ALL NOVEL Chapter 77
“Hoh, so you’ve got a new teacher, huh?”
“Yeah.”
It was a few days after Shinjo arrived at their school as a trainee teacher. Ryuichi had come to the club, and Shizuna and Chisa were sitting next to him while the ever so stern-faced manager was wiping a cup, seemingly watching over the three of them.
“From a teacher’s point of view, delinquents are dangerous because they don’t know what they’ll do, and it’s very possible for their career to be damaged because of one. Well, from my point of view, you just seem cute, Ryuichi, but in that sense, that teacher is a pretty good fellow, isn’t he?”
“Yeah. I totally didn’t expect him to say that about me, either.”
It would be one thing if it had been Someya, who had now revised her view on Ryuichi since she’d gotten to know him, but it was surprising that Shinjo, who had just met Ryuichi and didn’t know much about him, would say such a thing to him. He didn’t know if it was true or not, but apparently he used to be a bit of a delinquent himself, and that was one of the reasons why he accepted Ryuichi.
“Well, I appreciate it, but I don’t really care that much. I’ll take anything as long as I can have a peaceful school life.”
“…Fufu.”
“Wow, who knew Ryuichi could say something like that?”
“I didn’t say anything that weird, y’know…”
Ryuichi’s lips pouted as he thought about how a peaceful school life was what any student would want. Shizuna and Chisa thought Ryuichi’s sulking was cute, and Shizuna patted him on the shoulder to cheer him up, while Chisa teasingly poked him on his cheeks.
“That’s just how much the girls love you. If Satsuki and Sakie were here, they would have poked fun at you the same way, wouldn’t they?”
“…I feel like I’ve been getting weaker these days.”
When Ryuichi muttered this, everyone burst out laughing again. Ryuichi’s weakened state was not meant in the physical sense, but in the sense that he wasn’t able to push the girls away because their love for him was too warm. Of course, Ryuichi had no intention of leaving them, but he was afraid that he would lose himself when this warmth overflowed and spilled out of his palm.
“It’s okay, Ryuichi-kun, you don’t have to worry about a thing.”
“Right, right, what Shizuna-chan said.”
Although he hadn’t said it out loud, the two people by his side noticed the subtleties of his heart as if it were a matter of course. Chisa was still drinking her sake as vigorously as ever, but Shizuna was showing that she was there for him by putting her shoulder up against his without a care in the world.
…They’re really such good women.
Afterwards, he finished his meal while the two ladies and the manager made fun of him, then went outside. Chisa said she would go home after a few more drinks, so Ryuichi and Shizuna left the club ahead of her.
“When the sports festival ends, so too does summer… Well, it doesn’t look like that’s happening, huh?”
“Yeah. Looks like we’ve still got some hot days ahead of us.”
Despite the hustle and bustle inside the club, it had been much cooler there thanks to the air conditioning, but once they stepped outside, they were hit by a lukewarm breeze. The nights were still hot and sleep would remain difficult, so it was important to drink water as soon as one felt thirsty.
“You look like you’d be feeling cool in those, but is it still hot?”
“Well, I guess it’s more warm than hot?”
“I see.”
Ryuichi was currently dressed in short sleeves and short pants, which should’ve been very light and cool, but despite this, the temperature was still warm enough for it to be noticeable.
Ryuichi and Shizuna were attracting many eyes, and Shizuna had noticed that among them were not only those who were gazing upon her as a beautiful girl, but also women who were attracted to Ryuichi’s muscles, his defining trait which clearly displayed his strength as a man.
“It’s a little hot, but can we link arms?”
“Of course!”
Even though it was hot, it was nighttime, and as mentioned before, a lukewarm breeze was blowing, so he didn’t feel that hot even as Shizuna happily hugged his arm.
“Fufufu~. ♪”
“Pretty chipper, aren’tcha?”
“Of course. It’s always a joy to be together with my beloved boyfriend.”
Shizuna’s smile made Ryuichi smile as well. Truthfully speaking, Ryuichi had noticed that Shizuna was concerned about the way people were looking at him, so he’d made this suggestion as a way to reassure her. Nevertheless, at the same time that Ryuichi caught the eyes of their surroundings, so too did Shizuna.
There’s no way I can ever let her walk the city streets alone at night like this, huh.
He glanced at Shizuna, who was happily embracing his arm. She was dressed in a shoulder-length one-piece dress that looked nice and cool. It showed a lot of skin and was a change from her usual toned-down and mature look, but honestly, he felt that Shizuna looked good no matter what she was wearing.
