Side Story - Fumika meets a Delinquent (Reincarnated as a Beautiful Girl and Aim to Become Top Actress!)

 Side story – Fumika meets a delinquent.

 It has been about two months since Nao and Fumika entered their local public junior high school. Although they felt lonely in junior high school without Sumire. It was after the summer vacation of their third year of elementary school when Sumire moved to Tokyo.

 As expected, I have gotten used to school life without Sumire, but there is not a day that goes by that I don't wish Sumire were here to make it more enjoyable.

 It was around the time when the school events held for new students, such as the introduction of club activities, had settled down for the moment and the students had managed to pass their first mid-term exam. Fumika's class had to move because her next class was music. Fumika, who was on lock-up duty that day, locked the sliding doors after everyone had left the classroom and started walking toward the music room. (T/N: Lock up duty is when the assigned student locks up the classroom/cleans up the classroom when class is over.)

 Fumika was very happy to be in the same class A as her best friend Nao, who was very shy. However, Nao joined the volleyball club and Fumika joined the literature club, so they spend less time together than they did in elementary school. Fumika had a secret mission that Sumire had asked her to do, and she wanted to join the same club if possible, but when she went to visit the club and saw how hard it was, she realized that it was impossible for her.

Su-chan also said that I didn’t have to push myself too hard. 

 Muttering excuses like that in her mind, Fumika clasped her right hand in a small gesture. She re-carried her music textbook and alto recorder in both hands and walked a little faster to the corridor.

 The music room was not in the main school building, where classrooms for all grades and the staff room are located, but in a separate building where the science room and audio-visual room are located. To get there, one had to pass through a corridor on the second floor.

 There is a way to go down to the first floor and cross over to the other building, but it is raining today and I don't want to get my jacket wet. Besides, the time was so imminent that if I took a detour, I would be late to the class.

 The reason why Fumika thought of such a thing is because for some reason there was an upperclassman lying down in the center of the cross hallway. She politely placed a cushion under her head as a pillow, in a full-fledged relaxing style. The word "delinquent" popped into Fumika's mind when she saw his blonde dyed hair.

  Oh, these are the kind of people Su-chan has been talking about all along, the delinquents.

 Fumika's request to Sumire was actually related to this race of delinquents. Fumika had wondered why there were no delinquents around them.

 Since this school attracts students from surrounding elementary schools, it is likely that some delinquent people who have never been seen before will come in. Since she usually said 'that junior high school is so bad,' Sumire may have known that there could be delinquents there and was worried about Nao, who is easily influenced by her surroundings in any way. Nao's aunt also dyed her hair, but since it was light brown, Fumika decided that it was probably not a delinquent hair dye but a fashionable one.

 As a well-bred Fumika, she felt very uncomfortable seeing the delinquent male student in the flesh. She was very uncomfortable because she could not go to the music room because he was sleeping. She suppresses her desire to stomp her way past him, but she is too shy to do so, and somehow thinks of a way to get by without getting involved with him.

 Even though the delinquent is tall for a junior high school student, he is not tall enough to block all of this wide crossing corridor. There is a gap between his feet and the wall, but it might be a little too narrow to go straight through. I thought of a way to jump over his body with a running start, but Fumika, who has slightly poor motor skills, could only imagine herself tripping over his feet and falling.

"...... Um, excuse me. I need to go through here."

 Impatience with the lack of time made Fumika just a little more daring than usual. To her surprise, Fumika approached him. Even if Fumika was not a petite first-year junior high school student, she would have been afraid to talk to a tall, upperclassman boy with gold-dyed hair.

"......?　You can go through on your own, but don't call out to me every time you see me."

 When Fumika gathered up the courage to speak to the boy, he spat at her in an exasperated tone. Fumika was startled by the boy's sharp eyes narrowing even more as he glared at her, and she backed away for a moment, but her anger welled up as her brain realized that she had been told an unreasonable thing.

