I Was Supposed to Be Giving Love Advice on the School Radio, but Before I Knew It, the Beautiful Girls at School Were Hitting on Me
It was the end of August, and the summer vacation that had felt like it would never end was suddenly over after about 40 cycles of sleeping and waking up.
Even though the blazing sun and temperatures exceeding 30°C remained largely unchanged, there was a strong sense of demarcation, and people were forcibly brought back to reality from their vacation. This was also the case here at Akihito High School.
On the first day of the second semester, after the opening ceremony in the gymnasium, we returned to the classroom. There were those yawning widely, those whose skin seemed slightly tanned, and those with sunburned faces, their eyes the only white spots like pandas…
As I sat down at my desk, watching each student’s summer memories etched into their faces, my neighbor spoke up.
“Good morning, Kitahara.”
“Good morning, Kageyama kun.”
My neighbor, the elegant, long-haired black-haired beauty—Kitahara Yuzuha—seemed as engrossed in her book as ever.
While others were enjoying the company of friends they hadn’t seen in a month, those of us with limited social circles had no one to talk to. A calm space of about one meter radius had formed around us.
I felt bad for disturbing her, so I just stared blankly at her profile. Unlike the other classmates, it was hard to tell the difference between her profile before and after summer break.
However, Kitahara, who I thought was focused on her book, smiled mischievously while still looking at her book.
“What’s wrong, Kageyama kun? Why are you staring at my face? If you want to look, just say so.”
“No, I was just thinking that Kitahara doesn’t look like she got sunburned at all.”
“What do you mean? You make it sound like I didn’t enjoy my summer vacation.”
“Is that not the case?”
When I said it in a deliberately provocative tone, Kitahara narrowed her eyes in annoyance.
“Well, I did apply sunscreen properly, so maybe it was just effective. I went to the beach and my friends’ houses all the time in August, but Japanese summer wasn’t that bad after all.”
The girl with skin as white as silk spoke rapidly. I see, sunscreen…
“…By the way, Kitahara, how many books did you read last month?”
When I asked, she seemed to hesitate for a moment.
“…Not even three digits.”
“That’s enough, isn’t it?”
“Shut up.”
Kitahara pouts. Kitahara, who doesn’t have many friends, is in her usual mood, which makes me feel relieved. Well, she was reading books even at the beach…
“But it’s not a lie that I went to the beach and my friend’s house.””
“Yeah, yeah, I went with you, so I know.”
“T-that’s right ! You were with me the whole time…”
Hey, why are you backing down now? When I looked, her face peeking out from between the pages of the book was slightly red. Stop it, you’re making me feel embarrassed too.
We both felt a little embarrassed to mention this, so we looked away.
“T-then I’mma listen to a podcast ! I’m busy with work, so I’m catching up on my podcasts…”
“I-I’ll concentrate on my book too ! It’s just getting interesting !”
We decided not to mention it anymore. Yeah, it’s summer vacation magic !
As I tried to convince myself, I put on my headphones, and Kitahara tried to open the closed book again, when a high-pitched voice came from somewhere in the classroom.
“Eh !? Hinata went on a date with her boyfriend at home !?”
Thud
Just as I was trying to let it go, that critical phrase came through. The sound of someone hitting their head echoed loudly from the side…
“Kitahara? That was a loud noise just now…”
“No, it’s just that there was a shocking scene in this novel. Don’t worry about it.”
“Oh, okay…”
The shock from earlier was gone, and Kitahara remained composed, clearing her throat lightly.
“This Kitahara Yuzuha doesn’t get shaken by just anything…”
“Eh !? And you went to the beach together !? So lovey-dovey !”
Thud !
Another loud thud. Stop it, Kitahara’s life is already at zero !
Looking sideways cautiously, Kitahara was bright red and trembling… This room, filled with summer vacation magic, is too much of a minefield for Kitahara!
“K-Kitahara? Are you okay? Should we go to the infirmary for a bit?”
“What are you talking about? I’m not thinking about how embarrassed I am because I recognize the situation my classmate described, or how I just went with the flow and did all sorts of things with Kageyama kun, but now that I’m calm, I realize how risky it was…”
She was talking so fast. No, it was so fast that the content flew right over my head, and I lost the chance to interrupt.
“Well, thanks to you, I had a fun summer too, Kitahara.”
Last year, besides the training camp, I didn’t have any good memories, so it’s true that this was a good summer memory. Before I lost the chance, I told Kitahara my sincere thanks.
“So please continue to be good friends with Tomori.”
“Of course. We’re chatting on LINE today.”
“Wait, you guys are on LINE?”
“Yeah, she messaged me today.”
That was completely new to me. Well, I guess there’s no need to tell me… Kitahara put down the book and started fiddling with her phone…
“Look, here.”
The screen displayed her LINE messages with Tomori. The screen was filled with white speech bubbles, clearly showing that they frequently exchanged messages.
“Tomori chan always replies immediately when I send her a message, so I end up chatting with her a lot.”
“…..That guy just ignores my messages without reading them.”
“….”
“Do high school girls who can’t check their LINE messages during lunch break even exist?”
Hearing my calm tone, Kitahara frantically searched for words.
“M-maybe? Timing is important with LINE, right? Tomori’s in the student council, so maybe she was just busy at the time?”
…I had been overlooking it to some extent, but it seems necessary to reevaluate our sibling relationship. As I looked at Kitahara’s screen and resolved myself, there was movement on the screen.
“Oh, speak of the devil, Tomori chan sent a message.”
“Kitahara, please sent a message saying, ]Tell me what you want for dinner tonight.]”
“Don’t drag me into your sibling fight…um, what was it?”
Kitahara peered at the screen, and I caught a glimpse of the message out of the corner of my eye.
Tomori: I was looking forward to meeting you, Kitahara san, so please go all out ! I’m just letting you know in case you don’t do anything if I leave you alone !
Immediately after that, a message saying “Let’s GO ! ! ! !” was sent along with a stamp of a stylized wolf holding a fork and knife.
“……”“
An awkward silence fell over us. Kitahara seemed to freeze for a moment, but then quickly realized the situation, turned bright red, and quickly moved his phone and body away.
“…Did you see it?”
“…No, I didn’t.”
“Oh, okay.”
Even though we knew it was pointless, we decided that digging deeper wouldn’t benefit either of us, so we exchanged a few short words and turned back to the blackboard. Kitahara hurriedly opened her book, but it was clear she wasn’t concentrating.
I sighed softly and opened the messaging app on my smartphone.
Kageyama Shogo: Let’s have a family meeting tonight.
My overprotective younger sister needs to be disciplined. As I struggled with the vice president of Nishinaka Middle School, who was in the midst of puberty, I sighed again.
Maitoshi