Nyanta & Pomeko

Chapter 3: Landmines

After I closed the door, I regretted it just a little bit.

　–I couldn't let it go.

　I should have just replied, but I said something unnecessary.

　It was no use regretting it.

"You, get out of my way—-"

　There was Shinozuka-san in front of me. She looked at me as if she was staring at me blocking the road.

　But I can tell. She's not staring at me. She's just asking.

"Excuse me......"

　I stepped aside and Shinozuka-san walked into the classroom.

　She must have forgotten something.

　I made my way to the audio-visual room before Saito-san came out.

　During the lunch break, I ate my lunch at my desk and read a book.

　It was no use worrying about Saito-san. Let's forget about it.

　Few students talk to me when I'm reading.

　I don't like the hustle and bustle of the class, I really want to eat on the rooftop or some other place, but it's off-limits so I have no choice.

　Still, the number of students in the classroom is surprisingly small because many of them go to other classes to play or move to the courtyard.

　As usual, only the area around me and Shinozuka-san was quiet.

　Saito-san seemed depressed, so her friends in the rear were constantly comforting her.

　Apparently, Saito-san didn't seem to have mentioned anything about me.

　However, I could feel the eyes of the rear boys on me from a while ago.

　It's the kind of gaze I know. Suspicion and a twisted sense of justice ...... and jealousy?

　–Let's just forget about it and sleep it off.

　I was about to close my book and go to sleep when a girl from my class, whose name I did not know, approached me.

"Hey, hey, Shin-kun. Can I have lunch with you?　Oh, you've already finished eating. Then let's talk!"

　This is another kind of landmine. It's one of those landmines that you drop at the end of trying to get along.

　It happened to me when I was in junior high school.

　It was a cold winter day.

　There was a girl who came to talk to me when I was alone. ...... I forgot her last name, she called herself Nanako. Because of the incident with Saito-san, I was disliked by everyone around me, and I had closed my mind to her.

　This Nanako would come to me every recess.

　All the students around me stopped that girl. –You will also be attacked, molested, cheated, and violated.

　But Nanako, whose last name I've forgotten, smiles and tries to get involved with me.

　Before I knew it, I was gradually telling the bright and carefree girl about my situation.

　It's not like I'm going to ...... like her or anything. It's not that I don't like her. Maybe I just had a hard time being alone.

　One day, she invited me to karaoke.

　I hesitated. Two men and two women in a closed room. It would start another bad rumor.

　She said she would take a friend with her.