Chapter 40 – Who Are They Actually Close With?

Reading Settings

“Eh… Mami’s sick? How was she feeling? Should we go visit her or…”

“Even if you call it sick, it’s that whole syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia set, you know. Don’t get the wrong idea.”

Hearing Temari’s weirdly polite wording, Mahiro, being Mahiro, let that airheaded line slip out, so I corrected her right away.

“Eh…”

“She did all kinds of things with a crap‑ton of guys for cash. Picking up something down there at some point isn’t exactly shocking. It’s not like every single one of them lined up for an STD test first.”

“……”

“Well, at least there’s no chance of her spreading anything to us.”

It was pure sarcasm. Mahiro probably assumed Temari knew because she was close to Mami. In reality, Temari only knew the fuzoku story because I’d told her. Mahiro still had no clue that her old bestie had tried to join the working‑in‑the‑red‑light‑district world.

In Mahiro’s case, it was because of how she’d been back in high school. If every last member of the F****r Club picked up some gross rash together, then any random guy they dragged into it later would end up as a victim too. Imagining STDs helping the world by stopping those idiots from multiplying made me think, maybe that counted as world peace.

Not that that thought was going to get me into heaven.

The only thing I could honestly praise about the current Mahiro was that, just like I told her, she really seemed to be keeping her distance from Mami, the STD Angel. If she had stayed glued to Mami like before, it’d have been way weirder for Temari to know before her.

“…Yeah, you’re right. Yuuya’s correct.”

“Uh‑huh, Mahiro, you should learn from Temari and keep your conduct pure.”

“…What’s that supposed to mean?”

Mahiro’s voice came out quiet, but she actually shut up instead of exploding. Temari shot her a slightly doubtful look, like she couldn’t believe this was the same old Mahiro.

If I acknowledged the change out loud, though, I’d lose.

Still, being careless was the enemy. There was another, completely different landmine waiting.

“…So, if Naegi-san isn’t your girlfriend, then who exactly is your girlfriend, Yuuya?”

“Guh‑hehh!!”

That was Mahiro’s counterattack. The blow hit as hard as anything I’d thrown earlier.

………

Ah, screw it. I’d already spilled the whole story to Temari. No point trying to dodge now.

―・―・―・―・―・―・―

“…And that’s how it went. My ‘having a girlfriend’ thing was just a short, dumb phase of premature joy. End of story.”

When I finished explaining, every woman in the room—young, older, and emotionally nosy—looked at me with eyes overflowing with pity and sympathy.

I wanted to turn into mist and evaporate.

Seriously, spare me that look.

I would have preferred loud laughter and someone screaming, ‘LMAO!’ It would have hurt my pride less than this funeral‑service level sympathy.

“Yuuya… You must stay strong.”

“That girl has absolutely no eye for men. To turn down a prime candidate like Yuuya‑kun…”

The moms piled on their gentle lines. I guessed this was what people called comfort from others.

It did not feel good at all. When it came to anything close to pleasure, relying on other people was pointless. Same rule applied emotionally, apparently.

“I see… that’s goo… a, um, well, Yuuya, that’s tough luck.”

Mahiro’s mouth moved awkwardly, like she was trying out a foreign language. She probably only knew these phrases from hearing other people say them. Using them herself clearly did not come naturally.

“…Well, it’s Naegi-san’s own fault.”

Temari’s single comment cut straight through everything.

No hesitation, no sugar‑coating. Just a clean slice.

Since no one followed up with, “Someone like you was never going to be chosen by Naegi-san anyway,” maybe I had leveled up by one tiny step in their eyes. I decided to flatter myself and roll with that.

I didn’t want to feel any more pathetic than I already did. Protecting what was left of my heart—and yeah, my chastity—was my own job. If anything did happen with any girl from now on, I didn’t want to hear later that she regretted it, or that it “wasn’t consensual enough” or some crap like that.

“Well… but, if by some chance Naegi-san also got infected with something through that route, just leaving her alone feels kinda…”

Right after dropping that merciless line, Temari suddenly sounded like she was worried about Nae. The whiplash made me snort.

Between Mami’s situation and now this, maybe this girl here was the type who couldn’t completely look away once she knew someone was in trouble. Back in high school, her personality had been way worse.

When the hell did she become this reasonable?

“Seems you’ve grown up somehow. Good for you, Temari.”

“Why the condescending tone?”

