The First-Year's Home

I'm currently in a predicament that's known as a "misunderstanding." In it, I'm sitting in a middle of a room, with two girls in either sides of a small table that's currently in front of me. While the choices of words may not be enough to cause what I've mentioned as "misunderstanding," it's the words of the girls that's making a misunderstanding.

"So, you had a girlfriend, huh…," muttered the girl in my right, the girl in my left not hearing.

"So you had a girlfriend, huh…," muttered the girl in my left, the girl in my right not hearing.

They both spoke at the same time that I wasn't even sure which said which. But the problem laid with they had just said. Ayase Shimamura and Miku Akiyama are both assuming that I'm with a relationship with either of them.

Miku and I accidentally stumbled upon Shimamura-san's house while we were resting. She declared earlier that she thought she heard someone ring the intercom, so she went outside, and saw us. After that, her mom came out of their house. For better or worse, I knew her mom. We interacted a bit because she works part-time at a convenience store near the school.

She suddenly invited us inside, which leads to our current predicament. I first turned down her offer, but because of her being insistent, I gave in. Miku didn't have much of a say in it, either, and same can be said for Shimamura-san.

Not gonna lie, this atmosphere and silence is killing me. It would've been fine if it were just the silence, but two girls contemplating this situation right now feels really heavy. I can't really take it, but it's not like I have any words that could break this silence, either. Being a loner sure is tough on situations like these.

However, God of Luck smiled upon me, and Shimamura-san's mother came inside the room with a tray of cookies and a pitcher of cold juice with some cups. Wait, why do I feel like I'm having a deja vu?

"Now, enjoy yourselves~" Shimamura-san's mom said as she slowly closed the door. I think God of Luck smirked at me mischievously instead of a supportive one.

Silence, it's pleasant for my ears. Air, it's enough to make me want to die. I kept searching and searching as if my life was flashing before my eyes, and finally came up with a proper conversation topic. Even if I'm a loner, I can at least come up with something, I guess.

"So this is where you live, huh…," I said as I took a cookie, biting half of it. I sucked on the air to prevent the crumbs from falling.

She nodded slowly. I stared at her, and her eyes were fidgeting between me and Miku. When our eyes met, she quickly averted her gaze downwards, her cheeks having a little tinge of red and her ears having a lot of red.

"Yuuji, you said you weren't famous," said Miku as she glared daggers at me.

"Of course not."

"Then why does the infamous Ayase Shimamura know you? Not only that, even the auntie knows you pretty well."

"I-Infamous?"

Okay, why does Miku sound pretty grumpy all of a sudden? I mean, sure, they both know me, but that fact doesn't really mean I'm pretty famous. In fact, I'm just as average as your normal high school student.

"And not only that, Matsubara-senpai and you know each other pretty well that both of you even use nicknames for each other."

Okay, how the heck did she know that?

"These nicknames aren't that much of a big deal. Senpai-san is an exception. We've known each other since junior high, so it was natural."

"But that's the thing. Matsubara-senpai is a third-year, whilst the three of us are first-years. That means you met Matsubara-senpai when you were in your first-year of junior high, and both of you had gotten pretty close after a year."

I can't take what she's saying. Intellectual people sure is are to handle or even comprehend when your mind is as feeble as a bug. I wish my smarter-than-Miku little sister was here.

"In other words, that must mean you're pretty famous, right?"

"I admit that we're pretty close, but that doesn't really mean I'm famous or anything. Why are you even insistent on it anyway?"

"That doesn't matter."

"So mine does…"

I was going to grab another cookie to eat to ease my currently endless depression(not really), but couldn't, since there weren't any in sight. As I pondered over where it had gone, I saw Shimamura-san drinking a glass of cold juice. The most noticeable thing that I saw besides the juice, however, was the crumbs just beside her lips. Yep, she definitely ate them all while we were having what could be our argument. How much of an appetite does she have? And wait, you're supposed to make the visitors eat that. But we just came here unexpectedly, so she has right to do whatever she wants.

Well, for now, we've seemed to have calmed down a bit. Now that I took a good look, we seem to be in a room that's kind of girlish, if memory serves right. By the way, I've been to Senpai-san's room, so I knew what a girlish room would be. Senpai-san also lives alone, and thanks to her salary as a novelist, she can pay rent on her own.

The room had, well, I can't really explain it, but it had fluffy designs. There was a whole table full of makeup kits and whatnot with a huge mirror in front of it, the closet was left open so I could see any kinds of casual clothes the typical high school girl would wear, and she even had tons of pillows of cute little animal designs on them. In every direction I look, it just screamed girlish. Even the walls are painted with bright pink, it's blinding an average high school boy like me.

"S-Stop staring so much…," muttered Shimamura-san as she hid her face behind a pillow with a cute cat design. No, actually, it was her cat. Oh, how cute. Shimamura-san, I mean.

"So even the infamous Ayase Shimamura can look like this, huh?" said Miku. She seems to be enjoying herself.

"I-I can't help it! This is the first time a guy's been in my room before…"

"Well, it's all fine! I'm here, so don't worry about anything malicious that might happen!"

What are you taking me for, a criminal?

"For now," I started. "We apologize for suddenly barging into your home. It's already late at night, and we're pretty much causing trouble for you."

"Y-You don't need to apologize. If my mind just hadn't thought someone was outside, none of this would've happened… Mom is pretty stubborn as well, but please forgive her."

