Hentai Ouji to Warawanai Neko. Volume 4 Chapter 2

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NOTE: This chapter has a constant mix of first person, third person, and multiple person view, so we condensed it down to first person for smoother reading. Just keep that in mind.

Okinawa Happy End

A long time passed, and then I remembered. It was back during the August of my second year in high school. I’m sure that must have been one of the triggers that caused me to change.

*

Summer. Noon. There was Okinawa. A few minutes after we stepped out of the city monorail train station. Just in this brief period of time, the scorching hot wind greeted us, leaving us groggy. This town was hotter than a steaming cafe latte. Clouds were floating in the sky like white parfait, and the shining sun sat in one corner like a round lemon.

“I feel like I’ve just seen the illusion of a cafe…” I, Morii, muttered with a vacant gaze.

Walking along International Street, a street we had barely just discovered, we saw a lot of street stalls and people passing us by, emphasizing the liveliness of the area. But no matter how much you thought about it, it was way too hot out. We were searching for an oasis to seek rest, our gazes wandering around all over the place.

“This is, like, the ideal weather to get hit on, and we should already be taking a break…” Moriya next to me also had a vacant gaze.

The second the sweat fell down from her chin to the asphalt, you could almost hear it sizzling away into nothingness. Today, just as usual, Moriya and I were wearing matching pairs of stylish clothes. A bold, open-shoulders look over one shoulder along with hot shorts short enough to barely be legal. A tail with leopard design hanging down from our belts was their current trend.

Whenever we walked around in this skin-colored heavenly style, it would take up to a maximum of three minutes before we would be talked to. Whether it be the Center Gai¹, Doutonbori², the Odori Park³, or the Crystal Plaza⁴, those were the rules of the game. We were highschool girls who could threaten flowers when it came to beauty, or as Moriya and I put it ‘We’re super ☆ cute!’ We always did just fine even if it was an unfamiliar city we found ourselves in—Until now. Here, in Okinawa, things were different. As for the reason why, we had one more member with us, which completely changed the rules. Next to Moriya and I was…

“…He’ll come, he won’t, he’ll come, he’ll probably come, Yokodera will eventually come…”

…a walking cluster of flowers. If you took one glance, it became apparent what it was. There walked a single girl, carrying enough flowers to cover her entire body, wholeheartedly plucking away at the flower petals.

“He’ll come eventually, approximately soon, he’ll come, he shall come, he should have come… Maybe… he won’t come… Uuu, why? How…?” She started over with the hibiscus she had just bought.

She continued to pluck away a petal, another petal, another petal.

“There’s always one petal missing! Why can’t it stop at ‘He’ll come’ for once! Moron! Prideless moron! Shell-less snail!” She vented out her anger on the flower fortune telling.

Naturally, no man would dare attempt to hit on girls like this. Every time the clump of flowers moved, everyone nearby would take a step back. Everywhere the girl had walked turned into an empty prairie. Waving in the wind on the path ahead were the flower petals she discarded. It was a surrealistic scene. Even Moriya and I felt like watching her from afar instead of right next to her. If only we didn’t know her.

“M-Ms. Earnest… Why not leave it at that?”

“I know. The flowers aren’t at fault, right?”

“Eh?”

“In a biological sense, flower fortune-telling is nonsensical. There should be something else that’s better, like woolly bear fortune-telling.”

“I’ve never heard of fortune-telling like that…”

“You pluck away the dishevelled parts, and tell the future with the times the woolly bears shake their bodies. He’ll come, he won’t, he’ll come… Fufu. With this I’ll be able to predict it for sure…”

She’s not listening. She’s got no plans on listening. She doesn’t wanna listen. The wavy-haired Ms. Earnest—full name Azuki Azusa—had been acting like this ever since we left Haneda Airport. With her flower-patterned one-piece dress, straw hat, and sandals, she looked like a noble lady through and through. And now, said neat and tidy young lady was tearing the flowers she had bought moments ago, examining the fortune-telling objects with killing-intent-filled eyes.

Here’s a highschool girl who threatened a flower vendor. Ms. Earnest is super ☆ scary. Moriya and I looked at each other and trembled in fear.

