Chapter 11: Shopping with Friends (Part 1)

Shopping with Friends (Part 1)

The next day, lunchtime

I was really looking forward to having lunch with Tomoko, Sayaka, Kanade, and Ryo.

We quickly pushed the tables together to create a table for four plus a birthday table.

As for who would sit where, it was decided yesterday that Ryo would sit in the birthday seat and I would sit to his right, so at first glance it looks like Ryo's harem.

"Huh? You two have the same lunch, don't tell me...?"

"Oh, no, this is different, it's actually made by Ryo's mother."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"My mom makes lunch for me and my sister, and then she makes lunch for Rui too. My family has been supporting Rui ever since she was diagnosed with TS."

"It's one thing if it was just Ueno-kun, but it must be hard to for the whole family to support her."

"It's hard, but I like it, so I don't mind. Mom likes Rui, too."

"Wow, going that far is amazing. Doesn't that go beyond the realm of best friends?"

"I think it's certainly unusual, but our family has some unique circumstances."

Ryo looks at me with gentle eyes, stop, don't look at me like that now, she will get the wrong idea.

By the way, I ignored it, but I think we've gone beyond being best friends.

But it's definitely not a romantic relationship or anything like that, it's more like a family!

So stop looking at me and Ryo with those eyes, Sayaka-chan!

If I touch it, I'll probably get into trouble, so I have no choice but to ignore it.

•

•

•

Today is Saturday, the first day of Golden Week, and I'm going out with the Tosaka Trio.

Tosaka Trio is an acronym made up of the initials of Tomoko-chan, Sayaka-chan, and Kanade-chan, so it's a word that's easy to imagine unless you actually say it out loud.

As usual, I had breakfast at Ryo's house, then returned home to get ready to go out.

Come to think of it, this is the first time I've gone out with someone other than Ryo and the others since TS, and since they're girls from my class, I'm a little nervous. I have to make sure I don't look weird.

After all, if you look like a girl, you want to look cute.

I think it's only natural that a beautiful girl wouldn't want to dress like a boy or in an embarrassing way when she's out with other girls.

Yes, this way of thinking is common sense, and I still consider myself a man without a doubt.

I decided to go to Ryo's house to say hello to Maya-san.

"I'm heading out with a friend for a bit. I'll try not to be back too."

"Oh, just a moment...."

The door closes with a clang.

I thought Maya-san said something, but it was probably a reply or something.

"Hey Ryo, it looks like Rui-chan went out alone, did you hear something?"

•

•

•

I arrived at the meeting place earlier than scheduled, maybe 30 minutes early. I prefer to arrive early and have some free time at the destination rather than rushing at the last minute.

It was in front of a station near the shopping mall where my destination was, but I don't like crowded places, so I waited in a shady spot for about 10 minutes.

"You're so cute, are you waiting for a friend? Or are you waiting to be picked up?"

"Do you want to play with me now? I know a fun place."

I was approached by two guys trying to pick me up. This is the worst. Are they really going to approach me if I haven't moved for 10 minutes?

I thought they were a bit of a playboy and I didn't like them.

"Wow, you're so beautiful, are you a celebrity? You're so beautiful!"

"I really like this girl, I've never seen such a beautiful girl before, let's go and play."

"No, thank you. I have a friend waiting for me."

"Oh, it's fine, it's fine, you don't have to lie like that, I'm shocked."

"Well, I've been watching for a while now and it doesn't look like anyone's coming, and you probably don't have any friends coming, so why don't you come and play with us?"

"It's okay! My friends will be here soon!"

I said a little firmly, thinking that this would make them give up.

"Wow, did you hear that? Her voice is so cute, I'm seriously in love with this girl."

"Don't say such scary things, come on, come on, let's go together, it'll be fun."

"--!?"

One of them said cheerfully as he grabbed my arms and shoulders and tried to pull me away, but I resisted.

I resisted but couldn't shake him off at all, and when I tried again with all my might, he didn't budge at all.

That's ridiculous. When I was a man, there was no way I couldn't shake him off. Is there really that much of a difference in strength?

My mind was consumed with the fear that I had become a girl, my strength incomparable to that of an adult man, and that I would be completely powerless to resist due to the difference in my physique and strength.

Someone! Someone! Help me! I thought, but I was too scared to make a sound, and the best I could do now was to brace my feet and offer the slightest semblance of resistance.

"Hey, you'd better behave while I'm being nice."

I flinched! The voice suddenly changed from gruff to gentle, threatening, and I nearly lost the willpower and strength to resist.

My eyes are blurred with tears and I can't see my surroundings very well, and it doesn't seem like anyone will help me.

So this is what Ryo and Maya-san had been saying so many times about me not having a sense of self as a girl.

I don't know if it was a mistake to move to a less conspicuous place, or if it was a mistake to wait in the same place for 10 minutes.

