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!~
The Next Day.
The morning after the entrance ceremony, I woke up a little earlier than usual.
The morning sun streaming through the gap in the curtains mercilessly illuminated the mess of my room. Tissues scattered on the floor. A hoodie left lying around. A tower of manga and stacks of cards piled high on my desk. Until yesterday, it had been just my room, but today, for some reason, it looked like a place to escape to.
I didn’t want to go to school.
To be precise, it wasn’t that I disliked school itself. The problem was that Hoshimiya Rino was there.
The school’s top idol. No, to be exact, she was already a famous idol appearing on TV and in advertisements. And for some reason, Hoshimiya treated me like we were childhood friends.
Yesterday, I thought I’d made it clear.
We’re not childhood friends. It’s fine if you talk to me normally. I’m sure I said that.
Yet, among my classmates, the idea that “Takahara Seita and Hoshimiya Rino have a childhood-friend-like relationship” had already taken root in about half of them. Not just half—by the time noon passed, it might have even grown to the point where people were saying, “Apparently, they’ve actually had a special relationship for a long time.”
Rumors grow faster than mold in a damp place.
I let out a deep sigh as I changed into my school uniform.
In a romance comedy manga or anime, this would be a juicy plot twist. The school idol takes a liking only to the unremarkable protagonist. The people around them buzz with speculation, and while he’s confused, they gradually grow closer.
On the other side of the screen, that’s my favorite kind of story.
But when it happens in real life, it’s the first thing that hits me in the gut.
I stuffed my textbooks into my bag, checked to make sure the hoodie she’d given back to me yesterday was inside, and left the room. I don’t even know why I checked. But I just couldn’t bring myself to leave it behind.
I put on my shoes at the entrance and stepped outside.
The spring morning was just a little colder than yesterday. A thin layer of cherry blossom petals had settled on the walls of the residential neighborhood, and I could hear the voices of students on their way to school in the distance. Blending in with them, I checked my phone for the latest release info on School Romantic Comedy Doesn’t Need Youth!!, commonly known as No Youth Needed.
The release date is this Sunday.
I also plan to go to the card shop on Saturday, the day before. I need to round out the cards missing from my current deck. My monthly allowance is 5,000 yen. Balancing the new romance comedy volume with my card collection requires a budget allocation as meticulous as a national budget.
As I was thinking about all that, the school gate came into view.
My feet felt a little heavy.
If I walk through that gate, something troublesome might happen again. No, it’s not just “might happen.” With Hoshimiya there, the probability of something happening is high.
It was just then, as I paused for a moment in front of the school gate.
“Good morning, Seita.”
A voice I didn’t want to hear came from behind me.
I turned around.
Hoshimiya was standing there.
Her long hair, bathed in the morning sun, glowed a pale brown. Her uniform should have been the same as yesterday’s, but when she wore it, it looked like a brand-new advertisement. Every student passing by turned to look at her at least once.
But that wasn’t the first thing that caught my eye.
Her shoulders were rising and falling ever so slightly.
She hadn’t been running. Yet, it was the strained breathing of someone who’d been waiting for someone to finally show up.
“Good morning, Hoshimiya-san.”
I couldn’t quite meet her gaze and shifted my eyes slightly to the side.
Then, Hoshimiya’s cheeks puffed out slightly.
“Hey, look at me properly.”
“I am looking.”
“You’re not. Seita, you’re looking at my shoulders.”
She’d caught me.
Celebrities’ powers of observation are scary.
Reluctantly, I looked at her face, and Hoshimiya narrowed her eyes in satisfaction. Just that alone made the morning scene in front of the school gate feel strangely bright. I felt like the stares from those around us had grown even sharper.
“We’re childhood friends, you know?”
“No, we’re not childhood friends—”
The moment I started to say that, Hoshimiya’s expression froze.
It wasn’t that her smile had vanished.
It was just that the warmth around her eyes suddenly receded deep inside. Her lips parted slightly as if to say something, but then closed again. Only the tips of her fingers gripping her bag’s handle tightened slightly.
It was a subtle change.
But I could tell, watching her up close.
Hoshimiya isn’t used to breaking down in front of others. So she tries not to. Behind her composed facade, her breathing grows just a little shallower.
That made it all the more troublesome.
It would be easier if she just got angry.
It would be easier for me to respond if she just vented her frustration.
Instead, she remains silent, creating a void that looks like she’s been hurt. The stares of those around her fill that void on their own.
Even now, students passing through the school gate were glancing this way. Hoshimiya is being rejected by a boy she doesn’t know. That’s probably how the scene looks to them.
It’s the worst.
“Um, it was just a coincidence that I helped you, Hoshimiya-san. So, that…”
“If it was a coincidence, does that mean it never happened?”
Hoshimiya’s voice was quiet.
“Huh?”
“If it was a coincidence, does that mean the fact that Seita came to my aid, picked up my manga, and didn’t ask my name—does all of that just become nothing?”
I felt the morning air grow a little heavier.
She wasn’t speaking in a tone of accusation. If anything, she was choosing her words carefully. But because of that, every single one of them cut strangely deep.
“To me, none of it was nothing.”
