Chapter 65: In Front of Everyone, Seriously…

[SS: Miura-san, good afternoon ..

…. ]

That was all the notification bar displayed.

It was a message from Kanzaki Sou.

Why… would he send a message at this time?

Was it because he hadn’t decided before, but after agreeing to team up with Kondo Haruka, he became certain and now sent a message specifically to reject me?

Miura Koharu gripped her phone, staring at the flashing notification above the still-locked screen.

Well, it was better than no reply at all.

She no longer knew what she was thinking; Miura Koharu’s mood now could only be described as bleak.

She unlocked the screen with numb fingertips and opened the message.

[SS: Miura-san, good afternoon.]

[Regarding the Borrowed Item Relay invitation you mentioned yesterday evening, I’ve thought it over carefully.]

[I accept your proposal.]

[Let’s participate together as Library Committee Member partners.]

[I hope my reply isn’t too late.]

“…Eh?”

All expression vanished from Miura Koharu’s face in an instant, leaving only a blank stare involving every part of her features.

She read the message over and over, repeatedly.

Even though it was in Japanese, she recognized every character; it wasn’t a problem of understanding the text.

It was the meaning conveyed by those hiragana and katakana together that she couldn’t comprehend.

……–Agree?

He agreed?

To partner with me for the Borrowed Item Relay?

But just now… he clearly–

Miura Koharu’s mind fell into chaos.

Didn’t Kanzaki Sou just agree to participate in the Borrowed Item Relay with Kondo Haruka?

She heard it herself; it couldn’t be an illusion.

And after she left, the possibility that the two of them fell out is almost non-existent—there was no reason.

Then why….?

It was impossible that he was playing with her; even if Kanzaki Sou didn’t want to interact with her, he wasn’t the kind of person to toy with others’ feelings.

So what on earth was this?

Countless absurd thoughts surfaced, but Miura Koharu immediately rejected them all.

She wanted an explanation, to understand what was happening.

After agreeing to team up with Kondo Haruka, he then sent a message to her about signing up?

What… what was he trying to do?

Miura Koharu looked down at the phone screen. The [SS] avatar and notes on LIME were unmistakably clear—it was impossible to have mistaken the sender.

Since her name and words like Library Committee Member appeared in the message, it couldn’t have been sent to the wrong person.

There was no way to explain or understand it.

If she couldn’t confirm Kanzaki Sou’s true feelings, even the message “agreeing to sign up for the Borrowed Item Relay with me” was hard to judge as good or bad.

Miura Koharu lifted her trembling finger.

She had to ask right away, to find out what Kanzaki Sou was trying to do.

— And she absolutely couldn’t reveal that she had been eavesdropping earlier.

With numb fingers trembling on the screen, Miura Koharu typed, deleted, revised, and carefully chose her words.

[Miura Koharu: Kanzaki-kun, thank you for your reply.]

[It’s fine, I’m very happy that you agreed.]

[But, was there a project you originally wanted to participate in?]

[Would joining the Borrowed Item Relay with me interfere with your previous plans?]

After thinking for a moment, Miura Koharu typed a few more lines.

[Miura Koharu: I only realized this after sending the message—it was careless of me.]

[But I didn’t want to bother you, so I didn’t follow up afterward.]

[Miura Koharu: I heard there are also Group Activities in the Class, so if it affects your participation in class activities, that wouldn’t be good.]

After sending these sentences, Miura Koharu still wanted to tap the screen a few more times.

But that was just a subconscious action.

She glanced at the messages she sent, understanding that this was all she could say.

She had already mentioned Class Group Activities; saying any more would seem forced.

She couldn’t let herself appear as if she was keeping track of his and Kondo Haruka’s movements.

So Miura Koharu stopped her hand, cradled her phone, held her breath, and stared intently at the screen.

[SS: None of that matters, Miura-san.]

Seeing this reply, the overly tense Miura Koharu’s heart, stuck in her throat, neither leapt out nor relaxed.

What did “none of that matters” mean?

