Kaori had been the center of attention since she first entered school, always receiving the intense gazes of the boys. Kaori would talk to Hajime whenever she had time, but Hajime would always give her a wry smile and a troubled expression.
"What on earth does this man have against my lovely Kaori?! Sometimes I glare at him with anger, and he's very sensitive, so he gets startled and looks around. It's really funny."
Shizuku had a mischievous expression on her face, her eyes seemingly looking off into the distance. It had been less than two years, but when she spoke of that time, it felt like she was recounting memories from the distant past. Shizuku's tone was cheerful and relaxed.
Invited by Kaori to have lunch together, Hajime was sweating profusely under the gaze of his classmates.
Hajime always sleeps but still manages to get average grades. Even when the teacher gives him a cold shoulder, he just smiles wryly.
Shizuku and Kaori went to the adult game area together. The next day, Hajime heard about it and his expression suddenly changed.
Hajime noticed that Kaori was eagerly waiting for the end of school, but he showed his skills that even Shizuku was surprised and tried to escape.
Despite having a stiff expression on his face, Hajime listened to Guanghui's lecture to the end.
Memories keep popping up like light footsteps.
Shizuku kept talking, not even noticing the expressions Kaori and the others were looking at her with.
Shizuku's smile widened even more, but what she said was dark and contradictory to her expression.
"I don't know when it started... but Nagumo-kun's life at school has been changing. Kaori likes him, or rather, the four of us, including Kaori, who are a bit more popular, have become very close to him, so... the number of people who are jealous of him has also increased."
Shizuku whispered, "Just like me back then."
The atmosphere around Hajime grew increasingly cold, the tactics became more sinister, and malice and ridicule began to blatantly invade Hajime.
Kaori's expression darkened as she recalled the past. Shizuku understood Kaori's feelings and slowly shook her head.
"I thought I had to try to help him because I knew 'that feeling'. However, even though I knew he was in a difficult situation, I couldn't stop Kaori. Because I also understood Kaori's feelings."
No matter how many people confessed their love to her or how much Kouki treated her, Kaori remained indifferent. Hajime was Kaori's first love, and after two years of longing for him, they finally met again, but Kaori couldn't close the distance between them...
Because Kaori didn't have the awareness of her first love at that time, she just tried hard to get the attention and gaze of her lover as much as possible.
Her friend had no time to pay attention to the surrounding situation, and Shizuku was unable to persuade him, but she couldn't ignore Hajime either, so she could only quietly apologize to him...
However, Shizuku's heart was clearly filled with anxiety and guilt!
"But Nagumo-kun doesn't care about other people's malicious slander at all! Even though he said it was 'troublesome', it wasn't a problem at all! He was even yawning while saying that!"
Shizuku wondered what was wrong with this man.
He's so strong! So strong! Don't judge a man by his appearance, this man has a heart of steel!
After that, Shizuku's perception of Hajime changed.
She no longer thought of Hajime as just a weirdo.
This time, Shizuku was strongly interested in this type of boy she had never seen before in a different sense.
"At first, because of his usual attitude, I thought he might just be an emotionless monster. He didn't care about others, so he didn't care about what others thought of him."
In a sense, that was true. Hajime really didn't care much about other people.
But that wasn't because Hajime was unhuman, or a cold person.
Shizuku has been watching Hajime and understanding Hajime through Kaori, so Shizuku can understand that Hajime is not that kind of person.
Hajime simply had other things to focus on.
He really likes that thing and gives his all at all times, so he is willing to pay the price of devoting all his energy to the thing he likes.
Calling it 'enlightenment' might be a bit of an exaggeration, but Hajime did have a strong feeling of 'even if this happens, I must carry it through'.
It is because of this kind of strength that he is able to overcome adversity despite showing a troubled expression and a wry smile on his face.
"I think so. It's hard to describe, but I can agree that Kaori must have been drawn to his strong will."
Shizuku's face showed an expression as if her mouth was filled with sweet candy, and at the same time, a trivial past event surfaced in her mind.
——That was a small memory that Kaori didn’t know about, and no one else knew about.
One day after school.
After finishing her Kendo Club practice, Shizuku realized she had forgotten something in the classroom and returned to it, only to run into Hajime, who was still asleep in the classroom. It seemed he was so exhausted that he hadn't recovered even after school.
Shizuku couldn't ignore Hajime, so she called out to him and shook him.
Shizuku couldn't help but laugh when she heard Hajime's strange "Hmmmm" noise as he woke up.
"Hmm? Yaegashi-san?"
"Yes, it's me, Nagumo-san. You seem to be sleeping soundly. Are you planning to stay overnight at school?"
Shizuku said this with a smile. Hajime opened his eyes wide in surprise, looked out the window, and then let out another strange "Uh-huh" sound. Needless to say, Shizuku laughed even harder.
"Okay, the teacher will be here soon to lock the door, shall we go out together?"
"Ah, yes, you're right. Thank you for waking me, Yaegashi-san."
Perhaps because there was no one else around, Hajime wasn't as wary of his surroundings as usual. Shizuku still remembers his gentle and calm demeanor vividly.
Shizuku wondered in her heart, "How could such a gentle person have such a heart of steel?" while walking side by side with Hajime in the corridor.
There was no one else in the quiet corridor, and the setting sun cast beautiful shadows.
Shizuku felt like her throat was stuck, unsure of what to start a conversation with. She kept glancing at Hajime beside her... who was yawning as usual.
After entering high school, Shizuku was embarrassed, but she and Kaori were both called "two goddesses." Not only were her junior schoolmates, but even some of her senior schoolmates, for some reason, called her "sister" and showed her great respect and affection.
Of course, many boys regard Shizuku as an unattainable flower. Most men will blush and get nervous when talking to her and are always quite aware of her.
