I Couldn’t Stop my Childhood Friend from Turning Into a Villain

I Couldn’t Stop my Childhood Friend from Turning Into a Villain

•───────•°•❀•°•───────•

“Lucy.”

After the lecture, it was when I asked Melissa to go with me today.

“Liel? Did you come to see me?”

“Yes.”

Liel came to my classroom to see if my class had ended.

But how did he know I was in this classroom?

Melissa hurried out of the classroom next to Liel as I approached him inquisitively.

It was almost like she was running away.

Looking at Melissa’s back with disappointed eyes, I turned to Liel again.

“Wait a minute.”

Let me get my stuff first.

When I returned to the seat where I sat and came out with a book and a pen, Liel took my bag as if it was natural.

“Why did you take it?”

When asked with a puzzled expression, Liel also replied with a similar expression to mine.

“Because you’re holding it?”

What kind of conversation is this?

“Your hands haven’t healed yet.”

I looked up at Liel with a disapproving face. Then he asked, lifting the red pouch he took from my arms as if to change the subject.

“What is this?”

“Oh, that.”

When I saw the red pouch in Liel’s hand, a happy smile leaked out.

꧁꧂

Entering the lounge a short distance away from the classroom, I opened the pouch that Liel asked about with a proud face and showed it to him.

“Cookie?”

“Yes, Melissa made it for me.”

“Melissa?”

“She’s someone I’ve been trying to get close to lately.”

“She passed by your side earlier. Remember the red-haired girl?”

Liel shook his head at my question.

Of course, I didn’t expect Liel to remember either. Even I wouldn’t remember everyone passing by me.

“I’ll have to eat it with care.”

As I settled down in a wooden chair, Liel followed me to the next seat.

“What kind of person is Melissa?”

Liel asked about Melissa as if he was interested in her all of a sudden.

My eyes shone as I answered with a brightened face.

“Oh? Are you curious?”

“A little? Because you’re showing interest.”

His reason was a bit strange, but it doesn’t matter because he was interested in it anyway.

I didn’t expect to talk about my new friend to a friend!

My heart was pounding because I didn’t know this day would come.

With excitement, I talked excitedly about my first meeting with Melissa, and what happened in the last four days.

Actually, about 90% of my stories were about me chasing Melissa.

“So I even succeeded in eating together.”

I raised my thumb and continued proudly. Liel stared at my thumb without saying a word.

“I’ll ask her to sit together in class next time.”

I tried several times earlier, but Melissa’s boundaries were so firm that they all failed.

I thought I could sit next to her because she gave me cookies today. As expected, Melissa was not easy.

Nevertheless, I had no intention of giving up.

If I try, I’ll succeed at least once someday.

Reflecting on the sense of challenge inside, I put the well-baked cookies in my mouth.

I could feel Liel’s gaze from the side.

“Do you want some?”

I asked Liel, pushing a cookie that I was eating towards him.

“That was made by the girl named Melissa?”

Then Liel stared at the cookie pouch and asked back.

“Yes, I paid for Melissa’s lunch yesterday. Then she gave this to me this morning.”

After munching on the cookies hard, I pushed the cookie pouch back to Liel, indicating that he can eat.

“……I’m fine. It hasn’t been long since I ate.”

It’s already way past lunch time

Did he eat late?

“Really? It’s delicious…”

He said he was full, so there’s nothing I can do.

In fact, there was not much left in the container as I kept putting cookies in my mouth while talking to Liel.

Melissa was not only smart but also dexterous given that she made such delicious cookies.

I heard that Liel is also the top student in the second year. Additionally, I heard that Liel’s older sister, Dioletta unnie, always held the top seat, except for a few times.

Now that I see it, it seems that only smart and dexterous people gather around me.

“Lucy, Melissa…….”

Crunching—

“Seems like her words and actions don’t match.”

Crunching—

“Usually, you don’t give something you made to someone you don’t want to get close to in return.”

Crunching—

I nodded at Liel’s words as I eagerly chewed the cookies.

I agree with Liel.

She gave me homemade cookies in return for buying her lunch that I almost forced her to.

Oh, I ate it all.

