Chapter 13 | Meanwhile, I…

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Morning came. I couldn’t sleep a wink last night.

The reason why I couldn’t sleep was because I was seen with him by Shinse yesterday, and I was told that we were breaking up.

When I looked in the mirror in the washroom, I had a terrible face.

“Ria, what’s wrong? You have such bad dark circles around your eyes. Did something happen?”

My mother spoke to me gently.

I could only weakly reply, “It’s nothing.”

I usually had my blonde hair up in side tails, but I wasn’t in the mood to tie my hair today.

I wasn’t in the mood to eat breakfast either.

That’s because I feel nauseous when I try to eat something.

I left the house with an empty stomach that I had been having since yesterday, and headed to school.

All I wanted to do was to meet Shinse and talk to him.

Yesterday, I thought about visiting Shinse’s house multiple times.

But in the end, I couldn’t go to Shinse’s house.

The thought that Shinse might reject me was too much for me to bear.

When I got to school, I quickly went to the girl’s restroom and entered a stall.

I hadn’t prepared myself mentally to go to the classroom and face Shinse.

Shinse should be participating in the soccer club’s morning practice at this time.

So, he shouldn’t be in the classroom yet, but even so, I couldn’t bring myself to go to the classroom.

I opened the hand mirror in the bathroom stall, and although I didn’t want to, I decided to do the bare minimum of putting on makeup. My lips were dry, and the dark circles under my eyes were still terrible.

“If I show him this face, Shinse will hate me…”

Yesterday, I hurt Shinse so much, and what am I saying?

I’m disgusted by my selfish self and my lack of consideration.

Yesterday, Shinse told me that we were breaking up.

I couldn’t even start a conversation, and he blocked my contact information, and I was completely rejected by Shinse.

It was too late when I realized that I had done something so bad.

I’m no longer Shinse’s girlfriend.

That’s because Shinse no longer thinks of me as his girlfriend.

That’s why I have to try my best to explain myself to Shinse, and work to get back together with him.

Because Shinse is the only person I love.

…Even so, who will believe me?

At the very least, Shinse, the person I most want to believe me, definitely won’t.

From Shinse’s perspective, he probably doesn’t want to hear about what his cheating girlfriend has to say, much less believe her.

“Haa… What am I even doing…”

Just when I muttered that to myself in despair, I heard the sound of someone entering the restroom.

“Yesterday’s mixer was a great success!”

“Yeah!”

I could hear the conversation between two cheerful girls.

Those voices are… Tanaka-san and Suzuki-san from Class 1.

They’re two girls who are popular with the boys for being as cute as idols.

“I even made a promise to go on a date with Aoi-kun!”

“Eh, really!?”

“Really! By the way, Megumi, how did it go with Takanashi-kun after that?”

“U-Um… It seems like Sho-kun likes Futaba-san more than I thought…”

Sato-kun and Takanashi-kun went to a mixer yesterday.

Those two are popular after all.

Speaking of Futaba-san… she’s probably talking about Reina Futaba.

She’s known as the most beautiful girl in the school and is flawless as she’s also at the top of her grade while also being good at sports.

Shinse was finally able to reach second place in the midterm exams due to his efforts, but the difference in points was still close to twenty.

“With almost perfect scores in every subject, there’s no way that I can win…”

I remember Shinse muttering that.

Even as a woman, I can’t compare to Futaba-san in any aspect.

Shinse, who was closing in on that kind of person, was cool.

Even so, it’s surprising that Futaba-san, who was rumored to not be interested in love, participated in a mixer.

I wonder if she had someone that she wanted to target.

No, now is not the time to worry about other people’s love lives.

I have to try and get back together with Shinse—

“By the way, how far did Futaba-san go with Asahioka-kun after he took her home?”

…Eh?

What did she just say…?

“Hmm… Futaba-san seems surprisingly carnivorous, and Asahioka-kun seems like he’s weak to forceful advances, so…”

…I’m not wrong…

It was someone who would be with Sato-kun and Takanashi-kun, and when they said Asahioka, there was only Shinse.

But, for something like that to have happened…

“If that’s the case, then it’s the opposite, right? It’s Asahioka-kun who took her home.”

“I didn’t see it that way, thoughー”

I wanted to think that I had misheard.

But what those two were talking about was probably true.

“Ah, I got a message from Aoi-kun on LIONE!”

“What did he say?”

“It’s a secret!”

“Ehh! Tell meー!”

The two girls’ voices faded away a little and then I could hear the sound of the restroom door being closed.

“Why… Why did it end up like this…”

I held my head and squatted down.

“What should I do… What should I do…”

My relationship with Shinse might have already become irreparable.

⭐︎

I couldn’t stop myself from smiling.

My eyes were focused on the LCD screen of my phone.

The screen was showing a picture of his sleeping face that I had secretly taken while Shinse was sleeping next to me last night.

