Chapter 41 Weekend +1 (2)

Um, sorry, can you give me a second?

I left the intercom and quickly went to Asanagis side.

Yuu is here?

Yeah. Shes still at the entrance though By the way, when you left the house today did she, by any chance, see you?

No. No way I would get careless like that

Besides, Amami-sans house and Asanagis house were quite a distance away from each other, so it would be unlikely that she saw Asanagi leave her house by chance unless she camped somewhere nearby. But there was no way Amami-san would do that, she had no reason to.

In other words, she came here because she was convinced that Asanagi would be at my house today.

This exact day, during this exact hour.

Asanagi, have you told Amami-san about our relationship?

So you havent?

Sorry. There wasnt a good enough time to bring the topic up.

Even if I were to blame her, it was too late already. Besides, she hadnt really done anything wrong.

Anyway, if Asanagi hadnt told Amami-san about this, that meant at some point she noticed that we were unusually close with each other.

If I were to play dumb and try to fool her No, that wouldnt work. Knowing Amami-san, she would probably have double-checked it with Asanagis house before she even came here.

I guess we had no other choice, huh?

Maehara That Im sorry

Its fine. I told you to hide it because I didnt want to deal with the noise that other classmates would make. If we explain this properly to Amami-san, Im sure shell understand.

Now that she found out about our relationship, the best thing we could do is to explain properly. That way no one would be hurt more than they already were.

Are you fine with this, Asanagi?

Yes.

I let Asanagi sit by the table and invited Amami-san in.

The air inside the house felt stifling.

Umi.

Yuu

Asanagi could only turn her gaze away from Amami-sans sharp gaze.

Their position was now reversed. Amami-san was now dominating Asanagi, who had a pitiful look on her face.

Amami-san, care for a drink?

Dont worry, Im going home after this. I dont want to interrupt your precious time together any more than this Im sure youd prefer it that way. Right, Umi?

No, thats

Asanagi, let me.

If I let the two of them talk in this kind of mood, the atmosphere would get worse than it already was. I had to intervene.

Amami-san, when did you notice?

Just recently. But I had my suspicions for a few months now. I mean, Umi kept refusing my invitations and she kept using the same excuse, of course I would get suspicious from that.

That early, huh?

That should be around the time when we first befriended each other. I thought we were being extremely careful during that period.

Guess we underestimated Amami-san a little too much, huh?

You know Everyone in the class might disregard you both and keep their attention on me, but Ive always paid the closest attention to my best friend, Umi

Asanagi and I got to know each other behind the other classmates backs. We used Amami-sans reputation as the cutest girl in class as a cover because she was the only one that everyone paid attention to. After we got to know each other, we surprisingly hit it off pretty well. Since then, we started hanging out with each other every week. She even stayed over at my house once, and our parents even got acquainted with each other.

Asanagi kept turning down Amami-sans invitation, using having work to do at home as an excuse. But in truth, she was hanging out with a classmate. I guess Amami-san felt left out because of this

Umi, why havent you told me anything about Maki-kun? Ive been waiting, you know? Ive been waiting for you to tell me, but you never did

T-thats

My bad, Amami-san, I was the one who told her to not tell anyone. I didnt want the people in class to make a fuss about us, right, Asanagi?

Ah, mhm We wanted to keep it a secret for the time being

There was no doubt that this mess started because of me. I was the one who told her to not tell anyone about our relationship. But why did Asanagi look so down?

It was my fault, why was she acting like it was her fault?

Could it be that she was actually enjoying keeping our relationship a secret? And now she felt guilty because of it?

Umi, is that true? Is Maki-kun telling me the truth?

It wasnt a lie.

It wasnt a lie, Asanagi, why didnt you answer her?

Umi, why arent you saying anything? Dont you trust me? Is our relationship actually only one-sided? Youve stopped thinking of me as your best friend?

I-I still think of you as my best friend even though I kept my relationship with Maehara a secret, youre still my best friend, Yuu

Then why didnt you tell me about this right away? If you wanted to keep your relationship a secret from the rest of the class, I could keep my mouth shut, you just needed to ask

True. Also, we already decided that we should tell her about our relationship back when Asanagi stayed over.

But in the end, Asanagi didnt tell her anything about us.

Youre right If its you, youd be able to keep a secret and prevent anyone from meddling with us

Then, why didnt you?

Sorry, I cant tell you why I dont want to tell you

Asanagi squeezed the hem of my shirt tightly.

Ive been wondering why she hadnt told Amami-san about our relationship.

I guess she had her own reason for it.

Sorry, Maehara. Its late already. Mom will be worried if I stay here any longer, so Im going home.

Ah, Umi, if youre leaving, Im going

Yuu, you just arrived, so you should stay. Have some coffee first and relax or something. Sorry, I need some time alone Also I cant bring myself to face you right now Sorry

Umi

That was a clear rejection from Asanagi.

It was the first time that Id seen a crack in the relationship between the two of them.

Sorry, Yuu Im the worst, arent I?

Ah, Umi

See you later, Maehara. Thanks for inviting me today It was a lot of fun.

Asanagi made a lonely smile before she stormed out of the room.

Hey, Maki-kun What should I do? I

Should we chase after her? Or should we leave her alone for now?

I dont know. I just dont know