“This is entirely different from what we heard…”

“This isn’t even a good time for us to make up…”

This isn’t how things were supposed to be. That guy, that aloof boy—Yokodera—had told us about this. He came to talk to Moriya and I in the middle of August, around the end of the summer break. He came in almost every single day during our part-time work, recommending some weird trip to Okinawa with the three of us. He wanted us to become friends again, and he wanted Azuki Azusa to become happy again or whatever. We had no clue why he would be this serious about someone else’s business. Still, it’s not like he seemed like a bad guy, and whenever Yokodera talked about Ms. Earnest, he looked like some rural but noble prince with a somewhat average face.

This was something that always had been on our minds after we were finally reunited with our former friend.

‘If the reason Ms. Earnest transferred is our fault, then we have to apologize.’

These words we told Yokodera were not a lie. They really weren’t, and yet we continued to hide our feelings and kept going like everything was fine. I, Morii, think that we probably didn’t have much confidence. We knew that we’d hurt our friend, and we still had trouble approaching her. We were scared that we might hurt her again if we approached her. We’ve never excelled at human communication, and it was always dangerous and scary.

That’s probably why we agreed to this. When we heard about Yokodera’s ‘Second Okinawa Plan’, we agreed to it immediately. We felt that we had to agree to it. Maybe this way we can go back to being friends and finally achieve our own happy end.

“This isn’t quite what I thought it’d be.”

“The person she wanted to come here with clearly wasn’t us, was it?”

Moriya and I exchanged mutters behind Ms. Earnest’s back. Even an ape could tell what was going on here. She clearly wanted to come here with Yokodera, not us. This is it. Let’s go home. Back home. Give that stupid prince a good beating. I, Morii, turned on my heel, but quickly stopped again. In my view was the straw hat and the one-piece; Ms. Earnest’s lady-like attire. Obviously, Ms. Earnest tried hard to coordinate those looks. The hope of an enjoyable trip filled her chest. Well, probably not so much right now, but it was still there.

If we just went home now, it would be the same as the class trip one year ago. She’d feel like a loner again. I bit my lip. Speak before you regret it. That’s how I managed to become friends with her—is the advice Yokodera told me. When I raised my head, Moriya gave a signal to me with her eyes. She pointed at a side road next to International Street. A cafe billboard entered our view.

The two of us stood at both sides of the flower lump, holding her arms. Said arms felt soft, almost slippery, and gave off a nostalgic feeling.

“Ms. Earnest, would you accept reality already?! I’m getting hungry over here as well!”

“No matter how obsessed you are with fortune-telling, if the guy doesn’t show up, then the guy doesn’t show up, right? Why not take a test and think about what we should do next?”

“Nooooooo! Don’t say that!!”

The bouquet of flowers fell down from the lump of flowers.

“If I continue to ignore reality and focus on fortune-telling… and maybe pray to a god somewhere, even a chicken could soar through the sky!”

“You’ll eventually trip and fall if you continue to think like that!”

We forced the princess into the nearby cafe and succeeded to escape from the prairie devoid of any people. Of course, this is where the real fun begins.

*

Slurp. Smack. Bang.

Slurp. Rattle. Clack.

Sluuuuuuuuuurp. Clack.

An endless ensemble of mysterious sounds could be heard inside the cafe’s tranquil atmosphere. The cafe’s chef even looked over at us from behind the counter. Only the group of us three girls was present inside the otherwise empty cafe. Two of us were sitting at the counter, munching on our sandwiches. During that time, these ominous sounds filled the room. If you asked us who was creating all this noise, it was Ms. Earnest.

She slurped up the mango juice with a straw, downing it almost entirely with one gulp. She proceeded to open her flip phone, look at it for three seconds, and close it again, smacking it on the table. This happened several times, and turned into an odd rhythm. It only grew louder each iteration.

“…Um, what exactly are you doing?” I finally asked.

The cafe owner was still looking over at us with disbelief, almost disgust. Depending on it, he might kick us out as an anti-Ms. Earnest measure.

“…Hm? What are you talking about?” Ms. Earnest returned my gaze.

“I mean… You keep looking at your phone and slamming it on the table…”

“Slamming it? My smartphone? Fufu, it’s not that big of a deal. I’m not a chimpanzee, after all. I’m just checking my phone as often as a normal person would, nothing more.” She smiled cheerfully, biting into her sandwich with dignified movement.

Finally some good etiquette.

“…Ahh, right. I’d almost forgotten.”

