Chapter 16: 7.1

Chapter 7 : She’s Starting to Worry – Part 1

“Good morning! Sho-chan, it’s morning already! Wake up!”

“Nnn?”

“It’s another beautiful day! I’ll make you breakfast, so make sure you eat!”

“Ah, yeah…”

It was early in the morning–well, it was already seven o’clock–when Shoichi heard a loud voice, and he rubbed his sleepy eyes and got out of bed.

Amiru, wearing an apron over her school uniform, was standing there with a smile on her face while shuffling open the curtain.

“I want to sleep a little longer…”

“No, pull yourself together. Come on, get dressed and go wash your face.”

“Alright.”

Amiru’s really energetic, Thinking this, Shoichi pulled off his pajamas.

He stopped halfway. Come to think of it, Amiru was here. But he didn’t feel hesitant to take his clothes off here. Well, since it’s her, she probably wouldn’t mind.

The moment he pulled up his sleeves, he felt a strange presence.

He looked at Amiru. She had been talking a lot just now, but she suddenly became silent. She was rigid and motionless, as if her mind had gone haywire.

“…Amiru?”

“Eh? Ah, um… Get changed and come down!”

She ran out of the room as if in a panic–then, there was a loud thud. She seemed to have hit her head on the wall. While wondering if she was okay, Shoichi continued to change his clothes.

“Still, that girl really has got a lot of energy.”

Lately, she seemed to be more lively than ever. She had become more and more enthusiastic about taking care of Shoichi, and was even motivated to study.

–Occasionally, she would freeze for some reason, as she did earlier, but even taking that out of the equation, she was still doing great.

“Did something good happen to her?” Shoichi thought about this as he got dressed and left the room.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Even at school, Amiru’s energy never ceased.

“So, you know, it was on a TV show I was watching yesterday!”

“And then, and then! I tried to catch that cat, but it got away!”

“Mea-chan, did you do the homework today? Let me copy!”

Again today, her friends gathered around her and they talked about various things.

The tension was so high that even her friends seemed to be overwhelmed.

“Amiru, you’re super energetic again today…”

“Yeah, but that’s what’s so cute about you.”

“Somehow, I feel like you’ve been too energetic lately.”

When Shoichi heard Mea, the black-haired girl, muttering, he felt like nodding.

“You’re too energetic, or rather, too uptight.”

It was lunchtime, and he was spouting that agreement to himself. He was currently sitting uncomfortably in the corner of one of the tables in the cafeteria. This was the result of having stolen the attention of his classmates. There was no sign of them in the cafeteria. After confirming this, he bought a cup of tea from the vending machine–which he used as an excuse to use the cafeteria–and opened his lunch.

On top of the white rice in the lunch box, there was a face of what looked like Shoichi drawn with various dishes. There was also the word ‘ganbare’ in chopped seaweed. It was what you would call a character bento. (T/N: *do your best.)

“What’s with the ganbare, that Amiru… Why is she suddenly giving me such an elaborate bento?”

When he opened it once in the classroom, he thought his eyes would pop out of his head. If any of his classmates saw this, they would have no choice but to ask him what the h**l was going on. To be honest, it would be beyond embarrassing.

If she hadn’t been studying so hard for this, he could have complained, but despite her high spirits, she was doing well. She listened to everything Shoichi said and studied with more enthusiasm than before.

Thanks to this, it was subtly difficult to complain. Perhaps it was her enthusiasm that was easing her dislike of studying, but Amiru’s grades were steadily improving. If it weren’t for her high-spirited caring attitude, it would be a truly ideal situation.

“I really don’t know what that girl is thinking… Well, this bento is delicious.”

As he hurriedly ate his lunch, he suddenly heard a voice in the distance.

“Ah, I found Sho-chan!”

“Gu-ho!”

He almost choked on his food. It was undoubtedly Amiru who was running up to him.

She sat down across from Shoichi, setting down the thermos bottle and plastic cup in her hand, and said in a chiding tone, “Mou, I was so surprised. You suddenly disappeared. I’ve been looking all over for you.”

“W-Where I’m eating is my business… Oi, what are you doing?”

“Hmm? I’m preparing tea. Also my lunch. I thought we could eat together.”

“Huh~? Together? Why!?”

“Come on, I’ve been telling you all this time. I’ll take good care of you. Here, your tea.”

“No, I’ve got one I bought myself…”

“Here, your tea.”

When Amiru smilingly offered him a cup, Shoichi felt a strange pressure and faltered. He took it gently and sipped. It was warm and delicious.

“It’s delicious.”

“I know right. It’s Sho-chan’s favorite roasted green tea… Ah, look, there’s sauce on you.”

