OreShura: Volume 3 Chapter 1

Chapter 1 It was clearly a Summer Cram School Class but is now a Mayhem

Summer vacation was so long.

If you didn’t have close friends to frequently hang out with, but only had nodding acquaintances among classmates, it wasn’t rare to see their appearance change in the months after saying goodbye. Girls often take the stage after dumping their summer boyfriends. These kinds of things happen very often.

Having said that—

"Waan——♪ These pork ribs! So delicious:"

But to the Chihuahua who directly gobbled it straight from the electric hotplate, that should be irrelevant, right!

So like this, I was still having dinner with Chiwa today. The fact that it was summer didn’t make a difference. The menu would not suddenly change into pasta, or bamboo wheat noodles. It was consistently meat! Meat! Meat! As long as Chiwa was still my dining partner, I couldn’t escape from a fate of fat and animal protein.

"Hey, Ei-kun."

"You already finished all the meat of the day, so just eat some vegetables."

"Phuu—I’m not talking about that—"

Even though Chiwa said that, her eyes were still locked on the meat ribs still on my plate.

"What I wanted to say was, this year’s summer seems pretty relaxed—"

"Mhm, because there aren’t any club activities."

Chiwa squeezed her chopsticks, and she only approached in the direction of my plate. Just eat some vegetables!

"It was supposed to be a passionate hot summer dedicated to becoming popular—but now it’s really boring!"

"Don’t worry, you won’t become popular whether you have club activities or don’t."

"That's low! You don’t understand this type of things. If I just grow up and get a ｢naisu bode｣ then I’ll be fine!"

Chiwa’s shining eyes were fixated on my gaze: "So give me some meat?" It was so annoying. Just eat some vegetables!

"Ah—if only I had signed for summer cram school."

"Why bring that up?"

Chiwa smiled and said:

"Then I’ll be with Ei-kun every day!"

......

"............Well, that's as far as that discussion goes. Just eat some vegetables."

"Eh? Ei-kun? Why are you blushing!?"

Chiwa seized the opportunity and leaned forward.

And then she took advantage of my vulnerability, snatched the piece of rib and threw it into her mouth.

"Nn! Be ~ wi ~ tch ~ ing "

"YOU let that go! Quick, spit it out!"

Chiwa stuck her tongue out.

"I ate it already! Just at the thought it was Ei-kun’s meat, the degree of deliciousness increased three times!"

"Th- this guy......"

Ever since that ｢Jien-Otsu｣ stared, I felt like Chiwa became harder to deal with than before. This must have been Masuzu’s influence and all of that practice in causing mayhem. In my opinion, nothing was more troublesome than this.

While I reluctantly baked some round slices of eggplant on the electric grill, I said:

"Now that you say summer cram school, I remember. That girl is also there."

"That girl?"

"Fuyuumi Ai."

As soon as she heard that name, Chiwa’s smiling face from the ribs suddenly became more and more severe.

"Hey, so she’s not meeting up with that college student named Michael? Even though she has a boyfriend, how does she have time to study? I bet that in reality she was just lying!"

Chiwa’s voice was unusually sarcastic.

"Hey, have you always had a bad relationship with Fuyuumi?"

"How could it be good?"

Chiwa hit the table with a bang, and said:

"Do you remember the time when I was called to the staff office around the end of May?"

"Of course."

That was before ｢Jien-Otsu｣ was established.

That was when Chiwa recklessly believed everything from teen fashion magazines, like ｢Looking up with the eyes is cute and popular!｣. As a result, she went around glaring all boys the with sharp eyes and stirred up trouble.

"The root of that matter was actually a fight with Fuyuumi. She said that using ｢gangster eyes to threaten everybody around, disrupts the discipline｣!"

"I see."

It surely sounds like something she would say.

"It seemed like she was being especially strict towards me, like if she was in front of her nemesis."

"Have you done anything to make her dislike you?"

"I can’t think of anything—"

Chiwa suddenly sighed and said:

"And will our maiden’s club be shut down just like that?"

"The keys to the club room have already been confiscated, so there is nothing to do about it."

"What's with that? Isn't Ei-kun frustrated as well?"

"Not at all."

In fact, I find that not being wrapped up in all of these strange club activities by the hands of these guys is quite marvelous. Like this, I can actually concentrate the summer in studying.

"But, that someone was boasting about her boyfriend like that! How could we, with the goal of ｢becoming the school’s most popular｣ accept it just like that?!"

"Maybe...... but it doesn’t matter in any event, right? Just being popular won’t get you into college."

