Chapter 106: Another Childhood Friend

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Translator: Soafp

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I instinctively pulled Nodoka closer and gently stepped back, trying to calm her down.

As expected, an arcade employee came running over after hearing Nodoka’s scream.

“Sorry. We’ll leave right away.”

If this caused any more commotion, we’d only be bothering the arcade.

Nagasawa-senpai seemed to reach the same conclusion. We headed straight for the arcade exit and moved to a quiet park nearby.

Still in my arms, Nodoka looked up at me and spoke in a small voice.

“S-Sorry… But I was really scared…”

“I know. It’s okay. Stay like this until you calm down.”

“Okay.”

Nagasawa-senpai looked at us and snorted in exasperation.

But he quickly looked away and fixed his gaze directly on Kokoa-san.

“Miyo, why are you with this guy again?”

“This guy? Who are you talking about?”

Kokoa’s voice was strangely cold.

“Who else? This Fukagawa guy!”

Nagasawa-senpai pointed at me irritably.

Whenever Kokoa was involved, this guy became emotional instantly.

Normally, he always acted composed, as if nothing I did could ever affect him.

“Ko-kun, I heard about it. Yu-chan’s condition is really bad, right?”

“Ugh… Yeah, that’s true.”

“You’ve had it rough too, Ko-kun. I had no idea. I never imagined that was the reason you moved away.”

Nagasawa-senpai’s younger sister was named Yuna, if I remembered correctly.

According to the detective’s report, Yuna-san and Kokoa-san were about the same age.

They probably used to play together a lot when they were little.

“D-Don’t worry about me. Miyo, I heard you came to school yesterday.”

“Yep. Open school.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Why should I have?”

“W-Why…? Because I’m your…”

Nagasawa-senpai trailed off and scratched his head furiously.

A thought crossed my mind.

…How long is this going to keep going?

Kokoa spoke quietly.

“I didn’t tell you because I thought it would cause trouble for your girlfriends.”

“I-I don’t have any girlfriends.”

“Then what about those girls at the summer festival? What exactly are they to you?”

Under Kokoa’s glare, Nagasawa-senpai couldn’t answer and looked away.

“I-I cut them all off. There’s nothing going on with any of them anymore.”

“Really? Isn’t that a waste? They were all pretty cute.”

“I-It doesn’t matter… None of them were anything special. It’s not like you can easily find a girl cuter than you.”

“Hehe, that’s true. You don’t find girls as cute as Kokoa very often!”

Kokoa poked both of her cheeks with her index fingers.

I noticed immediately.

That smile wasn’t genuine.

It was the artificial smile she showed her fans.

Nagasawa-senpai pointed at me again.

“So what were you doing with this guy? Just like last time… Don’t tell me you actually like him!?”

“Hmm… Ko-kun, you seem awfully concerned about Ren-sama.”

“Of course I am! This guy’s seriously dangerous! He’s not someone you should be calling ‘sama’! Ever since I heard yesterday that you were with him, I’ve been searching for you nonstop!”

The words made all of us widen our eyes.

Airi immediately laughed scornfully.

“That’s seriously creepy. You’ve been following around a girl you like—a current idol, no less. That’s basically stalking.”

“T-That’s not it! I was just worried—”

“Ko-kun, what exactly are you worried about?”

“W-Well…”

Kokoa probably realized it long ago.

Nagasawa-senpai’s feelings were painfully obvious.

So what he was worried about was—

“Oh? You’re afraid Ren-kun is going to steal Miyoko-san away from you.”

“Ugh!”

Nagasawa-senpai’s shoulders jerked as if she’d hit the mark perfectly.

“T-That’s not it! It’s not like that…!”

“You don’t need to worry, Ko-kun.”

Kokoa looked at him coldly and continued.

“Ren-sama doesn’t have a hobby like yours—making girls cheat on their partners.”

“H-How did you even find out about that!?”

Nagasawa-senpai spun around and glared at me.

His eyes were burning with anger.

He probably thought I’d been badmouthing him.

Well, I had been the one to tell her, so he wasn’t entirely wrong.

“You know, Ko-kun, I’m sure things were hard for you too. But it’s not like I was living carefree all this time. I’ve had my own struggles.”

“Yeah… you had to deal with what happened to your mother.”

“Oh? So you know about that.”

“Of course. It was all over the news. And there was only one announcer with that surname.”

Huh?

An announcer… named Kamishiro?

Nodoka and I widened our eyes at the same time and looked at each other.

“Ren, isn’t that who we’re thinking of?”

“Yeah, probably… Still, I’m surprised. I never imagined Kokoa-san was that person’s daughter.”

Only Airi blinked in confusion.

“Ren-kun, Nodoka-san, can you explain? I wasn’t really interested in the news back then.”

“There was a very popular half-Japanese female announcer named Kamishiro. But one day, a scandal broke. She was photographed entering a love hotel with some entrepreneur.”

“And the guy was over twenty years older than her. It became such a huge story that it even affected stock prices.”

In the end, Announcer Kamishiro retired, and the entrepreneur she had the affair with stepped down as CEO.

Since it happened before I seriously started investing in stocks, it took me a moment to remember.

Kokoa lightly kicked at the ground with the tip of her shoe.

“You know, I’ve been searching for you all this time, Ko-kun. You suddenly moved away.”

“…I’m really sorry about that. Looking back, I should’ve at least said goodbye.”

“Do you regret it?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you want to see me again?”

“Of course.”

“Really? Then what did you do to make that happen?”

Nagasawa-senpai froze as if caught off guard.

Kokoa let out a mocking laugh.

“You know, Ko-kun, I became an idol just so I could meet you again. I thought if I got famous enough, maybe you’d come find me.”

“I-Is that so…”

“But when you saw me, you didn’t even realize who I was. The first person to notice was actually your girlfriend. It took me a little while to be certain too, but I still figured it out.”

“Ugh…”

“Well, whatever. People say boys are more oblivious than girls. So tell me, Ko-kun. How much effort did you make to see me again?”

Step by step, Kokoa closed the distance and cornered him.

Unable to withstand her gaze, Nagasawa-senpai couldn’t even meet her eyes.

“W-Well… I did go looking for you once. I went to your old house. But I heard you’d moved away too…”

“My dad said we had to go back to Ireland because of money problems. In the end, I was the only one who stayed in Japan.”

“R-Right. That’s what the neighbors told me too. So I thought I’d never see you again…”

“Ko-kun, we’re in the twenty-first century, aren’t we? If you get on a plane, you can go to Ireland, right?”

Kokoa’s eyes flew open as she clenched both fists tightly.

“Even if I’d gone to Ireland, you could’ve worked part-time and saved enough money to come see me, couldn’t you?”

“Ugh…”

“Did you really want to see me again? You didn’t even make that much effort. You didn’t do anything, did you? You were too busy fooling around with girls.”

“T-That’s not true! Deep down… I’ve always been looking for you, Miyo…”

Wait.

Was Nagasawa-senpai really the type to say lines that cheesy?

He felt like a completely different person.

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who thought so.

Airi, Nodoka, and Yui all muttered at the same time:

“That’s so creepy…”

Kokoa narrowed her eyes.

Then she suddenly turned on her heel and walked toward me.

“Ren-sama, I think I made a mistake.”

“Eh?”

What was she talking about all of a sudden?

“That tall blond stalker can’t possibly be Ko-kun.”

Kokoa smiled brightly and took hold of my hand.

“Ko-kun is someone who’s a little mean sometimes, but kind to everyone and always protects me.”

Then she beamed at me.

“Ren-sama is Ko-kun!”