With a handkerchief, she wiped his cheek.

Around this point, Shoichi became concerned about the way people were looking at him. Fortunately, everyone was preoccupied with their own meals and didn’t seem to be paying attention to him. But it was only a matter of time before they noticed.

If our class gets word of this through a different class, we’re screwed.

He had to get out of this somehow.

As he was struggling with this, Amiru suddenly took Shoichi’s side dish with her chopsticks. He wondered what she was going to do with it, but she pushed it at Shoichi.

“Oi, you can’t be serious…”

“Here, Sho-chan, ahhn…”

“No, wait, that’s embarrassing as h**l! It’s a little too much… Huh?”

“……”

Suddenly, Amiru froze, and Shoichi raised an eyebrow.

She nodded her head in agreement as she put the side dish back. “Yeah, you should eat it yourself.”

“…No, it’s fine, but what’s with the suddenness?”

“Because…it’s…embarrassing…”

“Then don’t try to do it in the first place!”

Starting out of nowhere, and stopping in the middle, he wondered what was really going on.

Shoichi proceeded to eat at once, dubiously. The only thing he could do now was to finish eating as quickly as possible without people noticing and return to the classroom.

And when Amiru saw this, her mouth quirked up in a pout.

“Ah, come on. Don’t eat too fast, Sho-chan. It’s bad for your digestion. Besides, since I’ve taken the trouble to make this meal, you should savor it a little more…”

“Whose fault do you think this is?!” Shoichi finally shouted and gave Amiru a blank stare.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○

During the fifth period break, Amiru was alone, letting out a sigh.

For some reason, she looked at Shoichi’s desk. He was not there. So he must have gone out somewhere.

The conversation she had with Shoichi at the end of the lunch break was swaying in her mind.

‘Let me tell you something, you’re acting a little weird.’

‘Eh, is that so?’

‘That’s right. There’s something unnecessarily intense about it… Well, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with being cheerful. You just need to calm it down a little bit.’

Rather than being angry, Shoichi seemed to be confused by Amiru’s intensity and attitude.

And so was Amiru herself.

“I’m not sure about this myself…”

However, she was somehow happy to be able to take care of Shoichi, and she was eager to do so.

No, she had always been a caring person. But lately, she felt very happy that Shoichi was the one she was taking care of.

On the other hand, there were times when she felt embarrassed in the process. She couldn’t help him undress or ‘ahhn’ feed him, which she used to be able to do easily if she wanted to.

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“Why is it that I’m so energetic, but somewhere along the way I stop?”

If there was a cause, it was probably because Shoichi had helped her on their way home from the nursery school.

The feelings she had for Shoichi ever since then had remained unchanged. However, it was a feeling that she couldn’t understand even after thinking about it, so she had no choice but to leave it be.

“Mhmm, I’m not sure what this feeling is, but… If I’m feeling better, then I must not be in a bad mood.”

When she told herself that, she clenched her fists as if to encourage herself–and immediately, let out a sigh. She wasn’t in a bad mood, but there was something sad about it.

And that sigh was connected to a different emotion as well.

Coincidentally, there was something that had been bothering her ever since she returned from nursery school. It was also something related to Shoichi.

She felt uncomfortable talking about it directly to Shoichi. This was the problem.

“What should I do about Sho-chan and–“

Even if she tried to say it out loud now, no one would give her an answer, obviously.

Unfortunately, she would have to come up with it on her own. And as soon as possible, as she didn’t have much time.

She began to ponder in circles with her admittedly not-so-good head.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○

While Amiru’s head was spinning furiously, Shoichi was on his way to the washroom.

He vaguely looked around to see what his classmates were doing. They didn’t seem to have heard anything. It seemed that Amiru’s hospitality at lunchtime had not been exposed.

But if this continued, it would only be a matter of time before they found out. Before that, he had to do something about Amiru’s excessive caring, which could be called out of control.

“Should I cut our study time short?”

Currently, he and Amiru were on a point system, balancing the amount of caretaking with the amount of studying. If Shoichi were to reduce the amount of time they spent studying, it would be a pretext to refuse Amiru’s care.

No, not good. Shoichi shook his head. If he cut back on her studies, it wouldn’t be good for Amiru. He was struggling to get her grades up at the behest of their homeroom teacher. It would be outrageous of him to cut corners on his own.

Mostly because that girl’s been focusing on her studies lately too, the points are all over the place…

Amiru’s points were 67p, Shoichi’s points were 96p. Obviously, the amount of study was more. This would be impossible to deprive Amiru of an excuse to take care of him.