Ms. Earnest was this type of girl. She’s not aware of most things. Several episodes I experienced with her came rushing back to mind. The fact that she was cute but annoying, the fact that she was annoyingly cute, the fact that the boys from our class didn’t catch on to her personality, but also that the princess of our school year was the most annoying girl to deal with.

“I’m just seeing if someone tried to call me. I have lots of calls in my call history, so of course I have to cycle through them and check… And then, in case he heard the answering machine, he might just reflect on it and come flying here immediately… Fufu.” She tightly grasped her sandwich as her gaze wandered around the area.

Her smile was super ☆ scary. Like the smile of the Empress of Darkness and the smile of a flower field turned into one, it’s a voice her fan club should never see ever. As kind as ever, I went to wipe my friend’s lips, which had a bit of tuna egg clinging to them. Ms. Earnest didn’t react to that, either, which really made her seem like a noble lady.

“Ahh, was that message just now related to it?”

Moriya made a satisfied half-smile.

‘Any incoming calls from perverts are being blocked. If you realize what you did, go die by the roadside like a hyena.’

It’s the message Ms. Earnest had just recorded on her phone. At first I thought this was a message she had left on someone else’s answering machine, but now I think she made this the message to her own instead. Does she really only care about the prince calling her and nobody else? That’s what Moriya and I thought as we exchanged glances. Well, judging from that, at least. If I were on the receiving end of this, I’d immediately catch up on trying to be special to this Ms. Earnest.

In this short while that we didn’t see her, Ms. Earnest sure has gotten honest. Is this her second form after evolving from the crybaby Ms. Earnest? I wonder who influenced her in this way.

“Well, most likely…”

Either way, I think that it’s a good thing. For the girl who had been alone all this time, and for the girls who had forced her to end up as a loner, this development is something to rejoice about.

“Why are you two grinning like that?”

“Ah, it’s nothing. Don’t mind us.”

“Of course I will. You’re laughing!” Ms. Earnest gave us a dubious gaze, and I felt my cheeks softening up.

Slowly but steadily we managed to get into a real conversation.

“It’s nothing. Nothing at all.”

“You’re so weird!” Ms. Earnest made a frown, and Moriya grinned as well.

Is this possibly—what the Invigorating Prince was aiming for this entire time? By leaving himself out, he wanted us to get closer again? No way, I thought as I shook my head, but on the other hand it felt like something he would do.

“Hey, Ms. Earnest?”

Sitting on the other side of the princess, Moriya rested her face on her chin as she spoke nonchalantly.

“When did you last do it with Yokodera? How many times do you have sex a week?”

Pfffffft!

The loudest sound so far was heard inside the cafe. A great fountain of mango juice spurted right out of Ms. Earnest’s mouth, hitting me right in the face.

For how aggressively she’s been slurping on the straw, she sure had a lot of it inside her mouth still, is what I thought like it wasn’t my problem. I didn’t wonder about my makeup or how sweet the mango juice was. These kinds of thoughts didn’t cross my mind in the slightest, and I didn’t feel any anger or anything. After all…

“Wha… wha… I’m sorry, Morii! Moriya, what are you talking about?!”

“I mean, I just wanna know about your sex life and all that. Morii won’t tell me at all because she’s sworn to secrecy or whatever. You probably suck each other’s lips dry while you embrace each other, right?”

“Wha, eh, kyaa!”

Watching Ms. Earnest’s reaction was honestly more funny than anything.

“S-Something like this… a topic like this… it’s not like I have as much free time as a monkey in a cage, okay!”

“But Ms. Earnest, your expressions and way of thinking are pretty outdated, just like my Mom’s.” Moriya let out a giggle. “Look, Morii wants to know as well, right?”

“That’s not true, is it?! You want to talk about something more sophisticated, right?!”

The two of them turned towards me.

“Eh, well… I’m just gonna go fix my makeup real quick.”

Wiping away the juice with a handkerchief, I made a face stoic enough to say these words. To be perfectly honest, I was at a loss.

Morii and Moriya. Also known as the MoriMori Duo. We’ve always been friends. There’s myself, Morii, who’s more of the indoor type, and the outgoing⁵ type Moriya. We decided on these names so that we could be easily told apart, but in reality we really aren’t all that similar.

For example, Moriya is a bit more broad-minded, and better at sports, but I’m a bit more sensitive and better at music. During the catastrophe last month with the dangerous creature “Steel King,” we both caught the Steel Sickness, but Moriya recovered from it after only a week. I, on the other hand, still have the tendency to use polite language at the end of my sentences if I don’t pay enough attention, yes.

