V. The girl who can clearly say ‘I love you’ Descends
Let me tell the story of Nanase Nanao.
The time goes back a little. It was just about a week ago.
Due to her parents’ job transfer, she had moved from a rural area to Tokyo.
She was essentially a transfer student.
This girl was rather lost in the school building at dusk.
(I’m lost…)
She had gotten lost and couldn’t find her way.
The school building she visited for the first time wasn’t particularly complex in shape. However, being set loose alone on the first visit made this quite troublesome.
Carrying the textbooks and other materials she had been given, she alternately looked down the hallways extending to the left and right. But there were no signs or anything, so the situation didn’t change at all.
And the fact that her arms were getting tired gave her a slight sense of crisis.
(I should have had them delivered home…)
Or rather, it was her father’s fault.
He had said he would come along to greet them and take the textbooks home by car.
But due to sudden work coming up, she ended up visiting alone like this. Even though the school had gone to the trouble of preparing everything, she hesitated about having them re-deliver everything to her home, which led to her having to take it all home alone.
There was a reason Nanao was wandering around the school building instead of heading straight home.
No, it wasn’t because she believed the morning horoscope that said “Virgo! You may meet your destiny’s partner today through a small chance occurrence! When you visit a new place, linger persistently and show your tenacity in searching for the opposite sex♪”
Nanao knitted her adorable brows and let out an “umm” sort of groan.
(I wanted to see the archery dojo, but…)
Basically, she had planned to check out the club activities before going home.
This academy was utterly ordinary, even among those in Tokyo…However, it was said to have exceptionally great facilities just for the archery dojo. Nanao, who didn’t have a particular preference for which school to transfer to, chose this one specifically for the archery dojo.
But if she didn’t know the way, it was pointless.
(Oh well, I’ll head home then…ah)
She had overlooked something critical.
Since she didn’t know the way to the archery dojo, she also didn’t know the way back. It was absolutely not an option to go outside without the indoor shoes she had left at the shoe lockers.
Nanao had unexpectedly gotten carried away by curiosity. Wasn’t this just like a cat? She had simply wanted to take a look at the archery dojo…
Then, she heard footsteps.
She turned around spontaneously, and a male student was approaching her.
Naturally, he was wearing this academy’s uniform. What year was he? Ah, that’s right. She could ask him for directions…but that thought lasted only a brief moment.
The boy smiled and took the textbooks Nanao was carrying.
“Nice to meet you, cute little kitten.”
It was a shockingly flirtatious line.
Nanao was dumbstruck by the line one rarely hears these days.
(The city is scary…)
The faces of her friends who had seen her off back home flashed through her mind like a kaleidoscope.
They had repeatedly warned her “Be careful in the city,” “Men are like wolves,” “Don’t go with strangers.” At the time, she thought what are they saying? But this was certainly an extreme case. The city really is intense.
As she was thinking this place was far more dangerous than expected, she noticed the boy’s odd behavior.
For some reason, his face had turned beet red and he looked terribly awkward.
“Umm…I’ll be in trouble if you don’t say something.”
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
She had absolutely no idea what she was apologizing for, but felt she had to apologize regardless. It was the spirit of benevolence.
(If he’s embarrassed, he doesn’t have to say anything…)
Anyway, what was concerning her was…
“That ‘little kitten’ thing…is that like, a hobby of yours?”
“Stop pursuing me!?”
She was feeling sorry for him now.
At that point, Nanao’s mind became a bit more calm.
(Well, he doesn’t seem like a scary person at least…)
Her perception of him shifted to just an ordinary guy with a good face. Whether it was an upgrade or downgrade, even Nanao herself didn’t know.
Then she realized her arms felt extraordinarily light.
(Ah, the textbooks…)
At some point, the textbooks she had been carrying were now in his arms.
Speaking of which, he had nonchalantly taken them from her. Because of the “little kitten” line, she had completely missed the timing to politely decline.
“Those…”
“Yeah, where do you want me to take these?”
When Nanao pointed it out, he calmly asked her.
It seemed he was going to carry them for her. She felt half grateful and half apologetic.
“Oh, aren’t they heavy?”
When Nanao asked, he smiled and said:
“They’re heavy. Who made such a cute girl carry these?”
Again he said something that made her cringe, and Nanao was slightly dumbfounded.
“Those are my textbooks. I was supposed to take them home today, but…”
“Eh? How were you going to carry them?”
“My dad was supposed to give me a ride, but he couldn’t make it because of work…”
“Ah, I see.”
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.PAGES.DEV
The male student deftly shifted the stack of textbooks to one hand and took out his smartphone from his pocket. He then swiftly made a call and spoke briskly to the person who answered.
