Chapter 10

Of course, I’ve never thought of giving up on Rin-chan.

I don’t think I’ve ever treated Rin-chan at the level of “giving up” on her.

“Really, it must have been hard for you back then.”

I wondered if the fact that she still spoke to me like that meant that those days had affected her.

Me, my sister, and Rin-chan went to the same school when we were in middle school.

So, until I graduated, we spent our time together as normal students at the same school.

Needless to say, my sister and I did not try to get into each other’s affairs.

Rin-chan came to visit, so I had a chance to get to know her, but other than that, I had no way of knowing about my sister’s friends.

From Rin-chan’s point of view, I had nothing to do with her since I was a senior who she didn’t know well.

This may have lightened her heart, for better or worse.

“You don’t look so good today.”

“Huh?”

“The more we meet like this, the more I understand. …Sorry, that was weird.”

“N-Not really…”

I’m not sure if I’m insensitive enough to notice and say something like that in that situation.

“…I haven’t been feeling very comfortable at home or at school lately.”

“I see. Well, drink some of this.”

The expression on her face when she muttered to herself made me think that her problem was quite serious.

I offered her a nice cup of cocoa and treated her in my own way.

“In a situation like that where you feel like you can’t talk about it anywhere, you can say whatever you want to the wall here, okay?”

“That’s… I’ll feel bad about it.”

“It’s hard to talk about something like that, even to a friend like her, isn’t it? It’s possible she’ll tell it to someone who doesn’t have much of a relationship with you. You can’t do anything about it if you don’t trust them to keep their mouths shut, though. Well, it’s just like an internet message board.”

I can go into it now and say, “What’s an internet message board when you can actually expose yourself in front of me?”

“…Friendships are not a problem since Saki has been nice to me. But I’m not getting along with a girl in my class in club activities. At home, my parents are always asking me about my grades, and I’m always upset about it.”

“…I see. It’s definitely a stifling environment.”

I knew from her expression that she was serious, but when I heard it in person, I realized that she was struggling with something more difficult than I had imagined.

I’ve never had any serious problems, so it wasn’t something I could have asked out of the blue.

And now that I think about it, Rin-chan’s reluctance to participate in club activities may have been caused by this one incident.

“How are things not going for you in the club?”

“The person the girl is interested in seems to like me… It’s a tough one.”

“So that’s how it is…”

She was clearly jealous of Rin-chan.

It’s a part of adolescence, but it’s definitely hard on the person who is involved in the problem.

And the trouble is that love is involved.

It is more difficult to talk to adults about it than simple bullying… No, it is not possible.

The only parents who might be willing to talk to her about it are the ones who have trouble talking to her about her grades.

My sister is in a different club, and she definitely doesn’t want to get her friends involved in a messy situation.

“What was the right thing to do?”

Rin-chan hadn’t done anything wrong. I was tempted to say, “Rin-chan didn’t do anything wrong,” but I didn’t because that wouldn’t be an answer or a consolation.

I really thought it would be a hundred times better to keep my mouth shut as a wall than to say something appropriate like that.

“First of all, don’t get involved with the guy. Show him that you’re not interested. Then, as scary as it may be, I think it’s best to step in on the girl’s life slowly.”

The only thing you can do is to prove in front of the jealous person how you have no relationship with the guy.

If the girl’s response pushes you to be more mature, it may even be seen as affirming the relationship by the person who can’t see it calmly.

“……”

“That said, it’s usually pretty scary.”

It’s just an irresponsible opinion from the outside, so I don’t know how Rin-chan sees it

“So you don’t enjoy club activities?”

“Unfortunately, not at all. I didn’t expect anything like this to happen.”

“I see.”

Her well-defined face shows a lot of joy, anger, sadness and anger.

The sad expression on her face made it look like she was having a hard time doing club activities.

And I said this just based on the instincts I got from my vision.

“Are you… going to skip club activities?”

“Huh…?”

“I’m retired from club activities, so I’m always here. I’ll always lend an ear here. Just like a sanctuary.”

“No, but wouldn’t it bother Onii-san…?”

“Don’t worry about it. Rin-chan is a very nice girl. If you’re bothered by it, just be nice to Saki for the rest of your life.”

“……”

“Of course, I’m not saying you have to. You can even try it out.”

I don’t like the way it sounds like I’m inviting her to something shady.

“…Is it really okay?”

“Yeah. You can read a book, study as usual, or just talk like this. It doesn’t matter.”

Skipping club activities was not a good idea, and I might be an asshole for asking her to join me.

But I thought about her environment and my position and came to the conclusion that I could do what I could at the time.

“Then, just for a bit…”

“Okay. I won’t tell anyone about this, including Saki, so don’t worry.”

Thus, she was able to spend a little more time with me.

And it was convenient for her, since her club’s advisor rarely even came to see her, just for form’s sake.

We studied together, and I taught her, wondering if I could do something about her grades.

Little by little, her cheerfulness and grades began to return to how it was originally.

“Oh, by the way…”

“What is it?”

About two months later, we began to meet after school.

When it had become commonplace for us to meet after school, she said it simply.

“I’ve officially quit the club.”

“…Seriously?”

“…Yeah!”

She looked amused and affirmed my confirmation with a laugh.

When she told me that her grades were getting better and better, and that it was because of the club activities that her grades were not doing well, her parents gave her permission to quit.

“Then I said I’ll study and go home after school!”

“You’re so thorough.”

“Yes! With that, I’d like to ask for your continued support!”

She managed to get over her troubles with my response, which in hindsight I think was just a bad move.

Maybe that’s why she’s still trying to rely on me as much as ever.

The eyes that genuinely try to rely on me are just too powerful.

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