My Childhood Friend, a Cool, Beautiful Girl With a Pure Face, Is a Monopolising Yandere
Summer vacation was just around the corner. I was sitting on the sofa in the living room of my house.
“I should do my homework soon.”
I said to myself, but ended up looking at the phone in my hand.
I couldn’t get up off my back.
I had made some progress on my Japanese and math homework, but I hadn’t gotten around to my geology report.
I honestly didn’t even know how to start it, even though it was due right after the summer break.
Well, there’s still time, so I guess I’ll figure it out!
Pirorin♪
My phone rings.
I look at the screen and see a message from Ran: “Are you home?”
I had heard that she was going on a trip with her family a while ago, but had she come back?
I answered, “I’m here,” and instead of a reply, the house chime rang.
When I opened the front door, I found Ran standing there with her usual cool expression on her face. In her hand is a small paper bag.
“Here it is, a souvenir from our family trip. It’s a manjuu.”
“Thank you! You didn’t have to be so thoughtful.”
“I’m sure this kind of greeting is very important for efficiency”.
Ran handed a paper bag to me saying so.
Inside the bag was a manjuu in a Japanese patterned box. I wondered where it came from.
I thanked her frankly.
“Did you have a good time on your trip?”
“Well, in its own way. How about you? Have you finished your summer vacation homework yet?”
Ran naturally hit me right to the heart of the matter.
I quickly looked away. Still as smart as ever….
“No, umm….I’ve been making progress on the …… language and math, but I haven’t gotten around to the geology report.”
“You see, I knew it. Inefficient.”
“Ugh,…….”
Ran looks stunned, glances down at her smartphone, and sighs.
“There is no point in wasting time fretting about it later. Okay, I’ll help you. You know that geology report that required field observations or experiments, right? I finished mine with an experiment, but it’s a lot of work to prepare the equipment, so let’s go outside and do some observations and write up the report.”
I was puzzled for a moment when I heard the phrase “outside observation.”
I remember my junior high school geology teacher telling us that there were unexpectedly many places close by where we could see geological formations.
“But I wonder if there is such a perfect place. ……”
“I will check it out for you, so meet me at the station early tomorrow morning. Okay?”
Her usual forceful tone of voice. But frankly speaking, it would be super-helpful. I decided to bow my head and say, “Please, ……!”
The next morning. I met up with Ran in front of the station at a relatively cool time of the day, before the sun had yet to really come out.
Ran was wearing a different kind of sporty outfit and had her hair pulled back.
She is usually a cool beauty, but it is strange because she also looks good in this kind of active attire. She is not a tall person, but she can give off a crisp air, which is something that only Ran can do.
“Yuto, did you come properly dressed for easy movement?”
“I did, …….”
Even so, I’m wearing a T-shirt that I don’t mind getting dirty and my sneakers as usual.
“Let’s go. I heard that there is a small cliff on the outskirts of a residential area a few stops down from here on the train.”
With that, we went through the ticket gate. Usually, I take trains headed for Tokyo, but today’s train was in the opposite direction. This alone made me feel like I was on a trip.
The station where we got off the train had a slightly rustic atmosphere.
The summer sun is gradually intensifying, but it is still bearable in the morning.
Passing through a small-scale street that could be called a shopping street, we proceeded deeper into the residential area, and sure enough, the greenery thickened and a path leading to a small riverbed came into view.
It was a wild river with a not-so-maintained feel.
“There seems to be a cliff a little further down from here. I read on a local blog that you can clearly see the path.”
Ran explained nonchalantly while looking at her phone.
I responded, “Wow. …….”
We soon arrived at a spot that, to be honest, was too high to be a cliff (not even 5 meters high), and the rock surface was only partially visible.
The surrounding area was overgrown with grass and cicadas were chirping.
“….Is this place interesting?”
To tell the truth, I tilted my head at the overly plain scenery. But Ran took out her checklist and immediately went into action.
“Sometimes there are layers of sandstone or conglomerate rock overlapping in places like this. Look at the different shades of color in some areas. The grains are different sizes.”
“I thought you liked fish and rays. Don’t you know much about geology?”
When I asked her, she gave a small snort.
“Sea creatures are closely related to geological strata. If you know that there are fossils of shells buried in the sea, or that the sand and mud deposits are traces of the old sea,……, you will usually become interested in them.”
“I see… connection.”
I too became a little curious and looked at the pebbles underfoot and the cross-section of the cliff.
I was not interested in the technical details, but I was sure that the color and texture of the rocks had changed slightly.
I leave a few random notes and a lousy sketch in my notepad.
……Yes.
If I can somehow put this together, my report will take shape.
The sun is getting stronger and sweat is beading up on my back.
Wiping the sweat lightly with a towel, I walk closer to the cliff.
The soil is crumbling, and there are places where pebbles are strewn about.
The footing is worse than I thought. ……
“Whoa!”
When I almost lost my balance, Ran quickly pulled my arm to support me.
“What are you doing? Hold on tight.”
“I’m sorry. ……”
Normally, she’s so cool, in times like this, I know I can count on her
By the time I finished taking all the photos and checking them against the checklist, the sun had risen completely.
Anyway, it was hot. It might have been more comfortable in spring or fall, but observing geological formations in summer is physically draining.
“Wow, I’m sweating so hard”
I frowned, and Ran handed me a plastic bottle of water.
“Here, drink it. It would be inefficient if you get heat stroke.”
“Thanks …….”
I took a deep breath, and Ran seemed to be a little out of breath as well, and I could see the sweat glistening on her neck.
