“S-s-sorry! I’m really, really sorry!”
At the bottom of a quiet staircase.
Rinka was bowing her head to me in desperation.
After my glasses were taken away and I came out of the restroom, she caught me by the shoe lockers. Then we came straight here.
She had left that group, saying she had “something to do,” just to return my glasses.
Honestly, I would’ve been fine if she gave them back tomorrow.
“Tomorrow would’ve been fine, you know.”
I wasn’t being threatened, so I could talk normally.
At this point, I was almost sure she wasn’t a bad person.
Her chest size, though, was dangerously distracting.
“Letting you walk around without glasses is… um, dangerous. B-because you look so… c-cool…”
The last part was so quiet I could barely hear it.
She probably thought my eyesight was terrible.
It’s true that walking home with bad vision would be risky.
Though in reality, my eyesight’s actually fine.
“Sorry. I didn’t think they’d push me that far.”
“Hikage-san… I knew it.”
“We’re classmates, just call me Hikage. Yeah, it’s probably just like you guessed.”
“Hikage… you didn’t really want to do it, did you.”
“My name’s Rinka. That’s right, I wasn’t really interested in Yoshiharu-kun either. But people kept saying, ‘Rinka, you two are perfect together!’ and before I knew it, everyone was supporting it.”
So that’s how it was. Rinka was actually pretty timid.
“Rinka, you’ve also had a hard time making friends, huh.”
“Call me Rin. I just kept going along with their expectations. Then I got scared of losing my friends, and I couldn’t back out anymore.”
“Rin… nah, Rinka’s easier to say.”
“Mmm, well, I’m happy with Rinka too! Can I call you Ritsuki?”
“I don’t care, even Kitaro or Nerd works. Just not youkai, okay?”
For some reason, Rinka really cared about what we called each other.
She wanted to say my name in this strangely sweet voice.
I didn’t really get it, but since she looked happy, I let it go.
“Um, since I caused you trouble, I want to make it up to you.”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s not the first time I’ve been bullied.”
“…So, I wasn’t your first, huh.”
“Why do you sound disappointed?”
“Anyway! I want to make it up to you! So, here!”
Rinka pulled out two movie tickets.
Why the heck was she carrying those around…?
“Those are…”
“Yep! Tickets for the advance screening of *Scramble Edge*! Let’s go watch it together!”
“The venue’s… Shibuya cinema…”
“You know it, right, Ritsuki!? The theme song’s by Personia! That’s why it’s normally impossible to get tickets!”
“Ah, I see.”
“I just got lucky and won them!”
It was a movie I knew way too well.
And at that Shibuya screening, there was supposed to be a surprise.
Before the movie started, *I*—as Shion—was scheduled to appear.
Which meant, unfortunately, I couldn’t go with her.
“Since you have those tickets, wouldn’t it be better to invite your friends instead?”
“No way. They’d just say, ‘Rinka, invite Yoshiharu-kun! We’ll support you from behind!’ or something.”
“…So basically, you didn’t have anyone else to invite.”
“H-hold on! Don’t make it sound like I don’t have friends!”
“So you carried the tickets around, waiting to find someone to ask…”
“W-well, this time I just happened to not find anyone.”
She puffed out her chest and said it like she was tough.
This girl… is she actually a loner?
I was starting to get it.
Rinka only had her “delinquent leader” mask.
No one knew the real Rinka—the timid and serious one.
That’s why she didn’t even have someone to go to the movies with.
――Still, I really couldn’t go. I had no choice but to turn her down.
“Ah, Rinka. Unfortunately, that day I—”
The moment I started to speak, her face turned hopeless.
――That was my bad habit.
As Shion, a singer who always wanted to make people smile…
I couldn’t help but want to see her real smile, not the mask she wore.
“I already have plans… to just hang out at a café next to the Shibuya cinema.”
“W-what’s that supposed to mean!? If you’re going that far, you might as well just watch it with me! That’s totally free time!”
When she realized I was joking, Rinka’s whole face lit up with relief, like she’d just been saved.
She looked so happy. Well, since it was at the same place anyway, maybe I could manage somehow.
And just like that, I got myself into another mess.
I wonder if I’ll be able to handle it on the day.
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