Chapter 63 – [Extra] The Tomato Addict Next Door (2)

 

The 12th of June was an unforgettable day for me.

 

The rumors involving Hiwa were growing in number.

 

Everything was mostly about the poisonous words she had spoken. People started to recite her words at some point, hell, there were even a small group of people who created a fanclub just to list all of her words. Thanks to this, her popularity showed no sign of ending.

 

Hiwa Arina was a good looking girl. She was also smart, her grades were always in the top ten of the year. Despite that, she refused to interact with people and distanced herself from them.

 

But still, the boys didn’t give up pursuing her even when they would only end up receiving her abuse and scorn. 

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

Shirona-chan asked me.

 

“I’m just thinking… It must be hard for her…”

 

It wasn’t like she asked everyone to sympathize with her, but I couldn’t help but do it…

 

“…Are you thinking about Arina-san?”

“Ugh–!”

“Eh? I was right? Uh… Um…”

“It’s fine…”

 

At first, I thought that my crush for her would wane over time, but it was still going strong even after two months had already passed.

 

My biggest regret was the fact that I couldn’t even bring myself to talk to her. I kept my feelings hidden deep inside my heart. I knew that this would crush me eventually, but I keep holding on to it like an idiot.

 

But, I think I almost hit my limit. 

 

“Do you want me to help you?…”

 

I knew the solution to my problem, it was just, I couldn’t make up my mind.

 

“It’s fine, Shirona-chan… This is my own problem after all…”

“I see… Have you tried to talk to Sui about it?”

 

I glanced toward Sui’s direction. Recently, there were changes in the seating positions and Sui’s seat was moved to the back of the classroom, just beside the window. He was looking at the window with his tomato juice in his hand.

 

“No…”

 

Sui messed around a lot, but his advice was usually spot on, that was why I could trust him with a lot of things. Even so, there was nothing he could do about my problem.

 

There was only one solution to it. I have to confess to her.

 

The outcome would be obvious, I would be crushed by her like the other boys, but still it was better than standing around and doing nothing like a coward.

 

“Alright, It’s decided!”

“Eh? W-What? What are you talking about?”

 

With a steelclad resolution, I stood up.

 

“I’m going to confess to her!”

 

I thought I just said it loud enough so that only Shirona-chan could hear me, but it seemed like I was louder than I thought. Several people in the class turned their gazes on me.

 

Shirona-chan’s eyes looked confused while Sui was grinning at me from where he was sitting. He sent me a gut-pose and some praises, but looking back at it now, he was totally mocking me, right?

 

After that I left the classroom. Some of my classmates followed me, but I ignored them.

 

I went directly to Hiwa’s class.

 

The door to her class was open, so I entered it and approached Hiwa, who was reading without a care in the world. The crowds I brought with me didn’t even faze her, as expected of her.

 

With each step that I took, her beauty was more apparent to me. It was fragile and refined, like glasswork.

 

I was dazed by her brilliance. It seemed like we were living in a different world… I kept thinking about strange things, Sui’s speech pattern might be rubbing off on me.

 

Hiwa kept reading her book, completely ignoring my presence. She seemed to have shut herself off from the outside world.

 

I summoned up all my courage and called out to her.

 

“Hiwa…san…”

 

Did I pronounce her name correctly?

 

My heart started to beat wildly and I could feel my ears heating up.

 

Hiwa then closed her book with both hands and stared right into my eyes. As expected, I really liked her.

 

It was at that moment that I realized I made a mistake. I didn’t know what to say to her. I was caught in the moment and came here without any preparation.

 

I racked my brain. I tried to come up with something.

 

It felt like I went through the entirety of a dictionary twice.

 

Then I opened my mouth.

 

“Hiwa-san, I… Fell in love with you at first sight… I know I’ve never talked to you, but…”

“Ah, it’s too long and too loud. Your voice made me want to vomit, so get out of here. I feel goosebumps on my skin… What are you staring at? Disgusting… Go away!”

 

I heard the sound of glass breaking.

 

I almost convinced myself that it was Sui dropping his glass of tomato juice, then I realized that he only ever drinks from a can or carton box. In other words, the sound didn’t come from him, but rather from me. It was the sound of my heart breaking.

 

Now I know where the ‘glass heart’ metaphor came from. It came from the sound of a broken heart. I wandered out of Hiwa’s classroom and went back to my classroom.

 

I don’t remember what happened on the way back, but when I came to I was already sitting on my seat.

 

Ugh, I feel like dying…

 

I was serious. The pain I received was strong enough for me to die two times over.

 

I looked at Sui’s direction and saw him grinning at me and gave me a thumbs up.

 

‘Everything will be alright!’

 

Maybe that’s what he was trying to tell me.

 

But I didn’t have enough power to react to him.

 

Later on, I took a day off from club activities. I went back home right after school was over. When I walked past the cafeteria, I saw Sui in the middle of a crowd of girls, trying to get a loaf of bread. Man, it must be nice to live freely like that…

 

My heart was half destroyed, but in return, I felt refreshed. 

 

My classmates probably treated my confession as an utter failure and in a way, they were right.

 

But for me, it was actually a success. After all, it helped me to come to terms with my feelings and move on. June 12th, the day when I confessed my love to Hiwa, the day when I was finally free from the feelings that had been weighing me down. 

 

After that, everything passed on peacefully until I became a sophomore.

 

The roster got shuffled and Shirona-chan wasn’t my classmate anymore, but for some reason, I got into the same class as Sui. He even said something disturbing like ‘Huh? Why are you following me here? Do you like me or something?’ Seriously that guy…

 

Meanwhile Hiwa’s reputation as a sadist was still going strong.

 

I didn’t know if this was the after effect of Hiwa’s venomous tongue but after that, I failed to find anyone else that I liked. I was worried that I might receive a mental trauma but after seeing Sui gulping his tomato juice like water, I discarded the thought. I’m still normal.

 

Then some changes happened during the fall of my second year of high school.

 

There was a rumor that Sakaki Sui and Hiwa Arina started dating. I had trouble sleeping at night after hearing that for the first time.

 

It seemed like there were a lot of things going on in the Tomato Addict’s life.