I Was Cheated on by My Girlfriend but My Devilish Junior Now Yearns for Me - Chapter 65

Chapter 65   Each Person’s View of Love

The day after the freshman welcome party, after finishing my lectures for the day, I was messing around with my phone, thinking I might go see a movie alone.

I hadn’t seen Ayaka today.

She had attended lectures with some friends from our department, and she was probably off hanging out with one of their groups now.

Ayaka seemed to have a rough idea in her mind of which days she would spend with me, and on days that weren’t planned, it wasn’t unusual for us not to see each other at all.

But since I prefer watching movies alone, today seemed perfect for that.

As I was about to move to the reservation screen for a movie based on a popular boys’ magazine, a voice called out from behind me.

“Hey, Yuu! You coming to the club today?”

It was Toudou. He walked up to me, holding a shoe bag with basketball shoes inside.

His light ash-gray hair had been dyed brown, giving him a calmer look in a good way.

“Toudou, the new hair suits you.”

“Oh, you noticed? I dyed it to give off a more approachable vibe for the freshmen welcome party.”

Toudou answered with a light laugh.

His original ash-gray hair was stylish too, but it might have been a bit too striking for the new freshmen fresh out of high school.

Especially since he’s the club president, it makes sense. It’s probably a strategic decision to align better with the image of the club, not wanting it to come across as too wild.

“As expected of the president, putting the club’s image first.”

“Exactly. And speaking of which, as the president, let me ask you again—are you joining today’s club activities?”

In response to Toudou’s question, I waved my empty hands in the air.

“As you can see, I didn’t bring my basketball shoes today.”

“Are you planning to borrow the shoes we bought with our precious club fees again? By the way, did you actually pay this month’s dues?”

As if suddenly remembering, Toudou asked me with a teasing grin, and I gave him a thumbs-up.

“I paid them last time after practice, all good!”

Honestly, I wasn’t thrilled about paying the fees for months when I didn’t even participate, but I figured keeping the club president, Toudou, happy was more important.

Toudou just gave me a wry smile in response.

“What’s with that smug face? It’s obvious you should pay. So, are you coming or not?”

“I’m probably not going.”

“Thought so… what a waste.”

“A waste? Why?”

I’d turned down Toudou’s club invites many times before, but this was the first time he’d ever called it a waste. Curious if there was something I didn’t know, I asked, and Toudou smirked.

“There’s a super cute girl among the new members this year.”

“Wait, seriously? But you’ve got a girlfriend, don’t you?”

“I do, but that’s a different matter. As the president, I’m just doing my best to keep everyone’s morale high.”

“Oh, I see, I see.”

I started grinning, and Toudou’s expression faltered. It was always funny how he got extra talkative when the topic turned to his girlfriend.

“Even when you were dating someone, you still hung out with Ayaka a lot, right? Having a girlfriend and being friends with other girls, or juniors and seniors, is totally separate.”

“Well—”

I tried to argue but stopped myself. I couldn’t disagree with the idea that having a girlfriend and having friends are different things.

If you started distancing yourself from your friends every time you got into a relationship, you’d end up with nothing if you ever broke up.

Plus, the term “friends” is a bit too broad.

Thinking of my relationship with Ayaka, for instance—if I were to start dating someone else, I wouldn’t want to distance myself from her.

Sure, I’d probably avoid going on trips alone with her, but having someone tell me to stay away from her would feel like an annoyance.

A girlfriend has her own special qualities, and just because you’re dating someone doesn’t mean the good things about my friendship with Ayaka would disappear.

Is it really wrong to enjoy the happiness that comes from different types of relationships?

How you connect with people depends heavily on compatibility, and it seems a bit wasteful to deliberately distance yourself from someone you get along with.

However, I realize that this mindset isn’t for everyone.

At the very least, Toudou seems to share my belief that it’s okay to have fun with female friends besides his girlfriend, and I feel we’re on the same page about that.

“Yeah… maybe they are different.”

“Right? I’m totally committed to my girlfriend, but club time is club time—you gotta enjoy it.”

Toudou said this with a fresh, cheerful smile.

With his good looks, social skills, and fashion sense, I remembered the time when the girls in the club were all over him.

But Toudou always managed to shut it down by talking openly about how happy he was with his girlfriend, keeping things strictly faithful.

Knowing that about him, I could believe what he was saying.

“Well, let’s head to the usual spot.”

“Huh?”

“The smoking area. We haven’t had a smoke together in a while.”

Toudou pointed with his thumb in the direction of the smoking area.

It was the same spot I’d dragged Ayaka to before our second-year, end-of-term exams.

