Case 3: Mischief and Misunderstandings

I woke up from a pleasant dream to find out it was already lunch break. Raising my head from the desk with some effort, I noted I was surrounded on both sides.

“Damn, I think it’s the first time I saw someone actually sleeping during class,” said a rough voice to my right.

“Well, it’s his first time this year, anyway,” said a softer voice from my left.

My mind gradually cleared up to allow me to recall the situation. Pretty sure I drifted off somewhere around third period or so. I did have some faint memories about Kamiya-sensei yelling at me about this (“Really, young people these days!”), but apparently that did little to keep me awake.

I gave a hearty yawn. “Good morning.”

“It’s literally noon now,” said the girl standing next to my desk, a hand on her hip. This was none other than my childhood friend, Yokoo Hitomi. Her shoulder-length hair was held up by a single ribbon.

We’d had a bit of a falling out during middle school, but luck had it that we ended up in the same school and class and rekindled our friendship.

“Didja spend the entire night watching porn or something?” said the boy on my other side, as crass as ever.

He was my decidedly not-childhood friend, Sagara Hikaru. We only came to know each this year, but I felt like we hit it off pretty well. The other boys in class seemed somewhat intimidated by him, what with his sharp eyes and bleached hair, but he wasn’t as rough as he seemed.

“…No, you idiot,” I said with a smile.

It was just me making a lot of plans and preparations last night combined with waking up much earlier than usual, but there was no need to tell them about that.

Instead, in my sleep-depraved state, my old habit kicked in: to turn everything into a joke.

“I just got a new girlfriend, that’s all,” I said with a crooked smile, casually waving my hand.

After a short, awkward silence, I ventured a look to both sides.

On my left, Hitomi was completely frozen, her large eyes like dark saucers.

On my right, Sagara actually looked like he turned into a statue, his mouth agape.

“You’re lying,” said Hitomi.

What, did she imply I couldn’t get one? A bit rude of her.

“Him, getting a girlfriend? Yeah, he’s definitely bullshitting us,” said Sagara, visibly deflating.

He was being rude, too.

“What’re you trying to imply?” I said, already feeling another jolt of mischief. “I’ll have you know her identity is quite surprising…” I wore a smile like a crescent moon.

It was Sagara who gasped.

“Wait… there’s no freaking way, Amari. You’ve mentioned your plans before, but… did you actually go through with them!?”

Oh, right.

Come to think about it, I did mention to him my intentions to climb Mount Takai so he could come and pick my body for burial, in case anything happened to me.

That wasn’t my intention here, but I simply couldn’t resist. “Yes… I took that magnificent climb from which no one ever emerges alive! And I conquered that summit!”

“Gaaah!” Sagara cried in shock, taking a step back.

“Eh? Eh?” said Hitomi, looking between us and blinking. “W-what are you guys talking about?”

Before I could answer her, Sagara suddenly grabbed my shoulders and actually squeezed them pretty hard. He wasn’t in any sports club—he was part of the Going-Home Club, just like me—but had surprising strength.

“Amari, you bastard…” he hissed. “You couldn’t have possibly snagged that mountaintop flower for yourself!”

“And what if I did?”

“Are you telling me that your girlfriend is Takai?!”

“Eeehhhh?!” now erupted the girl to my left.

And it wasn’t just her; while many students left the classroom for lunch break, a lot of those that remained were now fully focused on this conversation, and several spoke.

“Takai…?”

“Wait, you mean Takai Hana from Class 1-C? There’s no way.”

“I tried confessing to her, but she just blew me away… so how?!”

“How?!” growled Sagara while shaking me. “How, you son of a gun!”

Uh-oh. This was getting a bit too intense for me.

Even without Sagara literally assaulting me, my classmates staring daggers into me made me feel like Julius Caesar on the Ides of March.

“No, haha,” I said upon deciding I’d gone far enough. “It was just a joke, alright? So calm down.”

Even my mischief had to end at some point. If for no other reason than my own safety…

I gave a small, awkward laugh as Sagara finally let go.

Hmm?

Why were everyone’s gazes still just as hostile as before, though?

“You really think it’s that easy? Just claim everything was a joke and call it a day? I wasn’t born yesterday, Amari.”

“What? No, I’m being serious here… I mean, serious about this being a joke… C’mon, you know I couldn’t have possibly—”

“Seiji-kun, you need to learn to take responsibility for your actions,” added Hitomi, her eyes like black holes.

“Yeah! Don’t think you can lie your way out of this!” said someone else.

“Spill the beans already!”

“Did you pay her or something?”

…As I resolved myself to an imminent murder, I briefly wondered if that cute detective would solve everything and bring all of them to justice…

Luckily, at this moment the classroom door opened and a new person appeared, catching everyone’s attention.

My savior?

For a moment there I even imagined Yua appearing there to help me.

But fate had a twisted sense of humor at times.

“Takai… Hana?” I said in disbelief.

Long, dark hair, a perfect figure and eyes as beautiful as flowers. That was the girl that appeared there at that moment.

What was she doing here? The rumors couldn’t have possibly spread out this fast…

“Hello, I came to take back the surveys for—” she started. She seemed to sense the complete shift in the class’s atmosphere. “Why is everyone looking at me like that?”

Time seemed to freeze for a moment.

“Why choose him as a boyfriend?!” one boy shouted.

“It should have been me, not him!” called another.

“Don’t fall for his tricks!” added Hitomi. Um, ouch?

“…What on earth are you talking about?” asked the bewildered girl.

At first everyone spoke together, which obviously didn’t help her at all. Takai was clearly losing her patience but, true to her image, she remained as kind and soft-spoken as she always was.

“Can someone please explain things properly?” she asked.

“This guy,” said Sagara, pointing at me like I was some stranger. “How the heck did you agree to go out with him?”

Until now as vivid and beautiful as flowers, her eyes now wilted—no, they became black, thorny roses.

“Please don’t spread silly rumors for no reason. I don’t even know him,” she informed them, her voice drained of emotion. “Now, can you please give me those surveys? I need to get them back to the student council.”

Her cold uttering had similarly lowered the temperature in class. Hitomi sighed, Sagara grumbled something and hit my shoulder, and everyone went back to their own business.

Still, even if I gave up on Takai already, it was a bit disheartening to realize that the most popular girl in the entire grade now definitely had a negative opinion of me due to a complete misunderstanding.

Oh, well. At least I still had Yua.