I Started a Lover-for-Hire Service, And For Some Reason, Only Beautiful Girls Are Requesting Me - Chapter 74: Ryoma and Kanon's Discussion

“Wait, wait…!”

Ryoma didn’t even bother to listen to Kanon’s voice. Instead, he quickened his pace.

(What the hell is she thinking…? Don’t mess with me.)

What kind of face was he making? Even just hearing her casually talk to him was irritating.

Saying he was going to the restroom was just an excuse. Ryoma simply wanted to distance himself from his ex-girlfriend.

“Ryo-kun, Ryo-kun!”

He ignored the stares from those around him. No matter how many times his name was called, he didn’t turn back.

He didn’t want to face her. It was as if a ghost was speaking to him—he just pretended not to notice. He didn’t stop walking.

“Wait… don’t ignore me…”

“….”

“Ryo-kun, I—ah!”

The moment he heard that high-pitched voice, a dull thud echoed through the air.

No matter how much he resented her, was stopping in his tracks exactly what Aira would call “being too much of a busybody”?

“Hey… she fell hard.”

“She went down face-first, right…?”

“Is she okay…?”

“That guy didn’t stop, so that’s why…”

“That girl… poor thing…”

“That reaction was cold…”

Had it not been for the growing attention on him, Ryoma wouldn’t have even heard the hushed whispers of the other students.

The onlookers knew nothing about the situation between the two of them. And because of that, they only saw Ryoma’s refusal to stop as heartless.

“…Damn it.”

Ryoma clenched his fists and muttered under his breath.

He knew that getting involved wouldn’t do him any good. But even so, he couldn’t bring himself to just walk away.

Not for Kanon’s sake, but for Aira’s.

Aira—the girl in the picture taken by their classmates. Aira—the girl who could be dragged into rumors because of this situation.

It wasn’t hard to imagine how quickly people would start saying, “That guy ignored a girl who collapsed? He’s the worst.”

And that would reflect on Aira as well.

“She’s involved with someone like that? Aira has terrible judgment.”

As long as Aira was a student at this school, it would all lead back to her.
Even with her bright personality, even with her current social standing, if rumors like that spread, she’d struggle to stay at this school.

It wouldn’t just affect her personal life—it would leave a scar on her heart.
If he really cared about Aira, if he didn’t want to cause her trouble, there was only one option left…

Ryoma turned halfway around and took a step, then another, toward her.

“…You seriously need to fix that clumsiness of yours.”

His voice was flat, his expression strained as if he were holding back anger. This was their first conversation in three years.

“Ryo-kun… I’m sorry…”

Even though she must have been in pain from the fall, Kanon’s first words were an apology.

“…If you’re just gonna apologize, don’t do stuff like that in the first place.”

“I’m sorry…”

“Just hurry up and stand. You’re drawing attention.”

“I’m really sorry…”

“Enough with the apologies already. It’s annoying.”

This was all to avoid causing trouble for Aira. Ryoma, reluctantly, extended his hand.

“…Thank you.”

“I don’t need your thanks.”

“…Okay.”

Every word that left Ryoma’s mouth was laced with venom. But she was his ex—the girl who had two-timed him. There was no way he could talk to her normally.

“Ow… ow…”

Only after helping her up did he notice—the pure white skin of her knees, scraped and bloodied.

Her tight skirt, which left her lower legs exposed, had made the injury inevitable.

“…Damn it. You’re bleeding.”

With a deep sigh, he furrowed his brows.

“…I was clumsy. I’m sorry…”

“I said enough already. There are some stairs over there—go sit down. You can walk that far, right?”

“…Yeah.”

“Then hurry up.”

About ten meters ahead, there was a staircase leading up to the gym. Ryoma instructed Kanon to sit there, then walked off alone toward a vending machine.

He had gone to buy water—to wash away the blood.

Right now, worrying about money was the last thing on his mind.

“Use this to treat your wound. Do whatever you want with it.”

Kanon was sitting obediently at the spot he had pointed out.

Ryoma shoved a handkerchief he had brought and a bottle of natural mineral water he had just bought into her hands. She was injured, but her hands were fine—there was no reason for him to be the one to do it.

“But… this is your handkerchief, Ryo-kun…”

“You got anything else to wipe with?”

“M-my clothes…”

“Just use it. You can throw the handkerchief away.”

“I’ll wash it and return it…”

Kanon couldn’t quite gauge the distance between them anymore. After three years, she wasn’t sure whether to speak casually or formally, shifting her tone based on the situation.

“…Return it? You’ve got some nerve saying that. Planning to see me again?”

“…!”

“I don’t want to even look at you anymore. Can’t you get that through your head? Do you even realize what you did?”

