December 5
Weather: Cloudy
Recorder: Hagasaki
The commotion about the molester had safely subsided, and our teacher had returned to club activities (though he disappeared aimlessly as usual, so his presence didn’t really make a difference), and our experiment resumed.
Out of the blue, Hariu said,
“I’ve been thinking a bit since the girls quit the club…”
Waving a glass stirring rod like a conductor’s baton, Hariu paused before continuing,
“I have a feeling that I’ll live a life without any connection to girls.”
…Oh, I see.
Hariu’s desired career path was, of course, in the sciences. Specifically, he hoped to enter a field where the gender ratio heavily favored men. Well, for us, that premonition didn’t seem entirely off. I felt I was getting influenced by this place too.
“But it’s not just me; everyone else is in the same boat. No one will have a life connected to girls, except for Suzumoto.”
“Hey.”
“Toriumi seems like he might manage. And Kadomi-kun might somehow manage too. But not me.”
“Ah, I get it. As for Katori… Hmm, no, I can only imagine something unfortunate happening to him. Haha. Kariya is more likely to become a girl himself than to live a life connected to girls…”
“That’s also a bit problematic.”
Kariya… somehow seemed like the type who might become a fake woman online or something.
“And then… President…”
“President… well…”
Imagining President involved with girls… couldn’t think of anything outside of crime. I envisioned a B-grade movie scene with a mad scientist capturing young women for human experiments.
Hariu and I exchanged dry laughter. It was best not to discuss this any further. We’d only hurt ourselves.
…Even before being interested in girls. Personally, I didn’t really care, but when it came to discussing our humanity, it could get seriously hurtful.
“…By the way, Hagasaki, Hariu. I’ve been left out of this conversation from the beginning.”
Just as we were about to make a truce, Suzumoto cut in. Well, yeah…
Talking to Suzumoto, he was just a regular person. Sometimes he was so absent-minded it was funny. But from a distance, he looked quite presentable, and he seemed to get by without any problems. I knew there were quite a few girls who found something appealing about him.
“Suzumoto, it’s fine if you’re left out!”
I understood Hariu’s attitude.
“Guys who get love letters can stay out!”
…
“…What?”
Suzumoto froze.
“What?”
I froze too.
Wait, a love letter?
…Do those actually exist?
“…Wait. Hold on, wait, wait, Hariu, what do you mean? A love letter…? What?”
“A love letter.”
“It’s not that, I didn’t want to look it up in the dictionary!”
Yeah, I figured.
It’s incredibly amusing to see Suzumoto, who is usually quite composed, getting this flustered, but I’m also curious about the situation. Like Suzumoto, what’s this about a love letter?
“Ah, um, well. I feel kind of bad about it, but I needed ground shoes for the third period PE class. Since I took mine home, I thought I’d borrow Suzumoto’s.”
“Wouldn’t they be the wrong size? Hariu, what’s your shoe size again? It’s probably about three centimeters different, right? Or maybe more?”
Isn’t that the wrong thing to worry about?
“Oh, right. As you might have guessed, Suzumoto’s were too big, so I ended up borrowing Kadomi-kun’s. Haha.”
“Might as well try Maito’s; they might fit best.”
“Eh, no way… Maito-san, what’s your shoe size again?”
“I think she said 23.”
“Ah, that’s probably too tight for me. But maybe not impossible. Haha.”
…No.
No, no, no, don’t end the conversation there. That’s not the main point.
“…So, about the love letter?”
“Oh, I almost forgot.”
Give me a break.
“Um, so when I opened Suzumoto’s shoe locker, there was this cute envelope inside. That’s all.”
…That roundabout explanation led nowhere. As expected.
“A cute envelope… in my shoe locker?”
“Yeah.”
“Did you mistake it for someone else’s locker?”
“Then go check it now. Come on, come on.”
Prompted by Hariu, Suzumoto stood up, tilted his head, and left the lab.
Suzumoto returned in a few minutes.
And his first words were,
“…You tricked me, didn’t you?”
With an unusually dark smile, Suzumoto confronted Hariu.
“I thought it was strange from the beginning. In this day and age, a love letter is already an archaic concept, and putting it in a shoe locker is practically a relic of ancient culture. It was obviously strange! And to think that someone like me, who is far removed from such things, would receive it, I should have called your bluff!”
“What? Wh-what!? Wait, what do you mean!? It wasn’t there!? No way!”
“It wasn’t there. There was no envelope in my shoe locker. Just my shoes.”
“No wayyyyyy!”
Hariu seemed genuinely shocked, facing the quietly angry Suzumoto. Wait a minute.
“No way! Why!? Why did it disappear!?”
“…I don’t know why you’re asking me.”
For someone who supposedly pulled a prank, Hariu seemed genuinely astonished.
…I guess Hariu really did see a love letter. Whether it was real or a misunderstanding is another matter.
So, what do we do now?
“Uh… was it really not there?”
“There wasn’t. Absolutely not. You can go check if you want.”
“Uh…”
Hariu also went to confirm. Then he came back.
“It wasn’t there… it’s gone… why…?”
“I don’t know.”
“This is a serious matter! What!? The love letter disappeared! That’s a big deal!”
Is it a big deal?
Looking at Suzumoto, he had the same expression as me, like, “Is it really a big deal?”
“But, if the love letter disappeared by accident, wouldn’t the girl who sent it feel bad? And from her perspective, it would seem like Suzumoto is ignoring her love letter!”
Ah… while the pity part is one thing, the latter could be troublesome. I don’t like the idea of Suzumoto getting a bad reputation when he did nothing wrong, as a friend.
“But there’s nothing we can do about it. If, by any chance, someone really sent me a love letter and it’s gone, it must mean that the sender retrieved it. Unless someone unusual like Hariu opens it, normally only the owner and someone with a clear purpose should open a shoe locker. It’s unlikely that a third party threw it away.”
Well, now that you mention it.
If the love letter really existed and disappeared, the only reasonable explanation is that the sender retrieved it.
“If something similar happens again, we might need to consider it. But for now, there’s nothing more to think about.”
There’s really nothing more we can consider.
Hariu seemed to still be bothered by it, but Suzumoto declared, “Case closed,” so Hariu decided not to push further.
So, we forgot about it, did our club activities as usual, and then on the next activity day…
“Just to confirm?”
While I was cutting metal plates for the experiment, Toriumi came up and started talking.
“Assuming Kariya is the least likely to get a girlfriend among us.”
“That’s so cruel…”
“Wait a minute! I’m here! I’m probably the least likely to get a girlfriend! Even if Kariya’s chances are 0.1%, it’s still greater than zero!”
“That’s so cruel…”
“The rest of us, except for a few, are basically in the same boat.”
“Well, Maito’s situation is different… but leaving aside the ‘acorn height competition,’ the consensus seems to be that Suzumoto has the best chances, right?”
This conversation feels like déjà vu…
…And Toriumi’s smirk already tells the story.
“Could it be that there was another love letter in Suzumoto’s shoe locker?”
I asked just in case.
“Oh? Hagasaki, are you psychic?”
There it is.
…Seriously?
What’s with Suzumoto?