Ordinary I and Extraordinary Them

into the distance, but then he turned his heads towards me who had been sitting next to him.

His gaze seemed to ask me, “Do you know why?”.

“……”

Towards that gaze of his, I kept silent.

He might have concluded from my silence that I didn’t know the answer, so he opened his mouth.

“That’s because you were there around her……so, I thought of giving up on her”

“That is——”

“I know.
I know more than anybody else that it’s nothing more than an excuse, Minato”

As if he had known beforehand that I was going to say something, he shook his head back and forth.

When I saw him like that, I swallowed the words that I couldn’t finish saying.

Nothing more than an excuse

I had the same opinion……but considering it was Yuuto, that statement made him looked timid.

Shizuku and I were only childhood friends, not lovers.

Yuuto understood this matter the best.
He had known about the relationship between Shizuku and I.
Even then, he had fallen in love with her.
Then, at the very least, shouldn’t he not be making my presence the reason for his giving up on Shizuku?

Well, that would be my story if you asked me; my point of view.

If we’re looking at the situation from his perspective, I……the existence of a childhood friend might have truly been a nuisance.

“At that time, when I thought of Kanzaki-san, I thought the only option that I had was to give up.
However……at least, it’s different now”

“……What’s different?”

Yuuto had been talking in the same way as usual.
Then he assumed an earnest expression and looked at me with a sharp look in his eyes.

As if he had confronted an enemy, his eyes were extremely cold.

It had been approximately five years since I had met Yuuto.

That was the first time he had ever shown me such a cold expression.
I couldn’t hide my surprise.

However, having seen that expression of his, I felt like I had understood the true meaning of being called out here.

His answer would also become important for the current relationship between Yuuto and Shizuku.

“At this rate, Kanzaki-san will only get more miserable……I can’t bear to see her that way.
That’s why I have decided to become her support.
It’s going to be me, Minato.
Not you”

“……”

He was going to support her splendidly, wasn’t he? and he could do it better than me, and better than anybody else.

However, there was one thing that was on my mind.

“Is that what she wanted?”

Sitting next to me, Kirasaka, who had been silent until now, asked this question to Yuuto.
Similar to Yuuto, she was giving off an extremely cold feeling.
Her eyes were so cold that it felt like they could make someone faint.