Chapter 8: My Ex-Girlfriend’s Friend ②

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Translator: Soafp

---

I faced Komori again.

“Why are you so reluctant to say it?”

“Shouldn't I be asking you why you want to hear it so badly? Do you actually have a thing for me or something?”

If a friend gets dumped, isn't the normal thing to quietly stay by their side and comfort them?

If I were to borrow Takagi's words, you could just say something like, “There are as many men as there are stars.”

Instead, going all the way to confront the ex-boyfriend and interrogate him down to every detail… that's not normal.

“That's not it! But Yuzuki was crying so sadly, and she said that if it was something she did wrong she would fix it, but since you won't tell her anything she doesn't even know what it is…”

She cares about her friends more than I expected.

At this rate, she'll keep following me everywhere until I open my mouth—and then she might end up getting caught in that traffic accident I saw in the ‘nightmare'.

(Guess I'll just brush it off somehow.)

I won't lie outright. I'll just frame it that way.

If Komori understands that I'm not the kind of guy worth clinging to, that'll be enough.

“It's because she wouldn't let me finish inside her on her dangerous days.”

“…Huh?”

“She wouldn't swallow either when I finished in her mouth. She kept telling me to wear a condom. I hated that, so we broke up.”

I don't care if rumors spread.

At worst, I can just transfer to a school in another region.

I have enough money for that.

“H-hey, of course Yuzuki would hate that! Swallowing aside, finishing inside her—especially on her dangerous days—what kind of horrible demand is that!?”

Yes. That's the reaction I was waiting for.

…You're disgusted, right?

I grinned and said,

“From your perspective, you can relax now, right?”

“…What?”

“Your precious friend broke up with the worst boyfriend imaginable. You should celebrate for her, shouldn't you?”

“Ah, well, that's…”

“Then how about you convince me? Convince me to let me do it.”

Komori pressed her lips tightly together.

Of course she couldn't do something like that.

“Oh, right. Komori, how often do you redo your nail polish?”

“W-what? Why are you suddenly asking something like that?”

“I was just curious. Your nail polish looks nice.”

“I don't really have a set schedule. I just repaint it whenever I feel like it…”

Her nails were pink.

Different from the orange I saw in the dream.

…So much for trying to figure out when the accident would happen.

“Then do you have orange nail polish?”

“I do… but why are you suddenly asking?”

“No reason in particular.”

“What the heck… you're creeping me out…”

I continued speaking as I walked down the stairs.

“This month, be absolutely careful around cars. Especially at a three-way intersection where the satsuki flowers are in full bloom. …See you.”

That should be enough.

My warning should stick in her memory at least a little.

Besides, now she has no reason to keep following me around.

At least the worst ending—her getting hit by a car and dying—should be avoided for now.

(Maybe I should start looking into which school I'll transfer to.)

Somewhere where neither Yuzuki nor Nagasawa-senpai are.

Somewhere nobody knows me.

---

After school, I grabbed my bag and stepped out of the classroom.

Yuzuki glanced at me, but I didn't pay it any attention.

Since I told her not to talk to me unless she had a reason, it seems she's properly keeping that promise.

Besides, she has the photography club. The other members will comfort her.

(In reality, I'm the one who got dumped though.)

Yeah… aside from Takagi, there's not a single person who'd comfort me.

It can't be helped, but I let out a wry smile.

I opened my shoe locker and was about to change into my sneakers—

“Fukagawa!”

A sharp girl's voice called out from the side.

When I turned around, Komori was there.

On instinct, I looked at her fingertips.

The nail polish was still the same pink.

“What? Were you trying to put a love letter in my locker?”

“That's not it! Why do you always assume I'm interested in you!?”

“Because you keep trying to create situations where we're alone together.”

“A-as if I'd ever like someone like you!”

What was that—some kind of classic tsundere line?

I couldn't help snorting.

She's surprisingly fun to tease.

“So? What do you want this time?”

“Obviously, it's about Yuzuki.”

“I thought my explanation earlier satisfied you.”

“No, I thought about it more, and that was a lie! Maybe not a 100% lie, but there's something else, right? I actually have pretty good intuition!”

At her words, my shoulders twitched.

Is her intuition really that sharp?

Honestly, after hearing what I said earlier, most girls would be so disgusted they wouldn't even want to come near me.

“…Why do you think that?”

“I don't have proof! But it's too different from what Yuzuki told me. And she said it was like you suddenly became a different person. If that's the case, it's only logical to think something must have happened to cause that change.”

Had Yuzuki been talking about me to her friends all this time?

If I ignore her now, she'll probably keep following me around.

And just like in the ‘nightmare', that could lead to the traffic accident.

