Chapter 11: The One You Like
Just before the end of the lunch break.
Saito and Lily were happily munching on hamburgers.
“I’m glad the president and Shirayuri-senpai made up,” Saito said, swallowing the last bite.
“Yeah, me too,” Lily agreed.
Reflecting on the events, Saito murmured how he was genuinely relieved that the childhood friends had reconciled despite everything that happened.
“I’m sorry, Takumi-san. I got your gym clothes all wet with my tears.”
“This is nothing. Remember when someone dumped champagne on my head? This is far better than that.”
“I’m sorry for that time too… Wait, stop teasing me, Takumi-san. You’re still as mean as ever.”
“I’ve always been like this. Forgive me.”
Saito recalled the interaction between Takumi and Koyuki after the incident was resolved.
The long-standing grudge between them had dissolved, and even though they were still getting used to it, they had that familiar ease that childhood friends should have.
Indeed, if they were childhood friends, they should be that close.
However, Saito was still annoyed that Haruki had to be sent to the nurse’s office for their reconciliation.
Yet, somewhere in his heart, Saito couldn’t help but think that was so typical of Haruki.
He often found himself embroiled in troubles involving women, ending up with red cheeks or scratches so frequently that Saito had grown used to it.
Haruki really should go for an exorcism.
He must be possessed by some evil spirit.
Saito decided to drag him there by force if necessary. Just as he was thinking this, something suddenly touch his right cheek, causing his head to shake.
“What was that for?”
Saito asked, casting a reproachful glance at his childhood friend next to him.
“I was just wiping off the sauce that was smeared all over your cheek,”
Lily said, pouting as she insisted she was doing him a favor.
“Oh, I see. My bad. Sorry,”
“Well, what should I do? I didn’t do anything wrong, but now I’m hurt by your reaction,”
Realizing she wasn’t at fault, Saito apologized, and Lily took the opportunity to press him further.
“Alright, alright, I get it. I’ll do something to make it up to you,”
In this situation, Saito conceded,
raising the white flag and deciding to meet her demands.
“Yay! Though, there’s nothing specific I want you to do,”
“Come on, think of something before you demand it,”
Saito grumbled, feeling exasperated by his greedy childhood friend who was taking advantage of the situation.
“That’s impossible. I have to secure my advantage as a childhood friend, right?”
“True,”
Saito agreed, realizing he would do the same if the roles were reversed.
He smiled wryly at how well they got along.
“Alright, I’ve decided. Win first place in the upcoming scavenger hunt!”
Lily finally declared after a brief pause.
“Is that all?”
Saito asked, surprised. He had expected her to come up with something more troublesome.
This was something he had already set as a goal for the sports festival.
Confirming with Lily if she was sure about using her request for this, she nodded.
“Yeah, it’s fine. This way, you’ll be more motivated, right? If we win by a landslide, we can forget about the frustration of losing the tug-of-war,”
It seemed her request was out of concern for Saito, who had been feeling down after their loss.
There was no way he could take anything less than first place now.
“Thanks. I’ll definitely win, so just watch me. I’ll leave everyone else far behind,”
“You said it! If you don’t get first place, no lunch for a week,”
“Fine, bring it on!”
Saito responded, slapping his cheeks to psych himself up.
Ten minutes later.
“Final runners, get ready!”
“Alright, here we go,”
“Good luck,”
“Minazuki! Our team needs those points, so you better get first place! No excuses!”
“If we win, I’ll confess to Aizono-chan,”
“Stop jinxing it! Don’t make Minazuki lose,” .
With his classmates’ cheers, Saito took his place at the starting line.
He did a light jump to check his condition and felt great.
His body is in good shape after the jump.
There was no way he was going to lose.
He was determined to finish first and make a big impression.
“On your marks, get set, “
Bang!
Immediately after that, an official sounded a pistol with a shout.
“go! “
Using his quick reflexes, Saito had a perfect start, quickly pulling ahead of the other students.