“Oh… I actually quit smoking.”

“What? Seriously?”

Toudou looked shocked.

He was the main reason I had started smoking in the first place, so maybe I should’ve given him a heads-up beforehand.

“Sorry, Ayaka said it didn’t suit me.”

I let out a sigh as I spoke, and Toudou smiled, as if understanding.

“Haha, yeah, it definitely didn’t suit you.”

“Hey, you’re supposed to disagree with that!”

Thinking about how I’d been paying to smoke something that didn’t even suit me made me feel a little sad. That might be why quitting wasn’t that hard for me. People smoke for different reasons, but for me, it seems, it only took one comment about how it didn’t suit me to make me stop.

“Well, I’ll keep you company while you smoke. Since you’re using an e-cigarette, I won’t be too tempted.”

“Oh, nice. My girlfriend’s been telling me to quit smoking too. Maybe I’ll make this my last one.”

“You should! You’ll save some cash.”

I didn’t know exactly how much Toudou smoked, but he easily spent about ten thousand yen a month on cigarettes. That’s 120,000 yen a year. Having that or not makes a big difference.

And since his girlfriend wanted him to quit too, it would be killing two birds with one stone.

When I opened the door to the smoking area, the smell of smoke hit my nose.

Despite how strong it was, for some reason, that scent brought me a sense of comfort.

Even now, after quitting, that feeling hadn’t changed, and it strangely made me feel at ease.

“Ayaka’s words really hold weight with you, huh?”

Toudou lit his cigarette and exhaled a cloud of gray smoke.

The way he did it looked so natural, and I found myself thinking, maybe he doesn’t need to quit after all.

◇◆

After hanging out with Toudou while he smoked, I met up with Shinohara, who had called me, and the two of us were walking around a shopping mall. This mall is the largest in the area and even has a movie theater.

“Wow, I was just thinking of seeing a movie, and here’s my senior right when I needed him!”

“Just so you know, I’m not going to adjust what movie I’m watching for you.”

“What? Seriously!?”

I had already decided to watch something based on a popular boys’ magazine. Shinohara called me after I’d made that decision, so I had no intention of changing my plans now.

“Come on, we’ve already met up—let’s watch something together!”

“If you’re fine tagging along with what I’m watching, I don’t mind.”

“Ugh, it’s totally that manga adaptation, isn’t it?”

From the row of posters on the wall, Shinohara quickly pointed it out.

Because she’s been reading through a bunch of the manga at my place, Shinohara’s become quite the manga fan, but it looks like she still hasn’t gotten into that particular series yet.

“What do you want to watch, then?”

When I asked, she made a thoughtful gesture and then picked a movie with the sketchy title, I Want to Drag You Into My Romantic World!

“Ah… now that you mention it, you were worried about whether your views on romance were off, weren’t you?”

That conversation happened back in January.

While watching a romance show at my place, Shinohara had asked, “Do you think I’m out of touch with what’s normal in relationships?”

Back then, I gave her a birthday present, and our conversation was cut short when Ayaka showed up. For some reason, though, her words from that day stuck in my mind.

“Did I really say something like that?”

Shinohara asked with a smile, and I couldn’t help but sigh.

“You did. You said you weren’t hurt when Motosaka cheated on you because you were only dating him to experience ‘couple-like’ things. And yet—”

“Oh, right, I remember! I also said I got tired of being comforted by my friends. Stop reminding me of that, you meanie!”

She playfully hit my shoulder in protest, and I thought for a moment how my shoulder would feel if it had emotions—then quickly shook the thought from my mind because it was pointless.

“And, assuming I did say that—”

“Why are you taking it back now? Didn’t you just remember?”

“I’ve forgotten it already.”

“That was fast!”

I couldn’t help but make a sharp retort. For Shinohara, it was probably a memory she’d rather forget, but unfortunately for her, it seemed like I’d remember it for a while.

“I’ve decided, watching that movie with you is non-negotiable!”

“Uh, nope, no way.”

“W-What? You sound so genuinely against it that I’m actually kind of hurt… And here I was, thinking I’d treat you to a hot dog and popcorn.”

“You’re the worst! Fine, I’ll go!”

“Wait, now you’re convinced…?”

Shinohara reacted with a bit of disbelief. And just like that, I ended up agreeing to watch a genre of movie I’d never tried before. It felt like I was paying for the movie ticket just to get some food.

I glanced at Shinohara, who was happily bouncing beside me.

—Maybe this could be fun once in a while.

As I received the tickets from the counter, I couldn’t help but think that.