OreShura: Volume 1 Chapter 8

Chapter 8 - A Childhood Friend's Tears are Mayhem

Sunday passed, and soon it was after school on Monday:

After two days of not going to the clubroom, I saw huge vivid words written on the whiteboard.

"The time has come!"

With her back to the whiteboard, Masuzu announced boldly:

"Yes, the time is coming."

"Meow what?"

Chiwa said, chewing curry bread in her mouth. She was always eating, so why doesn’t she grow taller?

"Time? The time for what?"

"Of course it’s time for Harusaki to confess to Sakagami-senpai."

"Huh?"

"Since the last two incidents, the Sakagami-senpai’s love points must have risen a lot. According to my calculations, he should have entered the "completely-smitten" level."

Masuzu’s bogus explanations...

"No matter what you say, it’s too soon, right? Last time, everyone said it was just a funny skit."

"Eeeh! Really?"

Ah, right. Chiwa still didn’t know.

"Regarding that matter, it seems like it made a positive effect anyways."

Using this sentence as an introduction, Masuzu continued:

"Sakagami-senpai is reportedly a big comedy fan. He particularly likes skits, even if they’re about guitars or past life events. I even heard that he “really wanted to see it”, and was very sorry he couldn’t. He also seems to find Harusaki very interesting."

"Is this a blessing in disguise?"

Having failed to become a guitarist or warrior of a past life, in the end the winning role is an actor?

......Like that, after all this time, our hard work is...

"S-skit ...? Even I put my whole body into the acting performance... yet they called it a skit...?!"

At a loss for words, Chiwa suddenly dropped her body flat on the table. She was just like Masuzu, hurt by the claim.

"I thought there was no time to lose, so --"

"Hey, wait a minute."

I hastily stopped and listened to Masuzu:

"Even if the skit was really popular, it’s not necessarily linked to emotional love. Moreover, he’s a very popular senpai, and is always surrounded by many girls. I don’t think he will be immediately enticed."

Since it is a confession, it is necessary prepare oneself to succeed.

If she is rejected, we will be back to square one, and there would have been just a long detour.

"What you say seems reasonable."

I always thought she would disagree with me, so I didn’t expect Masuzu to nod and continue:

"Eita-kun, what’s your estimated success rate?"

"At most, one or two percent."

"We’ll want at least five percent before we can hope to succeed. We’ll have to work harder, and think of a campaign strategy --"

"Wait."

Chiwa got up and raised her hand:

"I'll t-try confessing."

"......You’re serious?"

"Even if I’m refused, we can think of new plans! It’ll also be a good experience, regardless of success or failure. Let's try it."

"Well, decision in this matter is really up to you. Are you confident in yourself?"

"How could I be?"

Chiwa smiled, not the least of bit concerned.

Masuzu muttered to herself:

"It’s almost as if she wants to be rejected."

"There’s no such thing! What kind of idiot thinks they’ll lose before they’ve done it?"

Inadvertently, Chiwa denied the claim while flustered.

Ugh...... Fine.

Well, since they’ve already settled on a decision, there’s no room for others to interrupt.

"So, how will you confess?"

"It’s better if Harusaki doesn’t confess directly. Otherwise it’ll be just like when we practiced confessing a few days ago. Even if she’s a little nervous, it’ll easily fail."

Indeed, Chiwa was very nervous and uneasy when she was on the roof.

"That’s not a problem! I do not have a stress disorder."

"Then why were you like that?"

"That was because I was practicing on Ei-kun..."

Chiwa’s faced flushed red as she glanced at me.

What is it?

Why does she become nervous when she practices on me? We even intentionally decided to let her practice on a friend.

In short, don’t confess directly. Put a "love letter in the shoe cupboard," like the old-fashioned way.

"Mhmm, this is a reliable method."

Chiwa nodded only slightly.

After wasting a full two hours, the three of us persevered with polishing the contents of the letter until the last period before school ended.

Hello Sakagami Takuya Senpai: 

Sorry for suddenly writing to you. 

I am first-year Harusaki Chiwa from class five. 

Ever since entering high school, I have liked you. 

