LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 4
A few days had passed since Ryuichi regained his memory. Nothing much has changed since then…was something that Ryuichi couldn’t say. For some reason, it seems that Shizuna was now calling out to him more frequently than before.
He himself had never called out to her, but she made up for it by proactively trying to close the gap between them. Whenever she saw Ryuichi entering the classroom, Shizuna would immediately walk up to him, say good morning, then walk back to where she came from. Of course, not even Ryuichi could say he found this unpleasant, but nevertheless, he sighed and thought to himself that nothing good would come out from her being involved with a man like him.
“……?”
One day, while Ryuichi was on his way back from the restroom, he overheard Shizuna talking to her classmates from around the corner.
“Hey, Shizuna. Did Shishido do something to you?”
“Why do you say that?”
“I mean, haven’t you been acting weird lately? Up until a few days ago, you’d never really talked to him before, but now you’re proactively trying to approach him… It’s really suspicious, you know?”
Ryuichi wore a bitter smile on his face, wishing that they’d chosen to talk somewhere else where they’d have no chance of being overheard, especially by the person in question. It’s a pain in the ass, but I guess I’ll kill some time somewhere else. Just as Ryuichi was about to leave, however, he stopped dead in his tracks. As for why, well, it was because he heard Shizuna speak in a severely harsh tone.
“Shishido-kun isn’t deceiving me in any way. I’m just trying to get closer to him of my own volition, plain and simple. I can’t deny that there are many unsavory rumors about him; after all, he too didn’t deny them. However, I don’t think that’s reason enough to push him away. We’re classmates, and besides, he…no, the point is—”
Shizuna had been desperately trying to appeal to her friends about Ryuichi for quite some time now. But unsurprisingly, getting her point through to the other girls was easier said than done. Shizuna was the only one who knew that he had saved her in the city and that he had changed the water in the vase.
“Welp, guess I shouldn’t keep waiting here forever.”
Ryuichi scratched his head as he stepped out from the corner. Shizuna, whose back was turned against him, didn’t notice him, but the other girls who were facing Shizuna clearly noticed his presence.
“Ah… Shishido-kun.”
“Huh?”
Shizuna swiftly turned around. Her eyes immediately lit up and sparkled when she saw Ryuichi, though he himself had no idea why. Under normal circumstances, she should’ve had a disgusted expression on her face instead of this one.
As a matter of fact, Ryuichi had actually done some thinking about various things. What if the NTR in the manga was only superficial, and she actually had a liking for Ryuichi like she did now? But no, that was impossible; it was clearly stated in the manga that Shizuna absolutely loathed Ryuichi. In other words, the Shizuna of this world had deviated slightly from the Shizuna of the original work.
“Are you on your way back from the restroom, Shishido-kun?”
“Yep. Just got finished with my business when I overheard you guys talking about me. Made it hard for me to just walk by, y’know?”
Ryuichi shifted his gaze to the girls who brought up the subject, causing them to look down awkwardly. He wasn’t even glaring at them, but they seemed scared out of their boots, which made Ryuichi heave a sigh.
“I’m not really mad at y’all or anything. It’s only natural for y’all to have that sort of impression of me. If I dyed my hair black and removed my piercings, would you be less scared of me?”
“Huh? Oh~… Maybe, I guess?”
“Black hair really doesn’t suit your image, don’t you think?”
“…Awfully blunt now, are we?” he remarked.
But thanks to this icebreaker, the girls seemed to have let their guard down a little bit. There was still some amount of fear visible in their eyes, but they seemed to be very receptive to Ryuichi’s change.
“Even I don’t want to get involved with others more than necessary. It’s why I’d rather see Rindo go back to how she was before.”
“But I can’t do that now that I’ve already gotten to know you, Shishido-kun. I really enjoy talking to you, you know?”
“You know you’ve got seriously bad tastes in people?”
“Oh, really now?”
Their back-and-forth banter was so amusing that the other girls ended up smiling at them in unison.
On that note, though, whenever Ryuichi talked to Shizuna like this, he would always sense a certain somebody’s gaze on him without fail. But this time, he couldn’t feel anything at all.
“Is there something wrong?” Shizuna tilted her head to the side and asked. But, Ryuichi couldn’t really tell her that she was the cause of his worries.
“Y’know, you’re pretty different from what the rumors say about you.”
“I know, right? And if you look past his scary looks, he’s actually kinda hot, isn’t he?”
