I Got Dumped by My Childhood Friend Fiancée Who I Didn’t Even Like, I Thought I Could Finally Have a Peaceful School Life… But Then I Got Targeted by SS-Class Beautiful Young Ladies

Chapter 21: [Non-Delicate Explosion] The Second I Said “You Weren’t Embarrassed When It Was Just Underwear, Right?” the Young Ladies Immediately Branded Me a Pervert

Tachibana’s heartbreaking cuteness straight-up fried my brain, and I ended up taking a loss in the one area—games—where I was absolutely confident I’d win.

Right now, what was crushing me wasn’t the young ladies’ chests anymore. It was this heavy wave of exhaustion and emptiness. The weight was too much; my shoulders slumped hard with a thud.

Around me, Shiramine and Tachibana were holding hands, jumping around and squealing, celebrating the insane comeback victory together.

In the middle of all that party vibe, only Minase-senpai—the one person who’d actually beaten me at a game—looked kinda down.

“Senpai…?”

“Hm~? What’s up~?”

“You okay? Normally you’d be losing your mind with joy right now…”

I asked in a light, half-joking tone.

She leaned in close so the other two couldn’t hear, pressing her lips near my ear and letting out a soft, whispery breath.

“…I’m happy. Yeah, of course I’m happy. But… because of you, Yoichi, I can’t just celebrate without holding back anymore.”

Her words were gentle, but her voice carried this freezing chill that felt like it could give someone frostbite deep down.

Before I even fully processed what she meant, a cold shiver raced straight down my spine.

“…My… fault?”

I whispered it back without thinking.

She paused just a tiny bit, then let out a soft chuckle.

“…Yeah. ‘Cause… when it was Charlotte-chan’s turn… you made this really obvious face.”

“W-Wait, no… that’s…”

“With me and Azucchi, you stayed totally chill the whole time. But only with Charlotte-chan… it was way too easy to read.”

She said it all so calmly, almost matter-of-factly.

I didn’t think she was blaming me or mad exactly… but something about it left me with nowhere to run.

—Wait… I don’t think I was actually that chill during you and Shiramine’s turns either…?

The bigger question hit me hard: I’d still won in the end, so why was she even hung up on this? But my gut was screaming not to push back, so I decided to listen to it for once.

“…It’s not really like that—”

“—So you do like her? Charlotte-chan, I mean…”

My denial got sliced clean in half.

Then came that familiar murmur layered right on top—like something I’d heard somewhere before.

She’d grilled me about this same topic in the car yesterday too. Apparently it was a real sticking point for her.

If I let the misunderstanding keep festering, I knew it’d turn into another huge hassle. I opened my mouth to shut it down clearly this time—

“Yoichi-kun!”

The person at the center of the topic jumped right into our conversation without warning.

“…Um, sorry? Were you… talking about something with Rei?”

She must’ve noticed how close Senpai and I were standing. Tachibana tilted her head, looking apologetic.

The one who answered instantly wasn’t me—it was Minase-senpai.

“Nope, all good! I just won against Yoichi at a game for the first time ever, so I was super excited and teasing him like crazy!”

She switched gears at lightning speed, spitting out the lie as naturally as breathing.

Her face wore a bright smile that didn’t invite any doubt. The earlier gloom had vanished without a trace.

“Oh… really?”

“Yup yup! Right, Yoichi?”

“Uh, y-yeah… pretty much.”

I swallowed the weird tug in my chest and gave a small nod.

Tachibana let out a tiny, relieved breath.

“Um, so… that is…!”

She looked a little embarrassed and hesitated for a second.

But then she clenched her fists like she’d made up her mind, looked straight at me, and spoke again.

“So… it’s a promise! Yoichi-kun… please call us by our nicknames from now on… and drop the polite speech too… please.”

—Oh yeah, right. So much had happened I’d completely forgotten, but yeah, that was part of the bet.

It’d slipped my mind entirely. My eyes flicked off into the distance for a second.

