Chapter 1: Me, Her, and Four Years Plus a Little More
"So, don't you get it? Kousuke and I just don't match anymore!"
...Wait, I don't quite understand what you're saying...?
June, two months after enrollment. A time when I was getting used to high school life.
I'm Kousuke Saito, a first-year high school student.
After school, I was suddenly called out by her and told she had a boyfriend.
Huh? A boyfriend who's not me?
I don't understand what my girlfriend, who I've been dating since middle school enrollment, is saying.
We've been talking about all sorts of things since fifth grade in elementary school, consulting each other on various worries, and I trusted her completely. She was so pure and cute, my...!
"..."
I can't find the words, no, I can't say them.
"...And there you go, clamming up again? That's why your girlfriend gets taken away!"
With a beautiful face twisted in contempt for me, she spits out her words.
"...B-But, I really care about you, Satsuki...!"
Satsuki, not hiding her irritation, presses on.
"Then why, since we became high schoolers, have you been constantly nagging at me as I got prettier? What don't you like about it?"
Satsuki, Mishima Satsuki, is my girlfriend.
She's a beautiful girl, and if I had to describe her position, she's like a side character in a prominent group. She was a quiet, cute girl on the library committee, and I was proud of her.
Since middle school, she kept saying she wanted to become even prettier! A desire for transformation, I guess? She wanted to be in a higher caste in class.
But I kept saying that Satsuki was fine as she was, no, that she was perfect as she was!
However, she achieved what they call a high school debut.
Hokusho High School, where we studied together to get in, is a private school with an above-average academic ranking.
It's a progressive high school that also focuses on sports, especially baseball and tennis.
Satsuki, who decided to advance to this high school located in the urban part of the prefecture with me, was over the moon. She cut her long hair, lightened the color, and made it fluffy. Honestly, her current hairstyle is cute. She completely changed her makeup to something that appeals to guys and started wearing her uniform with the chest area open.
She completely changed her way of speaking and how she interacts with the opposite sex.
I was bewildered by this totally different Satsuki and did caution her. That's for sure.
Trying to speak calmly, I say,
"...B-But, I can put up with you keeping quiet about us dating because you're embarrassed. I endured you refusing to go on trips with me for a month because you had to hang out with new classmates! You went out with groups that included guys five days a week, ignored my LINE messages, and got overly familiar with other guys in class with body contact. Of course, I'd say something!"
What changed most about Satsuki was how she interacted with guys.
When talking to guys, she often uses body contact and generally accepts their invitations. If she had plans with me, she'd cancel on me.
I can't help but feel disappointed seeing her say that girls who aren't popular with boys have no right to say anything...
Even so, because we've been together since elementary school, I kept telling myself she'd understand someday, and I kept trying to reason with her even if she didn't like it.
"You know, I grew up in the same rural town as Kousuke, and I only realized it after becoming a high schooler. At Shinkawa Middle School, Kousuke was cool, good at sports, and pretty smart, right? But here, everyone is just as smart, everyone is stylish, conversations are interesting, and everyone pampers me. It's a completely different world!"
So that's what she was thinking...
"If that's the case, then I don't need to stick with Kousuke anymore, right? There are tons of taller, cooler guys out there! Ahaha! A date at the park? What are we, elementary school kids?"
That hurts more than I expected.
"Unlike Kousuke, I've kept working on improving myself, so now all sorts of cool guys are after me. I'm not the same person I was back then!"
"...Isn't it just as important for people to value the things that don't change as much as the things that do?"
Satsuki, with a look of contempt,
"You know, I've always been annoyed by that preachy, sanctimonious tone of yours. Back then, I stupidly thought you were saying something profound, but now, it doesn't resonate with me at all. What a lame speech! Why don't you keep having those talks with that best friend of yours forever?"
I feel angry, as if my best friend was insulted.
Did I misjudge her?
"I was so naive. Kousuke, you're just a quiet, expressionless nobody! Don't talk to me anymore, okay?"
Before, she used to say it was cool how I was calm, mature, and thought before I spoke!
Just the other day, on the day of our middle school graduation ceremony, when we had our first kiss, she was so moved she shed tears...
"Kousuke-kun? Sorry, man. I didn't know Satsuki had a boyfriend."
The person who had been silent all this time is Masaki Yamamoto from the soccer club.
A tall, handsome guy from the same class, the typical popular type.
There were guys like this among my middle school classmates too. I saw them as rivals to my best friend, so I don't really get their appeal.
"...Even so, I still care about Satsuki...!"
I'm pathetic, but I cling on!
However, Satsuki says,
"Actually, I'm already dating Yamamoto. Yesterday, I gave him my first...♡"
She fidgets and squirms.
Wait, I don't quite understand what you're saying... (second time)
That quiet, honest Satsuki?
With a guy she just recently met?
Everything in front of me goes dark.
"I told you at the start, didn't I? Kousuke, you don't match up with me anymore. Now, I could even compete with 'that' Rena Kashii!"
Kashii-san was the most beautiful girl in our middle school. A girl called the perfect lady.
My best friend's crush.
Satsuki was in Kashii-san's faction until middle school, but when classes changed, she was pushed out of Kashii-san's group and could only join a lower-tier group. She lamented that throughout middle school.
But isn't Kashii-san a bit special? Since my best friend liked her, I had many chances to interact with her, so I understand her charisma. Even the second-in-command of Kashii-san's group, a versatile, cool glasses beauty, could barely win one match against her after competing so hard.
It's not about who's better or worse. Kashii-san is Kashii-san, and Satsuki is Satsuki. I've always told her that, but it seems I didn't convey it correctly...
Ugh! I'm late to realize this.
She already did it with Masaki...
Imagining that, I suddenly feel a wave of nausea.
My beloved Satsuki, with this flashy-looking handsome guy?
"It was amazing, you know? A virgin like Kousuke wouldn't understand, though. ...Somewhere deep down, you probably love me, but I might have wanted to mock that guardian-like face of yours. Well, whatever. Just make sure you don't spread around that embarrassing black history of us dating, okay?"
"See ya," Yamamoto says to me without a hint of guilt.
Yamamoto and Satsuki link arms and walk away.
Did Satsuki come back?
"You've been stuttering this whole time, huh? Gross⭐︎"
Laughing hysterically, Satsuki leaves.
Yamamoto seems a bit put off.
I lost my love, my girlfriend, and my pride.
☆ ☆ ☆
Good evening, this is the author, Aru.
This is a spin-off of "My Story of Falling for the Class President."
It's a side story from the perspective of Kousuke, the romantic comedy protagonist's best friend.
If you're interested, please check out the main story as well.
Kousuke's high school life starts off with a string of misfortunes. It begins with depression and offers no relief for a while (I'm stating this clearly). Even so, if you want to enjoy some comeuppance or just watch over Kousuke's daily life, please stick around!
In the main story, Kousuke's middle school days are depicted.
Stories from different perspectives, like those of Tanaka-kun and his best friends, are progressing simultaneously.
Occasionally, there are cross-story chapters where you see Kousuke or the heroine from Sho's perspective.