Chapter 36 – It Got Worse Because I Never Said We Weren't Dating

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I had no choice but to bring Naegi-san—our freshly crowned “Full-Beatdown-chan”—back to my place.

Dragging her home while she was still clearly rattled from everything that had gone down wasn't too hard. After all, she was too stunned to resist much.

But then…

“…Yuya.”

Yeah, just my damn luck. My mom had decided to come home early for some reason.

I should've called ahead or something—taken some kind of preemptive step. But no, now she's staring at Naegi-san's bruised-up face like she just caught me torturing kittens. Her expression's gone full Hannya mask.

“Bringing your girlfriend home is one thing, but what the hell are those bruises? Don't tell me you actually shelled out what little money you had just to put her through martial arts training so she could rough you up in bed or something?”

“That's not it! Hell no, not even close! I didn't do anything, I'm innocent! She needed help, I just brought her back to keep her safe!”

Even while we were walking here, people were giving us weird looks, and I was half expecting someone to call the cops. Now even my own damn mom doesn't trust me? S**t hurts.

“…Well, that makes sense. I didn't raise my son to turn into some woman-beating scumbag. Now explain.”

Phew.

Her face softened instantly. Relief washed over me. Judging by how furious she looked before, it almost made me wonder if my old man had done the same crap to her that Naegi-san went through…

…Anyway, I needed to focus on explaining things.

――――――――――――

“So yeah. That's what happened. Naegi-san got messed up by some douchebag from university, so I brought her here to get her out of that situation. I don't really know all the details yet.”

I left out the fact that Naegi-san was the same girl from that whole “I-got-a-girlfriend” debacle a while back.

While I laid it all out, Mom just stood there with her arms crossed and silent, brows scrunched like she was channeling Uesugi Kagekatsu. Scary as hell.

Meanwhile, Naegi-san looked like a damn housecat caught in a thunderstorm.

“…I see. Sounds believable enough. I doubt you'd lie to my face with her standing right there. So tell me—”

“Yeah?”

“Why'd you drag her all the way to our place, when her apartment's not even that close?”

“Well, it's not like I could have a heart-to-heart with her on the street. Not exactly the most relaxing environment.”

“Was this about getting in her pants?”

“Why the hell are you suddenly channeling Daichi Mao or something?”

“Your mom's cryin', you know.”

“She's literally right in front of me and I'm pretty sure she's not crying.”

Things were already getting messy, and I didn't need Mom wasting time throwing in dumb gags. But then she lobbed a live grenade straight into the middle of everything.

“Didn't you just start dating someone at your university?”

“…!!”

“I get that going to the police might be difficult, but if your girlfriend finds out about this, you really think she's gonna be okay with it?”

F**k. I should've cleared up that misunderstanding a long time ago. It's way too late now. And the worst part? She's coming at this with that single-mom sixth sense bullshit. Helpful, but a major pain in the a*s.

“Wh…what? Is that true, Nakanishi-kun?”

“A-ah… well, that's…”

Now Naegi-san was looking at me like she was hearing this for the first time—which she was. I mean, I literally just confessed to her not too long ago. Now it looked like I moved on already? Hell no. But trying to explain that right now felt like a total dead end.

I was still scrambling for a way to do damage control when—

CLACK!

STOMP STOMP STOMP.

The front door flew open without a chime or knock, and three uninvited guests waltzed right in like they owned the place.

“Hey hey hey! I just happened to catch Yuya-kun bringing a girl into his house, and I demand answers! Immoral cohabitation like this won't be tolerated by your big sister here— Wait, huh? Sayaka, you're here too?”

“Chihiro sa— wait, the hell? I get Mahiro, sure, but why's Temari here too?”

The “big sister” thing was clearly pushing it, but that wasn't even the point right now.

Behind Chihiro stood Mahiro—my actual kid—looking sheepish, and right next to her was the completely unexpected presence of Sakuma Temari. She was standing there like she'd just wandered into a soap opera.

Naturally, they all looked more confused than anything.

Mahiro stepped forward first, clearly trying to cover her a*s.

“I-it's not what it looks like! As soon as Mom got home, she dragged me out of the house, and Temari just happened to be over at the time, and then…”

“I'm just the bonus Temari! Pay me no mind, carry on with your drama!”

“You say that, but Yuya-kun brought home a girl, right?! How could I not come see for myself what kind of girl she is?!”

“…Chihiro-san.”

Was I really the only one freaked out by how Chihiro had just nuked my privacy? Temari looked way too intrigued, Mahiro was awkwardly apologetic but still staring daggers at Naegi-san, and now things had spiraled completely out of control.

At this point, isolating Naegi-san in my room was probably the only way to salvage anything. Too many eyes, too many mouths, and no way to manage this shitshow.

Time for a strategic retreat.

“Uh—yeah! I just remembered! I left my porn mags lying around in my room! Gonna go clean that up real quick! Everyone, just stay put and shut the hell up for a minute!”

…Goddamn it. Why the hell did I say that out loud?! This whole thing's turned into one giant clusterfuck.