Chapter 35: Our Story
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 35: Our Story
The conversation about Rika's embarrassing past ended with me promising not to tell anyone, but an awkward atmosphere still lingered in the room.
Rika, having had her cringey past unilaterally exposed, was unusually quiet.
What could I do to get her back to her usual cheerful self?
As I mulled it over in the uncomfortable silence, I came up with a solution.
If she was embarrassed because I was the only one who knew her secret, then I just had to reveal one of my own embarrassing secrets to her.
"Hey... don't be so embarrassed. Everyone goes through that eighth-grade syndrome phase. I had a pretty bad case of it back in middle school, too."
"...Really?"
Rika, who had been burying her face in a teddy bear, took the bait.
I nodded and showed her a photo from my middle school days on my phone as proof.
It was Kim Yoo-Sung (3rd year of middle school), from a time when I was obsessed with urban fantasy manga and grew my bangs out long.
It was a picture taken before I possessed this body, and he had a thoroughly rebellious look in his eyes.
The original Kim Yoo-Sung must have thought he looked cool.
"Huh? This is you, Ryu-chan? No way!"
Rika leaned in, her eyes widening.
She looked back and forth between the old photo on my phone and me, her expression like a child who had just learned the truth about Santa Claus.
"You were so small and cute in middle school. How did you get so brawny?"
That's not what you're supposed to be surprised about.
Though her reaction was completely different from what I'd intended, I did my best to explain myself.
"I felt like I was too scrawny and not manly enough in middle school, so I started working out during the spring break before high school. It happened to coincide with my growth spurt, so I shot up in height."
When I first possessed this body, I was 167 cm. After I started training with Director Nakayama, I grew explosively. I was 180 cm in my first year of high school, and now I'm 186 cm.
What's even more surprising is that I'm still growing.
After hearing my explanation, Rika looked at the photo of me with a sense of longing.
"If only I'd transferred two years earlier, I could have seen this Ryu-chan. What a shame."
"So you're saying you don't like how I am now?"
"Ah, of course the current Ryu-chan is great too! It's just that your face back then doesn't match the image I have of you at all!"
Waving her hands frantically, Rika said this, but it must have sounded like a flimsy excuse even to her, because she lowered her head with a red face, letting out a little "Awoo..."
Now that the tense atmosphere seemed to have finally dissipated, I smiled casually and said to her.
"Everyone has an embarrassing phase. So you don't have to beat yourself up over it."
"Ugh... If I could erase just one photo from my life, I'd definitely choose that one."
Rika grumbled, popping a Pocky stick she'd brought from downstairs into her mouth.
She seemed to be in a much better mood than before.
It seemed sharing embarrassing stories was indeed more comforting when it was mutual.
It's like you both hold a secret over each other.
Now that we could finally have a normal conversation, I bowed my head and thanked Rika.
"Thanks for inviting me over today. I got to meet Mr. Kishimoto, whom I admire so much, and even got his autograph. I'll probably remember today for the rest of my life."
Rika scratched the back of her head, looking bashful.
"Don't flatter me so much. All I did was ask Papa. If anything, I'm just glad I can repay you for helping me on my first day of school. I'd invite you over anytime, Ryu-chan."
The thought of being able to meet Mr. Kishimoto anytime... for a fan, there was nothing more thrilling.
"Wouldn't I be a bother if I came over too often?"
"That's fine. When I was in middle school, my friends came over for a sleepover at least once a month!"
A friend of the same gender coming over often was a bit different from a friend of the opposite gender, but for the sake of Rika's innocence, I decided not to point it out.
"Well then, I'll take you up on that offer next time I get the chance."
"Hehe, you're welcome anytime."
Once our conversation came to a natural pause, silence fell over the room.
But unlike before, it wasn't awkward. It was a comfortable silence that put me at ease.
With nothing particular to talk about, I figured I'd read one of the many manga on her bookshelf and stood up.
As I approached the bookshelf that took up one side of the room and began to look at it intently, Rika, who was now sitting comfortably on her bed eating snacks instead of on the floor cushion, asked me.
"By the way, Ryu-chan, what got you into manga?"