Shizuku, although it was not what she wanted, saw that Hajime's attitude was very natural, and she felt inexplicably annoyed for some reason at the time.
"Speaking of which, I'm really sorry about today. Kaori is fine, but Kouki also said a lot to you, right? Although he didn't mean any harm..."
Under the pressure of her inner emotions, Shizuku could not bear the silence and anxiously tried to find a topic to talk about, but ended up saying the same words as usual.
Shizuku originally thought that Hajime would give the same normal answer as usual, such as "I don't take it to heart" or "I'm fine", but this time it was beyond her expectations.
"...Hmm~ This feels strange."
Hearing this unexpected answer, Shizuku couldn't help but let out a confused "Huh?"
Hajime ignored Shizuku, rubbed his sleepy eyes, and continued with a wandering gaze:
"Yaegashi-san, you're often called 'onee-san', right?"
"Y-yeah, I don't really understand what that means."
"Hmm, that must be something like soul sisters... Anyway, let's put that aside for now. You always apologize to me on behalf of your childhood friend, so that's also based on a sisterly feeling, right?"
"...Yeah, maybe that's right."
At least it seemed that what he said hit the nail on the head about Shizuku's feelings towards Kouki, and Shizuku's heart couldn't help but skip a beat.
Hajime said, "I see," nodded, and continued:
"If it's from a sister's perspective, is that normal? It feels a little strange to have to apologize every day for a friend. I was wondering if you don't feel anything about this?"
"Um, I don't feel anything..."
Indeed, this might not be normal. However, Kouki is like family, and Kaori is the friend Shizuku cherishes most in the world. So Shizuku herself doesn't find it strange, but others may think it's too much concern. Shizuku was speechless, but she was thinking this in her heart.
"Ah, sorry, I think I said something strange. So, ah~ what I wanted to say..."
Hajime seemed to have forgotten what he was going to say. He pondered for a long time. When he reached the shoe cabinet, he remembered what he was going to say.
"Ah, yes, yes, what I want to say is, you don't have to worry about me."
"what?"
"You're worried about your childhood sweetheart, aren't you? Then you don't have to worry about me."
At this moment, for some reason, Shizuku didn't know how to respond.
Shizuku froze in place, her outdoor shoes in her hand.
Hajime said with his usual confused smile:
"Part of the reason I've been subjected to gossip is because I've ignored it. In other words, a fair amount of it is my own fault, so I actually feel guilty for causing Yaegashi-san to worry about me..."
“I didn’t do that…”
For some reason, Shizuku's words kept repeating in her mind, distracting her for a moment.
But as if abandoning Shizuku's unspeakable feelings, Hajime suddenly said, "Well, I'm leaving now, Yaegashi-san. See you tomorrow.", and ran away.
The incident happened suddenly, Shizuku couldn't help but scream "Ah" and hurriedly tried to call him to stop.
However, when she saw Guanghui's figure near the school gate, she immediately understood that Hajime had deliberately left first.
Did he simply hate going back with me?
Or maybe I'm still concerned about Shizuku...
Regardless, Shizuku felt somewhat dissatisfied.
At the same time, she realized that Kaori's dissatisfied expression was also trained in this way, right?
This was Shizuku's first one-on-one conversation with Hajime.
But it was a memory that Shizuku could not forget, and for some reason she kept it secret.
"Shizuku-chan?"
Shizuku suddenly came back to her senses, and only then did she realize that everyone was looking at her with indescribable expressions.
It seemed that the conversation stopped while he was immersed in memories.
Shizuku felt as if she had witnessed a fatal scene, so she quickly pretended to be calm.
Shizuku coughed, sat up straight, and put her heart into a box, a box that contained what she believed she should be like.
"Anyway, my impression of Nagumo-san is that he's a very strong person."
After being summoned, he was assigned an ordinary mission with low ability values. He was secretly bullied by Hiyama and others, but he never gave up on himself.
Shizuku knew that Hajime was repeatedly trying to hone his ability to refine what wasn't really a weapon, but was his only weapon.
No matter how others looked down on him, and even though he had his usual troubled smile on his face, he would never stop.
Shizuku also understands──
The reason why Hiyama and the others couldn't help but cause trouble for Hajime was because they understood deep down that they were no match for Hajime.
Compared to him who is weak in strength but strong in spirit, they themselves are strong in strength but weak in spirit. Hiyama and the others cannot accept the reality that they are not as good as him.
Shizuku knew very well how strong Hajime was, because she herself was very weak.
In fact, Shizuku was terrified of this unusual situation of being summoned to another world from the bottom of her heart, but Hajime was able to maintain her usual attitude.
Hajime, who possesses a strong spirit that is able to remain unchanged, has always motivated himself.
Ahh, he is indeed very strong.
What does it mean to be the weakest and incompetent?
Look, this is clearly a different world, and fighting is a must, yet he remains completely unwavering. Look closely, how unwavering his attitude is.
For such a person, why can anyone say that he is weak?
He is more than anyone else—
"Yes, he is the most mentally strong person I know."
Shizuku declared this with emotion.
For a long time, no one said a word.
The strange silence made Shizuku look around in confusion.
She thought to herself, I just said "mentally strong person", why did the atmosphere become like this?
Seeing Shizuku's reaction, Yue sighed softly, showing a confused expression just like Hajime's before, and walked forward quickly.
Then, she looked at Shizuku quietly and asked:
"...Strong enough to protect you?"
For just a moment, Shizuku's breathing stopped, but she quickly smiled sweetly.
"Yeah, he makes me feel that if this person is the one, he should be able to protect Kaori."
There was no hidden meaning in the words, no suppressed emotion at all.
That was an assertion of complete trust, and judging by the beautiful smile on Shizuku's face, it was undoubtedly her true feelings.
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