The Story of My Best Friend Who Turned Into a Mom ① ~Meeting Edition~

I have a best friend since junior high school.
Since we went to the same junior high, naturally, we were from the same neighborhood. Or so it was.

It was, but sometime between 2003 and 2010 (that's too vague), she moved with her whole family from Tokyo to Nagano.

There was a time when I thought she might return to Tokyo someday, but she found a kind husband over there and became a full-fledged Nagano woman.

I met her when I was in my second year of junior high.
Apparently, we were in neighboring classes in our first year, but I only knew her face.
Even when we were in the same class in our second year, I still only knew her face.

At that time, I had the impression that she was a serious girl, and I had assumed on my own that she was 'the type I couldn't get along with.'
On the other hand, it seems she thought of me as 'probably a delinquent leader. Looks scary.' How rude.
Back then, I would skip gym class every time by pretending I forgot my gym clothes, but one day she also had to sit out due to feeling unwell, and apparently, it was absolutely terrifying to sit out with me. 'That much?' is what I think.

When I was a teenager, I was catastrophically bad at maintaining friendships.
At the time, it was caused by a trivial disagreement within my club.
One thing led to another, and the commotion spread to unrelated girls throughout the grade, leading to a movement like 'We won't forgive O-panda. Let's crush her.'

There were certainly points where I was at fault. There were, but I think it was also that typical age-specific 'once a target is decided, everyone beats them down thoroughly' thing.
It's a little different from bullying.
In the end, it was terrifying because I was surrounded by about 30 girls with their arms crossed after school.
Some of them I didn't even know. They were just joining in because it looked fun. It's infuriating.

And another cause, though it's hard to say myself, was that I was popular with boys.
In fact, a boy that a friend (at the time) liked, liked me. That point added fuel to the fire of this commotion.
This part wasn't my fault, but my response to it was, well, certainly poor.

Anyway, in short, I was excluded from the group I had been in until then.

Ah, it looks like I'll be eating lunch alone starting today. Just when I thought that, R-chan, who was the class representative, and she came dashing over and brought me into their circle.
The people in that circle seemed like they didn't want to make eye contact with me, who had been a member of the group disrupting discipline at the back of the classroom, but I was still grateful at the time.
I only learned last year that this was actually something our homeroom teacher asked R-chan to do after grasping the situation.
I was surprised by her confession after all this time, but Mr. O, I'm sorry for calling you an old hag.

However, R-chan (a brilliant student), who was a class representative and also a student council member, was busy with those activities, and since then, she, who was R-chan's friend, naturally started keeping me company.

As for our conversations, I feel like they were all harmless talk at first, but when preparing for the school festival, we got incredibly excited talking about 'permanent markers vs. water-based markers,' and our distance closed all at once.
Looking back now, I don't understand at all what was so funny.

And as we talked, the image I had of her as a 'serious-looking girl' collapsed.
At the time, she was extremely nearsighted.
Yes, it was the glasses' fault. I was deceived because of those glasses.

Well, whatever.
Anyway, from that point on, we became 'best friends.'

Next time is the 'Field Trip Edition'.
I would be happy if you read the continuation too!