All the Heroines Who Showed Their Overwhelming Emotions on Me Have Mentally Broken Down and Gone Insane, so Now My Only Choice Is to Pamper Them Endlessly to Avoid Total Chaos — Sweets Work Best on Lovesick Heroines - Chapter 4: Rainy Day Match Pump

Chapter 4: Rainy Day Match Pump

It rained from the morning of the next day.

It was depressing. On rainy days, Tendo tended to get into a weird mood.

After finishing preparations for school, he went down the stairs.

Kokoa was in the kitchen.

She wore a pajama-apron outfit. That look somehow suited her oddly well.

She was cute, but as her brother, he felt complicated emotions.

Instead of going to school, Kokoa handled most of the housework.

She did the cleaning and laundry, and even made his lunch.

That might have been her way of atoning for staying at home.

“Here, your lunch. I made sure to include tamagoyaki too.”

“Thanks.”

He took the lunchbox. It was still warm.

It was grateful that she made it for him every morning, but this was probably part of her dependency too…

By taking care of him, she confirmed her own sense of worth, or something like that.

“Are you going to school today too?”

“…………”

It was no good after all.

He had thought that maybe once she became a third-year, things might change.

At worst, she did not even have to go to middle school.

As long as she advanced to high school, that was all her brother could wish for.

He placed his hand on the head of Kokoa, who hung her face down.

He stroked her hair messily, as if to comfort her.

“My hair will get all messed up.”

“You’ve got bedhead anyway, so it won’t make a difference.”

“Hee hee.”

Kokoa shook her head like a cat and then lifted her face, looking in high spirits.

“What time will you be back today?”

“Probably the usual evening.”

“Make sure to reply to my messages properly.”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll get mad if you leave me on read. I won’t forgive unread ignores either.”

At school, there was Tendo and the senior. At home, there was Kokoa.

Did he even have any free time to himself…?

Well, in Kokoa’s case, it stemmed from loneliness, so the circumstances were different from the other two.

“Have a good day, big brother.”

“I’m off.”

At the entrance, he put on his shoes and picked up his umbrella.

According to the weather forecast, the rain would continue until night.

＊

Amami Tendo stood in front of the school gate, holding an umbrella.

Her face beamed with a smile like she had plastered on a mask.

“Good morning!”

What was this about?

Was she sarcastically mocking him with that smile for ignoring her message yesterday?

It was a little scary.

“Yeah… good morning. What’s up?”

“It’s such nice weather today!”

Raindrops pelted her umbrella.

No matter how he thought about it, it was bad weather, but the common understanding was that “nice weather” referred to sunny days.

Well, it was pointless to lecture Tendo on common sense at this point.

“You’re in a good mood despite the rain.”

“Of course! Because it’s rain, right? It’s raining! It’s a blessing of rain!”

“Don’t repeat it over and over.”

It was one of her bad habits.

She would repeat something that could be said once, over and over and over.

“See, prayers really do work! It was worth making a hundred teruterubozu!”

“You’re such a huge slacker…”

A hundred of them. Who knew how many minutes that took.

But wait.

“Hang on. Teruterubozu are for making it sunny, right?”

“If you hang them upside down, it makes it rain!”

Tendo puffed out her breasts proudly.

“I even drew faces on them with a pen! Perfect teruterubozu!”

In a dimly lit room, a hundred teruterubozu hung upside down.

That image floated in his mind.

…It was mildly horrifying.

“It kind of felt like I was torturing them and it made me feel bad, but hey, since it rained, I’ll call it good!”

“By the way, why were you praying for rain? Did your class have a marathon in PE or something?”

“It’s a se-cret!”

She winked at him. He had nothing but a bad feeling.

–They exchanged such banter at the morning school gate, and then afternoon classes ended that day.

He had completely forgotten about the morning by then and headed straight to the shoe lockers with his bag in hand.

Today, he would hurry home for sure. Before Tendo could catch him.

But his escape failed again today.

He spotted Tendo under the eaves of the entrance hall.

She seemed to have noticed him too.

After flashing a bright smile, though, a shadow somehow fell over her expression.

“…?”

What was that about?

He put on his shoes and took his umbrella from the stand.

As he tried to pass by Tendo, she called out to him.

“Hey, Aotori. I forgot my umbrella…”

“Huh…? It was raining since morning.”

To add to that, he remembered that Tendo had been holding an umbrella when they talked at the school gate that morning.

But his doubts meant nothing.

“I forgot my umbrella…”

Tendo repeated the same line. Like an NPC in a game.

Ah. He got it…

He vaguely understood her intention.

And even after understanding, he deliberately changed the subject.

“So, basically, you want me to lend you my umbrella?”

“That’s totally not it!”

She pressed in close and grabbed his arm.

“I want to share an umbrella and go home together!”

So it was that after all.

She had prayed for rain all for this reason.

