Chapter 93: Summer Festival ②

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Translator: Soafp

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It was afternoon, and I was starting to get ready for the summer festival.

I had already arranged a meeting spot with Kokoa-san.

I wonder if Kokoa-san is really going to be okay…

“Nodoka-san.”

Holding a delivery box in her arms, Airi peeked her head through the gap in my bedroom door.

“Sorry, could you help me put on my yukata for a bit?”

“Ah, sure.”

Nodoka quietly got up from my lap and headed to the next room.

Only Yuzuki and I remained in the room.

Amid the awkward silence, Yuzuki spoke softly.

“Um… have a good time. I’ll stay home and watch the house properly.”

“Huh? What are you talking about? Yui’s obviously coming too.”

“Eh? I-Is it okay if I come too?”

Had she really thought she was going to be left behind?

…Well, considering everything, it wasn’t hard to understand why.

“Yui, put on your yukata and—”

The moment I started to say it, a certain photograph flashed through my mind.

That picture from the summer training camp.

Yuzuki, dressed in a yukata, being held by Nagasawa-senpai.

I immediately shook my head.

This was a different yukata.

And now, her hairstyle and makeup were completely different too.

That’s right.

The girl in front of me wasn’t Yuzuki.

She was Yui.

“Can you get changed into your yukata?”

“Y-Yes…! I’ll have to go home first, though.”

“Then let’s leave a little earlier than planned and stop by your house first.”

“Okay.”

Yuzuki smiled happily.

No.

Not Yuzuki.

Yui.

To avoid triggering any more trauma, I needed to completely overwrite the image in front of me and treat her as “Yui.”

---

Yui’s house—the Kitayama residence—was less than a five-minute walk from mine.

It felt like it had been a long time since I last came here.

In reality, even when we were dating, I didn’t come over all that often.

No, to be precise, I stopped coming after Yui’s father left home.

After Ayumi-san started working as a bartender, Yui would be all alone whenever she came home.

That’s why she eventually started spending every day after school in my room.

“Well then, I’ll go put on my yukata really quick.”

“Sure. Take your time.”

Yui opened the front door and went inside.

While waiting for her, Airi, Nodoka, and I chatted casually.

“Like I said before, you two really look amazing in your yukatas.”

“R-Really? Well, since you keep saying that, I guess it was worth the effort. I mean… it’d be a problem if you didn’t say so!”

“Ren-kun, you like yukatas more than I expected.”

Honestly, I was a little surprised myself.

I didn’t used to be the kind of person who got excited over yukatas.

…Could it be that the incident with Nagasawa-senpai had even changed my tastes?

Still clinging to my arm, Airi continued.

“Just so you know, we’re definitely going all the way tonight, so be prepared. Nodoka-san and I came here fully intending to.”

“R-Right! So don’t run away, okay!?”

“I’m not running.”

…Wait.

So they meant all three of us together on our first time?

Well, it wasn’t like I disliked the idea.

If anything, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t happy about it.

“Um… putting me aside, are you two really okay with this? It’s your first time, isn’t it?”

“It’s fine. Nodoka-san and I talked it over and decided together.”

“You just stare at the stains on the ceiling or something!”

“…”

Maybe I was actually the least prepared one here.

Either way, there was no escaping the two of them.

Not that I wanted to.

From an outsider’s perspective, I was clearly the one benefiting the most.

Just then, the sound of the front door opening reached us.

Thinking it was Yui, I turned around.

“Ara, Ren-kun.”

But it wasn’t her.

“Ayumi-san, are you off work today?”

“That’s right. I thought I’d have some drinks with friends and watch the fireworks for a change.”

Her friends probably included my mother.

The two of them had always been close.

“Until Yuzuki—I mean, Yui—comes out, would you mind chatting with me for a bit?”

“…So you’re calling her Yui too.”

“She kept asking me to. And she was really happy when she found out it was a nickname you gave her.”

Ayumi-san giggled softly.

