OreShura: Volume 2 Chapter 4

Chapter 3 After school with My Girlfriend is Mayhem

The next day during lunch:

Like always, I looked to spend the short break with my best friend.

"Eita, did you argue with Natsukawa-san?"

Kaoru asked while drinking a box of strawberry milk.

While I put away my empty bento that I just finished into my bag, I replied:

"You’re really perceptive about these things."

"Because the two of you haven’t said anything to each other since this morning?"

"I guess so."

Although we were no deliberately ignoring each other, it was definitely very difficult to start a conversation. Ever since we said “good morning” to each other when we arrived at our seats, I haven’t even heard Masuzu’s voice. Since Masuzu always disappears during lunch break, she wasn’t even here now.

......

............

............It’s not like I was feeling particularly lonely or anything.

"What’s the cause?"

"How should I put it? Because we both have secrets we’re keeping from each other, it feels very awkward."

"Secrets?"

"You could call it the so-called ｢sense of distance｣."

"Why is that?"

"Ahh, it’s just like..."

I scratched my head.

"Since I also have a secret, I shouldn’t pry about her secrets? If I’m not going to talk about mine, I can’t ask her to talk about hers. As a result, it feels like we’re unusually distant."

Ugh ---

I always found it hard to express.

However I was only clear about one thing, and that was Masuzu and I have never been separated by so much ｢distance｣.

"I see."

Kaoru tilted his head, puzzled.

"Having secrets is bad?"

"Of course, regardless if one’s relationship is a friend or lover."

As soon as I finished speaking, Kaoru suddenly replied with a serious face:

"Then, Eita."

"Yes?"

Kaoru only hesitated a moment, and spoke with lowered eyelashes:

"Actually, I am a girl."

"AaaaaaaaAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahhhhhahahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! "

I cried from my chest with all my strength.

Kaoru lifted my hand with teary eyes and said:

"I have always kept this hidden from you, please forgive me?"

"Wait a minute, wait a minute!"

"In fact, I've always liked Eita, so kiss me?"

"No, wait a minute!"

Kaoru’s face, as a boy, was too beautiful as it quickly leaned forward.

W-w-w-w-w-w-what kind of situation was this?!

In any case, this story was too excessive! And this was not how one should act in a classroom during lunch break!

As the tip of our noses almost collided, Kaoru chuckled and said:

"I’m. Just. Kidding. You. ♪"

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

Because I was reassured so suddenly, I almost wet my pants….. even though I was a high school first-year.

"Surprised?"

"Of course I would be surprised!"

Aaahh, I was dripping cold sweat.

Kaoru could easily be mistaken as a girl from his looks, and it was asking for jokes that devastated the heart...

"Do you understand now? In the end, a secret is a thing only of this level."

"No, I don’t understand at all. Where is there a relationship is this?"

"My meaning is, ｢revealing a secret does not necessarily improve the relationship between two people｣. When you heard that I was a girl, how did you feel, Eita?"

"Surprised."

"Very nerve-racking, right?"

"It’s nerve-racking."

"It's like that"

Kaoru winked at me a little.

"It’s fine if confessing a secret solves the dispute, but if it doesn’t, it might just disturb the other person. Don’t you think that keeping secrets is a form of being ｢considerate｣?"

"...I see."

If you say it like that, it might make sense.

That love letter was my own problem, and it was not something that Masuzu could solve. The task of ｢determining if Chiwa wrote it｣ was my own responsibility.

The matter of Masuzu’s relationship with her sister was the same. At this stage, there wasn’t anything I could do about it.

"I hate feeling that ｢concealing a secret leads to a bad relationship｣. This would make anyone feel suffocated. Does Eita feel like that right now?"

Thanks to Kaoru, I swept away the haze in my heart.

Even though my relationship with Masuzu is fake, we undoubtedly have a relationship as classmates, and we’re members in the same club.

After all, I didn’t do it because I wanted to find out about the secret of the person who’s name is Mana. I just wanted to talk more with Masuzu.

"I’ll try talking about it with Masuzu."

"That's the way to go."

Kaoru smiled and nodded.

At this time, the school bell sounded, so there was five minutes before the end of lunch break. The girls left the classroom in groups holding onto sports bags. The next class, fifth period, was swimming class, so they were going to change in another room.

I looked at Masuzu’s seat, and there was no sports bag, so she must have intended to change clothes directly after eating lunch. I would probably have to wait until after school before I could talk to her.