“Uh… stuff like that… shouldn’t we wait until we’re closer or something? Just changing how we call each other doesn’t really close the emotional gap, y’know… at least I don’t think so…”

I tried throwing out some childish excuses, but obviously they weren’t gonna fly.

Shiramine, standing next to Tachibana, let out a mischievous little chuckle.

“Everything starts with the form, right…? And it’s a promise. You really think a promise with conglomerate heiresses is something you can just brush off that easy?”

“…Ugh.”

“Ahaha! This is exactly the part where you can’t even argue back, huh?”

She teased me while poking at every weak spot.

Still, it was painfully obvious she was right. I’d accepted the match under those exact conditions—no denying it.

I gave up with a sigh, shrugged my shoulders a little, and caved.

“Fine… ahem. Got it. But nicknames… what exactly am I supposed to call you guys?”

“Wow~! Yoichi-kun going casual already feels kinda fresh! For what to call us~… how about we each pick the one we wanna be called?”

Shiramine suggested it cheerfully, looking over at the other two.

Once everyone nodded, she went first.

“Okay, me first then? Hmm… just my first name’s fine, I guess. Call me Azusa?”

Right after, Tachibana jumped in without missing a beat.

“Oh, then me too! Please use the nickname my close friends call me—Charlotte!”

And last.

Minase-senpai had been looking down, thinking hard for a while. Finally she lifted her face like she’d decided.

“Hmm, then… Rei… call me big sis♡”

“Huh!? Why big sis…?”

“Eh~? ‘Cause it’s cute, duh!”

Big sis… is cute?

This girl’s sense of values is honestly beyond me. My actual older sister used to scold me that calling her “big sis” made me sound too childish…

“No, that’s way too much… I mean, for you I’m just gonna keep the ‘senpai’ part, okay? Getting that familiar… no way.”

“Ehhh!? Why!? So I’m the only one left out!?”

“That’s not it… I just wanna keep at least the bare minimum of manners.”

I said it with a straight face and serious tone. At first she looked genuinely bummed, but she quickly caught on to what I meant.

“Big sis is a no-go, huh… so no casual speech either…?”

“…Yeah.”

“Hmm… Yoichi really only gets serious about the weirdest stuff. Fine then—just my first name! …Yeah yeah! Actually, ‘Rei-senpai’ might be kinda nice too!”

I’d been worried she’d dig her heels in using the bet as leverage, but apparently that fear was for nothing. She accepted it surprisingly easy.

So now we had the new way to call all three young ladies.

But of course, just deciding it wasn’t the end. Rei-senpai smirked, took one small step closer to me, and said,

“So, Yoichi! Wanna… practice a little?”

“…Sigh. Yeah, figured it’d come to this.”

She nodded silently at my tired words.

I let out another small breath, then spoke.

“…Okay then.”

I shifted my gaze slowly from right to left.

“…Charlotte.”

“Y-Yes…!”

“…Azusa.”

“…Mm, yeah.”

“…Rei-senpai.”

“…Hehehe~”

Rei-senpai let out this loose, sloppy grin.

When I looked back, Charlotte was clutching both hands tight against her chest. Azusa was poking at her own cheek with a fingertip while staring off into space.

…What is this atmosphere.

After I’d said them all, a gentle, sudden quiet settled over us.

In that stillness, one question floated up in my head.

The three of them looked kinda embarrassed now that I’d called them by the new names. From everything they’d said and done before, I’d figured they were used to this kind of thing…

“…Why are you guys blushing so much?”

The second I muttered that—

It felt like the whole world froze.

The first to break the icy air was Azusa.

“…Huh?”

She slowly turned to look at me.

“Yoichi-kun…”

“Uh, y-yeah…”

“You really just asked a girl that?”

“Well, I mean…”

“Getting called by first name by a guy… that doesn’t happen every day. Of course it’s a little embarrassing.”

Azusa gave me this half-lidded stare. Charlotte nodded quickly beside her.