Chapter 70: Boyfriend
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24
This boy was handsome as well. He had a head of slightly curly brown hair, bushy eyebrows, and dark brown eyes which contained a hint of arrogance. He was wearing a tight-fitting jacket from a well-known brand, accentuating his muscular body. He was seated upright and exuded an aura filled with confidence and pride.
This boy seemed somewhat similar to Kazufuru Ooike who was an excellent student, but with more spunk to him, and a more imposing manner. If he was sitting next to Kazufuru Ooike, everyone would most likely think that this person was the more imposing one.
Confidence was fine and all, but if he looked down on everyone else, that was an unpleasant feeling... Seiji could tell that there was condescension hidden within this boy’s eyes.
This fellow was the boyfriend of someone as serene as Shimizu-san?
Seiji couldn’t believe it.
Even if they really were boyfriend and girlfriend, Seiji preferred to believe that there was something hidden behind it, such as their parents forcing them to get married and so on. Of course, the more probable explanation was... this guy was also a fake boyfriend!
Two ex-girlfriends and two fake boyfriends, maybe?
Ok then, this situation might be simpler than he anticipated.
But this was all just his own deduction; perhaps the world worked in stranger ways than he thought, and this blue-haired girl didn’t have an eye for men?
Seiji’s observation and deduction took only a few seconds.
He smiled politely at the boy in front of him.
"Hello, nice to meet you."
"...Hello." The brown-haired boy responded in a prideful and condescending tone of voice.
An aromatic fragrance wafted over at this point in time.
Haruka Shimizu had removed the lid from the coffee pot.
She gracefully poured coffee for the other three seated teenagers first, before finally pouring out her own portion.
Chiaki had a mesmerized, nostalgic, yet complex expression on her face as she watched her ex-girlfriend’s movements.
Seiji glanced at her before fixing his attention on the boy in front of him again.
The brown-haired boy was watching the blue-haired girl with a gentle look in his eyes... It was as if the condescension from earlier didn’t even exist.
When the brown-haired boy noticed that the handsome boy in front of him was observing him, he instantly retracted his eyes from Haruka and returned Seiji’s gaze directly, his gentle look replaced by arrogance once more.
Seiji was lost for words upon seeing this youth’s strange behavior.
‘Even though it’s still an unpleasant feeling, if I look at it from another angle, this guy’s really easy to understand,’ Seiji thought to himself.
"Chiaki, do you... still take two sugars with your coffee?" Haruka opened the sugar container after sitting down and inquired in a soft voice.
"I don’t know." Chiaki chuckled. "I haven’t drunk coffee in so long."
Haruka stopped her movements as she stared directly at Chiaki.
Chiaki met the blue-haired girl’s gaze with her own.
After a long period of silence.
"Why not?" Although her voice seemed calm on the surface, it felt as if she was concealing some emotions.
"Ever since a certain day, I stopped being able to taste coffee." Chiaki responded in the same manner: calm on the surface yet concealing something beneath.
Silence fell in the room once more.
‘Sheesh, this atmosphere is really uncomfortable!’ Seiji could only think that to himself.
Perhaps some people enjoyed watching scenes of love and hate play out, but it was torturous to be in the middle of it. At least that was what Seiji believed.
"Please give me two sugars." Seiji decisively broke the silence.
Haruka Shimizu slowly turned to look at him.
This was the first time that she directly observed the boy that had entered together with Chiaki Wakaba.
He was tall and handsome with a straightforward look in his eyes. Just his gentle smile, ordinary haircut, and completely natural appearance were more than enough to strongly attract most girls. It was as if he was shining brightly.
A boy with an excellent appearance. Haruka Shimizu instantly finished her evaluation of him.
After attending high school, she’d met many handsome, pretty, cool-looking boys with various differing styles. In comparison to them, this boy in front of her seemed rather plain, but his handsomeness wouldn’t lose to any of them.
It would be difficult for her to evaluate him more than just his looks without knowing more about him. But the blue-haired girl’s first impression was that this boy ranked among the highest in physical appearance out of all the boys she’d ever met.
This was Chiaki’s "boyfriend!"
Haruka had already expected such a thing would happen when she learned that Chiaki would bring a boyfriend along as well.
Haruka was intimately familar with Chiaki... With her ex-girlfriend’s personality, Haruka didn’t feel her ex-girlfriend would be capable of immediately finding a boyfriend in the first year of high school. This boyfriend of Chiaki’s would most likely be fake, just a boy who was close friends with Chiaki.
Haruka strongly believed that this would be the case and resolutely firmed herself to remain unshaken by Chiaki’s probably fake boyfriend in any way; she would pretend that Chiaki’s fake boyfriend was nothing more than a decoration.
But reality was different from her expectations.
The boy that Chiaki had with her was higher class than the boy beside Haruka, at least in physical appearance!
This caused a small ripple in Haruka’s heart.
A boy that would accompany Chiaki here had to at least be close friends with her, even if he wasn’t her real boyfriend.
And this friend of hers had such an outstanding appearance... Would Chiaki truly have no feelings for him?
Haruka was uncertain.
She believed that Chiaki always had deep feelings for her, but they had broken up. Besides, Haruka was the one who wanted to break up, causing Chiaki to suffer a huge impact.
After having her heart injured, Chiaki met such a handsome boy in high school and then became close friends with him... Like this, objectively speaking, wasn’t it actually quite likely that they’d develop into a real couple!?
Haruka found it difficult to calm down after analyzing the situation to such an extent.
Even she was surprised at this fact.
In the space of a few short seconds, various thoughts kept spinning in Haruka’s mind.
On the surface, she just looked at the boy who had asked her for sugar for a few seconds before naturally adding two sugar cubes to his coffee.
Nobody knew that the blue-haired girl was no longer as calm as she appeared anymore after this moment.
"Nice to meet you. I believe that Chiaki must have mentioned me to you before already, but allow me to introduce myself properly."
She formally and politely greeted the boy across from her.
"My name is Haruka Shimizu, a classmate of Chiaki’s from Yoshimizu Middle School. I’m currently a first-year high schooler from Koaki High School. This person with me today is Tetsuo Sakaki, my... boyfriend from the same school."
Seiji noticed Chiaki suddenly tremble at hearing the word "boyfriend."
But at this moment, he wasn’t in the correct state of mind to take care of her feelings.
That was because he’d received a huge shock as well!
Koaki High School...
That was the school the original Seiji Haruta attended before he transferred to Genhana High!
It was also the high school where his sisters and childhood friends and so on were attending.
Inherited memories from the original Seiji instantly welled up within him, some of them deeply unforgettable humiliating scenes...
Seiji knew that it was all the fault of the original Seiji before him, but as his successor, it still made Seiji uncomfortable.
He made an effort to suppress those memories and not allow anything to show on his face as he smiled politely.
"Nice to meet you. I’m a first-year student at Genhana High School. I’m Seigo Harano, Chiaki Wakaba’s classmate and boyfriend."