For another example, we’re different when we talk about relationships, especially romantic ones. To summarize, Moriya is way more popular. Though I really don’t want to admit it, that’s just how it is from an objective point of view. An easy way to prove it is that she has three people who have boyfriend potential, whereas I have none. What should I do to go from zero to hero? Longer eyelashes? Longer nails? Taller heels? Since I, Morii, hate math, I have no idea how to deal with it. And even if I did, that would only annoy me even more.

That’s why when Moriya said ‘Morii won’t tell me at all because she’s sworn to secrecy or whatever’, it just boils down to the fact that I’ve never done anything like that, so there’s nothing to tell. It honestly just makes me want to die.

I want my first time to be with the person I love—that’s just a concept from a dusty old world long past. I don’t feel like supporting those potato classmates who say that with a straight face. Just, by pure coincidence, not out of my own will, with no other meaning to it whatsoever, I just happened to constantly miss chances like that. That’s why I’m bad with talk like this.

When I came back to my seat, I shrugged my shoulders just like I had practiced in front of the mirror earlier.

“Well, Ms. Earnest probably has her own circumstances. If she doesn’t want to talk about it, then we can just change the subject, right?”

“R-Right! No more of this! It’s cancelled! For crying out loud!” Ms. Earnest frantically fanned her face with her hand.

Even the tip of her nose was beet red. When I saw that, I felt a cold sweat running down my back.

—Why is she panicking so much?

Doing it or not doing it. These words keep coming up day after day. If she has no experience, she could just stay quiet about it. So why…?

‘I mean, I wanna know about your sex life after all. Morii won’t tell me at all because she’s sworn to secrecy or whatever. You probably suck each other’s lips dry while you embrace each other, right?’

‘Wha, eh, kyaa!’

Back then, Ms. Earnest’s pink face had turned crimson red, and she looked somewhat happy. Did she think about something good? What if—What if the late-bloomer Ms. Earnest actually got a head-start on me? It’s time to ease this uneasiness right away!

“…Or so I thought at first, but it has to be right now, after all. Confess already!” I took the palm of my hand and grabbed Ms. Earnest’s shoulder.

“Whyyyy?!”

Her shoulder was white and slender enough to make me jealous. She looks this pure and tidy, but actually lives the life of an adult? Even if her boyfriend allows it, we won’t!

“W-Who cares about that…? Your eyes are scaring me.”

“We do care! This is something that has a profound impact on your future!”

“That sounds way too heavy! Why don’t we just talk about something more interesting? Like the enjoyable life of the Okinawa rail!”

“The what now?”

“The Okinawa rail. I wonder what kind of woolly bears they like most?”

“Can we stop with the woolly bears already?! It’s terrifying, yes! You’re the only high school girl who would enjoy talking about bugs like that!”

“T-That’s not true… Whenever I talk with Tsutsukakushi-san about caterpillars, she always listens and says things like ‘I see’ or ‘That does sound very interesting’ or ‘Azuki-san sure knows a lot’…”

“She’s just trying her hardest to keep up with the conversation! I don’t even know who that is, but I can tell!”

“Tsutsukakushi-san would tell me if she didn’t like it! Though when we talk about insects, she’ll often say ‘I would love to hear more, but I just remembered some urgent business’, and she looks really sad.”

“She obviously doesn’t like it! Also, you’re trying to change the subject, aren’t you?! That’s not going to work!”

“Ugh…”

“Are you doing it with Yokodera or not? Spit it out!”

“…Listen carefully. When you go out with someone, you eventually do per… per… perchoo!” Ms. Earnest let out a sweet sneeze, as if it was wrapped in paper with a ribbon on it, and quickly covered her mouth.

“Well, you know, it’s the natural course of events for things like that to happen… and it’s not like I’m not interested or anything… But knowing Yokodera, at least towards me, he really doesn’t…”

“We can’t hear you properly, girl. Are you going out with Yokodera or not?”

“Morii, that’s where you’re starting? There’s no need to ask that right now, is there?” Moriya shot me a grin. “If not, she wouldn’t just call him 30 times every 30 minutes just because he didn’t come with us, right?”

“Yeah, that’d be hella scary.”

“Eh, eh…”

“That’d be something a crazy stalker would do. It’d be a bit weird, you know.”

“Ms. Earnest isn’t a girl like that at all.”

