After Distancing Myself From the Childhood Friend Couple Who Looked Down on Me, I Started Interacting With a Small Animal-Like Beautiful Girl - Chapter 44

After school, I left with Ino-san and tried to walk her to the station like always.

“…I want to stay with you a little longer.”

She tilted her head slightly as she said it, and there was no way I could turn her down.

So we decided to stop somewhere, and ended up at a fast-food place.

Luckily, a two-person booth had just opened up, and we sat down there with our burger sets. Ino-san had ordered herself a second burger.

Now that it was clear we both had feelings for each other, I couldn’t help but feel embarrassed, and it seemed to be the same for Ino-san, as we spent a while just eating what we had ordered.

There have been a few awkward moments before, but I can’t imagine a day coming when I get used to this awkwardness.

“What do couples even do once they start dating?”

A small jump of the shoulders at Ino-san’s sudden murmur, or perhaps a question, as she took her mouth off the juice straw.

“Go on dates, I guess?”

The fact that she looked at me and said it suggests that it really was a question directed at me.

“Yeah. We could go somewhere together, or visit each other’s houses… oh!”

“We already did that.”

“…Yeah.”

Sure, at first it had just been about spending time with Maru, but the fact remained that Ino-san and I had been alone together in my house.

Add to that our lunches together and how often I walked her to the station, we’d already been doing things couples do in a way.

“It feels kind of late to say it now, but… it makes me happy that being together has become normal for us.”

She laced her fingers around her drink cup as she said that.

I nodded as warmth filled my chest because I felt the same way.

“From now on, I hope we can make being together feel even more natural.”

“…Ugh, that’s a little unfair.”

“U-unfair? Wait, did I say something weird?”

“Just kidding. I’m only flustered on my own… But I like that about you, too, so don’t worry about it.”

Ino-san smiled softly and opened the wrapper of the second hamburger.

I panicked, wondering if there was something strange about what I said, but whatever awkwardness I’d been worrying about vanished the second I heard her say she “liked me”.

“By the way, is this what they call an after-school date?”

She looked up at me while asking casually. And just as that thought sank in, my phone buzzed in my pocket.

It was a message notification from Daiki. 

The guy I’d completely forgotten to block again.

What the hell did he want from me?

Without even bothering to check, I blocked his account again without hesitation. The only reason I’d unblocked him was for Shirou’s sake. That is over now.

I set my phone facedown on the table and turned my full attention back to Ino-san.

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

After seeing Ino-san off, I was heading home at almost the exact same time as yesterday.

Even after leaving the fast-food place, I couldn’t turn down her request to “stay a little longer.” So we ended up sitting together in the station waiting area, watching cat videos on her phone.

A part of me worried her parents might be concerned. Two nights in a row, their daughter was coming home late. But even so, I didn’t want to give up any extra time with her, not now that we were finally dating.

On my way home, I thought back to our unplanned after-school date and typed out a report for Kouki and Shirou. I sent it to the group chat we’d made not long ago, and almost instantly, the read receipts popped up. A flood of congratulatory stickers followed.

I couldn’t help but smile at the lively screen.

“–––You’re late.”

His sharp and irritated voice froze me in place.

It was right in front of Daiki’s house.

He stood there glaring at me, his expression twisted like a demon’s mask.

In the darkness, his eyes seemed to glow faintly red.

“I sent you a message. I said I wanted to talk. But you blocked me again? Some friend you are. We’re childhood friends, and you just cut me off like that. You really do whatever the hell you want, don’t you, Yukito?”

“I blocked you because I don’t think there’s anything left to say. And you didn’t complain the last time I blocked you. Why did you start caring now?”

“Tch, haa. You’ve gotten really full of yourself… You, of all people.”

Daiki’s brow twitched as he forced a smile. But it was obvious.

He was furious.

“You’ve been acting way too high and mighty lately. You’re getting close with Saitou Ino, making new friends, and everyone is fussing over you just because you did a couple of little things.”

I hadn’t done anything I’d consider praiseworthy.

But when my confusion showed, Daiki’s smile warped even further.

“That’s exactly it. That’s you, always. You’re acting like you haven’t done anything, and somehow people still praise you. That smug face of yours, pretending you don’t know why. You really piss me off.”

“What are you even…”

“It’s always been like that! Yesterday too! At karaoke, just because you happened to help Serika when she felt sick, everyone started saying how amazing you were. Just because you’re kind. Just because you’re some softhearted pushover! That’s all it takes for them to sing your praises!!!”

He cut me off, spitting his fury like fire.

His shoulders heaved with each breath as his sharp, burning gaze pinned me in place.

“You’ve never changed since middle school. That pathetic, weak look on your face. You couldn’t even talk to people properly without me or Serika around. You were never like me. We’ve always been completely different. Always. That’s how it’s supposed to be… It has to be that way.”

Now his voice came out more like a delirious murmur. His hand shot out and grabbed my shirt.

When I looked into his eyes, they were pitch black, like they were hiding a bottomless darkness. A shiver ran up my spine.

“…Because of you, I’ve been suffering all this time. The way everyone in class looks at me, the way Yuika left me so easily. It’s all your fault–––!”

“I had nothing to do with that. I didn’t do anything.”

“You did have something to do with it! You being praised in the first place was wrong! That’s why I spoke up, and now everyone looks at me like I’m the bad guy. They whisper behind my back, spread rumors, and even in other classes now… Argh!”

His words were a mess, but when I pieced them together, it became clear.

Yesterday, during the karaoke after-party, for some reason, my helping Serika when she wasn’t feeling well became the topic of conversation. People there praised me for it. Daiki couldn’t stand it and must have snapped.

As a result, everyone realized the face he’d been showing them wasn’t real, and the disappointment spread. He lost not only his friends, but even his girlfriend.

It wasn’t my fault. It was his own pride that dragged him down.

I can still see it vividly. The broken look on Shirou after his girlfriend’s betrayal, and Serika, was shattered in body and spirit.

Who’s really the selfish one here?

“…You brought this on yourself. You don’t have the right to complain.”

“What!? What did I even do wrong!! All I did was work hard, do what I had to do to stay on top! And you just stand there, and somehow people adore you. You ruin everything just by existing–––!”

“If you hated me that much, you should’ve just said so.”

The voice that came out of me was so cold, it didn’t even feel like mine.

Daiki’s eyes widened. His grip on my shirt loosened.

“You suddenly started treating me differently, mocking me, and it was hell. I was scared of being alone, so I stayed by your side. I know that’s partly my fault. But more than that, I thought you were my friend. I kept hoping things would go back to the way they were.”

His eyes wavered and were shaken to the core.

I put my hands on his shoulders and pushed him away.

“–––I should’ve done this a long time ago.”

Daiki gasped, but I turned my back on him and started walking.

“W–Wait, wait, Yukito. Hey, come on…!”

His voice grew more distant with each step. Maybe because I was walking faster now.

If he hated me, he should’ve said so.

And even as I told him that, there were so many things I couldn’t bring myself to tell him either. Words we both left unsaid.

Maybe our bond as childhood friends had ended long ago.

By the time I got home, I never once looked back. And no footsteps ever followed me.