He accelerated, widened the gap, and reached into the box for his task.
The slip he pulled out read “The One You Like.”
A fitting challenge for the last leg of the scavenger hunt.
“Guess I’ll just grab a friend,”
A typical high school boy might panic at such a prompt, but Saito didn’t.
He didn’t really understand the different kinds of “like,”
Therefore, his interpretation of “like” is wider than anyone else’s.
As a result, many faces floated through his mind.
He felt no embarrassment or confusion and could act quickly.
“Hey, over here!”
“Who are you bringing, Minazuki?”
“Is it…?”
As he ran to the tent where his classmates were, Saito found himself unable to speak.
(Why?)
Even when he tried to reach out, his hand wouldn’t obey.
He stared at his immobile hand, utterly perplexed,
as did his classmates.
“What’s wrong, Minazuki?”
“Hurry up, or we’ll be in trouble!”
“Did you forget the task?”
“Look at the slip!”
“Oh, right.”
Seeing Saito freeze up, his classmates urged him to hurry.
Saito checked the slip again, but the task remained, It still had the four words :
“The One You Like.”
(The One I Like… Who is it?)
Saito repeated the task in his mind, considering the meaning of “like.”
[I like you! I cherish you, Koyuki.]
Takumi’s words echoed in his mind.
When Takumi confessed his feelings to Koyuki, he talked about cherishing her, something beyond simple affection or attraction.
He meant it deeply, sincerely, selflessly.
Takumi genuinely cherished Koyuki,
willing to sacrifice his own happiness for hers.
That was what it meant to truly like someone.
In other words, the person whom Saito likes, whom he has feelings to, and whom he cares for so much that he wants her to be happy even at the cost of his own happiness, is the person whom he truly likes.
Saito has tried to find out if there is someone who meets these three conditions, and has applied them one by one.
First, there was Haruki.
Saito liked him, but he didn’t feel a strong feelings. He didn’t want to sacrifice his happiness for Haruki’s, so he probably didn’t love him.
Next, there was Minaka.
Saito liked her too, and they had a good connection during the three-legged race. But he couldn’t see himself sacrificing for her, so it wasn’t her either.
No.
No.
No.
After considering several people, Saito met Lily’s eyes.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT gadgetizedpanda.net
He had “liked” her for a long time.
She was good at cooking, sports, games, and studying, and she was easy to be around. She used to be so vulnerable that still sometimes made it hard for Saito to look away, even though he knew she was strong now.
So, Saito realized he might be drawn to Lily.
When he thought about whether he could sacrifice his happiness for hers, he found that he could.
It might have been because she was bullied in elementary school. Maybe it was just pity.
But, he genuinely felt that he could sacrifice a bit for her sake.
Surprised by this realization, Saito found his hand holding Lily’s.
“Let’s go, Lily.”
“Huh? Wait, what?!”
Ignoring Lily’s confusion, Saito started running.
“Hey, what’s the challenge?”
she shouted on the way to the goal.
“I don’t know!”
His immediate reply made her exclaim, “What?!”
But this was Saito’s honest feeling. He didn’t know if what he felt for Lily was the same as romantic love because he was clueless about it.
What he did know for sure was that Lily was special to him, Mizunazuki Saito.
“Then why did you call me?”
“Because Lily felt right.”
“…What? Wait! What does that mean?!”
Saito smiled and showed her the challenge paper. As she read it, she let out a weak laugh and tried to understand his true intentions.
“It means exactly what it says.”
“Ahh! I don’t get it!”
But all Saito could convey was that she fit the challenge best. Lily’s face turned bright red as she let out a scream that echoed across the field.
continue
After the race, an upperclassman approached them. “I’ll collect the challenge papers.”
“Sure, here you go.”
“Thanks. Let’s see… Oh, I see.”
She took the paper from Saito, checked it, and glanced at Lily with an even wider grin.
“?!”
The moment their eyes met, Lily felt a heat rising inside her. She buried her face in her arms.
