I Just Wanted a Girlfriend, But Now I Have Three Fiancées! …Even Though I Don’t Remember Proposing to Any of Them - Chapter 07: I Got Drunk on Coffee and Now I’m Caught in Total Chaos

Chapter 07: I Got Drunk on Coffee and Now I’m Caught in Total Chaos

“Senpai, what’s wrong? You’re super pale!”

“…No, it’s nothing. I’m fine.”

Shit…!

I completely forgot Mitsuki was coming over…!!

T-This is bad. Really, really bad…!

Mei’s still inside—and she’s clearly in a bad mood.

And Mitsuki doesn’t even know she’s here…

This could go nuclear…!!

“D-Do you want me to go buy some medicine?”

“I’m fine…!”

Clutching my stomach like it actually hurt, I forced my brain into overdrive.

Mitsuki looked at me, concern written all over her face.

“B-But you really don’t look okay…”

I was just about to brush her off again when—

It hit me. Like a bolt of lightning.

Wait… this situation… maybe I can use it…!!

“Actually, my stomach’s killing me today, so I’m just gonna go sleep it off… Sorry you came all this way, but maybe head home for today…”

“I-I can take care of you if you want?”

“No, it’s okay. Sleep’s the best medicine. And I feel bad relying on you too much anyway…”

“I-I see… If you say so, senpai…”

Mitsuki finally took a small step back, like she was reluctantly backing off.

I’m sorry, Mitsuki…!

I swear I’ll explain everything later…!

“P-Please take care of yourself, okay? Oh, and here—”

“…Hm?”

“It’s café au lait. Drink it when you’re feeling better.”

“S-Sorry… and thanks…”

Mitsuki handed me the café au lait, then did a quick 180 and walked off.

“…I-I survived.”

Still holding the can in my hand, I collapsed right there on the spot.

My heart felt like it had just run a marathon.

Weirdly enough, my stomach didn’t hurt anymore either.

“…I really need to come clean. For real this time.”

If I keep going like this, I don’t know how long my heart’s gonna last.

Pretty sure my stomach’s already filed for retirement.

Still gripping the café au lait—the cursed catalyst of this entire disaster—I dragged myself back to the living room…

And there she was.

Mei, wearing an apron.

“Took you long enough.”

“Yeah. Sorry… had a thing.”

I placed the café au lait on the table and slumped deep into the chair.

If the phrase “I saw my life flash before my eyes” ever applied to anything, it was this.

That was way too close.

If I hadn’t come up with that excuse, I’d probably be scrubbing emotional shrapnel off the walls right now.

Man, my genius is terrifying…

—or so I almost thought, right before remembering that I was the one who created this nightmare in the first place.

And just like that, I sank into existential dread.

Maybe noticing the gloom settling over me, Mei brightened her tone and said:

“Tonight’s dinner is hamburger steak.”

“Hamburger steak? You can actually make that?”

That’s been my favorite ever since I was a kid.

Honestly, it’s probably humanity’s favorite food.

Like, has anyone in the history of ever not liked hamburger steak?

“…I practiced.”

Mei mumbled quietly as she started kneading the ground meat.

“Practiced?”

“Yeah. Practice.”

I couldn’t help but ask, and she replied in a low voice.

“Because… you said you liked hamburger steak.”

“…You remembered?”

“Of course I did.”

She gave a little hmph and puffed her nose like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

That was… honestly really sweet.

But still—there was something I had to say.

“Hey… Mei.”

“Yes?”

“…The truth is… I don’t remember anything from yesterday.”

That guilt had been weighing on me the whole time.

Sitting heavy on my chest, making it harder and harder to say anything.

But I finally forced the words out.

Mei kept silently kneading the meat for a bit longer.

Then she looked up and spoke slowly.

“Why not?”

“I drank coffee… and then everything just vanished…”

“That condition—you still haven’t gotten over it?”

At her reply, I gave a deep nod.

Yeah… I’d told Mei about it a long time ago.

How coffee hit me like alcohol—and completely messed me up.

“I see. Well… then I guess it can’t be helped.”

She smiled softly and kept working the meat.

“…You believe me?”

“You’ve always been like that, haven’t you? Whenever you drink coffee, it messes you up.”

“But… losing memories, though…”

“Haru.”

I was honestly shocked she took it so well.

Even something that ridiculous.

As I sat there stunned, Mei gently called my name.

“If Haru were lying, he’d come up with something better than that. And besides, you’ve always gotten drunk off caffeine.”

“…Yeah, I guess that’s true.”

Still sitting there, totally baffled after spilling everything, I watched as Mei gave me a tired smile and wiped her hands clean of the ground meat.

“So, Haru—you really don’t remember anything from yesterday, huh?”

“Y-Yeah… That’s why, um… about that ‘promise’ thing… and the whole… dating thing…”

“I did think you seemed weird yesterday. Way more confident than usual. I even thought, ‘Huh, he’s kinda cool today.’ Turns out, you were just drunk on coffee.”

“…Sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize. It’s not like it’s your fault.”

Her voice was way gentler than I expected.

It almost made me want to just sink into that kindness and stay there—

But then she kept going.

“Then let’s start today.”

“…Huh?”

“Well, you don’t remember anything from yesterday, right? So that means… we start dating from today.”

“Wait—what? Huh? Is that how this works…??”

“A confession you don’t even remember doesn’t count, does it? So yeah. From today.”

“……Huuuhhhhh???”

Wait.

So that means it’s official now?

Me and Mei… are actually dating?

Is this really happening…??

“Um, Mei… about all this…”

“Nope.”

Mei smiled—softly, sweetly.

And in that moment, I realized—

Maybe I’d been completely misunderstanding everything.

I thought this was all just one giant mess caused by the coffee.

That I’d accidentally dragged Mei into it.

Not just Mei, either.

Mitsuki, Luna—

I figured I’d caused trouble for all of them.

But…

“No, Haru. You’re not allowed to back out.”

…It was the opposite.

I had it all backwards.

“I waited five years, you know. All that time, I just wanted you to look my way. But you kept pulling away from me. So I waited. I waited and waited. And now—finally. Finally—you turned to face me.”

This wasn’t some story I dragged everyone else into.

“No matter what, we are getting married, Haru.”

This was her story.

And I’m the one getting pulled in.

Like it or not…

I’m part of it now.