If you don’t hold anything against my words, please meet with me. 

Between five and six o’clock this evening, I will be on the roof after school waiting for you.

If you don’t have a similar kind of feeling, please disregard this letter. 

Should that be the case, I will give up, and forget about it. 

"Don’t you feel like it’s very cold like this?"

When I brought up my feelings, Masuzu immediately said:

"No, if the article is written too enthusiastically, it can easily lead the other to side back down with the opposite effect. Something like this is refreshing and crisp with better content."

Since she came up with more than half of the letter, and was responsible for transcribing it, Masuzu confidently stood tall.

"But if you ask him to ignore it if he has no interest, or give up and forget about it, I feel like you give the impression you have no faith."

"This is to show that when he leaves, he won’t get the impression he’s entangled in a mess. It’s easier to make it seem like you have the intent of “wanting to become a friend.”"

Huh.....

Is that true?

"Chiwa, do you think this is alright?"

Chiwa looked absentminded.

Dazed, she stared at the bottom of her empty teacup.

"Eh, ah, um, ah? Natsukawa’s handwriting is very beautiful."

"I'm wasn’t referring to that detail... What do you think of the content?"

"Uh, I think it’s fine?"

What is wrong with her?

Now she starts to get nervous?

"Tomorrow morning when you first to the school, put this letter in senpai’s shoe cupboard, alright?"

Chiwa took the cute pink envelope, and nodded.

So, what was going to happen next?

♦

The results were immediately announced.

As specified in the letter, Sakagami-senpai came to the roof at exactly 5 o’clock--

"Well."

"Huh?"

Senpai faced the stunned Chiwa and said, smiling:

"I always thought Harusaki was very cute."

"R-really?"

"I’ve heard about you a lot from my brother. He says you play the guitar?"

"Ah, uh, I guess you could say so."

Lies, you can’t even play hair!

"I also heard that you’re currently fighting a powerful and unknown enemy?"

"Uh, um, that. I’m already finished with that......"

There weren’t any enemies in the first place!

"Girl like you is pretty interesting. You have a sense of mystery."

Does this senpai have a problem with his head?

"In short, why don’t we go to the movies this Sunday? Just tell me what you want to watch, alright, Chihuahua?"

--The story above is what Chiwa relayed to us.

After Chiwa finished speaking, she sat in her chair in a daze.

She still can’t believe that the confession was successful?

You're right, even if I can’t quite believe it.

After all, Chiwa has a boyfriend!

...No, she was already a high school student. If you just consider the situation, it should be not surprising that she finally found a boyfriend.

My head just can’t keep up with how fast everything changes.

Obviously I would have liked to congratulate her, but I just couldn’t make myself say it.

When she heard that I got a girlfriend, maybe Chiwa had gotten into such a mood. As things stood, I suppose it made sense.

"Success!"

Masuzu drew on the whiteboard the huge giant word, "Awesome!"

"A victory in a single shot! "Presenting a maiden’s success!" After all this time spent on activities, we have finally reached and obtained definite results. As president, there is nothing more gratifying."

Clasping her hands, Masuzu’s entire body shook violently as she looked up at the ceiling.

It seemed that she was very happy.

If we left her continue like that, she could possibly start dancing in circles. I kind of wanted to see that kind of situation.

"Even if you say, “all this time spent on activities”, it’s only been a few weeks, right? Also, you were the president since the beginning."

"Don’t pour cold water on me when I’m so excited."

Although she pouted, Masuzu still looked very happy.

"Excluding Harusaki’s charm, this success clearly proves the power of the “boyfriend” notebook. Eita-kun must be even happier, right?"

"A-a-annoying person! It has nothing to do with me!"

"--That is, ahh."

Chiwa, who had been silent this entire time, suddenly opened her mouth and said:

"The person who wrote this notebook must be Natsukawa’s first love, right? I think he is very great."

"......Ehh?"

What does that mean?

I can’t just turn a deaf ear to it.

"T-those kinds of guys can only write delusions or weird things! How is he great?"

