I Got Into a Secret Relationship With a Girl Who Was Out of My League
“You’ve been in a good mood lately, Hoshina.”
“Huh?”
It was lunchtime.
I was eating my lunch with my friends around a table.
When Roppou Akane, who was sitting next to me, said that, I let out a strange voice that wasn’t like me at all.
With her long, bright auburn hair, she was lively and charming, and she could talk easily with anyone. We became friends soon after we entered school.
“Huh? What do you mean? Pff…didn’t you notice? You seem especially happy lately. You think so too, right, Kyoka?”
She then turned to my other friend sitting across from me, Itsuka Kyoka, seeking her agreement.
She had short hair and a sporty, straightforward personality. She was more of an older sister type.
“Yeah, you’re right. It’s like she’s 20% cuter than usual.”
“…Really?”
Even when she says that, I don’t notice it myself.
I’m just living my life as usual, without anything special happening.
“The boys were a little excited, but didn’t you notice?”
“Hmm? Not really….”
Feeling the boys’ gazes is nothing new.
I stop eating my side dish and start thinking about the reason.
“Did something good happen?”
“I dunno? Maybe?”
Even as I answered that way, I already had an idea of the reason in my mind.
It was definitely because of my relationship with Yagami kun.
The only thing that fit the bill was that it was different from usual.
The sight of me letting go of my usual desires.
The stress from my parents at home and the fatigue from trying to act perfectly at school.
That time, where I could release all that, was precious to me as well.
But if I were to be honest about it, the two of them would probably faint in shock.
There’s no way I could say that.
“Lately, you’ve been turning down our invitations…could it be that you’ve found a guy?”
“Eh, no way ! Eh, eh, eh, what, what, what !? Is that true?”
Akane leaned in with interest at Kyoka’s unusually sharp observation.
“C’mon. There’s no way that’s true. I just found a new way to relieve stress.”
I couldn’t possibly say that it was sex. Neither of them would ever suspect that.
“Heh. Well, things at home must be tough.”
“That makes sense.”
They knew that my family was strict. In fact, the fact that I came from a prestigious family was somehow well-known in class.
They also knew that I often had problems at home.
“Right? This really helps me relax.”
“There’s such a good way to relieve stress? I’m curious.”
“Yeah, me too. What exactly are you doing?”
“That’s a secret.”
“Come on, tell me !”
“You’re being unfair.”
“Fufu, next time.
“Promise !”
Well, I can’t tell them, of course.
I need to think of something to cover it up.
After finishing our lunches, we continued our casual conversation.
Other group members joined in, and the chatter blossomed.
While listening to the conversation, I casually glanced at the person I had been talking to earlier about stress relief.
At school, I don’t talk to him much.
Even though we’re classmates, our seats are far apart, and we’re not part of the same group.
Unless there’s a reason, we don’t interfere with each other, and our relationship isn’t known to others.
I had known for a while that he wasn’t interested in romance.
I happened to overhear him and his friends talking about it. The reason wasn’t revealed, but I remember feeling a slight sense of familiarity toward him.
Since becoming involved with him, I feel like I’ve started noticing him more naturally.
It’s simply because the way I interact with him has changed, nothing more.
“So, how about we all go out together sometime?”
As for him, he was chatting with his friends with his usual empty gaze. Even when he was smiling, I could feel it keenly. Perhaps I was the only one who could see it.
I wonder what kind of conversation they were having?
Even though we have similar backgrounds, I’m sure it’s not just my imagination that I’m curious about his daily life and behavior.
“Hey, Hoshina, are you listening !?”
“Eh? Oh, what is it?”
“Come on, you’re not listening ! Ichihara kun said he wants to go out and play with everyone.”
After finishing our lunches, a group of boys who had finished eating in the cafeteria came over to our table.
The group of boys gathered around Ichihara kun often hangs out with us as well.
Ichihara kun is athletic, good-looking, and popular with the girls. He has a kind and reliable aura about him, so I can understand why, but I’m only his friend.
Ichihara kun was talking about going out to play with everyone.
By “everyone,” he didn’t mean the whole class. He was referring to the group he usually hangs out with. His group was not included in that.
“When is that?”
“I was thinking about tomorrow after school. Everyone will be free from club activities and can get together.”
“Tomorrow…”
I opened the calendar app on my smartphone. I have about two days a week of free time.
The rest of the time, I’m busy with lessons and household chores.
Lately, I’ve been spending those two days with him.
I also have plans with him tomorrow. To be precise, we haven’t made any definite plans yet, but I intend to go.
So, to be honest, I don’t feel like cutting that out to go.
“Hmm, tomorrow might be difficult…”
“Wait, didn’t you say you didn’t have any household chores that day?”
“Eh? Oh…”
When Kyoka pointed that out, I instantly came up with a reason.
Come to think of it, I had mentioned a day when I had no plans. That was before I started dating him.
“Something comes up.”
“Really? What are we gonna do?”
Hearing that, the boys clearly looked disappointed.
I vaguely knew that quite a few of them had those kinds of feelings toward me, but I wished they wouldn’t show such obvious reactions since there were other girls there.
“Well, Hoshina is busy with things at home, after all.”
“I’m sorry. Don’t cancel it because of me, so please go without me. I’ll come next time…okay?”
“Well, if that’s the case, there’s nothing we can do. I’m sorry, Nanamori, but we’ll go without you.”
“Come with us next time, okay?”
“Definitely, okay?”
“Okay !”
Akane and the others also said the same thing, and I nodded. I felt a little guilty about lying.
So, I turned down everyone’s invitation and came to his house.
“I heard that Roppou and the others are going out to play with Ichihara and the others today, but is that okay with you, Nanamori?”
“Huh? How’d you know?”
“I heard it through the rumor. Actually, I was invited too.”
“I see.”
It seems that Yagami kun was also invited.
Come to think of it, after I declined, Akane suggested that we should invite the girls in the class who we don’t usually hang out with.
Akane is a caring older sister type, and since the start of the second semester, she’s been boasting about becoming friends with kids she didn’t used to interact with.
“Why didn’t you go?”
“Why? Because I had a promise with Yagami kun.”
“A promise…I heard you were coming here after you were invited, right?”
“Yeah. Because I was planning to go anyway. It’s the same, right?”
“The same…? What were you gonna do if I had something to ask you?”
“You didn’t, did you? Since you’re here, Yagami kun must have turned it down too.”
“…That’s true. Well, never mind.”
Yagami kun looks like he’s not quite satisfied with that answer. It’s funny, so I laugh a little.
I know that he’s working part-time because of a conflict with his parents. And I also know that he changed his shift to match my free days.
“Hey…”
I whispered deliberately into his ear.
He reacted sensitively, shivering and looking at me.
After our eyes met, we stared at each other in silence for a while. This was our recent signal.
“Shall we?”
With those short words, our affair began.
I turned down my friends’ invitation and surrendered myself to pleasure in a place they didn’t know about. The sense of transgression was becoming addictive.
Maitoshi