That's because when I was a man, I never even considered it.

That was when it happened.

"Oi! What are you doing to my girlfriend?!"

A loud voice, this voice...

"Ryo!"

"Get your hands off my girlfriend right now! The police will be here soon!"

Ryo declared in a very loud voice, loud enough to reverberate throughout the surrounding area.

Little by little, a crowd of curious onlookers began to gather around.

"Huh? What nonsense are you talking about? It's none of your business, do you think you're a hero, huh!?"

"I told you she's my girlfriend! You're prepared, aren't you?"

With a terrible look on his face, Ryo strode towards me and grabbed the man's arm.

At 182cm tall, he is quite large and intimidating, to the point that he finds Ryo intimidating.

I was also in the late 170s when I was a man and also find him quite intimidating, but that's no longer the case for me now.

"Ouch, ouch, what are you getting so worked up about? It was just a little game, okay!"

"Hey, let's go now."

The pick-up men pushed their way through the crowd of onlookers and ran away.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

Ryo crouched down to my level and smiled gently at me.

Seeing Ryo like that, I remembered his face and intimidating presence from earlier and trembled in shock.

I've never seen Ryo look like that before.

"You don't have to worry anymore, I'm here with you."

As he said this, he helped me to my feet, and when he saw that I was still unsteady on my feet and a little wobbly, he put his arm around my shoulders to support me.

"It's okay, it's okay."

"...Ryo, thank you, and...who's your girlfriend ♡"

"No, that's—"

"Fufu, just kidding ♡"

It feels like he is caring for me tenderly, worrying about me endlessly, and will hold me gently in his arms forever.

Gradually, I regained my composure and realized something important.

"Now that I think of it, why are you here?"

"Ypu told me you were going out with Yamaguchi-san and the others today, and I knew the time. I was actually planning to quietly following you until you met up with them. I've been telling you all this time that you shouldn't go out alone.

But I'm sorry, I never expected you to leave so early, and if I had been even a little later... I'm so sorry, I was late and let you be scared."

"That's not true! I was stupid. Ryo and the others had told me so many times not to go out alone, and not to do things like that, but I got so overconfident that I thought it would be okay because I was hanging out with friends.

Even this time, I was only saved because I happened to have told Ryo about my plan for today. I'm the idiot."

"But even so, I said I would protect you, and I intended to help you no matter what Rui was doing. So this is my fault, I caused Rui trouble and made him feel scared.

If you still think you're an idiot, then I want you to listen carefully to what we have to say."

"---Yeah, I understand, I'll listen carefully and keep that in mind."

"Great! Well then, isn't it about time for your meeting? Yamaguchi-san and the others might be here by now."

"Oh, that's right, maybe that's true, but Sayaka-chan should be already here..."

'Click!'

The sound of taking a picture with a smartphone

"I arrived a little early, but there was a crowd of people so I came over and I never expected to see you two in the middle of it -- Hey, were you waiting?"

"You just took the picture, right? I want you to delete it."

"No, this will be used as evidence."

"Sigh…"

"I'll be relieved when Nakayama-san comes. I'll go home first."

Ryo told me to message him later about the time he should come to pick me up and then left.

"Huh? Was it okay? Ueno-kun went home first though."

"Oh, yeah, Ryo won't come with me shopping."

"Well, it would have been fine if we were together, but let's move to a place where there are more people passing by."

"Yeah"

"By the way, can I ask you what happened? Ah, if it's something that's difficult to talk about, you don't have to force yourself to tell me."

"Ah, well, I arrived too early and was waiting away from the crowd, and then some guy hit on me. I refused, but they were going to forcefully take me, but Ryo saved me."

"Oh, that's bad luck. It's rare to see someone that pushy nowadays. Rui-chan is the number one most beautiful blonde, so you have to be careful."

"Hmm, yeah, I'll be careful."

"Or maybe you could have Ueno-kun stay with you as your bodyguard all the time?"

"Haha, I guess I usually get something similar to that."

"Ah, that's true, he's always by your side, maybe he's Rui-chan's knight?"

At this point, I react to Sayaka's casual words, my face turns red, and my heart starts beating faster.

No, no, that was a joke, what exactly is a knight anyway, I thought, taking a deep breath to calm myself down.

"Rui-chan, you're so cute, why don't you stop saying 'ore' and just say 'watashi'?"

"I still feel like I'm conscious of it, like it's ingrained in my mind, is that weird after all?"

"It's a little weird, but if Rui-chan doesn't mind, I don't think you need to force yourself to change it, even though you were the one to say it."

I still think of it as "ore", in fact I never really thought about it until she started saying "watashi".

Hmm, "watashi", I guess I'm still not up to it, it just feels weird.

Author Note:

A classic event that can't be left out of a romance story between a TS girl and her best friend is pick up event.

Here, the weak girl begins to fall apart as she senses her best friend's strength and reliability.