“Just saying I can’t believe it, thinking about how you used to talk s**t about me behind my back.”

“I don’t want to hear that from someone who hasn’t grown up at all.”

“If I hadn’t grown at all, everyone would still treat me like some scrawny punching bag.”

“The problem is obviously what’s inside your skull. I’ve already apologized again and again, so how long are you going to cling to that grudge? Your personality is garbage.”

“Shut it. More importantly, don’t forget you owe me big, all the way until the glorious day you become my kouhai.”

“Ugh… The worst. Maybe I really should switch where I’m applying…”

“If you’ve got the guts to throw away all the effort you’ve put in up till now, I won’t stop you. Knock yourself out, Temari.”

Ahnnn…

“I told you, you’re still really as terrible as ever!!”

“And you’re in a position to judge other people… huh?”

Our usual bickering bounced back and forth in the living room. At some point, I realized my mom and the Chihiro–Mahiro duo were watching the two of us like they were looking at some rare zoo exhibit.

Mahiro, left out of the detailed history, finally opened her mouth with a question that I honestly couldn’t tell was innocent or just dense.

“…Yuuya and Temari… You’re not, like, secretly dating or anything, are you?”

“No way! What are you talking about!!”

“Like that’d ever happen! Absolutely not!!”

Our voices overlapped perfectly.

That only made it worse.

“My, my, you two are close, aren’t you? Denying it in unison and all…”

Mom’s lips curved in clear amusement.

“This is actually the first time I’ve seen Yuuya banter like this with a girl, you know, as his mother.”

“If just one tiny thing had been different, the one sitting in Temari‑chan’s seat should have been Mahiro…”

The moms started up their unnecessary commentary.

First off, it wasn’t like Temari had those kinds of feelings for me. That much I could say with absolute confidence.

Second, Chihiro‑san really needed to abandon the whole plan where she paired me up with Mahiro. Anyone with functioning eyes could see how Mahiro’s face twisted the moment she heard that line.

If disgust had a textbook example, it would look exactly like that.

“Don’t drag me into your weird fantasies, Mom… There’s no way I end up with Yuuya.”

Mahiro muttered, half under her breath, but the words reached all of us. Her tone had less bite than before, though.

“Relax, I have zero plans to go after you either. I’d rather not die of stress before thirty.”

I answered without thinking, then realized the room had gone strangely quiet.

Mahiro’s eyes flicked toward me for a second, then away. Her shoulders twitched.

“…Rude.”

That was all she said.

“…Anyway.”

I cleared my throat and leaned back against the sofa, trying to pull the whole situation back onto some kind of track.

“Who I’m close with and who I’m not is my problem. I screwed up with Naegi-san, sure, but that doesn’t mean anyone needs to start shoving replacements at me. Please stop deciding my love life like you’re drafting a fantasy baseball team.”

“Well, as long as you don’t end up like Mami, I’m fine with whoever you choose.”

Mom shook her head with an exaggerated sigh.

“Falling for someone, being dumped, getting hurt a bit—those things are normal. But catching some disgusting disease on top of that? Absolutely not.”

“Same. Yuuya, if you ever start saying you want to try working in the fuzoku world for ‘research’, I’ll call an intervention.”

Temari’s arms folded across her chest. Her expression looked serious enough that, for a second, I couldn’t tell if she was joking.

“…If he ever says something that stupid, I’ll smack him before you do.”

Mahiro quietly added that on, eyes drifting away again.

Their words were harsh, but somewhere underneath it sat something that almost felt like concern.

That made me itchier than any STD lecture.

“Relax. I’m not that desperate. I’ll just keep rotting away in safety.”

I waved a hand lazily.

On the surface, I played it off with a grin. Inside, though, I quietly traced out the invisible lines between us in my head—my mom, Temari, Mahiro, even Naegi-san way off in the distance.

Who was actually close to who?

We were all tangled up in weird ways. Old grudges, old crushes, old mistakes.

From the outside, maybe it looked like I was in the middle of it, with all these girls orbiting me.

From the inside, standing here as me, it just felt like I was always a half‑step off. Never quite the one chosen, never quite the one they actually leaned on when things got bad.

Maybe that was why Temari’s offhand worry about Naegi-san hit me harder than I wanted to admit.

“…Tch.”

I clicked my tongue lightly and sank deeper into the couch.

Whatever. For now, I’d just focus on keeping everyone I cared about STD‑free and alive through graduation.

Romance and all that other crap could wait.