I Was Oblivious to the Subtle ‘Yandere’ Side of My Nonchalant Sex Friend Gyaru - Chapter 5-6

Chapter 5: 

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I walked with Asou-san to a café located a bit closer to the station from our part-time job. It was a stylish place with a mature atmosphere, but unusually for these days, it still allowed smoking, so the clientele was mostly middle-aged men.

Thanks to getting a private booth in the back, the smoke from the other tables didn’t bother us much, but I still wondered why she had chosen a place like this. That question was answered immediately.

“Phew… A smoke after work hits the spot.”

“Uh, you know that’s a clear violation of school rules, right?”

“Ahaha~ Contrary to my expectations, you’re so serious about things like that.”

“I’d actually like to know in what ways you don’t think I’m the serious type.”

As soon as she closed the door to our booth, Asou-san took a cigarette out of her pocket and lit it. It wasn’t like I cared if someone else smoked or drank, but seeing a fellow high school student brazenly smoking wasn’t a pleasant sight to see.

“So, what did you want to talk about? Hurry up and spit it out, it stinks in here.”

“Ah, sorry, sorry. But this is the only place I can smoke, you know. Just let me finish this one, okay?”

“Fine, I don’t mind. But… Have you always smoked?”

“Ah, well, I only started recently.”

Even though she’d looked completely unfazed while lighting up, she gave a slightly awkward smile when she answered my question.

“Because of a guy, maybe?”

“Hm, sharp as always. Seriously, Aoyama-kun, it’s like you’re living your second life.”

“If I were on my second life, I’d be living a lot more skillfully.”

“Ahaha, true enough. Well, you got it. I’ve… Fallen for someone recently. He’s a college student.”

“Oh? That’s a good thing, isn’t it? Are you two dating?”

“Uh, well, how should I put it… We’re more like… Sex friends?”

Saying that, Asou-san took a deep drag on her now-short cigarette and exhaled a big cloud of smoke.

“Sex friends, huh.”

“Yeah. I mean, I like him, so I go see him, but he’s just in it for the sex. He smokes too, so I thought maybe if I smoked with him he’d start to like me… But I ended up getting hooked myself.”

“So, what do you want to ask me?”

“…Do you think guys who treat girls like sex friends are the worst?”

As she put out her cigarette, Asou-san let those words slip out with the final exhaled smoke.

“…Generally speaking, yeah, they’re the worst.”

“R-right? He knows how I feel, and still treats me like that. He’s awful, isn’t he? He only contacts me when he wants sex, and never says a word otherwise.”

She sounded unusually flustered and whiny, and at first I didn’t really understand what she was getting at. But I started to get it. Basically, she wanted someone to tell her to stop. She wanted someone to tell her that a guy who toyed with a person’s feelings was trash. That she should leave someone like that. That being sex friends was no good.

“…But, if both people are fine with it, isn’t it okay?”

“Huh?”

“No, sorry. I just mean. If you’re happy just being with him, isn’t that enough?”

“Th-that’s true, but still…”

“If he likes things the way they are with you now, wouldn’t pushing for more make him decide he’s done with you?”

As I said that to Asou-san, a complicated feeling stirred inside me—one I couldn’t put into words. Without knowing exactly what it was, I continued.

“Of course, I don’t think a guy like that is good either. But even if you stopped seeing him, you wouldn’t be able to just stop liking him, right?”

“…Yeah. You’re weirdly mature, you know that, Aoyama-kun?”

“I just think there’s no need to force things into a particular shape. If you hate him, or if seeing him becomes painful, then just don’t meet him anymore. You just need to keep meeting him while you want it too.”

“I know that in my head, but not everyone can be as dry as you.”

She reached for a second cigarette but stopped her hand mid-motion.

“You’re not going to smoke?”

“I’ll pass. Last time we kissed, he said ‘you reek of smoke.’”

“So you’re going to see him after this?”

“Ahaha~ You really see right through everything, huh? It’s like I can’t even tell who’s the senpai here.”

She tucked the cigarette back into her pocket, then left the room ahead of me. When I caught up, she had already paid the bill and said to me.

