My Childhood Friend Seems to be the Main Heroine. - Chapter 12

　”One hundred and seventy-five centimeters. That’s quite a bit of growth.”

　Saito muttered to himself as he looked at the measurement result sheet.

　His body has grown about five centimeters since he measured it last year.

(I must be in a growth spurt, right?)

　He is surprised at his own growth.

　He was not very tall in elementary school, so he drank a lot of milk, jumped up and down every day, and tried all sorts of other things to grow taller.

　However, he was in the average height of the class at that time, not short compared to the others.

　Saito had his own reason for wanting to grow taller.

　The reason was

“Saito, how did it turn out? “

“I grew a lot.”

“Wow, that’s true. You grew five centimeters. You’ve really grown up now. You used to be so tiny.”

　Now, he finds this girl, a childhood friend, peeking into Saito’s record sheets.

　Glancing at the record sheet of her childhood friend, he sees that [Height: 170 centimeters.]

　As a high school girl, no, as a woman, she is a rather tall girl.

　This has not changed.

　Moreover, since girls grow up faster than boys in their childhood, Riri was taller than boys until the middle of her junior high school years.

　Perhaps because of this, Riri often treats Saito like a child.

　It was unbearable for Saito to be treated like a child by a girl of the same age.

　Saito thought that if he could surpass Riri’s height, she would no longer treat him like a child, and he was eager to grow taller.

　Thanks to his efforts, he managed to catch up with Riri, but the person who treated him like a child showed no sign of improvement even though he was warned to stop it as if it was a vestige of her many years of experience.

　As proof, Riri is looking at him now with the same parental eyes as his parents.

(When is she going to stop acting like this?)

　In his mind, Saito wonders how he can stop her from treating himself like a child.

　But no solution comes to mind immediately, and they head for the next weight measurement.

“Then, I’m going to the third floor. I’ll see you later.”

“Yep.”

　While the height measurement was done jointly by boys and girls, the weight measurement was done separately for boys and girls, so Saito and Riri were separated by one floor.

　As he headed to the designated classroom, he met Kai, who had just finished his measurements.

“Akashi, how were the results? “

　Saito asked him how the results were.

“Ah, Minazuki-kun. Well, I’m happy to see that I’ve grown taller. But my weight has increased more than I expected. I realized again the importance of exercise.”

“You haven’t been active for six months because of the exams. It’s no wonder you’ve gained weight.”

“Well, I have to go on a serious diet.”

　Kai’s shoulder was drooping as he seemed to have gained more weight than he had imagined.

　Saito encouraged him, saying, “Well, do your best.”

“I’ll do my best. So, Saito, how did you do? “

“I don’t know about my weight because I haven’t weighed myself yet, but I’ve grown a lot in height.”

“Well, how much?”

“Five centimeters.”

“Wow. I’m jealous of your growth because I’ve been gaining two or three centimeters at most.”

　Not wanting to think too much about his own results, Akashi asked Saito about his results and was surprised to hear something more than he expected.

　He then looked up at Saito and said, “That’s why you’re so tall.”

　Saito was about to reply, “That’s normal.” but he stopped himself just in time.

　In junior high school, he had thought he was normal because his friends around him were about his height, but now he realized that he was one of the tallest students in the school.

　Besides, he thought it might be sarcastic to Kai, who is shorter than him.

“I’ve done a lot of work to get taller.”

　So Saito confided that he had been working hard to get taller.

　Although he is not taking it as seriously as he used to because he has now surpassed Riri’s height.

　He has been doing it for a long time, so it has become a habit, and he still does things like stretching in the morning and drinking milk.

“Hee-that’s why you’ve grown. That’s great. Can you teach me how to do that?”

“Sure. It’s not like you can’t find it on the Internet, you know? Like drinking milk, ….. “

　After a quick preface that he wasn’t doing anything surprising, Saito told Kai what he was doing.

“The next student should come in.”

“Then, I’m going.”

“Okay, let me know the results later.”