Before Miura Koharu could react, messages from Kanzaki Sou arrived one after another.

[SS: The Class Group Projects and Fun Projects are separate, you know?]

[SS: The Fun Projects are all scheduled for the last day of the sports festival; they take place at different times from the Class Group Projects, so the events are on different days and don’t overlap. That’s why I’m participating in both.]

[SS: Miura-san doesn’t need to worry about affecting anything.]

So Class Projects and Fun Projects are separate.

I see.

Hmm?

— Wait, so that means…

[Miura Koharu: Kanzaki-kun, for Fun Projects, there are entry slots for both Class units and Committee units, right?]

[SS: Yes, the competitions for Class units and Committee units are also held separately.]

[SS: The ones entered as Class units are all students, and for Committee units, it seems there are many teachers who form teams too.]

Those two short messages made Miura Koharu’s mind explode.

Two, two separate…

…events!?

No overlap?

So just like with the relationship between Class Activities and Fun Activities, does that mean he’s going to participate in both for the Borrowed Item Relay as well?!

Is that why he could accept Kondo Haruka’s invitation and still reply to my message?

An indescribable joy, like a wave of warm water poured from above, spread through Miura Koharu’s whole body.

Kanzaki Sou didn’t reject her!

Even if he would team up with Kondo Haruka, she still had a chance to do something!

Miura Koharu’s hands trembled as she held her phone.

Because she realized the situation was even more than that.

And.

Kanzaki Sou must know that if Kondo Haruka finds out about him teaming up with her, that childhood friend would definitely be quite unhappy.

And there was no way to hide such a thing.

After all, whether they wanted to conceal it or not, once the Committee category’s match came, anyone would know.

So Kanzaki Sou chose to accept her invitation, fully aware that it would make Kondo Haruka unhappy.

Even if it upset his childhood friend, he wanted to participate in both.

— He could have simply rejected her.

From her perspective, she’d said in her message that it was fine to decline if he didn’t want to; there was no need to mind other things.

From his perspective, since he didn’t know all her circumstances, even if he refused, it wouldn’t be a burden—it was just a “refusal to help out” kind of thing.

No one has a duty to be someone else’s handyman, and for something as trivial as a “team invitation,” even refusing to help ten times in a row wouldn’t give anyone a right to blame him.

So Kanzaki Sou wasn’t avoiding her as she had assumed before.

Even if it made his childhood friend unhappy, he still chose to accept her invitation.

This is absolutely good news!

Miura Koharu dared not think too deeply; she just knew that now, her heart was filled with joy.

No matter what, her half-hanging body on the cliff’s edge had been temporarily pulled to safety by Kanzaki Sou.

The long-haired girl, fingers trembling, quickly replied.

[Miura Koharu: So that’s how it is! That’s great…I thought…]

She shook her head, deleted the words that fully revealed her current emotions, and retyped.

[Miura Koharu: I’m glad it won’t affect other activities! Then, please take care of me from now on, Kanzaki-kun!]

[I’ll do my best not to drag you down!]

[Thank you!]

[SS: Mm, for the honor of the Committee, let’s prepare well.]

[SS: Let’s do our best together, Miura-san!]

After exchanging a few more messages, the conversation with Kanzaki Sou finally ended.

Moving her finger away from the phone screen, Miura Koharu crouched in the empty stairwell, a smile slowly blooming on her face.

…Do our best together, huh.

I’ll try my best, Kanzaki Sou.

A sense of calm wrapped around her as Miura Koharu gripped her phone, her gaze fixed on Kanzaki Sou’s messages.

Before she realized it, she leaned against the wall beside her, as if her strength had run out and she needed to rest.

-?

Then, the girl jolted, straightening her head, and, almost in panic, stood up from the floor.

As if startled, Miura Koharu quickly looked around her.

She had forgotten she was still in the school building’s corridor.

During lunch break, students clustered in groups, glancing in her direction and whispering, laughter drifting from every corner.

Before she realized what her body was doing, Miura Koharu was running again.

Just like she had when she escaped to this place.