Chapter 42: The Uprising of the Meddlesome Girls
Early October, and it's a weekday Friday!
The early afternoon, right after fifth period—the first class in the afternoon.
Yuki: "It's totalllly weird, I'm telling you! I mean, ever since the festival, Hikarin's totally stopped talking!"
Haru: "On the plus side, you've been talking more to make up for it."
By the way, since fifth period was P.E., we're currently in the middle of changing and chatting in the girls' locker room.
...So, hey, everyone, can you tell who I am~?
And while we're at it, can you tell who's here in the locker room with me~?
Yuki: "Even today, she went and changed and left without us."
Haru: "Nah, it's not just Hikari—pretty much everyone left us behind."
Yuki: "Wait, really? Ugh, everyone's so heartless~!"
Haru: "That's because you won't stop talking and won't change, Yuki!"
Yes, that's second-year Class C's Yuki Hirai.
And then there's me, also second-year Class C—me, Ichigaya... Haru!
There's a reason why the two of us, who usually hang out as a group of four, are having this hushed, almost secret-talk-like chat by ourselves.
Yuki: "Ugh! Harucchi, aren't you worried about Hikarin at all!?"
Haru: "Of course I'm worried... I never thought she'd go that far..."
What we're talking about is what happened a few days ago at the school festival.
We worked hard at our class's maid café from the morning, then at the after-festival party, we cheered on Hikari and her childhood friend-turned-boyfriend's love story, and then he went and confessed to Hikari, and then...
Yuki: "Right, right? Who would've thought her childhood friend would get dumped~?"
Haru: "It didn't seem like that at all when he came to our class's maid café~"
Yuki: "So... something must've happened between them during the after-party~"
Haru: "Something like... what?"
Seriously, what?
When he came to our class's café, they both seemed so innocent and totally in sync...
What kind of dramatic turn of events could've happened in just a few hours?
...Well, there is one thing.
I really don't think it's that, but there's one factor—a one-in-a-million chance—that might be related. But still...
Yuki: "Plus, Ayachin hasn't been coming to school at all..."
Haru: "Ah! You're gonna say it? You're really gonna say it!?"
Yuki: "...Hey, do you think these two things are connected?"
Haru: "I don't wanna think sooo~!"
Yuki: "Me toooo~!"
Well, since Yuki spilled it even though I was trying to be vague, I'll just say it.
Since that day... the day Hikari's smile and words vanished from her face...
We haven't seen Aya even once.
Yuki: "Those two were so close..."
Haru: "A little too close, honestly..."
I don't know how her boyfriend factors into this.
But their closeness... no, their "excessive closeness" felt a little dangerous to me.
You could say Aya seemed kind of dependent on Hikari, and Hikari, whether she sensed that aura or not, seemed way too invested in Aya.
But even so... Aya wasn't jealous of Hikari falling for her childhood friend; if anything, I felt like she was the most supportive of it among our group.
Yet now...
Aya hasn't been coming to school, deleted her LINE account, and has completely vanished.
Yuki: "Ugh, this is so frustrating~! Harucchi, we should really find out what happened~!"
Haru: "Even if you say that... I'm scared to talk to Hikari about it now..."
Because Hikari won't say anything about it—not a word.
I can't tell if she's angry, worried, or sad.
...Her hollowed-out aura is so intense that even we hesitate to ask.
Yuki: "That's why~, instead of asking Hikarin, we should ask directly~"
Haru: "You mean Aya? That's even worse! Besides, she deleted her contact info..."
Yuki: "There's one more person, though~. Someone who might know what's going on with Hikarin~"
Haru: "…………Who?"
Yuki: "Fufufu~"
Just as we finished changing back into our uniforms and were about to head back to the classroom...
Yuki suddenly flashed a mischievous, almost naughty grin.
…………
…………
Yuki: "Ah~, here, here! Finally found it~"
Haru: "H-Hey... are we really gonna ambush him like this?"