“Thanks for today.”

With a strained smile directed my way, Asou-san turned and walked off.

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Chapter 6: 

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Because I parted ways with Asou-san earlier than I’d expected, I ended up getting back home before it got dark. It was dusk.

On weekdays, it would have been right around the time Kurenai and I were in bed together. Our bodies collided, day after day, without getting bored of each other.

Well, I guessed it was the same for her too. But I wondered if there was some reason she never showed up on weekends. Maybe she had strict parents. Maybe she had lessons or cram school.

…Or maybe she had a boyfriend.

I’d never even thought about things like that before. Maybe having sex every day had just ramped up my sex drive.

“Hm?”

As I was fiddling with my phone, I got a LINE message.

『Thanks for earlier. I’m going to try facing him properly.』

It was from Asou-san. We’d exchanged LINE contacts on my first day at the part-time job to coordinate shifts, but this was the first private message she’d ever sent me.

“…I should probably reply to her.”

Since I rarely messaged anyone, it took me quite a while to write a response.

『Thank you for the treat. Good luck.』

In the end, that was all I sent. Maybe because I took so long, she never read it afterward.

She was probably with the guy she’d been talking about, maybe smoking together.

As I thought about that, I recalled my conversation with Asou-san and reflected a bit. I had said what I did at the time, but wasn’t being able to sleep with the person you liked already something to be grateful for? There were probably countless people out there who could never get the person they wanted no matter how much they wished for it.

Some people couldn’t even find anyone willing to sleep with them in the first place. Thinking about that, Asou-san seemed pretty lucky. And maybe I was too.

Sitting around feeling down just because my sex friend didn’t come over sometimes might be a luxury of its own.

“…I’m bored.”

Maybe because I’d done uncharacteristic things like going out with people the past two days, the time felt even longer than normal. I just lay there for a while, staring blankly at the ceiling. And before I knew it, night had fallen.

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“Welcome!”

When I went to the nearest convenience store, the college-aged part-timer who was always there greeted me with a smile. When I had time to kill, I usually read manga there for a bit, then bought a drink and some snacks before heading home. As I flipped through a manga I didn’t really want to read in the quiet store, another LINE message arrived.

『Sorry, I suddenly had to take tomorrow off from work. Work might be hectic at that time, but I’m counting on you.』

Another message from Asou-san. That kind of personal message was also a first. It was probably something to do with that guy. Maybe things had gone well, or maybe she’d been rejected and was feeling down. Either way, I had no reason to pry any further.

『Understood. Take your time.』

I sent a short, dry reply, and this time it was marked as read right away, but she didn’t send anything back. All that was certain was that tomorrow we’d be one person short at work, so my workload would increase.

I guess I should head home and rest.

Thinking that, I put the book back on the shelf.

“Welcome!”

Someone walked into the store. I glanced over without thinking and—

“Ah.” “Ah.”

We both spoke at the same time. It was Kurenai.

“…What are you doing here?”

“Nothing. Just reading. What about you, did you come to buy something?”

“Nothing. Don’t pry.”

As she said that, she walked over to the magazine section where I was standing.

“…What?”

“You read manga?”

“I don’t. But if we stand far apart and talk loudly, it’ll bother the store, right?”

“Ah, yeah, you’re right.”

Looking at her—this girl I’d been having sex with every day—I felt a strange sense of nervousness. Maybe because it wasn’t our usual meeting time. Or maybe it was seeing her in casual clothes, something I wasn’t used to. Or maybe because I was dressed so sloppily myself. Or… Something else.

“Why do you look so awkward? Are you meeting up with a girl or something?”

“No way. What about you? Are you going to see a guy?”

“Gross. Jealous guys are seriously disgusting.”

“I’m not jealous. So what do you want?”

Standing beside me, Kurenai looked as calm and indifferent as ever, totally unlike my unsettled self.

“Are you free after this?”

“Yeah, I’m free.”

“I see. Then I’ll grab a drink, so wait here.”

She quickly picked up a bottle of tea, paid at the register, and came back to me. Then, in a quiet voice, without meeting my eyes, she said.

“I’m coming over tonight.”

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