The Most Beautiful Girl in the School Asked Me to Act as Her Boyfriend, So I Accepted, But Gradually

Chapter 62

Why

Translated by Dawn

Why

The turmoil at the Mizutani household was already a distant memory, in early November after the cultural festival and the mid-term exams.

Our high school was a decent college-preparatory school, so my classmates were gradually transitioning into exam mode.

Everyone realized that the most enjoyable period of high school life had come to an end.

With autumn deepening, there was a certain indescribable sense of loneliness in the air.

A gust of autumn wind blew through the courtyard during lunch break.

Sitting on a bench in the courtyard, I muttered to myself, “It’s cold.”

However, there was no response from Mizutani, who should have been eating her lunch next to me.

I thought, “Huh?” as I looked over at Mizutani, who had her lunch box on her lap and was absentmindedly rowing an imaginary boat. Here we go again, I thought.

Lately, she has been dozing off frequently. Just earlier in the math class, she had been nodding off, and the teacher pointed it out, causing her embarrassment.

Now that we sat close to each other, I could help her out if she needed answers. But I thought I should address the root cause more fundamentally…

But what could be the cause of her sleep deprivation?

Knowing Mizutani, could it be that she had been too focused on practicing the piano?

…Yeah, that seemed quite likely. After all, recently, Mizutani had been playing the piano with genuine joy. Since the incident with her mother, she seemed to have been given more freedom in her piano performance. In fact, her recent playing had become more expressive and straight to the point, even to an amateur’s eyes.

While speculating on the reasons, I looked at Mizutani’s sleeping face again.

They said beauty faded after three days, but her well-proportioned face never failed to captivate me.

Perhaps I’d think the same thing tomorrow.

Because I felt the same way yesterday. Which meant I’d probably feel the same the day after tomorrow… wait a minute.

Did that mean I’d never get used to Mizutani’s face?

If I used mathematical induction, it would prove to be true.

Since it was currently lunch break, there was no need to woke Mizutani up. Besides, I didn’t want to disturb her peaceful expression, so I decided to leave her as she was. I couldn’t help but continue to gaze at Mizutani for a while, unable to take my eyes off her. Then, I noticed her fingertips.

There was a wound on her right index finger.

Upon closer inspection, it seemed that some of her other fingers were slightly injured as well. It was a rare sight considering Mizutani is usually careful with her fingers when playing the piano.

…Could it be that there’s another problem between her and Aunt?

As suspicions began to arise, Mizutani suddenly woke up.

After staring blankly at the lunch box on her lap for a moment, she turned her gaze toward me.

I met her clear eyes directly.

“What happened to your fingers?”

“…Huh?”

Mizutani blinked a few times and then looked at her own fingers as if she had just noticed them.

Then she averted her gaze.

“It’s nothing.”

“I see…”

—She’s definitely lying.

Although I sensed that, I decided not to pursue it further.

If Mizutani didn’t want to talk about it, there must be a reason. I didn’t want to believe that she was protecting herself from the abusive aunt… but, it was too dark of a thought.

***

November 13th, Sunday.

I turned 17 years old today.

But well, when you were in the second year of high school, there wasn’t much of a celebratory feeling. It seemed my mom reserved a cake, but she was fast asleep due to work exhaustion. Well, at least the cake arrived while she was sleeping, so that’s good.

I used to want to grow up quickly, but lately, I was actually afraid of getting older.

I felt anxious about just accumulating years without becoming anything significant. Especially when Mizutani, an amazing girl like her, was my girlfriend, it made me feel that way even more.

…Speaking of which, is she really my girlfriend?

The truth was, we’d never directly confirmed our relationship.

We’d just naturally fallen into a “sort of” relationship, and neither I nor Mizutani had ever spoken those words.

Maybe it was because our relationship started as a fake romantic relationship. For us, who were already “boyfriend” and “girlfriend” from the beginning and not just friends, the line between friends and lovers had become somewhat blurred.

Well, I think it’ll be okay. Mizutani and I had been together for over six months, and I was starting to understand her thoughts better than before. If my speculations were correct, Mizutani probably saw me in the same way too.

So, you might think I should go on a date with her on my birthday. That was a valid point, but there was a reason for today. Mizutani herself contacted me, saying she had something to do. If there were no prior arrangements, I would have gone somewhere with Mizutani.

…Yeah, that’s definitely what I would do.

In the first place, Mizutani might not even know it was my birthday. Let’s put aside such nitpicking for now. What I should do now was study.

I was sitting at my desk, stretching a bit before refocusing on my textbook.

The one I had open right now was a French textbook. You might think I should be studying for the entrance exams, but I had my reasons for this.

Due to the incident during summer vacation, Mizutani canceled her plans to go to France at the last minute. However, there was no guarantee that she would stay in Japan forever. Besides, I didn’t want to become a hindrance if Mizutani genuinely wanted to go to France.

Rather than being a hindrance, it would be better to end my relationship with Mizutani. That was what I would have thought in the past.

However, I was different now. I didn’t want to be a hindrance, but I also didn’t want to break up with Mizutani. So if the time came for Mizutani to study abroad, why didn’t I go to France as well? That was why I started studying French, with that kind of thinking.

“Conditional present tense… What a confusing name.”

Muttering to myself, I continued studying. Then I heard a doorbell ring.

It was the sound of the intercom. Looking at the clock, it was already past noon.

Most likely, Mai, who had been out since the morning for her club activities, had returned.

“She should at least bring the keys…”

Closing the French textbook, I left my room and headed to the front door.

Casually opening the door with a click, I was greeted by an astonishing sight.

“…Why?”

There stood Mizutani, wearing a simple yet autumn-like outfit of a black skirt and a white knit sweater. This is strange. She said she had something to do today, so why was she here?

“Happy birthday.”

In a serious tone, Mizutani said to me as I stood dumbfounded.

She took out a party cracker from her pocket and popped it, making a loud noise directed toward me.

Covered in confetti from head to toe, I blinked and said, “Thank you.”