Besides, Shoichi added in his mind. I have a feeling that behind Amiru’s words and actions, she is hiding something from me. I think she’s trying to cover it up by being overly attentive.

If he knew what it was, he might be able to persuade Amiru–however, he had no idea.

“I guess I should ask her directly…”

With these thoughts in mind, he finished his business, felt refreshed, and tried to return to the classroom.

Just then.

“Can I have a word?”

“…Hmm?”

He was surprised to hear a girl call out to him in front of the men’s restroom. This was partly due to the fact that he was being waited for there, but it was also because the owner of the voice was someone he knew.

“Um, I think you’re…Amiru’s friend, Mea?”

“That’s right, Shoichi Kashima-kun. This is the first time we’ve talked in person.” The dark-haired girl, Mea, muttered with slightly raised eyebrows.

“However, since we’re in the same class, I think you should at least remember my full name. And we’re from the same junior high school, you know.”

“Ah, is that so? Sorry, I’ll remember it better next time. Um…”

“…Naito. Naito Mea.”

“I see, Naito… Hmm?”

Naito Mea?

When Shoichi asked with his eyes, Mea blushed a little and growled.

“Yes, the name is a play on ‘Nightmare.’ Just so you know, I didn’t give it to myself. If you want to complain about it, you should talk to my stupid parents.”

“Ah, I guess so. You can’t give yourself a name, can you?”

Wait, no. Once again, Shoichi remembered what he had always vowed regarding her.

“Wait, you! You’re the one who’s been telling Amiru all that nonsense! You have no idea how much trouble I’ve been in thanks to you…”

“What are you suddenly getting mad about…? Besides, I just tell her what I think. Isn’t it up to her to choose what information she wants to acquire?”

“That may be true, but you’re the one who provided the choice in the first place, aren’t you?”

“Well, let’s talk about that discussion some other time… But more importantly, as I said before, I have some business with you right now.”

Come to think of it, that was why she was waiting in front of the men’s room.

Shoichi reluctantly took her to a place in the corridor connecting the main building and the specialty building.

“So, what is it?”

“It’s about Amiru. She’s been acting weird lately, right? I mean, she’s strangely energetic…”

“Yeah, that’s what’s been bothering me, too.”

“Hmm. So you don’t know why she’s like that?”

“If I knew, I wouldn’t be bothered, would I? I’d have solved it by now.”

“I guess that’s true… Then I guess I’ll have to ask her directly.”

Mea nodded as she ran her fingers over her thin chin.

Apparently, she was really worried about Amiru and had come to ask Shoichi about it. Perhaps she was quite the friend to Amiru, since she was concerned about Amiru so much.

That doesn’t change the fact that she’s the one who put ideas into Amiru’s head.

When Shoichi had this made up in his mind, Mea suddenly looked at him.

“Just to be sure, you didn’t do anything weird when you were teaching her, did you?”

“What do you mean, weird?”

“You know, sexual harassment, or power harassment.”

“What do you think I am?! …I mean, you’d normally be depressed if you received something like that. It doesn’t explain why Amiru is being so cheerful.”

Shoichi believed he had given a reasonable explanation, but Mea looked away.

“I guess so, but that could be why she’s so cheerful.”

“What do you mean?”

“In that girl’s case, it’s possible she’s spinning out of control. After all, she’s not like us, she’s very sensitive.”

“What? Sensitive? That Amiru?”

A woman who was so light-hearted, full of energy, and only did unnecessary things was sensitive?

“No way, she doesn’t look like that at all. At the very least, you seem to be more sensitive than her when you got upset over a glittery name.”

“…I’ll take that as a compliment.”

After holding her temples painfully, Mea suddenly looked at the window in the hallway. She could see the branches of a large tree sticking out outside the window.

“But it’s true that Amiru is really a sensitive girl. You, a childhood friend, should know that.”

“Well… It’s true that she may have been withdrawn and timid in the past. But that was a long time ago, and I don’t think she’s the same now.”

“People don’t change that easily. Amiru is like that now because I invited her out, but… It’s not like anything fundamental has changed.”

“……”

“Anyway, watch out for that girl. I hate to break it to you, but she seems to like you.”

“Even if you tell me that…”

I don’t know what to say, just when Shoichi was about to say this,

“Mea! Finally, I found you!”

One of the girls jumped in, looking bloodthirsty. Shoichi remembered her too, she was the girl Amiru always talked to.

As she gasped for breath, She told Mea, who blinked at her, “Amiru, Amiru collapsed!”

“”What?!””

“She’s in the infirmary right now! Let’s go!”

“Yeah, okay…” Mea glanced at Shoichi.

Needless to say. Shoichi was already running towards the infirmary.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○

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