Free Web NovelChapter 120: A Familiar Face
"What are they doing?"
Unbeknownst to the two, Natsumi actually found out that Hajime and Megumi went out together for the last day of the school trip, but she didn’t think much of it since she knew they were friends, to begin with. While most of the students in Dai Yama High School had no idea how close Hajime and Megumi actually are, Natsumi could more or less already sense the chemistry between them. Even before they ’accidentally’ visited Hajime at home, she had already known that they were close.
After briefly letting everyone in their group know that she’d be separating from the group, she immediately started tailing the group, assuming Megumi’s usual job of stalking.
Since Natsumi was a step too late, she caught up to the two just when they finished eating by the crepe stand. Natsumi could plainly see that they slowly walked together, matching each other’s pace as they took their time through the street lined up with stalls. They would stop by here and there, buying something to eat, and they’d get into their usual argument about who would pay for the meal and such. Sometime after, Natsumi started questioning herself since she had been following the two for a while. There was no way what she was doing was morally right, and that plagued her mind as she indecisively continued following the two.
Pretty soon, it was time for the end of the school trip and Natsumi wasted the entire day following Hajime and Megumi around. Nothing really happened in that time frame so Natsumi felt a bit disappointed that she just wasted her time. But then again, at least she was assured that Hajime and Megumi were just friends, nothing more.
...
The flickering of night lights marked the end of the school trip. As the noise in the city mellowed down while the sky transitioned into a purplish hue for the night, Hajime and Megumi headed back to the meet-up point, keeping in mind that they shouldn’t go together since others would start talking about it. Even after spending a huge chunk of time together, Hajime and Megumi still felt oddly awkward around each other’s presence. That’s why they just had to separate before they got to the meet-up point.
Natsumi took their separation as the signal to head back as well. Miraculously, she got back to the meet-up point first before Hajime and Megumi even got there.
Then it was time to head back to the Aoi Umi Dorm.
"Hey, what are you holding, Megumi?" Kaori leaned on her shoulders and asked just when they were heading back inside Aoi Umi Dorm.
"Um, nothing?" Megumi vaguely responded as she pocketed the item she was holding onto. The way Kaori saw it, it seemed like Megumi was really cherishing whatever she was holding, looking at it with her face turning a nice shade of red.
"Come on, let me see." Kaori insisted, but Megumi wasn’t having it.
Quickening her pace, Megumi immediately headed toward their group’s room. She didn’t even bother stealing a glance towards Hajime who was responsible for giving her ’that’ item.
"And where did you go off to, lover boy?" Shoichi whispered, elbowing Hajime by the side as he wrapped his other arm around his neck.
"What are you talking about?" Hajime asked back with a flat tone, not even bothering to deny that he really went somewhere with someone.
"You don’t have to deny it, man, we saw you... we followed you a bit, you know." Shoichi said with a smirk as he continuously elbowed Hajime’s side.
"Wow, that’s pretty proactive of you. But no, whatever you’re thinking you have the wrong idea." Hajime muttered to himself. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
"Oh really, do I really have the wrong idea?" A smile appeared on Shoichi’s face as he continued teasing Hajime. Unbeknownst to Hajime, Shoichi and the entire group (including Keiichi) actually followed him and Shoichi wasn’t joking.
All this time, Hajime assumed that Shoichi was just kidding. Nevertheless, such wasn’t the case at all, and they really did witness Hajime and Megumi together, on a date, touring Tokyo together without anyone else near them. Well, there was someone else who was following the two aside from Shoichi and the others but they had no idea who she was. They concluded that she was probably someone from another class since she seemed familiar (they were referring to Natsumi though)
"You were smiling and all, I felt like I was watching a rom-com." Shinji expressionlessly added as he walked on Hajime’s free side. "You filming a movie back there at the crepe stall?"
"You guys, seriously?" Hajime didn’t know what to say. Based on what Shinji said, he could tell that they really stalked him. "Can’t I have a little bit of privacy?" ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
Then there was Keiichi who simply walked up to Hajime and patted him on the shoulder. Hajime had no idea why he did it but somehow he felt a little bit insulted.
Just when Hajime and his group were about to enter their room, a man came out from it, wearing all-black, a mask, and a cap. The others stopped short when they noticed the man since he seemed weirdly suspicious but as for Hajime who didn’t see the man at all, he continued walking, accidentally bumping into him, shoulder to shoulder.
Bump!
"Sorry about that," Hajime absent-mindedly muttered, still preoccupied with the thought of Shoichi and the others stalking him. As he opened the door to their room, Hajime briefly caught a glimpse of the man as he hesitantly turned around. For a split second, the two of them had eye contact, and the suspicious man quickly averted his gaze from him.
For some reason, Hajime felt like he had met the man before. It was a very disturbing familiar feeling that subconsciously sent chills up and down his spine. A memory then resurfaced in his mind— a memory that he so wanted to forget but couldn’t.
"STOP RIGHT THERE!" Hajime screamed as the man started running away. If his hunch was right, it was none other than the masked man he saw jump out of the truck when the accident happened last year.