Hoshimiya said that and lowered her gaze to my bag.
As if she knew the hoodie I’d returned yesterday was inside.
“Seita, you’re quick to draw a line, aren’t you? Like, ‘Please don’t come any closer.’ You run away the moment I get near you.”
“Well… that’s normal. Anyone would run away if a celebrity they just met started treating them like a childhood friend.”
“But you didn’t run away, Seita. Not from those people that day.”
I couldn’t think of a reply.
Hoshimiya took a step closer.
She’s close.
I’ve been thinking this since yesterday, but the way this person closes the distance is clearly off. Right in front of the school gate, with students on their way to class all around us, she just casually touches my sleeve.
Her fingertips pinched the sleeve of my uniform.
“I like that about Seita.”
“-…”
The air around us seemed to shudder.
No, my heart shuddered too.
Right in front of the school gate in the morning, the school’s top idol told a plain-looking boy, “I like you.” And she said it while pinching his sleeve. There’s no doubt that rumors are exploding in the minds of the students who witnessed this.
“Hoshimiya-san, saying it like that could be misunderstood—”
“It’s not a misunderstanding.”
Hoshimiya answered immediately.
It was so direct.
So straightforward that I was the one who wanted to look away.
“But since it’d be too much for you right now, Seita, I’m just treating us as childhood friends.”
“You’re ‘doing me a favor’?”
“Yeah. Because if we’re childhood friends, it doesn’t seem weird for me to be by your side, right?”
That logic was flawed.
It was flawed, yet Hoshimiya looked completely serious.
No, it was precisely because she was serious that it was flawed.
In her mind, what happened that day has become something definitive. Just because I saved her once, just because I didn’t ask her name that one time, she’s trying to create a reason to stand by my side.
Even using a nonexistent past as “childhood friends.”
“…Well then, at least within the school, I’ll go along with the childhood friends act.”
I’d lost.
I lost to the stares of those around us, to Hoshimiya’s fingertips, and above all, to the slight tremor lingering around her eyes.
Hoshimiya froze for just a moment.
Then, her expression brightened instantly.
It wasn’t a forced smile. It was a completely vulnerable face, like a child who’d been given an unexpected gift. The light returned to her eyes more clearly than the morning sun.
“Really?”
“Just at school. And please don’t say anything weird to anyone else.”
“Yeah. I’ll be careful.”
“Really?”
“As childhood friends, I’ll make sure to keep a proper distance.”
“We’re not childhood friends, though.”
“Not yet, anyway.”
“‘Not yet’ isn’t right either.”
Hoshimiya laughed happily.
Her fingertips, which had been clutching her sleeve just a moment ago, now naturally rested beside mine. They weren’t touching. But they were close enough that they could touch at any moment.
We passed through the school gates.
The stares from those around us stung.
Hoshimiya seemed used to those stares; she walked with her head held high. But I noticed something. She was walking half a step behind me.
The same position as yesterday, when she hid behind me in the hallway on the way to the gym.
Even though she’s a top idol and should be used to being the center of attention, she sometimes tries to hide behind me.
And yet, the moment I try to walk away, she tugs at my sleeve.
She’s such a pain.
She’s a pain, but I can’t bring myself to ignore her.
“Hey, Seita.”
“What is it?”
“Do you have plans this Sunday?”
I had a bad feeling.
“Yes.”
“An immediate answer.”
“I’m planning to buy the latest volume of ‘I Don’t Need Youth.’”
Hoshimiya’s eyes lit up.
Damn it.
I’d given her the bait.
“I’m buying it too.”
“I figured.”
“Let’s go buy it together?”
“I’m not going.”
Hoshimiya stopped in her tracks.
I stopped a step behind her.
Here we go again.
She remained smiling, but fell silent for a few seconds. Her gaze dropped from me to the ground. In the morning light, her long eyelashes cast a shadow. Even though the corners of her lips were turned up, it looked as if only her smile had been left behind.
“…I see.”
It was a quiet voice.
She was too close for me to pretend I hadn’t heard her.
I pressed my hand to my forehead.
“No, Sunday won’t work. I’m going to the card shop on Saturday, so I’ve got to figure out my budget and stuff.”
“Card shop.”
Hoshimiya looked up.
A different light shone in her eyes, which had just moments ago been so downcast.
“Seita, you play card games?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“I’ll learn too.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to know the things you like.”
She said it straight to my face.
Again, a few people around us looked over.
My head started to ache.
“Hoshimiya-san, that’s a bit much.”
The moment I said it, her fingertips froze.
This is bad.
I thought that, but the words were already out.
Hoshimiya was looking at me.
It was different from before. This time, it took her a little while to compose herself. Something flickered deep in her eyes, and her lips trembled slightly. But no tears fell. She probably would never, ever cry in front of others.
Instead, she smiled.
It was a beautiful, faint smile.
“…I see. It’s a burden.”
“No, the way I put that just now…”
“It’s okay. I’ll make sure it’s not heavy enough for Seita to hate me.”
“That method of adjusting it is already scary.”
“Then I’ll cut it in half.”
“What?”
“The time I spend thinking about Seita.”
