I Got Cheated On, so I Thought I’d Cheat Back and Went to a Group Date, I Ran Into a Classmate Who Used to Boss Me Around and Now We’re Living Together - Chapter 17

“―See? I told you, dating a girl who looks like she just goes around playing wouldn’t end well.”

After class that day, I went to a family restaurant near the university and sat across from a girl.

She was my friend from high school, Tokitou Umi, and it turned out we ended up at the same university.

She was an incredibly beautiful girl with long black hair.

Back in high school, she had won the school’s beauty contest three years in a row and was constantly getting confessions. She was really popular. But she had a dream. “I want to be happy with someone I fall for,” she said. So in high school, she never accepted any confessions and didn’t date anyone. Apparently, that was still true.

Anyway, right now, she was giving me a lecture…

“If that girl hadn’t messed up on her own, your reputation would’ve gone downhill fast. Even if I’d tried to quietly fix things from the counter, there’s only so much I could do.”

“Yeah… looking back, it’s kind of embarrassing that I picked Rinne.”

I got carried away when I became a university student.

Back in high school, I’d just been trying to fit in with the popular crowd. I never had time to think about having a girlfriend.

But as time went on, I had a little more confidence, and in university, I tried talking to Rinne, who was in the same department and seminar as me. But it turned out she was a real player. I guess it was my fault too. I didn’t have a good eye for people if my first girlfriend was such a disaster.

“Well, it’s not so much that you have bad judgment. I think you just drew the short straw.”

She tried to soften the blow.

“You can’t really tell if a girl will cause serious trouble just from her looks or behavior. Even criminals’ coworkers say, ‘I never thought she’d do that!’ in interviews, right? You just can’t read people that easily.”

“Yeah… that’s true.”

“But the price for not seeing it. That injury is pretty severe.”

Her beautiful eyes were resting on my left hand, as it was wrapped in a bandage, and she looked a little dramatic.

“Being left-handed. It must hurt a lot.”

“It’s getting better, though.”

The swelling was still there, and fine movements were hard, but I could eat with a fork or spoon. I still couldn’t use chopsticks or write with a pen, so I hadn’t been able to take notes in today’s lecture and had borrowed copies from Ogata and Nohara.

“Can you manage a normal life outside of class and meals?”

“Yeah, somehow.”

“…Because you’ve got someone staying with you?”

Umi looked at me closely, like she was trying to figure something out.

“The rumor I heard said you were bringing girls home and cheating… But you’re just letting a friend who’s in trouble stay at your place, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“Is she reliable? Is it safe to have her around?”

I could feel the worry in her voice.

“So, what’s your connection with this person staying at your place?”

“We were classmates back in middle school.”

“Since Io is your first girlfriend… she’s not an ex, right?”

“I was more like her errand boy.”

“E-errand boy?”

“But it was something I chose to do myself… I guess you could call it a kind of dark past for both of us.”

And yet, after all that, now we’re both looking forward to it.

“…Can you really trust her?”

It seemed Umi was a little worried when I mentioned that to my friend. That made sense. If she didn’t know the situation, that word would sound pretty suspicious.

“She’s okay. I can trust her.”

“Really?”

“Really. Hey, Umi.”

“…What?”

“Why do you always act so caring when it comes to me?”

I didn’t mind, but I thought it was a bit strange. She had helped clear up my bad reputation back then, even though it didn’t really benefit her.

“I’m just… trying to return a favor.”

She looked a little shy.

“You helped me, right… back in high school.”

It was true. Even though she was a popular girl who won the school beauty contest three years in a row, her life wasn’t all glamorous. She had to deal with jealous girls and stalkers from rejected boys. When I knew she was struggling with that, I helped her.

“So now, this is your way of worrying about me in return?”

“…Yeah.”

“But really, my roommate is fine. There’s nothing to worry about.”

“A man saying that about a girl he’s dating isn’t very convincing.”

“T-that’s…”

“Can I check for myself?”

“Check?”

“You’re going home soon, right? I want to come with you.”

“…You want to meet my roommate?”

“Yes. I just want to see for myself. You said I was fine back when it was about Io, but look what happened then.”

Whoa… She really is worried about me.

I had never had a girl friend in high school, but meeting Umi had been an irreplaceable gift. I couldn’t just ignore her. To put her mind at ease, I decided it was okay to let her come along.

“…Alright. You can come with me.”

“Thank you, Sousuke.”

And so, I ended up going home with Umi.