The Classmate Who Is Adored by Everyone Smiles Teasingly Only at Me-Chapter 2Volume 3 .11 - Autumn Festival and Baby Castella

Autumn Festival and Baby Castella 11

This was the first time she had walked shoulder to shoulder with a boy other than Sōma.

She felt a little nervous.

“So, what do you want to ask me? It’s about Saito-san, right?”

As they walked, Shōhei preemptively asked.

“You can tell?”

“Well, yeah. Satomi-san, you and I hardly have any contact. I knew it as soon as you suggested we walk home together.”

“I’m sorry, I realize I was being a bit forceful. But there’s something I really want to know.”

“What do you want to know?”

“I’ll ask you straight out. Kikuchi-san, why did you come to like Miki-chan?”

“That’s really direct.”

Shōhei chuckled with a wry smile.

“Why do you want to know? If I give you a reason you don’t accept, are you going to say I don’t deserve to like your best friend?”

His smile contained a hint of caution.

Chika hurriedly shook her head vigorously to deny that.

“No! That’s not it at all. It’s up to Miki-chan to decide that. Um… I was simply curious. About what it means to like someone, things like that.”

Chika didn’t quite understand romance.

She thought of love as something like a fairy tale from a distant land, something unrelated to herself.

But recently, she had begun to harbor certain doubts about love.

She had pondered over this question alone for a long time but had been unable to find an answer.

At that moment, Shōhei, who was in love, appeared.

She thought this might be a clue to resolving her doubts.

As Chika looked at him earnestly, Shōhei pondered for a moment before offering his own answer.

“I guess it’s because she’s completely different from me.”

“Different…?”

Chika tilted her head, not quite understanding, and Shōhei continued, scratching his cheek as if embarrassed to put his feelings into words.

“You see, Saito-san isn’t just smart. She has the leadership to bring everyone together, and she uses that ability properly. The cultural festival is a good example. Saito-san is coordinating it, but really, that’s not really her job. That should be the responsibility of the class president or the cultural festival committee. But Saito-san took the initiative to do it without being asked by anyone because she knew she was the most suited for it. Understanding one’s abilities and using them for the benefit of everyone is not something everyone can do. I think that’s really amazing.”

“I also think that aspect of Miki-chan is incredible.”

Indeed, that was one of Miki’s strengths.

If she judged that a task was suited to her, no matter how troublesome or complicated it was, she would take it on without a single complaint.

That’s why, even as a first-year, she was serving as the vice president of the student council, and in her class, she was always ready to take on the role of coordinator.

“That’s something I could never do. I may not look it, but I’m a selfish person. I can hardly move unless there’s something in it for me. Plus, I don’t have the ability to coordinate like that.”

“So, did you come to like Miki-chan because she has something you don’t?”

“Maybe that was the initial trigger. From there, I started to notice how cool she was, how beautiful, how stylish…”

“So, does that mean I might be in love with Sōma-san as a man?”

“Huh? …What do you mean?”

As Shōhei spoke, Chika asked, overlaying her question on his words, and he looked puzzled.

Gazing directly at Shōhei’s face, Chika blurted out all at once.

“I like Sōma-san. But I don’t know what kind of ‘like’ it is. What kind of ‘like’ is this ‘like’?”

“…I see. So that’s what you really wanted to know.”

Understanding Chika’s true intentions, Shōhei smiled.

What kind of “like” did she have for Sōma?

That was the question that had been troubling Chika’s mind recently.

Many people said that “Chika and Sōma are always so lovey-dovey.”——Miki often said it, her parents said it, and even strangers had mentioned it.

Objectively, she might be doing things that would make it seem that way.

Sticking close, teasing each other, feeding each other.

These actions are typically those of a couple.

So, does she like Sōma as a member of the opposite sex?

That question naturally came to her mind.

Satomi Chika definitely likes Ichinose Sōma—that is indisputable.

However, Chika, who had never before delved into romance, did not understand what kind of “like” it was.

Is it different from the “like” she has for Miki-chan?

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How does it differ from the “like” she feels for her mother and father?

She likes her classmates, and she loves Moco, the pure white dog owned by Suzuki-san in the neighborhood.

How is the “like” she feels for Sōma-san different from all these?

These questions had always been nagging at her like a splinter in her heart.

But now, Shōhei provided an answer.

The reason he came to like Miki and the feelings she had for Sōma were very similar.

Chika also thought Sōma was amazing for having something she didn’t.

Therefore, it wouldn’t be strange to conclude that she likes Sōma as a member of the opposite sex.

Having found an answer to the problem that had been secretly troubling her for so long, she felt a sense of clarity, as if the fog in her heart had lifted.

“Kikuchi-san, thank you. Thanks to you, I understand what my feelings really are.”

“W-wait! That’s jumping to conclusions too quickly. It’s not good to make snap judgments about your emotions.”

As Chika was about to bow her head, Shōhei hurriedly stopped her.

“Ah…? But, I think my feelings are very similar to Kikuchi-san’s.”

“That might be so, but love is different for everyone, okay? Plus, you and I are different people. Just because it was that way for me doesn’t mean you should apply it to yourself. That’s too reckless.”

“That is…”

Clouds of doubt began to gather again in her heart, which had just cleared up.

“When I had a crush in junior high school, it was almost love at first sight. I have a friend who started dating because they got into an argument over who spotted a game console first to win a figure. Another friend was confessed to by his friend’s older sister while hanging out at their house. All of these reasons might seem strange to you, Satomi-san. But that’s just how people are. There are countless reasons to like someone. Shared interests, getting along well, or just a feeling. The most important thing is whether you have a moment when you think, ‘Ah, I love this person.’ Have you ever felt that way about Sōma?”

Chika silently shook her head in response to Shōhei’s question.

“Then, I think you shouldn’t rush to find an answer.”

“What you say makes sense, Kikuchi-san.”

But that was precisely why she felt pathetic for not even understanding her own feelings.

“I feel sorry for Sōma-san. I don’t really understand what I think of him. I mean, it’s strange, isn’t it? To be this close and nothing more. You don’t often see men and women being just friends like this.”

“Well, only in the world of manga, probably.”

“That’s why I wonder if it’s okay to keep interacting with Sōma-san with these ambiguous feelings.”

“There’s no need to rush at all.”

In the darkness of the night, Shōhei smiled brightly, trying to cheer her up.

“Satomi-san, if you just stay true to yourself when you’re with Sōma, that should be fine. If you keep doing that, you’ll definitely find the answer someday.”

“Is it really okay to take it so easy?”

“I think it’s fine. At least, Sōma is someone who will stick with you through such things.”

“…I hope that’s the case.”

Can such a childish me ever find the answer?

Chika trusted Sōma but didn’t trust herself.