“It’s raining.”

Right after the mid-term exam, Futaba Rio’s mind wandered around when she saw the rain drenched everywhere. She had finished her exam and thought to go back immediately since she didn’t really want to stay too long at the school.

Still, Futaba looked at her exam again and rechecked it several times since she didn’t want to be defeated by Sunohara Nana. If it were others, she might not say much, but she definitely didn’t want to lose to Nana.

However, Futaba shook her head and saw that the rain had become harder.

If she was asked whether she liked rain or not, she would answer that she hated it.

Not only did it make it harder for her to go home, but she also had a bad experience where the light of her home had a blackout because of the rain.

Futaba also couldn’t do anything since she was a child and her parents weren’t by her side. She stayed in her room, crying alone before the maid hired by her parents came in the morning and helped her with the blackout.

While Futaba had learned how to handle the blackout if something similar happened, the trauma had carved on her mind, so she hated the rain. Still, even so, her home with a blackout was several times better than the school.

Futaba just didn’t know, but she just felt incompatible with the school. It wasn’t that she hated the school. Instead, she was okay with it. However, if there was something that bothered her, she would say she was lonely.

Futaba knew she wouldn’t feel this feeling if she didn’t meet him. Unfortunately, they had met each other, and she knew she had fallen for him.

Her life had never changed, and she had always been alone from the beginning. She also didn’t have an expectation for everyone, whether it was her parents or the people around her. She had always kept herself shut without interacting with anyone.

However, everything changed when she met him when she had trouble buying bread in the past.

By then, the relationship between the two had become closer, and they had become friends.

They often talked to each other, joked, and ate together.

It was fun, and her heart jumped every time they were together.

Futaba knew she should be satisfied with this relationship, yet when she saw him with other women all the time, and that woman wasn’t her, she just wanted to cry somehow. She knew she wasn’t his priority, and he would leave when his girlfriends were there, but for once, she wanted him to choose her over them.

However, Futaba knew it was impossible.

‘If only I hadn’t met him…’

Futaba shook her head since if she didn’t meet him, then she might not understand this wonderful feeling. However, as a price, her heart ached every time she thought about what she should do with this feeling.

The trees swayed right and left, resembling the relentlessness of her heart.

“The exam is over. Stop writing and collect the paper.”

The voice of the teacher sounded, causing various reactions among the students.

“Ah, finally, it’s over.”

“Wait a moment, Sensei! I haven’t finished!”

While there were various reactions, it had nothing to do with Futaba, who was practically alone in this class.

Futaba decided to go home right away after her paper was collected.

Sakuta Azusagawa saw Futaba had stood up directly and asked, “Are you going home, Futaba?”

Futaba only nodded and walked away.

Sakuta felt speechless by Futaba’s reaction and wondered whether she was in menstruation. Fortunately, he said those words in his heart, or else his head would be smacked.

Futaba didn’t know what Sakuta was thinking, and she didn’t care. She went to the entrance to pick up her umbrella, but who would have thought her umbrella was stolen!

“It’s gone. It’s gone.”

Futaba searched among all the umbrellas in front of her, but she couldn’t find the umbrella she had brought before. She knew someone must have stolen her umbrella, which annoyed her even more!

As for taking other’s umbrellas, Futaba didn’t have the guts for it, especially when a group of students started to walk out and picked up the umbrellas one after another. Being surrounded by many people made her dizzy, and she wanted to puke, so in the end, she decided to go to the clubroom of the science club.

Futaba also didn’t want to stay in this crowd since she knew many people would leer at her, especially on her chest. She quickly ran away, but with her stamina and untrained body, she quickly became exhausted.

However, with a trembling body, Futaba arrived at the clubroom before she slumped on the chair with her head leaning on the table.

The clubroom was quiet and dark.

Futaba was the only person in this room, and she didn’t even turn on the light since she wanted some quietness, but even nature wouldn’t let her have the quietness.

The rain became harder, and the rumbling thunder sounded one after another.

Her heart became even more gloomy, and she was on the verge of crying, wondering why she had to receive all of this.

Still, Futaba somehow was glad of this rain since it could dilute the sound of her cry.

Being alone should be something natural for her, without anyone by her side, and she didn’t want to change.

Unfortunately, Futaba had tasted the feeling of being with someone, and she just couldn’t forget about it.