Chiwa stared at me inconceivably and shouted:

"To be honest, I do not know if the contents of that notebook are practicable, but I think guitar and past life parts were cool."

"R-really?"

That is so…

It’s so normal.

This is exactly what a natural reaction is.

However, Chiwa shook her head and said:

"But – the fact that he isn’t shy and did not hesitate to fully believe in those "cool things." I think that point is very cool of him."

"............What point is that?"

One who’s fully convinced that they’re cool, is cool?

But, the person who wrote like that was me in middle school?

To be "extraordinarily" mistaken as "cool", I felt very ashamed.

The current me doesn’t believe in an ounce of those things.

I even felt like it was a stain on my life.

......

"Natsukawa, thank you."

Chiwa asked to shake hands with Masuzu.

"Thanks to you and your first love, you let me reach my goal."

"But you don’t look too happy?"

Masuzu shook her hand, but tilted her head puzzled.

"This isn’t like you. If you were happier, you’d cheer, “I’d gotten a boyfriend, yeah!” And then it would be fine."

"......Ahahaha, right, haha."

Chiwa laughed.

But......

She did not cheer.

♦

That day for dinner, there were all Chiwa’s favorite foods.

Garlic fried beef, bangbang chicken salad, and hamburger.

This menu was in celebration of her successful confession, and also to pray for her first date on Sunday.

Nevertheless, Chiwa did not eat. Normally, her chopsticks would have long outstretched to steal my hamburger.

We also couldn’t start chatting, and the table was absolutely quiet. You could even hear dogs barking in the distance.

...This is not a celebration dinner, but rather a wake to a funeral.

I tried to speak up with a cheerful voice:

"A-altogether, it was great! You reached your goal."

Chiwa nodded slightly and said:

"I caught the school’s famous most famous senpai, so you could say I’m finally popular."

"Yeah."

Though in reality, I felt like one needed a lot of boys chasing after them before she could be called popular.

However, in this case, quality is more important than quantity, right?

"If the news spreads, the girls will become very envious of you. The boys will also look at you from a new light, and they won’t call you “Chihuahua” anymore."

"But senpai’s fans will hate me, so will they collectively harass me?"

"No problem. If it’s you, you can turn it right back at them."

"Hahahaha, really?"

The dialogue ended here, and the living room was quiet again.

Eh......

Why was the atmosphere so difficult to liven up?

"--This really doesn’t bother you?"

Chiwa muttered loudly.

"Huh?"

"If I go out with senpai, Ei-kun doesn’t feel anything?"

"What are you saying? Didn’t we set up this club exactly for this purpose? We even planned such a number of different strategies, and tried really hard to reach your goal?"

"...The Maiden’s Club. What will we do next?"

"We’ll temporarily stop activities. After all, we’ve already reached the goal."

"So it’s like this… I feel quite empty."

"Well I’m relaxed, I can finally concentrate on studying."

Chiwa put down the chopsticks, even though she hadn’t even eaten half of her food.

She lowered her head, and said:

"Ei-kun really doesn’t feel anything about me."

"What?"

"You're right. Ei-kun is Natsukawa Masuzu’s boyfriend."

Her words were clearly bitter.

"......What? I tried so hard to help you become popular, isn’t that right? Didn’t you say you wanted to experience romance like in shoujo manga? For this purpose, you pushed yourself so hard, right?"

"Yeah, I tried so desperately."

"Then this is the reward you got. So what kind of thing still bothers..."

"This is not a reward!"

Chiwa raised her head and yelled.

"Huh?"

What does that mean?

Don’t tell me that only one senior’s admiration is not enough.

"You don’t feel anything? Ei-kun, I’m about to go out with another boy? In the future maybe I won’t even be able to eat dinner with you?"

"How is this possible......"

No.

Perhaps that was exactly right.

Even though we were childhood friends, no matter how familiar, if they know she was always eating dinner with other boys, her senpai would not be happy.

A table without Chiwa.

Dinner for one person alone.

........................That would be a little lonely.

But --

"But I will cope with it."

I tried my best to be brave in front of Chiwa.

"After all, your dream has finally come true, after all this trouble."