“U-Um…”

“She’s angry like this because they are going out, don’t you think?”

“Sorry, Ms. Earnest, I didn’t think it through.”

Ms. Earnest’s shoulders were shaking. Her arms were shaking. Her fingertips were shaking to a level where she couldn’t hold her cup anymore. She started blinking heavily. Her face turned snow white as she just looked everywhere around the room except at our faces. What is this? It’s almost like we’ve offended the Emperor. We made her angry without any intention of doing so. As expected, communication with her is a really difficult matter.

“Um, Ms. Earnest. I know that we often talk nonsense, but we didn’t have any bad intentions…” Moriya started trying to smooth things over.

“…That’s right… W-We’ve been dating for a long… time now…!” Ms. Earnest slammed her hand against the table.

She put an odd amount of emphasis on certain words, but she didn’t even properly finish her sentence. She had declared it with all her might, but she wouldn’t make eye contact with either of us.

“And what exactly do you like about Yokodera?”

“E-Eh, why do you keep asking me questions about this?! We-We’re going out, but it’s not like I really like him that much.”

“And what do you like about him?”

“A-Again, there’s nothing! Don’t get the wrong idea!”

“So what is it?”

“…Um…”

“And?”

“………”

This was one of Moriya’s special skills: A perfect smile that allowed no opposition. Countless men have fallen victim to this. Ms. Earnest’s face started to grow even more red.

“E-Even if you ask me that… How he’s… coo…”

“Hmmm?”

“Again… him being… ool…” Ms. Earnest muttered with a voice so quiet that it sounded like she was about to vanish.

“His drool? Him being a fool? Him being cruel? I can’t hear you at all.”

She pressed Ms. Earnest again and again. Backed into the corner of the table, Ms. Earnest finally opened her mouth.

“…He’s so cool.”

“Eh.”

“Eh?”

“…Wait, you’re serious?”

“…No, I misspoke.”

“Ahh, okay.”

“He’s the coolest in the entire universe…”

“Eh?”

“If he feels like it, he can be really smart and kind, though sometimes he’s too much of a pervert, but he sparkles like a peacock, especially when he’s working hard during his club, and his face isn’t actually half bad either, he’s not popular with other girls, he stays with me when I’m scared and lost about what I should do, he lent me interesting books, and he reads the ones I lend him quickly and tells me what he thinks of them, and he even shows me interesting movies—” Ms. Earnest buried her beet red face in her hands as she kept talking and talking.

She’s a total goner. We really got the wrong idea. She’s head over heels for him.

“W-Wait a second. Emergency strategy meeting!”

I moved next to Moriya.

“…Isn’t this weird?”

Even if we give her the benefit of the doubt, Yokodera definitely wasn’t that cool of a guy. He could be funny at times, and diligent if he wanted to be, but he didn’t seem that much of a pervert either. As far as things looked from my perspective, at least.

“I feel like our understanding of Yokodera is completely different here…”

“Yup yup. And, I just remembered…” Moriya showed a careless face. “That Yokodera, he called Ms. Earnest a friend, right?”

“…Eh?” Ms. Earnest heard that, and her body twitched.

“Ah, was that not what he said? It just sounded weird…”

“……”

All three of us went silent. But now that she mentioned it, I had heard Yokodera saying ‘I want a friend of mine to get more friends’. What was that about?

“…If you heard that, then tell me about it sooner… Fufu, fufufu, this must be my punishment. My punishment for getting on a high horse…” A wailing voice escaped Ms. Earnest’s lips.

Her shoulders were still shaking, almost like a woolly bear about to fall off from a tree in paradise.

“Hm…?”

“Uuu…?”

Moriya and I exchanged glances. We really can’t understand her circumstances. According to Ms. Earnest, Yokodera is her boyfriend. According to Yokodera, they are friends. According to Ms. Earnest’s actions, they are boyfriend and girlfriend. What does all this mean?

“Ahh, so that’s what it was?”

“It’s super simple, right.”

Moriya and I clapped our hands at the same time.

“Yokodera must have an older brother, right?”

“And that older brother matches Ms. Earnest’s description.”

“I want to meet that older brother soon.”

“Maybe Yokodera could send us a picture of him.”

Moriya and I nodded to each other. That would explain everything. After all, Ms. Earnest isn’t the type of person to lie about things like this.