“Fufu… My… My Shinse…”

Yesterday, I officially became his girlfriend.

No one other than me could understand how happy I was about that.

I had always been holding back from having contact with him.

It was embarrassing for a maiden’s heart to make contact with him when we didn’t have a direct connection.

That was just a front, I knew that once I was able to contact him, I might go berserk to make him mine even if he had a girlfriend.

But, guided by a surprising coincidence, no, by fate, Shinse had finally come to me.

When I heard from Takanashi-kun at the mixer that Shinse had been cheated on and had just broken up with Shiina-san, my heart soared with happiness.

For him to appear before me at such a time, I couldn’t think of it as anything but fate.

And then, I tried my best to make him fall for me, just like I had decided to do from before.

As a result, everything went well.

“Haa… Shinse Shinse Shinse…”

My heart would leap just by saying his name.

When my body was embraced by his body, my brain was numbed with sweetness.

It felt like my body was melting as we kept kissing.

It seems like Shinse misunderstood me as being experienced, but everything that I experienced last night was for the first time.

Rather, I was a little annoyed by Shinse’s experienced behavior, but I was able to entrust myself to him peacefully, thinking that I would just have to change Shinse to my liking from now on.

And then, I’ll change all of the memories that Shinse made with Shiina to memories with me.

If I do that, then Shinse’s heart, which had been hurt by Shiina’s cheating, would surely heal.

When Shinse completely forgets about Shiina, both Shinse’s body and heart will be all mine.

“Even so…”

I thought that it was fate, but it felt a little too good to be true.

I’m only worried if someone’s intentional scheme had interfered.

“I’m thinking too much…”

It’s just my nature to worry if there’s something that I’m overlooking if things are going too well.

Even though I should just be cherishing the happiness that I’m now dating Shinse.

If there was a problem that I could see, then it would be the clearing up of Shinse and Shiina’s relationship.

Shinse seems to be rejecting having a conversation with her, but I understand his feelings to some extent.

If they were lovers who had been together for a long time, then they would be able to trust each other to a certain degree, but when it comes to cheating, the premise that they loved and trusted each other collapses.

No one wants to hear what the other person has to say in that case.

I evaluated Shinse as someone who lives his life caring for others.

If he was that kind of person, then he should show that he would listen to what his ex-girlfriend has to say.

But, there’s no need for Shinse to respond seriously to someone who had cheated on him.

There’s no need for Shinse to be hurt anymore.

That’s why I want Shinse to leave it up to me to bring an end to his relationship with Shiina.

It was convenient that Shinse didn’t come to school today.

While Shinse isn’t here, I’ll have a conversation with Shiina and bring this to a conclusion.

I’ll tell Shiina clearly that Shinse is mine.

“Yesterday’s mixer was a great success!”

“Yeah!”

…Those voices are Tanaka-san and Suzuki-san.

I, who was in the restroom stall, was listening to the conversation of the two people who had entered.

The reason why I was in the restroom stall was simply because I couldn’t show my classmates the sight of me looking at Shinse’s picture and smiling to myself.

“I even made a promise to go on a date with Aoi-kun!”

“Eh, really!?”

“Really! By the way, Megumi, how did it go with Takanashi-kun after that?”

“U-Um… It seems like Sho-kun likes Futaba-san more than I thought…”

I’m already Shinse’s, but Takanashi-kun was a stubborn man.

I wonder if he didn’t think it was rude to Tanaka-san, who had been making such passionate advances towards him yesterday.

“By the way, how far did Futaba-san go with Asahioka-kun after he took her home?”

“Hmm… Futaba-san seems surprisingly carnivorous, and Asahioka-kun seems like he’s weak to forceful advances, so…”

I’m curious as to why she thought that I was carnivorous when she saw my usually calm demeanor, but it was true that Shinse was weak to forceful advances.

“If that’s the case, then it’s the opposite, right? It’s Asahioka-kun who took her home.”

“I didn’t see it that way, thoughー”

Tanaka-san is surprisingly sharp.

“Ah, I got a message from Aoi-kun on LIONE!”

“What did he say?”

“It’s a secret!”

“Ehh! Tell meー!”

Eventually, I heard the door close and the voices of the two girls fade away.

“If I were to run into them now, then I might be questioned about what happened yesterday. Even so, they’re in the same class as me, so I can’t avoid them…”

After agonizing for a few minutes, I decided to leave the stall since class was about to start.

When I opened the door to the stall, I almost bumped into a female student who was about to pass by.

“Ah, I-I’m sorry!”

“I’m sorry as well. I wasn’t paying attention either—”

…If fate happens twice, then I can’t help but feel that it’s intentional.

But surely, she didn’t want this kind of fate—

“F… Futaba-san…”

I smiled silently at the girl who was facing me with a listless face.

“…Shall we have a little chat, Ria Shiina-san?”

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