“Sorry about this morning. I had something important to do...”
As I sat down, she raised her hand in front of her face and apologized.
“Well, if you had something important to do, it’s not a big deal... But next time, send me a text message or something if you can. Harissa seemed like she had a pretty rough time this morning.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I’ll be more considerate next time.”
And that was all she said before she went back to studying for first period.
What in the world was going on? Both of them were acting strange, but I couldn’t tell why. Maybe I had done something to tick them off? After turning the possibility over in my head, I realized what was going on. I dropped my head to my desk.
Th-They must have found out about Sunday!
Wait, wait... Sure, I was at fault for letting everything pile up on the same day, but there was no way for Satsuki or Iris to know about that, right? Hibiki didn’t even have anybody else’s contact info, so there was no way she could have told them.
No, wait. Maybe Harissa ran into Satsuki somewhere, and she happened to mention our Sunday shopping trip. That was certainly possible, right? That was why Satsuki skipped coming to my place. And then when she got to school, she told Iris. That must be why they were acting like this. And maybe Harissa was still acting normal because Satsuki hadn’t said anything to her about the amusement park when they talked. Surely the kind-hearted Satsuki could tell how much Harissa was looking forward to buying clothes and didn’t want to disappoint her, right?
Ugh... The more I thought about it, the more likely it seemed. And the more I thought about it, the more the sweat started to pour down my face. Maybe when I raised my head again, I would magically go back in time to yesterday... No, there was no sense in running from reality.
For now, I should just apologize, explain, and see if there was some way to work things out with everyone. What was really important was making things right. This was my fault. Actually, I should’ve just apologized yesterday before I stressed out over it so much.
Okay...
“Satsuki, Iris.”
I prepared myself to confess, but...
“Namidare!”
“Gwaah!”
Someone suddenly yanked on my collar from behind, effectively choking me.
“R-Rosalind! I can’t breathe!”
“Indeed. You’re so overjoyed to see me that even breathing is difficult, isn’t it?”
“I... I meant literally!”
“No need to be embarrassed.” Rosalind giggled. She clearly didn’t feel bad about it at all.
“Man, you’ve got a lot of self-confidence...”
It was kind of amazing, actually. What’s more, now I’d lost my chance to talk to Satsuki and Iris.
“So, Namidare, there’s something I still don’t understand.”
“Ugh... Fine! What is it now?”
It was just the beginning of the school day. I’d still have plenty of opportunities to apologize. I decided to let it go for now and wait for my next chance to talk to Satsuki and Iris. Or at least, that was the plan...
▽
First period break.
“Okay, now I’m going to...”
Second period break.
“Next time, for sure...”
Third period break.
“Okay, next time...”
Lunch.
“Both of them are busy again, huh?”
“Namidare, what bread do you recommend today?”
Fifth period break.
“Grr....”
Before I knew it, it was time for afternoon homeroom at the end of the day.
“How did this happen?”
I’d managed to miss every single chance to talk to them. Every time I tried, they were gone. Even during lunch when I was sure I’d see them, they both had said they were busy.
This was serious. It was too big of a deal for me to just whisper an apology or pass a note during class. This was the kind of thing where I needed to look them in the eyes and apologize properly.
“Okay, see you all tomorrow,” the homeroom teacher said, signaling that school was over.
“See you tomorrow, Rekka.”
“Bye!”
“W-Wait, guys!” I quickly called out to Satsuki and Iris, who were gathering up their things to leave.
“What is it?” Satsuki asked.
“Um...”
Come on, just say it! You can’t miss this chance! Tomorrow is Saturday! That’s just the day before! It’ll be too late then!
“I-I’m just really sorry! It was my fault!” I yelled as I bowed. A lot of the other students looked at me oddly, but I wasn’t worried about them right now.
“What’s gotten into you, Rekka?” asked Satsuki.
Iris just looked like she had a giant floating question mark above her head.
“I mean... I know you’re mad about Sunday, so...”
“Sunday?”
“You know. The three of us are supposed to go to the amusement park.”
“The amusement park...?”
“The three of us...?”
Iris and Satsuki glanced at one another. A moment later, they looked at me in confusion.
“Were we going to an amusement park this weekend?” they both asked.
“...Huh?”
My eyes went wide at this unexpected response.
“I don’t really understand, but are you sure you didn’t imagine it or something? ...Oh, sorry. I’m in a hurry, so I have to go now. I’ll see you at school on Monday.”
“Me too! I’ve gotta get back! Bye!”
I watched in astonishment as Satsuki and Iris left.
Wh-What was going on here? It was like they had forgotten about the whole thing, despite the fact that it was all they could talk about two days ago. And just yesterday morning, they were even arguing about which rides we were going to go on. There was no way they could have just forgotten.
Wait, was this their way of saying just an apology wasn’t good enough?! No, both Satsuki and Iris could be a little too quick to fly off the handle at times, but were either of them really the type to play dumb and string me along because they were mad? Something didn’t seem right. There was seriously no way they could have just up and forgotten, but I couldn’t think of any other way to explain this.
