[Yuri Novel] The Girl Next Door Knows the Secret <4> [Creative Awards 2025]
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<14> <15> <16> <17> <18>
<Epilogue>
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Chapter 2: Nana's Chapter -The Girl Who Resembles Me-
1
Aki Ichijo was a dazzling light that suddenly appeared in my—Nana Mitsuki's—depressing days during high school.
"Nana, you're just... so kind, aren't you?"
After school, the two of us had come to a cafe that had just opened in front of the station. Aki murmured this deeply while drinking a retro and cute melon soda float.
"What are you talking about? I think you're the kindest person I've ever met."
I laughed and replied to her slightly unexpected words. When praised, one should be humble. One should also immediately praise the other person back. That was the safe reaction I had acquired as an 'honor student'.
"Hmm, Nana, you don't know your own good points. That's such a waste."
Aki furrowed her brows slightly. She must be deep in thought. We had been friends since we were in the same class in our first year of high school. But it was a general kind of friendship, not a special relationship that one would call a 'best friend.' She is a truly kind girl. She always smiles at everyone, and her manner is gentle. I had never once seen her make a negative comment about others, nor had I ever seen her in a situation where someone else directed malice toward her. That is probably why she would offer such an assessment even to a mere friend like me. I felt 'Aki-ness' in her statement and smiled involuntarily. After a few seconds of silence, she lifted her face as if she had found an exit from the maze of her thoughts.
"Oh, I know! I'll just tell you every day! Nana's good points!"
"Eh?"
Aki's eccentric idea was beyond my comprehension. Aki nodded with satisfaction at her own 'brilliant inspiration'.
"Yeah, that's a good idea! Then you'll understand. Because, you know, I know lots of Nana's good points!"
I could follow the literal meaning of her words, but I couldn't grasp the intent behind them at all. However, I still remember how the expression on Aki's face as she said that and laughed was burned into my eyes, looking incredibly dazzling. Even when we left the cafe and headed home, Aki shouted her own analytical results from a distance, saying things like, "Nana is so honest!" I felt a mix of exasperation at her behavior, which disregarded those around her, and embarrassment at being showered with positive words. At the same time, I also felt a soft, warm sensation emerging from deep within.
On my way home alone, a couple sitting on a park bench came into view. An ordinary couple wearing the uniforms of a nearby high school. However, their smiles were so full of happiness that it was difficult to look directly at them.
—I'm envious.
I wonder when it started. The time when I began to strongly wish to be someone's 'special person.' I had loved shojo manga since I was a child. I think I was influenced by the typical success patterns repeatedly depicted in them. The protagonist is loved as a one-of-a-kind existence, finds love, and reaches a happy ending. That clearly defined form of happiness looked terribly attractive to me. I wanted to be like that someday, too. Thinking that, I, too, fell in love many times. But for some reason, I never once had my feelings reciprocated by the person I loved. While waiting for the traffic light, my figure was suddenly reflected in the glass of a building next to me. A slender physique inherited from my father, and a well-defined face with traces of my mother. If I were to borrow the evaluations of others, I think I would fall into the 'beautiful' category. But why is it? To me, the two people I saw earlier looked much more dazzling.
"...Looks have no value at all..."
I dropped my gaze to the ground and muttered as if spitting out the words. —No, I actually know. Deep down, I was looking down on those two. It is irrational that I, who should be superior, am alone, while they, who are ordinary, are happy. This twisted nature of unconsciously looking down on others. This is likely the fundamental reason why I cannot become anyone's 'special person.' The traffic light turns green. At that signal to interrupt my thoughts, I shook off the black emotions clinging to me and took a step forward.
◇
From then on, as if to prove something, Aki really did list one of my good points every single day.
“You picked up that scrap of paper earlier.”
“It’s great how much you eat!”
“The little doodles you make on the people in your textbook are unexpected and cute.”
From such trivial things to,
“You really pay attention to your surroundings.”
“Your way of speaking is very proper.”
“You’re sensitive to other people’s feelings.”
To such deep parts.
At first, I didn’t know how to react to the positive words directed at me, so I just reflexively kept denying them.
However, by the time a week had passed, I had come to accept the words Aki gave me as a form of evaluation, just as they were.
“Aki. I want to know the reason why you praise me so much.”
It was lunch break, about a month after Aki’s strange daily routine had begun.
While spreading out my lunch on a bench in the courtyard, I finally decided to voice the one question I had been holding onto for a long time.
“Ah... yeah. Maybe there was a trigger.”
Aki said that, stopped her chopsticks, and looked diagonally upward, tracing her memories.
“...I think I just noticed. That you, Nana, are pushing yourself too hard.”
“Pushing myself?”
At my question, Aki suddenly wore a look that seemed to seep with loneliness. The gaze that had been wandering in the air until then fixed firmly on me.
“Nana, you think you have to ‘be perfect’ or ‘be the cool version of me’ in front of others, right?”
“...!”
It was a bullseye.
Until now, I had intentionally played the role of the ‘perfect honor student.’ If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be able to hide my flawed humanity, which unconsciously looks down on others.
Because there is no way someone as terrible as that could ever be liked by anyone.
