The Loveless Genius and the Scowling Diving Girl – Grand Blue IF – - My Best Friend's Boyfriend and the Worst Pairing Draw

The projector light the professor shone onto the screen was blindingly bright. Hamaoka Sakurako narrowed her deep brown eyes, fidgeting irritably with the pin holding back her bangs as she half-listened to the droning marine ecology lecture. Room 301, third floor of Misaki University's main building. The tiered lecture hall, packed with a hundred and twenty students, felt stuffy from the spring warmth and their collective body heat, making her head feel vaguely foggy. Even though the sea visible outside the window was glittering brilliantly. "So, for that reason, this year you'll be doing the assignment in random pairs." The professor's words changed the atmosphere in the room instantly. A murmur spread. The student next to her muttered a quiet "You're kidding me." Sakurako looked up involuntarily. Her black bob, cut casually at the shoulders, swayed softly with the movement. A list of names appeared on the screen. Two at a time, from the top down. She didn't even need to search for her own name. "Hamaoka Sakurako" And next to it. "Imamura Iori" Her heart leaped. She could feel it herself—the thud pounding deep in her chest. At the same time, she felt all the blood in her body rush to her face. Of all people, why. Why him. Sakurako slumped forward onto her desk with a thud. Her forehead touched the cold surface, and she felt the heat cool just a little, but it was nowhere near enough. "Oh, Hamaoka-san, let's do our best!" A carefree voice flew at her from the back seats. She didn't need to turn around. Imamura Iori was definitely waving at her with that utterly innocent grin of his. Sensing the curious stares of the surrounding students, Sakurako's ears turned bright red. "Shut up, don't talk to me!" She snapped back in a low growl. God, this was seriously the worst. But—this pounding in her chest wasn't just from anger. Iori was her best friend Konan's boyfriend. It would soon be a year since the two of them started dating. Kotegawa Konan was the first friend Sakurako made at university, and now she was her closest friend. Having feelings like this for someone so important to her best friend was absolutely unforgivable. Sakurako squeezed her eyes shut, as if to seal away her emotions. —This is just heart palpitations. It's my imagination. It definitely is. But the more she told herself that, the more last week's incident surfaced in her mind. When she'd run into Iori in the university hallway, he'd said, "Oh, Hamaoka-san, looking lively as ever today!" and tapped her on the shoulder. It was just that, nothing more, yet the spot where he'd touched her felt strangely warm, and she couldn't absorb a single thing from that day's lecture. She was such an idiot. A complete idiot. The cool feel of the desk was the only thing pulling her back to reality. The time until the lecture ended felt unbearably long. The professor's voice just passed through her ears, and meaningless doodles multiplied in her notebook. The sound of the student next to her scribbling with a pen seemed terribly far away. In her head, Iori's face and Konan's face kept appearing and disappearing, one after the other. Konan's face when she laughed. Iori's voice when he spoke to her so innocently. She was the worst. The chime rang, and Sakurako finally lifted her head. Students around her were leaving the classroom in twos and threes. She slung her backpack over her shoulder and was about to hurry out when she realized she'd left her pencil case on the desk. With a sigh of exasperation, Sakurako turned back into the classroom. Just before the door, she heard voices. "—That ugly girl keeps trying to talk to Iori-kun, doesn't she." Her feet stopped. The back seats of the classroom. Three female students had stayed behind. Sitting in the middle was Takanashi Shiho. A member of the cheerleading circle "Flares," always wearing flashy makeup. A second-year at Misaki University, she'd been weirdly antagonistic toward Sakurako since enrollment. Probably still holding a grudge over Sakurako standing out at last year's diving club welcome event. Takanashi continued, grinning smugly. "Think she's trying to make a move on her best friend's boyfriend? Poor Konan-chan~" "Totally. That desperate vibe she gives off, she's so shameless." Sakurako's hands trembled. It was anger. But more than that, what pierced her chest was a different emotion. —They hit the mark. Because it was true. It was a fact that her feelings had wavered, even just a little, toward her best friend's boyfriend. Takanashi and the others' words weren't just backbiting. They had precisely gouged the place Sakurako least wanted touched. She wanted to talk back. Normally, she would never stay silent. She wasn't the type to be beaten by something like this. But today was different. Her voice wouldn't come out. Takanashi and the others stood up, laughing, and left from the opposite side of the door where Sakurako was hiding. Even after their footsteps faded and the classroom fell silent, Sakurako stood there for a while. It took her another full minute to go and retrieve the pencil case she'd forgotten. —There's no end to it