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!~
Ever since that phone call at night, my life has gotten even stranger.
I wake up in the morning.
I check my phone.
I see a message from Hoshimiya saying, “Good morning, Seita.”
I head to school.
For some reason, Hoshimiya is waiting for me at the school gate.
Lunchtime.
I eat my lunch at my place—which also serves as Hoshimiya’s vacation home.
After school.
On days when Hoshimiya goes to work, I get a message.
On days she doesn’t work, for some reason, we end up walking home together.
Insisting this isn’t a romantic comedy might start to violate the law by now.
But I still won’t admit it.
Because I have a youth complex, and I’m a guy who harbors a one-sided grudge against the very concept of youth.
For example, on the way to school in the morning, Hoshimiya might say something like, “I changed my hair a little today—can you tell?”
Any normal guy would probably savor that bittersweet moment.
But in my case, the iconic scene from I Don’t Need Youth!! plays on repeat in my head.
That divine episode in Volume 7 where the protagonist notices the heroine has trimmed her bangs a little.
At that moment, I crushed my pillow while screaming through the screen, “Don’t notice it! No, notice it! But if you do, my reality will die!”
And now, in real life, Hoshimiya is doing something similar.
My “youth complex” was on the verge of death from overwork.
“Seita, are you listening?”
“I’m listening.”
“So, what do you think has changed?”
“…Are your bangs curled a little?”
When I said this timidly, Hoshimiya’s face lit up instantly.
“Correct.”
With that smile, the Youth Complex Committee inside me called an emergency meeting.
Agenda: Is Kiyota Takahara currently experiencing his youth?
Opposing view: This is a unilateral invasion by Rino Hoshimiya; it is not youth.
Supporting view: The moment I guessed the change in her hairstyle this morning and the heroine was happy, it was pretty much a done deal.
Vote: Death penalty.
In my mind, I buried my face in my desk.
Unaware of my state, Hoshimiya walked cheerfully beside me.
“Seita, you’re really paying attention, aren’t you?”
“You’d get mad if I wasn’t, wouldn’t you?”
“I wouldn’t get mad.”
“You’d get upset, right?”
“I might get upset.”
“See?”
Hoshimiya puffed out her cheeks just a little.
Cute.
This is bad.
Lately, the speed at which I find her cute has been increasing.
In the past, I could process Hoshimiya’s words and actions using the three-step process of “scary,” “heavy,” and “annoying.” But now, “cute” keeps slipping in between.
Scary.
Cute.
Heavy.
Cute.
Annoying.
Cute.
My brain was completely glitching.
When I walked into the classroom, Hara and Shinozaki were grinning at me as usual.
“Good morning. Walking to school together again today?”
“Takahara-kun, you’re not even trying to hide it anymore, are you?”
“It’s not like I’m hiding anything—it’s just a coincidence.”
“A coincidence every morning?”
“It’s a statistical anomaly.”
When I replied like that, Shinozaki laughed with sleepy eyes.
“That’s a weak excuse.”
Hara looked at Hoshimiya’s hair and reacted immediately.
“Oh, Rino, did you curl your hair a bit today?”
“Yeah. Seita noticed too.”
Hoshimiya said happily.
The atmosphere in the classroom took another weird, sweet turn.
I immediately looked out the window.
I won’t look.
I wouldn’t look at anything.
If I stayed in a space with such a high concentration of youth for too long, the wounds from my middle school days would start to rage, demanding, “Give me a turn, too.”
The words the girl I liked said to me that day.
[Could you please stop coming near me?]
That memory still resurfaces in the most unexpected moments.
Getting close to someone comes with the possibility of rejection.
The closer you get, the deeper the pain when you’re pushed away.
So I learned to keep my distance.
I laugh along with them, don’t overstep my bounds, hide my true feelings, and stay in a position where I won’t be disliked. I thought that if I did that, I could avoid a fatal blow.
But Hoshimiya is different.
When I pull back, she steps forward.
When I fall silent, she peers in.
When I try to run away, she grabs my sleeve.
And little by little, I’m starting to stop running away.
That was what scared me the most.
Lunchtime.
I grabbed my lunch box and headed to the back of the storage room.
Hoshimiya arrived a little late today. In her hands were a lunch bag and a small acrylic keychain that looked like the latest merchandise from “I Don’t Need Youth!!”
“Seita, look. I bought these on my way home from work yesterday.”
“Aren’t those for your favorite character?”
