Can I brag about my very devoted wife to you?

My wife, now my girlfriend?

If I don’t do anything, Riko will fall prey to everyone’s curiosity.

I have to protect her.

By the time I thought that, my body was already moving.

“Riko, come here!”

The moment I took Riko’s hand and started running, my excited classmates broke out in excited cheers. I took Riko and ran through the hallway, up the stairs, and to the roof.

“Minato-kun…”

Breathing on my shoulder, Riko called my name.

“Aah! Sorry!”

I hurriedly let go of her hand, which I had been gripping tightly.

“Riko, here’s what was written on the blackboard…”

I explained the situation to Riko as much as I could understand. As she listened to me, Riko’s face became increasingly pale.

“What should we do? I’m sorry, I’m sorry…! It’s all because I said I wanted to go to the shopping mall with you…”

“It’s not Riko’s fault. I was just surprised that we were photographed.”

“… Actually, you know, this isn’t the first time this has happened.”

Yes, if you ask me, I’ve seen Riko being mentioned in the school newspaper a few times myself. If I think about it, these articles were a violation of this privacy.

I know that when they publish an article about a popular student, the response is huge. But I still think you should get permission from the person to publish such things. The school newspaper isn’t a weekly publication.

“I should have asked them to stop more properly. I’m really sorry for dragging you into this. I’ll tell them to stop doing this… But what should I do about all the commotion that’s going on right now…?”

Riko looked down with a pained look on her face.

I can’t leave Riko looking like this.

I have to do something about it.

But what’s the best way to do that?

Anyway, the only thing we had to avoid at all costs was for people to find out that we were living together and that we were registered as a married couple. I knew that if such an accident were to happen, it would attract more attention than ever. It was obvious that the eyes of curiosity would be on Riko, not me. That’s why I can’t let anyone know about it.

I reread the article I had taken from Sawa’s hand. What was revealed was that we had gone shopping at the mall and that we had returned to my house together.

In the article, it said there was a big chance we were dating.

“… Maybe we should just pretend we’re dating.”

“Eh?”

“I think it will be difficult to cover up our real relationship, so I think that would be better than finding out about our marriage.”

When I saw Riko standing there wide-eyed and astonished, I began to think that I had just suggested something outrageous.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it-”

“I-I think it’s great!!”

“… Are you sure?”

“Yeah! As long as Minato-kun is okay with it, I’m all for it! This way, people won’t think it’s weird if we go shopping together or go home together! And we’ll be able to do all the other things we’ve always wanted to do!”

“Riko, was there something you wanted to do together?”

“…! That was just a spur-of-the-moment comment, so forget it for now…”

“Ok?”

I didn’t get what she meant, but I nodded back to her, who asked me to forget about it.

“Oh, but I don’t think anyone would believe me if I said I had this girlfriend.”

“Why not?”

“Because we’re completely mis-matched.”

“… Uuh… I’m sorry. I’ll try to be a better girl…!”

“What? You? I’m not talking about Riko, I’m talking about the fact that I’m not good enough to be your boyfriend!”

If I said it like this, Riko would have to deny it.

Sure enough, “That’s not true!”, She desperately denied it, while I wanted to crawl into a hole if there was one.

“Let’s go back to the classroom for now. It’s getting close to the start of the school day.”