“Shizuna, don’t dress too skimpily when you’re alone, okay?”
“Ah, are you worried for me?”
“Obviously.”
“It’s okay, you don’t have to worry about me.”
Of course, Ryuichi knew Shizuna very well, so he didn’t intend to be too harsh on her. Besides, Shizuna herself did not want to cause any worry for Ryuichi in the first place, and was even careful about anything she did that may lead to misunderstandings, so she was a very wary and cautious person.
“You don’t have anywhere you want to stop by, right?”
“Nope. Let’s just go home.”
Since neither of them had anything else to do, they decided to go straight home. On their way to take Shizuna to her home, she said that she wanted to stay with him a little longer, so they sat on a bench lit by a streetlight. There was an ice cream vendor nearby, so Ryuichi bought a chocolate-flavored and a mint-flavored ice cream for him and Shizuna, respectively.
“Here.”
“Thank you.”
After handing the mint ice cream to Shizuna, Ryuichi started eating his chocolate one. The ice cream was a little stinging and cold, but it was still delicious to eat in summer, and Ryuichi happily devoured his ice cream.
“This is delicious, isn’t it?”
“For sure.”
Shizuna, though not as vigorously as Ryuichi, enjoyed the taste of her ice cream as well and finished it completely. They then stayed on the bench for a while and made some casual talk, but then Shizuna suddenly stopped talking.
“What’s wrong?”
“No, well… Can I talk about something weird for a moment, Ryuichi-kun?”
“Something weird?”
Shizuna nodded. She then continued, not with a serious air, but with a casual tone as if she was making some small talk.
“Lately, I’ve been having these mysterious dreams. These dreams seemingly take place in a world different from this one… I was dating you in that world too, and the you of that world looked just like the you standing here… It’s just, it felt like you had a frivolous and superficial air about you.”
“…Hmm?”
“And the me that was with you also had…a gyaru-esque feel to her, I guess? I know I tried dressing up as a gyaru that one time, but this was even more intense than that, and she even wore her school uniform in a way that showed off her cleavage. She was basically like a flamboyant, promiscuous woman.”
“…Hrm.”
It was certainly mysterious, but for Ryuichi, it was also something he could not help but listen to intently.
Could the dream she saw have been…
A frivolous-looking Ryuichi, and an extremely gyaru-like Shizuna. There was only one answer that could be derived from these two descriptions—it was the route that this world was originally supposed to follow. However, as he’d thought many times by now, the route of this world had already deviated and was now traveling down its own path. Ryuichi was living as Ryuichi, and Shizuna was living as Shizuna with a proper sense of self-being, which had led to the happy world they were experiencing today.
“So, what did you think about that dream Shizuna?”
“…Hmm.”
Shizuna thought for a moment, then looked at Ryuichi and replied:
“The two of us now are different from the ones I saw in that dream. In fact, it would be no exaggeration to say that we and them are like two completely different sets of people. But we did have one thing in common.”
“One thing in common?”
Shizuna nodded and slowly brought her face close to Ryuichi’s cheek and kissed him. She smiled happily and continued her words.
“No matter the form it took, we truly loved each other. The me in that world lived for your sake, too, and…I think I was really happy to be by your side.”
“………”
Shizuna’s dream was not necessarily how Ryuichi had imagined it. If it was as Ryuichi had imagined it, then it would’ve undoubtedly been a bad ending, a tragic outcome that would’ve made anyone who disliked the cuckolding genre want to cover their eyes.
Even Ryuichi as he was now would not accept the idea of a Shizuna with all her common sense and ethics destroyed, and that was largely because the current Shizuna was just so wonderful that he couldn’t fathom the thought of having any other version of her but the one in front of him.
…I see. So if you completely disregard all the grief from their surroundings, Ryuichi and Shizuna were happy together even in that world.
However, Ryuichi still did not want such a world .As if in return for the kiss she had just given him, Ryuichi put his hand behind Shizuna’s head and, holding it in place so that she could not escape, stole her lips.
It was not a simple kiss on the cheek, but a very intense one, seemingly trying to take her entire being. After kissing for a while, Ryuichi finally pulled his face away and opened his mouth.
“Sure, maybe there was a world like that one, but I definitely prefer the one I’m in now. I prefer this world where you are by my side as you are now, Shizuna.”
“That’s right. I feel the same way, too. I love the wonderful Ryuichi-kun before me the most. ♪”
They then laughed together.