I, Keiichi Otani, have a childhood friend.
Her name is Chika Tachibana.
She’s energetic, free-spirited, and cheerful.
The kind of girl who always makes the people around her have fun… That’s who she was.
Chika and I had been playing together since we were little kids, but when we started middle school, I had to move away.
However, in my second year of high school, due to my parents’ work, we moved back to this town where Chika lives.
We’ve been keeping in touch regularly, with her calling me two or three times a week at a set time. We’d talk until dawn and fall asleep mid-conversation. Thanks to that, it didn’t feel like we hadn’t seen each other for a long time.
After stopping by the teachers' office to greet my assigned teacher, I headed to my new classroom.
Class 2-A… Chika mentioned she was in 2-B, didn’t she? If we were in the same class, school life would’ve been even more fun, but… Well, her class is next door, so I can always go see her.
As I was thinking about this, I heard the teacher’s voice through the window: “Come in.”
Alright, first impressions matter in these situations.
I braced myself and stepped into the classroom.
“My name is Keiichi Otani. I used to live in this town when I was little, but I moved away once and now I’m back. I hope we can get along.”
After introducing myself, I sat at my assigned seat.
Classes flew by, and soon it was lunchtime.
“Hey, Otani, where did you live before coming back here?”
“Why did you move back?”
“Do you have a girlfriend?”
I was swarmed by classmates bombarding me with the typical barrage of questions for a transfer student.
“Whoa, now even the most popular girl, Sekiguchi, is making her move!”
“So, does that mean it’s K versus Sekiguchi!?”
Suddenly, I heard voices from the hallway.
What’s this? K? Sekiguchi?
“Hey, Otani, are you curious? Let’s go check it out!”
“Uh… Sure.”
K versus Sekiguchi? Are they having a fight?
But if so, “most popular girl” sounds odd in that context.
Following my classmates, I headed toward the commotion.
“So, how many wins in a row does K have now?”
“I think it’s 35 in a row.”
“Wow… That’s insane.”
As we talked, I overheard snippets of the conversation.
35 wins? Are we talking about fights or something?
We arrived behind the gym, where a crowd was peeking in.
So cliché… I thought as I peeked in myself. What I saw there were two people—a boy and a girl.
The boy, Sekiguchi, had dyed brown hair and a slightly untidy uniform. He screamed “popular extrovert.” Even as a guy, I could tell he was the type girls would swoon over.
The girl, on the other hand, was incredibly cute.
With big, sparkling eyes and perfectly groomed hair, she was breathtaking. Her figure was noticeable even through her uniform.
She exuded warmth and brightness, like a sunflower.
And somehow, she reminded me of my childhood friend.
“Tachibana…?”
Huh? Tachibana?
“I’ve had my eye on you for a while. I like you. I wanted to tell you how I feel. If you’re okay with it, would you like to go out with me this weekend? Just the two of us.”
“Oh, sorry. I already have a very important childhood friend.”
Before Sekiguchi could finish his confession, she rejected him outright.
Wait, why does this sound like one of those ‘Sorry, I have a boyfriend’ rejections?
“Even Sekiguchi couldn’t stand a chance against K!”
“Tachibana has a childhood friend named K. According to her, he’s not her boyfriend, but they’ve been separated since middle school and are close enough to talk on the phone every week.”
One of my classmates explained the situation to me, clearly noticing my confusion.
K is her childhood friend.
K is someone she’s been separated from since middle school.
K is someone she talks to every week on the phone.
My brain worked at lightning speed to process all this and reached one conclusion:
K… is me, isn’t it?
At that moment, our eyes met.
“Huh? Kei-chan!? It’s Kei-chan!!”
All eyes in the area turned toward me.
“It’s been so long!!”
Wha—?! B-breasts!
No, I mean—ahh, she hugged me tightly!
Instinctively, I hugged her back.
“Uh, yeah… It’s been a while. You’ve… grown a lot, Chika.”
In more ways than one…
“No way, Kei-chan, you’ve gotten so much taller too!”
Chika looked up at me with a delighted expression.
But before this emotional reunion could continue, I realized something important.
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