I'm in Love with the Gorilla Sitting Next to Me - Volume 1 Chapter 2.9

From my first encounter with Gorilla-san to the present 9

The conditions Gossan set for lending her notes were two-fold. One was to write them out by hand instead of making copies, and the other was to treat her to whatever she wanted to eat until I was done. I had some money from working with friends over Golden Week, and since Gossan chose a cafe, I thought it wouldn’t be too bad. I want to punch my past self for being so complacent.

Gossan had already finished pancakes and a gateau chocolat. She was on her second cup of tea, and it was the expensive kind. Thanks to that, my wallet was on its last legs, even making me regret my own coffee purchase.

“Damn… if you’d let me copy, this wouldn’t have happened…!”

“I don’t like the idea of someone else having copies of my notes. Besides, you would have been done faster if you hadn’t copied everything word for word.”

“But when I look at my own notes again, I don’t feel like reading them! Since I’m paying a high price, I want to get at least some good grades…!”

“It’s good to have ambition. Now, after having sweets, I’d like something a little salty…”

“You’re still eating!? Gossan, seriously, aren’t you eating too much? You won’t have room for dinner.”

“Don’t worry. If it’s this much, I just need to eat a little less rice.”

I see. So the only thing that won’t be spared is my wallet.

Goodbye, my hard-earned money.

No choice, I’ll have to make up for it with my test results. Though there’s a theory that it’s already too late to recover the amount spent.

Swallowing my tears, I began to write down the scope of the World History test from start to finish, and asked,

“By the way, Gossan. Aren’t you taking a break from club activities because of the tests? Don’t you have plans to go out and have fun?”

“Why do you think we don’t have club activities? I’ll definitely use the time to study properly.”

“And what about after the tests?”

“Since club activities resume right after the last day of tests, I don’t have any particular plans.”

“Ah, I see. Back in middle school, my school prohibited club activities even on the last day of tests. We’d go back to normal the following day, but on the last day, we’d usually all go out and have fun together.”

As I reminisced without stopping my note-taking, I caught sight of a gorilla’s hand, unnaturally frozen while holding a teacup, in the corner of my vision.

“Speaking of which, a friend I hung out with recently mentioned something similar to what Saiki-kun said. Maybe you’re from the same school.”

“Oh, really? But Gossan, I’m surprised you hang out with friends. Didn’t expect that.”

“That’s a very irritating way to put it. Did you think I didn’t have any friends?”

“No, that’s not it. Let’s not get ready to smack me, okay? I just meant I’ve never heard you talk about hanging out with other girls from class.”

Gossan, who had been ready to strike at any moment, seemed to accept this explanation and withdrew her hand to drink her tea.

“Indeed, I haven’t hung out with my current classmates. The friend I mentioned has been a friend since elementary school, and since it’s a different school, my friend usually comes over in a way that’s almost like an invasion.”

“Huh, a friend from a different school… How did you meet?”

“At cram school. Strangely enough, I don’t have many memories of studying together.”

“If we went to the same middle school, we might have gone to the same elementary school too. What’s your friend’s name? And the name of the school?”

When I asked casually, hoping to find a common topic, Gossan stared at me intently.

“I won’t tell you. If we have a mutual acquaintance, it would be troublesome if you started asking all sorts of things about me.”

“Come on, Gossan, what do you take me for? I’m known for being considerate, you know?”

“That’s news to me, and I can’t say I see it that way at all, so let’s pretend I didn’t hear that. Besides, there’s her privacy to consider.”

“I thought it was normal to get excited when you find a mutual acquaintance…”

“If you waste any more time, I’ll collect the notes. Before that—excuse me, may I place an additional order?”

That wasn’t addressed to me but to a passing waiter, and permission from me was never part of the equation.

She wasn’t a gorilla, she was a demon. Realizing the danger, I quickly returned to copying her notes.

While listening to Gossan ordering ogura toast, I found myself reflecting on their earlier conversation.

—A girl, then.

Well, it’s less surprising that Gossan has a female friend than a male one.

Hmm, hmm.

“What are you grinning about?”

“Huh?”

Caught off guard, I touched my own face and said,

“What? Was I smiling?”

“Yes. Did you look at some doodle I made to amuse yourself again? If you were laughing at that, I’ll stab you with a fork.”

“No, it’s not like that at all, I wasn’t even aware…”

Despite Gossan’s somewhat terrifying suggestion, what intrigued me more was why I’d smiled unconsciously.

What was it? Am I happy to learn that Gossan’s friend was a girl? No, it felt more like… relief…?

“What’s with that strange expression now? Did you want some ogura toast too?”

Caught off guard by Gossan’s off-the-mark question, I gave a vague response, which seemed to genuinely concern her. She shared the ogura toast she had ordered and insisting on paying for it, but I refused, saying, ‘This is my treat’, and paid the full amount while crying inside.

I never did figure out why I reacted the way I did to Gossan’s friend being a girl. Puzzled by my own feelings, I didn’t even feel like studying for the exams despite the hefty price I’d paid for those notes.

That night, I found myself thinking about Gossan as I idly passed the time.

◇ ◆

—And so, despite maintaining a neither too close nor too distant relationship with the tall gorilla girl next to me, sometimes relying on her and sometimes getting hit by her, I found myself increasingly caught by her presence, thinking about her, and feeling uplifted in our conversations.

By the end of June, defining these elusive feelings had become my most pressing challenge.