if I let every little thing bother me. Sakurako told herself that, but the trembling in her hands wouldn't stop easily. Evening, near closing time at Café Rondo, facing Namiki Street in the port district of Misaki City. Sakurako, dressed in her usual plain white T-shirt, black cropped pants, and sneakers, was silently polishing the counter. There were no customers left. Outside the window, streetlights were beginning to flicker on one by one along the tree-lined avenue. The only sounds in the shop were the small clinks of tableware and the occasional humming of the owner, like a song. "Did something happen today?" A voice called out from across the counter. Yunoki Saya. The owner of Café Rondo, a woman in her mid-thirties. Her loosely tied chestnut hair and gentle, minimally wrinkled eyes were striking. A former music college student, she still performed improvisations on the shop's upright piano on weekend nights. Sakurako answered without stopping her polishing. "...Just had a bit of an unpleasant thing at university." Saya didn't ask anything further. She simply poured warm milk tea into a cup and quietly placed it by Sakurako's hand. Steam rose gently, the sweet scent tickling Sakurako's nose. Then Saya sat down at the upright piano in the back of the shop. An old Yamaha piano. She opened the lid and placed her fingers softly on the keys. The first note resonated through the quiet shop. It was a gentle melody. She didn't know what piece it was. Probably an improvisation. The notes Saya's fingers spun out were like tiny lights, each one slowly floating into the air before fading away. Sakurako stopped polishing. She knew this tone. No. It wasn't the tone she knew. It was this feeling. Long ago, she had played too. The piano. Every day, for hours. She would practice as soon as she got home from school, and on days off she sat in front of the keyboard the whole time. Every time she won an award at a competition, she jumped for joy. She even ran home once, certificate in hand, eager to show her parents. Back then, she simply loved the piano. Just playing was fun, getting better was a joy, and that alone was enough. Her eyes grew hot. Now, there was no piano anymore. In her apartment room in the port district of Misaki City, there was just one certificate, turned face-down and propped against the wall. That was the thin, thin thread connecting her past self to her present self. "...Thanks." She murmured quietly and took a sip of the milk tea. The sweetness seeped into her heart, just a little. Saya's piano continued. Just a little longer until the veil of night descended. A twenty-five-year-old wooden apartment building. A three-minute walk from Café Rondo, in the port district of Misaki City. Sakurako's room was a corner unit on the second floor. A one-room apartment of six tatami mats, with a tiny kitchen attached. Rent was 38,000 yen a month. There was little furniture. A bed, a small desk, and two plastic storage cases for clothes. In the corner of the room, a single framed certificate propped against the wall. Sakurako sat on the floor and stared at that frame. It was turned face-down. She knew what was written on the front. Because she'd looked at it so many times. *12th National High School Piano Competition – Gold Prize – Hamaoka Sakurako* The certificate she'd won at her last competition, the summer of her third year of high school. Soon after, Sakurako quit the piano. The reason—she didn't even want to remember it. Only Saya knew. The real reason Sakurako quit the piano. The face-down certificate was a remnant of a past she couldn't even bring herself to touch. She didn't have the courage to turn it face-up. If she did, she felt like something would break. Because she would be clearly acknowledging the self she could never return to. "Anyway, someone like me can't do anything except when I'm in the sea." She tried saying it aloud. It felt hollow. Just then, her smartphone on the desk vibrated. She looked at the screen. A message from Imamura Iori. *'Tomorrow's assignment, library at 2 PM! Konan said she's coming too.'* Sakurako gripped her phone tightly. "Seriously the worst..." Even as she cursed, reality didn't change. If she skipped the paired assignment, she'd lose credits. That would be a problem. She didn't reply. Instead, Sakurako closed the screen. Unaware that her fingertips were trembling faintly. She turned off the room light. In the darkness, the light from the streetlamp outside the window streamed in thinly, and only the edge of the face-down certificate's frame floated up dimly. Tomorrow, she would go to the library. With Iori, and Konan, the three of them would work on the assignment. That was all. But a small thorn remained lodged deep in Sakurako's chest. Takanashi and the others' mockery. The sound of Saya's piano. And the face-down certificate. If only she were in the sea, she wouldn't have to think about anything. Sakurako pulled the covers over herself and squeezed her eyes shut. The bottom of the sea was still far away.

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Episode 1

Name: The Loveless Genius and the Scowling Diving Girl – Grand Blue IF –
Author: Novelia

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