I Became Friends with the Second Cutest Girl in My Class - Chapter 286

Chapter 286 – Her First Love

Maki’s PoV

For a moment there, I wasn’t sure what was going on.

At first, I thought that she was just feeling down and wanted to cling to someone nearby, but then I thought about it a little more. While both of us were close to each other, and Amami-san normally treated everyone the same way regardless of their genders, she wasn’t the kind of person who’d hug a member of the opposite s*x out of nowhere.

I stood there dumbstruck, unsure of what to do, but I knew that it wouldn’t be good if things were to continue like this. Besides, I was sure that neither of us would want to relive what happened back in the Sports Festival again.

“Amami-san, um…”

“Dummy. Just why are you so kind to me, Maki-kun…? You should just do the same thing as usual and leave me alone… If you just gave me a little more time, I… I could go back to my usual self… I—”

I tried to escape her embrace, but her hold on me was tighter than I thought. Unless I used some force, I wouldn’t be able to get away from her.

Which meant I had to get her to calm down first instead. Get her to realize that if anyone were to see us here— As I was thinking that, I could hear someone’s voice coming from behind, calling out to me.

“Rep! You said you found Yuuchin, how is she—”

“U-Uh… Um…”

Luckily enough for us, it was Nitta-san who found us, or else who knew what kind of misunderstanding would people get when they saw us like this.

Even Nitta-san—who understood the situation to some extent—seemed to be taken aback after seeing Amami-san and me huddling so close together (from her perspective).

“…Yuuchin, what are you doing?”

“! N-Ninacchi? A-Ah… U-Um… T-This is…not what you think…”

Maybe noticing that Nitta-san’s voice sounded different than usual, Amami-san let me go in a hurry and distanced herself in a hurry.

It seemed like there were no other people around other than us three, so that made me feel a little relieved…or not. These two were clearly still at odds with each other. To say that the current atmosphere was bad…would be putting it quite mildly…

“Not what I think? Then, explain, Yuuchin. In my eyes, it’s clear that you’re the one hugging Maehara, or else he won’t be making that troubled face.”

“U-Um… Y-You see, I was feeling a little down after the parent-teacher interview earlier, then Maki-kun came to cheer me up! I-I was just happy that he did, t-that was why…”

“Sure, if that’s the case then, why don’t you explain why you are acting so flustered? Why are you blushing so hard, and why do you keep stuttering your words? Also, before I came here, the atmosphere between you two seemed quite serious.”

“! T-That’s…not it! I-I…d-didn’t mean to…”

The first thing that Amami-san tried to do was to deny Nitta-san’s words. But, her denial sounded weak. Her usual spirited voice wasn’t there at all.

Honestly, I believed the part when she said that she was happy that I came to cheer her up, the problem was that…her expression back then looked so lonely and sad.

‘Maki-kun, you’re an idiot.’

Her words, that she muttered repeatedly not too long ago, echoed in my ears.

“…Um, why don’t we go back to where Eri-san is for now? Eri-san and Umi are both worried about you, Amami-san.”

“Mm, but… Can I stay here for a bit longer…? Don’t worry, I’ll be there in a few, so can you tell her that…?”

“Got it, we’ll go back first then… Is there anything else you want me to tell Eri-san?”

“Please tell her that I’m sorry for running off on my own…and that I’ll talk about everything else later…”

“Got it. Let’s go, Nitta-san.”

“‘Kay.”

Honestly, I was worried about leaving her by herself again, but neither me staying here or letting Nitta-san to stay with her would improve the situation, so I decided to just tell Eri-san about her whereabouts and her words from before, and left the place.

We promised to hang out after the parent-teacher interview was done, but I guess this meant that we couldn’t do that, huh?

Well, whatever. Also, I had things to ask Nitta-san about.

“Ah, right, Yuuchin.”

Just when I was about to leave Amami-san alone in that dimly lit place behind the school building and went back to the classroom, Nitta-san called out to her.

“…Nitta-san, don’t you think it’s enough for today…?”

“Don’t worry. I promise this isn’t anything big.”

“But still…”

“I said it’s fine. Just shut it and watch.”

Seeing how firm Nitta-san’s answer was, I guess she really wanted to do this that badly, huh?

I remembered that she said our group influenced her in one way or another, and this stubbornness was probably the fruit of that.

“Yuuchin.”

“…What?”

“That thing from before… Honestly, I don’t hate it.”

“What are you talking about…? That was the worst… I’m the worst…”

“I’m not talking about it being good or bad, you know? Just saying that I don’t hate it.”

“…Shush, Ninacchi, you dummy.” (T/N: I don’t understand this part at all, sorry, I just TLed it as it is, sorry if this seems confusing.)

After muttering that response, Amami-san turned her face away from us.

Her smile that reminded me of a sunflower, and her cheerfulness that seemed to have the power to brighten everyone around her up—to the point that it felt annoying at times—were absent from her expression.

I guess that just showed how much she blamed herself for what was going on.

“—Sorry to keep you waiting, Rep, I’m done with my business, so, let’s go.”

“Ah, yeah… By the way, Nitta-san, I’d need you to tell everyone what exactly happened between you two.”

“Of course. I mean, it isn’t like I can just pretend nothing happened after all that. Besides, I bet that you could already guess what happened between us to a certain extent.”

“…Well, yeah, kinda.”

If it was the last-year-me, I probably wouldn’t have gotten it, but I’ve grown considerably since then.

Amami-san’s attitude towards me and her conversation with Nitta-san before…

Honestly, I’ve already suspected that something was up ever since the Sports Festival. Sometimes, Amami-san would distance herself a little from me, or she’d act as if she was going along well with Nozomu.

When it was only Umi and Nitta-san around, she could probably act like her usual self, but when I was in the mix, it wasn’t the case at all.

I had a certain suspicion, even back then, which I hoped that it was just me being presumptuous, but after all that had happened, there was no mistaking it anymore.

All this time, I really tried my best to treat her as ‘one of my precious friends’, nothing more, nothing less, but somehow this happened… What exactly did I do wrong, I wonder?

—Nitta-san’s next words sealed the deal, proving my suspicions correct.

“—Yuuchin…likes you, Rep. Not as a ‘friend’, but as a ‘man’.”

TL: Iyo

ED: Iyo

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