I'm a Kept Man for the Three Most Beautiful Girls in School - Chapter 17: Tsu-Chan and Kokoa

Chapter 17: Tsu-Chan and Kokoa

Footsteps. I can hear footsteps. And voices too.

“Sorry, Tsukasa-chan, we were lured by Kokoa.”

“Don’t blame others. Just show us the way quickly.”

“And don’t think of escaping, you all—we’re seriously angry.”

“Both of you, this way.”

Three pairs of hurried footsteps drew closer.

I had been moving so frantically that I must have unconsciously blocked out the surrounding noise, but those footsteps reached my ears clearly.

When I snapped back to reality, Keage-san was leaning her head against my chest, panting heavily with her tongue out.

“K-Keage-san?”

“…”

(No response. Oh no, it looks like I might have overdone it.)

Finally, it dawned on me that Keage-san might have fainted.

The timing was impeccable. While I was trying to make sense of the situation, the door to the room opened, and three sets of footsteps rushed inside.

“”Ah… Ahhhhhhhh!!””

“Calm down, both of you. Blaming Kei-kun is not the right thing to do.”

As I suspected, the footsteps belonged to my loved ones. 

Tsu-chan and Chikage, both with their eyes wide in shock, and Sakura, who was trying to calm them down, saw me, stark naked and restrained. Their shoulders trembled like a volcano about to erupt.

※

The three members of the swimming club were sitting in a formal seiza position.

Only Keage-san had her hands tied behind her back.

I was no longer restrained, and though it might be a bit much to say the tables had turned, our positions were definitely reversed.

Tsu-chan, Chikage, and Sakura were glaring at the four with furious expressions, like demons. Keage-san, on the other hand, was equally enraged.

“If you don’t want us to report you to the police, delete all the videos you took right now. And spend the rest of your life making amends to Okeihan. Understand? If you don’t…”

Tsu-chan raised her right hand high and chopped down on a steel can, crushing it into a bent shape.

“You’ll all end up like this.”

Uwa… Tsu-chan becomes terrifying when she’s angry. Scary. But it’s also true that I felt relieved that this long ordeal was finally coming to an end.

Keage-san aside, the others were clearly frightened by Tsu-chan’s rage, nodding vigorously with teary eyes.

“Ahaha…! Tsukasa, do you think you can threaten me with that?”

But Keage-san provocatively taunted Tsu-chan, as if pouring gasoline on the fire.

“…”

However, Tsu-chan did not rise to the provocation. 

Instead, she seemed to pity Keage-san.

“Kokoa-chan, I’m really angry. If you mess with Kei again, I won’t forgive you.”

“Huh? So what if you won’t forgive me? What can you even do, Karasuma?”

“Is that a provocation?”

Chikage rummaged through her blazer pocket and pulled out a dull, shining fruit knife, holding it in her right hand.

“C-Chikage… where did you get that?”

“From Tsukasa’s house.”

“P-Put it away, it’s dangerous!”

“I can’t forgive anyone who did this to Kei.”

Chikage’s pupils were fully dilated. 

Keage-san, sensing the tense atmosphere, gasped and took a step back, while the three swimming club members were visibly scared.

“H-Haha… you think you can threaten me with that?”

“Kokoa-chan, you think I won’t stab you, right?”

“H-Huh? But if you stab me, it’ll be a big problem, a real incident.”

“C-Chikage, calm down.”

“It’s okay, Tsukasa. If it’s for Kei, I can eliminate this person. So she can never set foot in our world again.”

“Idiot, Chikage. Idiot! It’s dangerous, put the knife down.”

“I won’t take her life—but she should be ready to lose a leg or two.”

“A-A-Alright, Karasuma, I get it! I won’t mess with Kyosaka-chan again… so please.”

“If you’re going to apologize, apologize to Kei! You filthy bitch×☆△●#&☆!”

“C-Chikage, calm down!”

Tsu-chan restrained the rampaging Chikage. 

But she wouldn’t stop. The scene before me was a chaotic mix of suspense and horror. Simply put, it was terrifying.

But in times like this, I had to step up.

“Chikage, calm down.”

I moved in front of Chikage, hugging her while gently patting her head.

“It’s okay. I’m okay. So put the knife away.”

“But Kei, I…”

“It’s okay. Everything’s okay now, Chikage. Tsu-chan, Sakura, thank you… for coming to help me.”

After hugging her for a few more seconds, Chikage finally started to calm down, and the light returned to her eyes.

“Keage-san.”

When I called out to her, Keage-san flinched.

She must have been filled with a deep sense of regret. 

Based on her earlier monologue, I tried to understand her motives.

Jealousy towards the three school beauties, and loneliness (probably involving Tsu-chan)—these elements likely drove her to act impulsively.

It seemed her words carried a hint of not wanting to be left out.

If that’s the case, my avoidance was too blatant, and my excessive caution backfired.

“I’m sorry, Keage-san. You just wanted to talk normally, right?”