It wasn’t a joking tone.
I didn’t know how to respond.
Hoshimiya saw my confusion and tilted her head slightly.
“But even if I cut it in half, I’ll probably still be thinking about Seita most of the time I’m awake.”
“What do you mean, ‘half’?”
“I see him in my dreams while I’m asleep, so that’s a separate category.”
“Scary, scary, scary.”
My true feelings slipped out before I could stop them.
Hoshimiya’s eyes widened for just a moment, then she covered her mouth and laughed.
Finally, the atmosphere lightened a little.
This girl is dangerous.
But she isn’t gloomy all the time. Amidst the heaviness, there’s a mix of strange jokes and charm. Because of that, it’s hard to completely push her away. If there were different kinds of “troublesome,” Hoshimiya Rino would be the most troublesome type.
“Then, I’ll hold back on Saturday.”
“Please hold off on Sunday, too.”
“We might just happen to run into each other at the bookstore on Sunday.”
“You just made that ‘coincidence’ a reservation, didn’t you?”
“We’re childhood friends, so our routines tend to overlap.”
“So please don’t use that trope so conveniently.”
Exchanging banter like that, we headed toward the entrance.
Even while we were changing our shoes, the stares from those around us never let up. Hoshimiya, while straightening her loafers, suddenly glanced at my bag.
“You brought a hoodie for me.”
“Yeah, well… just on a whim.”
“On a whim.”
Hoshimiya repeated those words as if they were precious.
Then, she leaned her face slightly toward my ear.
“Well then, I’ll borrow it if I get scared.”
“Do you ever get scared at school?”
“Yeah.”
Hoshimiya looked down the hallway.
There, students were watching her. Eyes filled with curiosity, admiration, and scrutiny. Taking it all in, she smiled beautifully.
“When Seita looks like he’s about to say he doesn’t need me.”
Something strange tightened deep in my chest.
“I don’t need you.”
I have not said those words.
But inside her, my refusals must surely sound very close to that. “We’re not childhood friends.” “We’re not dating.” “I won’t go with you.” Each of those statements reaches her ears, little by little, sounding more and more like “I don’t need you.”
This is a hassle.
It’s really a hassle.
But if I treat her roughly here, she’ll just put on that faint smile again.
I tightened my grip on my backpack strap.
“I didn’t say I don’t want you.”
Hoshimiya looked at me.
“It’s just that you’re moving too fast.”
“So, is it okay if I go slow?”
“If it were normal, yes.”
“Let’s just be normal childhood friends, slowly.”
“That last part doesn’t make sense.”
Hoshimiya gave a small laugh.
This time, that smile was genuinely warm.
As we entered the classroom, the atmosphere changed, just as I’d expected.
A few classmates glanced our way, then quickly looked away. Yesterday’s rumors had definitely had time to ferment. And since we’d walked in together through the school gate this morning, they’d only grown stronger.
I headed for my seat.
Hoshimiya sat down next to me.
The moment I sat down, the boy in the seat in front of me turned around.
“Good morning, Takahara. Did you come to school with Hoshimiya-san?”
“It was a coincidence.”
As soon as I answered, Hoshimiya’s voice overlapped from beside me.
“We’re childhood friends.”
The classroom erupted into a buzz of commotion in an instant.
I wanted to bury my face in my desk.
“Hoshimiya-san.”
“What?”
“I told you to be careful, didn’t I?”
“You did. That’s why I only said ‘because’ we’re childhood friends.”
“That’s exactly the problem.”
The boy in the seat in front of us was grinning as he looked over at us.
The girls around us were clearly eavesdropping too.
Hoshimiya looked completely unfazed. But under the desk, she was pinching the sleeve of my uniform.
In a place where no one could see, she was blocking my only escape route.
I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye.
Hoshimiya gave a small smile.
That smile was cute.
Cute, but it carried a certain pressure.
“Seita.”
“What is it?”
“You’ll go out with me while we’re at school, right?”
I get that she means “as my childhood friend.”
But if you just hear the words, it’s a complete misunderstanding.
Sure enough, the atmosphere around us exploded.
“Go out…?”
“Wait, seriously?”
“Takahara, what happened yesterday?”
I looked at Hoshimiya.
Hoshimiya was looking at me.
Deep within her eyes, anxiety, anticipation, and a fragility that seemed like it would shatter if I ran away were all mixed together. But at the same time, there was also a sly gleam, as if she understood that I couldn’t run away.
This person is really a pain in the neck.
Weak, heavy, sly, and cute.
I exhaled deeply.
“…To the ‘childhood friends’ setup.”
I added that clearly, loud enough for everyone around us to hear.
Hoshimiya’s fingertips gripped my sleeve a little tighter.
“Yeah.”
She nodded contentedly.
Then, in a voice only I could hear, she added softly.
“For now, I’ll settle for that.”
At those words, a chill ran down my spine.
For now.
As I suspected, this top idol hasn’t given up.
She intends to turn the non-existent past of us being childhood friends into a reality from now on.
My second day of high school.
My goal of spending the day quietly had already slipped far out of reach before morning homeroom even began.
Maigetsu