Chapter 135

I was sincerely happy about Takamori’s award, especially considering I’d helped out a bit. I would’ve thought he’d be over the moon about it, but he was the same old Takamori. The thing was, that wasn’t the case for those around him. People’s impressions of him had changed. Now they looked at him with awe, like someone amazing they’d never noticed before. I knew this from experience—I was the same. I’d known what the short would be about, but once it was all put together, and with Hiina’s acting on top, the film had become something entirely different. Once everyone realized Takamori had that kind of talent, the rest of the class started to treat him with a kind of reverence. This realization had begun to set in while working on our school festival project, but it had sped up considerably once he got that award. Boys who had previously never said a word to him began approaching him and calling him “Directooor!” in a friendly, jokey manner. The girls had a harder time getting close, however, due to the beauties at his left and right putting up a protective barrier and keeping them at bay. I appreciated that. The idea of a bunch of poser girls learning how awesome he was and descending on him all of a sudden made my heart lurch. All our teachers touched on the news at the beginning of their respective classes. They would congratulate him or ask him a bunch of questions, like some kind of interview. He always replied flatly, but I could see his expression cloud over now and again. …Was I just imagining it? Maybe he was simply fed up with being asked the same questions over and over. A while back, he was just like me; he had no friends, he preferred eating lunch in silence by himself, and he had no goals to speak of. He just wanted to coast through school… If you’d told me a year ago that he’d suddenly be the center of everyone’s attention, I wouldn’t have believed you. I was just as happy as I was sad. It felt like a band I’d supported since their indie days had suddenly gone mainstream—like before I realized it, he’d taken off for some place beyond my reach. It made me feel incredibly lonely. If only I had something to dedicate myself to, too… I spaced out in class, spinning a pen idly in my hand. If only a goal would fall from the heavens into my lap. As if. After class, I had library duty; I put away my stuff and stood up. The class reps were merrily writing out the day’s journal entry. “Ryou, you spelled that wrong.” “No, no, this is how you write it. This is how I’ve always written it.” “Don’t be stubborn.” They were flirting, like always. I felt a pang of jealousy… Brushing away the feeling, I made my way to the library and sat down behind the counter. My only jobs were to help students check out books and return books to the shelves. Few students used the library, anyway, so I spent most of my time reading. “An award! I wish I could win an award!” the librarian said to me. “Oh, you mean the short film?” She probably didn’t know I was friends with Takamori. “Yeah. I recently submitted a novel I wrote to a competition for new authors, but I didn’t win.” “You write novels?” “Just for fun. But I’m painfully aware of how amazing it is to win something like that.” “Yeah.” A novel… Could I write a novel? “How do you write?” “I use my computer. Though recently I’ve also been writing on my phone.” Oh right. I had this image of using pen and paper, but you can just do everything digitally. Suddenly, the idea of writing seemed a lot easier. Maybe I can try that. I doubt it’ll go well at first, but I have some experience after helping with that screenplay. I bet I can write something decent, at least. “Mii, Mii.” I phoned my bestie as soon as I got home. “What’s up?” “I’m gonna write a novel.” “I heard about the award. Takaryou’s influence, huh?” She giggled. “Let me read it when you’re done. Personally, I’d like to request the rawest, most passionate BL of all time.” As usual, her response made me chuckle. “I haven’t decided what to write yet. But yeah, I’ll let you read it once it’s ready.” The conversation derailed after that, and we started talking about manga we’d been obsessing over lately. Before I knew it, an hour had flown by. Mii sighed. “What in the world is Takaryou doing? You’re such a nice, earnest, BL-loving girl.” “Did you need to include that last bit?” I knew that Takamori saw me as someone special in his life, one way or another, and honestly, that was enough for me. “What if he likes boys?” “I don’t think so. I saw the porn manga in his room.” “Mmm. Then maybe the Takamori family has a rule where they’re not allowed to fall in love…” “What is he, an idol?” I chuckled. “Otherwise, it doesn’t make any sense. From my perspective as a bystander, it seems totally unnatural.” That I agreed with. Soon, our conversation came to an end. “A rule against falling in love…” It couldn’t be. ManaMana had never mentioned anything like that. If anything, she seemed to be helping me out from time to time. “If that’s not it…” Maybe he’s just afraid?