Chapter 62

“Kyaa! I can’t believe Reika’s boyfriend was this close all along!”

“How did you meet? What was your first encounter like!?”

“How long have you two been dating?”

“Reika seems totally head over heels, but what kind of magic did you use to make her fall for you like this!?”

“No way… Takashima’s dating Hatsune-san!?”

Cheers erupted, followed by a barrage of questions and comments from all directions.

“You all still have a long way to go. I thought I’d been giving plenty of hints, considering how close we are. And yet you needed all the conditions to be just right to finally figure it out?”

Despite the chaotic atmosphere pressing in, Reika was handling her friends with her usual poise.

“Come on, Reika, you always made it sound like something was going on, but never gave us any real hints~”

“Even if it was someone at school, I never thought it’d be someone in our class… Takashima-kun, huh. Now that you mention it, I guess it does make sense.”

“Wait, so you nominated him for class rep because of that!?”

“Fufu, well, it’s partly because I knew he’d be good at the job… but I also couldn’t resist my personal desires.”

“Kyaa! Reika, you’re so cute!”

“Fufu, you’re making me blush. Since it seems like everyone has a lot they want to ask, I’ve decided not to hide anything this time. So, don’t go putting too much pressure on my beloved, okay?”

“Your beloved…! Got it~!”

Thanks to Reika’s overwhelming control of the room, most of the girls nodded in agreement and backed off.

“Alright then. Explaining things to the boys is your job. They’re probably going to say a lot, but just take it as part of the fun.”

“Explain… how much, exactly?”

“Hmm, I wonder. I’ll leave that entirely up to you. I’m planning to talk about everything, though.”

“Everything? Seriously?”

“Yes. Including that incident that made our relationship definitive.”

“Are you sure? One of the reasons I didn’t want to go public was because I thought that getting found out about it would be bad.”

When Satoru asked her with concern, Reika smiled lightly and continued.

“It’s not like either of us did anything wrong. And besides, we’re safe and living our lives now. So I don’t mind if people know. In fact, if they understand that we went through something like that, they might better grasp the depth of our relationship.”

“Well, when you put it that way, yeah…”

“So don’t worry too much about me. Just talk however you see fit. If you can handle the reactions, you can even exaggerate or embellish a little to make it more dramatic.”

“I’m definitely not doing that. I’ll just stick to the facts that are safe to share.”

He was a little tempted, but decided not to. He could already imagine being pestered later and regretting it deeply.

“Hey, Satoru.”

“Hm?”

Reika called to him again, and once more wrapped her arms around him from behind.

“I know you might be feeling a lot of things, but I’m really glad we can be open about it now. Now we can interact freely, no more hiding.”

“…Sorry. I know it’s my indecisiveness that made you feel restricted.”

“Fufu, that’s not it at all. You were being considerate of me. And that cautious, thoughtful side of you is something I love. I’m just happy that we’ve taken our time and reached this point.”

With that, Reika let go of Satoru and returned to her seat.

Satoru headed back to his own seat as well—only to find Seiya sitting there, clearly displeased.

“Why didn’t you tell me!? No, why did you lie to me!?”

“Yeah, not telling you was my bad. But I swear, I never meant to deceive you.”

“You totally gave off the vibe of someone who didn’t have a girlfriend! That’s why I even tried to build a connection with Ruri, damn it!”

“Ah… Yeah, that’s on me. I just really didn’t want to talk about it.”

“So you don’t trust me enough to share something like that?”

“No, it’s not like that. I just had a personal reason for wanting to keep it quiet. It’s complicated, so I won’t get into it.”

“Yet you were bold enough to skip class together. What the hell were you two doing during those absences!?”

“Uhh…”

It’s not like… they did anything they had to hide. But he couldn’t say it was all perfectly innocent either.

Still, it was incredibly hard to explain.

Say it the wrong way, and people would absolutely jump to the worst conclusions and let the rumors spiral out of control.

“When either of us isn’t feeling well, we take care of each other. That’s all.”

“Wh-why would you do that?”

“I mean… it just kinda became a thing after we both got sick early in the relationship.”

It all started when Satoru stayed by Reika’s side during a fever triggered by her past trauma—but he really didn’t want anyone digging into that.

Even if Reika said it was fine, Satoru himself couldn’t bring himself to talk about it.

“It’s been our routine ever since. And just so you know, our parents are cool with it since we’re actually resting properly.”

“Yeah, I guess you do need your parents’ permission to take a day off.”

“Exactly.”

Satoru decided to mix in a little falsehood with the truth to smooth things over.

He knew lying and staying silent wasn’t great—but at least in this case, he was going to take Reika’s advice and tell the story in a way that worked best.