I said.

Then I noticed...

Chiwa’s large eyes were full of tears.

Tears suddenly brimmed in her eyes, and slowly dripped down her cheeks.

"--Idiot."

Chiwa said repeatedly, while crying:

"Stupid, stupid idiot, Ei-kun this idiot! ..."

Like a night that suddenly became popular, she continued to be angry at me.

Her voice was like a howling animal, and presently seemed overcome by puppy-like weakness.

"H-hey, Chiwa......?"

"Idiot! I hate Ei-kun! I hate you the most! "

"What do you mean?"

"I hate being Ei-kun’s childhood friend! If I were an ordinary student, with an ordinary relationship with you, then I wouldn’t suffer this much! There’s nothing good that comes out of being your childhood friend!"

"...... Hey, hey?"

What?

You hate being my childhood friend?

"W-why are you saying this so suddenly? We knew each other since we were little. We were just like brothers and sisters, right?"

Chiwa looked at me with red eyes:

"You’re wrong! I’d be your older sister by three months and ten days!"

"Why do you suddenly care about this now? Fine! We can be sister and brother. Even still, we’re like family."

"That’s why I hate it, like I said before!"

She burst into tears.

What...?

W-why do you have that expression on your face?

"P-please, please don’t cry. Okay? Chiwa, don’t cry."

"Impossible! Idiot! Aaaghh!"

Chiwa threw down those words, cried out, and stood up.

Before I could stop her, she ran out into the corridor.

I was left standing in place, without an opportunity to chase after her.

"...What’s going on......"

Did I do something wrong?

Think.

Did I do anything to hurt Chiwa?

Indeed, ever since the establishment of the Jienotsu Club , everything I did was for myself. I don’t deny that.

But it was also for the sake of Chiwa.

It was in order to let Chiwa find a boyfriend.

The Jienotsu club temporarily reached that goal, and I was finally able to concentrate on studying.

By all rights, it should have benefited the both of us.

But Chiwa cried so much.

Did I get it wrong?

Really, where did I go wrong?

I simply could not see the logic of it. It was embarrassing. Even if I was studying constantly, my natural tendencies weren’t going to change, okay?

However, one thing was clear:

"I made Chiwa cry."

Damn!

Why am I so depressed?

Why do I feel so sad?

Isn’t this a good thing? Perhaps it was a good opportunity to settle an ill-fated relationship. Since the beginning, this had burdened Masuzu as the unstable factor. If troublemaker Chiwa kept her distance me, my school life could be so much more stable.

She was such an incomparable noisy troublesome girl.

"Impossible…"

In her platters, Chiwa left half of her hamburger unfinished.

On top of that, the potpourri miso soup, and freshly cooked rice, she left completely untouched.

As I watched these steaming dishes gradually cool, my heart felt cold.

Looking at this... I suddenly remembered something--

"Ah, right."

Exactly so.

I said it before, didn’t I?

I told Kaoru in the past, right?

Chiwa is "family."

The loss of family members.

Of course it’s painful...

◇

That night, I dreamed.

It was a dream about the past.

The time was early autumn of last year -- that is, something that happened during the second semester of my third year in middle school.

◇

During the time of day when the sky just darkened, I sat in the living room chair without even the lights on.

"So my house was always so big, huh......"

It was about a month since my father and mother disappeared, and I had been left alone.

Although my relatives had been looking for the whereabouts of my parents, they hadn’t been able to find them, and were filled with an atmosphere of wanting to give up. I even heard that had already begun to discuss, "who wanted to adopt me," amongst them.

No, properly speaking, it was, "who I was going to be dumped on."

Now I did not think they were ruthless. It was a natural reaction, after all. They had their own lives, so who suddenly wanted the "adoption of middle school student as a child?" Because I was required to be adopted by relatives, this was a very hard task. I had never heard of the unmarried aunt I was about to be adopted by, and the hopes were very slim.

I already had no family.

I had to survive alone.

"It’s about time for dinner."

The kitchen was piled with empty boxes of cup noodles and convenience store bentos. I had been eating these recently. At the thought that today, I might even have to eat from the plastic containers, I always felt very bothered.