　Saito stops talking to Kai and enters the classroom to take his measurements.

　He gets on the scale and sees that his weight has increased from last year, of course.

　However, it is not a problem for Saito because he is a thin guy considering his height.

　It was because he had been running and doing muscle training even after the club activities.

　After that, he took off his top and measured his sitting height, but it took a long time because the steel part of the height gauge was cold, and Saito did not want to lean his back against it.

　A little later, after school.

　Saito and Riri left the school together and took a train.

　However, there was one thing different from usual today.

“There are so many people here.”

“Yes, I wonder why? “

　The difference is that, for some reason, there are more people on the train than in the morning, and it is more crowded.

　Saito and Riri managed to get on the train by forcibly sliding their bodies next to the doors.

　Every time the train shakes, their bodies are bumping into each other, which is annoying.

　Saito regrets forcing himself to get on this crowded train to go home as soon as possible.

” … “

“Saito, are you okay? “

　Saito frowned as the train shook again, and their bodies collided.

　Riri, who was standing by the window, voiced her concern.

　With Saito acting as a wall to protect her, Riri does not feel suffocated in spite of the crowded train.

　However, this situation is not good for Saito, who is the only one who has to bear the burden.

　If it is too hard, she wants him to stop.

“Don’t worry about something like this.”

　However, contrary to Riri’s wish, Saito continues playing the role of a wall, saying there is no problem.

　It was Saito who decided to take this train.

　Therefore, Saito cannot cause trouble for Riri, who is forced to go along with his decision.

　With such a sense of duty, Saito kept Riri out of the crowd.

　However, keeping one’s guard up for a long time is humanly impossible.

　When the train stopped shaking for a while, Saito relaxed his body for a moment.

　At that moment, the train shook violently.

“Whoa! “

　Thud-

　Saito, who had been caught completely off guard, was pushed, lost his position, and put his hands on the wall.

“Ah?! “

“Sorry.”

　As a result, their faces were so close to each other that if they moved even a little, their noses touched each other.

　Normally, this would be a very exciting situation.

　However, Saito and Riri had met in a similar situation several times before, as they had often taken the train together in the past.

　So Saito apologized and moved away from Riri without any change of expression.

“…It’s okay.”

　Riri replied with a downcast face and buried her face in Saito’s chest.

　Saito did not pay any attention to Riri’s words and kept his body in a stable position so that he would not make the same mistake twice.

　Riri’s face was bright red as she buried her face in Saito’s chest.

　To be honest, Riri did not expect herself to turn out this way.

　Because something similar had happened many times before in the past.

　There was no reason to get embarrassed over something like this now.

　However, there was one thing that she did not expect.

　If people ask her what it was, it was that Saito had grown taller.

　He is now tall enough to face her head-on.

　In the past, Riri was taller than Saito, so Saito’s face used to be on Riri’s neck or chest.

　That may be the reason.

　She knew that he was already taller than her.

　But she had unconsciously assumed that there was no problem because of her past experience.

　She reaped what she sows.

　It was Riri’s fault for thinking Saito was still a small kid.

(But it is annoying that I am the only one who is conscious of this.)

　Riri lightly head-butts Saito in the chest to vent her frustration.

“Huh?! “

“Sorry. The shaking made me lose my position.”

“Well, okay then.”

　Saito, who really understood what Riri was saying, forgave her without complaining.

(That part hasn’t changed, has it? But he’s getting bigger now.)

　Riri thought that this was a bit of a joke, but she kept burying her face in Saito’s chest until her face stopped burning.

Author’s Postscript

　I am currently working on a new version of episode 10.

　After that, the revised stories will be marked as “revised” so that you can read them as soon as they are attached.

　The contents differ from the unrevised ones, so if you have recently started reading, you can stop here.

　I will try to finish the story as soon as possible, so your understanding in this matter would be highly appreciated.

TN: Episode 10 = Chapter 12 (+2 prologues). I’ll put ‘revised’ in every revised chapter’s title. Currently, there are 32 chapters in the raw and two revised chapters.