The Delinquent Shimizu-san Sitting Next to Me Has Dyed Her Hair Black-Chapter 5Volume 2 .1 - Shimizu-san and Misunderstanding

Shimizu-san and Misunderstanding 1

“…Doesn’t look like the others are coming.”

“Yeah.”

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One afternoon, as the day for stargazing was fast approaching, I was in the Astronomy Club room with Seto.

“Hondō said he couldn’t make it today due to some errands. Have you heard anything from Ai and Yousuke?”

“Ai Senpai said she’d be late because of student council duties. I think it’s probably the same for Sakata Senpai.”

“I see.”

The conversation feels awkward.

Maybe it’s because I haven’t spent much time talking with Seto one-on-one.

“Am I bothering you?”

Seto tilts her head.

“No, you’re not.”

“That’s good to hear.”

Seto looks away from me. It seems like the conversation has reached a temporary end, and silence fills the club room.

But I wanted to clarify something while I had the chance.

“Hey, Seto.”

“What?”

“Can I talk to you for a moment?”

“Sure, what’s up?”

“There’s something I want to tell you.”

“…What a coincidence. I also have something I want to say to Shimizu-san.”

“Really?”

This is unexpected.

I never thought Seto would have something she wanted to say to me as well.

“Then, who’s going to go first?”

“Before that, I want to ask something. What do you want to talk about?”

“…it’s about Hondō-kun.”

“I see. I think what you want to say and what I want to say might be the same.”

I’m not certain, but I have a feeling that was the case.

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

“Should we say it at the same time?”

“Let’s do that. When I say ‘ready, set,’ we’ll do it together.”

“Got it.”

Both of us take a deep breath simultaneously.

“Ready, set!”

“You like Hondō, don’t you!?”

“Shimizu-san, I know you have feelings for Hondō-kun.”

“What!?”

“Huh?”

The part about me liking Hondō was correct, but the rest of the conversation was drastically different from what I thought.

“Why… why do you think I like… I mean, have feelings for Hondō…?”

“Before that, answer my question. Why did you think I had feelings for Hondō-kun?”

“Well…”

To explain that, I would have to admit that I was pretending to be asleep when Hondō and Seto were talking about love.

“Ah, I know you were feigning sleep when Hondō-kun and I were talking about love. So you don’t have to worry about that getting out.”

“What?”

I inadvertently let out a flustered voice.

She knew I was pretending to be asleep? Then why…?

There’s a lot I want to say, but first, I have to answer Seto’s question.

“In that case, let’s make this quick. You and him… you often chatted about love with Hondō! And you always asked Hondō for his opinion! You’re doing that because you secretly like Hondō and you’re trying to gather references for later, right!?”

I pointed at Seto with vigor. But Seto said nothing.

“Hmph, hit the nail on the head, didn’t I? I’m so spot-on that you can’t even speak. I knew it, I’m not wrong…”

“Sigh…”

Just when I thought he’d speak, Seto let out a big sigh.

“Why are you sighing? Are you mocking me?”

Even Ai never sighed at me like that.

That prolonged sigh hurt more than I expected.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to. The reason I didn’t respond earlier is not because you were right but because I was dumbfounded. None of Shimizu’s guesses about me are correct.”

“What do you mean?”

“First off, I’m not romantically interested in Hondō-kun. The reason I talk about love with him is to confirm whether my feelings for the person I’m truly curious about are actually romantic.”

“…Are you sure you don’t like Hondō?”

“That’s how it is.”

There’s no change in Seto’s expression, but she doesn’t seem to be lying.

“I see…”

I felt a weight lifted off my heart. So that was it.

I had thought Seto liked Hondō, but it seems I was mistaken.

“…you can relax.”

Seto whispered as if reading my mind.

“W-What’s that supposed to mean? Whether or not you like Hondō doesn’t matter to me!”

I blurted out something I didn’t mean to say.

I felt a little disgusted with myself.