Still, out of all of his girlfriends, she must admit she was most jealous of Nana.

They were quite similar to each other, whether it was their smart brain or their large size of busts.

However, unlike Nana, Futaba knew her personality was worse. She wasn’t like Nana, who could get close to anyone.

Nana was also confident, and she didn’t even care if the opposite gender leered on her.

Lastly, what Futaba was most envious of was the fact Nana was also Shishio’s girlfriend. They were quite similar, yet they were different from each other. It was also the reason why she didn’t want to lose Nana in this mid-term test.

Still, suddenly her mind wandered in a different direction.

‘If they’re dating, should they do that?’

Even if Shishio and his girlfriends often showed their intimate actions in public, they only hugged and kissed each other’s cheeks. As for something more serious, they kept this matter secret and only did it at a place where no one could see. After all, the high school students were quite immature, and once, a rumor they did it together would spread through the entire school like a burning forest, which spread even further because of the dry leaves.

Still, the reason why Futaba thought about this matter was that she happened to hear the conversation of the girls in her class.

Not only the boys but the girls were also interested in sex.

The girls seemed to be curious, talking about sex, and even imagined being pounded roughly by Shishio, especially when they did a physical education class together. When they worked out, they often saw Shishio’s body and big bulge, which made their imagination become wilder.

While Futaba had learned this knowledge, she had never tasted it, so she wondered whether it felt good.

In this quiet clubroom, Futaba crept her hand slightly toward her thigh, moving it deeper, caressing “that” place. She gently touched it while gasping with a sound similar to weeping.

However, the sound of the thunder startled her, and Futaba quickly stopped. She was frightened before she looked around, finding she was alone, which made her sigh in relief.

“What have I done?”

When Futaba thought about what she was doing before, her face couldn’t help but turn crimson. She couldn’t believe she had imagined something that shouldn’t be done with him. She thought she needed to go home now.

Futaba looked up and saw the time had moved so fast, but the rain hadn’t stopped. Still, she didn’t want to stay in the clubroom since she was afraid to do something similar again and decided to wait at the entrance of the school.

Unlike before, the entrance of the school was empty.

There were no people. She was alone, standing while watching the rain absently. The rain splashed part of her legs and uniform. There was some brown stain on her uniform from the mud thrown by the force of the rain.

Futaba became gloomy again, wondering when this rain was going to stop. She had been at school for a while and wanted to go home, but she knew she couldn’t. If possible, she wanted to run through the rain, but when she thought about how she wasn’t good at running and how her underwear might be seen through her uniform because of the rain, she could only reluctantly stand at the school entrance with a gloomy expression.

Futaba stood there, waiting for the rain to stop alone.

‘He should be with his girlfriends now…’

Futaba let out a depressed sigh until she heard this familiar voice.

“Futaba, did you forget your umbrella?”

“Eh?” Futaba turned, and she was dumbfounded when she saw Shishio.

“What’s wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?” Shishio asked weirdly.

“Why are you here?” Futaba asked after she confirmed this wasn’t a dream.

“I talked with my Senpai for a while before.” Shishio glanced at Hikigaya, who stood at the shoe locker, watching him from behind.

“Oh.” Futaba nodded, and suddenly she became nervous since she didn’t know what to say.

“So what about you? Why don’t you go home?” Shishio asked.

“I… I lost my umbrella,” Futaba said after a moment of hesitation.

“Is it stolen?” Shishio frowned, wondering who dared to steal Futaba’s umbrella.

“Um.” Futaba nodded.

Shishio looked at Futaba for a moment and said, “Then, do you want me to send you back?”

“Eh?” Futaba was surprised and wondered whether she was dreaming.

“It’s almost dark, and it’s dangerous to let you stay here,” Shishio said.

However, Hikigaya, who heard Shishio’s words, felt it was more dangerous to let Futaba stay with Shishio more.

“If you’re not comfortable, I can lend you this umbrella instead. I can go home directly under this rain since my place is close.”

Shishio gave his umbrella to Futaba directly and was about to dash, but she grabbed his wrist and said, “Let’s go back together.” While she was embarrassed to go home with him, it was better than letting him return home in the rain like this.

Shishio knew he was a scumbag, so he just smiled inwardly and succeeded in sending Futaba back.

On the other hand, Hikigaya let out a sigh and thought all the boys in this school might have to stay single in their high school life as long as this bastard existed.