Yeah, we sometimes have those types of mother. They always take misunderstandings seriously. I get how you feel, Shimamura-san.

"Not gonna lie, you're surprisingly girlish, Shimamura," said Miku as she took a sip of cold juice. "Not the kind of image that I got when you suddenly beat Nao-senpai."

"N-Nao-senpai…?" I muttered that they couldn't hear it.

She calls the fierce volleyball player by her first name. Surprised, but not enough.

"So," Miku leaned on the table, closing both of their distances. "Who's your next target?"

"M-My next target…?" she said as she dazedly stared at Miku's face.

She contemplated her answer for a bit, and then arrived at a conclusion.

"I guess it's Ayane Matsubara."

Of course, my reaction was pretty obvious. I was surprised to hear that she'd go for Senpai-san. I mean, sure, she's part of the Three Deadly Beauties, but that doesn't mean she's can necessarily be the target. But wait, now that I think about it, since Nao Aoyama was already beaten, that would mean there's only two left. And picking one of them is 50/50 chance, so it's only natural she'd arrive at that conclusion. But then again, Senpai-san is a third-year, so no one would even pick a fight with older people. I guess Shimamura-san really is just fearless.

Miku's reaction was pretty far from mine, as if she'd already anticipated that Shimamura-san would actually pick Senpai-san.

"Ah, it's getting pretty late," Miku said as she looked at the time in her phone. "We can hang out in your house every once in a while, can't we, Ayase?"

Hey, she's acting way too familiar with Shimamura-san. The worse part, Shimamura-san doesn't even mind it.

"Well, I guess we could. But why do you want to hang out, especially in my house?"

"Well, let's just say I'm your comrade, Ayase!"

"C-Comrade?"

"I may not look like it, but I hold do hold grudges."

"That doesn't explain anything, Miku," I said.

"Thought so, teehee!~" she said as she hit her head and stuck out her tongue like some sort of anime girl.

***

"Well, see you around, Ayase!" Miku said as waved goodbye.

Seems like I don't need any reason to stay here, so I guess I'll head out as well. But just when I thought of that, Shimamura-san started talking to me.

"So, who is she?" she asked as she started glaring daggers at me. Hey, why are you starting to get angry at me in this timing? Also, Miku acted all casual while Shimamura-san didn't know her? I'm impressed with her communication skills.

"Miku Akiyama. She's the class president in my class."

"Huuh. I see."

Okay, could you please stop that with that tone? It's actually hurting me now.

"H-Hey, could you do me a little favor?"

"Ask away," I said without a moment's hesitation. I wonder why, maybe I've already been subconsciously wanting to be asked to help after so long?

"Can you not spread anything about me in school?

Her usual demeanor towards me seemed to have dissipated, and it actually sounded like she genuinely meant it.

"Sure. I mean, I wasn't really planning on it anyway."

Besides, who am I going to spread it to? Kentarou? Wait, he's quite the gossiper, so I should be careful around him. I don't think Senpai-san would even be interested in that info, either.

"Gotta say, you live surprisingly close," I said.

"I guess. I just saw that the school was closer to my house, so I thought of admitting there."

Well, that was also one of the reasons I picked that school.

"I'm even more surprised to find out that both of you live near me. As far as I know, I've never seen any of my classmates or even schoolmates go in this area."

"Besides Miku, I guess you can say the same for me."

Now that I thought about it, we do live surprisingly close. I was five streets away Miku, and Shimamura-san was just three streets away from mine, like Miku had said. An idea suddenly struck me.

"Hey, why don't I just give you lunch in your house every morning?"

"Eh?" She looked genuinely confused.

"I mean, if we just keep doing it at school, tons of people keeps staring at us, and frankly, I'm quite tired of it. I don't like being the center of attention, and I want everything to be fine just the way they are, with me being left out. Of course, if I bring you my lunch here, that doesn't exclude the fact that I'm going to pat you still."

Wait, Miku said that girls don't like it when their hairstyle is messed up by some person, and that includes Shimamura-san. Maybe I should reconsider this.

"Wait, actually—"

"Sure."

I was interrupted that I didn't even have the chance to speak again. Well, at least the words was stuck in my throat and wouldn't come out after what she said.

"What? We're you about to say something?" she asked

I'm not sure if she did that on purpose, but something tells me that I shouldn't continue what I was about to say.

"Uh, see you tomorrow?" I said, and covered my unspoken words.

"Ah, mm," she nodded. "I'm out of house around six, so meet me up by then."

"..."

That's way too early, but I guess it's all good in order to keep a good attendance.

***

"Yuu-nii, welcome home," Yuumi said as I entered the door of my house. "What took you so long?"

"Well, you know, stuff."

No one would say that when they literally just walked someone to their house. Five streets is really nearby, so giving a vague answer was all I could muster. How was I supposed to say to her that I unintentionally visited a schoolmate's house?

"Well, I cooked dinner again. Want to eat with me?"

"Why are you doing that? You're wasting our groceries for this week, you know."

"Don't worry, I restocked earlier when you were out cold. Besides, I still have the appetite because Miku-chan-senpai visited our house and had dinner with us. If only she didn't come…"

"You're the one who decided to invite her for dinner, though."

But not gonna lie, her cooking is wafting throughout the whole house. I already ate, but it looks like I'm still up for round two. But I resisted.

"I feel like staying up late would make the cold go back, so I guess I'll pass on eating another one."

"It's your sister asking though…"

"Say no more," I sat down beside her and clapped my hands. "Time to dig in."