The Reason I Keep Avoiding My Childhood Friend

In any case, it was necessary to sort things out. Judging by the man who kept bending over to make eye contact with me, he didn’t really seem malicious.

“I know you are not a kidnapper. I’m sorry I misunderstood that.”

When I obediently apologized, the man’s face was in full bloom.

“Yes, yes. I am not a kidnapper.”

I then added as I looked at him who seemed to be overcome with hope that he had finally escaped the stigma of being a pervert.

“But I won’t apologize for hitting you.”

The man, who was momentarily stiff at my words, gave a generous expression as if he understood everything.

“Because I made a mistake. Yes. I don’t need an apology either.”

I was offended by the attitude that seemed to be saying, ‘I’ll forgive you as a child.’

There were always people like this. A person who thought that what they did, of course, would be well received by others. People who think they were doing a favor.

A typical example of that was Kir. A person who did harm to others without malice and does not even know it.

In this situation that could have ended well, I got angry.

“No. I need my apology.”

“What?”

“You’re not a kidnapper, but it’s true that you suddenly touched my body. Even if it was intended to help, I think it is very disrespectful to act without permission.”

That was true. Even though I look young, I am old enough. Having a man I don’t know suddenly puts his hand on my body, of course, I would be surprised.

It was not that I’m blindly mocking the goodwill of others. If it was a legitimate reason, such as an emergency situation, of course I would have thanked him and rewarded him.

But I wasn’t even in such an emergency. I just wanted to look at the procession. Just because I can’t see it doesn’t mean I’m in jeopardy.

I would have politely thanked him if he felt so sorry for me and wanted to help me and then get me a foothold or take me to a place where I could see the procession clearly. But the man grabbed my waist without permission to help me watch it.

I look young, but I’m actually 15 years old. In modern terms, an unknown man put his hand on a female middle school student’s waist. This was no different from sexual harassment. Only then did the man let out a gasp as if he realized his mistake.

“I don’t know how young you thought I was, but I’m not that young. So, what you did to me was a huge mistake.”

The current world was not a very conservative society. They might not say that men and women were different, but it wasn’t a society that was generous enough to let someone touch the body of someone you don’t know.

The man seemed shocked, as if he had never thought of it that way.

“Sorry. I made a mistake.”

There was no energy in his voice as he apologized.

“I know there was no malice, so I’ll let it go. And I don’t think that even a real child would have realized such reckless physical contact. It wasn’t that I was in danger. It’s rude behavior without permission, so let’s pretend it never happened.”

The longer my words went on, the more the man’s expression went beyond stiff and pale. I realized that even a man can feel like he was harassed if he thinks from my point of view.

He doesn’t seem to be completely stupid, unlike his rash actions. Besides, he wasn’t someone I couldn’t communicate with like Kir.

The blushing man managed to open his mouth.

“I don’t even deserve an apology. You are right.”

There was sadness in his voice. The more I looked, the more the man looked like a noble. At first, I didn’t know because I was wary of the man’s approach.

But like his clothes, his strangely noble face, his way of speaking, and the way he calls the guards when he finds a lost child. He was by no means a commoner.

Maybe that’s why the man was very serious. It was only natural that any sane noble who valued honor would not tolerate his actions that shamed women. The man’s condition seemed to lead to self-deprecation.