“Too late to start wooing me now, girls, ya hear me?”
“Ahaha! Don’t get too ahead of yourself, Mr. Narcissist.”
“……”
“Hee hee hee!”
There was no longer any trace of the oppressive atmosphere from before. Ryuichi, a man who used to look down on others, intimidate them, and judge them, especially women, was now more outgoing, and his expressions were more varied and alive. This, coupled with how out of character this was for him, was clearly the result of the change in Ryuichi’s character.
“We’re gonna head back to the classroom, ‘kay~?”
“Alright. See you.”
Shizuna stayed behind as she watched her friends leave for the class.
Ryuichi stared at Shizuna. …Why are you staying here? his gaze seemed to say.
“You don’t have to look at me like that, do you?”
“…Why’re you talking so much to me lately?”
It was a straightforward question. Shizuna’s eyes widened a little, as if she hadn’t expected such a direct inquiry. After a while, she looked back at Ryuichi and replied.
“I don’t know. I just feel like I’ve learnt things about you that no one else has before… So, don’t you think it’s normal for me to want to know you more?”
“…Hell if I know.”
He truly didn’t understand her motives. Shizuna puffed her cheeks out which, come to think of it, was yet another new expression Ryuichi had never seen from her before. He gave a wry smile and, seeing this, Shizuna’s expression also gave way for a joyful smile.
“C’mon, let’s head back. It ain’t gonna be good if we end up late for class.”
“That line really doesn’t suit you.”
“Oh, shut up.”
At the very least, Ryuichi didn’t dislike his conversations with Shizuna.
Then, after school, an event happened that would bring Shizuna even closer to Ryuichi.
“Shishido-kun?”
“…We’re seeing each other an awful lot today, aren’t we?”
Shizuna laughed at Ryuichi’s narrowed eyes and told him it was a coincidence. The two of them had met at the shopping district; it seemed that they’d been in the middle of shopping for dinner groceries when they bumped into each other.
Well, in Ryuichi’s case, he wasn’t actually buying anything other than cup ramen, and Shizuna, of course, noticed this as well.
“You’re only buying cup ramen?”
“You makin’ fun of these? They’re hella good, I’ll have you know.”
“I know they’re delicious, and I’m not making fun of them.”
All one had to do was pour in hot water and wait three minutes, and out came a delicious meal. Ryuichi owed so many of his dinners to cup ramen that he oftentimes marveled at the sheer ingenuity of mankind. However, this cup ramen episode would turn out to be the starting point for everything else.
“What are you having for dinner, Shishido-kun?”
“Cup ramen.”
“Ah, I see. Cup ra—Wha?”
Shizuna was so dumbfounded, her jaw dropped in amazement. Ryuichi tilted his head, wondering what was wrong.
“Having cup ramen for dinner…? I mean, I’m not saying it’s bad per se, but isn’t that bad for your body?”
“Of course it ain’t healthy. But what can I say, I’ve already been havin’ it for years now.”
“Years…?”
“Coz’ I live all by myself. Stuff happened, and my parents are gone. If I ain’t gonna cook, obviously I’d eat these.”
“…Huh?”
That was when Ryuichi realized. Even if he’d wanted to explain his circumstances, he shouldn’t have brought up such a taboo topic; that is, his parents being gone. Sure, Ryuichi himself may not have minded others knowing, but it certainly couldn’t have been a pleasant thing for the listener to hear.
“Oh. Sorry for talkin’ about all that unpleasant stuff.”
“No… Don’t be.”
Shizuna seemed saddened after learning of Ryuichi’s sad circumstances, and that his parents were gone. Seeing this, Ryuichi chuckled. He reflexively reached for Shizuna’s head…before eventually patting her shoulders instead.
“C’mon, why the sad face? You’re ruining your good looks. Turn that frown upside down.”
“…Shishido-kun.”
Shizuna was truly a kind-hearted girl, just as one would expect from a person bearing the title of main heroine.
Their encounter today was just a coincidence, and that was supposed to be the end of it. However, just as Ryuichi was about to leave, Shizuna took hold of his hand.
“Wait.”
“Yeah?”
Seemingly having made up her mind, she spoke to Ryuichi with a serious look in her eyes.
“I’ll make dinner for you. Take me to your home, Shishido-kun.”
Of course, Ryuichi’s reply was instant.
“No.”