After I Confessed to My Childhood Friend and Got Rejected, I Threw a Game Offline Meetup to Cheer Myself Up, Only to Find Out My Long-Time Gaming Buddy Was Actually the Quiet, Silver-Haired Swedish Beauty Who's the Cutest Girl in School - Chapter 18: Redoing the Confession

Chapter 18: Redoing the Confession

Tojo Chika stood there.

What welled up in Amamiya Takaaki’s chest was not joy, but a disgust so strong it made him feel nauseous.

He involuntarily turned his face away and hurriedly pulled away from Karina’s lap pillow.

“Why… is Karina-san in Takaaki’s room? What were you doing?”

Tojo’s voice trembled.

Amamiya could not answer her.

He had become friends with Karina through the game, and they were training at home to pass the entrance exam for the Game Research Club.

He just needed to explain that much, but the words would not come out.

The malice directed at him from Tojo in the past flashed through his mind, and Amamiya could not even look at her face, let alone reply.

“Don’t stay silent—answer me! Don’t ignore my question just because you’re Takaaki…!”

“Tojo-san, let me explain instead, so calm down a bit. Takaaki-kun is scared too, you know.”

Nagase Karina, unable to just stand by, stepped in between the two of them.

Her tone was calm, but the gaze she directed at Tojo was freezing cold.

“Scared? What do you mean Takaaki is scared of? Anyway, this is a problem between me and him, so don’t get in the way?”

“Takaaki-kun is scared because of you, obviously. After being rejected in such a horrible way, anyone would feel bad about it. Did you really think you could just chat like always?”

“…!”

Tojo’s face twisted at Karina’s sharp words.

Amamiya did not answer, and Karina shielded him.

It felt just like she was being treated as the villain, and Tojo could not hide her irritation.

“I forgot to ask last time, but oh well. Karina-san, where did you hear that I dumped Takaaki? Don’t tell me that idiot Takaaki told you?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“So you felt sorry for him after he got hurt and approached him for that reason. Takaaki has a bad personality too, taking advantage of someone’s kindness to even get a lap pillow… how vulgar.”

Tojo smirked and looked down at Amamiya, who was shrinking behind Karina’s back.

“Because no matter how hard you try, you can never date the school’s number one beauty, you know. Haha, what an idiot… both Takaaki and Karina-san.”

“I’m not feeling sorry for him or anything?”

Karina deliberately raised both hands and shook her head as if exasperated.

If she felt sorry for every guy who confessed to her and got rejected, she would have to give lap pillows to all the boys she had turned down so far.

“What did you say…?”

“It’s embarrassing to say it here, and I didn’t want to be seen as an insensitive woman, so I kept quiet, but… it means I’m glad Takaaki-kun wasn’t taken by another girl.”

Tojo did not miss it.

The impregnable, curt-response beauty Karina had glanced at Amamiya, who clearly did not match her, and said it with her face flushing red, almost in a mutter.

Because she was the same gender, Tojo understood exactly what that meant.

“…explain it to me.”

Amamiya’s room was small, so the three of them moved to the living room on the first floor.

Anna sat on the sofa with a clouded expression. The moment she saw Tojo, Anna grimaced.

At that blatant rejection, Tojo felt apologetic, but right now, talking to Amamiya and Karina took priority.

Amamiya still could not make eye contact with Tojo, and he stayed silent with his head down the whole time coming down the stairs.

That attitude irritated Tojo, but she somehow held it back.

“…that’s the reason I came to the house. It’s not like I felt sorry for Takaaki-kun, or that w-we’re dating or anything. We’re precious partners, but n-not lovers or anything like that.”

Ignoring the awkward atmosphere in the Amamiya household and toward Tojo, Karina finished her explanation.

Setting aside the fact that her voice had been trembling, Tojo let out a sigh.

“I see. So you’ve been game friends since the old days, but when you met in real life, you turned out to be classmates… what a movie-like story.”

Doubt still lingered in Tojo’s eyes.

