Chapter 37 – That’s It, Let’s Ask Him on a Date

Around the time Shinta was stopped by the girl named Sayaka, Ichizu and Miina had already started heading home ahead of him. Ideally, they would have wanted to sandwich their beloved between them and walk home together. The man himself had told them to go on ahead without worrying about him.

“I wonder if Shinta-kun will be okay?”

Even after stepping off the school grounds, Ichizu muttered this while constantly glancing back over her shoulder. That girl who called herself Sayaka wasn’t a new rival appearing. However, in a way, that made her all the more bothersome.

“That girl really had her hostility toward Shinta on full display, didn’t she?”

Yes, that girl had shown a blatantly combative attitude toward Shinta. Even thinking back on it now, the way she insulted Shinta refused to leave Ichizu’s head. He was her savior and the man she loved.

“Maybe we really should go back…”

Fortunately, they were still close enough to see the school in the distance. Ichizu debated whether they should return. However, Miina shook her head with a calm tone.

“You shouldn’t. Shinta himself was the one who urged us to go home first, after all.”

“But… aren’t you worried, Miina-san? I mean, that girl was clearly…”

“Well, yeah. No matter how you look at it, that girl definitely didn’t have a friendly vibe toward Shinta~”

Miina answered before Ichizu could even finish her sentence. Her expression remained as casual as ever.

When that Sayaka had verbally abused Shinta, Miina had bared her anger just like Ichizu had. So why was she able to stay so calm now? Ichizu felt a sense of doubt. Miina’s next words made everything click into place.

“Well, I was pretty fired up earlier. Thinking about it calmly, it doesn’t really matter to me what she thinks of Shinta.”

“Th-That’s such a cold way of putting it…”

“Cold? No, no, that’s not it. What I mean by ‘it doesn’t matter’ is that no matter what the people around us think, the fact that I love Shinta won’t ever waver.”

To Miina, Shinta was clumsy but incredibly kind. He was a person who would always stay close to someone in pain. No matter what the people around him thought, she could definitively state that she had zero intention of ever leaving his side. She would stay even if everyone in the whole school became his enemy. That was exactly why what others thought of him didn’t matter.

“I love Shinta no matter what anyone thinks♡ I can confidently say he’s the one I love most in this world~♡”

Seeing Miina say this with an ecstatic expression, Ichizu felt like she was somehow falling behind. She hurriedly replied.

“I-I feel the exact same way! So I have no intention of losing!”

“Ahaha, what are you panicking for? But well… even if we’re fine with it, it’s still tough knowing that Shinta’s heart is hurting…”

“Yeah… You’re right…”

Ichizu also felt that while he was sensitive to the pain of others, he was somewhat indifferent to his own. He was probably able to rationalize it like that because he felt indebted due to his bad reputation from middle school.

The two girls’ prediction was more or less spot on. Having lived a long time as a delinquent, Shinta had pinned down opponents with his fists countless times. Of course, every single one of those opponents were the kind of scumbags who deserved to be beaten. Even so, the fact that he had hurt people remained a fact. He was still dragging that dark past around with him.

“If possible, I really want Shinta-kun to start cherishing himself more, though…”

Ichizu said this, but no concrete ideas came to mind. The two continued their walk home draped in a slightly awkward atmosphere. Suddenly, they heard a loud female voice coming from ahead.

“I’m tell-ing you, I’m just asking for one more time!”

“Give me a break already. It’s seriously embarrassing…”

(That uniform… I think that’s Shinsei High School’s…)

Walking toward them was a boy and a girl on their way home from school. They were wearing uniforms from a different high school. The boy had a baby face and gave off a quiet, somewhat childish impression for a high schooler. The girl had twin tails and carried a strong-willed, dominant aura. The couple made brief eye contact with Ichizu and Miina. They gave a light nod of acknowledgment before immediately slipping back into their own little world and resuming their conversation.

“Jeez… Manami, could you please stop trying to make me crossdress already?”

“But I get the urge to see it periodically! Ryouta’s cute little outfits, that is♡”

“You said last time that it was going to be the absolute last time…”

“Then this time will be my once-in-a-lifetime request!”

Ichizu looked with envy at the boy and girl as they walked away.

(So nice…)

Judging from how intimately they were walking with their arms linked, they were definitely a couple. She had linked arms with the man she loved before, too. They had never locked arms like those two, though. The couple held on as if they would never let each other go. In her case, she had merely been the one one-sidedly grabbing onto Shinta-kun’s arm.

“That was a couple just now, wasn’t it? That kind of vibe is so enviable~”

It seemed Miina-san felt the exact same way. She directed a gaze of sheer envy at the two who were now far off in the distance.

“Ah, right! I just thought of something good.”

The moment the couple disappeared from sight, Miina clapped her hands together with a pop. She seemingly had a flash of inspiration.

“In order to get Shinta to cherish himself more, I think a good move would be to make him strongly realize that he’s an absolutely indispensable existence to someone else. Basically, make him think that if he gets hurt, someone else gets hurt, too.”

“I see… That might actually be a good move. But how do we make him conscious of that…?”

When Ichizu questioned the concrete method to achieve this, Miina fired back as if she had been waiting for exactly that.

“Well, simply put, how about we take him on a date and make him completely fall head over heels for us? Once Shinta is totally captivated by us, we hit him with this: ‘Please, I want you to cherish yourself more.'”

“Will it really go that smoothly? Besides, that plan… isn’t it just because you want to go on a date, Miina-san…?”

“Well, there’s definitely that, too. But it’s not a bad plan, right? If you’re not feeling it, I can just execute this operation all by myself…”

“Like I’d let you… Of course I’m in total agreement♡ Besides, I was planning on asking Shinta-kun out on a date soon anyway, so this is actually perfect timing♡”

“Ehh, aren’t you aggressive, Ichizu. Well, to tell the truth, so was I♡”

Perhaps the idea of a date appealed to her immensely. Before she knew it, Ichizu’s eyes had turned into those of a starved carnivore. Syncing up with her, Miina also formed a dangerously suggestive smile.

“Alriiiight, then there’s no time like the present. We execute the plan tomorrow after school.”

“Yeah, no objections here.”

At first, the two had been discussing the past and the emotional pain Shinta carried. Now, only about ten percent of their original topic remained in their minds. The other ninety percent was completely consumed by the date tomorrow. It was decided in a place entirely unbeknownst to the man himself.

“Ufufufufu… Hurry up and be tomorrow already♡♡♡”