Chiwa hung her shoulders and said:

"Why is Ei-kun so indifferent to these kinds of things? Have you never thought about ｢becoming more popular｣?"

"Never thought about it, Never thought about it."

Just watching you all was enough for me.

Chiwa stared at me strangely:

"Actually, I wanted to ask you this before. Has Ei-kun ever been popular or been confessed to before Natsukawa?"

"How could that be possible?"

But after I said that—

"......Actually, there was one."

Chiwa suddenly left her seat, flustered, and said:

"You’re kidding, really? W-w-w-w-who was it? Is it someone I know?"

"No, it was something from kindergarten."

Chiwa relaxed as soon as she heard that, sat down again and said:

"Whut, so it was like that? That's past history already."

"What's with that ｢Whut｣? To me it was a beautiful memory."

This was something that happened around ten years ago during this time of year, at Wakaba Kindergarten in Class Star.

Even though I already forgot the girl’s name and appearance, I’ll always remember that she was a gentle and lovely girl. Well, maybe this was my brain only remembering the good parts.

After we finished eating, we began to clean up.

We split the chores "in the usual formation" : I washed the dishes at the sink, while Chiwa wiped them dry and placed them on the shelves.

"Hey, Ei-kun, what are you doing on August first?"

"August 1st? Hm, I wonder what?"

"Forgot already? It’s the annual Hane River fireworks festival!"

"Ah, so it’s already that time of the year?"

Hane River was a first class river that flowed through the center of Hane city. The fireworks festival on the riverbank was the largest summer activity in the city, known as the ｢Hane Fire Festival｣. The festival has many night market stalls, and when I was little I used to always eagerly look forward to that day.

"Since I couldn’t go last year, can we go together this year?"

"With me?"

Chiwa’s father used to always take the two of us in elementary school, but ever since middle school we each went alone with our own friends.

"......T-this isn’t weird, right? Didn’t we used to go together all the time when we were little?"

Chiwa shifted shyly and blushed.

Well, it doesn't matter anyway? Is just some fireworks.

"So it's like that, Well, le—"

I was about to say ｢Well, let’s go together｣ when I suddenly realized:

—Isn’t this a surefire ｢flag｣ for mayhem?

I don’t know why my feelings first noticed this potential development just now.

First, I’ll agree to go to the fireworks festival with Chiwa.

Second, Masuzu will invite me, but I’ll refuse her with ｢I’m going with Chiwa｣, and Masuzu will get angry at me.

Third, Hime will invite me, but I’ll refuse her with ｢I’m going with Chiwa｣, and Hime will curse me.

Fourth, on the day of the festival, they’ll both come to get in the way, and it’ll be mayhem!

—Bad, this was very bad.

Chiwa looked as if she was in a daze, and said:

"What is it, Ei-kun? You don’t look so good."

"Nothing, my Evil Eye has predicted a terrible future."

"??"

My Chuunibyou unconsciously relapsed, but we’ll put that aside for now.

This mayhem flag is seriously bad, I can't let it raise.

Saeko-san once said: ｢Whether it is in reality or games, one must carefully watch the flags!｣

"Sorry Chiwa, I'll pass for this year."

"Eeeh—! Then who are you going with? Natsukawa? Or maybe Himecchi?"

I simply shook my head and said:

"I’m not going to the fireworks festival. I’m going to be in a study room at cram school, studying."

"But this is a once in a year event! As for studying, you can study another day?"

"But summer cram school is also once a year as well, right? After paying a expensive fee, I want to make it meaningful."

"You really are way too damn serious, Ei-kun."

"｢Damn｣ is unnecessary there!"

Chiwa gave a big sigh and said: "Well there really is no way—" "If anyone had enough time—" she murmured while wiping the utensils.

Sorry, Chiwa.

I've had enough of mayhem.

This summer I officially want to live the ideal high school life!

♦

The second day of summer cram school, formal lessons finally started.

Although the registered capacity of the class was fifty people, the classroom had around a hundred seats in a huge room. The air conditioning was good, as was the soundproof walls, This is the environment for studying.

Fuyuumi Ai sat a little away from Kaoru and I, and wore her uniform like yesterday. During math class, she was called out once, and could finish a the difficult problem after two or three moments, earning the teacher’s praise. From Kaoru’s report, I heard that Fuyuumi was number three in the entire grade during final exams. She was a formidable opponent, and if I didn’t pay attention, my place as number one could possibly be taken away.

Thanks to this, I became more enthusiastic, and was able to concentrate more during the difficult class material. I thought this kind of stimulating stuff was the merit of summer cram school, and it was worth the savings spent to attend these lectures.

