Chapter 216

Chapter 216 – A Little Jealousy

Before break time was over, we tried to motivate ourselves to get through the remaining three hours of summer school.

Because it was after lunch break, I felt really sleepy. Despite that, I managed to get through the lectures together with Umi and Nitta-san. As for Amami-san, we had to wake her up multiple times during the lecture.

I heard that there would be a quiz on the last day of class. I guess I had to review and prepare for the quiz when I got home. For now though, I could take a break for a bit.

“Ngh~ Finally finished for the day… It felt like I studied a year’s worth of material… I want to go home and quickly go to bed…”

“Hey, hey, I know you’re tired and all, but you still have to work a little harder. Take out your notes.”

The afternoon class’ pace was even faster than the morning class. Except for Umi and I, the other two looked even sleepier during the lecture. If we left them by themselves, they would have trouble following the second day of class, that was why we decided to stay to review the contents of the lecture.

Fortunately, there were no more lectures scheduled to be held in this class, so we were free to use it until the whole building closed. The reason why we didn’t move to a different location was because there was a possibility that we would get distracted.

“Ah, sorry everyone, I have to go to the toilet. Umi, can I leave you in charge for now?”

“Okay. That means we’ll be starting with math first. Look at those two, they looked excited when they heard ‘math’.”

“I’ll leave it to you then. I’ll buy you all some drinks on the way back.”

“Now we’re talking. It’s your treat, right, Rep?~”

“Ugh… Fine… Every drink here is 100 yen each anyway…”

Me and my big mouth… Well, at least Umi and Amami-san would pay me back later.

After listening to their requests, I went to the men’s toilet. In this building, the toilets were spread like this: The men’s toilets were placed on even-numbered floors and the women’s toilets were placed on odd-numbered floors. They probably did it to save some space in the building. Anyway, since I was on the fifth floor, I’d have to go to the fourth floor first. The vending machine was on the first floor, so I had to walk quite a distance in the end.

Since it was my first time on the fourth floor, I got a little lost, but I managed to find the toilet without issue.

When I placed my hand on the door, it suddenly opened and someone came out from inside.

“Oh!”

“W-Whoa!”

Like me, the other party probably didn’t realize that there was someone on the other side, so we managed to bump into each other with considerable force. I managed to step aside, so I only stumbled a little, but the other person moved a few steps back because of the impact.

“S-Sorry, I just finished with my class, so I was spacing out a little…”

“No, no, it was me who surprised you, coming out of nowhere like that…”

““…Huh?””

We let out a dumbfounded voice when we realized each other’s identity.

“Ooyama-kun?”

“Maehara-kun?”

The person I ran into was Ooyama-kun, a classmate of mine that I knew really well.

His full name was Ooyama Takefumi. We were classmates since first year and he was also one of the few acquaintances that I had.

Since last autumn when I started hanging out with Amami-san and Umi more, I started talking to him less. He was still a good classmate in my mind, though.

We weren’t close enough to be friends. But, the fact that I bumped into someone I knew was a relief for me.

“Uh… What a coincidence… You’re attending this summer school too, Ooyama-kun?”

“Nope, I’ve been attending this cram school since spring… Ah, I see, so that’s why the other guys are noisier than usual…”

“Huh?”

“I heard some of the guys in my class say something about a cute blonde girl attending the summer course. I dismissed it at first, but since Maehara-kun is here, that means the others are here too, right?”

“Yeah. Aside from Nozomu, all four of us are here.”

I noticed that there were a lot of people visiting our class during the recess, so I figured that someone spread the word.

“You’re still on good terms with the three of them, huh? Aside from Asanagi-san and Amami-san, Nitta-san who’s in a different class too… I envy you…”

“Is it something worth envying? Honestly, being the only man in the group is annoying sometimes.”

If Nozomu was there, it would have been a different story, but when there were only four of us, I couldn’t join in their conversation sometimes. Like, there was no way I could join in a conversation about clothes and stuff, right?

It was a different story if Umi and I were only by ourselves though.

“That’s a given, though? I mean, if you wanna keep getting along with them you have to at least put up with that amount of trouble.”

“Including the various remarks behind my back? I also have to bear with those?”

“Ah, no, I didn’t mean that… In any case, unlike me, you are in an enviable position, Maehara-kun, so keep that in mind.”

“…Sure.”

I got where he was coming from. I had a cute girlfriend and managed to get some cute girls as friends because of that. To other people who didn’t know anything about our relationship, my position would be something to be coveted.

But still, it would be unreasonable to say that I had to bear with whatever those guys were saying behind my back.

Hating me just because I had something that they didn’t have was just asinine.

‘You have to put up with that amount of trouble’ was just a convenient excuse for people who were trying to cope with their situation and it shouldn’t be imposed on other people by any means.

I knew that Ooyama-kun meant no harm, but hearing him say that without a care in the world pissed me off a little.

“Uh, sorry, I still have another class to attend, so I have to go now…”

“Mm.”

I nodded. Suppressing my unpleasant feelings, I went inside the restroom and took a deep breath.

I had Umi, Amami-san, Nitta-san and Nozomu… All of them were people who truly understood me. I didn’t need to worry about anything…

I told myself that and managed to calm down.

“Phew… I should talk this over with everyone… I don’t think it’s good to keep this bottled up…”

Thanks to that, I managed to calm down. I hadn’t finished doing my business though, so I proceeded to do that.