The School’s Top Idol Is Acting Like She’s My Childhood Friend for Some Reason and Just Keeps Closing the Distance on Her Own…?! ~Stop Getting All Gloomy on Me Just Because I Turned You Down!~
Lately, something’s been off with me.
Ever since that day I went to Hoshimiya’s house—no, to be precise, ever since that moment when she took my hand and pulled me onto the bed, and I ended up kind of pinning her down.
I just can’t seem to get Hoshimiya out of my head.
During class, I catch myself glancing to my right.
At lunchtime, my steps quicken just a little as I head toward the back of the storage room.
When my phone vibrates, I catch myself hoping for a moment that it might be a message from Hoshimiya, rather than an official account.
I don’t want to admit it.
I don’t want to admit it, but it was true.
Hoshimiya had barged right into my heart. At first, I was angry, telling her not to intrude, but before I knew it, I couldn’t erase her footprints. The quiet space inside me is slowly being filled with Hoshimiya.
And to make matters worse, I can’t bring myself to hate it completely.
“…This sucks.”
As I slipped my arms into my uniform, I muttered under my breath.
The reflection in the mirror showed me looking as scruffy as ever. I thought I’d fixed my bedhead, but traces of it still lingered, and my tie looked somehow flimsy. And yet, here I am, thinking about Hoshimiya Rino.
No, it’s only natural that Hoshimiya is cute.
With a face that flawless, closing the distance like that, and directing such intense feelings my way—it would be impossible not to notice her.
The problem was that I was starting to find it pleasant.
Lately, things around me have been unusually chaotic.
Hoshimiya alone is more than enough to cause a commotion, but now Hara and Shinozaki have gotten involved too. My goal from the start of the school year—to spend my time quietly in the classroom—has completely fallen apart.
Keep the peace, stay under the radar, attend class normally, and go home.
That kind of high school life is probably impossible now.
I grabbed my bag and headed down the stairs.
As I put on my shoes at the entrance, I recalled Hoshimiya’s face from yesterday.
You don’t have to run away.
Not when you’re by my side.
Those words still echo in my ears.
I’m scared.
But this fear was a little different from before.
It wasn’t the fear of being rejected, but the fear of getting too close.
It was the fear that if I thought about Hoshimiya any more than this, I didn’t know what would happen to me.
“I’m off.”
I called out to my mother and opened the front door.
It was at that very moment.
“Ah…”
“Eh…”
Hoshimiya was standing right in front of me.
She was in her school uniform, standing in the morning sunlight.
Her long hair softly caught the light, casting a faint shadow on her pale cheeks. She held her bag in both hands and looked at me, seeming a little nervous. It was as if she’d been waiting for me to come out the whole time.
No, wait.
That’s strange.
I don’t remember ever telling Hoshimiya where I live.
I’ve hardly ever even talked about my neighborhood, let alone given her my address. So why is she standing in front of my house?
My brain couldn’t process the situation, and I froze at the front door.
“Good morning, Seita!”
Hoshimiya smiled brightly.
Her smile, illuminated by the morning sun, was almost blinding.
A nightmare.
No, wait—since a beautiful girl is waiting in front of my house, maybe it’s a good dream.
But if it’s Hoshimiya Rino, it’s definitely leaning more toward a nightmare.
“…Hoshimiya-san.”
“What?”
“Why are you here?”
Hoshimiya looked away for a moment.
That gesture alone gave me a bad feeling.
“If I think about the direction Seita turned on his way home yesterday, how long he was walking, and the general location of the residential area…”
“Please don’t try to figure it out.”
“No, it’s not that. It’s just a coincidence.”
“You just confessed, didn’t you?”
Hoshimiya was smiling brightly.
But her eyes weren’t smiling.
No, to be precise, they were smiling. They were eyes that looked genuinely happy, truly delighted that she had found me.
That made it even scarier.
“Seita, let’s go to school together!”
She said that and took a step closer.
Her school uniform skirt fluttered in the morning breeze.
My heart skipped a beat—uncomfortably so.
She’s cute.
I found myself thinking that.
What am I thinking?
It’s only natural that Hoshimiya is cute. It’s nothing to be surprised about now. Rino Hoshimiya is cute to anyone who sees her. So even if I think so, it’s just within the bounds of common opinion.
Yet, this time was different.
Seeing Hoshimiya right in front of me, smiling and looking only at me, made my heart feel unsettled.
It’s a little different from how it was until yesterday.
It’s not just because Hoshimiya is close to me that I’m flustered.
Even though I was at a loss when she asked me to go to school with her, somewhere deep down, I was happy.
I felt a little despair at that realization.
“…Alright.”
When I answered that, Hoshimiya’s face lit up instantly.
“Really?”
“Now that we’ve come this far, there’s no point in turning you down, is there?”
“Yeah. I knew you’d say that, Seita.”
“Then don’t ask me.”
“I wanted to hear it. From you, Seita.”
Hoshimiya walked up beside me.
As if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Just as if we’d been walking to school together like this every morning since we were kids.
The mornings of a childhood friend who never existed.
And yet, it was becoming a reality all on its own.
I locked the front door and started walking beside Hoshimiya.
The residential neighborhood was quiet in the morning.
The sound of birds.
The sound of cars driving in the distance.
The presence of students on their way to school.
Amidst all of that, Hoshimiya’s footsteps mingled.
“Seita.”
“What is it?”
“Starting today, we’ll be together in the mornings too, right?”
“I can’t do it every day.”
“Then I’ll come on the days I can.”
“What about the option of not coming?”
“There isn’t one.”
It was an immediate answer.
I let out a sigh.
But that sigh wasn’t as heavy as the ones I’d been letting out until yesterday.
Hoshimiya was smiling happily beside me.
Seeing that face, my heart began to race again.
Another part of my daily life had been taken over by Hoshimiya.
But this morning, perhaps I had been waiting for that takeover, just a little bit.
Realizing that, I found myself unable to say a word..
Maigetsu