinking about this, the unique “Pom Pom” sound rang again, and another message from Shihō arrived.

It seemed Shihō was also excited, as the messages kept coming.

“Kumin-kun said he was serious! He said he really likes you!”

“Guh…!”

Pom Pom.

“And he said he would definitely make you happy! I knew it wasn’t to me, but the words alone made my heart race!”

“Gah, well, I… I guess…”

Pom Pom.

“What did you say? Did you accept him? What happened?”

“Wait, Shihō! Calm down!”

Shou shouted at the messages, even though it wasn’t a phone call.

Shihō, being a typical high school girl, must really enjoy talking about love.

Before the next message came, Shou quickly typed and sent a reply.

“No, we’re not dating.”

“Huh, so you rejected him?”

It took about five seconds for Shihō’s reply to come after Shou sent his message.

“No, I didn’t reject him!”

This message was even faster than the previous one.

“Well, it’s more like I asked him to give me some time to think.”

“Yeah, I see. So what will you do? I bet you’ve been thinking about it for a while, right?”

“Well, not really… I haven’t been thinking about it all the time…”

It had been a few hours since the confession.

He hadn’t been thinking about it the whole time.

He had done homework for the next day’s class and watched TV while eating dinner.

But the homework took much longer than usual, he couldn’t remember what he had watched on TV, and he couldn’t even remember what he had eaten for dinner. It wasn’t because he had been thinking about Kumin the whole time… he hoped.

“Have you decided what to say?”

“Not yet…”

“Hmm, I see. But I bet if there was no chance, you would have rejected him right away.”

“Gah, why is Shihō so aggressive today…!”

It took a few seconds to a few dozen seconds for a reply to come after the message was read, but he wondered why she was so spot-on.

Maybe it was because Shihō and Shou were very close friends and understood each other well.

“But you’re right. After such a passionate confession, it’s hard not to think about it.”

“I’m not thinking about it.”

“Liar. Shou-kun, you’re definitely blushing right now.”

“Do you have a surveillance camera or something!? Or is this a video call!?”

He looked around the room for a surveillance camera but found none, and his smartphone wasn’t in video call mode.

“But when Kumin-kun said he would definitely make you happy, he looked so cool. I wish someone would say that to me.”

“Gah… But what did he like about me…?”

“Well, Shou-kun is really cute, you know.”

Shihō always said this to Shou, but he had never heard it from anyone else, so he thought it might be a bit of flattery.

But from Kumin, there was no hint of flattery or any such feeling.

“Well, he did say I was cute, cool, and beautiful… But I don’t think I’m as cute as Shihō.”

Shou sent this message, and the reply came a bit later than before, but still quickly.

“Shou-kun is cute and cool! And you’re kind too!”

“Kumin also said I was kind… But I just care about Shihō as a friend, not because I’m kind…”

“Shou-kun is kind! But Kumin-kun also seems kind!”

“Well, it was kind of him to catch me when I almost fell, but I didn’t expect him to carry me! And then, I didn’t expect him to do a wall push-up…”

After sending this message, there was a short pause before Shihō’s reply came.

“Shou-kun, do you realize? You’re really bragging about it.”

“Huh?”

He looked back at their conversation and realized that, indeed, it did seem like he was bragging about what Kumin had said and done.

Embarrassed, he quickly sent another message.

“No, that’s not what I meant!”

“Yeah, I know. Shou-kun isn’t that kind of person.”

“What are you to me, my mother?”

He couldn’t help but point this out in his message.

“Since you saw it, you must have known… Don’t tease me so much…”

“I’m sorry. But I didn’t see it.”

“…Huh?”

He was taken aback by Shihō’s message, “I didn’t see it.”

While he was processing this, another message from Shihō came.

“I probably only heard you leaving the classroom. There, I heard Kumin-kun say he likes you and will definitely make you happy. That’s all I know.”

“…Liar”

“So I didn’t know that Kumin-kun said you were cute, cool, and beautiful, or that he said you were kind, or that he carried you and did a wall push-up.”

“…Shihō, you must have…”

“I didn’t expect Shou-kun to talk so much. You were still embarrassed and flustered, weren’t you?”

“I was set up…!”

A sticker, like an emoji, came from Shihō.

It was a cute cat sticker saying, “I’m sorry.”

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