As I Know Anything About You, I'll Be The One To Your Girlfriend, Aren't I? - Volume 1 Chapter 3.6

Leave That Culture in the Heisei Era 6

Kujo’s PoV

In his life, today too, I remained someone whose presence or absence made no difference.

I shouldn’t be relieved that the sports festival committee has been separated by gender.

Walking out of the classroom with a heavy heart, I proceed down the hallway.

“Hey, Kujo. Can I have a moment?”

“Huh, ah, yes. What’s up?”

A female teacher briskly walks over to me. She’s our class’s assistant homeroom teacher, carrying a cardboard box in her arms.

I have a bad feeling about this.

“You’re on the library committee, right? Could you please arrange these in the bookshelf of the library? There’s a paper inside this box with instructions on where to place them.”

“…”

Maybe when you’re feeling down, it’s like life decides to pile on. I don’t want to say something so unscientific, but I just feel like saying it.

But, I doubt I could refuse even if I tried.

“Understood, I’ll take care of it.”

The best strategy is to accept quickly and finish it off just as fast.

“Thanks.”

“Ah…!”

Heavy!? Well, yes, they’re books…

The female teacher seemed to carry it effortlessly, but for someone as physically untrained as me, it’s tough.

Holding the cardboard box, I stagger toward the library, taking several breaks along the way until I finally make it.

Opening the door, the chilled air conditioned room greets me. The sweat I’ve worked up from the labor cools down rapidly. It’s actually a bit cold.

Now, to get the job done.

Following the instructions in the box, I move to a corner bookshelf as instructed. The empty space they mentioned is on the very top shelf. Conveniently, there’s a ladder nearby. It seems they expect me to climb it.

They’re really asking for a lot. I’ve never gotten anything but 1’s in PE my entire life… I give up at two levels of the vaulting box.

“Ugh, …eek…”

With shaky steps, I climb the ladder, trembling as I sit on the top platform.

This is scary… Why is it so frightening just because it’s a bit high? Is there a bug in my brain?

But I have no choice. I don’t plan on asking anyone for help, and there’s no one to ask in the first place.

I stretch out to place the books in the empty shelf… but can’t reach.

…I need to stand on the platform for this!

“Eeeek… impossible…”

Despite my protests, I stand on the platform. Isn’t it against the rules to stand on a ladder like this? Something about a safety hazard…

Trembling, I manage to insert the books.

One book, two books, damn, these books are heavy! Not just my legs, but my hands start to tremble too.

The third book, a bit too far—

“Ah.”

Ah, indeed.

Reaching out too far caused me to lose balance, and my weak body couldn’t correct it.

“Ah, whoa, Kyaa…”

Teetering on the platform, I felt my center of gravity shift fatally.

I knew I was going to fall, but couldn’t stop it. A wave of fear washed over me, and I couldn’t even scream properly.

“~!!”

Eventually, I completely lost balance.

Falling towards the floor, I instinctively closed my eyes tight…

“I made it!”

“…Ah?”

There was an impact.

…But it was far softer than I anticipated. I had fallen to the floor, but I was on top of something.

Or rather, someone.

“…Wha?”

“I managed to catch you, didn’t I? My reflexes aren’t completely gone yet.”

Turning around, that face, which I had stolen glances at countless times today, was incredibly close.

“Miya, shi, ro, kun…?”

Right now, he and I were… our bodies were touching closely…

“~!! I’m so sorry! I…!”

“Sorry here too, I wish I could’ve caught you more smoothly.”

As I hastily stood up and bowed, Miyashiro-kun spoke in his characteristic tone and voice.

“Let’s just say it was a close call, so forgive me?”

When I looked up, his wry smile entered my field of vision as he slowly stood up.

My heart leaped, and my breath stopped. Too many things had happened all at once, and my head felt like it was going to explode.

He saved me? It certainly seemed so. Even more physically close than when I watched his tennis match.

My whole body was extremely hot, and the cold air of the library that I had felt earlier was no longer perceptible.

But more than the heat or anything, there was something I needed to confirm first.

“Um, Miya, Miyashiro-kun, are you… hurt?”

“Not at all, not at all. Seems fine. Kujo-san, you’re surprisingly light. How about you?”

“I’m fine! …Really, you’re not hurt?”

I’d have to seppuku myself here if I had caused an injury to his dominant arm. (tln : seppuku is cutting your own abdoment etc, search it on google)

“Seems all good.”

He said, doing a hand gesture of okay. He truly seemed fine.

“…That’s good.”

Feeling my strength leave my knees, I, who had just gotten up, slumped back onto the floor.

“Anyway, um, thank you very much.”

“You’re welcome. It must be tough inserting books up high, is that part of the library committee’s work?”

“Ah, yes…”

“Got it.”

He extended his hand to me, who was sitting on the floor. I grasped it as if being drawn in, and felt his hand was slightly cool.

At the same time, I worried absurdly whether he found the heat of my hand strange.

“I’ll help you.”

“Ah, but…”

After he helped me stand, Miyashiro-kun picked up some books that had fallen and climbed the ladder. Unlike me, he didn’t need to stand on the platform to reach the shelf.

“Alright, I can insert them. Kujo-san, could you pass me the rest?”

“But, it’s my job…”

“Let’s go with the most efficient way. ‘We should always play our best move, right?’ ”

“Kujo-san, you say that a lot.” Miyashiro-kun said with a gentle smile.

Alright.

I must be dead, right? Because otherwise, this is just too convenient for me…

“Um, ah, …yes.”

My brain not functioning properly, I continued to pass books to Miyashiro-kun on the ladder.

“We couldn’t make it three days in a row, huh. Since Sunday came in between.”

“Do, you mean, talking, to me?”

In the almost empty, after-school library.

“Yeah. But since I managed to make it just in time for such a moment, it’s all good.”

“…”

The pounding heartbeat, the sweating body. Fear of saying something weird mingled with the desire to talk about various things.

This is what it means to like someone, to be with someone you like.

It’s unbelievably like a lie.

Hey, because I…

…used to hate you at first.