I tried to speak as gently as possible. After a brief silence, Keage-san’s shoulders started trembling, and then she burst into loud sobs.

※

After crying for a while, Keage-san finally calmed down. 

She was no longer restrained, but she didn’t try to stand up. Instead, she sat in the corner of the room with her head down, hugging her knees.

It was Tsu-chan who spoke to her.

“Stop being pathetic, Kokoa. Pull yourself together.”

“I don’t want to hear that from you, Tsukasa.”

“You kidnapped Okeihan, and then he forgave you, yet you still try to protect yourself? You haven’t changed at all since the old days.”

“Shut up…”

Keage-san rubbed her eyes roughly and muttered.

“It’s Tsukasa’s fault I ended up like this… You kept saying you couldn’t hang out, and the next day you couldn’t either… You left me alone and made new friends. It was you, Tsukasa!”

(So it was about Tsu-chan after all…)

“I told you, I wanted to focus seriously on my creative work. I didn’t abandon you, Kokoa. You just assumed that and sulked on your own, ignoring everything else.”

“Y-You don’t have to put it that way!”

The argument between Tsu-chan and Keage-san gradually heated up.

To summarize their points, it seemed to go something like this:

During elementary school, they were close friends, practicing karate at the same dojo. However, when they entered middle school, Tsu-chan became more involved in her creative activities, and they started drifting apart.

Before long, Chikage and Sakura were by Tsu-chan’s side, and feeling betrayed, Keage-san began to resent the three of them, often targeting them out of spite.

She tried to attract the attention of boys who had a crush on the three school beauties and caused various other troubles.

In short, Keage-san loved Tsu-chan a lot, and her need for attention had exploded into negative actions. 

The more I thought about it, the more it seemed like a tangled love story, making the whole situation feel almost anticlimactic.

Taking all this into account, I calmly analyzed my position.

(Yeah, from Keage-san’s perspective, I must seem like some random jerk who suddenly showed up.)

Standing next to Tsu-chan, Chikage, and Sakura put me in that exact position.

“Honestly, Kokoa, what you did is a crime—”

“Tsu-chan, it’s okay. Thank you for being angry on my behalf. Um, how should I put this… What Keage-san and the others did is definitely unforgivable, but everyone makes mistakes…”

“Mistakes?”

“I forgive you, Keage-san and others too.”

“Kei?”

“Kei-kun?”

“But, Okeihan… no, never mind. If that’s what you say, Okeihan, I have no choice but to accept it. But still—”

Tsu-chan flicked Keage-san’s forehead with her finger.

“Kokoa, promise Okeihan that you’ll never do something like this again.”

Holding her forehead and with tears in her eyes, Keage-san nodded.

“Kyosaka-chan… I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”

“No, I’m the one who should apologize for avoiding you. I didn’t mean to, but it must have seemed that way to you, right? I’m sorry.”

“No, it was all my fault… everything…”

Seeing someone cry when they’re vulnerable is unfair. 

When you witness it firsthand, you can’t help but want to reach out. Whether it’s just human nature or me being too soft, I don’t know.

In any case, I’m glad we managed to clear up Keage-san’s misunderstanding.

“Tsukasa… can we be friends again?”

“Huh? I never said we stopped being friends, not even once.”

That was Tsu-chan’s answer.

Her honest feelings, unchanged from the past and likely to remain the same in the future.

Keage-san, who had misunderstood on her own, burst into tears and hugged Tsu-chan, sobbing.

※

The next morning in the classroom.

“Get away from Okeihan, Kokoa, stay away from him!”

“No way! I’ve decided to become Kyosaka-chan’s personal pet♡.”

“What!?”

“Hey, Kyosaka-chan♡. I lost ten matches in a row, so I’ll devote myself to you for life♡.”

“I’m honored, but I’ll pass.”

“Aww, Kyosaka-chan, you’re really cute… I want you to pet me♡.”

Keage-san clung to my arm, rubbing her cheek against it. Tsu-chan was stomping her foot, but I couldn’t even look at Chikage’s face because it was so scary.

“Hey Kokoa, step outside! You haven’t reflected enough, have you!?”

“Hmph, in the dojo, Tsukasa and I were evenly matched. Let’s settle this once and for all over Kyosaka-chan.”

“Fine. I knew we had to finish this. Today, we’ll settle it for good!”

Tsu-chan and Keage-san were getting more heated.

Just then, Chikage walked over slowly.

“Hey, can I join in?”

“Oh, uh… haha, Karasuma too?”

“What happened, Kokoa? Where did all your bravado go?”

“Tsukasa too. The three of us will compete for Kei, right?”

“Tsukasa… don’t you think we should run? This is bad.”

Tsu-chan and Keage-san stepped back, their faces tense.

Seeing the two of them, Chikage smiled.

As I drew the attention of the entire classroom, I could only laugh. It felt like my peaceful everyday life was slipping away.