At this point, a noise came from the corridor.

"Hello -- Ei-kun--!"

I turned around found Chiwa’s face pressed against the glass.

She was dressed in hospital pajamas. Although it was already autumn, she was sweating.

"H-how did you get here?!"

I quickly ran to open the window.

I saw her the right hand on crutches while she scratched her head with the left. She laughed, "Haahahaha," and said:

"I came unconsciously."

"How can you just "come unconsciously?" You were in the hospital, right? Anyways, can you walk?"

Since the traffic accident in June, Chiwa had been hospitalized.

Last month, I went to visit her, she couldn’t move out of bed, and looked very painful...

"Well, I can walk, but this foot isn’t good. They can’t take the cast off yet."

"You see!" She raised her right foot to show me.

"Today, I take advantage of the walking exercise, and walked to Ei-kun’s home."

"...Did you get a leave of absence?"

"Ehh—I haven’t felt Ei-kun’s scent in a while, the smell of Ei-kun’s home - ♪ "

"You didn’t get permission? You slipped out!"

Chiwa expertly maneuvered the crutches, and came into the living room without being invited.

This was just like how Chiwa always acted.

"Really, you’re such a casual guy......"

As she kept talking, I took a deep sigh of relief.

I was very grateful.

After all, in this kind of situation, if Chiwa’s situation was very bad, I would be able to bear it.

Although my family would never be able to recover.

But at least I could hope Chiwa would be able to smile like before.

"It looks like your recovery went smoothly. When can you leave the hospital?"

"Probably next month when they remove the cast."

Poof! Chiwa sat on the sofa.

"After that, I’ll begin the real rehabilitation, and I regain my strength back bit by bit through training. The doctor says I’ll be able to walk like I used to within a year."

Thank you for worrying about me! Chiwa smiled and seemed to hint while bowing slightly.

"This is… great! It’s really, really good!"

I was really happy.

I felt like I hadn’t laugh truly from my heart in a long time.

"Well, once you enter high school, the sword-wielding Chihuahua will once again be resurrected. If remember correctly, you’re also going to Hane High School? I heard the club activities there are very strong, but you can definitely make the official team!"

"—This…"

Chiwa said with a smile:

"I probably won’t be able to practice kendo."

"Huh?"

I turned my head, and started at Chiwa’s face.

Along with the brilliant smile I had seen since I was little, there was a shadow of vagueness I had never seen before mixed in.

"I already can’t do intense exercises. The doctor said the bones in my lower back aren’t very good. He said I should try rehabilitation of course, but give up on Kendo for now."

"--"

I was thinking, "So this was the feeling when one stopped thinking."

Because when we first met, Chiwa had already been holding a Shinai.

From very early in the morning, she would practice in the courtyard, disturbing my sleep.

On her way home, the huge body armor she carried would make a ka-la-ka-la-la sound, and she would catch up to ask me: "Shall we go home together?"

Before competitions, Chiwa would have a serious expression on her face and look as if she were a different person, so much so it would shock me.

I’ll never see this again--?

"Well, the doctor must be wrong, he must be wrong!"

I waved my fist while desperately advocating.

"You should find a b-better doctor! That doctor is absolutely a sham, right?"

"My dad said he was one of the city's best doctors."

"A lie! He has to be a sham! A doctor who could say that kind of thing, one hundred percent must be a sham!"

Chiwa didn’t comment, and merely smiled and said, "Ah, really…"

"Let’s not talk about me. What about you, Ei-kun?"

"Huh?"

"What’s going to happen to Ei-kun?"

I looked to the side and said:

"Ah...... well, we’ll figure it out somehow."

"You’re not going to just disappear, are you?"

Chiwa uneasily looked at my face.

"......Ah."

At this time, I finally understood--

Why she slipped out of the hospital, to come here.

"You’re not going to vanish, right? Ei-kun isn’t going to go somewhere else?"

As a result, I tried to show my best smile, and said:

"Of course, right? Besides from here, where else is my home?"

"That’s, t-that right!"