"See you later, Eita."

Kaoru left empty-handed.

"Huh? You’re not changing clothes?"

"My skin is poor, so I can’t be exposed to the chlorine from the swimming pool or stay in the sun. I can’t attend the class. Last year was the same, right?"

"Ah, now that you say it, I remember."

When we were in the same class as third-years in middle school, Kaoru did not attend almost all of the physical education classes, and never attended the few swimming lessons we had in a year. It was too bad.

"Thank you for worrying about me."

"You're welcome."

My best friend smiled shyly, and walked out of the classroom.

Ah......

If this person really were a girl, the boys would definitely welcome it.

♦

The midsummer sun shined on the surface of pool.

After warming up to all sorts of broadcast gymnastics, the physical education announced: "Today's swimming lessons...... free time!" Us first-years gave a big cheer.

This was also a good opportunity for me --- to take advantage of this opportunity, I wanted to talk a little with Masuzu.

In the middle of the sound of water splashing and people diving into the pool, I looked for Masuzu everwhere.

---Found her.

Masuzu was holding her knees, sitting insde the shadow of the of the school building, with a rather large towel covering her from above her knees. It protected her from the greedy look of boys who continuously and perversely looked at her.

"H-hey."

"Hi."

Masuzu responded softly, with an absent-minded expression, as if she did not intend to continue to talk with me. Our lines of sight did not intersect, and she stared straight at the surface of the swimming pool.

"You’re not going to swim?"

"Yeah, I don’t like to get wet."

"It’s a pity, since we rarely have swimming classes."

"…Really?"

"I-I rather like swimming, though I’m not good at long-distance swimming and competitive swimming. I prefer leisurely swimming breaststroke and floating on the water while playing around---

"......"

Wuh! The conversation did not go anywhere.

It must be because she was still angry at me for hiding the love letter…?

Temporary retreat.

I kept my distance from Masuzu, and sat at the edge of the pool.

Just as I was thinking about how to start up a conversation, I heard the sounds of girls whispering to each other in groups in the swimming pool.

"That person must be putting on an act."

"She’s an ojou-sama, so she probably thinks the school’s pool is dirty and does not want to swim?"

"She’s doing that probably because she wants to attract the attention of the boys."

"She already has a boyfriend, so what is she thinking---?"

Masuzu was like always, envied.

Apart from Chiwa, I have never seen her talk to other girls. Even though having a boyfriend could protect her from the confessions of other boys, she was still helpless against the ill feelings of all the girls.

At this distance, Masuzu could probably hear them.

If it were the usual Masuzu, she wouldn’t even blink from the malicious talk of the ｢jealous club｣, but---

"H-hey, Masuzu."

"......What? You’ve been calling my name continuously."

"Nothing --- I actually don’t feel like swimming today."

As I received Masuzu’s cold glare, I sat down next to her.

So, what subject should we talk about…?

It was probably too risky to talk about ｢Maguke｣.

This time we should really talk about that --- JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures.

"If we could use Ripple like Joseph and Caesar to walk on water, I think it would be very comfortable. I rather like the Ripple fights from the first and second parts, because the Stands are easy to understand and change a lot, which suits it to a weekly publication. But to use ripple, one must practice a lot, you agree? Becoming strong through practice is probably the best part about battle mangas, and I especially like the scene from Part Two they train Ripple while climbing on pillars covered in oil ---"

At this moment, Masuzu suddenly stood up.

"W-what?"

"I’m going to go swimming."

"E-eh? Didn’t you say you hate getting wet?"

"I’ve changed my mind."

Masuzu left me, and quickly walked away.

Damn, I didn’t expect even the JoJo subject would be so useless.

She was rather angry, and the situation was perhaps getting worse.

When Masuzu stood at the edge of the pool, the voices from the noisy classmates suddenly weakened. Everyone’s eyes were on Masuzu, and I could tell that they were all looking forward to her removing her towel.

Masuzu pulled off her white colored towel, and hung it on the wall… everyone simultaneously gave a gasp of admiration.

I also could not help but be enchanted.

With her silver hair fluttering in the summer wind, reflecting glistening and shining sunlight; the white of her naked shoulders dazzled the eyes, and it made everyone feel that keeping it under the sunlight was a pity; her navy blue school swimsuit tightly clung against her shiny and elastic skin, showing all kinds of miraculous curves and tone combinations in her body lines.

