Chapter 16: I like girls.
Five minutes later, after Hagiwara Kenji was kindly let go by his two friends and struggled to get up from the ground.
Hagiwara Kenji sat on the ground, tidying his messy, dusty, shoulder-length hair. Finding that he couldn't get it right for a moment, he complained, "You guys are really going too far!"
"Wasn't it you who started it?" Matsuda Jinpei leaned against the edge of the horizontal bar and retorted directly.
Morofushi Sora'aki was squatting with his knees drawn up to his chest. He reached out and tugged at the end of Hagiwara Kenji's hair, saying, "Why do you keep this hairstyle? Don't you find it troublesome?"
Matsuda Jinpei has curly hair that always looks messy no matter how he styles it, so he doesn't bother with it. He just gets it cut when it grows long and doesn't try to maintain any particular hairstyle. He even got a buzz cut once in the summer.
At that moment, Morofushi Sora'aki immediately asked, "Who are you?"
Then Matsuda Jinpei chased and beat them up, while Hagiwara Kenji laughed and made a scene, so it turned out that the two of them were the ones being chased and beaten up.
Hagiwara Kenji, however, has always maintained this troublesome length of hair. In the summer, he has complained more than once that his hair is too long and makes him very hot.
Morofushi Sora'aki had asked before, but had not received an answer.
And this time—
Matsuda Jinpei sneered: "It's all for showing off."
Hagiwara Kenji: "Matsuda——!"
Morofushi Sora'aki suddenly realized and sincerely commented, "Even without this hairstyle, Hagiwara is still very handsome."
After thinking for a moment, Morofushi Sora'aki added, "Even if he's bald, I'll still recognize him."
Hagiwara Kenji: "..."
Matsuda Jinpei: "...Pfft!"
"Ah! You just smiled, didn't you!" Hagiwara Kenji immediately narrowed his eyes: "You were the one who wasn't recognized by Sora'aki-chan before!"
These kinds of conversations happen every day, and Morofushi Sora'akieven braided three rough little braids into Hagiwara Kenji's hair while they were bickering.
Unfortunately, there was no hair tie on hand, so after Morofushi Sora'aki let go, it became even looser. Just then, Morofushi Sora'aki noticed the pink hair clip that had fallen out of Hagiwara Kenji's bag because of the fall, and naturally pinned it to Hagiwara Kenji's hair.
Matsuda Jinpei: "..."
Matsuda Jinpei: "..."
Matsuda Jinpei stopped talking at some point, and lowered his head to look away, unable to bear watching.
Hagiwara Kenji was still unaware of the disaster that had befallen his hair, and was even gloating over it: "See? You can't argue with me now!"
Morofushi Sora'aki clapped his hands, stood up, and said, "Want to go get some cake?"
Matsuda Jinpei: "Eat!"
Hagiwara Kenji asked, somewhat puzzled, "When did you become so interested in cakes?"
Matsuda Jinpei crossed his arms and said seriously, "I just suddenly had a sweet craving, what's wrong?"
"No, there's nothing there." Hagiwara Kenji still seemed not to have realized what was happening.
All three of them looked dusty and dirty from the sudden incident, so Hagiwara Kenji didn't care about the little thing. He dusted himself off and they changed their route to the dessert shop.
On the way, Hagiwara Kenji noticed that passersby were glancing in their direction, intentionally or unintentionally. Just as Kenji was about to become suspicious, Matsuda Jinpei patted his clothes to divert his attention: "You're all this dirty, are you sure you'll be okay going back?"
Morofushi Sora'aki also chimed in, "After all, Hagiwara has always been very afraid of his mother."
"That's not fear!" Hagiwara Kenji immediately retorted.
Matsuda Jinpei nodded, unsure of who he was agreeing with: "After all, Auntie can be really scary when she gets angry."
The three of them remembered how they had tried to modify a car, but were discovered by Mother Hagiwara halfway through. It was Father Hagiwara who tried to smooth things over, but in the end, none of them escaped a scolding.
Hagiwara Kenji didn't argue, and after thinking for a moment, said, "How about I put the clothes in the washing machine before my mom finds out?"
"Speaking of washing machines… mine is broken." Matsuda Jinpei gestured as if repairing one, then winked at his two friends: "How about it, interested?"
"Your expression makes me suspect that you deliberately broke your washing machine." Hagiwara Kenji said coolly.
"How could that be!" Matsuda Jinpei scoffed. "Do you think I'm a child?"
"Generally speaking, those who emphasize that they are not children are the ones who are children." said Morofushi Sora'aki.
So, with his attention diverted along the way, Hagiwara Kenji didn't notice the terrible state of his hair at all.
When they arrived at the dessert shop and found themselves receiving even more attention than usual, Hagiwara Kenji attributed the reason to Matsuda Jinpei: "After all, Jinpei-chan looks like a thug who just got into a fight!"
Matsuda Jinpei: "What do you mean!"
Morofushi Sora'aki took out a band-aid: "Put one on the nose, and it will look even more like it."
Hagiwara Kenji laughed and said, "That's right, that's right!"
Matsuda Jinpei suddenly fell silent, staring at Morofushi Sora'aki with a strange expression: "...Shouldn't the point be, why do you always carry around a band-aid with 'love Kenji' written on it?"
Morofushi Sora'aki looked at the band-aid in his hand belatedly: "Ah, it just fell out of Hagiwara's bag."
Hagiwara Kenji: "..."