 But the calm part of Fumika's mind whispered that since the other party had told her she could go through on her own, she should be able to choose any method she wanted. Even so, as expected, I did not dare to step on him, but I felt that I could at least jump over him. Even if Fumika fell and stepped on the delinquent, it was an accident, and since it was the other party who told her to go through on her own, there would be no problem.

 Turning around and going back as far as she needed to to aid her run, Fumika turned around once more and trotted forward. To avoid stepping on or tripping over the body of an approaching male student, she managed to jump just in front of him with a peon and land safely over the edge.

“Hey, what are you doing jumping over my body without permission?"

 Fumika exhaled and smiled proudly at having successfully jumped over, but turned around with a miffed look on her face when someone tactlessly called out to her from behind. You told me to go through without permission, but the other person is somehow angry. Fumika couldn't understand his feelings and tilted her head curiously.

“Because you told me to go through on my own. ......”

"You wouldn't fly over someone else's body just because they told you to, would you? You’re dressed like a serious person, but you’re actually an idiot, right?"

“......I think it's more stupid to sleep in a school cross hallway."

 The other party may be a delinquent and a senior, but Fumika no longer felt like using even polite words. What she was saying was absurd, and it seemed like a waste of time to even get involved.

 Since she had been made fun of, she said back what she thought, and the other person who heard her was snickering, but Fumika ignored him and turned on her heel to head for the music room. However, perhaps not liking what was being said, the delinquent quickly got up and grabbed Fumika's small shoulders. Perhaps the force was too strong, or perhaps Fumika's expression was distorted by the pain.

“You just entered the school and you were in elementary school just the other day!　You've just entered school, you were in just elementary school until the other day!”

 Fumika was startled by the sudden loud voice of the delinquent, and her body shook with surprise. As if he could sense it, the delinquent removed his hand from Fumika's shoulder and muttered to himself, "What am I talking about?” Apparently, Fumika just mumbled what she thought, but it seemed to have clawed at the soft spot in the other person’s heart.

 For all the yelling and shoulder grabbing, Fumika did not find the punk in front of her particularly scary. Perhaps that was because she had a response to his words as he yelled at her.

Looking straight into the eyes of the delinquent, Fumika said, "......You can't make people understand your feelings for the rest of your life if you don't put them into words and say them out loud. It's no wonder they don't understand you if you don't say anything, because most people don't know how other people feel."

Since they are quite different in height, Fumika had to work pretty hard to look up and see his face. After a pause, as if waiting for the words to soak in, the delinquent gave a small laugh.

"You're just talking out of your ass."

“......it’s the words of a cherished friend."

“I see. That's right, you'll never know unless I tell you. I'm not an esper."

 Seeing the delinquent saying something that sounded convincing, Fumika was excited, sniffling inwardly, "Su-chan is amazing after all”. Fumika only vaguely remembers the circumstances of what was said, but she remembers what Sumire said to her.

 Fumika believes that Sumire will be more than happy to share her words with someone who needs them, rather than keeping them inside Fumika like a treasure.

 Having received Fumika's important words, the delinquent reached out his hand to Fumika's head with a more stern expression than before. After patting it lightly twice, his big, knobby hand moved away.

"Next class, it's music, right? Get a move on, you’re going to be late."

 Fumika was inclined to be indignant, saying, 'You were the one who was sabotaging me,' but finally the chime began to ring, so she left the delinquent at the spot and made a short run to the music room. When she opened the door, the music teacher had not yet arrived, and Fumika breathed a sigh of relief that she was apparently not late.

 Nao, who had arrived earlier, asked me, "You're late, what happened?” 

I wanted to tell her everything that had just happened, but I was afraid that she would go to the delinquent to complain to him, given her personality, so I hurriedly kept my mouth shut.

 By the time the teacher arrived, music class began, and the chime rang for the end of the class, the incident with the delinquent had been completely relegated to the corner of Fumika's mind. Fumika does not know, of course, when that memory will be recalled, and that the day is rather close at hand.

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