We laughed as we looked at each other.

"......Right, you haven’t eaten yet? Is there anything you can’t eat?"

"No, there’s nothing I can’t eat."

"Then I’ll go cook now and we can eat together."

"When you say to cook... do you mean, cup noodles?"

"Idiot. Of course it’s formal cooking. What else do you want to eat?"

Chiwa opened her eyes wide.

"Ei-kun, cook? Can you?"

"Of course the men of today can cook! I’ll cook what you like to eat."

"T-then, hamburger!"

Thus, the two of us went shopping.

I constantly flipped through the recipe book without stopping, to look for hamburgers.

Chiwa rolled and laughed at the table.

"This hamburger is yellow-green colored!"

"No, because we haven’t eaten vegetables recently, I added the green beans."

"But this has turned into some other kind of food!"

Absolutely right......

Because the minced meat fell apart, it became "sautéed shredded pork with peas and onion."

"Damn! I’ll let you laugh for now. I just haven’t come up with my strengths yet. If I really display my strengths, any dish is a piece of cake."

"That’s the spirit, Ei-kun! Someday you’ll let me eat delicious hamburger!"

"Leave it to me!"

We gave a toast with fruit juice.

We ate food that was something like hamburger, and fought with each other.

"Once I go to high school, I need to find something even more interesting than Kendo. It has to be more fascinating and interesting to people than the Shinai!"

"Well, you should go look for it. You are a high school student after all, completely different from middle school students. I’m sure you can find something."

"What about Ei-kun? What will you do after starting high school? "

"Ehh -- I..."

After thinking for a moment, I said:

"There’s nothing I want to do in particular."

"Nothing?"

With my current situation, I didn’t even know if I could go to high school.

I had to seriously consider going straight to finding work after graduating from middle school.

"In either case, goals and dreams are annoying, and I'm lazy."

"No that’s not right!"

Chiwa hit the table with her hand that was holding onto chopsticks.

"You haven’t invested yourself into anything, so it’s a waste! Even if high school activities are difficult! Are you passionate about anything?"

If you ask me – that would be looking at manga, anime, and daydreaming about these sorts of things. Then I would casually scribble in my notebook.

But even with these things, I recently didn’t have any energy or interest.

It was because I now understood that "hopes" and "fantasies" were completely powerless in the face of reality.

"......If it’s about studies, then, I want to become a doctor."

"Doctor? Why? "

"Maybe I can cure your body."

For me, this only was an idea that had suddenly flashed through my head.

"If I could achieve something good" – it was just like one of my “hopes” that weren’t worth mentioning.

But --

"Hey, Chiwa?"

"You idiot..."

"W-why are you crying? Huh?"

"Idiot... it’s not because of something you said...... that made me cry? But it was merely a single Ei-kun..."

I looked at Chiwa’s streaming tears, and my felt a sentiment bubbling up.

-- I didn’t have any hope.

I was really just a sighing, motionless, unfortunate, miserable, what-should-we-do, and humiliating guy. Just looking at how Kendo was taken away from Chiwa, yet she still seemed hopeful, I finally understood myself.

But, could I become better?

Someone like me, I wanted to become a Chiwa and "hope" again --

"I’ve decided."

I stood up vigorously:

"I decided I want to be a doctor! In high school I’ll enthusiastically work hard, and become Hane High’s number one student. And then I’ll get the qualification for the Medical Examination!"

Chiwa blinked under red eyes and said:

"But, Ei-kun’s grades are almost in the lower half......?"

"I’ll study hard in high school! As look as I have the background and qualifications, even without parents I’ll be able to succeed easily. I will definitely heal your body! "

"...Really?"

"Yeah, really! Medicine advances at lightning speed! When we grow up, medical technology will have advanced so much more than it is today... No wait, it’s better to say I will make it progress!"

-- The me from back then was so stupid I couldn’t be compared.

But I had passion.

Meaningless enthusiasm.

Useless passion.

Yet that was only a year ago.

Chiwa cried while she spoke and faced me:

"Thank you, Ei-kun."

"I will always, always wait for you."

---

Notes

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