Chapter 7: Cool Beautiful Girl, Yuna Tendo


TL: Akabane


***


[Yuna's POV]


It was 7 o'clock in the morning.


I was waiting for someone on a bench at Takatori Station, the nearest station to my house.


This station is the most prosperous station in the area, with a large shopping mall and sports facilities within a 10-minute walk.


There are two entrances to the station, the east exit and the west exit. The east exit, where I am now, is lined with many stores such as convenience stores, pharmacies, and supermarkets.


I sat down on a bench near a convenience store just outside such an east exit and touched my phone.


But immediately, that scene from yesterday came back to my brain.


The scene of him walking alone after school with Yuki, who is famous in our high school.


Then...


"Huh?　Yuna?　Long time no see - what's going on here?"


"...... Ah, Utako."


The one who called out to me was Utako, who was my best friend in middle school.


As I recall, she went to high school along the same train line as me.


"Hey, I'm waiting for someone."


Although It was just me who's waiting for him.


"Oh, I see. Yuna, you went to high school pretty far away, right?　Do you have someone to go to school with?"


"Yes, I do."


That's a lie.


I won't go with him. I haven't promised to do so.


"Heh. Oh, no, the train's coming! See you later! Let's play together again!"


"See you."


Utako was entering the station with an air of impatience.


As I recall, I heard that all schools, except my high school, require students to go to school early in the morning for extracurricular activities.


Well, I always take the train around this time even if I don't have morning extracurricular activities.


But today, I have decided to wait for him.


It has already been four years since then.


I have to take action.


I could feel the sweat beading up on my forehead.


The rainy season has ended, and the summer sun and heat are about to arrive in earnest.


Even though it's still early in the morning, just by sitting outside on a bench like this, I start to sweat and my body seems to be a little on fire.


Besides me, all the people heading to the station, both students and working people, were walking around wiping off their sweat.


Feeling thirsty, I took a sip of tea from my water bottle.


But I couldn't believe that this sweat and burning body was only due to the temperature.


My chest rumbled.


I must be nervous...


...to meet him.


The person I am unilaterally waiting for is Gomi Takarada, who goes to the same high school as me.


He is not very conspicuous, wears glasses, but is actually a very cool boy.


I first saw him in the 6th grade of elementary school.


He sat in the corner of the library.


He was reading a novel very happily with beautiful eyes.


First, I thought he was cool.


Second, I paid attention to the book he was reading.


It was a novel with a cute girl on the cover and an awfully long title, a type of book that even I, a book lover, had not read very often.


I was interested.


I was interested in the novel, but most of all, I was interested in the beautiful face of the man who could immerse himself so happily in a book.


I think I was even more interested in him because all the boys I had seen so far loved to be physically active, and none of them read books like he did.


But I couldn't get him to talk to me there.


At the time, I had a reclusive personality and wore glasses, so I was extremely uncomfortable talking to him on my own.


Then I started to deliberately sit in the library where I could see him and look at him.


Sometimes he would notice me and leave the library, so I would use the reflection of the mirror to spy on him.


Thinking about it now, I am a complete pervert.


But that's how much I wanted to see him back then.


Because looking at him made me so happy.


Well, even now, when I look at Takarada, I am overflowing with a feeling of love for him. ......


In the end, I couldn't get close to him in elementary school.


Even though ...... I was aware of my feelings for him myself.


In our school district, students basically go to the same junior high school unless they take the junior high school entrance exam.


Somehow, I wanted to be friends with Takarada at the junior high school.


With this in mind, I decided to make a drastic change in my appearance.


I only took off my glasses.


Even so, I was well received by my family and relatives, and many of my friends called me "cute."


Clearly, I was prettier than when I was in elementary school. I was confident.


However, I couldn't be in the same class with him in the first grade.


And for some reason, in junior high school, he started wearing glasses opposite of me and his hair started to hide his beautiful eyes.


I don't know what kind of change of heart he had, but it didn't change the fact that I still liked him.


On the contrary, I even thought I was lucky that he became more mature in appearance so that fewer people would fall in love with him.


As usual, I couldn't do anything for the rest of the year, and then I entered the second grade.


And for the first time, I was able to be in the same class as him.


When I saw the class list posted in front of the classroom, I was so happy that I wanted to scream and run around.


It was one of the three happiest moments of my life.


And my good fortune continued.


When we switched seats, I was able to sit next to him.


This was one of the five happiest moments of my life.


Just the fact that he was next to me filled my heart with happiness, and my chest was so full of it.


But I couldn't be satisfied with just being near him.


Since we were now next to each other, I wanted to get to know him better.


Then, slowly but surely, I got closer to him.


At first he was wary of me, but gradually I felt that the way he looked at me was changing.