I poured all the remaining crumbs into my mouth.

“Right? Melissa must want to be close to me, too. So I’m not giving up.”

Saying so, I wiped my mouth with a proud face.

How can I give up on someone who always says no to me, yet gives me homemade cookies in return?

I thought this was also Melissa’s clumsy way of expressing herself.

When I was rubbing my mouth with my hands , Liel, who was looking at me, lowered my hand and wiped my mouth with his hands.

I used to do this a lot for Liel.

I was going to do it, but I thought he might get upset again, so I let him be.

“Lucy, why are you doing that?”

Finally, Liel’s thumb pressed the end of my mouth and fell off.

He didn’t seem to understand my efforts.

“Well… I want to have a friend who is a girl and of the same age as me…?”

“A friend who is a girl and of the same age?”

“Yes. You are my friend, but you are older than me and you are a boy. I can’t even put Dioleta unnie in the friend category in the first place.”

“Then it doesn’t have to be Melissa, right?”

Liel asked, raising his eyebrows slightly upward.

“At first, she was just a neighbor, so I tried to get close…….”

There’s something about Melissa that makes me feel impatient.

As I shook the empty pouch against Liel’s eyes, his eyes moved along the pouch.

“You know what? It’s like I’m about to catch her, then she suddenly slips away. Do you know what I mean?”

Melissa is like that.

It was just like that when she didn’t like to walk side by side with me, but still waited when I lagged behind her.

Not to mention the handmade cookies that went into my stomach.

What’s funnier is what Melissa said when she handed me the cookies.

“I don’t know if it’ll suit your taste, but…… It’s in return for the meal. I’m a commoner, so I don’t have much money like you. So….”

“Did you make it yourself?”

“Yeah! Why? What? I didn’t add anything weird!”

She almost threw it over to me and went back to her seat.

Her face was as red as her hair when she was talking.

As I recalled Melissa’s red face, Liel, who was quietly listening to me, said in a strange voice.

“……Yeah, I think I know what it is.”

When I came to my senses and looked at him, Liel pulled the ribbon tie of my school uniform in slow motion.

Then, the ribbon that I tied hard in the morning came loose.

“I have no choice but to know.”

Soon after, Liel tied the ribbon beautifully again. Maybe he kept worrying about the ribbon I had tied up badly.

“I’ve been through it a lot.”

He murmured with a faint smile.

“Since I was young.”

He’s been through it since he was a kid? What happened to him?

I tilted my head and looked at the well-tied ribbon once and thought about it.

What comes to mind is—

‘He’s not talking about Dioletta unnie.…?’

No, I don’t think so. I haven’t seen any signs of that yet.

Even when unnie was confessed to, Liel looked better than I thought he would be.

Furthermore, Dioletta and Liel haven’t even seen each other long enough in the last four years.

Yeah, I’m sure it’s just my irrational delusion.

This is why prejudice is scary

Without realizing it, I keep thinking about it because it’s related to that side.

With my palm, I pressed the ribbon tied by Liel.

“Well, there’s…! Liel!”

As soon as I was thinking about how to respond to Liel’s words, I heard the voice of a woman I heard for the first time above my head.

He raised his head up naturally.

“……?”

A pink-haired girl in the same academy uniform as me looked down at Liel with a nervous look.

Seeing that she was completely unknown to me, there was a high probability that she was not a freshman.

“What?”

Liel responded to the girl’s call.

“Now, I need to talk to you for a moment…….”

My senior’s gaze stayed with me once and then shifted. At the same time, Liel looked at me once.

Oh, this is that.

As soon as I noticed the awkward feeling, I got up from my seat and collected my belongings.

“I have something to do.”

When I spoke with a grim expression on purpose, Liel’s eyes widened and stood after me.

“Really? Then I’ll join you…….”

“No!”

I can’t interrupt my friend’s confession.

I didn’t really have anything to do in the first place. It was just an excuse that I hurriedly blurted out to get up from my seat.

“I can go alone.”

“Lucy?”

“I’m going! See you later!”

Liel might follow me, so I didn’t wait for his reply and left.

He’s getting a confession.

A confession!