“Yeah. I got one for you, too, Seita.”
“Why did you get one for me?”
“I could just picture you hesitating to buy one, then giving up because of your budget.”
“Please don’t go around knowing my financial situation.”
Hoshimiya held out the keychain with a smug look.
I hesitated to take it.
I accepted the gift.
It felt like another step forward in my relationship with Hoshimiya.
The old me would have definitely turned it down.
I didn’t want to be a burden.
I didn’t want to owe her anything.
I was afraid of getting too close.
That’s how I used to push people’s kindness away.
But I’ve gradually come to realize that doing so doesn’t convey anything to the other person.
I exhaled and took the keychain.
“Thank you.”
Hoshimiya’s eyes widened.
“You’re going to take it?”
“Well, she’s my oshi, after all.”
“Oshi?”
“…And because you bought it for me, Hoshimiya-san.”
The moment I said it, Hoshimiya’s expression changed.
Joy spread across her face.
But right after that, her eyes welled up just a little.
“Seita, it’s mean of you to say things like that.”
“You call me mean a lot, don’t you?”
“Because it makes me realize I’m inside you.”
Hoshimiya sat down next to me and opened her lunchbox.
We were close.
But today, even when she moved a little, I didn’t move away.
Hoshimiya must have noticed, because her hand holding the chopsticks paused for a moment.
Glancing sideways, I saw she was covering her mouth.
“What’s wrong?”
“Seita didn’t run away.”
“Please don’t say it like I’m always running away.”
“You are running away.”
“It’s frustrating that I can’t deny it.”
Hoshimiya gave a small laugh.
Her smile was gentle, and I felt a little relieved.
After that, the two of us talked about our favorite episodes of I Don’t Need Youth!!.
Is the episode in Volume 7 where the character’s hairstyle changes just god-tier?
In the after-party episode of the cultural festival in Volume 9, isn’t the protagonist just scared, rather than clueless?
Is the unwitting rescue in the side story a sin?
As usual, Hoshimiya came up with a heavy interpretation.
“You know, I think it’s the protagonist’s fault when the heroine gets clingy.”
“Are we back to the blame game again?”
“Well, if you saved her, you’d want her to stick around until the end, right?”
“The one who saved her has their own circumstances too.”
“But the one who was saved can’t forget it.”
Hoshimiya said that and looked at me.
I stopped eating.
I already know what that look means.
To Hoshimiya, I must be the kind of protagonist who saves people without even realizing it.
I’m not that kind of person.
I just did what I could in the moment.
But in Hoshimiya’s mind, that has left a lasting impression.
“…I didn’t do anything as grand as saving you.”
“But to me, that’s exactly what you did.”
Hoshimiya’s voice was quiet.
“So even if Seita doesn’t feel responsible, I’ll remember it on my own. I’ll cherish it on my own. I’ll fall for you on my own.”
[I like you]
Those words fell behind the warehouse that afternoon.
I should have heard them several times by now, but I still can’t get used to them.
I almost looked away.
But I didn’t.
In the past, I would have run away.
Before she could tell me not to get close, I would have put distance between us myself.
But now, I didn’t do that.
“…That’s a bit too self-centered of me, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
“But I don’t mind.”
Hoshimiya’s chopsticks stopped.
Her eyes slowly widened.
“Seita.”
“Yes.”
“I might not be able to focus on work this afternoon.”
“Why is that?”
“I’m just too happy.”
“Do your best.”
Hoshimiya smiled, her face looking as if she might cry.
Seeing that face, I thought.
I guess I haven’t just been running away from the past—I’ve learned a little something.
Keeping my feelings at a distance might be safer.
But if I keep pushing them away, nothing will ever reach anyone.
So, for now, I’ll accept just a little.
I’ll give back just a little.
That much, even I can manage right now.
The pre-class bell rang.
Hoshimiya stood up, looking reluctant to leave.
“Seita, think about me this afternoon, too.”
“I can’t do that during class.”
“Then during break.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“I don’t want you to just ‘do your best’.”
Hoshimiya tugged on my sleeve.
“Think about me.”
Her voice was so earnest.
I was defeated.
“…Just a little.”
Hoshimiya smiled contentedly.
Seeing that smile, my heart skipped a beat again.
My teenage insecurities were still running wild inside me.
But even so.
I could no longer completely resist this strange adolescence I was spending with Rino Hoshimiya.
Maigetsu