Chapter 25 – What a Manly Junior You Are♡

Prompted by Shinta’s words, Kaoru had soon spoken of all the pent-up frustrations she had been storing away. The dissatisfactions she had continued to accumulate over the years were vast and varied. Expected to achieve much by those around her and possessing the talent to realize it, she had never once betrayed their expectations. However, due to that half-forced way of life, Kaoru’s mental state was already on the verge of collapsing, making the sheer number and variety of her grievances incomparable to those of an ordinary student.

Before they knew it, over twenty minutes had already passed since she started spilling her complaints. During that time, Shinta didn’t show a single annoyed grimace, choosing instead to remain compassionate and continuously accept her anguish.

Once she finally finished spewing out the negative emotions she had been harboring in her gut, she expressed her gratitude to Shinta for listening to her story this far.

“Haa… I feel much better. Thank you for keeping me company through such trivial nonsense for so long.”

“No, it’s fine as long as it took your mind off things even a little.”

“Heh heh, burdening you and then making you listen to my whining on top of it all… I truly am a pathetic human being.”

Her pent-up frustrations were gone, but Shinta could tell Kaoru’s heart was by no means completely clear. If anything, her expression remained overcast, clearly showing that she felt guilty for lashing out with her own selfish stress and clinging to his kindness.

The more she spoke, the more Shinta saw Kaoru being crushed by her own wretchedness, prompting him to speak up to the depressed girl.

“I don’t really think you’re pathetic, senpai. If anything, aren’t you a remarkably upstanding person, way more put-together than me or the other students?”

“…I appreciate the consideration, but I can’t be happy about it in this situation.”

Being called upstanding while exposing such a disgraceful state seemed to cause resentment to boil up inside her. Unable to completely hide that emotion, an air of displeasure began to cloak her expression. Sensing that shift in mood, Shinta dared to continue.

“Just so you know, I’m not just saying this to be nice. I’m only speaking my true feelings here. Because compared to you, senpai, I’m trash who couldn’t hold back and beat the crap out of a ton of people.”

Saying that, Shinta continued while opening and closing his fist.

“As you know, back in middle school, I went wild enough to make a name for myself in the delinquent scene. Brawls with punks from other schools were a daily occurrence, and as a result, I can’t even count on both hands the number of guys I sent to the hospital.”

“…”

“Well, I never bullied anyone, extorted money, or picked fights unreasonably myself. Even so, there’s a ton of people I injured by turning the tables on them. Compared to a guy like me, senpai, you’re practically a saint.”

“No, as I thought, you are a much better person than I am.”

Even to Shinta’s words, Kaoru shook her head. Shinta could easily guess what she was thinking. She likely viewed his past brawls as unavoidable situations where he was attacked by those aiming for the title of Demon God, constituting legitimate self-defense. In contrast, she probably saw herself as someone who used daily stress as an excuse to wield her strength against an innocent person.

“In the past, I’ve also thrown tantrums at my father’s dojo using stress as an excuse. Despite having a past like that, I attacked an innocent student like you again. Unlike you, I am rotten to the core.”

“Haa…”

Faced with Kaoru criticizing herself endlessly, Shinta seriously agonized over what to do.

(Half-hearted opinions are just gonna leave her moping forever. In that case… maybe I should try a slightly aggressive approach?)

Deciding on his course of action, Shinta braced himself, grabbed the shoulders of the still-despondent Kaoru, and made her turn around.

“K-Kamiji-kun? Whatever are you…”

“Listen, senpai. If a lot of stuff ever builds up inside you again, rely on me.”

Saying that, Shinta pierced Kaoru with a direct, unwavering gaze. Before Shinta’s boundlessly powerful eyes, she found herself unable to say anything, looking completely drawn in.

“Everyone accumulates stress. But you see, it’s exactly because you’re a strong woman that you couldn’t expose your inner weakness to anyone, right? But showing a little weakness to the guy who beat you shouldn’t be anything to be ashamed of, right?”

“That is… but to cause you any more trouble…”

“Stop sweating the small stuff.”

Saying that, Shinta forcefully patted Kaoru’s head.

“I already see right through you—that you’re actually a weak-hearted woman. So don’t try to act tough in front of me, Kaoru.”

“Hau…”

Shinta spoke as if he were seducing her, but he had an ulterior motive for this. If he just comforted her like this, she would never recover. Therefore, he thought that by intentionally showing a strong side of himself, he could cure her bad habit of bottling things up alone. If he interacted with her from a position of strength, she wouldn’t force herself to accumulate stress and would start venting her frustrations to him. He calculated that once she got used to that, she would eventually be able to speak her mind to other students and teachers as well, eventually settling down.

“See ya. If anything comes up, rely on me. I’ll lend you a hand anytime.”

Saying that, Shinta intentionally didn’t say anything more and walked out of the dojo.

(Alright, this should be fine for now.)

Perhaps overwhelmed by the intimidating attitude he showed at the end, his senpai’s posture had somewhat shrunk. He figured he should reflect a bit on taking such a threatening approach, but if this acted as a catalyst for her to become someone who could show weakness to others, then eventually his role would be completely unnecessary.

That was what Shinta was thinking, but his prediction missed the mark completely.

Left all alone in the dojo, Kaoru pressed firmly against her chest, which was beating like a fire alarm, wearing an expression of intense arousal.

“Ahh, Kamiji-kun… what… what a manly junior you are♡ Making me feel this serious… I’ll absolutely make you take responsibility♡♡”

The eyes with which she made that declaration were even more love-crazed than when she had gone on her rampage during the match.