I Want a Girlfriend who Won’t Betray Me

Even in a Period of Calm…

The school festival ends without a hitch. Our event generated slightly more revenue than the external expenses. After repaying the loan from the student council, we just about broke even.

Normally, the event’s expenses exceed the revenue, that is why the student council works really hard to secure us the budget. However, after returning from the student council report, Kanbayashi announces.

“Thanks to everyone’s efforts, we ranked third in sales. This is an unprecedented achievement for a first-year class in Sugawara Academy.”

“““Whoooa!”””

It’s all thanks to everyone’s hard work.

“We actually made a small profit. The student council has given us permission to use it as a class fund. So…”

“““Yeahhh!”””

“I haven’t even said anything yet.”

“Eh? We can use that money for a celebration, right?”

“Ah, well, yeah, I guess.”

“““Whoaahh!”””

“Let’s go!”

“““Yeahhh!”””

What incredible energy. So this is what a team feels like.

I still don’t feel like I’ve fit in this class, so I ignore everyone’s excitement and try to quietly leave through the back door.

“Wait just a second!”

Someone shouted an old phrase I’d heard somewhere before. Naturally, I thought it has nothing to do with me.

Just as I’m leaving the class—

“Shinonome! How can the main star just leave? Everyone, secure him!”

“““Yeah!!”””

“Suspect secured!”

I don’t feel like the main star of the class at all, but either way, it seems leaving isn’t an option.

The karaoke place near the station is completely packed with students from our school. Apparently, this happens every year after the cultural festival. They even have a special ‘Sugawara Cultural Festival Rate’, which is only for today.

I mean, seriously, 100 yen per person per hour, with unlimited drinks? Can this place even stay in business after this?

The five-story karaoke building is completely packed with students from Sugawara High School. There is no way to go against this tide, I’m swallowed up in the waves…

It isn’t just the first-years from Class 1-A. Second-years and even third-years are waiting at the entrance.

“Shinonome-kun♡ What would you like to drink?”

“Shinonome-kun♡ You have to visit our room too.”

“Shinonome, come to our room.”

“Shinonome, come to the Sugawara Academy Legends Room.”

“Shinonome-kun, this is the Women’s Life Sciences Research Room. Everyone’s waiting for you♡”

“Shinonome-kun, we’ll teach you the mysteries of the universe and the mysteries of girls♡”

“Shinonome, you have a special invitation from the student council. Come to the exclusive student council room.”

“Shinonome-kun♡ There’s only one seat left.”

“Fufu, Shinonome-kun♡ The moment you step through this door, you’ll enter a world of endless pleasure.”

Some of their words may have been a bit inappropriate, but let’s just pretend I didn’t hear any of that…

How am I supposed to make sense of this?

I have planned to just wrap things up quickly in Class 1-A’s karaoke room.

“Shinonome, you really stood out. I’m looking forward to listen to your story next week.”

Kanbayashi told me so.

“N-No, there won’t be any stories…”

“What are you talking about? Sometimes it’s better to go all out than to get it half-baked.”

“You—!”

“Well, have fun. I’ll be quietly sipping my orange juice in the corner.”

It’s just two hours. But in all my sixteen years of life, I have never experienced two hours as exhausting as this.

The next day, we get two days off as compensation for the cultural festival. Since it’s a weekday, both my father and mother are at work.

So, I’m lazing around in my bed, taking my time to relax. It’s already 10 AM. If I remember correctly, I took a bath right after getting home yesterday and went to bed at 8 PM.

Have I really been sleeping for 14 hours? My stomach is growling, asking for breakfast.

I slowly get out of bed and head to the bathroom to wash my face. Then, I make my way to the dining room, where I find a note in my mother’s handwriting.

‘Warm up the soup when you wake up. The vegetable salad is in the fridge and defrost the bread.’

No matter how busy she is with work, she always makes sure to prepare meals for the family. Back when she was at the peak of her career, she would make and store food in advance since she couldn’t always come home.

No matter how busy she is, she always puts her family first. To me, she’s an irreplaceable mother.

After having breakfast and taking my time to relax, I decided to go to the bookstore.

There used to be a wonderful bookstore that takes up an entire floor on the seventh floor of a large department store in Shibuya, but it ran out of business a while ago. Now, there’s only a small bookstore underground near the station.

There’s a decently sized bookstore inside the Miko-Tama shopping center. If I have some spare time, there’s also a movie theater, and maybe they’re having some kind of event going on. Relying on my three-year-old memory, I decided to go there.

I walk leisurely to the station. The shopping center is four stops away from my house, in the opposite direction of my school. Instead of taking the express train, I take the local train for a more relaxed ride.

After getting off the train, I take the escalator down from the platform—

At that moment, I see Wakana.

However, standing right beside her is Goto. They are holding hands tightly in what Yatsugashira-san described as a ‘lover’s hold’. Their fingers are intertwined with each other.

If you exit the ticket gate and go left, you’ll reach the shopping center. If you go right, you’ll find the movie theater.

However, they didn’t go left or right. Instead, they walk diagonally forward to the right. There’s a slight slope in that direction. But that way…anyone who lives around here knows what’s there.

I can’t believe it. I think that’s messed up.

For some reason, I find myself following them naturally.

And then…I don’t even feel like talking about what happens next.

‘I swear, nothing ever happened between us. If you don’t believe me, I’ll take everything off.’

I want to believe in Wakana. But this is the reality.

Feeling nauseous, I turn around and head to the bookstore inside the shopping center. Even as I pick up a book, the image of the two of them walking into that love hotel won’t leave my mind. I feel like I’m about to throw up.

I leave the bookstore, walk in the opposite direction of the gate, go up to the second floor, and keep walking straight until I reach a bench overlooking the large river. I sit down.

Somewhere deep in my heart, I believed in Wakana. I have held onto the foolish hope that maybe, just maybe, we can go back to how things were before.

But what I have just seen proves that every word Wakana has said to me back then are all a lie. I just stare blankly at the mountains in the distance and the vast river spreading below me.

I should head home now.