Ranobe Mo Ore Mo Sukina Gyaru - Volume 1 Chapter 11.2

Gal and a Mini Runaway 2

Afterward, in a hurry, I replied to Tsumakawa with,『What’s wrong?』

After a few exchanges, I ended up agreeing to meet her at a small park not far from my house.

Riding my bike as fast as I could, I reached the park, situated in the midst of a residential area, in about five minutes.

There, I searched for Tsumakawa, who seemed to be waiting.

Then, I saw her——

Sitting on a lonely swing, Tsumakawa was gazing intently at the ground with red, tear-stained eyes.

…I’ve never seen her this weak before…

Thinking that, I parked my bike in the park and rushed over to Tsumakawa.

She also noticed my arrival and slowly walked towards me.

Meeting her in the center of the park like this, Tsumakawa suddenly embraced me tightly.

“Whoa, what’s going on, Tsumakawa-san!?”

“Ughhh… Yoda…”

Naturally, I was taken aback, but she didn’t seem to care about my flustered state at all.

She clung to me as if she was tying a knot. She wrapped her arms around my waist and buried her face in my chest. ‘Yoda, Yoda…’ she called my name multiple times, rubbing her tear-streaked face against my chest.

It reminded me of a child seeking comfort from their mother in times of sadness.

…I won’t be able to easily free myself from her embrace in this kind of situation.

So there I was, being hugged by a three-dimensional outgoing gal, and although my heart was naturally pounding… I stood there stiffly for almost five minutes!!

Suddenly, she let go of me from her embrace and wiped her makeup-smudged eyes with tears.

“Thank you for coming…”

“S-sure, but… why did you send that kind of message?”

“It’s really not a big deal, but… I ran away from home.”

“That’s a pretty big deal, okay!?”

After exclaiming in surprise, I suggested, ‘L-let’s sit down for now,’ and invited her to the nearby bench.

Then, after making Tsumakawa, who was still sniffling, sit on the bench, I took a seat next to her, leaving some space between us, and asked,

“S-so, what happened…?”

“…Well, today, Miruru-senpai had her birthday party, you see? So, Shizushi-senpai and the others reserved a dart bar and had a grand celebration. We had people like Riseri-chan and Mina-rin coming to the party… and Kanachamu prepared really thoughtful and stylish birthday presents, it was the best party ever. Then, around 9 in the evening, Shizushi-senpai said, ‘It’s getting late, so high schoolers should head home for now.’ . We wanted to keep celebrating Miruru-senpai, but they didn’t let us; so the underage group, including me, all got on the train and went home.”

“I see.”

“But you know, since we were still excited, we all went to the nearby McDonald’s for some food, and Kanacamu was telling us stories about some sketchy guy she used to date who stole money from her wallet, but she forgave him because he was handsome. I told them that my guy was better than hers, they didn’t really get what I meant, so maybe I explained it poorly…well, ‘I’m confident in my love, so it’s fine even if no one else understands’, I said something like that, they all went like, ‘That’s so true! ‘”

“…Uh-huh…”

“And then——Fuumi went to get a Big Mac even though it was midnight! Everyone laughed like, ‘Are you serious, going for a Big Mac in the middle of the night, even though you’re a pro model?’ But then, Yupiko said, ‘Even though Fuumi eats without caring about calories at night, she still maintains that figure, it’s so unfair!’. She’s right; isn’t that unfair? I mean, if I eat even a bit extra, I’d turn into a balloon. Why doesn’t Fuumi have the same problem? So, when I asked Fuumi about it, she said, ‘Isn’t Miona senpai the one who eats too much?’ she responded with, ‘Aren’t you eating too much, Miomine-senpai?’ She was the one overeating! During that conversation, everyone was seriously irritated and jealous of Fuumi, you know? …Kanachamu even went to get fries in the spur of the moment and regretted it later. When I joked, ‘You’ll be Chubby-chamu by tomorrow,’ she got so mad, I had to desperately apologize afterward——”

“…Um…Tsumakawa-san? It’s really hard for me to say this, but could you please get to the main points…?”

“…Geez, Yoda, you’re so terrible…”

“Ahh, sorry Tsumakawa-san! I knew I shouldn’t say this, but you were just going on and on with such a rambling conversation like that; well, I kind of wanted to offer a word of advice, okay?!” “

“That’s not a way of showing support… uuugh…. “

In response to my nonchalant remark, Tsumakawa-san, who already seemed down, cast her eyes downward with an even more melancholic expression.

…Sigh. This is why introverts who lack experience in conversations with girls are like this!

Even though I definitely thought, ‘Wow, this gal’s story is way too long,’ I should have just become a nodding and agreeing conversational machine at that moment…

“A-anyway, I’m sorry, Tsumakawa-san… It’s fine if you want to take your time…”

“Ugh… If Yoda says so, I’ll just get to the main points…”

With my words, Tsumakawa managed to recover a bit, and she continued her story with a sad expression.

“And then, while we were hanging out and chatting at McDonald’s, it somehow got really late, past midnight, and we ended up getting home after midnight… I got yelled at by my dad…”

“I see…”

“Our curfew is midnight, so usually, I would be home by then, but today, it got past that… but this is the first time, so I thought maybe my dad wouldn’t get mad, but then he started yelling at me… And you know what he said to my mom, who defended me by saying, ‘Why don’t you just forgive her?’ He said, ‘Aren’t you the one who’s responsible for her bad behavior?’… And I got mad and snapped at him… “

” ….. “

” ‘Don’t blame my bad behavior on Mom’s education, you damn old man!’ and I said some really foul stuff like that… So, we got into a fight, and then… with just my wallet and phone, I kind of ran away from home… “

“I see… So, that’s why you sent that message…”

“…Even though the birthday party was so much fun… Today is the worst… Why is it that whenever I’m in the best mood, that damn old man ruins everything? I want to run away from home…”

As Tsumakawa spoke, her teary eyes glistened, and she wiped them with both hands. Her weakened state was evident to anyone.

The tears had smudged her makeup around her eyes, and the whites of her eyes were bloodshot.

Her expression was gloomy, and the usual lively tone in her voice had vanished.

In this clearly vulnerable state, she turned toward me and made a small request in a soft voice:

“So, um… if it’s alright, could I stay over at Yoda’s place? I’d be really happy… if you’re okay with that…”

” ….. “

To be honest, I thought it was an impossible request.

I mean, logically speaking, it’s just not right for a high school boy to have a girl whom he’s not even dating stay over at his house.

Such a thing is clearly inappropriate… It’s fine if you’re in a romantic relationship and can do whatever you want. There’s no need to condemn such a situation.

But in our case, in the relationship between Tsumakawa and me, is it acceptable for something like this?