After two 90-minute periods ended, it was lunchtime. I ate lunch with Kaoru at the cram school cafeteria.

Kaoru sucked on strawberry milk in a aluminum bag with a straw as he said:

"A-chan was really awesome back there."

I bit into the salmon and butter onigiri that I made myself as I said:

"Yeah, using that kind of approach to solve a quadratic equation, you can tell she is someone big."

When Kaoru heard that, he seemed to become very anxious, and he said:

"I wasn’t talking about studying~~!!"

"Huh?"

"Look, during break time, wasn't she surrounded by all sorts of boys from other schools?"

"Aa, so it was like that."

Out of all of them, she was clearly hardworking. Against all of the plain girls, Fuyuumi’s silhouette distinctly stood out. Her appearance was delicate, and particularly striking. Besides her, there were boys who were pretending to ask Fuyuumi questions about schoolwork, but in reality they were flirting with her. Every once in a while, the classroom echoed with an angry sound, ｢go away｣!

Kaoru happily chuckled and said:

"A-chan is cute, smart, and clearly popular. And even if she doesn't look like it, she's also great at cooking."

What?

Kaoru was really praising, that Fuyuumi?

Even I who is slow in that area, can see it. A clear case of ｢one tends to praise the one they like｣, isn't?

In other words, could it be—

"......Kaoru."

"Eh, w-what?"

""It's not possible" I was thinking, but do you happen to like Fuyuumi?"

I struck a bell.

Kaoru fell off the cafeteria chair, while crying loudly.

"Are you okay, Kaoru?"

"It's not okay, enough!"

Kaoru found his seat again, and exclaimed loudly.

"Why do you say something like that? Weren't you listening to me at all?"

"It's because I thought that I was listening."

Kaoru angrily tore off a piece of sweet bread, and said:

"Then, let me ask you this, Eita!"

"O-okay."

"What do you think when A-chan gets that popular with those other guys?"

"You’re asking what I think of that?"

I took a bite into my omelette as I thought out-loud.

"Somehow, it's related to that."

"Yeah, Yeah! And ｢that｣ is?"

"Those Lovestruck minded people who believe only in love. Those kind of people are really hopeless."

Kaoru’s eyes which were originally immensely interested, rapidly dimmed down.

"To pull of numbers like those during summer cram school, what are they thinking? Even though they paid a lot of money to go to class, they’re really wasting it. If you want a romantic comedy, go somewhere else."

"..............................Ah, I guess that’s true."

Kaoru gave up and crossed his legs, while sipping strawberry milk.

Apparently that answer wasn't the best.

Ehh.

What kind of response was Kaoru hoping for? I didn’t know what a correct answer was like.

At this time, Kaoru was looking diagonally past my back.

When I looked past by reflex, I saw a figure rapidly duck behind the cafeteria vending machine.

Near the coin chute of the vending machine, I saw a vaguely familiar skirt, waving.

It was a skirt from the Hane high school uniform.

And, considering the circumstances, there was only one person who met this criteria.

"Ahaaha— Eita, can you wait for a little bit?"

Kaoru stood up while stiffly smiling, as he ran back towards the vending machine.

The sound of two people quarreling mixed into the noise of the cafeteria, the contents of which I could somewhat hear.

—What are you doing? It was really hard for me to arrange this.

—Y-you’re just meddling in other people’s business!

—Again with that strong front? I wonder who was crying and begging on the phone last night?

—............

—Well, go on then. And this time don’t be stubborn.

—N-n-n-no, I can’t! No! I’m not psychologically ready yet!

—Then, when it will be ok?

—T-tomorrow I’ll give it my best!

—That’s no good! You understand that the clock keeps ticking.

It seemed like the argument was quite intense.

What is ｢That’s no good｣ supposed to mean?

Give it your best tomorrow, was that about to studying?

If that was the case, keeping that mind set going would definitely be bad. Exactly like Kaoru said, time moves forward. In the first part of ｢JOJO’s Bizarre Adventures｣, there was a similar kind of plot. When the shy teenager Poco was reprimanded by his sister: ｢To……. Tomorrow I’ll do…… I’ll do it!｣ ｢Which tomorrow are you talking about｣?

"S-sorry to keep you waiting, Eita."

"......"

Fuyuumi Ai was dragged and tugged by Kaoru, and brought in front of me.

Fuyuumi was blushing in the face, maybe because of the argument from not long ago.

"Yo, Fuyuumi."

"............"

Fuyuumi’s stern face was silent, and she didn’t meet my eyes.

"A-A-chan? What about a greeting now?"

