I Confessed My Sexual Preferences to My Online Game Best Friend, and the Person Who Showed Up at the Offline Meetup Was the Cute Girl from My Class - 14

Chapter 14: Blackmailed, Once Again

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Monday, after school. I was heading for the school gate as if I was running away from something. Ever since morning, I’d been subjected to Ichinose-san’s indescribably sharp yet unintentional gaze, and during lunch break, Shinonome-san had even sent me a teasing LINE message under the desk.

『Kazu, don’t let Saki catch you (lol).』

If I stayed at school like this, no matter how many hearts I had, it wouldn’t be enough.

“Kazuma! Wait up! You’re going to the used bookstore, right?!”

I could hear Kaito’s voice behind me, but sorry. Right now, I was ignoring him. I’d been thinking maybe we could talk leisurely, but all of a sudden I got scared.

Sorry, my best friend. Today, you can go chase after visions of Rin Shinonome or something on your own. Right now, I just want to get back to the peaceful life of being “Kazuma Sato,” a background mob character, as soon as possible.

Just as I tried to take the narrow path behind the gym as a shortcut…

“—So, I’m sorry. …I’m really happy you feel that way, but…”

A voice I recognized instantly, like the sound of small bells rolling. I reflexively stopped and hid myself in the shadow of the wall.

…Ichinose-san?

Just around the corner stood Ichinose Saki, one of the top two beauties not just in our class, but the entire school. And standing in front of her was a boy in some club uniform, the very picture of a “refreshingly handsome guy.”

“…So it’s still no good? I can’t become someone special to you, Ichinose-san?”

“Hmm… It’s not that it’s not good. I just don’t really understand… Things like ‘special’ or ‘liking someone.’ …I’m sorry.”

Ichinose-san smiled with her eyebrows lowered apologetically. It wasn’t the “innocent angel” smile she showed at school, but a hollow, and yet cruelly pure rejection.

…I’d seen something I wasn’t supposed to see. I held my breath and tried to back away silently. But in moments like this, fate never seemed to be on my side.

Crunch.

The small sound of stepping on a dry branch echoed through the quiet space.

“—Who’s there?”

The boy snapped his gaze sharply in my direction.

…It’s over.

Resigned, I stepped out of the shadows.

“…Ah, uh… sorry. I was just passing through. …Excuse me.”

As I scratched my head awkwardly, the boy who had been confessing ran off with a bitter expression. Left behind were just me and Ichinose Saki.

Run. Run right now..

Was what I thought, but—

“…Oh. Kazucchi-kun.”

The moment she saw my face, Ichinose-san’s expression brightened. The “cold angel” from earlier was gone, replaced by the usual innocent Ichinose Saki.

“…Ichinose-san. …Uh, that was rough. …I didn’t see anything, and I won’t tell anyone.”

“Hehe, thanks. …But it’s fine if you do tell, you know? Saki’s used to this kind of thing.”

She toddled over toward me and tilted her head, peering up into my face.

“Hey, Kazucchi-kun. …Can I ask you one thing?”

“…What is it?”

“What does ‘liking someone’ feel like?”

The question was so direct that I was left speechless.

“…I mean… Don’t ask me that. You’ve got the wrong person.”

“No. I want to ask you, Kazucchi-kun. …The guy just now, and everyone who’s confessed to me before, they all say they like my ‘face’ or how ‘bright’ I am. …But I keep thinking, wouldn’t that mean they’d be fine with anyone, not just Saki?”

Ichinose-san leaned her back against the fence and looked up at the sky.

“Rin-rin is kind to everyone, but she’s actually really particular and has her own world. …But you, Kazucchi-kun, it feels like you understand what Rin-rin is really like on the inside. …So I thought maybe you could teach me what ‘real liking’ is.”

My heart skipped. She didn’t know that Shinonome-san and I were partners who had spent three years grinding our souls together in an online game. And yet, her intuition had precisely pierced that there was “something special” between Shinonome-san and me.

Seriously, why wis this girl so sharp?

“…I don’t know that much either. …But, you know…”

I remembered the time Shinonome-san had come to my house the other day.

“…When you can forgive the other person’s ‘bad points’ instead of just liking their ‘good points’… or when, even after seeing their uncool side, you still think, ‘Yeah, it has to be them.’ …Maybe that’s what real ‘liking’ is…”

It was close to how I felt about Haru. She had a foul mouth, she was selfish, and she blackmailed me with my cringe past. Basically, she was the worst kind of partner. But more than anyone else, the time I spent talking with her, gaming with her, was the most fun. When I answered like that, Ichinose-san stared at me with wide eyes. Then she broke into a soft smile, like sunlight on a spring afternoon.

“………Hehe. …Ahahaha! Just like I thought, Kazucchi-kun, you’re interesting!”

“…What is?”

“Kazucchi-kun, you’re the best! Saki’s decided. …I’m curious what you and Rin-rin are up to, but… …I want to get to know you better too, Kazucchi-kun!”

She lightly patted my arm and smiled sweetly, almost too sweetly.

“Will you become Saki’s ‘special’ friend too, just between us? …As my love-advice consultant!”

“…Sorry, but no thanks. A background mob like me getting involved with someone as noticeable as you never ends well.”

As I said that and tried to leave.. Ichinose-san suddenly stepped in front of me and placed her index finger against her lips.

“Ehh, you’re turning me down? …Hey, Kazucchi-kun. If Saki told everyone, ‘Sato-kun was staring at me with perverted eyes behind the school building,’ who do you think everyone would believe?”

“…!!”

My heart thudded with an awful sound. Ichinose Saki, the angel of the school. If she said something like that with teary eyes, my school life would be over in five seconds. I could already see the future where even Kaito said, “Kazuma, I’m disappointed in you.”

…And besides. If I really thought about it… I had repeatedly made comments over online voice chat about the chest of the very girl standing in front of me now, saying things like “I’m worried her buttons might pop off.” Those weren’t anything but perverted comments.

…I’m not looking right now, but… it’s not a lie… either…

The “cringe history archive” in my head acknowledged Ichinose-san’s words as “fact.” I was furious at myself for being convinced.

“…Now you’re playing dirty.”

“Nihihi. …So you’ll listen to Saki’s worries?”

Ichinose-san returned to her full, innocent smile as if nothing had happened. Behind that childlike grin, I could see certainty. She knew I would give in.

“…Fine. I’ll do it. But you absolutely cannot tell Shinonome-san.”

“Yay! It’s a deal! …Ehehe, a secret just between Kazucchi-kun and Saki, that Rin-rin can’t know!”

Laughing happily, Ichinose-san flashed a peace sign toward my phone’s camera.

“See you tomorrow, Kazucchi-kun!”

She ran off with light steps. I stood there for a while, regretting the outrageous contract I’d just entered into.

On the way home… My phone vibrated in my pocket.

【Rin: Kazu, make sure you come on time tonight, okay? …Bad boys get stuck with really tough missions in today’s update (lol)】

“…………”

Caught between the “partner” waiting for me at tonight’s login and the newly added “unintentional walking bomb,” I looked up at the sky and let out a huge sigh. A secret with Ichinose-san that I could never tell Shinonome-san (Haru). It seemed my everyday life was starting to get complicated in a seriously dangerous direction.

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