Chapter 22: Between Tsundere

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Translator: Soafp

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Sugawara-senpai glanced back and forth between me and Nodoka.

“Your girlfriend?”

Nodoka reacted faster than I did.

“N-No! As if I'd ever date Ren! We're just friends!!”

“Hm… really? By the way, tsunderes aren't popular these days.”

“I'm not a tsundere!?”

Oh—despite it being their first meeting, Nodoka wasn't freezing up.

Maybe the two of them actually got along better than expected.

Nodoka came over and sat beside me.

Before I knew it, I was sandwiched between her and Sugawara-senpai.

“So, what are you and that senpai doing here?”

“What do you mean? Just talking.”

“Every day? How much are you planning to flirt with her!?”

Nodoka puffed out her cheeks, clearly sulking.

Why was she suddenly acting like this?

It was cute, but still…

Sugawara-senpai pulled out today's 10,000 yen and said:

“Well, he's clearly trying to flirt with me, considering he gives me this much just to talk for 15 minutes.”

“Wait—what!? You've been giving her that much every day, Ren!?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“Does she have some kind of blackmail on you!? Or… d-do you have some kind of adult-service fetish!?”

“Neither.”

That said, from an outsider's perspective, it definitely didn't look good.

I knew her classmates had been whispering every time I called her out and handed her money these past few days.

I was a bit worried that my actions might isolate her even more.

But for now, I had no other choice.

“So, Nodoka, what did you actually come here for? Don't tell me you got jealous seeing me with senpai.”

“I-I'm not jealous! It's just… we promised to hang out this weekend, right? I decided where to go, so I came to tell you.”

“Oh, that? You could've just told me on the way home.”

Or even over messaging.

“I might've forgotten! Anyway, how about this?”

Nodoka pulled out her phone and showed me the screen.

I couldn't help but laugh, remembering what happened last time.

“Don't show me a love hotel again.”

“Forget about that already!!”

Looking at the screen, it showed a theme park.

Apparently, it specialized in mystery-themed escape games.

“Looks fun.”

“Right? It's a bit far, but that's fine, right?”

“Yeah, no problem. If we get tired, we can just take a taxi.”

“Stop spending money like water!!”

“I'm joking.”

“That doesn't sound like a joke at all!!”

Her comebacks were as sharp as ever today.

As I chuckled, Sugawara-senpai murmured:

“Hm… a date?”

“N-No, it's not!? We're just going out to have fun!”

“Really? You sure you're not planning to wear some super sexy ‘battle underwear'?”

“S-Super sexy battle underwear!? I don't have anything like that!!”

“Oh? Nodoka, you're wearing sexy battle underwear? I'm looking forward to it.”

“Were you even listening!? I said I'm not!!”

Maybe because she was her junior—or because she was her friend—

Sugawara-senpai kept teasing Nodoka.

Or maybe she just found her reactions amusing.

(Anyway, having the three of us like this once in a while isn't so bad.)

Even if she was a senpai, Nodoka needed friends besides me.

And for Sugawara-senpai, having someone she could talk to more casually might reduce the risk of her going down that path.

Come to think of it, they were similar in that they both struggled with relationships.

“Oh, looks like time's up. Here you go, senpai.”

I took out a meal ticket I had prepared in advance.

Sugawara-senpai accepted it like she was already used to it.

“…I'm not going to thank you.”

“I know. Just take it.”

“You're seriously weird…”

She sighed and turned her face away.

Watching us, Nodoka muttered:

“You two are both weird…”

“You're pretty weird yourself, fake gyaru.”

“I'm 25% gyaru!?”

Calling yourself a “quarter gyaru” was already pretty strange.

---

During lunch break in Class 1-2, after finishing her bento, Yuzuki Kitayama waited for Ren to return.

(This time, I'm going to talk to him properly.)

For the past few days, there had always been another girl beside Ren.

Mostly Nodoka—but even the famous beauty Sugawara-senpai had started appearing too.

A quiet sense of urgency began to creep into Yuzuki's chest.

(He usually comes back about ten minutes before lunch ends.)

Those ten minutes—when neither Nodoka nor Sugawara-senpai was with him—were her only chance to talk to him alone.

Right after Ren broke up with her, Yuzuki had been so confused that she collapsed in tears.

At that time, Nodoka had confidently declared she would uncover his true intentions.

Yuzuki had believed those words completely.

That was why—when Nodoka asked for Ren's address—she told her without any doubt.

(I have to deal with Ren myself.)

But before she knew it, Nodoka had started to fall for him.

