Chapter 9: I hate weekends, I really hate them

It ended up arriving after all.

The weekend.

Even if life doesn’t always go the way you want, isn’t this a bit too much for me?

I’m bored.

I’m bored.

“I’m so boooored so boooored so boooored so boooored so boooored——!!”

“You’re noisy.”

“I know! But what am I supposed to do?! I’m bored!”

“Then study.”

“I don’t want to hear that from a delinquent who probably hasn’t touched a textbook in years…”

“At least I’m better than you.”

Oof. No comeback.

She’s always being called a delinquent, and sometimes even I get confused,

But Dana is surprisingly smart, and even with a little studying, she passes most exams.

Back when we were busting our butts to get into this school, she helped me a lot too…

Wait a second. That totally ruins her character. If you’re gonna be a delinquent, then stay dumb and delinquent…!

“Aren’t you bored?”

“No.”

This heartless girl.

Our dorm isn’t even that big. A tiny room that we’re practically forced to share, and she’s not even the slightest bit restless. Dana’s expression remained calm as ever.

“If you’re so bored, then go out and have fun.”

“You know, these days everything costs money? Unless I want to waste time sitting in a park or something.”

“Then do that or don’t.”

“That’s so cold! And mean! You know I can’t go out because I’m broke!”

“Ugh. You’re bursting my eardrums.”

The weekend.

That’s why I’m freaking out.

I’m bored because I don’t have to go to school.

Watching fresh-faced girls flirt and giggle is my one reason for living, and being denied that is basically torture.

You’d think I could just go to a park or something and watch the girls there, but I’m kinda scared of the outside world.

If I’m out there, dazed, watching cute yuri girls, and then suddenly I see one of them holding hands and giggling with a guy? I might literally drop dead from internal organ failure.

“That’s why I said a girls-only school would be perfect….”

Dana seems to have decided to ignore me now.

The only sounds are the soft rustling of pages turning in the book she’s reading.

For some reason, that annoys me, so I practically throw myself at her.

“Da—na—.”

“…”

“I’m bored. Hmm…?”

“…”

“Can’t you show me something fun with another girl? Stop reading that boring book.”

“…”

“Should I get a part-time job?”

“No.”

“Why is that the only thing you respond to immediately…?”

For some reason, Dana closed her book with a loud thud and met my eyes.

What, is she challenging me to a staring contest or something?

She stared at me for a long time, and then suddenly asked:

“Why?”

“What do you mean why.”

“There must be a reason you want to get a part-time job.”

“Obviously, for money?”

“And why do you need money?”

Why do I need money? Is my friend lacking basic common sense?

Money is just… the more, the better.

Take today for example. If I had a lot of money right now…

“I could hire two hot ladies from a le@z club and watch them ru@ each other while—”

“Die. Just die!”

“WaaAAaAah?!”

Dana smacked my skull with the book she was reading.

It hurts. It hurts like hell!

My brain is already dumb, now it’s gonna get dumber!

…
…
…

This might seem out of nowhere, but

It’s already been more than ten years since I first met Dana.

By now, there’s hardly anything I don’t know about her.

Well, except for the lewd stuff, obviously.

She always pretends to be cool and mature, but she actually acts a lot like a moody teenage girl.

She’s the type who thinks the world revolves around her, that nothing’s impossible if she puts her mind to it, and that everyone’s attention naturally belongs to her.

That arrogance is the core of her being.

Handling a girl like that is easy.

Just bring someone even more confident and capable to rub up against her until she breaks down—wait, that’s way too extreme.

All I really have to do is stick to her like a leech and subtly poke at her pride. That never fails.

• I can’t take it anymore. Maybe I’ll ask Alicia to hang out!

I still remember how she reacted the moment I said that—like she was having a seizure.

The way she looked at me with those empty eyes, like what?—I almost peed myself.

Dana is scary….

She’d only just enrolled, but it seems like Alicia was already her berserk button.

Anyway, in the end, I got what I wanted.

I went out—dragging Dana, my walking wallet, with me!

“You’ve been hanging out with her a lot lately.”

If there’s any downside to forcing Dana to come with me, it’s that she keeps bringing up Alicia.

“Yeah. She’s super nice. Buys me yummy stuff.”

“Are you stupid? You’re following her around just for food?”

“What. Are you jealous?”

“It’s just annoying, that’s all.”

Maybe calling it a downside was premature.

Even without a mirror, I could tell.

My eyes were curving up in a sly little smirk.

So she does care.

Is this one of those stories? The ones where sworn enemies who always fight eventually realize it was love all along?

The person you thought you hated turns out to be the one you love, but you’ve been mean for so long you can’t admit it, so you lash out—and then when the usual teasing doesn’t get a reaction, Alicia runs off with a hurt look, and Dana, shocked by that, gets hurt herself!

Have s*x! Stop fighting and just have se@ already!!

“Heehee, ehehe, hihihihi….”

“You’re embarrassing.”

“You liiike it though, huhuhuhuh…”

“Enough. Just tell me what you want to do. I need to go to the library.”

“The bookworm act doesn’t suit you.”

“I’m leaving.”

“Sorry?!”

Honestly, there wasn’t anything in particular I wanted to do.

Just kill time. Eat, hit a café… not that different from what I did with Alicia.

But time passed really fast. Maybe because I kept daydreaming about girls on the street and lost track of it all…

Before I knew it, the sun was setting.

“Let’s head back.”

“Okay. Oh, what about the library?”

“…You want to come too?”

“Of course?”

“Fine, whatever.”

I’ve never liked that dusty paper smell libraries have,

But I do like the kind of yuri events that can happen only in libraries.

I’d never go alone, but this kind of opportunity? Sure.

If Dana just kept her mouth shut and stopped throwing punches, she’d actually be a picture-perfect girl. Now that I think about it, a library might suit her.

A quiet, shy girl sees Dana in the library and nervously approaches. That’s how it starts.

At first, they just talk about books, but then one of them can’t hold back anymore… Wait, wait, no, you can’t do that in a library, are you crazy? That’s a public indecency charge…!

“You’re having weird thoughts again.”

“No, no I’m not! Absolutely not!”

“Wipe your drool.”

“Huh?!”

Okay, I need to chill.

At this rate, Dana’s definitely going to look at me with disgust.

Actually… she already does.

Even though I was stumbling like I’d been drugged by my own yuri fantasies, I somehow made it to the library.

But suddenly,

Dana, who’d been walking ahead, stopped in her tracks.

“Let’s go back.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Just because.”

We came all this way and now you want to leave? We’re practically at the door.

I was confused and hesitant, and Dana actually grabbed my wrist and dragged me away from the entrance.

But I’ve got a rebel’s soul. I never go along quietly with what people say.

So while she was dragging me off, I craned my neck around to peek inside the library—what could possibly be in there?

And then I understood.

There stood a beauty, as if painted with a brush.

Her soft blond hair was gathered and tied up.

I had hoped for a glasses-wearing, braid-haired, classic bookish cutie—it is a library after all—but now that I saw that face, all expectations vanished.

It was Alicia.

Maybe something bad had happened.

Her usually expressionless, doll-like face was clouded with deep concern.

Even someone as clueless as me could tell right away—it was serious.

She was just about to leave the library, so running into us was inevitable.

“…Ah?”

Her blue eyes shook violently, then filled with emotions I couldn’t identify. The change was so fast I couldn’t keep up.

She looked around. Seemed like she was staring at Dana, but then she looked at me.

Her gaze dropped to where Dana was holding my wrist, where our skin touched—and stayed there for a long time before blinking rapidly.

What the hell.

What happened to make this so intense?