“Eh…”

“Since they have the same family name, we just happened to make that mistake. Just tell us earlier next time!”

We gave satisfied smiles and patted Ms. Earnest on the shoulders.

“You two… really are…” Ms. Earnest collapsed onto the table and took a sip from some of our orange juice.

“Then back to the main topic. Are you doing it every day with the older Yokodera?”

“Ugh! Cough cough!” Ms. Earnest spit out her drink once more.

“M-Moriya, you… Are you not embarrassed at all?!”

“I mean, Ms. Earnest is so cute, so I’d assume your boyfriend is going crazy over you. Enjoying yourselves in bed every single night and all that.”

“I-I-I wonder if Yokodera would really do that… Hehehe.”

“Ohh, did you admit to it?” Moriya tried to confirm it, as Ms. Earnest kept giggling to herself.

She really wasn’t denying it.

“So won’t you spill the beans now? We’re waiting in anticipation.”

“What do you mean ‘spill the beans?’ That’s too much of a Morii-Moriya word. You’re almost like a parrot. I can’t tell if you’re being serious or not.”

“Give us the details, girl.”

“Um… well…”

“Give us the details, girl.”

“Ehm… Ehm…”

“—Alright, stop stop.”

Before Ms. Earnest could force out any words in her confused state, I cut in.

“We don’t need to hear all the delicious parts, right? We’re on a vacation, so why don’t we go play at the beach?”

“R-Right! Yeah! I feel like going for a swim as well!” Ms. Earnest jolted up from the counter and started heading towards the door.

While she did so, I felt like I heard a sigh of relief as she passed by. But, if anything, I was the most relieved one.

“…Ms. Earnest is doing just fine…”

Ms. Earnest is already beating me. I’m the only one not experienced here. I, Morii, am lagging behind. Words like these filled my mind. It felt like my surroundings were breaking down like a catastrophe. If we hadn’t gone for a break, I might have just asked her for all the details.

*

During summer, there’s always swimsuits at the beach. There couldn’t have been anything more routine, more a fact of life than this. As for the butterflies and flowers living here (‘Those who want to enjoy themselves’ in Morii-Moriya language), the summer beach was their home. Here, Ms. Earnest should be able to fight a solid battle.

“This is not what we expected…”

I stood in the middle of the sandy beach, looking like an idiot. At this beach filled with enthusiastic beachgoers and swimmers, emotions were running high beneath the summer sun. In the midst of the waves hitting the beach, there was one person who stood out.

“D-Does it look weird? …Ehehehe.” A swimsuit-wearing Ms. Earnest had shown herself.

She twisted her body with faint embarrassment, revealing her fancy swimsuit with small triangles covering the important parts of her body. The heck is that? What kind of cut is that? What is that line? That one’s even more risky than the swimsuits Moriya and I are wearing. Was she planning on showing this to her boyfriend? How desperate is she?

“…Grrr.”

I was aware of how much my lips were shaking. Rather than helping calm me down, Ms. Earnest was making my head boil even more.

“…So it looks weird after all?”

“It suits you… But do you always go all-out during your dates?”

“O-Of course not! I just happened to this time around! LIke an albatross!” Ms. Earnest frantically waved her hands.

What does an albatross have to do with anything? That doesn’t make any sense. Don’t feign ignorance now. My head was going crazy, and there were voices talking everywhere. I looked over at Moriya for help, non-verbally asking her to chip in a few words as well, but…

“Aren’t you super cute? That’s totally not fair. Why don’t you come with us?”

“Ehhh, I don’t know about that…”

“Isn’t it fine? If anything, this is super great. You have to.”

Moriya was busy turning down a group of high-level playboys hitting on her. That’s the popular girl for you. Moriya signaled with her eyes that this didn’t seem too bad for her. But today is definitely no good at all. I grabbed Ms. Earnest’s hand.

“We’re fine! We’ll just have fun as us girls!”

I started running towards the sea. I heard a confused ‘Ehh’ from behind me, possibly coming from Moriya, or possibly from Ms. Earnest. Who knows, who cares? It might have even just been a voice inside my head. But this was the first time I had actively run away from someone hitting on us.

No matter if we turned left or right, there were couples everywhere. When we set foot into the water, the burning turbine inside my head started to calm down a bit.

“H-Hey, what happened? You’re acting a bit weird today, Morii.”

“Not weird at all. More importantly, about what I just asked about.”