I answered while scanning the titles on the spines.
"I was home alone a lot when I was a kid. My parents both worked, so there was no one to play with. I guess I just naturally started reading manga."
I picked out a book that looked interesting and sat back down on the cushion, then asked Rika in return.
"What about you, Rika? What got you into manga?"
Rika, who was hugging a cushion and watching funny videos on her phone, turned her head and said, "Huh?"
"Me? Well... my father's a manga artist, so I just naturally started reading them. Whenever Mom was out and Dad was looking after me, he'd always give me manga to read. Hmm, I guess you could call it the power of early education?"
I opened the first page of the manga and said teasingly.
"You're not calling them 'Papa' and 'Mama' now."
Rika flushed, letting out a little "Ngh!"
"It's not like I always call them Papa and Mama, you know?!"
"Whoa, whoa, calm down. No one said there was anything wrong with it."
As we chatted idly while I read the manga Rika recommended, two hours flew by.
*
In truth, my original goal of getting an autograph had been accomplished long ago. And while it was a friend's house, it would be rude for a guest to stay too long, so I closed the book at an appropriate time and got up.
Rika, who had also been reading a manga, tilted her head and asked.
"Leaving already?"
"Yeah. I've been here for quite a while. I should head home for dinner."
As I said that, I pointed to the clock on the wall, and Rika murmured, "Wow, it's already that late."
I'd arrived at noon, so four hours had already passed.
"I'll see you out, then."
Rika got up from her bed.
As I picked up my bag from the floor, something occurred to me and I asked.
"By the way, you said you're going on a family trip abroad starting tomorrow, right? Where are you going?"
Rika proudly made a V-sign with her fingers.
"Hawaii."
"Have fun. And don't forget to wear sunscreen."
"Hehe, you sound just like a dad sometimes, Ryu-chan."
In reality, it felt more like I was looking after a younger sister with a bit of an age gap, but I didn't bother correcting her.
After saying my goodbyes to Mr. Kishimoto in his study and Maria, who was watching a drama in the living room, I was putting on my shoes at the front door when Rika spoke with a cat-like smile.
"Guess we won't see each other for a week, then. Don't you go crying because you miss me, Ryu-chan, okay?"
I gave her an incredulous look for joking like that, then made a phone shape with my right hand.
"If anything happens, give me a call. I'll come help you out if I can."
"Are you going to swim all the way to Hawaii?"
"...I'll just take a plane like a normal person. I'll just have to break into my allowance savings, I guess."
Hearing that, Rika giggled and nodded.
"Okay. See you at school, then, Ryu-chan."
"Yeah."
I said as I opened the front door.
"See you at school."
*
Kishimoto Rika watched Kim Yoo-Sung's retreating back, clutching her trembling heart.
'If anything happens, give me a call. I'll come help you out if I can.'
That was honestly a foul play.
Just when I thought it was over and let my guard down, for him to suddenly say something like that...
The reason she'd first taken an interest in Kim Yoo-Sung was definitely because he looked like the protagonist of a shonen manga.
But it wasn't love at first sight.
At first, she'd just planned on being comfortable friends.
But as they walked together, laughing and talking by his side, her gaze had naturally started to follow his back at some point.
She liked the gap between his blunt exterior and his subtly caring nature.
She liked how he was big like a bear, but not scary at all—just reliable.
Throughout her seventeen years of life, from elementary to high school, countless people had confessed to Kishimoto Rika.
But she hated the lecherous gazes directed at her well-developed body and had rejected them all.
Kim Yoo-Sung, on the other hand, always looked her in the eyes when they talked.
His gaze would occasionally drift downwards, but he was so shy that he'd quickly look away, flustered.
With him, she wasn't scared.
In fact, she was even a little happy that he was interested in her.
'I like you.'
She murmured silently as she watched his retreating back.
They were words she had practiced alone at home countless times, but could never bring herself to say when she was actually in front of him.
The one saving grace was that there was still plenty of time until graduation.
'Someday, I will.'
Making that vow, she vigorously scratched the neck of Taro, the dog who was affectionately rubbing against her feet.