Hagiwara Kenji, who had attracted the attention of two people, blushed immediately and snatched the band-aid from Morofushi Sora'aki's hand: "Sora'aki!"
Morofushi Sora'aki looked away, pretending that he hadn't done anything.
At this moment, Hagiwara Kenji finally noticed something was wrong. He belatedly realized that his bangs, which usually stung his eyes and obstructed part of his vision, were gone!
Hagiwara Kenji scratched his head with a dark expression, then pulled a pink hair clip off his head. After a moment of silence, Matsuda Jinpei couldn't help but laugh, his shoulders shaking, while Morofushi Sora'aki blinked his innocent-looking cat eyes.
As usual, at times like this, Hagiwara Kenji would either retaliate angrily or retaliate with a helpless expression—in short, he would retaliate.
But this time, completely to the surprise of Morofushi Sora'aki and Matsuda Jinpei, Hagiwara Kenji said nothing, but his expressionless face made them feel uneasy.
Matsuda Jinpei stopped laughing and hesitantly looked up: "Hagi? Are you really angry?"
Morofushi Sora'aki was also a little confused. This level of prank had happened before, but Hagiwara Kenji had never reacted like this before.
Seeing their reactions, Hagiwara Kenji immediately put on his usual mischievous smile: "What? Were you scared?"
Matsuda Jinpei, however, did not relax. Instead, he frowned and looked at Hagiwara Kenji.
Morofushi Sora'aki was also staring at his expression, the corners of his mouth slightly downturned.
Hagiwara Kenji: "..."
Hagiwara Kenji, who was actually a little angry, panicked: "Hey, you two—"
"If what happened just now made you angry, you can just say so," Matsuda Jinpei said. "Neither Morofushi nor I are the type to refuse to admit our mistakes."
Morofushi Sora'aki's clear blue cat eyes didn't seem as clear and bright as usual, and he said somewhat dejectedly, "Is Hagiwara angry?"
Hagiwara Kenji was completely bewildered by the two of them. He sat in his seat, covering his face, and said, "Wait, okay, I admit I was a little angry just now... but I'm really not angry anymore! You two, calm down! I'm starting to panic!"
"I'm sorry, I won't do it again." Morofushi Sora'aki apologized obediently. "So, Hagiwara, can you tell me why you were angry this time?"
Because similar things had happened before, Morofushi Sora'aki was certain that the other party wouldn't get angry over a prank of this magnitude, so there must be another reason.
"I apologize too." Matsuda Jinpei said quite directly, "But like this guy, I don't quite understand why you're angry."
Cornered by the two of them, Hagiwara Kenji was speechless for a moment. Then, as if giving up, he muttered a long, uninterrupted string of words: "Okay, I admit I'm a little upset because I've known Jinpei-chan longer, and I was the one who invited Sora'aki-chan to be my friend first. But recently, it seems like your relationship has gotten even better, and now you're playing pranks on me together, which makes me a little jealous. Plus, someone confessed to me, and you guys made me do this, which makes me feel really embarrassed. I feel like I can't keep being cool anymore—that's all! Okay, that's all. The cake's coming up soon, let's end this topic!"
Because Hagiwara Kenji spoke so quickly, Matsuda Jinpei hadn't even had time to react before he finished. The curly-haired boy was a little confused: "Wait? Say it again??"
Hagiwara Kenji immediately refused: "I already said it! It's your problem if you didn't hear me!"
Having heard clearly, Morofushi Sora'aki blinked and opened his mouth to repeat it. Noticing this, Hagiwara Kenji immediately covered Morofushi Sora'aki'aki mouth and regretted actually saying it: "Sora'aki-chan! Shut up! Don't repeat it!"
Morofushi Sora'aki nodded obediently, and Hagiwara Kenji hesitated before releasing his hand. The black-haired, cat-eyed boy spoke up: "Was the band-aid a gift from the person you were confessed to?"
Matsuda Jinpei's eyes widened instantly, a look of curiosity appearing on his face. He exclaimed in surprise, "Eh? A confession? When?! Which class is she in? Do I know her?!"
Hagiwara Kenji: "——Sora'aki!"
Morofushi Sora'aki: "...Can't I even say this?"
Hagiwara Kenji's ears turned red, and he seemed to have forgotten all the reasons he had been angry before.
"The book says that in a friendship of three, there will always be one person who is superfluous, so does Hagiwara feel like he is being ignored?" Morofushi Sora'aki, who had obediently skipped the topic of confession, said sincerely, "But I clearly like Hagiwara more than Matsuda."
Hagiwara Kenji's ears turned red, and his face was also covered in red. Matsuda Jinpei, who had been curious about the confession, suddenly turned around and said, "Although I don't really want to hear you confess, what you said makes me angry."
"Because you beat me up." Morofushi Sora'aki replied.
"...Is it my turn to get angry this time?" Matsuda Jinpei said calmly, then thought for a moment and added, "Then I like Hagi even more!"
Morofushi Sora'aki and Matsuda Jinpei stared intently at each other, their gazes seemingly intertwined with sparks of electricity. Then, the two boys looked at Hagiwara Kenji in unison.
"Hagi/Hagiwara, who do you like more!"
Hagiwara Kenji: "..."
Hagiwara Kenji: Who am I? Where am I? What happened? Why are you asking me such a strange question!
Hagiwara Kenji, adept at balancing things out, decisively declared, "I like girls!!"