When I Came Back From Another World, A Classmate Was Cuckolding My Childhood Friend And I Deleted My

Chapter 5

Chapter 1, Childhood Friend And I — Episode 5 : Cloudy, then Rainy【Kaori's Point Of View】

Translated by KaiesV
Edited by KaiesV

————At lunch break.

「Here, it’s the price of your labor.」

「No, 5,000 yen just to talk to someone, Yūsuke-kun is so generous!」

「That’s the best thing that could happen to a girl like that.」

I happened to stop by the back of the gymnasium and found Yamazaki-kun talking to the boy who had tangled with me, and an envelope was handed to him.

Normally I would be disillusioned with him and despise him, but he is good looking, has a family doctor practice, and is very personable, so I find it surprising that he would play such tricks on me. After seeing the whole thing through, I left the place before them.

I’m not worth it. I’m sure he would be disillusioned if he saw what I looked like in the past.

He called on me after school again. He looked as if he had no idea that I was watching him back there in the gym…

「I’m not the kind of girl who would be approached by Yamazaki-kun. Come on…」

I showed him an old photo that Kaname-chan had taken of me. Not a shred of cuteness, just my plain and simple. He replied, looking at the screen of his phone.

「If you’re a girl who has removed her makeup, there are lots of girls like that. I’ve been quite surprised by some of the things I’ve seen～」

「Yamazaki-kun, you must have a lot of experience, I think?」

A girl would never take off her makeup in front of a boy, she wouldn’t show her true appearance unless she was very close to him. I knew he’s playing around…

「Because you know, are you that desperate, Yamazaki-kun?」

「Eh!? What are you talking about?」

「I saw it. I saw you give money to the man who approached me…」

He scratched his head like he was being punished and then looked away from me.

「Ahh… I was seen. Yes, I’ve been thinking about you, Sendō-san, and I can’t help it. But Sendō-san only sees Kirishima who was gone… I wanted you to turn around even if it meant doing something dirty!」

However, the fact that he was so open and honest about his bad intentions made me feel better about him.

He holds my hand and looks at me with blazing eyes. I’m so scared that if I keep looking at him, I’m going to be carried away by the atmosphere.

「I’m sorry. I’m just not in the mood to…」

「No, I should be sorry too. You’re right, Kirishima was an important person to Sendō-san. How could you even forget him so soon…」

When Yamazaki-kun sees that I cannot accept it, he removes his hand. Then I wondered what happened, but I missed the warmth of his hand that was touching me.

「Oh, right. I know that dilly-dallying around will only depress you, so why don’t we go somewhere and have some fun?」

「Thanks. But now…」

「I see, you can’t forget Kirishima that quickly, can you? Sorry, I wasn’t considerate enough.」

Yamazaki-kun, who has been waiting for Kaname-chan for a long time while I was depressed, encourages me to talk about the invitation. Even if I say no, he will invite me back without a single look of disapproval…

I kind of feel bad for him when I keep saying no to him like this.

After a while, when I kept refusing his invitations, someone started talking about me behind my back.

「I keep trying to talk to Yamazaki-kun, but he never turns his head.」

「I don’t know…lately he’s been working with a couple of…who was it called?」

「Ahh, that girl. Sendō was a girl who’s very plain in junior high school. I know her because we went to the same middle school. It seems like he’s really into her. It seems like he’s getting into it. I wonder what’s so good about her. I’m prettier than her.」

「Glad you’ve said it～ But Yamazaki-kun does have bad taste too.」

Such talk leaked from the women’s restroom, and I quickly hid myself by the wall when I saw their shadows. A female student passes in front of me, dressed out of uniform with her collar wide open and her skirt short, showing off her bare legs as if to say, “I’m going to do this again!”

I didn’t do anything wrong…

All it takes is a few words with him and that would be it. If it were to happen, the smoldering embers of these girls’ jealousy would soon be kindled.

As I was spending those days, Kaname-chan’s parents called me and handed me a piece of paper. On the alcove altar is a picture of Kaname-chan…

「If you’d like, I’d be happy to put my hands on the guy at the keystone.」

「That kid, he seemed to really like you, Kaori-chan…」

There is nothing to be happy about.

I want to believe that he is still alive somewhere. But in front of his parents, I was going crazy when I put my hands together in front of Kaname-chan’s picture…

I went home and looked at the paper I got. A guide to a cemetery located slightly uptown. The plots were finely divided and circled where they were still only sparsely filled.

On the weekend, Yamazaki-kun invited me out, but when I declined, saying I had something to do, he immediately saw right through me and messaged me back,「You’re going to Kirishima’s place, aren’t you? 」I only responded,「Yes.」

On Sunday morning, I boarded a bus and headed out under a cloudy sky, and followed the directions as I walked through the cemetery to my destination.

「No way…」

My head is dizzying at the sight of a gravestone inscribed with only Kaname-chan’s name, not that of his ancestors. Nothing has come of his footsteps or clues, even though months have passed.

And yet Kaname-chan could still come back in front of his parents! I couldn’t say that. The two of them were so exhausted, even from my perspective as a stranger…

Of course, even if I uncover the tombstone, I won’t find anything that belongs to Kaname-chan. But when I saw the reality that his parents had built a magnificent grave for their love over him, my unshakable faith that he would come back to me was shaken as if I had been hit by a magnitude 7 earthquake, unable to stand properly.

Water droplets fell on my hair. The empty tear ducts opened up after enduring it earlier, and it turned into a zap and a real downpour.

My umbrella… I have to take it out.

It was as if the sky was crying from me. Despite my thoughts, I don’t feel like taking my umbrella out of my bag. I am heartbroken in the face of the reality that confronts me.

I walked all the way from uptown on foot, soaking wet and not taking the bus…

After one bus passed by, someone chased after me from behind with an umbrella.

「You’re gonna catch a cold.」

「Okay…」

What are you doing? I thought I would be scolded. Yamazaki-kun held an umbrella over my soaking wet, abandoned cat-like body and gently hugged my shoulders.

「You’re going to get wet…」

「I don’t mind. We’ve got a doctor at home.」

Chuckling, he smiled. When the jacket he had taken off was draped over me, the warmth that still remained on my blouse, which was wet and stuck to my skin, enveloped me.

I don’t know if I was hit by his kindness along the way or if I wanted to cling to him. Perhaps I had come straight to his house.