Crossing Paths, Traumatized, and Yet…

CH 42

The first semester of high school life has passed in a blink of an eye.

So far, Daiki was able to lead a normal high school life without any problems.

He was getting good grades in his studies and getting along well with his friends.

He started to hang out with everyone, and among the girls, he started to talk with Shion well.

Shion was easy to talk to and soothing to watch, because she was able to get along with everyone.

Everyone thought so.

Daiki felt the same way.

They promised to play together during the summer vacation.

Of course, the boys were happy because Shion said she would come too.

During the summer vacation, he made it so that half of the time he would be at his father’s place and half would be back home.

Since his father’s vacation was in August, he decided to spend it at home first.

Since then, he and Wakaba have not been in frequent contact with each other.

When students reach high school age, they are busy with each of their own activities.

She would contact him every day, but he would return her calls and that would be the end of it.

There were many things she wanted to tell him, but he suppressed his feelings and held back.

It is probably better that they don’t see each other at all.

Wakaba said she could not play that much because of her many club activities.

It was sad that he did not have many chances to see her during the summer vacation, but it was also a relief that he did not have to tighten his grip on her heart.

From the beginning of the summer vacation, she went bowling and karaoke with her friends and had a good time.

When they went to karaoke, one of her friends told him about Wakaba and Shiraishi.

“I think Misaki and Shiraishi are perfect for each other. Support?

Something like that, but they don’t go out with each other very often.

You think they’d be a good match for each other, too, don’t you?”

She said.

He felt pain in his chest.

“I think they’re perfect for each other.”

He managed to answer.

After that, they continued to talk about the two, but Daiki was only humming along and barely listening to what she said.

Had she finished talking about the two of them?

“Daiki has become handsome all at once, too.

You didn’t look like that in middle school, but in high school you must be popular.”

So she said to him.

“Not at all.”

The truth is, he was confessed for the first time before the summer vacation.

She was a classmate of his at high school, but he had never talked to her much.

Daiki politely declined, not because he liked Wakaba, but because he thought he couldn’t go out with a girl he didn’t like.

When he rejected her, it hurt his heart, but he was relieved that they decided to be friends first.

Daiki, too, had become a high school student and was beginning to be popular.

The annual summer festival that they had planned to go to together was cancelled due to rain.

Now he would not see Wakaba again during the month of July.

In August, he returned to his father’s place and spent time playing with his high school friends until his father went on vacation.

Shion and her friends came to the festival, and for the first time he saw the girls in their casual clothes.

They were very cute.

All the boys must have been happy.

Especially Shion is very popular and everyone blushed as they looked at her.

Shion came up to Daiki and said

“Daiki, you look so cool in casual clothes too.”

She praised him in his casual clothes.

Daiki was happy and a little embarrassed, but soon started to admire Daiki’s clothes.

“Shion is fashionable and cute, too.

Everyone thinks so, too, I think.”

He told her.

This time they went to the same complex as before and played in the same way.

Daiki was doing well, getting a high score in bowling, but he couldn’t get anything on the UFO catcher.

Shion was also in the same group with Daiki, so this time Shion got a stuffed animal.

She also got a keychain.

“I got a stuffed animal from you before, so I’ll give you this in return.”

Daiki got the key ring, but his other male friends were envious that he got it from Shion.

Daiki said

“She gave me a key chain in return for a stuffed animal I gave her a while ago.”

The boys all started to play UFO catcher, trying desperately to get the stuffed animal and give it to Shion.

In the end, no one was able to get it, but everyone seemed to be having fun.

Since there was time that day, they enjoyed karaoke.

Daiki was a good singer, so everyone got excited and had a good time.

Shion was blushing and fawning over Daiki as he sang, but Daiki was unaware of it.

Wakaba had been able to switch things up a bit since the day she talked to Chika about it.

She found that she felt better if she talked about what was on her mind.

Although she was able to change her mind, she still spent her days in a state of bewilderment.

Even after the summer break, she still hadn’t seen Daiki.

Until junior high school, she always saw him at school, but now he went to a different high school and went to his father’s place on weekdays, so she hardly saw him at all.

Even if he came home on weekends, he could not see Wakaba because she had to go to club activities.

They have been together since they were small children, so Wakaba was eager to see him.

At the same time, she felt the loneliness that the things she took for granted were no longer taken for granted.

Wakaba does not yet realize that this is love.

She had mistaken it for the feeling of wanting to see her family.

The summer festival she had been looking forward to was cancelled due to rain, and in the end she could not see him during July.

He said he was going to visit his father in August, so the next time he would be back would be at the festival at the end of August.

Wakaba was in agony again.