Arc 2 – Episode 6: [Behind the Scenes] “Inside the NTR Drama?”

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[Side: Ami]

I’m Ami Yoshida, and I like Kuzuha Kyoichi-kun.

At first, he was just a classmate. Sure, I thought he was handsome, but there were all these bad rumors about him and his relationships with girls, and true to the rumors, he always seemed to be hanging out with girls. So, I had no reason to approach him.

Plus, I was more interested in getting close to Kakyoin-san Kakyoin, the princess-like girl in our class. I wasn’t really paying attention to Kuzuha-kun.

That changed during the sports festival.

It was just my bad luck that I twisted my ankle while I was alone. As I was trying to make my way to the infirmary, I ran into Kuzuha-kun.

“What happened? Did you sprain your ankle?”

“What if I did?”

I answered coldly, wary of him because of the rumors.

“If you keep walking on it, it’ll get worse. Let me take you to the infirmary.”

Without giving me time to refuse or resist, Kuzuha-kun took me to the infirmary.

He carried me in a princess carry!

It was my first time being held like that, and Kuzuha-kun’s handsome face was so close that my face got really hot.

When we arrived at the infirmary, the nurse wasn’t there—maybe she had something else to do—and there were no other students around.

It was just the two of us in the room with the beds!

I’d heard rumors that Kuzuha-kun had been with a lot of girls, and I wondered if he was going to make a move on me too.

I thought, ‘Is this going to be my first time? I can’t escape, so I hope he’s gentle…’ but—

“Looks like the nurse isn’t here. I’ll treat your injury myself.”

“Uh… okay.”

In the end, he just treated my sprained ankle.

Honestly, it was a bit anticlimactic.

But maybe because I had been expecting something, Kuzuha-kun’s serious expression as he treated me left a strong impression.

After that, I found myself watching Kuzuha-kun every day, but I still wasn’t sure how I felt.

I finally realized it one day after school, when another boy confessed to me.

Kuzuha-kun’s face came to mind, and I knew I liked him.

Still, I ended up accepting the other boy’s confession after thinking it over.

The truth was, I only liked Kuzuha-kun, but he seemed to have a lot of experience, and I was worried he might find a beginner like me annoying. So, I decided to use this boy as practice.

When I accepted his confession, I told him, “I actually like someone else, so if I ever decide to break up with you, please don’t hold it against me.” He agreed.

He was all enthusiastic, saying, “I’ll make you fall for me by then!” but honestly, I thought, ‘If you can, go ahead and try.’

We dated for a while, but during a date over summer break, when we were about to kiss, I saw his face up close and compared it to my memory of Kuzuha-kun’s face. I thought, ‘Nope, this isn’t it,’ and refused the kiss. I broke up with him on the spot.

After that, I lost interest in using other guys for practice, and I decided to give myself a makeover.

First, I dyed my hair silver and got a tan. I changed my makeup and dressed in a flashier style to make it obvious I’d changed.

I also started working part-time in customer service to build up my confidence and get used to talking casually with different people.

Then came the first day of the second semester.

I managed to approach Kuzuha-kun and join his group of friends, even starting to call him by his first name, Kyoichi-kun.

To my surprise, though, Kyoichi-kun didn’t seem particularly close with the three girls he always hung out with. They were just friends.

That was unexpected, but it also meant I had a good chance if I kept pushing. If we ended up dating, I wouldn’t have to worry about him cheating, since he seemed to be serious once committed.

For now, I have two rivals.

The first is Yorifuji-san, who has been close to Kyoichi-kun since the first semester.

They seemed like just friends back then, but something must have happened over the summer break, because now it’s obvious she’s into him.

The second is Aria Kakyoin, the school’s princess.

Looking back, Kakyoin-san had been talking to Kyoichi-kun quite often even before the summer break, and now she calls him by his first name.

At the time, I was annoyed that I couldn’t spend as much time with Kakyoin-san, but thinking about how she must have been interested in Kyoichi-kun even then, it feels like I’m already behind.

I guess I just have to accept it as the handicap of falling for him later.

The one advantage I have is that, due to her status, Kakyoin-san can’t openly get too close to Kyoichi-kun because of his reputation.

That means I’ll have more chances after school… or at least, I thought so, until she snatched him up as a student council member.

Isn’t that a bit too blatant? Are they secretly dating or something? I hope not.

It would be awful if I’d already lost before I could even really try.

But even if they are secretly dating, if they can’t be open about it, I can take advantage of that and steal him away.

No matter how influential Kakyoin-san is as the granddaughter of the school chairman, I doubt she’d get us expelled just over a grudge in love.