It was no wonder; to a third party who had not experienced it, it was hard to believe right away.

“But if that’s not it, I can’t accept the reason why Takaaki and Karina-san got close. I don’t completely believe it, but for now, I’ll accept it…”

With an unsatisfied expression, Tojo put her hand to her chin and thought.

Even Tojo had noticed that Karina, who was usually too straightforward, could not be straightforward in front of Amamiya.

(So what if they’ve known each other since middle school? Chika and Takaaki have been together since elementary school… I can’t believe he’s so absorbed in this other woman…)

Tojo pretended to be calm.

She was not a fool who would lose her mind just because her blood rushed to her head.

Karina let out a breath of relief, and Amamiya, who had been looking down, finally raised his face.

But Tojo did not want to end it like this, so she devised a reversal move in her head.

And the next move she came up with was—

“Takaaki, to be honest… the reason I said such horrible things to you was”

Tojo stood up and moved to sit next to Amamiya.

She used a gentle voice so as not to startle him, and sat in a way that their bodies did not touch.

Amamiya’s body jolted for a moment, but the fact that he did not run away meant he would listen.

Tojo did not miss that chance and continued her words.

“It was to change you. I said it pretty harshly, but that was for your sake too, Takaaki.”

Tojo whispered in a tone like soothing a child and tried to touch Amamiya’s hand.

But apparently, even that was unforgivable, and Amamiya pulled his hand away.

“…yeah, maybe that’s right. But… I don’t care about me. What I can’t forgive is that you broke your promise with Anna and still came into the house with a straight face.”

At those words, everyone’s gazes gathered on Anna.

Tears were quietly spilling from the eyes of Anna, who had been holding a pillow and staying silent.

She had not known.

That Amamiya had confessed to Tojo, and that he had been rejected in such a horrible way.

Anna did not know how much pain a heartbreak could bring.

But she had heard many stories of people who ended their lives because of a breakup.

Her brother might have suffered the same way.

That thought squeezed Anna’s heart even tighter.

“I’m sorry… Anna. But please understand. To me, Takaaki and Anna are like family—precious existences. I’m really sorry for breaking the promise.”

“T-that doesn’t matter…”

She was probably apologizing for the promise to make curry together.

But to Anna, such a promise did not matter at all.

What hurt her far more was that Tojo had hurt her brother and stopped coming to see her.

“From now on, I’ll teach you cooking every day, Anna. I’ll teach you all the secret family recipes passed down in my house too, so… would that be okay?”

“…okay.”

Anna wiped her tears and nodded.

She did not want to blame Tojo any more than this.

Tojo, relieved that Anna had forgiven her, moved her body closer to Amamiya, who still had an unhappy expression, and gripped his hand tightly.

Then she leaned her face in,

“Would it be okay to redo that confession from that day…?”

She pulled her face back and murmured it with a flushed expression.

She had pressed her lips to Amamiya’s and kissed him.

Amamiya stared at Tojo with his eyes wide open.

His first kiss had been taken by the childhood friend he had always had a crush on.

“…”

It was not just Amamiya.

Karina, who had been watching the two of them up close, also froze and could not move, stunned.

She was clearly shocked.

“Takaaki, I like you too. I’ve liked you since elementary school, when you helped me when I was being bullied. From now on, let me stay in the house not as your childhood friend, but as your lover. Let me stay by your side.”

Tojo had no intention of letting Amamiya get away.

Precisely because she had let him slip away, she reflected on her own roundabout personality.

If she wanted to change Amamiya, instead of pushing him away, she should stay close and do it.

That was the conclusion she had reached.

“Chika…”

When her name was called, Tojo floated a smile filled with a happiness unlike any before.

She was already in the mood of a lover.

“Hey, Takaaki. With this, we’re officially a couple now, right? So…”

She gave a cold glance at Karina, who was pressing her mouth to hold back tears, and Tojo said,

“Don’t invite her into the house anymore.”