The boys were speechless, and even those girls who were saying bad things a few moments ago had a stunned look. As for Masuzu’s fan, Yamamoto-kun from the soccer club, he lost consciousness and fell into the pool.

I thought she would enter the pool like this, but Masuzu only looked at the surface of the water while standing the entire time.

She used the toe of her right foot to dip the surface a little, but she seemed hesitant.

The jealous club again began to murmur and say bad things:

"What’s that? This isn’t a bath."

"Does she actually know how to swim?"

"Hahaha, it’s her loss if she keeps putting on that act!"

Masuzu, who could not bear the all this slander, jumped into the swimming pool with a splash.

She started to swim freestyle.

Honestly, her swimming technique couldn’t be considered beautiful --- her hands and feet were moving wildly, and although she made huge splashes, she didn’t move forward. Every time she took a breath it seemed like she was nearly drinking water.

With a beautiful maiden revealing this kind of unexpected clumsy behavior, the class could not help but burst out laughing. The people who had marveled at her just moments ago turned out to be such a group of fickle rascals.

After a short while, everyone got tired to watching Masuzu and went back to playing in the water.

Even I was about to consider going swimming ---

"What is she doing...?"

About halfway across the pool at the 25 meter mark, Masuzu’s movements suddenly became very strange.

Even though she was trashing her hands and feet just like before, she no longer moved forward, and her swimming cap floated up to the surface and sank. The hands that I thought were furiously drawing water, were now motionless ---

"D-drowning!"

I hurriedly jumped into the pool.

I supported Masuzu’s exhausted muscles above the water, afraid that she had already drunk a lot of water. She was completely motionless. The swimming cap that shed off of her silvery hair looked like a jellyfish’s tentacles drifting on the water.

I borrowed the strength the boys all around me, and finally succeeded pulling Masuzu onto the pool deck, but what followed was the real problem.

"Pant --- pant ---" Masuzu closed her eyes very painfully, and the sound of her breath seemed staggered and irregular. It sounded really bad, so was it necessary to give artificial respiration?

"Teacher, please come quickly!"

I cried to the other side of the swimming pool, but the physical education teacher was already giving artificial respiration to someone else.

The teacher was rescuing Yamamoto-san.

This was really an unexpected development.

Yamamoto-kun, you are too funny!

You are indirectly murdering the Masuzu that you like so much!

--- Well, there was no choice. I’ll do it.

A lot of people flocked to the area around us. Half of them were absolutely confused, while the other half fixated their sights on me with great anticipation in their eyes.

That’s right.

Mouth-to-Mouth respiration is kissing.

Everyone was looking forward to me (laugh), from our famous rumored relationship as a couple, giving a one-sided fierce kiss to Masuzu.

They were mixing up the act of saving a person’s life with a love event from a gal-game.

"I’ll say it first!"

I let Masuzu lie face-up on her back, placed my hand on her forehead after checking her respiratory tract was not blacked, and pinched her nose.

I sucked in a big breath.

"Kissing is just the act of sticking a mouth and a mouth together, nothing more, you love-struck group of people!"

I used my lips to cover Masuzu’s lips, slowly blew air into it twice, and then temporarily pulled my lips away. I counted five seconds, and then blew again, causing her chest to move up and down slightly. I repeated this action quite a few times.

Even though I had the knowledge of CPR, this was my first time practicing it, so I was worried whether I was doing it properly --- but when Masuzu coughed and spit out a large amount of water, I was so relieved I nearly fell to the ground.

The physical education teacher who has successfully awakened Yamamoto-kun then rushed here.

--- Masuzu was saved!

I laid next to Masuzu’s side, and looked up at the sun as I cheered!

Great.

I did not want her to die just after we had an argument.

Even if we were a fake couple.

♦

When Masuzu woke up in infirmary bed, I was on the chair next to her flipping through my English vocabulary book.

Because I was accompanying Masuzu, I skipped my sixth period English class. Even though missing class just before exams made me feel uneasy, I still wanted to see that she was safe in the end. To this point, you could count it for the better or the worse.

"...Eita-kun?"

Masuzu pulled up her upper body to a sitting position, bewildered to find out that she was in the infirmary.

"I was drowning, right?"

"A-ah, sure, a little."

I spoke vaguely because the impression of Masuzu hanging her shoulders dejectedly made me feel pity for her.

