I Was Betrayed by My Childhood Friend, so I Won’t Lie to Myself Anymore

Episode 17 – Test Period

Brrrring*

peep*

“Fwuaah～.”

I woke up at the sound of an alarm clock, probably because I was up late yesterday, so I ended up yawning a lot. 

I had a study session with Ayaka and the others on Saturday, which influenced me to study most of the day on Sunday to prepare for the midterm test.  

After getting dressed, I went to the washroom and set my hair in the style that I’m used to, and ate breakfast in the living room. 

While I was eating breakfast, Ayaka woke up dizzily. 

“Morning Onii Chan~. Thanks for Saturday~”

“Morning. Don’t worry about it, rather, you’ve got a curl on your back. I’ll fix it for you so bring me a comb.” 

When I was fixing Ayaka’s bed hair, my mom looked at me with a grin on her face from the kitchen. 

“Mom? What’s wrong?”

I noticed the look on my mom’s eyes and asked her.

“Nothing～. I’m just glad that the two of you got along better than before.” 

“Is that so? I think it’s the same as usual….hey it’s already fixed, get a grip on yourself～.”

“Okay～. Thanks.”

Ayaka turned around, thanked me, and started to eat breakfast.

Then Mom started talking to me.

“By the way Ryouma. I went shopping yesterday and happened to meet Isuzu, so I told her a little bit about Yuina Chan~. Then she looked really surprised and apologized to me even though we were inside the supermarket, and I was really surprised too～.”

“Aaa, I think I can imagine it.”

Unlike Yuina, Isuzu san is a very quiet person. I mean, that girl never told me anything about her mother. 

“This time she had to apologize to Ryouma too, that’s why she was feeling down. I’m sorry, but can you help me then?”

“Aaaa I understand. I’ll talk to Isuzu san once again.”

Isuzu san believes me but I think Koushou san  will be on Yuina’s side, he might be a bit of a pain. 

I told my mother that for the time being, I grabbed my bag, and headed to school.

♦♢♦

On the way up to the school, there was a girl standing there fidgeting. 

When my eyes met with her, she approached me while panicking, so I wondered what was going on and she handed me a letter from her bag. 

“S-saeki kun ! Please read this!!”

It was the first time for me to be suddenly approached on the way to school and handed a letter, and I was a little confused.

“T-thanks, I’m gonna make sure to read it properly.”

“Y-yes !!!! W-well then !!”

Then the girl blushed and ran away.

After watching her back, I put the letter in my bag, and a familiar voice called out to me from behind.

“Good morning Saeki san, you’re very popular too today huh.”

When I turned around, I saw Igarashi san standing there, looking somewhat grumpy. But when her eyes met mine, she quickly returned to her usual expression.

“Good morning. Don’t make fun of me, I’ve never done anything like this before either.”

When I answered Igarashi san with a bitter smile, she put her hand over her mouth and smiled, then started to walk alongside me. 

“Fufu, sorry. I saw Saeki san getting letters from other girls, and I just had to tease you.”

“Haha, I can’t believe even Igarashi san  is making fun of me. In case you’re wondering, Akari chan told me before to read it properly, so I’m taking it.”

“Fufu, so it’s like that? Like Kikuchi san, Saeki san also can’t resist Akari chan, can he?”

Igarashi san was laughing [fufufu] as she talked about Akari chan , but she had been staring at my bag for a few minutes. I noticed it and spoke in a voice that could only be heard by Igarashi san.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to tell her that I have a girlfriend.”

“Tsu ! ee, a.”

“Hey, quickly, let’s go, we’ll be late.”

Seeing Igarashi san’s red face and open mouth, I was satisfied that I had gotten even with her earlier and rushed her to school.

After I escorted Igarashi san to the class, I entered my classroom and there were two separate groups, my classmates, who noticed my entrance greeted me, and Yuina’s group who were still glaring at me. 

I greeted my classmates and returned to my seat without looking at Yuina and the others. Somehow I felt calm while talking with Asahi during homeroom. 

Asahi told me that Yuina was looking at me as if she wanted to say something, but I told him not to worry about it.

It was lunchtime and the four of us were eating in the courtyard as usual when Asahi and Akari chan suddenly bowed to us.

“Please ! The two of you ! Please teach us how to study !”

“We are counting on you !!!”

I was pouting for a moment, so that’s why Asahi was fidgeting from the morning

I’m convinced by Asahi’s strange attitude alone, but Akari chan who was bowing her head together, was wondering is she that stupid? As I wondered about that, I looked at her. Then I wondered what I wanted to say, and I was distracted by the bitter smile so I sighed, and decided to teach them with no other choice.

“All right, you don’t have to bow down so much just  to say that. Well, there aren’t many days left until the test, so I’ll teach you enough to avoid a red mark for now. Will you help me, Igarashi san?”

“Yes, I can do my own review, so I’ll definitely help you out.”

“Thank you~ Ryouma, Koharu chan !!”

“ Thanks ! Now I won’t have my allowance cut~!”

They were happy to hear my words, but I wondered if they had to reduce their allowance because they have a test coming up. Igarashi san and I laughed while thinking about it.

I called back  those two people who were jumping around and suggested a place and time to study for the test.

“Then let’s do it in the library after school starting today.”

“Eh~ Let;s do it in a Family Restaurant~”

I suggested the library as a place where we could relax, but Asahi started complaining about it, so I gave her a chop on the head.

“That’s a no. If you study in that place, there’s no way you’d be able to focus.”

“It hurts and that’s rude ! I mean, I can’t motivate myself to go to the library after school !”

“You really can’t be helped huh ? I’m not saying we can’t go, we can  just go when we’re done.”

“Seriously !? what the hell～ if that’s the case, just say so～! alright! If it’s already been decided, I’ll start studying for the test today !”

“Kay～!” 

“O-okay～!”

“Sigh.”

What a cash cow person. Well, if that’s all he is willing to do then it’s fine.

Thus from now on, the four of us would have a study session after school  until the test.

As expected, it was not possible to meet every day, but for the time being, we settled on the idea of meeting three times a week during the week and studying at someone’s house on weekends. 

Then I realized that I hadn’t explained my relationship with Igarashi san to my family until the day before.