Chapter 18: I’m not strong

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Translator: Soafp

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“Ahh… that was so much fun… but good times like that always end so quickly, huh.”

“Ahaha…”

The time I spent with Nakazato at the café passed by in the blink of an eye.

Even though I felt anger when I learned about what had happened to her and the details behind it, more than that, I just genuinely enjoyed talking with her.

As a classmate, Rira Nakazato was fun to talk to—and as the idol Tojo Rira, even more so.

“Seriously, don't tell anyone, okay? Aside from my family, the only ones who know are Runa, Reina-san, and now you, Kamiki-kun.”

“I get it, I get it.”

“If the secret ever leaks, I'll know right away!”

Yeah, I'm sure you would… but I swear I won't tell anyone!

Nakazato laughed brightly, then suddenly hopped up and stood right in front of me, like something had just come to mind.

Her chest bounced with the motion, and for a split second my eyes followed it—but thankfully, she didn't seem to notice.

“Hey.”

“…!”

She only said that one short word.

But somehow, her tone was lower than usual—carrying something dark that made my pulse skip.

At that close distance, she looked up at me, her eyes fixed on mine.

Her long lashes, her red contacts, the faint traces of makeup, her glossy lips… everything about her was dangerously captivating up close.

“Can I… talk to you even more from now on?”

“Uh… is it right to ask what you mean by that?”

“It's simple. I just want to talk with you more than I do now. Is that bad?”

“No, not at all… I mean, there's no reason for me to say no.”

“…Really?”

She's being oddly intense… but I really don't have any reason to refuse.

In fact, getting to talk more with someone as beautiful as Nakazato is something I'd welcome.

And yeah, knowing she's an idol while others don't gives me a tiny bit of pride—though if I start thinking like that, something bad might happen, so I'll stop there.

“If anything, I should be the one saying that. I mean, we were just classmates before, but now that I know more about you, I'd be happy if we could be closer.”

“Really? You mean it?”

“Yeah.”

“Yay♪”

Overjoyed, Nakazato started bouncing up and down in place.

Each time she jumped, her large chest jiggled wildly—so much that it honestly looked like she was showing off.

Not just me, even random passersby started sneaking glances, so I quickly reached out and placed my hand on her shoulder to stop her.

“Ah.”

“……”

Our eyes met as my hand stayed on her shoulder.

Wait, what the hell am I doing!?

(I–I just wanted her to stop jumping!! Why did I make this so awkward!?)

I only meant to stop her, but somehow I ended up making the atmosphere really weird.

“L-look… you'll draw attention if you keep standing out like that, you know?”

“Ah, oh… that's what you meant.”

Phew… looks like she understood, thank god.

Nakazato looked around nervously from behind her sunglasses, then lightly tapped her own head with a cute “bonk.”

“I've always had this bad habit—whenever something makes me happy, I kinda lose sight of everything else around me. I know I should be careful, but it's not easy to fix.”

“I see.”

“Yeah… you know what I mean, right? Like when you're talking with a friend, and you get so caught up in your own story that you accidentally leave everyone else out?”

“That's… yeah, I think I've done that before.”

I'm not sure if that's the same thing, but yeah, the feeling of getting carried away sounds familiar.

“But hearing that kinda stings a little. When I hang out with my buddy Touya, if he starts talking about an anime or manga I've seen, I can go on about it forever…”

“I knew it! I thought that might be a weird example, but the feeling really is similar, right♪”

She giggled, though she also looked a bit sheepish—probably remembering her own moments of talking too much about her hobbies.

“Anyway, sorry Kamiki-kun! I actually have a meeting now.”

“Eh!? You sure you'll make it?”

“I'll be fine! Totally fine! Well then, Kamiki-kun, I'll call you tonight, okay?♪”

“Eh? Ah, okay.”

Waving her hand cheerfully, Nakazato ran off.

She kept looking back at me while running, nearly crashing into a telephone pole, which made her so clumsy it was hard to watch.

I ended up watching her until her figure disappeared from view before I finally started walking again.

“Kamiki-kun.”

“Whoa!?”

I'd completely let my guard down after saying goodbye to Nakazato.

When someone suddenly called my name from behind, I flinched hard and turned around instantly.