"........................... Baka Baka!"

"That doesn't qualify as a greeting, no? No? That's not it, no!?"

"O-okay Kaoru! Calm down."

I grabbed Kaoru’s shoulders to calm him down, and I guided him to his seat; Fuyuumi continued to give a tsuntsun aura as she sat next to Kaoru.

"Well......"

I looked back and fourth between the two of them, feeling greatly unsettled.

So what should I speak about with Fuyuumi?

Normally Kaoru would help find some kind of subject to talk about, but today was definitely different than normal.

In the end, it’ll be, LET’S TALK

"Fuyuumi, you went to the same elementary school as Kaoru?"

"Yes, is there a problem with that?"

"............No problems, It's fine"

What was with this girl? Why did she seem like she always wanted to fight?

I couldn't even get my usual way of speaking, Me is "Ore"

By then, Kaoru finally returned to his usual self after clearing his throat with a ｢Ehem｣:

"My friendship with A-chan started when we were in the same class in elementary school. We were classmates until fourth grade."

"He, that's quite the relationship."

Incidentally, I was only in the same class as Chiwa three times up until sixth grade.

"During the first semester of fifth grade, A-chan’s family moved to another district, so we went to different schools in middle school. This spring, she came back to this city."

"I see."

If she didn’t move, she possibly could have attended the same middle school as Chiwa and me.

"So to summarize, Fuyuumi and Kaoru are childhood friends."

At this time, Fuyuumi’s bowed head suddenly stiffened.

She lifted her head and stared at me with a terrible look.

"......W-what is it......?"

"Nothing? At? All?"

"What’s wrong with being childhood friends?"

"There! Is! Absolutely! Nothing! At! All!"

"......"

It doesn't matter how you cut it, there is something……

Was ｢childhood friend｣ a ｢landmine word｣ for this girl?

In conclusion, It should be better to just change the subject.

"Ah, right, Fuyuumi."

"......What?"

"I heard you have a boyfriend in college, right? His name is Michel?"

The sound of several things falling to the ground could be heard, along with some spitting sounds. Kaoru gave an astonishing sound, and again slid off of his chair.

This time was several times more extreme than the last, and caused everyone in the noisy cafeteria to suddenly become silent. Everyone started at Kaoru, wanting to know what was the matter. Only Fuyuumi seemed embarrassed as she lowered her head.

"A-are you okay, Kaoru?"

Kaoru smiled stiffly and said, "Ahahahahaha, I’m fine, I’m fine—" as he stood up.

"Heh, what? A-chan's boyfriend? What is this? Where did you hear that? Where’d you hear that—?!"

"I heard Chiwa mention it."

Of course I couldn’t say I heard it while I was hiding in the infirmary, so I phrased it like this.

"A-chan, can you come with me out to the hallway for a moment?"

Kaoru said this with a wide white smile across his face + devilish aura.

H-how scary.

Even though we knew each other ever since the start of our third year of middle school, I’ve never seen such a frightening Kaoru.

"Eita, can you wait for us for a moment? I have something to say to Fuyuumi alone."

Kaoru dragged a crestfallen Fuyuumi out into the hallway. Maybe I was over-suspicious, but his behavior was even rougher than last time.

Kaoru didn’t know his childhood friend had a boyfriend……

But maybe this was always the case with childhood friends of the opposite sex. Chiwa and I were a special case, but in general it would be very embarrassing to talk about romantic things.

The sounds of two people could be faintly heard from the hallway. They seemed forget about me as they talked, and the volumes of their voices was becoming quite high. They probably didn’t notice.

—Hey-hey, what Boyfriend? What’s with that story?

—There’s nothing I can do about it! It just turned out that way.

—What were you thinking? On your own have crafted a trap for yourself. Don't you have any determination at all?

—O-of course I have!

—Until that ｢promised day｣, there is little time left, right?

—True, That's why I......, ......

Then Fuyuumi’s voice became soft, and I couldn’t hear it.

The promised day?

What does that mean? That was really a unusual way to word it.

If it was Hime, she would probably say, ｢The final showdown between the Evil Dragon ClanWyvern and the Holy Dragon ClanDragon has finally come! That is, the Twilight of the GodsRagnarok—｣! That kind of Chuunibyou lines with that kind of "complexity".

Fuyuumi couldn’t also be one of those Chuunibyou people whose brains were filled with delusions?

......No, that was really impossible. For who is known as the devil of the disciplinary committee, it was impossibly for them to become an irrational person like that.

—I said it yesterday. Only this one I'll pay for the favor.

—I know.

—I can only be your ally during this summer.