"How embarrassing, I’m a high school student too."

"...Hahaha."

I always felt that this way of speaking was cute, so I could not help but laugh.

Masuzu was displeased as she pouted:

"What's so funny?"

"Drowning and being a high school student, have no relation with each other."

"Really?"

Her downcast appearance from lowering her head made her look younger than usual, almost as if she wasn’t Masuzu at all.

"The person who saved me was Eita-kun?"

"Not just me. The teachers and the class also helped."

"...Thank you."

I did not Masuzu to thank me so honestly, and it made feel flustered.

"D-don’t misunderstand me! I just felt that if you died just after we had a fight, I wouldn’t be able to sleep well!"

I was tsundere, that even I felt I was annoying.

After a short period of silence, Masuzu faced me in the eyes for the first time today.

"My attitude to you yesterday was very strange. I'm sorry."

"...W-whua?"

M-masuzu ---

Masuzu just apoplogized!

Incredible...

This wasn’t a sign that the earth was going to collapse, was it?

"No, it’s my fault for hiding things from you. But Kaoru said, that is ---"

"I ---"

Masuzu interrupted my explanation.

"When that child kissed Eita-kun, I really hated it."

Eh?

"So I didn’t know what kind of expression to wear. I’ve always thought that kissing was just a mouth touching another mouth, but…"

"...So it..."

So it was actually about that---!

I thought she must have been angry because I concealed my love letter from her!

Because I wouldn’t normally think of that!

She used a ｢JoJo Reference ♪｣ to explain her boyfriend’s first kiss with a woman, so I never expected she would be rattled by that kind of superficial kiss!

......But if I said that aloud, it would probably make you angry, Masuzu-chan.

"If it’s about that, don’t worry about it anymore."

I tried to dispel the emotional uneasiness, and made a great effort to speak in a hearty voice:

"It’s already been covered up."

"Covered? Covered what?

"Oh, that ... k-k-kiss, the one from the girl named Mana. Her kiss has been completely covered up!"

Masuzu looked blank for a moment, but immediately looked as if remembered something. She put her hand to her mouth and said:

"Was it the artificial respiration?"

She was really worthy of being Masuzu, for having such sharp wits.

......No, maybe because I blushed, she could probably tell. Since a few moments ago, my face had been hot like crazy.

"S-S-so it was that...?"

Hey, why is even your face blushing? And your speech is knotted up like baby?

Shouldn’t you say calmly, “I see. It must have been hard?” As someone anti-love, she should have been like that.

"Ah, it’s just like what you said. A kiss is nothing more than a mouth and mouth touching, nothing more. It’s the same with artificial respiration, and even the kiss with the girl named Mana. The way I think is ｢so what?｣ so… b-basically you can just ignore it!"

"I know."

After giving a big sigh, a cheerful smile emerged on Masuzu’s face.

"Just forget about these things, Eita-kun."

"Huh?"

"Return everything that happened these past few days day to zero! Let us write off this in one stroke, and forget about everything until it’s clean."

"...You're right."

I thought that this was best.

Just as Kaoru said, rather than growing distant by caring about the secrets, it was better to forget it and let each other solve one’s own problems.

At least, until the day we can completely explain everything.

So ---

"I understand, and I’ll forget about it. Starting tomorrow I’ll be as usual."

As I replied in this way, I made up my mind.

I was determined to solve the mystery of the ｢Love Letter｣ that had been bothering me since several days ago.

Was the person who wrote that letter actually Chiwa?

I will confirm this directly tonight.

"Also, Eita-kun."

While I was thinking about how to confirm this with Chiwa, Masuzu called out to me.

She squinted her eyes, and said shyly:

"I...... also really like ...... the second part of JoJo."

♦

Masuzu did not attend any more classes before school ended, and went straight home.

Since the after-school club activities were canceled, I had to opportunity to speak with Chiwa --- while we sat during dinner.

When I was eating freshly fried pork chops, thinking about how to mention the love letter --- something happened.

"Hey, Ei-kun."

The soft and quiet sound of the usually spirited Chiwa surprised me. She whispered:

"When you were at the pool today, did you really kiss Natsukawa?"

Yes.

If I thought about it a little, I understood something.

Even if my girlfriend and I put everything behind us with one stroke ---

This wouldn’t work with my ｢childhood friend｣.

---

Notes

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