Things really are going well between them then. I should be happy for her. “Should,” yeah... Knowing for a fact that they’re getting closer with each other makes me feel so... weird. Maybe I’ve spent so much time with her that I don’t want her taken from me? But we’re just rivals working together toward the same goal. That’s all. We aren’t even friends or anything. She said we’ll go back to being strangers once she’s moved out. But then, why do I feel like this?
Had I been missing something this whole time?
“What about you and Minami?”
“W-We...”
“Are things going well?”
“We went to watch Jenny’s Sunday together a few days ago.”
“Really?! I was actually thinking of going myself! How was it?!”
“Oh, it was very good—so good it moved Minami to tears.”
We continued talking about the movie and other unimportant topics until it was our turn to get on the ride. We sat side by side and lowered the safety harness, and before long we were moving. I remembered it to be thrilling and scary to go on as a kid, but now that I was older, it was very underwhelming. The same didn’t seem to apply to Kokoro, who screeched at the top of her lungs from start to end.
If she really were my girlfriend, I guess this is the kind of stuff I’d be doing with her. Going to the amusement park. Seeing her adorably scared by the haunted house. Hearing her scream on the roller coaster... From now on, she’ll be doing this kind of thing with Yuya, not me.
I shook my head, realizing that just thinking that was extremely rude to Elena. There must be something wrong with me today. Actually, not just today... Something’s been wrong with me for a while now.
“It was super fun to ride this again after so long!” Kokoro announced happily once we’d stopped.
“Really? It was a bit disappointing for me, to be honest...”
“I mean, yeah, it’s made for kids. I can see where you’re coming from.”
As we headed to the bench where her mother was waiting, the worst possible thing happened.
“Hey, isn’t that... Kokoro?!” someone called out to her from behind.
We turned around and saw two girls I’d seen before—Kokoro’s friends from school. Beside them were two boys, presumably their boyfriends, who looked slightly older than us.
“Y-Yui? And Manami?! And...”
“Wait, isn’t he the guy you were talking to at school that one time?” one of the two girls, clearly shocked, said while staring at me. “Don’t tell me he’s your boyfriend!”
They’ve jumped to the worst possible conclusion!
“H-He...” Kokoro was stumbling for words. She probably wanted to tell them the truth, but she couldn’t because her mother was within earshot. Her two friends continued taking turns in expressing their shock and horror.
“Oh snap! I knew you were hiding something when you told me you didn’t have a boyfriend!”
“But, like... why him?! He’s way below your level!”
“Do you have a thing for, er... plain dudes? But, like, all the hottest guys in school are after you!”
Not hurting my feelings wasn’t very high on these girls’ priority list. It’s not like I didn’t already know that Kokoro was out of my league, and we weren’t really dating anyway, but having someone shout it at me, in public no less, hurt.
Maybe I should have at least tried to dress up a little bit. At least that would have made it less embarrassing for her. I’m so sorry I caused this misunderstanding with you friends, Nishina. We all know I’m not the kind of person who’s fit to be your boyfriend. That’d be someone better, like Yuya... Did it really take all this humiliation to remind me of that? Am I just that stupid?
“Hey!” Kokoro yelled. Her voice was terrifyingly cold. “Do you two really think it’s okay to say stuff like that?”
Is she really going to tell them we’re not dating with her mom so close? This must be even more humiliating for her than it is for me. I guess I can’t blame her, but it’s still painful.
As I fell into despair, Kokoro spoke up again. “Don’t talk about Ichigaya like that. You don’t know the first thing about him!”
“...Huh?” Nishina...?
She was fiercely staring down her friends, and I had no idea how to react. This isn’t about the misunderstanding... She’s standing up for me. But why, Nishina? I’m plain. I’m below your level. Everything they said is true. Why would you argue with your own friends just for my sake?
“Wh-Whatcha getting all worked up over? We were just poking some fun!”
“You must really like him a lot, huh...? S-Sorry!”
Faced with Kokoro’s reaction, her two friends could do nothing but nervously apologize.
“Um... Sorry for making it awkward. We really gotta go now,” one of them said, and the two girls and their boyfriends quickly shuffled away.
“N-Nishina...”
“I’m sorry my friends were so rude to you,” Kokoro said, staring at the ground with a pained expression on her face.
“N-No, don’t worry.”
Yes, they had been rude, but it didn’t matter what two girls I barely knew thought about me. Right now, I was just happy that Kokoro had stood up for me. She cared more about defending me than defending her own image. She must think way better of me than she used to.
Kokoro’s words had saved me from despair. It had looked like she was trying to distance herself from me, but what she’d just said convinced me that it wasn’t because she hated me.
She doesn’t hate me. Somehow, that makes me so happy...
“Welcome back!” Mrs. Nishina greeted us with a smile when we returned. For some reason, she looked much more appeased and calmer than earlier. “Kokoro... you really do love Ichigaya a lot.”
“What?!” Both Kokoro and I were shocked.
“Y-You heard that just now?!” Kokoro asked.
“Yes, and it made me feel a lot better about you two. I was worried you didn’t get along all that well, since you don’t really act like a couple, but it seems I’d been worrying about nothing.”
Of course, Nishina doesn’t actually love me. Her mom’s just assuming things based on what she heard. But... why am I so happy to hear that?
After that, we rode on a few more rides, and Mrs. Nishina even joined us on the tamer ones. Once we’d used all of our tickets, we left the park and had dinner at a nearby restaurant before taking the train home.
Even hours later, I still couldn’t stop thinking about what Kokoro had told her friends.
I don’t think I’ll ever forget what happened today.