Chapter 5

"I didn't see him... but I heard his footsteps, seriously! And, and..."

Naoko was about to say something when a warm hand descended from above, patting the back of her head. Irie

gently soothed her, "It's okay, it seems he's been scared off, Kawase-chan, don't worry. But does Kawase-chan live around here too? Otherwise, why would she be here?"

She was a typical single-minded person, her mind only processing one thing at a time, and with his interruption, she quickly forgot what she had just said.

"I live over there, not too far from here." "

I see, it seems we're destined to be together, our families are quite close. If Kawase-chan is really worried, you can come with me in the future."

The senior smiled, his wings spread out behind him like an angel.

She almost cried with joy, "That's great! But I have someone to travel with."

"Is it Amamiya-kun?"

"Hey, Irie-senpai, do you know him too?" The moment she said that, she realized she had made a fool of herself. There must be no one in Kamikawa who didn't know Tomie Amamiya.

Even the fishmongers, upon hearing they were Amamiya's neighbors, would give them a couple of extra fish.

The senior smiled and nodded, "Amamiya-kun is quite famous. However, I'm not very sociable, so I've never met him in person."

For someone as "super-popular" as Amamiya-kun, it seemed a bit unreasonable not to have met him in person.

But considering the crowds he crowded around during his outings, it was understandable that she hadn't seen him in three years at school.

If they weren't childhood friends, she might still have never met Tomie Amamiya.

"That's a good thing."

What's so great about meeting Amamiya-kun in person, Naoko thought to herself? He's just an impolite idiot.

"Let's not talk about this anymore. Is Kawase-chan's house in this direction... Be careful." As she spoke, a group of speeding drivers suddenly appeared from nowhere.

They were about to collide with her, but fortunately, Irie Reo pulled them back in time.

She fell into Irie's arms, her face pressed against his clean, warm uniform, her hand tightly held.

In just a second, her face flushed red.

Irie Reo was also stunned. The two of them hugged each other in the street, and for a long time, neither of them moved.

Until she couldn't help but move her numb legs: "Irie-senpai..."

"Let's... let's go, otherwise it's getting late."

"Okay..."

Irie didn't pull her hand away, and Naoko didn't remind her. They were in sync, enjoying the youthfulness and beauty of this moment.

She unconsciously slowed down her pace, following Irie half a step behind her, stepping on his shadow under the streetlight.

What a gentle senior, much better than Amamiya-kun.

"My house is just up there. Thank you for today, Irie-senpai."

They stopped at the intersection in front of Kawase's house and separated their clasped hands.

Irie rubbed the top of her head: "It's okay if Kawase-chan isn't so polite when it comes to me."

Before she could react, he slipped a note into her hand with a string of contact numbers on social media.

"Contact me in the evening, Kawase-chan. I'll be looking forward to it."

Naoko's face was so hot that she could fry an egg, and she watched Irie Reo's thin figure disappear around the corner.

"Why, everyone has gone far away, do you still want to see?"

A cold and harsh voice came from behind, along with the familiar fragrance of Amamiya-kun.

"You, Amamiya-kun, did you see everything?" She covered her face, "Oh no, how can I face Irie-senpai tomorrow - I'm so embarrassed, what did I do today -"

Amamiya Tomie's life experience is so clean that it is scary.

He has never experienced love and separation, hatred and resentment, or unfulfilled desires, so naturally he didn't know what Naoko was going crazy about.

But when he saw these scenes, he knew, and he felt instinctively uncomfortable.

"Ha, are you pretending now? When I was across the street, I could see you two shamelessly holding hands, like dogs in heat—" "

What a crude metaphor, Amemiya-kun," she muttered. "Is that why you're no match for the gentle Irie-senpai?"

He laughed indignantly. "So I'm no match for a scabby dog I've only known for a few days?"

Seeing his words escalate, Naoko reluctantly stopped him.

"My feelings for you and Irie-senpai are different. There's no comparison."

"How are they different? Is there any difference between me and that guy?"

"It's just...it's just different..." As she spoke, the girl's face gradually flushed, and she pushed him back inside. "Anyway, stop asking."

"Why do you have such a disgusting expression?"

She pinched Amemiya's waist, her face flushing, not sure if it was from shame or annoyance. "I told you to stop asking!"

The nameless anger within Amemiya grew even more intense, and he even felt a desire to destroy her.

Naoko didn't know his thoughts, and even if she did, she wouldn't care.

With a girlish heartbeat, she blushed and added the social media handle on the note, nervously and shyly typing a cute note like, "A Irie-senpai ~ [love]."

[Did Kawase-chan get home safely?

[Did you run into any strange people?]

Even his words of concern were so gentle, truly worthy of Irie-senpai.

[No, I'm so grateful for you today.]

[It's my honor.

] [Would you like to go together tomorrow?]

[Of course!]

Naoko's heart raced at this. Such a gentle Irie-senpai!

The conversation ended there, and she exited the chat to scroll through his social feed.