“It really seems like Yui can’t cheer up without you, Ren-kun.”

“Is that so…?”

“You know, things went too smoothly when she started dating you. Maybe it’s actually better this way—giving her a little hope and making her work for it herself.”

I couldn’t think of a response.

To be honest, I had been feeling the same thing.

Maybe I was being cruel to Yui right now.

“Oh, right. There’s something I wanted to tell you about that scumbag. You girls know the situation too, don’t you?”

Airi and Nodoka nodded simultaneously.

…Though now that I thought about it, Ayumi-san used to call him “that guy who’s basically trash.”

“Once the new semester starts, the school should finally take action regarding him.”

“Did you find some kind of evidence?”

“Nothing that would count as a crime. But the world doesn’t run on laws alone. Schools especially can’t escape pressure from parents or the media.”

“The media?”

Ayumi-san grinned.

“There are a few reporters who frequent my bar. I gave them a little extra service and asked for a small favor.”

I see.

So this was how adults handled things.

As a student, those kinds of methods had never crossed my mind.

There wasn’t any direct evidence like a video, after all.

Back then, I had probably become so focused on the problem that I lost sight of everything else.

“I also have the detective report I commissioned before. I’ll give it to you later, so please make good use of it.”

Ayumi-san’s eyes widened.

“I knew you had money, Ren-kun, but how much did you spend on a detective? Around a million yen?”

“No. It was well over a million.”

I’d hired one of the best detective agencies in the industry and asked them to prioritize my case over others.

Apparently this was the first time Nodoka had heard about it too.

“Whaaat!? It cost that much!?”

“…You really did work hard for Yui’s sake. As an adult, I know exactly how much money like that means.”

“Well, it ended up being useless. I just wasted a lot of money.”

Ayumi-san jokingly replied:

“Tell Yui to repay that money with her body.”

“…”

She really was a unique person.

---

Once Yui finally came out wearing her yukata, we headed toward the station where we were supposed to meet Kokoa-san.

However, as the crowd grew thicker, Nodoka and Airi clung even more tightly to my arms.

“Just so we’re clear, a lot of people from our school are going to be at the festival.”

“We know.”

“…And if someone sees us like this, rumors are going to spread instantly.”

“What a strange thing to say, Ren-kun. That’s exactly why we’re doing it.”

“Huh?”

Wouldn’t they be the ones suffering the consequences if rumors started?

“We’re deliberately showing everyone that Ren already has new girls in his life!”

“You don’t have to go that far…”

“Ren-kun still thinks he’s unpopular, doesn’t he?”

“Well, obviously.”

The moment I said that, both girls narrowed their eyes.

Their looks were cold and exasperated.

What?

Did I say something wrong?

“So an unpopular guy gets confessed to by three girls?”

“And the girls are the ones taking the initiative.”

“At this rate, it’s only a matter of time before Ren charms another girl too!”

“I don’t mind if Ren-kun expands his harem, but at least consult us beforehand, okay?”

“…”

Just what kind of man did they think I was?

While we were having that conversation, we arrived at the station.

As expected of the region’s biggest summer festival, the area was already packed with people.

“Ah, everyone~!”

At that moment, a familiar voice called out from the side.

We all turned toward the sound at once.

“Eh? W-Who is that…?”

Nodoka quickly hid behind my back.

The way she became shy around strangers was almost cat-like.

…People always say that when everything someone does starts seeming cute to you, that’s when you know you’ve truly fallen in love.

(But more importantly, this person…)

Kokoa-san was definitely there.

—Just not alone.

She was riding on a man’s back.

And I had seen that man exactly once before.

Brown hair.

Greenish eyes.

A tall, slender frame.

Skin so pale it was almost white.

Sitting on his back, Kokoa-san spread her arms wide like an alligator opening its jaws.

“Ah, let me introduce him! This is my dad!”

It was Burn-san—

Kokoa-san’s father, the man I had seen in that “nightmare.”