“Maybe I didn't change. Maybe that's just who I really am.”

“B-boys wanting to… you know… finish inside a girl… that's probably instinct to some extent! Otherwise, genes wouldn't get passed on.”

“So?”

“The difference is whether someone can control that instinct. And you were the type who usually controlled it. So why suddenly couldn't you anymore? That's weird.”

Komori stepped closer to me as she continued.

“There must have been some reason that forced you to let go of your self-control, right?”

“….”

I honestly barely know her, yet she seems to understand me surprisingly well.

I thought it would be easy to chase her off, but I guess I underestimated her.

“I was just pretending to control myself. I thought Yuzuki was so into me she'd do anything I said. Guess I got ahead of myself.”

“I can't believe you.”

Her reaction was hard to read.

Maybe words alone won't convince her.

There's some risk, but maybe I'll have to show her through actions.

“Then I'll make you believe me.”

“Huh?”

I grabbed Komori's hand and started walking.

Instead of grabbing her wrist or arm, I deliberately held her palm, slowly stroking it in a way that felt disturbingly deliberate.

“H-hey, what are you doing all of a sudden!? Where are we going!? And let go of my hand!!”

“No thanks. Your hand is soft, Komori. It feels nice. Can I lick it?”

“No!! That's gross!!”

In the end, before we even passed through the school gate, she yanked her arm back with all her strength and shook my hand off.

“Y-you really are… the worst…”

“Now you get it, right? Honestly, Komori, you're my type. If you stay around me, this is the kind of thing that'll happen.”

I reached for her hand again.

She quickly moved both arms behind her back to avoid it.

Even though I'm doing this on purpose… being hated still stings a little.

“Y-you're seriously…! You're doing this on purpose, aren't you!?”

“Whether I am or not, if I get to hold hands with a cute girl and kiss her, I've got nothing to lose. The one losing out would be you.”

“Who said I'd hold hands or kiss you!?”

“Then why would I tell someone who has nothing to do with it—someone who isn't even my childhood friend or girlfriend—something that even Yuzuki doesn't know?”

“Ugh…”

It's not like I didn't tell Yuzuki the real reason.

But she didn't believe me.

And if even Yuzuki didn't believe me, would someone who's just a classmate like Komori believe me?

No way.

“Anyway, I'm going home. Oh—and seriously, watch out for cars. Especially after you paint your nails orange.”

“Are you my mom or something!? And what does nail polish have to do with anything!? I can take care of myself, so just leave me alone!!”

I snorted.

“See? You don't believe me.”

Having to be hated by the very person you're trying to save.

It couldn't be helped, but it still felt a little unfair.

---

The next morning.

I was opening my brokerage app and happily looking at the growing unrealized profits when—

“Ren! It seems like a friend you don't know is here. What should I do?”

My mom's voice called out.

Tilting my head in confusion, I stepped out of my room.

“A friend I've never seen?”

“It's a girl, though.”

If Mom doesn't recognize her, it can't be Yuzuki.

Which means… could it be—

When I checked the intercom screen, Komori was standing there in her school uniform.

Scratching my head, I reluctantly opened the front door.

“What do you want this early in the morning?”

“Isn't it obvious? It's about Yuzuki!”

Why is she this persistent?

This has gone way beyond just being nosy.

It's not like her life is on the line the way mine is.

“Did you promise Kitayama something? Like you'd definitely find out the reason no matter what?”

“Kitayama? You mean… well, yeah, kind of…”

She really has a personality that makes things harder for herself.

Would someone really go this far for a person they've only known for less than two months?

Were those two really that close?

“Anyway, here!”

“Hm?”

Suddenly, Komori held out her hand.

For some reason her cheeks were slightly red.

“Y-you said you'd tell me if I held your hand! I'll hold it, so tell me! I'll just think of it as a slightly longer handshake!!”

“I never actually said that… Are you going to kiss me too?”

“N-no! T-that's something couples do!!”

Holding hands while walking to school is already pretty couple-like, though…

I wasn't sure what to do with this.

She's more persistent than I expected.

(For now, the top priority is making sure Komori doesn't get into that traffic accident.)

If she keeps chasing after me like this, there's a high chance the ‘nightmare' will play out exactly the same.

That accident happened right in front of me—at least when Komori and I were together.

In other words, if we aren't together, the chances of it happening should drop drastically.

“Fine. I'll tell you. Come in.”

Komori nodded.

She took off her shoes and was about to step into my house when—

“By the way, my parents aren't home today.”

“Eh!? Don't lie! I just talked to your mom a moment ago!!”

…Yeah, that trick wasn't going to work.