Still holding Ms. Earnest’s hand, while being shaken by the waves, I started the question time again.

“You said you were getting serious from time to time, but what about recent dates?”

“Eh?”

“I’m serious. I want to know what kind of dates you’ve gone on with Yokodera… Wait, are you okay?”

Ms. Earnest fell over in the sand, and got up very slowly.

“What kind of dates… Um, we have gone on dates before. But they’re a bit unorthodox. Are you sure you won’t be shocked?”

“Not if they were just dates.”

“Then it’s fine… Um… We went to a bridal shop before.”

“Eh.”

“I’m being serious. That guy’s a total pervert. He even took me to a gynecologist… Wait, are you okay?”

I buried my head in the sand. The older Yokodera brother actually does have a screw loose. No matter how cool he might seem, I prefer the diligent and kind younger Yokodera brother. But considering the fact that Ms. Earnest actually followed him to the bridal shop and gynecologist… She really must be head-over-heels for him.

“Ah, we’ve gone on normal dates as well! We went to the game center before with the three of us.”

“Three? Who was the third person?”

“A-Ah, a little sister… kind of person…”

The Yokodera Family had already accepted her… Eventually, she’ll get their blessing and the bells will ring, and there’d be a kiss like you’d see in a manga, and she would be greeted by life’s happy end.

“Somehow… well…” With the water lapping against my legs, I looked up at the sky.

Even though the water is this blue, and the sky is this blue as well, Ms. Earnest is so far away. In this world surrounded by blue and blue, I’m the only one being left behind on the ground. With no room to debate, thoroughly, objectively, destructively, Ms. Earnest and I were already worlds apart.

“Morii, you were so desperate to hear it, so don’t ignore me now. Morii. Morii? You’re looking a bit pale there, like a green willow…”

Ms. Earnest was saying something. I couldn’t tell. My body isn’t responding properly. My arms and legs felt like they were pulled into the ground with iron shackles. A big wave came in, shaking my body, my field of view, and my world.

The big wave covered me entirely, and the salty water entered my eyes, mouth and nose. Struggling for air, I sunk deeper.

“Morii! Noooo!”

I heard a distant shriek, and I lost consciousness.

*

Apparently, it was a cold. Before I had realized it, my condition had grown worse, and it took a quick turn south the instant I got into the water. When I came back to my senses, I had been brought to a house near the sea and had received this prognosis. I was told to lay low for a while. We had to say goodbye to the beach, and we decided to stay at an inn. With this, the excitement of our Okinawa vacation vanished in an instant, and it turned into some kind of healthcare vacation. I could smell the faint scent of the tides from inside the relatively cheap hotel. Our room was located in the East corner of the third floor, and it was the perfect size to fit the three of us.

“You really scared me there.”

“Are you feeling better now?”

“I’m fine…”

I laid on my side on the bed, lying again. After a short silence, Ms. Earnest and Moriya said they had to take care of dinner now, in some fashion.

“…You don’t have to worry about me.”

Even after I said that, the two of them seemed hesitant, only leaving when I made a gesture to shoo them out. Once I heard the sound of the door closing, I finally could let out a sigh.

“How pathetic… yes…” I felt pathetic.

I should have never come to Okinawa after all. Ms. Earnest definitely feels that way. The younger or older or middle Yokodera brother should have taken my place from the very beginning. It’s all his fault.

“Uuuu…” I buried my face in the pillow, kicking my arms and legs against the bed.

Coming to this realization only made me feel even worse. I felt awfully jealous towards that Yokodera guy who had dragged Ms. Earnest off to this far-away world. By the time Ms. Earnest and Moriya came back, I had already drifted off to the land of dreams.

“Huh…?”

When I, Morii, raised my head, I could see transparent light shining through the opening of the curtains. I twisted my body and looked over at the clock next to my pillow. I had apparently been sleeping for a while. My stomach had even started rumbling.

“That’s not good. I didn’t even take my makeup off or change my clothes… yes…”

I had apparently been sleeping this entire time in an odd position on the bed, which was why my muscles were hurting. No, that’s not it. Moriya was sleeping on the right side of the bed, clinging to me in a weird way.

“M-Morii’s muscles… Get up… Get up, oriya…!”

“Tonight, we’ll be doing Saturday Night until the morning…”

“You idiot Moriya!” Just when I thought I had a hard time…

“Moriya really has a horrible sleeping posture, doesn’t she?” A voice came from the opposite side of the bed.