To make matters worse, Ren ended up getting into a traffic accident while protecting Nodoka.

Since then, under the pretense of helping him with his injured arm, Nodoka had always been by his side.

Even though she had been shaken at the time, Yuzuki now deeply regretted entrusting him to Nodoka.

(He's here!)

She sprang up from her seat and walked straight toward him.

More than Nodoka, more than Sugawara-senpai—she was the one who had always been by his side.

Before being his girlfriend, she was his childhood friend.

Reminding herself of that, she spoke:

“Ren… can we talk for a bit?”

He glanced at her.

Then he let out a deep sigh, his face clearly showing annoyance.

“What do you want, Kitayama-san?”

“Just a little is fine.”

“Then say it here.”

“Please… just a moment alone…”

Kitayama-san—every time she heard that name, it felt like her heart was being stabbed.

Since kindergarten, he had always called her “Yuzuki.”

Bluntly, gently, teasingly.

“I don't want to.”

“Ah…”

That gentle side of him was gone.

Or rather—

it had been directed toward Nodoka instead.

All that remained on his face was rejection.

“If you have something to say, say it here.”

“…Okay. Ren, I didn't know. I didn't know you protected my life back in elementary school. Or that your intuition is far sharper than normal. Even though we've always been together… I hate myself for not realizing something so important…”

“And?”

“So… just like you said, I'll stop getting involved with Nagasawa-senpai. From now on, I'll listen to what you say. So… could you give me one more chance?”

From Yuzuki's perspective, ever since Ren cut ties, Nagasawa-senpai had been the one avoiding her.

On top of that, ever since the day Ren called him, he had become extremely wary, calling Ren someone dangerous.

“Kitayama-san.”

“Yes?”

“What do you think is the most important thing in a relationship? No—any human relationship?”

Caught off guard by the question, she answered carefully.

“Trust…?”

“Right. But I can't trust you anymore. Everything you say sounds like a lie.”

“I-I'll prove it! I'll prove I'm not lying!”

“How are you going to prove you didn't cheat? Do you know what that's called? A devil's proof.”

If you show a devil, you can prove it exists.

But proving something doesn't exist is fundamentally impossible.

“I'll always be wondering if you're cheating somewhere I can't see. And you'll have to keep proving something that can't be proven. Do you think that's a healthy relationship?”

“Th-That's…”

“I told you before, didn't I? You didn't do anything wrong. It's just… we weren't ‘meant to be.'”

Then, as if delivering the final blow, he said coldly:

“I've given up on you. So you should give up on me too.”

Yuzuki could feel that those words were completely genuine.

---

“Ren, what's wrong? Did something happen?”

On the way home, Nodoka asked that.

Why was her intuition only sharp at times like this?

“No, nothing major. While you were eating and went to the restroom, Kitayama-san came to talk to me.”

“I-I see…”

“Ah, it's your fault, Nodoka. If you hadn't gone to the restroom.”

“That's my fault!? I was seriously at my limit back then, you know!?”

“You should've held it in like a man and protected me.”

“I'm a girl!? And no guy protects someone while peeing himself—that's just pathetic!!”

My gloomy mood started to lift.

Maybe I had gotten a bit sentimental, because before I realized it, I gently placed my hand on her head.

“Ah, sorry. That was creepy, wasn't it?”

“J-Jealous much!? Is that how you flirt with girls!?”

Her face turned red all the way to her ears.

No girl would be okay with someone she wasn't interested in touching her head.

I needed to be more careful.

Since Yuzuki had been my only female friend for so long, I'd treated Nodoka the same way without thinking.

“You should only do that with me, okay? If you do that to other girls, you'll get slapped!”

“Alright, alright. Sorry.”

“Are you reflecting on it?”

“About as much as your gyaru percentage.”

“So not at all—… wait, no, that counts as reflecting. Yeah.”

I couldn't help but chuckle.

She was basically admitting she was a fake gyaru.

After that, we met up with Anna-chan as usual and had dinner at my place.

After seeing the noisy sisters off, I went back to my room alone.

(My stocks are doing well today too.)

Because of Sugawara-senpai, my expenses had gone up significantly lately, so I'd been checking things more carefully than usual.

If I ran out of money, I'd lose my connection to her.

As night deepened, I went to sleep.

I thought I'd sleep peacefully again tonight.

But I was wrong.

That night, I had another “nightmare.”

It wasn't the one where Sugawara-senpai killed herself.

Instead—

it was a dream where her face was horribly disfigured,

and she was screaming in agony.