Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai: Volume 4 Reunion: Part II

Reunion: Part II

The first day after the end of summer break, September first, during our homeroom period.

Yozora Mikadzuki, who entered the classroom while our teacher was taking attendance.

Everyone in the class was surprised when they saw Yozora walk in. The beautiful long black hair that went down to her waist that she had up until about a week ago, was all cut off, leaving her with hair so short it barely reached her neck.

However, for me, the surprise did not end there.

Yozora's face with her hair cut looked exactly like the boy who I took as my best friend and with whom I parted 10 years ago. I turned to face her, and murmured that old best friend's nickname.

"――――Sora?"

Then Yozora followed, while staring at me with moist eyes filled with innumerable emotions and a faint smile, and said, without a doubt, in a slightly trembling voice,

"――――It's been a long time, Taka."

My gut feeling wasn't mistaken.

It was Yozora, who was my old best friend, Sora.

Back then, Sora always talked like a guy, and was taller than me, and dressed in guy's clothes, so I always assumed she was a guy.

"Uhh... Hasegawa?"

"Ah!"

The teacher's suspicious attitude brought me back to my senses, and I quickly sat back down.

Yozora acted as if nothing had happened, averted her eyes from me while wiping the smile from her face, and walked over to her seat.

The classroom was full of people talking until Yozora sat back down, and when the teacher started taking attendance again it mostly subsided.

After taking attendance, our teacher went on about "Did you guys all do your summer homework" and "Let's all change modes and give it our best." and other typical stuff teachers ramble on about after a long break, but none of it really stuck with me.

My eyes were fixated on Yozora, whose appearance had changed so dramatically since summer break.

It doesn't seem like I'll be able to "change modes" so easily.

As for Yozora, she simply kept staring forward as if to ignore the inquisitive stares of our classmates and myself.

☺

A short while after, the first homeroom of September ended and we moved into break time.

"H-hey."

I walked over to Yozora's seat and called out to her.

I was lost on whether to call her "Yozora" or "Sora" and in the end I decided to avoid the subject completely.

Feeling the stares of everyone else in the class on us feels really awkward.

"...What?"

Yozora replied with a deep voice in her default sullen mood. It was as if those tears and faint smile from just 10 minutes ago were all a lie.

"Well... um, what happened to your hair?"

I asked straight out, still not sure whether I should or not.

"I cut it."

Her response was as short and cold as you could get.

"No, I can tell that just by looking. I'm asking... why all of a sudden?"

Yozora's face became even more and more annoyed before saying, "...The night of the summer festival." and nothing else.

The night of the summer festival...

The members of the Neighbors Club Yozora and I belong to went to a festival, and played with fireworks in a nearby park afterwards.

When we did, one of the big fireworks set Yozora's hair on fire, and ended up singeing the tips of her hair.

"But that was just the tip, wasn't it? You didn't have to lop it all off."

I said, but that only made Yozora's face get angrier and angrier.

She then said, emphasizing her speech,

"It's because you dumped that whole load on me. No matter how much I washed it, it wouldn't all come out and it smelled weird. It was all completely ruined...!!"

Yozora pursed her lips slightly while fiddling with her bangs.

"S-sorry..."

I apologized.

When Yozora's hair caught on fire, I frantically grabbed the bucket we put the fireworks in, and... dumped the whole bucket, dirty water and all, all over Yozora's head.

Now that I look back on it, I could've put the fire out without going to that extreme.

I truly think that was a really horrible thing of me to do.

I'll reflect on it from the bottom of my heart.

"I'm really, you know... sorry."

I apologize, again.

However, Yozora only made a more unsatisfied look on her face.

"...Muuu... more importantly-"

As she begun to speak, the whispers over our classmates entered my ears.

"...He dumped his load on her...?" "...Just the tip? He forced her to go all the way... because it was only the tip..." "He forced himself on Mikadzuki..." "R-rape...?" "A bad choice on a summer night..." "He dumped a load of white fluid on her hair that left a smell she couldn't wash out..." "Dumped his load on her..." "Dumped his load on her..."

""!!""

Our faces both turned to stone.

I get the feeling they're getting an incredibly wrong idea about this!!

"N-n- It's all a mis- Calling it a white fluid-"

"C-come with me!"

Yozora stood up, her face a deep shade of red, and dragged me out of the classroom as I tried to explain what really happened in a panic.

I could tell the uproar in the classroom only got louder.

...Barely a few minutes into the new school term and I've got another awful rumor about me floating around.

☺

Yozora dragged me all the way to an empty stairwell at the side of the school.

"...We should be ok here."

Yozora said, releasing my hand.

"Uu... Another fake rumor..."

I hung my head about to cry, but Yozora only sighed in displeasure.

"Hmph, it's not that big a deal."

"...No, it is a big deal."

"Anyway, more importantly!"

Yozora stared at me with a powerful gaze.

"More importantly?"

I asked, puzzled as to what she was getting at.