“That’s a lie. Because you like Hondō-kun, you must be extremely curious about what I think of him.”

“You said that earlier, but why do you think I like… um, have feelings for Hondō?”

“There are many pieces of evidence.”

“…tell me.”

I don’t recall leaving any evidence.

Seto must be making things up.

“First, the hairstyle.”

For a moment, my heart skipped a beat, because it was something that struck me.

“The day after Hondō-kun mentioned his favorite hairstyle being a half-up, you came with that exact hairstyle. If you didn’t think anything of Hondō-kun, you wouldn’t have done that.”

“Ugh…”

It’s not strange for Seto to know I changed my hairstyle since we are in the same class and club.

But deducting the reason…she’s quite observant.

“That… that was a coincidence.”

“There are various ways to arrange a half-up hairstyle. Was the fact that it was identical to the magazine also a coincidence?”

“…It was also a coincidence.”

“Didn’t you reference the fashion magazine where I had placed sticky notes?”

“I said it’s a coincidence!”

“It’s too much for that to be a coincidence… Well, fine. There’s more evidence.”

“There’s more?”

“Of course. The second is the timing of when you watched ’21 Gram of Difference.’ “

“Ugh…”

It’s too close to home. Seto continued without minding my reaction.

“On the day Hondō-kun mentioned it would be fun to watch the same anime with someone he’s interested in and share opinions, you immediately watched ’21 Gram of Difference,’ which Hondō-kun had mentioned. It’s clear you were being conscious of him.”

“That’s… that’s because Ai later said ‘Twenty-One Gram Difference’ was interesting, so I got curious.”

“…You still won’t admit it?”

Seto stared intently at me.

It was as if she was saying I should just admit it and find relief.

“Give up. There’s no more evidence left, right?”

“…Fine. I didn’t want to bring this up, but…”

Other than the previous two incidents, I never acted after listening to Seto and Hondō’s love stories.

So, Seto shouldn’t have any more evidence to present, but…

“Just because Hondō-kun said he wanted to try a homemade bento, you specifically made one for him. It can only be thought of as you liking Hondō-kun.”

“How do you even know about that…”

I regretted saying that as soon as the words left my mouth.

“I knew it.”

“You set a trap for me!”

“I saw Shimizu-san give the bento to Hondō-kun. And Hondō-kun had mentioned a while ago that he’d be happy if someone made a bento for him. Considering these two pieces of information, it’s not hard to think taht Shimizu-san made the bento for Hondō-kun. But I had no proof.”

“So you were checking my reaction…”

“Yes.”

It seems Seto was a step ahead of me. But something still bothered me.

“Why were you watching me give Hondō the bento? Neither he nor I were members of the Astronomy Club at the time. Isn’t it strange for you to be watching us?”

“Ah…”

Seto suddenly averted her eyes.

Suspicious. She’s hiding something.

“Don’t tell me you actually like Hondō…”

“…sigh.”

Seto sighed again, this time seemingly half out of disappointment and half relief.

“You! You sighed again! Seriously, stop it!”

“Sorry. I just thought Shimizu-san was only looking at Hondō-kun.”

“You’re not listening at all. You can say whatever you want…anyway, why were you watching us?”

“…Can I remain silent?”

“No way. Just spill it and be done with it.”

I felt like a detective trying to get a confession from a suspect.

“…I want you to promise me one thing.”

“Getting all serious now? Go on.”

“If you’re going to be angry, don’t just be angry with me, be angry with Ai Senpai to.”

“Ai is involved in this too?”

I have a bad feeling about this.

When it comes to Ai, these hunches usually turn out to be right.

“Okay, so why were you watching Hondō and me?”

“…I was asked to keep an eye on Shimizu-san.”

At that moment, a certain phrase crossed my mind.

『I have an accomplice in Kei’s class. That’s all there is to it.』

I think Ai said something like that the night I gave the homemade bento to Hondō.