What If I Told Tomori-san, The Girl Who's Cold Only Towards Me, That I Knew Her Secret Account? - V2 Chapter 2.3

The Hidden Side of Everyone’s Aspiration 3

“Here you go.” my childhood friend offers me a cup of coffee.

“It’s been a while since we talked like this face-to-face.”

“…sorry. I——”

“No need to apologize. Your brother’s told me a lot about you.”

“From my brother?”

“‘He’s at a difficult age, so leave him alone.’ he said.”

“Sounds like something he would say…”

“I’m glad you came to see me. You never make any connections at school, right? That’s Kimitaka’s rule, right?”

“Yeah.”

On the day I entered this school, when I ran into Seira, I told her that I wouldn’t talk to her like we used to.

(Thinking back, it was a harsh thing to say.)

I’m sure that Seira came all the way to see me because she was concerned about me.

“You’ve changed since you started school, Kimitaka.”

“Have I?”

“You became friends with Azusa-chan and started helping her with her work as her partner. You even came to see me.”

“We exchanged messages on Line sometimes, didn’t we?”

“Every time, I had to initiate the conversation. You hardly ever contacted me first.”

Feeling lonely, Hibiki takes a sip of her black coffee.

“By the way, what do you want?”

“Didn’t I tell you earlier? I just wanted to see my cute little brother after such a long time.”

“Don’t lie.”

“You’re being mean. Don’t doubt your big sister.”

“I’ve been fooled enough times by you pretending to be a cat, Seira.”

(TN:猫かぶり, pretending to be a cat, ‘pretending to be’ or ‘disguising oneself as.)

From an outsider’s perspective, Seira seems like a charming person.

She has a warm personality that embraces all students without distinction, and she carries herself with sophistication and maturity.

Perhaps due to her looks and prestigious background, she has quite a few friends, though not as many as Tomori.

(However, everyone has a hidden side they don’t show to others.)

Probably, I’m the only one at this school who knows her true nature.

Seira is more of a little devil than a goddess.

“Fufu, did you find out? “

Her mischievous smile, which she didn’t show in front of Sadaoka, appears.

Seira looks at me with an expression that doesn’t suit the student council president, who is reputed to be a goddess.

“Very good. To see through my act.”

“Maybe you’re getting a little rusty. “

“Maybe. Recently, the student council has been keeping me busy. I haven’t had time to be with the drama club.”

“So you haven’t been onstage recently?”

“Not much. But the student council puts on plays. We put on a puppet show for the nursery school.”

“Come to think of it, Seira always liked making dolls and stuffed animals.”

“Yeah, I still do… Oh! I’m working on my favorite one now. Want to see?”

“I’ll pass.”

“A quick response?! Ah, how disappointing…”

Seira’s expression clouded slightly, but she quickly regained her composure with a dazzling smile.

(As usual, she is good at switching facial expressions.)

Seira’s mother is a professional actress who has appeared in major historical dramas and is a veteran with a prominent presence on television.

Influenced by her mother, Seira was also a child actor when she was young.

“First of all, I want to thank you, Kimitaka.”

“Huh? What’s with the sudden gratitude?”

“You became Azusa’s partner, right? Thanks to you, her burden has significantly decreased. Azusa is like the hero of this school, the white blood cell that rushes to the scene whenever there’s trouble to resolve the situation.”

” ….. “

“However, her workload in the past year has become absurd. I was worried that she might burn out and collapse at any moment.”

“That’s true.”

“Hmm? Do you agree, Kimitaka?”

“When you take on more work than you can handle, even adults can lose their ability to make sound judgments. As a result, they might make serious mistakes.”

In late May this year, Tomori tried to solve her classmates’ problems alone, which led to her being trapped in a karaoke room and nearly assaulted by college students.

“Agreed. As expected of my childhood friends, we get along well.”

“Nowadays, Tomori should be fine.”

“You’re thoroughly managing her schedule, right?”

“You know that much?”

“Of course. ‘Everyone’s friend’ finally got a partner, and a boy at that. It’s only natural that it would become the talk of the whole school.”

“People will talk no matter what.”

“By the way…”

As if trying to probe into my thoughts, Seira looked at me with her long eyelashes framing her gaze.

“Are you dating Azusa-chan?”

“No, she’s just a friend.”

“Oh, I see. If you had a girlfriend, I thought I could celebrate it for you.”

“Is that what you called me here for?”

As I was about to leave, my pocket vibrated, indicating a new message on my smartphone.

It was a Line message from Seira.

“Open the URL I just sent.”

“I hope it’s not some weird website.”

“It’s a perfectly normal site.”

Curious, I tapped on the URL, and a website titled 『K Prefecture I School Anonymous Bulletin Board Compilation』 appeared.

The top of the page displayed a bulletin board called 『A • T Association of the Defeated Ones. (玉砕者の会)』, which makes me complain.