Early October, and it's a weekday Friday.
Around the time the last class of the afternoon is about to end.
At a time like this, when we'd normally be excitedly waiting for the final bell in our classroom, the two of us are standing in front of a certain public high school's gate for some reason.
...Yeah, after taking over thirty minutes to get here by train and on foot!
Haru: "Speaking of which, are you sure this is really Hikari's boyfriend's school?"
Yuki: "Don't~ worry, I made sure to jot it down when Hikarin accidentally let it slip before~"
Haru: "Scary..."
That's right—according to Yuki, this is the school Hikari's boyfriend... I think his name is Takamura Yuu... attends.
After being left behind in the locker room (because we took too long changing), instead of heading back to the classroom, we left school and came all the way here... to meet that "other person who might know what's going on."
Yuki: "Now then~, all we have to do is wait for the childhood friend to show up..."
Haru: "But will he really come out right away? What if he has club activities or something..."
Yuki: "He's definitely not in a club. That much is obvious from Hikarin's behavior~"
Haru: "You're seriously scary, this love detective!"
We even left our bags behind!
We're completely skipping class and club activities!
If I keep tagging along with Yuki like this, I won't have enough hearts to keep up! I'd be fine with something like a heart-pounding hill climb, but this is something else!
Haru: "B-But I don't really remember what her boyfriend looks like... During the festival, I only saw him from a distance..."
Yuki: "Ah~, no worries then. Here~, this is the childhood friend."
Haru: "When did you even take this!?"
On Yuki's phone was a pretty clear photo of Hikari's boyfriend dancing cheek-to-cheek with her in our school's gym.
Yuki: "Nah~, when I took this, I thought it'd be a lifelong memory for Hikarin~"
Haru: "Given the current situation, if Hikari finds out this photo still exists, she'll cry, won't she?"
Yuki: "Well, yeah, but~ it's such a good shot, and I just couldn't bring myself to delete it."
Haru: "Besides, you took it without their permission. Shouldn't you ask them properly if it's okay to keep it?"
Yuki: "Even so, trying to talk to Hikarin now is... ah."
Haru: "What? Is there something else?"
Yuki: "...It's the childhood friend."
Haru: "...Huh?"
Yuki's gaze had shifted from her phone to the school gate without me noticing.
And there he was... unmistakably, the same guy who was in the photo with Hikari.
Haru: "That guy...!"
Yuki: "Huh? Wait, Harucchi?"
Until we got here, I felt like I'd been completely dragged into this.
Honestly, I thought going this far was totally unnecessary meddling.
But the moment I spotted her boyfriend, my feet started moving on their own.
Because, I too...
have feelings of worry for Hikari...
and a desire to protect the friendship of our four-girl group.
Haru: "Hey, you."
Yuu: "Huh...?"
Haru: "You're Takamura Yuu, right?"
Yuu: "Uh, um... Are you, by any chance... Hikari's...?"
His gaze wasn't on my face but on my body—specifically, my uniform.
Well, of course he wouldn't remember my face.
But that doesn't matter right now.
Haru: "Listen, I need to talk—"
Just as I took a step forward, my tone sharp—
Seki: "Huh? Yuu-senpaaai~, who's this girl~?"
Yuu: "Gah, S-Seki!?"
From behind him, a twin-tailed, moe-style girl with black hair popped right between us.
""A third woman has appeared—!!!!""
At that moment, Yuki and I screamed in unison.
I’m pretty sure the background was basically screaming “Gahhh!’’ in comic-book style.
Maruto’s post on X:
Insight:
Welp, definitely not what I expected to see, but it’s a relief to get back to the main story and out of Yuu’s head. The most interesting part of this chapter was Haru’s perspective on Hikari and Yami’s relationship.
Also, I ended up using Deepseek to MTL this chapter, since ChatGPT and I just weren’t on the same page today.