Most of the time, he was sharing books he'd read, sometimes with casual photos of flowers, plants, and animals.

It was apparently the most boring content, but she read it over and over again, sweetly falling asleep clutching her phone.

Looking downstairs, Naoko spotted a suspicious figure standing at her door.

She thought it was Amemiya-kun, who had calmed down, but upon closer inspection, she realized it was Irie-senpai!

She was so happy she could almost die...

She quickly ate a few bites of her sandwich and, in her haste, forgot to run downstairs.

"Irie-senpai! Did I keep you waiting long?"

"No, I just got here too. I didn't expect Kawase-chan to be startled by my sudden arrival."

The warm morning light shone on Irie-senpai's face, casting a gentle golden glow on him. She couldn't help but breathe more softly.

She wished time could stop at this moment.

Naoko had fallen in love.

So much so that during breaks, she couldn't help but hold her face with her hands and smile foolishly. When she was taking notes, the pen tip fell and the words "Irie Reio" appeared.

Soon, a page of Irie's name was filled on the notebook.

When she was writing for the 32nd time, the notebook was roughly pulled away by a hand.

"You'd better be cursing him, Naoko."

She raised her head and shivered at Amemiya's cold gaze.

"How is it possible... Amemiya-kun, why are you so resistant to Irie-senpai? He is obviously a very gentle person. Are you jealous?"

"Jealous?" He sneered, but for some reason, he didn't refute.

"Jealous of the senior's gentleness, this is a virtue that you, Amemiya-kun, will never learn in your life."

After she finished speaking, she felt several unfriendly gazes cast on her.

"Whatever you want to think." He tore off the paper, crumpled it up, and threw it into the trash, expressing his intense dissatisfaction. "This is your last chance, Naoko. I told you not to go near him."

Naoko, already uncomfortable with his poor attitude, finally exploded. "Amamiya-kun, you really have no right to control me so much, do you?"

She didn't even care if her admirers would resent her.

"I like Irie-senpai. There's no way I can stay away from him!"

"Like?"

She expected Amamiya-kun to threaten her again, but he froze in silence, not even reacting when she pushed him away.

"Anyway, this has nothing to do with you, Amamiya-kun. Don't get in my way anymore."

She stormed off to the small garden, only then realizing a hint of shame.

How could she say such things... that I like Irie-senpai...

She didn't know if word would reach him.

Whether it would reach him was uncertain; what was certain was that it would spread throughout the class.

Because in just one morning, she had been bumped on the shoulder several times, openly or covertly.

Although she wanted to rely on Amemiya-kun, she could not swallow that breath this time.

Before she apologized, she did not want to have anything to do with that guy again.

So she took her lunch box and asked Irie-senpai to have lunch together in the cafeteria.

Everything was fine at first, and they even shared each other's food together, but five minutes later, a tall figure suddenly sat down behind Irie Reo.

He faced Naoko and slammed the lunch box on the table. Everyone in the cafeteria subconsciously followed his line of sight and looked at Naoko.

"..."

It was Amemiya-kun again.

He pointed at Irie Reo and said something expressionlessly.

Although she could not hear his voice, Naoko easily understood what he meant:

"Get him out."

"That's impossible!" She retorted subconsciously, but after she said it, she realized that the occasion was not right.

Irie looked up, gazing at her tenderly. "Hmm? What happened?"

"No!" she hurriedly explained. "Nothing, just a fly flew by."

"Hmm? All right then."

Once Irie had returned to his meal, Naoko frantically gestured toward Amemiya.

Of course, Amemiya didn't want to leave.

As he lifted the untouched lunch box from the table, Naoko knew he was about to drop it on Irie-senpai's head.

Amemiya-kun, what a fool!

"Irie-senpai, I'm sorry, I have something else to do. I have to leave—"

She hurriedly stood up and rushed over to drag the furious Amemiya away.

When Irie looked up, she saw the crowd gradually engulfing her.

Her date with Irie-senpai was ruined.

But Amemiya-kun showed no remorse; he even gloated over his control:

"I told you, Naoko, I'll keep you away from him."

The nameless anger flared up in her chest again.

Today, Tomie Amamiya learned a brand new word: "like."

He admitted that his outburst with Naoko was originally intended to "punish" her.

But he'd forgotten that he'd originally approached Naoko because she was a slow-witted fool; it was precisely because of that that she stood out from the crowd.

Taking revenge on her seemed ridiculous, because he was actually the one being retaliated against.

Amamiya practically pressed his face against the computer screen, the cursor hovering over a certain ambiguous word:

[What does it mean when a girl says she likes ugly guys?]

[What does "like" mean?]

[What do you usually do when you like someone?]

[Signs of liking someone.]

After a night of searching, he understood everything completely. After all, he was always quick to learn.

Naoko was "in love."

And his feelings for her were likely more than just "friendship."

This realization surprised him, but on reflection, it was expected.

After all, how would Naoko live without him?

In fact, he had not only grasped the meaning of "like," but also understood something else. What he lacked now was someone to practice with him.