I’m grateful that she went along with me in such hot weather.
I’ve put you through a lot of trouble. I should do something to repay
And so our geological formation observation fieldwork came to an end.
We were sweaty and the footing was bad, but it was quite fulfilling.
On the way to the station, we found a convenience store on the side of the road and decided to take a break. Convenience stores in the suburbs are interesting because of their large parking lots.
The moment the automatic door at the entrance opens and the air conditioning breeze pours in, I involuntarily mutter, “I’m coming back to life …….”
Ran also huffed a small breath and fixed the towel on her neck.
“That was harder than I thought it would be.”
“It’s because you move so inefficiently.”
“I’m sorry. ……”
“That’s all right. It went as planned.”
Despite her usual critical tone, Ran seemed satisfied with the meal.
Or rather, I’m thirsty. I brought a plastic bottle, but it’s empty, so let’s get something to drink.
“Hey Ran, do you want some ice cream or something? On me.”
Ran looked a little puzzled.
“I can at least buy my own ice cream.”
“No problem! You helped me out and I want to thank you.”
“….I see? okay.
I’ll take this one then.”
Ran pointed to the most expensive ice cream in the box.
Eh, you’re not so reserved. …… No, that’s fine.
After paying the bill quickly, the two of us sat down in the eat-in space.
“Here you go.”
“Thank you.”
Ran quickly scooped the ice cream with a spoon. I opened the bag and popped the ice cream stick into my mouth, the cold sweetness soaking into my body.
“Wow, it’s cold…… and delicious.”
“It sure isn’t bad.”
The ice cream is slowly melting, and Ran smiles as she elegantly scrapes the surface of the vanilla ice cream.
She’s usually a logical person, but in this moment, she looks like a normal high school student, and it somehow warms my heart.
“How should I summarize the report? When I get back home, I’ll take the photos into my computer for now and add explanations of fault lines and such to the report……”
“I’ll share my photo data with you later. Make sure you do it right.”
“I know.”
“Any other assignments?”
“As long as I finish my geology report, I’ll be fine with the rest. It’s not like it has to be submitted on the day of the opening ceremony. I want to have some more fun before the ……2nd semester starts. Now that I’m a high school student, I’d like to travel far away.”
At the sudden suggestion, Ran took a lick of her ice cream and thought about it for a while.
“Even if it’s far away, there is a budget limit. Of course it’s impossible to go overseas, and the Shinkansen fare isn’t cheap either.”
“I know, but…. Tajima-san posted a picture on social media of a trip he took to a secluded place deep in the mountains. That was really emo. Lively tourist spots are nice, but that kind of local atmosphere is good, too.”
“….. Tajima-san?”
“We are in the same class. The girl from the tea ceremony club.”
“I can understand that. How do you know about SNS?”
“Well, you know, after we entered school in the spring, there was a period when we exchanged social networking sites with each other.”
I don’t know if we will be friends or not, but I’ll exchange with her just in case …….
I am not friends with Tajima-san, but I like her posts as they come in.
“Here it is. This is Tajima-san’s. She’s good at taking pictures, isn’t she?”
I took out my phone and showed it to Ran.
“Hmmm.”
Ran looked at her profile screen with a cold gaze and hit a button in the upper right corner and blocked Tajima-san’s account.
“Eeeeeeeh!!! What are you doing, Ran!”
Eh, seriously, why did you block it!
That’s my phone!
I was astonished, but Ran was calm and collected,
“Calm down, Yuto. This is Tajima-san’s fake account.”
Eh?
“Is that so?”
“Yes. I’m sure of it.”
“She posted a photo of herself….. it looks like she’s the real Tajima-san.”
“I think she reposted it from another social networking site. It’s really scary.”
Ran said casually.
I-Is that so……
I was surprised that Tajima’s account was impersonated by someone else.
I’m sure I exchanged it with the person in question in person, but I wonder when it was replaced.
The information society is scary. ……
“Oh, by the way, I was going to upload a picture of the fireworks display the other day–”
Ban! ! ! ! Ran stuffed my face with incredible force.
“Don’t tell me …… you sent it to Tajima-san ……?”
Her voice sounded like it was echoing from the depths of hell.
As she leans forward on the table, her pitch-black eyes without highlights look at me from a close distance.
The face is very close.
I’m not saying it’s close, but it’s scary. It’s really scary.
What is this intimidating feeling?
“No, no, no, I tried to upload it to a normal story, but it was so blurry that I couldn’t understand what was going on, so I decided not to do it.”
“ ……I see, I’m glad to hear that.”
When I said this with fear, Ran returned to her normal posture as if she was relieved.
“The photos contain a lot more information than you think. For example, if you accidentally show the scenery near your house or the location of your school in the background, your personal information could be identified. If you upload a photo of a fireworks display, it would be enough to reveal which area you live in. You shouldn’t be doing that to protect your privacy.”
She explained very quickly.
But if Ran said so much, it must be so.
“I understood.
I’ll be careful.”
“If you agree with me, that’s good. About what you said earlier, it would certainly be a good idea to go somewhere and have some fun. Shall we review the list we made earlier?”
It was not a particularly concrete suggestion, but Ran seemed to take it surprisingly positively.
Come to think of it, I feel like it’s a given that when I “go out for fun,” I’m going to be working with Ran. It seems that I’ve been hit by Ran’s forcefulness, and I’m getting tainted over here, too.
……Well, that’s okay! I’m sure there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s fun.
Summer is still ahead of us.
It’s a waste of time to be doing nothing but assignments.