After school. We went to the convenience store to buy some snacks and drinks and ordered delivery for two at our usual restaurant. After that, we went straight to my home and sat side by side on the sofa.
âMaki.â
âHm?â
âHug me.â
âMm.â
Lately, we had been doing this while waiting for our food to come. We didnât play games, we didnât turn on the TV, we didnât even talk to each other, we just silently cuddled like this.
But as soon as we were done with dinner and started playing, we would start to curse at each other like usual.
ââŠUmi, I think I have something to report⊠No, consult with you.â
âWhat is it? Did you make a new friend?â
âNo⊠Actually, it isnât about me, itâs about Amami-san.â
âAbout Yuu?â
âMhm. So, something happened earlier todayâŠâ
I gave a detailed report to Umi about the thing that happened earlier. This had nothing to do with me, but I felt that Umi needed to know about this.
We had been telling each other about our daily lives at school. Of course we didnât share everything, but we still tried to tell each other as much as we could. This was mainly because we both worried about each other a lot, so doing this would make us feel more at ease.
âAh, that⊠Well, itâs a common thing. It didnât happen every time we had a class change, but it did happen a lot. There are just a few girls who were offended by our presence for no reason⊠Wait, it was a girl who said that, right?â
âMaybe, I couldnât hear the voice clearly, so I donât know for sure.â
Though it would be impossible for a boy to suddenly show that much hostility toward Amami-san. On second thought, it wasnât impossible. Maybe if that boy held a grudge against her after his confession got rejectedâŠ
âWell, just ignore it unless something big actually happens. Iâll notify Yuu and Nina about this.â
âAlright.â
With Umi and Nitta-san by Amami-sanâs side, I felt like they could handle any trouble that appeared at their doorstep. I think that the main reason why something like this didnât happen last year was because the three of them supported each other so well.
Well, we didnât know who murmured that thing, but those three should be able to deal with them.
Umi especially, even though she was normally so cute, she would turn into a demon when she got angry.
âLetâs stop talking about it and start talking about this âdisgusting guyâ thing.â
âAh, right.â
We were sidetracked for a bit there, but this was the main topic I planned to bring up.
Letâs get it done before we start eating our dinner.
âUh, the âdisgusting guyâ thing is actually a bunch of pictures⊠Wait, let me send them all to youâŠâ
âPictures? âŠAre they yours?â
âMm. Well, this is what Iâve been doing for the past weekâŠâ
ââŠYour face looks grim, whatâs wrong?â
ââŠYouâll know when you see it.â
I picked up my phone and sent all the pictures to Umi.
This was the thing I asked Amami-san to do, taking pictures of me when I texted Umi.
There were approximately a dozen of such pictures.
I told Amami-san to take a picture of me any time she wanted for a whole week.
Today was the first time I looked over the pictures myself, but seeing some of them made me want to kill myself.
I kind of regretted doing this, but Iâve told Umi that Iâd give it to her, so I couldnât just back down after saying that.
ââŠCan I look at them now?â
ââŠSure.â
After receiving my permission, she opened her phone and skimmed through the pictures Iâve sent.
âMaki.â
âHm?â
âDummy.â
ââŠI know.â
I didnât know why I decided to do this, it just seemed like a good idea when I first thought of it.
Umi was the one who observed me the most last year, she obviously knew that I would make those strange faces whenever we texted each other. Hell, she had been teasing me about it since before we started dating.
I knew that, but I asked Amami-san to take my pictures anyway and now we were in this situation.
âYou see, I wanted you to know that even though our class changed, I wonât change. Iâm still the same old Maehara Maki, the no-good boyfriend of yours⊠Though I guess it doesnât work⊠I even troubled Amami-san for thisâŠâ
âSeriously, youâre such a dummy.â
âGive me a breakâŠâ
I probably should have just given her a normal gift instead, but I felt that a normal gift wouldnât be enough.
Choosing a perfect gift for her was difficult.
If the said gift was for an eventful day like Valentineâs Day or White Day, it would be easier to choose, but choosing a gift out of the blue to cheer her up was too high a hurdle for me.
âŠI really am a no-good boyfriend
âMaki.â
âHm?â
âYou know, thereâs something that I want to buyâŠâ
ââŠSure, Iâll go with you tomorrow.â
âMhm. Alright~â
She was merciful enough to set up a shopping date for me tomorrow at least.
Will I ever stop being a no-good boyfriend? No one will ever know.
âSorry, Umi⊠I donât mind if you delete those pictures⊠Rather, please delete them, I feel like dying remembering themâŠâ
âNo~â
âEh? B-Butââ
âNo~ Way~â
âEh?âŠâ
She ignored my complaints as she looked through the pictures over and over again while giggling. Well, at least she was happy about it and maybe it would make an interesting story for her to tell.