“That’s not what happened. I didn’t cheat, I—”

Annoyance swelling inside him, Ryoma cut her off.

“You went out with Makoto without even telling me. That’s a fact, isn’t it? Do you really think excuses are gonna make that go away?”

“…”

“When I saw that email Makoto sent me, do you have any idea how I felt?”

“That wasn’t what it looked like! Makoto acted on his own—”

“Oh, I’m supposed to just ‘trust you,’ huh? What exactly am I supposed to trust when you couldn’t even follow the most basic rules? What happened to the promise we made when we started dating?”

“…That… I’m sorry…”

How many times had Kanon apologized during this conversation?

The sheer pressure of Ryoma’s presence, the fury emanating from him, made it impossible for her to do anything else.

When they had started dating, the two of them had agreed—whenever they went out with someone of the opposite sex, they would inform each other.

Some might call it a petty rule, but it wasn’t unusual for couples to establish their own boundaries.

“…Hey, your hands stopped moving. Wipe it already. The blood’s running down your leg.”

“O-okay…”

At Ryoma’s prompting, Kanon twisted off the cap, poured some water onto the handkerchief, and began dabbing at her wound.

“…Ah…”

It must have stung. She let out a faint sound of pain.

Ryoma, keeping his distance, sat down on the same step beside her.

“…”

“…”

Kanon didn’t try to start a conversation as she continued treating her wound.

—An awkward silence ensued. Neither of them could find a topic to break it.

Several minutes passed, three or four at most, before Ryoma finally spoke.

Maybe it was the cold air, the chill of the wind that helped him regain his composure.

“…Hey, um… I said a lot of things earlier. Sorry about that. I got too emotional.”

“No, it’s my fault… all of it…”

“Just focus on treating your wound and listen.”

“…Thank you.”

He wasn’t trying to be considerate. He just didn’t want to be interrupted.

“…I can say this now, but back then, I was really in love with you. That’s why, when I got that email from Makoto… my mind went completely blank. I panicked and broke up with you on the spot. But that was a mistake.”

Ryoma had still been a kid back then. Emotionally immature, especially when it came to relationships.

It wasn’t until he turned twenty, when he had learned to see things from multiple perspectives, that he realized how wrong his actions had been.

“If I really loved you, then after getting that email, I should have calmed down and asked you what actually happened. I should have confirmed the facts. But I ran away from reality, and that was my mistake.”

“…”

Maybe because he told her just to listen, Kanon didn’t say a word. She just shook her head from side to side in denial.

“Whether that email Makoto sent me was a joke or not, whether you were cheating or not—it doesn’t matter. In the end, I was the one who created the situation that led to our breakup.”

“S-stop, Ryo-kun… You didn’t do anything wrong…”

She couldn’t hold it in anymore. Kanon finally spoke, letting out all the words she had been keeping inside.

“If you had reached out to me back then, things wouldn’t have gotten so complicated. But if I had stayed calm, things wouldn’t have gotten complicated either. In the end, we were both at fault. I just didn’t want to admit it… I pushed all the blame onto you… I’m really sorry. I took my frustration out on you because I couldn’t stand my own pathetic self…”

Kanon had broken their promise to inform each other when meeting someone of the opposite sex.

But Ryoma had his own share of blame, and now he could finally admit it.

“…Knowing your personality, it should’ve been obvious that you wouldn’t do something like that.”

That thought only came to him after growing up, after time had passed.

The regret in his voice was impossible to miss.

“You’re still so kind, Ryo-kun… Even though I was the one at fault, you’re trying to defend me…”

“I just took my anger out on you a few minutes ago. That’s not kindness. I’m just weak.”

“No… you are kind. That part of you hasn’t changed at all…”

“Well, you haven’t changed either. You still take all the blame on yourself.”

“…You think so?”

“Yeah.”

Ryoma and Kanon didn’t look at each other. They kept facing forward as they talked. It was almost nostalgic, reminiscent of the times when they were still together.

“…Thanks, Kanon.”

“Huh? For what… exactly?”

“For a lot of things.”

“…Then, I’ll say thank you too.”

“For what?”

“For a lot of things.”

“What kind of answer is that?”

A strange exchange. Ryoma let out a small chuckle—his first genuine expression since meeting Kanon today.

“Ryo-kun.”

“Yeah?”

“I want to return this handkerchief after all… No, I want to return it to you.”

“It’s got blood on it. You don’t want to give it back like that, right?”

“Then… I’d like to give you a new one instead.”

With that, Kanon had subtly taken the initiative.

Saying she wanted to return the handkerchief—those words were practically an invitation.

A way of saying, I want to see you again.

A quiet suggestion to sit down and talk, just the two of them, sometime soon.