“It’s not horrible or anything… Yours is just too perfect…”

“…Th-That’s right. I am aware that I should be sleeping in a dignified posture by any chance in case you’ve seen it maybe?”

“Was that supposed to be English?”

The two of us started laughing. Ms. Earnest was resting her chin on her hand with her eyes shut.

“It seems like you’ve managed to wake up just fine at least,” I commented.

“I just couldn’t sleep much,” she said as she shook her head.

She tightly clutched the silent smartphone against her chest.

“Are you lonely after all?”

“I started feeling like a lonely rabbit. B-But, this trip is just as fun either way!”

“…That’s great, then.”

Ms. Earnest is a kind girl. She’s just being considerate of me.

“More importantly, how about you? Are you feeling better now?”

“Yup, all fine. Sorry to ruin all of this.”

“What are you talking about?! Tomorrow… Well, I guess it’s today already… But, we still have today left. With this much time, we can play as much as stray cats in their growth period—”

“That’s not what I meant. Sorry about the class trip.”

“……”

“We didn’t have any bad intentions. Sorry.” I muttered with a quiet voice.

Apologizing might already be too late. I was scared to hear Ms. Earnest’s reaction, and I found myself tightly hugging the towel next to me.

“…That’s not all, right?” After a brief silence, she continued. “In the end, you probably were trying to be nice, right? I know. I’m aware that you tend to take the wrong steps with the right intentions.”

“I-It feels like you’re making fun of us.”

“Because I am.”

It took me a while to realize that Ms. Earnest was laughing at me.

“That’s fine now. I was just weak. I had already found peace in this, and yet… were you conscious about it this entire time?” Ms. Earnest laughed as if something was funny.

Just as I had remembered, it was the cutest smile out of anyone I’d ever seen. The painful memories in my mind broke into pieces and melted. It felt like the time they had missed out on thus far was slowly but steadily coming back.

“Same here. I’m sorry.”

“T-There’s nothing you have to apologize for!” Ms Earnest’s words took me by surprise.

“No, I kept quiet about changing schools. I lied… About a lot of things…”

“Lied…?”

“But I’ll make it so that it’s not a lie anymore. Once I get back, I’ll try my best… And become number two.”

“I don’t really get it, but it sounds like you gave up before you even tried fighting.”

“T-That’s not true!” Ms. Earnest clenched a fist filled with determination. “Alright, I’ll try my best right now!”

I was lost as to what was going on, but Ms. Earnest’s mood seemed to have improved. She got off the bed and took the smartphone into the bathroom. A short bit later…

‘—Have you reflected on what you’ve done?’

…I heard her voice through the opening of the door.

‘What are you talking about? …like a monkey enjoying the sunlight… If you show some sincerity… rethinking this…’

Ms. Earnest’s voice was shaking. She must have been talking with the universe’s coolest Yokodera. I wonder what kind of things she’s talking about with her boyfriend. The next date? Words of love? When I moved to get a bit closer to listen in on her, I heard her more clearly

‘As if! We managed to make up and got back to how we were previously!’

She’s talking about us. Even though it was something so simple, I felt a rush of happiness. There was definitely some value in coming here after all. At the same time, I decided to thank Yokodera properly the next time we met.

‘Ehehehe… Swimsuit… Prince… Physical relationship—’

I could only make out bits and pieces of the conversation. Just from that, it sounded like it wasn’t something destined for my ears. They were strong, passionate words shared between boyfriend and girlfriend. I closed my eyes and tried to pretend to sleep through the rest of the phone call. Ms. Earnest really lives in a different world. She’s become even more beautiful than she was before. Is this what happens if you find someone you love?

How jealous I am. I turned over on the bed. Will there ever be a season when I’ll experience that as well? A day when I’ll be like Ms. Earnest.

“Ehehe…” I tried to copy Ms. Earnest’s laugh.

Though it didn’t end up quite as cute, I had to start somewhere. Today was the trigger, today is the beginning. One step at a time, until one day I’ll catch up. The faint visage of my ideal man floated around inside my mind.

“—I want a boyfriend,” I muttered, half asleep.

---

1 A narrow street in Shibuya, Tokyo

2 A district in Osaka, Japan

3 Located in the heart of Sapporo in Hokkaido, Japan

4 Nagoya, Japan

5 Outgoing here as ‘Yagai’, hence the Moriya