“Oh my. Do you suppose you really pissed them off?” R asked.
She seemed totally uninterested, but I couldn’t afford to be.
I tried to run after them, but...
“Namidare.”
“Gweeh!”
My collar closed around my throat, and for a moment, I almost blacked out.
“Rosalind! What the heck was that for?”
“I heard what you were saying just now.” She ignored my angry yell and grinned as she pulled my collar tighter. “Looks like your Sunday just opened up. Now you don’t have anything to worry about, so you can show me around the city.”
It sounded like she’d overheard us and had come over to seal the deal on what she and I had talked about yesterday.
“I don’t know about that yet. I need to apologize to them first, and then I’ll get back to you. So let me go.”
To be honest, I was in a hurry, but I knew I might hurt her if I tried to shake her off. I asked her to let go instead, but she didn’t listen.
“You don’t know when to give up, I see. It’s clear that they’re both sick of you.”
Her words felt like a dagger in my chest.
“S-Sick of me...?”
“It’s obvious, isn’t it?”
W-Was it? Is that what it was? They were sick of me? I mean, sure, they were both looking forward to the amusement park, and I’d scheduled not one, but two other things on top of it... Sure, that was really bad, but still!
“Rekka, are you seriously depressed over this?” R asked.
Sure I was.
“You are the densest man in the universe, past, prese
nt, or future. Hands down. What right do you have to be melodramatic?”
R was just making it worse. Rather than being stabbed, it felt like my heart was being ripped out now.
When I thought about the fact that they were so mad that they’d straight up pretend to have forgotten when I apologized... Now that they were leaving me behind, my legs felt too heavy to run after them.
But Rosalind, on the other hand, seemed in a better mood than ever. She patted me on the back as if trying to make me feel better.
“Well, I guess you’ll just have to give up and go with me instead. Now that you’re free, in fact, you should be grateful to me for spending time with you.”
“I’ve actually got other plans for Sunday.”
“What?!” Her smile vanished. “You turned me down because you had plans with them. Isn’t that what you said?”
“Yeah, but... Man, that doesn’t matter right now.”
“It does matter!”
Rosalind was screaming for whatever reason, but I decided just to ignore her. The only thing on my mind right now was how to get back on Iris’s and Satsuki’s good sides. If a simple apology wasn’t good enough, I needed to do something to show them that I really meant it.
But how, exactly...? I’d just have to sort out the schedule for Sunday, solve the problem, and apologize again. Yeah, that was the thing to do. I could go buy Harissa’s clothes some other day. If I only ate rice for the next month, I’d be able to afford it. Of course, I’d still have to apologize to her too, for changing our plans.
The real problem was Hibiki, who still had her phone off. I’d just have to keep calling her until she picked up. All right. Now that I had a plan, I started to head for home, when...
“Hold it!”
“Guh-hwah!”
For the third time today, I got choked.
“Wh-What is your problem?! If you don’t knock it off, I’m seriously going to get mad!” I yelled.
“Shut up! Answer my question!” Rosalind yelled back just as loudly. “Who are you heading out to go shopping with on Sunday?!”
“Harissa.”
There was no real reason I had to tell her, but I didn’t think she’d relent unless I did, so I reluctantly gave her Harissa’s name.
“And what’s your relationship with this Harissa girl?”
“How is that any of your business? She’s this girl who lives with me.”
“You’ve got a girl living with you?!”
“She doesn’t have anywhere else to go!”
The rest of the class already knows about Harissa, but please don’t say anything that would make it sound worse!
It felt like this conversation had already bottomed out in that regard, but right now I was more concerned about lost time.
“Anyway, I answered your question, okay? I’m leaving now!”
“...Hmph!” Rosalind scowled as she let go.
If anybody should be mad right now, it was me... But I didn’t have time to let it get to me. I grabbed my bag and quickly ran out of the classroom.
▽
When I got home from school, the first thing I wanted to do was talk to Harissa about Sunday, but she was out shopping and the house was empty.
In order to save money, she’d look at advertisements to find out which stores were having sales, then go to multiple places to get what she needed at the best prices. If I tried to go out and find her, odds were good I’d just miss her. So I did the next best thing—sit on the living room sofa and twiddle my thumbs as I waited for her to get home.
“Harissa’s running awfully late...”
I caught myself glancing at the clock over and over again. I was having trouble staying calm. But as time passed, my head started to clear a little and I realized there was a problem that I hadn’t thought about yet. How exactly was I supposed to bring this up with Harissa?
I was planning on buying her clothes even if it meant I had to live on a diet of rice and water, but that wasn’t the issue. If we were going to go shopping on a different day, she’d want to know why. That meant I’d have to tell her that I triple-booked my schedule. And I’d just learned how angry and hurt that could make someone. Even if I was going to be honest with her, I still needed to consider the best way to go about doing it.
“But how do I tell her...?”
I couldn’t come up with anything.
I put my sweaty face in my sweaty palms. My vision went black. Maybe I could just fade away into that darkness... No, I couldn’t just run away from reality. It always has a way of catching up to you.