As I stood there, Yozora's cheeks went a little red, and her eyes started swimming in a fluster.

"W-well... umm... more importantly, I mean..."

I was taken aback even more by Yozora's rare stammering.

"I mean, I'm talking about, you know!"

Yozora said like a spoiled child as her face went deep red.

"I'm Sora!! Don't you have anything to say!?"

I don't know what I'm even supposed to say.

"Umm... I was surprised."

I couldn't think of anything good to say, so I went with that.

"Muu... is that all?"

Yozora pouted her lips, obviously unsatisfied with my answer.

"What else would there be?"

"You know, like... y-you're happy, or honored, or moved or something!"

"I really don't know what to say... I dunno, it's like I'm stunned or something... Saying 'I was surprised' is probably the best way to put it..."

I said while scratching my head.

There's tons I want to ask her.

Why did she wear guy's clothes 10 years ago?

When did she realize I was Taka?

What's she been doing these past 10 years?

Why did she never show up at the park when we both promised to tell each other "something important"?

There's too much, so much I can't put it into words.

I kept staring back at Yozora, staring at me with a childish look of disappointment on her face.

I stared at her slender eyebrows, her thin eyes, her cheeks dyed red.

That short hair looks really good on an androgynous beauty like her.

"You know, that haircut looks pretty good on you."

"Waa- Idi-!!"

I spat out what I was thinking on a whim, and Yozora's face red deep red from ear to ear.

Yozora looked down at the ground in embarrassment.

"......I-I don't look weird?"

Yozora looked strangely cute, asking me that while looking up at me like with puppy dog eyes, causing my face to heat up unexpectedly.

"N-nope. You don't look weird at all."

"I-I see."

Yozora's mouth looked like it was about to break into a smile as she went back to looking at the ground.

She then raised her face, and with a tiny bit of pride said,

"I-I mustered up the courage to go to a hair salon. That was the first time in about 10 years."

"10 years...? Eh, what'd you do about your hair then?"

"I cut it myself."

"Why would you..."

"Obviously because I'm scared of going to a hair salon."

Yozora replied, acting like she had something to be proud of.

"Shops like that where you have to have casual conversation with their stylish employees take quite a bit of effort to enter. Honestly, I never want to go again. Why do those people all act so over-friendly and try to talk to me so much? They ask me what school I go to, what year I'm in, if I'm in any clubs, what music I like, if I have a b-boyfriend, and all kinds of other stuff. What the hell does it matter to them?"

I'm guessing Yozora remembered her time at the hair salon, judging by this stream of complaints.

Although, I can't say I don't know how she feels.

I worked up the courage to go to a hair salon once during my spring break just before entering high school, but I didn't fit in there at all, and ever since I've always gone to a normal barber.

There's also the fact that the beautician guy there laughed as he asked "Did you try to dye it yourself?" which pissed me off.

...Not that this is of any importance to what's going on now.

"But yeah, I'm pretty amazed you managed to cut it yourself this whole time."

"It's easy to cut my bangs if I have a mirror. The back... takes a lot of work, so I rarely cut it."

"So that's how it got so long..."

"Yep," Yozora nodded.

"Anyway, I think working up the courage to go to a hair salon was the right idea."

"D-does it really look good on me?"

I nodded with a "Yeah." to answer Yozora's question.

"I had them do that too. What was it... jagi...?"

"Jaggy?"

"Yeah, that's it."

Yozora acted shy as she lightly stroked the back of her hair.

"Hmph... It was annoying listening to that beautician go on about how "It's so totally a waste to cut this beautiful hair~" in his overly-familiar tone of voice, though it would seem he did have some skill after all."

Yozora said, seemingly satisfied.

Right after she did, the bell signaling the start of first period rang.

"Crap, we need to get back."

"I suppose so."

I don't even wanna know how bad the rumors would get if we both skipped out on class.

We were both quickly walking down the hallway to our classroom.

"Oh yeah."

I stopped as I thought of something.

I had forgotten about something really important.

"?"

Yozora turned around in confusion, and I asked her,

"What should I call you from now on?"

A slight tinge of hesitation rose to Yozora's face.

After a short while, Yozora answered with a forced smile on her face.

"Call me 'Yozora'. Just like you have been."

I nodded as if to say that was ok with me.

"Ok then, let's go back―― 'Kodaka'."

Yozora turned around, and started quickly walking to the classroom again.

I thought to myself as I watched Yozora from behind, about the day she made the Neighbors Club.

After telling me to call her just plain "Yozora", she told me.

She told me that nicknames are things only people who are friends use.

Yozora and I, that is, "Sora" and "Taka", were best friends.

However, "Yozora Mikadzuki" and "Kodaka Hasegawa" are not.

That's obvious, and it merely reinforces the fact that I can't get back 10 years of lost time simply by realizing that Yozora is Sora.

While feeling a touch of sadness from that thought, I continued my hurried walk to the classroom.

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