It was a woman's intuition, but I felt that he was looking at me in the same way as the boys who confessed their feelings to me, and I had the feeling that he liked me more than a little.


Things were going well.


I had no doubt that my first love was going to have a happy ending.


I was even fantasizing about going out with him alone at home.


Then, I heard a rumor that made me even happier.


Apparently, he really likes me.


He had told his male friends about it during a school trip.


The moment I heard this rumor is the happiest moment in my life.


I almost jumped up and down on the spot, and my friends around me said, "You're smiling too much."


But still, I couldn't contain my joy.


Every time I looked at him next to me, my body would get hot and I would feel a tight pain in my chest.


I was truly happy.


The town seemed to shine brighter than usual, and I could connect everything I did with Takarada and fantasize more concretely than ever about things I wanted to do, like going here or having dinner with him.


I had no doubt that these fantasies would become reality.


And I began to give him a look that said, "You can confess to me anytime you want, I love you too," without hiding.


I knew I wanted a boy to confess his love to me, and that was my longing.


But those heavenly happy days didn't last long.


After a while, the way he looked at me changed.


It was as if he had lost interest in me.


In addition, he stopped looking at me so much.


I couldn't sleep because I was worried about what I had done.


But I couldn't ask him directly.


I was still too shy to talk to him.


The second year ended without me understanding why this had suddenly happened.


In the third year, we were placed in different classes, and the year ended as quickly as if it had been a monochrome day.


The only good thing that came out of it was that the teacher had told me about the high school he was going to so that we could go to the same high school together.


This allows me to still continue to like him.


However, even in high school, I couldn't be in the same class with him, and the distance between us remained too far.


Every time I walked down the hallway or passed his classroom, I looked for his presence, and when I found him, I tried my best to carry my feelings in my gaze, but he never looked at me at all.


That was when it happened.


I saw him walking with Yuki, who was rumored to be cute at school.


My mind went blank.


I thought it was the worst moment of my first love.


But I quickly reconsidered.


He has a very withdrawn personality.


I don't think he would go out with Yuki that quickly.


So I made up my mind.


I decided that I wouldn't only be passive, but also appeal to him more aggressively.


That's why I'm waiting for Takarada in front of the station this early in the morning.


"Ah."


28 minutes of waiting.


7:28 a.m.


Takarada appeared with his glasses and long bangs as usual.


His steps seemed to be in a great hurry.


Indeed, there were only two minutes until the next train departed.


"...... huh?"


In the end I couldn't talk to him and he didn't notice me either and went off to the station at a glance.


Well, well, time is critical and it's not a good idea to call him off here.


I somehow convinced myself that it was a good idea and headed for the station to follow him.


Somehow, I managed to get on the same train with him.


I was embarrassed to approach him so suddenly, so I stayed between the two doors.


He was sitting in the only seat available.


"......!"


There's a distance between us, but it still fills my heart when I look at him.


Oh, he is sensitive to eye contact, so I don't look at him too much.


...... But I'll still look at him.


Unable to overcome my own greed, I looked at him with a sideways glance and saw that the woman sitting next to him had stood up.


At that moment, I was moving my legs rather than thinking.


I should sit next to him!


Make him aware of me.


I quickly walked up to him and sat down next to him, trying my best to look calm.


Apparently, he noticed me too, and he looked stunned.


Thank goodness. I wondered what I would have done if he hadn't noticed me.


"......"


Oh, my body is hot. I'm nervous.


But I'm so glad I'm so close to him.


As I'm chewing his air, for a moment, his shoulder touches mine.


It hurts so much that my chest tightens.


My pulse is racing and my head is hot.


But I feel very content.


It was more like a feeling of being filled with happiness, like a zing of happiness overflowing from my body.


Don't you know what I mean?


But he moved away from me.


It was only a few centimeters, but I felt very lonely about it.


I guess that's why I wasn't calm.


With a "poof" sound, I leaned against his shoulder.


I even closed my eyes deliberately and pretended to be asleep.


My face must have turned bright red.


That's how hot my face was, and my whole body was hot either.


I was starting to sweat.


But, as I thought, when I touched his body, a feeling of happiness overflowed from my body.


It is a very comfortable feeling.


I could also smell his scent, which made me feel very happy.


But I don't know if I can take it anymore.


My body is too hot.


If I keep going like this, I will collapse.


"I can't take it anymore!"


I moved away from him as far as I could so he wouldn't see my face, which would be bright red.


I realized that I had come to another wagon.


People around me were looking at me, wondering what was going on.


But I didn't care about that right now.


I leaned against the nearest door and took a slow, deep breath.


Ah, I was happy.


Would it be okay if I sat next to him at least once a week?


...... It'll be okay, right?



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