“Aizawa-san…”

“Why are you calling me with ‘-san'?”

I'd already recognized her voice, but yeah—it was Aizawa standing there.

She was wearing the same dress as the day she collapsed with a fever. Unlike Nakazato's revealing outfit, it gave off a different kind of charm altogether.

Thinking things like that about a classmate's casual clothes is pretty creepy, but hey, it's just thoughts—no harm done.

“Sorry, you startled me. I wasn't expecting that.”

“Hmm… hey, Kamiki-kun.”

“Yeah?”

“That girl earlier—she was Rira, right?”

“Ah, you saw us?”

“Kind of. I just happened to see you two together.”

I'm surprised she saw us, but it looks like Aizawa already knows that Tojo Rira and Nakazato are the same person.

“You were with Rira, so… she told you her secret, didn't she?”

“Well… yeah.”

“That means… she must really trust you.”

“Yeah, and I'm honestly happy about that.”

“………”

What's with this weird air all of a sudden?

Aizawa kept starting to speak, stopping herself, then trying again. Finally, after playing with a strand of hair by her ear, she asked:

“Could it be… that you and Rira are dating?”

“…Huh?”

“You're not…?”

Her words froze me in place, but I immediately shook my head.

“No way! Definitely not! There's no chance someone like me could ever date someone like her—we live in completely different worlds!”

“But still…”

“I'm telling you, it's not like that!”

Having to deny it so desperately is kind of sad in its own way.

But I didn't want Aizawa to misunderstand—and even more, I didn't want that misunderstanding to somehow reach Nakazato and make her feel weird about it.

“O-okay… I get it.”

Looks like she believed me.

“I might've overreacted just now, so please don't think I'm weird.”

“Sorry about that.”

She doesn't need to apologize, really.

Anyway, since Aizawa happened to be heading home and had nothing else to do, we decided to walk partway together.

I told her a bit about what happened with Nakazato, and she seemed to understand the situation.

“Rira told me about that incident, but I had no idea you were the one who saved her.”

“I just happened to be there at the right time, honestly.”

“Even so, I still want to thank you. You saved her, Kamiki-kun—thank you.”

“…Yeah.”

I've been thanked so much today that it's starting to feel weird.

“But still… heh.”

“What is it?”

“Oh, nothing. It's just—this might sound bad, but it's kind of funny. The reason Rira and I got closer to you was because you saved us when we were about to be attacked. What a coincidence, huh?”

“Ah… yeah, I guess so.”

It's not exactly the kind of coincidence you'd want, but maybe that's the power of the NTR sensor.

Still, I can't forget one important thing—meeting and saving Aizawa and Nakazato wasn't because of my own strength.

It was thanks to the supernatural ability of the NTR sensor.

So even if I do feel a little proud, I have to remember—it wasn't really me.

“Hey, Aizawa.”

“What is it?”

“I did help you both, yeah, but it was honestly just luck. I don't really have any special power, so you don't have to thank me too much.”

Of course, having a pretty girl thank me feels amazing.

But I'd hate for anyone to get the wrong idea and think I'm something special. I just want to use this ability to punish scumbags who try to NTR others.

“…You really are kind and straightforward. You're the kind of person who would move to protect someone precious to you, even if it made you cry.”

“Uh…”

“I kind of understand now. But still, even if it was luck, it doesn't change the fact that you helped us. There's no way I couldn't feel grateful. You get that, right?”

“Well… yeah.”

When she put it like that, I couldn't argue.

We kept chatting nonstop as we walked, and before I realized it, we were already in front of Aizawa's house.

“I ended up walking you all the way home, huh.”

“Yeah… but I'm glad. I really enjoyed talking with you this long.”

“…I see.”

“Mm-hm… hey, Kamiki-kun.”

“Yeah?”

“Can I talk to you more from now on too?”

“That's fine, but… that's the exact same thing Nakazato said.”

“…I see. So she said that too.”

Aizawa murmured softly.

Then—my phone suddenly chimed with a notification. I looked at the screen, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

I tilted my head, confused, then said goodbye to Aizawa and headed home.

Masato Kamiki ♡ ←←←← Runa Aizawa …

　　　　　　←←←←←←← Rira Nakazato …