For now, I’ll focus on closing the distance between us as friends!

…Or at least, that was my plan until—

“Kuzuha Kyoichi! Give me back Ami!”

During lunch, while I was chatting with Kyoichi-kun and his friends, my ex-boyfriend from summer break showed up and started picking a fight with Kyoichi-kun.

His name was… Tanaka Kenta, I think?

“Give Yoshida-san back to you…? What are you talking about?”

Kyoichi-kun looked confused… Sorry about this.

“Don’t play dumb! She suddenly broke up with me over summer break, and now she’s all buddy-buddy with you! You must’ve seduced her behind my back and made her dump me, then gave her that flashy makeover!”

Is that how he saw it?

But Tanaka…

I told you before we started dating that I liked someone else and that you couldn’t complain if I dumped you. And even when we were dating, I never let you call me by my first name, remember?

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Yoshida-san, is this true?”

Kyoichi-kun turned to me, clearly seeing me as a source of trouble.

Tanaka, you jerk! Why are you messing up my chances at love?!

“Hmph! I only dated you to try it out! I dumped you because it wasn’t working. I told you from the start I liked someone else. And could you stop calling me by my first name?”

Maybe I was worried about Kyoichi-kun getting the wrong idea, but I ended up being harsher than I intended.

Tanaka’s face went pale.

“No… You weren’t like this before, Ami… This is all Kuzuha’s fault! You’ll pay for this!”

He spat those words out and ran off.

I turned back to Kyoichi-kun, trying to smooth things over.

“Sorry for the trouble, everyone. I really did just date him to try it out, and we agreed he wouldn’t complain if I broke up with him. I didn’t expect him to make a scene like this.”

I tried to explain, but everyone still looked at me a bit coldly.

“…I see. Well, if that’s how it is, I guess it can’t be helped. Just try not to rub salt in his wounds too much, okay?”

“Yeah, I know I went a bit too far.”

Kyoichi-kun didn’t press further, and the topic of Tanaka was dropped.

I’m glad he didn’t dwell on it, but… isn’t he curious about who I like?

Does he not care, or does he already know and just not want to bring it up? Which is it?

Either way, it seems like Kyoichi-kun’s opinion of me isn’t great, which is frustrating.

But I’m going to turn things around from here!

That afternoon after school.

Kyoichi-kun went to the student council, and I didn’t feel like hanging out with Ito and the others, so I decided to head home alone.

Is this how it’s going to be from now on? Will Kyoichi-kun always be busy with the student council?

Maybe I should join a random club myself to kill time while I wait for him…

As I was walking down the hallway, Tanaka showed up again.

“Ami, please, just hear me out!”

I was planning to ignore him, but I remembered what Kyoichi-kun said, so I reluctantly decided to deal with him.

“Hey, could you stop calling me by my first name?”

“But we used to date!”

“We’re not dating anymore, and I never let you call me by my first name even when we were together, right?”

“Yeah, I know, and I’ve thought about it. I realized I should’ve been more assertive back then.”

“What…?”

What is he even talking about?

“So, Ami! Forget about that guy and get back with me!”

Tanaka grabbed my shoulders and tried to kiss me.

“Let go…!”

Ugh, I can’t break free!

Am I seriously about to lose my first kiss to this guy?

No way! Kyoichi-kun, help!

“That’s enough.”

Suddenly, Tanaka’s head moved away from me.

I looked closely and saw that Kyoichi-kun had grabbed the back of Tanaka’s uniform collar and pulled him away.

No way, did he hear my thoughts?

“Gah, my neck…! Let go!”

“Honestly, I was just watching as I walked by, but then you had to go and do this.”

Kyoichi-kun let go, and Tanaka caught his breath as he turned to face him.

“Kuzuha…! Stay out of this!”

“I can’t do that. What you were doing just now was assault. I can’t overlook that.”

“If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have been dumped in the first place, and I wouldn’t have had to be forceful!”

“Is that so? Well then, let’s have a little talk somewhere else.”

Kyoichi-kun grabbed Tanaka by the arm and dragged him away.

As he passed me, he glanced my way and waved his hand as if to say, ‘Go home.’

He saved me again…!

How can I not fall for him after this?

But I still have a lot of rivals, and Kakyoin-san is a tough one.

How can I win…?

“Um…”

“Hm?”

I turned at the voice and saw Yorifuji-san, one of Kyoichi-kun’s friends and a fellow student council member.

“You’re Yoshida-san, right? Um… do you… like Kuzuha-kun?”

Oh no, she knows!

Was it that obvious?

Then, Yorifuji-san’s next words shook me even more.

“If you want… I could help you.”