Is It Permissible To Abandon a Childhood Friend Who Has Become a School Idol and Be Happy

3

No matter how many times I watched it. No matter how many times I rewound it.

The person reflected there was my childhood friend, Misaka Mio.

Once I realized, there was no way I could have mistaken her.

After all, I know Misaki better than anyone else.

“But why is she acting so…”

She looks so different than usual.

She’s not wearing her usual nerdy glasses, is it because she’s wearing contacts?

I never knew she had such sharp eyes.

Did she change her hairstyle because she’s on TV?

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Misaki without her braids. She’s beautiful, for sure, but it feels strange.

Even her outfit is brighter than usual, she normally dresses more plainly.

I don’t think it’s Misaki’s style, at least. So why is she wearing it? Did she decide it would be better for her?

Could it be that Misaki secretly wanted to stand out?

(What’s going on… I can’t get my thoughts together…)

Questions kept popping up one after another, swirling around in my head.

I couldn’t focus on watching the TV, and I could barely cheer her on.

Misaki seemed to be answering the quiz questions correctly, and she was still in the game, but it felt like it was happening to someone else. Was it because I was so shocked?

“…”

I realized I was gripping my phone tightly.

I turned it on, tapped the phone icon, and stared at Misaki’s name, which immediately popped up.

The TV wasn’t even in my field of vision anymore.

For me, Misaki wasn’t on the screen, she was right here.

Telling myself that was how it should be, I tapped Misaki’s number with trembling fingers.

Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring…

The electronic sound as I waited for her to answer seemed unusually loud and long.

Maybe it wasn’t actually like that. It probably hadn’t been long at all.

But to me, it felt like she was hesitating to answer my call.

“Hello?”

“Ah…”

So when she finally answered and I heard Misaki’s voice, I was truly relieved.

She hadn’t ignored me. I was certain of that.

“Misaki?”

“Oh, hey Kou. What’s up?”

When I said her name, Misaki said mine.

Her voice was soft, without the stiffness from her introduction on TV.

“Well, I was watching TV…”

“That is…”

“Yeah, the show you’re on. I’m watching it now, you’re doing great.”

As I spoke, I turned my attention back to the TV.

The show had progressed to the final round, and Misaki was still in the running.

“Oh, stop it, it’s embarrassing… I just got lucky.”

“No, it’s amazing. You did great. You might even win the whole thing.”

“No, I end up losing after this. The girl I faced in the final was really smart.”

We continued our aimless conversation.

“…Mio, that’s a spoiler. I didn’t know the results yet.”

“…Oh”

“That makes it hard to cheer for you. Who’s the girl that won? Someone named Akanishi? Maybe I’ll cheer for her instead.”

That’s not true.

What I wanted to talk about wasn’t something like this.

“N-no! Kou-kun has to cheer for me”

“hahahaha, I’m just kidding. I know. Of course I’m cheering for Mio”

“You’re so mean…”

It’s true that I’m cheering for Mio.

But that’s not it. What I wanted to do wasn’t have this kind of typical boyfriend-girlfriend talk.

“Ahahahaha…Oh, and by the way, there’s something that’s been bothering me a little…”

“? What is it?”

So I decided to bring it up.

I really wanted Mio to bring it up first, but it seems she hasn’t noticed.

Her voice was tinged with surprise.

“…”

That made me a little angry, and I caught my breath for a moment.

I forcibly swallowed the words I was about to say.

“The Mio on TV always looks so different from usual…”

“Ah…”

I didn’t miss Mio’s small murmur.

“Did something happen?”

“Well, my aunt said that if I was going to be on TV I had to dress appropriately, and she forced me to change…and my mom got all excited and helped her out, saying that since I’m a girl I should dress fashionably for a time like this. It was really hard.”

I could hear Mio sigh through the phone.

She sounded really depressed, like she really didn’t want to remember it.

“They made me wear makeup I don’t usually wear, and they forced me to wear clothes from some famous brand that I don’t know where they got…I said I didn’t want to, but they wouldn’t listen. My aunt is so nosy…She’d be a nice person if it wasn’t for that.”

It was rare for her to talk badly about someone, so she must have been really frustrated.

She probably hasn’t been able to tell anyone about it until today, and it must have been even harder since it was her family.

“I see, I see…”

I was honestly happy to know that it wasn’t what Mio had wanted.

But on the other hand, I couldn’t help but curse Mio’s relatives for doing something so unnecessary.

(Seriously, what a stupid thing to do…)

“Well, I won’t wear clothes like that again, so it’s fine. That kind of stuff doesn’t suit me anyway.”

Saying that, Mio laughed lightly.

As her boyfriend, I guess I should have disagreed with her.

I should have complimented Mio, telling her that she looked really pretty when she dressed up.

But I didn’t want to do that.

Mio belonged solely to me.

I didn’t want her to change, and I was truly happy to see that she hadn’t.

“Yeah, me too…”

I tried to agree with Mio, but then a strange noise suddenly reached my ears.

A series of clicks, cutting into our conversation.

“Oh, sorry. It’s my pager. I wonder if someone’s trying to reach me… I’ll check it, so please call me back.”

“Oh, okay…”

After apologizing, Mio hung up the phone.

I had more I wanted to say, but I felt it was worth calling just to hear her true feelings.

Before I knew it, the show was over, and as Mio said, someone else had won.

After confirming that, I grabbed the remote and turned off the TV.

“…That was good. Mio is still Mio.”

Just talking to her made me feel better.

I’ll probably sleep soundly tonight.

I should get some rest early today to prepare for school tomorrow.

“But still…”

That last phone call Mio received.

I wonder who it was from.

It bothered me, just a little.