“You think that if you show your weak side, you’ll be hated, don’t you?”
As if reading my thoughts, Aki continued her words.
I didn’t know what the correct answer was—whether to affirm or deny. I just fell silent.
“I have a similar side, too. I want to be thought of as someone who has it all together... but sometimes that becomes painful.”
“So, I think I probably noticed it in you, too... and then, I got worried.”
In front of that straight gaze, I felt that any pretense was meaningless.
The ‘perfect me’ that I had desperately maintained until now was crumbling with a sound. If she stared at me any longer, my emotions would break. With that premonition, I reflexively looked away.
“Nana, you have so many good points. But you probably only see your tiny bad points. That’s such a waste and... it makes me feel lonely.”
“That’s why I decided to tell you. So that you can realize your true charm. So that you can properly have confidence.”
Aki’s words soaked into the depths of my heart, one by one.
Aki even turned the parts I recognized as ‘flaws’ into positive words through her own unique perspective.
On the day I went to school with the cleaning tag still attached, she laughed and said, ‘That absent-minded side is cute,’ and on the day I overslept, she didn’t blame my failure, saying, ‘It’s proof that you’re always working hard.’
—Even if I don’t play the perfect honor student, I am affirmed as myself.
That fact, without any logic, just simply made me happy.
I can feel a gentle warmth spreading deep behind my eyes.
Don't cry. I shouldn't take those words too literally.
Aki's kindness is just part of her nature. I'm sure she shows the same kindness to others besides me. As I told myself this and looked away, Aki tilted her head with a puzzled expression.
...Wait, don't tell me you still don't trust me, Nana?
It's not that I doubt Aki's words.
But if I speak now, the tears I've been holding back will spill out along with my words. That premonition kept my lips tightly sealed.
However, as if to say that my resistance was meaningless, Aki gently cupped my cheeks with both hands. Then, she slowly turned my face toward her until our eyes met.
Nana. I'm not saying this to just anyone. I'm saying it because it's you, Nana.
As I met her gaze head-on, I felt my heart slowly filling up.
—Thank you.
I should put this gratitude into words and tell her. Just as I opened my mouth, Aki added this.
You are my 'special someone,' Nana.
The moment those words reached my heart, the emotions I had been holding back collapsed, and tears overflowed like a broken dam.
I see. I had thought that 'special' meant 'romantic love' in my mind. But I was wrong. The feeling of 'cherishing someone' isn't limited to just love.
I impulsively hugged Aki. She was surprised for a moment and tried to pull away, but she immediately relaxed and wrapped her arms around my back.
I didn't want her to see my face, which was a mess from these tears. So, for a while, I couldn't move from within her arms.
From this day on, Aki became 'special' to me in every sense of the word.
We shared so much time together and talked about so many things. It's no exaggeration to say that I showed her everything about me, without needing to wear the mask of the 'perfect me'.
Those days were so fulfilling that they overturned all the values I had held until then, as I had always been searching for happiness through romantic love.
I hope we can stay together forever.
A high schooler's still somewhat childish wish. But for me at the time, it was the most genuine feeling I had.
—However, Aki just smiled quietly at those words and didn't say anything back.
◇
The morning of graduation. Against the backdrop of a cloudless blue sky, the whiteness of the cherry blossoms that had begun to bloom stood out. My heart was as clear and bright as the weather.
I shift my gaze to the seat next to me. Aki's seat is still empty.
This peaceful high school life was undoubtedly supported by Aki's presence. Because her words back then had changed my values so significantly.
Today, I will express my deepest gratitude. The words I usually couldn't say because shyness got in the way.
Yes, I resolve within myself.
As the warning bell rings and my classmates return to their seats, only Aki's seat remains empty.
It's rare for her to be late. Come to think of it, yesterday she looked terribly lonely, saying, 'So it's already over...'
Maybe she couldn't sleep well. In a way, I thought it was just like her to do something absent-minded on such an important day.
However, even after the final bell rang and homeroom began, Aki did not appear.
In the classroom, only her seat remained unnaturally empty. Yet, neither the homeroom teacher nor any of the other classmates pointed out that fact. As if there were no problem at all, the entire class began to move toward the graduation ceremony.
Something is wrong with this situation. I gathered my courage and spoke to the teacher who was guiding the students to the gymnasium.
Um... I can't find Ichijo-san. What happened?
At that question, the teacher looked back at me with an expression of unconcealable surprise.
Mitsuki-san... you haven't heard?
A chill runs down my spine. And—at the words the teacher said next, I was left speechless.
Ichijo-san has already moved away. —This morning, overseas.
...Huh?
My vision wavers, and my mind goes blank.
Faced with information I couldn't process, all sorts of questions surfaced, and my lips trembled.
—Overseas? When? Why? Without saying a word to me?
On this day, without any warning, she suddenly disappeared from my life.
The words that affirmed me, the fact that she called me 'special,' and even this feeling I had of recognizing Aki as 'special'—
all of them lost their meaning in an instant.
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<Prologue> <1> <2> <3>
<4> <5> <6> <7> <8>
<9> <10> <11> <12> <13>
<14> <15> <16> <17> <18>
<Epilogue>
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