“Hey, what’s so funny?”

During the evening, Karuizawa said this while looking at the students who were returning to the changing rooms. She was sitting near the window, her hair drenched, water droplets falling from her hair to the ground.

The reason of this was because, a moment ago, I pushed Karuizawa, who was unwilling to swim in the pool, to the water.

She looked as if she was going to vomit at any moment while looking at the students with contempt.

“You... Forget about it, it’s not really anything, but if I really have to say it, you are also part of those people.”

It could be said that Karuizawa had got the most female friends in the class. Weekdays and weekends she probably spent the time meeting with lots of friends to play everywhere.

“Only people like me who can’t be in the limelight can look down at groups of people like those”

“Hey, although it might be like this…”

Karuizawa somewhat showed understanding, but she probably couldn’t accept my words, so she kept speaking.

“Although I believe everybody thinks in the same way, they would have a negative attitude towards things that are outside of their scope of understanding. That is, what’s called their inner perception, maybe? Isn’t there some moments where you believe “this is absolutely the truth”, right?

Karuizawa voiced this speech, not because she wanted to show off. Having seen her usual attitude, I had never thought that she would make such a reliable speech, so I couldn’t help but gasp in admiration to these words.

“What, did I say something strange”?

“No… It’s just that I have similar thoughts.”

It’s just that I never thought Karuizawa and I had these identical thoughts. With her outer appearance and her actions being so different, her inner being was very reliable. I guess that currently nobody apart from Hirata knows about this.

I did not look at her, but I raised a topic – that included her scar.

“I actually think I have a method to solve that”

Wearing a swimsuit does not imply showing the abdomen. Although it would require to pay close attention while changing clothes, that doesn’t mean it couldn’t be done. In the event someone were to tease Karuizawa, the circumstances would not be the same, but I don’t think anybody would pick a quarrel with her while changing clothes.

“It’s not only about this issue. I just simply dislike swimming in a public place. And my body would be completely exposed if I wore a swimsuit”

“So is it because you don’t have self-confidence?”

My statement was not malicious, but she probably interpreted them as if they were full of malice, so she returned the question to me.

“Don’t you know? Nowadays even grade schoolers don’t wear school swimsuits.”

“Really?”

“Because right now you can wear any type of swimsuit”

In other words, just as bloomers disappeared with the time, school swimsuits were also removed.

“After all, even the trendy top I’m wearing right now is permitted.”

However, this also showed that there were lots of suspicious elements.

“…is this because you wanted to see my swimsuit?”

“Don’t get the wrong idea. I was just thinking whether or not you had not played to your heart’s content”

After being told that by her, I suddenly realized I talked too much.

“Hmpf”

Karuizawa pretended not to hear this and shifted her line of sight to me.

“I feel that, although I’m not very sure, but perhaps it’s a good thing that I’m able to communicate with you right now”

She seemed to be whispering to herself.

“Not only Hirata-kun, right now I still have friends around me. But I have been hiding my real self all the time, that’s why, although I am also perplexed, but how should I put it, I feel at easy. If it was like usual, I would have never done this, but my heart wouldn’t be able to refrain from thinking that it wouldn’t be a bad thing to try to swim a bit, it’s really unimaginable.”

Even so, Karuizawa still didn’t intend to stand up, this was because there was a clear-cut difference between the “things she could do” and the “things she couldn’t do”.

Karuizawa was shouldering a psychological wound and a physical scar, none of them could be easily cured.

This might be me overestimating my capabilities, but if my existence can bring healing to this person, then as a person, this is something worth being happy.