“Hey Mr. Goto. That girl earlier, the one who was going to take those textbooks home? …Yeah, she was in trouble because the dad who was supposed to come with her couldn’t make it. …Got it. Yes sir.”
After hanging up, he gestured to the stack of textbooks.
“I’ll take these to the staff room. They said they’ll have them sent to your home later.”
“Eh? Who was that person?”
“The career counseling teacher at our school. Since his name is Mr. Goto.”
It seemed he had reported to the teacher what she couldn’t say herself. She was surprised at how frank his way of speaking was even when talking to a teacher.
…No, more than that, she was amazed at how efficient he was. Of course, she had interacted with boys at her previous high school too, but none of them handled things this smoothly. Despite his flirtatious appearance, he had the efficiency of a capable company employee.
If that “little kitten” line was an act to get her to hand over the textbooks without refusing…?
Such an outrageous thought flashed across her mind for a moment…no, that was probably overthinking it.
As Nanao looked perplexed, the male student pointed down the hallway.
“The shoe lockers are that way.”
“Eh?”
“You’re going home, right? I’ll take these textbooks to Mr. Goto.”
“But…”
When Nanao showed her hesitation, the male student laughed.
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure they get delivered. I have no reason to steal textbooks. Besides, I really hate studying.”
“Ah, ahaha…”
She didn’t know how serious he was, but…even so, she felt reluctant to turn down his good intentions. For some reason, this male student gave off that sort of atmosphere.
As she was about to leave the textbooks with him and head home…
Something suddenly glimmered in the fading evening sunlight streaming through the window.
It was a smartphone strap.
She hadn’t noticed it before when it was in the shade, but some kind of casual character was dangling from it.
It looked quite old and well-worn at a glance.
(Huh…?)
The issue was that it seemed familiar.
Nanao hurriedly put her hand in her bag’s pocket. But she couldn’t find what she was looking for right away. Huh, where did I put it? Could I have not brought it? While that small sense of panic was setting in, the male student began walking away.
“Ah, um…”
“Hmm? What’s up?”
The moment the male student turned around, Nanao finally found her own smartphone and held it up. An old, worn-out original character strap was attached to her phone.
It was from the same series as the one the male student had on his smartphone.
Hers also looked well-worn, but it was clear it had been carefully maintained.
When the male student saw that strap, he hurriedly readjusted his grip on the textbooks.
“Whoa.”
And for just a moment, his eyes widened in surprise…
“It’s a vintage gem.”
“Yes…”
Nanao felt dejected at his words.
Then the male student hurriedly corrected himself.
“Sorry, sorry. I was just a bit embarrassed…”
“?”
What did he mean, embarrassed?
Nanao was puzzled, but the male student continued speaking before she could ask.
“That’s from that casual character series released years ago, right?”
“Yeah, I got it at a department store because I liked it, and had my dad buy it for me.”
“I have one too. Well, mine is an unreleased version though.”
“Eh? Really?”
The male student handed her his smartphone.
Taking a closer look, she saw that it was indeed the character she knew, but the pose was slightly different.
“Wow, amazing…”
“No, no, you’re the amazing one. To still have that, you’re like a living fossil.”
“You’re one to talk…”
“Hey, I’m fine with it.”
What’s that?
As she handed his phone back, Nanao smiled wryly.
“I just really like it, so I’ve kept it all this time.”
“……..”
For Nanao, it was just a feeling of unexpectedly meeting someone with the same interests.
To be clear, this original character series didn’t sell well at all in the general market and was quickly discontinued. Even her friends back home would react like “Why do you have that?”
But for some reason she liked it, so she couldn’t bear to change the strap.
That was it.
There weren’t any particularly strong memories associated with it.
So it was just a feeling of being a bit happy to meet someone with the same hobby.
And yet…
“Thank you.”
For some reason, the male student said that.
She had no idea what he was thanking her for. She didn’t think she had done anything deserving of thanks. No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t figure it out.
Still, the boy was giving her an embarrassed sort of smile.
“I’m really happy.”
Those were his only words.
There was no reason for it, and no obligation for him to say that to her.
But for some reason, that smile burned vividly into the back of her eyelids.
Maybe it was due to the mood-drenched evening sunlight dyeing the hallway.
Maybe it was the psychological effect of him carrying her textbooks.
Or maybe it was the story-like situation of getting hit on by a boy right after transferring to Tokyo.
Regardless, the fact was that Nanao’s heart pounded heavily.
I’ll repeat it.
This is the story of Nanase Nanao.
It’s an insignificant, modest little love story.
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