Chikasugiru Karera no, Juunanasai no Tooi Kankei [LN] V1 Chapter 5.2

Chapter 5 - The Taste Of Rain And Sweat

After school that day, I went down to the entrance early and waited for Yuriko. It was already the period to prepare for the test, and there were no club activities.

There was a somewhat relaxed air in the school building after a long day. Outside the window, thick white clouds were drifting low in the sky. For a while, I leaned my back against a nearby wall and looked toward the stairs where the students were coming down.

After waiting about ten minutes, Yuriko came down to the entrance with two other girls.

"Yuriko."

I approached the girls and called out to her. Yuriko, with her bag, slung over her shoulder, looked up in puzzlement when she noticed me.

"Oh, it's Kenichi. Do you have business with me?"

"I wouldn't talk to you if I didn't have business with you."

"What's that."

During our brief exchange, the two friends who had stopped with Yuriko glanced at me as if they were peeking at me.

"Is this about club activities? Will it be quick?"

"Well......if possible, can we talk about it on the way home......"

Despite my reluctance to say so, I looked at Yuriko's two friends as I said this, and they chuckled and then waved mischievously at Yuriko saying, "Take your time, Mori-san," as if they were trying to be considerate, and went out the entrance first.

"Oh, wait, Sacchan, Katou-san."

Yuriko called out to the backs of the two girls, but they only smiled at us, as if they had some mischievous idea of what we were up to.

"Muu. I was about to stop by with my friends. Read the air."

As I listened to Yuriko's complaints, we walked to the bicycle parking lot, and then we both got on our bicycles side by side and rode along the school route, just as we do when returning home from club activities.

The sky was still bright, unlike the usual time after club activities. There were many overlapping clouds covering the house, but there were gaps here and there, and many shafts of light were falling on the city in the afternoon.

We had been riding our bicycles for a while without talking to each other because of the noise of cars on the national highway, but when we stopped at a traffic light, I started talking.

"What was that at lunch today?"

"And what's that?"

"About my place. You know Izumi is there, right?"

"I know. But you don't have anything to be guilty of, do you? You didn't want him to come to your house? Then why didn't you just say no?"

"It's not like that."

"Then that's fine, right? I also wanted to go to Kenichi's house after a while."

The traffic light turns green. We started pedaling our bicycles side by side again.

"Why are you so secretive about Izumi-san? I'm sure Nagai is not the kind of guy who would just go around telling everyone about it for fun, and if you explain it properly it won't cause any misunderstandings."

When Yuriko told me, I kept my mouth shut. That's true, I think so, too. Nagai is not that kind of guy. Whenever I hear something that has to do with Izumi, I always become strangely flustered.

"Kenichi, maybe you don't want other boys to know about Izumi-san? It's not just that it's too much trouble to explain?"

I was startled.

When I looked at Yuriko, she was looking straight ahead. Her hair was fluffy and blowing in the wind.

"......that's not true."

"Really?"

"---Yeah."

Although I replied, the small, downcast tone in my voice showed that I wasn't sure. 

Yuriko glanced at me with her big and beautiful eyes. For a moment, our gazes met. She immediately returned her gaze forward. Then, perhaps intending to change the subject, Yuriko suddenly said,

"It seems the rainy season is ending early this year."

In response to her words, I looked up at the sky. Although there was light shining here and there, most of the sky was covered with gray clouds.

"......So?"

"Nothing. That's all. If we're going to have a study session, make sure you invite Izumi-san, too. We promised the other day that we would meet again."

We soon entered the residential area where we grew up and where the smell of daily life wafted through the air. It is a town that could be anywhere, lined with characterless houses and parks, national chain convenience stores and supermarkets, and small, desolate private stores. Perhaps the wind was strong in the sky above, and the clouds moved every second, accompanied by a change in the appearance of the belt-shaped light. The city was dimming and brightening repeatedly in a short period of time. Even the visible colors seemed to change slightly as the light shone in different ways.

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