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 22

It was the evening of a new week, and I was at the university library working on my novel. The place was being used like a study hall, so besides me, there were plenty of students tapping on laptops or bent over their notebooks.

And then,

“Hey, Sousuke, do you have a minute?”

I noticed Umi, a classmate from the same university, standing by my side.

We had gone our separate ways after class, but it looked like she had stayed behind too.

“Oh, what is it?”

“I need to ask you for a favor… but it’s not something I can say here. Can you come with me for a bit?”

After saying that, Umi walked toward the hallway.

What could this be about?

I was just about to pack up anyway, so I put my laptop into my backpack and followed her.

“What kind of favor can’t you say in front of people?”

By then, Umi had walked right out of the university and started heading toward the station. I asked again while walking beside her, and her beautiful eyes glanced at me for a moment.

“…A hotel.”

“Huh?”

“I want you to… go to a hotel with me.”

I froze, not sure I heard her right.

“…H-hotel?”

“Yes… A hotel.”

“What do you mean… which hotel?”

“Any is fine… I mean a love hotel.”

“!?”

This time, I couldn’t hide my shock.

“W-what are you even saying…”

“…I’m not joking, you know?”

Umi spoke again, and she looked a little embarrassed.

“I need… reference material.”

“…Reference?”

“Yeah… You know about my secret hobby, don’t you?”

“Manga… not reading, but drawing.”

That’s right. Umi was secretly an otaku. It wasn’t something she showed in public, so probably only I knew. She’d been quietly drawing manga since high school, even sending her work to publishers, though she hadn’t gotten results yet.

“Right now, I’m working on a slightly more mature romantic comedy… And the story has reached a point where I need to include a scene in a love hotel… But I’ve never actually been to one, so I can’t really capture the atmosphere well enough…”

“I see…. So you want to check out the real thing for reference.”

“…Exactly.”

“Still, wouldn’t it be better to go with your female friend?”

I said that.

“Look, these days you can even have a girls’ party at a love hotel.”

“But if I don’t go there with a guy, I can’t really… you know, get the right kind of feeling.”

Well… she wasn’t wrong. Going with a guy and going with a group of girl friends would feel completely different.

“Sousuke’s single right now… So there’s no problem if you go to a love hotel with me, is there?”

“It’s not exactly a problem… but I still just feel like…”

“What…”

“Wouldn’t it… end up being a bad memory for you?”

What I was really thinking was, am I really okay as the first guy she goes to a love hotel with?

It’s not like we were actually going to do anything, so maybe I was overthinking it. But still, for someone like Umi, it felt like I wasn’t the right match for such a first.

“I don’t mind.”

Then, she answered without hesitation.

“In fact, it has to be Sousuke… I don’t want to go with anyone else.”

“…Why?”

“You have to figure it out yourself… idiot.”

Umi turned her head away with a pout.

Why do girls always expect guys to read between the lines? Don’t they know that if they don’t put feelings into words, they don’t really get across? That’s what the smart people say, anyway.

Oh well.

“So basically… you want to go to a love hotel with me?”

“That’s right…”

“Alright… If it’s for reference, then I’ll go with you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah… But if anyone from the university sees us, it’ll be way too much trouble. So let’s go a few stations away. Okay?”

“Yes, that’s fine with me…”

And so, I ended up heading to a love hotel with Umi.