Thump-thump-thump-thump.
Her heartbeat was the fastest it had ever been,
and she was overwhelmed with emotion and embarrassment.
More than anything—
“Ah!”
—she couldn’t stop smiling.
She was ecstatic that her childhood friend had chosen her and said he liked her.
her childhood friend liked her
(This means he likes me, right? It has to!)
In the context of a sports day scavenger hunt,
bringing a girl for the “person you like” challenge was a sure sign.
It was a confession.
No doubt about it.
Lily didn’t know when Saito started seeing her as more than a friend,
but their small moments together must have moved this dense boy’s heart.
Thinking this, Lily felt a great sense of accomplishment and her smile grew even wider.
Even though she knew she had to stop smiling
soon, she couldn’t help it.
(I see, I see. So Saito actually likes me, he just doesn’t show it usually. Hee~ Hoh~. How cute, really. And he must have been considerate of me, knowing I’m not good with this kind of thing. But at that moment during the sports festival, he couldn’t hold back his feelings anymore, huh. It’s not like I’d mind at all if Saito became aware of me. Rather, it’s welcome. I wish he’d show his blushing face only to me. Of course, I’d take a burst of photos to keep in my photo folder and use as my phone wallpaper. We’re practically boyfriend and girlfriend already, so it’s fine, right? Right!? If he says he likes me, it’s okay to not hold back on hugs and kisses anymore, right!? Ahaa~! This is bad, bad, bad, bad. I can’t stop my delusions.) 1
Lily’s thoughts were in a whirl due to Saito’s unexpected actions.
As she fidgeted with excitement, an announcement declared the end of the scavenger hunt and asked participants to leave the field.
“Senpai, do we leave with the person we brought for the scavenger hunt?”
“Well, would you leave them behind while everyone else exits?”
“Got it, thanks. Let’s go, Lily.”
Saito offered his hand.
“Uh, okay.”
Lily reached out and stood up, thinking they would leave hand in hand.
But as she tried to hold his hand firmly, he pulled away.
“Huh?”
“What’s wrong?”
Saito tilted his head in confusion.
This gesture made Lily feel strangely caught up in the moment.
Is this how you act after a confession?
Lily wondered.
“Aren’t we going to hold hands?”
“Why would we?”
Lily felt her excitement quickly cool as she hesitantly asked, and Saito again looked puzzled.
“Do you like me, Saito?”
“I do. I wouldn’t bring someone I dislike for a ‘person you like’ challenge.”
“Right. So, don’t you want to hold hands?”
“Why would I?”
She tried to continue the conversation,
but their thoughts didn’t align.
“Saito, you like me, right? In what way?”
Lily finally asked the decisive question.
What did he think of her?
How did he like her?
then
“What do you mean? …It’s just the same as always.”
The result:
Lily’s misunderstanding became clear.
Lily had gotten carried away on her own; Saito had no awareness of having confessed.
Understanding this, Lily was struck by an incredible sense of embarrassment.
She wanted to immediately discard the memory of herself indulging in self-serving fantasies just moments ago, but she couldn’t erase such a recent memory.
“※＄￠％～～!?”
Lily let out an incoherent scream.
It seems that her becoming the main heroine of this childhood friend story is still far off in the future.
- TLNOTE: girl, calm down ↩︎
Also check out my friend Localizermeerkat for more LN translations!
BUY THE SOURCE MATERIAL TO SUPPORT THE AUTHOR !!!
Kindly click on the green button above and contribute to filling the green bar if you’re interested in having another LN from the request page translated. Also, every donation is being used to purchase the source material and to fund more English translations.
Please consider joining my Ko-Fi membership. By becoming a member, you’ll also gain access to 2-10 additional chapters of all of the novels from this site translated into English. Last but not least your support will also assist me in upholding the translation quality and speed. For more information, please follow the link.
Donation for faster release is always welcome
Additionally, I am now accepting translation requests.