She had probably hidden her umbrella somewhere.

…He could not keep up with her bizarre antics.

“Who cares. I’m going home alone.”

He shook off Tendo’s hand.

He started walking without a second thought.

“Eh!? Wait, hold on…!”

Tendo tried to chase after him and slipped on the wet ground as she dashed out from the entrance hall.

Then she fell forward spectacularly.

It was her own fault, so he should have just left her and gone home.

But that sight overlapped with Tendo from some time ago…

“Sigh…”

He turned on his heel.

He crouched in front of Tendo and pulled her under his umbrella.

“Can you stand?”

“Ahhh… Ahhh…!”

Tendo looked up at him from where she lay sprawled.

With a voice full of ecstasy and a smile of delirious joy.

“You really are my prince, Aotori…!”

Even though it was a match pump, how could she say that with such full confidence…?

As he stared in disbelief, Tendo suddenly clung to him.

“Hey.”

“Aotori… Aotori…!”

He felt a jolt for a moment, but he quickly came to his senses and pushed Tendo’s body away.

But she refused to let go.

Students leaving the entrance hall watched them from afar.

“Whoa…”

“Even in our second year, they’re still at it…”

He overheard their whispers.

The stares hurt. If this kept up, weird rumors would spread again.

This time, he used more force to pry her off.

“Don’t cling to me in front of people.”

“So it’s okay if no one’s watching?”

“That’s not the issue.”

“Then what is the issue?”

“Just let go already.”

When she still would not let go no matter what, he twisted his body and forcibly created some distance.

In the end, he could not just abandon Tendo, so they ended up heading to the station together in a half-hearted way.

He had no intention of sharing an umbrella, but since she insisted she had none, he had no other choice.

They walked side by side along the road dominated by the sound of rain.

Car tires splashed through puddles, and the lights smoked in the rain. The peculiar, lonely atmosphere of a rainy day made him feel somewhat melancholic.

In the midst of that, Tendo opened her mouth as if mumbling.

“Hey, Aotori.”

“Yeah.”

“How can I make you like me?”

“It’s not like I hate you or anything.”

“That’s not it.”

Tendo stopped walking.

Since they shared an umbrella, he had no choice but to stop too.

“I want you to like me. The people I like always end up leaving right away for some reason.”

“Probably.”

A guy might get tempted by something like “a momentary lapse” or “just for fun,” but with Tendo as the partner, what came after was way too scary.

Unless he had the resolve to stay with her till the end, he could not handle being Tendo’s boyfriend.

“But you complain about it, yet you still pay attention to me, right, Aotori? You’re the first person like that. That’s why.”

Tendo opened her mouth and closed it, searching for words.

After repeating that frustrating motion, she said firmly.

“I’ll definitely work hard so you’ll like me!”

“I’ve told you over and over that we’re not dating.”

“Even so, I’ll work hard!”

“Sigh…”

How could he escape Tendo’s obsession…?

It was simple. If he thoroughly rejected her like the others had, Tendo would probably leave eventually too.

But he did not have the fortitude to do that.

Otherwise, he would not be walking shoulder to shoulder with her right now.

He lacked the courage to reject her, and yet he had no other answer either.

What a pathetic personality he had.

“By the way, how were you planning to get home from the station?”

He decided to change the subject.

“Huh?”

“You’re supposed to have forgotten your umbrella, right?”

Their nearest stations were different, and he only had one umbrella.

He did not have the noble mindset to let a girl get wet while he stayed dry and went home.

If Tendo had really forgotten her umbrella, that future might have been possible, but she had almost certainly hidden it at school, and he had zero interest in getting soaked for the sake of Tendo’s self-inflicted blunder.

Tendo blinked in confusion for a moment, then smiled brightly.

“It’s fine! My house isn’t that far from the station! I can just run home, no problem!”

“Hmm.”

She could have at least hidden a folding umbrella in her bag…

He could not tell if she was calculating or just winging it–a hard-to-judge woman.

But–of course, such a foolish stunt would not end without consequences.

The next day, Tendo came down with a high fever of 39 degrees.

As a result, he ended up going to visit her at her family home.

—

Translator’s Note:
“Teruterubozu” is a traditional Japanese handmade doll, typically crafted from simple materials like white tissue paper, cloth, or cotton, and hung from windows or balconies to ward off rain and pray for good, sunny weather. The doll’s name roughly translates to “shine shine monk” or “shiny shiny baldhead,” reflecting its bald, monk-like appearance and the hope that it will make the sun shine brightly. Children often make them during rainy seasons, sometimes drawing simple faces with markers, and they can be “bribed” with offerings like a golden bell or sake in folklore to ensure clear skies. Interestingly, hanging them upside down is a playful reversal believed to summon rain instead. The custom dates back to at least the Edo period and remains a whimsical part of Japanese culture today.