I suddenly heard the sound of a key turning in the front door. Harissa was back.
“Oh, you’re home, Sir Rekka. Welcome home.”
“Hey. You too, Harissa,” I said.
“Thanks. I just got back from the store,” she replied, smiling as she held up the plastic bags she was carrying.
“Let me help you with those.”
“Thank you, Sir Rekka.”
I took a bag from Harissa and walked with her to the kitchen.
“So, um... What’s for dinner?”
“Tonight I’m trying something new called cabbage rolls.”
“I see. Sounds good.”
“It’s my first time making them, so I’m not sure if I can do it right or not. But I’ll do my best!” Harissa gave me a thumbs-up and began to put on her apron. “Can you put the milk and eggs in the refrigerator and leave the rest out?”
“Roger.”
I did as she asked, pulling the milk and eggs out of the bags and putting them away.
“...”
“Is something wrong, Sir Rekka?” Harissa asked when she saw me still standing there.
“Um... I was wondering if I could help with something.”
“I still have leftover rice from this morning, so not really.”
“I-I see...”
“What’s wrong, Sir Rekka? You always let me cook dinner.”
“Well...” I was just trying to find the right time to bring up Sunday! Gah! This was pathetic! How was I so pathetic!? “Arrggaaah!”
“Wh-What’s wrong, Sir Rekka?!” Harissa asked in a worried voice when she saw me starting to rip out my own hair.
Stop it! Don’t look at me with those kind eyes! Their purifying light is burning my black, guilty soul!
A part of me began to realize that I was getting a little too worked up about this.
Yeah. I was too worked up. And an idiot to boot. I just needed to stop beating around the bush and apologize.
“L-Listen, Harissa.”
“Yes?”
“About Sunday...”
“Sunday?”
“Yeah. I need to talk to you about our outing this weekend.”
“Oh, our outing...?” Harissa set the knife she was holding down on the cutting board, then put her finger to her lips in thought. “I’m sorry, were you and I going on an outing Sunday?”
“...?!”
For a moment, I didn’t understand the words coming out of her mouth. When it finally set in, I felt even more confused than I had a moment ago.
Was this enough to make even gentle Harissa snap?! I wanted to scream that this was impossible... The only thing I could think of was that Satsuki and Iris must have gotten her in on their plan. Part of me couldn’t believe that all three of them were really plotting against me like this, but it was certainly more likely than all of them forgetting.
“Dinner will be ready in about forty minutes, so go relax until then, Sir Rekka.”
“...Right.”
All I could do was nod and obey.
▽
Saturday.
I lay stretched out on my bed, counting specks on the ceiling. It was already past three, but I still hadn’t left my room except for breakfast and lunch.
“Hahh...” I let out a deep sigh for the thousandth time that day.
I knew I was the one at fault here, but I was still shaking in fear. They were much angrier than I thought they’d b
e. Even worse, they weren’t letting it show at all.
Harissa had come to wake me up this morning, just like always. Breakfast and lunch were great. She’d even cleaned my room. All with her usual sweet smile... That was the truly scary part.
Knock knock.
“Sir Rekka!”
“Gyaaah!”
When I saw Harissa poke her head through the door, my heart jumped so violently that I fell right off the bed.
“S-Sir Rekka? What’s wrong?”
“N-Nothing. You scared me a little. That’s all.”
“I did knock...”
“Really, it’s nothing. S-So what’s up? Did you need something?”
“You’ve been in your room all day, so I thought that maybe something was wrong...”
“Oh... No, it’s nothing. It’s nothing at all, ma’am.”
Did I just say “ma’am”?
“I see...” Harissa’s brow furrowed with worry, but she nodded and closed the door.
I listened carefully for the sound of her running downstairs. When I was sure she was back on the first floor, I let out a long sigh as the tension drained from my shoulders.
Th-That was crazy! I had no idea Harissa was so good at acting! She was acting like she was really worried about me and that she wasn’t mad about Sunday at all! She could be an actress!
“Th-That scared me. Girls scare me.”
I was so scared that I actually started to cry. R looked down at me from above the bed, annoyed.
“You’re such a wimp.”
“Shut up! I don’t know how to make them forgive me now!”
“Don’t cry. Please.”
Easy for her to say. This was really starting to get to me.
“Don’t tell me that this ends up giving you a bad case of gynophobia, and that’s really what starts the War of All,” R said.
God, I hope not...
Rrrrring! Rrrrring!
My phone’s ringtone began to play. I grabbed the rattling device off my desk... then promptly dropped it on the floor.
“What’s wrong?” R did a mid-air flip as she looked at the phone’s LCD display. “Oh, it’s Hibiki.”
“...”
“You’re not going to answer it?”
“...Fine. I needed to talk to her about Sunday anyway.”
Granted, last night I’d been too scared to even attempt to call her again. I was too worried she’d found out about Sunday too. And it took courage to press the answer button even now... But no matter what she was thinking, refusing to answer would just tick her off. I fearfully pressed the button.
I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse: Volume 4 Page 4