—I do I know.

—I’ll make chances for you to speak, what's next you have to earn it with your effort.

It seems like they finished negotiating.

When Kaoru returned to his seat, his expression seemed quite calm. Perhaps he finished saying everything he wanted to say. Even Fuyuumi, who was previously tsuntsun, seemed willing to meet my eyes.

Fuyuumi took a cute pink bento box from her bag. Inside was an omelette, octopus sausage, onigiri, and mini tomatoes. Everything was a smaller size than normal, and was completely different from the amount of food in Chiwa’s bento. People would hardly be able to believe these were both bento-s belonging to girls.

While I was wondering if the amount of food was really enough, Fuyuumi placed the bento box in front of me without hesitation ｢zui｣, and said:

"K-k-k-k- Kidou-kun!"

"Y-yes?"

Because her facial expression was too serious, the sound of my response was distorted.

"Please feel free to pick anything!"

"......Er?"

"Please feel free to pick anythiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiingggg ———!"

"......"

Even though I couldn’t quite grasp the situation, it seemed like she meant to say, ｢Eat my bento box｣!

"Is that all right? With such small portion, it will hardly be anything left for you?"

When Kaoru heard this, he responded with the same serious face as Fuyuumi:

"Just eat, Eita! I’ll let A-chan have some of the jam bread I brought!"

"That's mistaking the means for the end......"

Anyways, this wasn’t the kind of atmosphere where I could just refuse.

I took a piece of omelette wrapped in basil leaves from the bento box.

"Then I’ll swap this with you."

I took a piece of fried food from my own bento and stuffed it in the empty space where the omelette came from.

Fuyuumi looked dumbstruck as she stared at my face.

"Is that alright?"

"Okay, we’ll consider it an exchange of food."

I placed the omlette into my mouth. The amount of salt was just perfect, accompanied with the wonderful aroma of basil leaves in the mouth.

"Hmn, quite good."

"Really?"

"Did you make this? I can see why Kaoru was prising you."

I wasn't one of those people who liked sweet eggs, but these weren’t bad at all.

Fuyuumi began to tremble, which made one think she was having convulsions. She immediately picked up my fried food and put it in her mouth.

She didn’t even properly chew before she swallowed it, and then she stood up.

"I’m going to run outside."

"Huh?"

"I’m going to run outsideeeeeeee——!"

Fuyuumi leaped and jumped as she left the cafeteria, and it seemed like her head nearly hit the ceiling.

"W-what is she doing……?"

"Ah, what could it be? Isn't she just extremely happy?"

Kaoru suppressed his laughter in his throat while he spoke.

"Happy about what?"

"But of course isn't it because Eita praised a dish she made?"

"......??"

Why?

Considered the enemy of the disciplinary committee, I was associated with Self-Performing Group. After receiving my praise, what was there to be happy about?

Could it be that she thought, ｢If I could receive the praise of even my enemy, then my cooking skill is really good｣!?

"Hey, Eita."

Kaoru’s face suddenly became serious:

"Although A-chan can be stubborn, she definitely isn’t a bad person."

"That's what it seems like."

If she could spring up and down so happily in front of others, I don’t think she could be a bad person.

"If she has a haughty attitude, there’s definitely a reason for that. I hope you can think about this reason really carefully."

"What reason?"

Kaoru smiled with a 'can't you think about it' laugh.

When he spoke in just whispers, I felt like recently, Kaoru’s been involved in many secrets.

"......Well, it's fine."

Just understanding that Fuyuumi wasn’t a bad person was enough. And this was a rare summer spent taking cram school classes, so it would be stupid to waste it fighting. If I could become friends with Fuyuumi, we might be able to help each other in school work.

Huhuhu.

Without club activities, I didn’t imagine it’d feel so good.

This is it.

The summer I always wanted, It's like this!

♦

However, just as I was spaking of those pleasant winds, I was immediately knocked back into that hell.

At the start of afternoon classes, I received a text message.

This famous RPG’s background music ｢You have equipped a cursed weapon｣ , was the ringtone I set that girl’s text messages to. As soon as I heard that music, my mood with clear-blue skies suddenly turned into a downpour.

[From] [email protected] 

[Subject] ド ド ド ド ド ド ... 

[Text] Over there   is there   anyone? 

Right.

I forgot.

After thinking about it, of course I should have expected it.

I realized the was a harsh truth.

—Even if there weren’t any club activities, my girlfriend won’t just disappear.

Let me repeat it again.

Even if there weren’t any club activities, my ｢girlfriend｣ won’t just disappear-!

---

Notes

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