Kicked Out of the Bottom Soccer Team, I Found My Strength Thanks to My Beautiful Junior Manager. What Began as a Simple Act of Kindness Turned into Her Coming Over Every Day. - Chapter 43: The Beautiful Manager’s Wrath.

Chapter 43: The Beautiful Manager’s Wrath.

The following day, Kana had successfully managed to maintain the high spirits she’d been carrying since the day before.

It was evident when she rang Takumi’s doorbell as usual to head to school with him, and it remained true throughout their practice sessions.

However, once practice ended and she headed toward the faculty office to return the storage room keys, her mood plummeted back to baseline—perhaps even below it—in an instant.

Haruhiro had called out to her. His expression was grim, devoid of any hint that he was looking for casual small talk.

“—Shirayuki, you got a second?”

“What is it, Niijima?”

“I need to talk to you. Let’s go somewhere else.”

To Kana, Haruhiro fell into the same category of person as Takeoka. While she didn’t think he was the type to lay hands on her forcefully like the former, the memory of that moment still flickered in her mind—the terror of having her wrist seized and being cornered.

I don’t want to be alone in a deserted place with a boy I don’t trust—.

The thought was visceral and firm.

“Sorry, I can’t. If you have something to say, say it here.”

“—!”

Taken aback by the blunt rejection, Haruhiro gasped. However, he quickly rationalized it: she must be under an immense amount of stress from Takumi’s stalking.

“Fine. I’ll be direct… Shirayuki, Takumi-san has been following you around lately, hasn’t he?”

“…Huh?”

Kana knit her brows. From her perspective, if anyone was doing the “following,” she felt it was probably her, so the comment simply made no sense. Haruhiro, however, interpreted her confusion differently.

(That reaction… is she being threatened by that guy for some reason? Is she trying to cover for him?)

If that was the case, he had to be the one to liberate her. Suppressing a surge of self-righteous excitement, Haruhiro pitched his voice to be as gentle as possible.

“It’s okay. I’m on your side, Shirayuki. You can tell me the truth.”

“…What makes you think that?”

“I mean, think about it. It’s common sense. A girl as talented and beautiful as you wouldn’t hang around someone like Takumi-san—someone who was stuck in the third string until recently and has such plain looks—unless there was a reason.”

Haruhiro looked almost smug. He was intoxicated by his own narrative, believing himself to be a hero of justice beyond a shadow of a doubt.

“…Huh?”

To Kana, his logic was not only flawed but utterly offensive.

(What is this guy talking about? Is he seriously bad-mouthing Takumi-senpai right now?)

For a moment, she considered listing every single way Takumi was superior to Haruhiro. But before she could, a realization struck her.

“…Hey. Did you say something similar to Senpai yesterday?”

“Yeah. He tried to play dumb. But don’t worry. If he tries anything, I’ll—”

“—Are you kidding me?”

“…What?”

Kana stepped toward the stunned Haruhiro. If she let her guard down, she felt like she might start screaming. She had just enough rationality left to keep her voice down, but only just.

“Now I know why Takumi-senpai was so unusually irritated yesterday. Niijima, what the hell are you actually doing? Who asked you to say that? If your baseless assumptions ruin my relationship with Takumi-senpai, how do you plan on taking responsibility for that?!”

“Wha—I—!”

Haruhiro was completely overwhelmed as Kana pressed him, a vein practically throbbing in her forehead.

“And another thing—who even are you to me? You’re nobody. You aren’t even a friend, so what makes you think you know anything about me?”

“…!”

Haruhiro was speechless. To be told he wasn’t even a friend by the very person he was trying to “save” like a storybook hero was a devastating blow.

But Kana couldn’t have cared less about his shock.

“You think Takumi-senpai is stalking me? If you looked at me while I was talking to him and actually thought that, you seriously need to go to a hospital. Acting on your own delusions without even bothering to ask for my opinion is a massive nuisance. It’s nonsensical and honestly pathetic.”

“Now, wait… that’s uncalled for! I—I was doing this for your sake, Shirayuki—”

“Hah? Then why did you go meddling with Takumi-senpai without asking me first?”

“That’s… because…”

Haruhiro stammered. Kana’s glare sharpened.

“See? You can’t even answer a simple question. In the end, you just didn’t like the fact that Takumi-senpai and I are close, right? You didn’t give a damn about me. You’re just being self-centered.”

Kana was aware she might be crossing a line. But Haruhiro had insulted Takumi and committed a blunder that could have jeopardized her bond with him.

(He’s seriously the worst…!)

Kana felt an unprecedented level of rage. She couldn’t stop her tongue, which seemed to move with a spiteful will of its own as her temper hit a boiling point.

“People who push their own desires and fantasies onto others without thinking about the other person’s feelings at all… I really ha—”

“Shirayuki-san!”

Just as Kana was about to deliver the final blow, a sharp voice cut her off. Her eyes went wide.

“…Eh? Takumi-senpai?!”

Takumi appeared, slightly out of breath. Kana blinked in surprise.

“W-why are you here?”

“I heard a report that Haruhiro was following you. I had a bad feeling, so I came as fast as I could.”

“…So it really was this guy’s fault you were annoyed yesterday.”

“Well, pretty much.”

“You… seriously…!”

Kana turned her glare back to Haruhiro. Takumi placed a steadying hand on her shoulder.

“Calm down, Shirayuki-san.”

“But he was sticking his nose where it didn’t belong!”

“He was. There’s no doubt he’s in the wrong. But that doesn’t mean you should say just anything that comes to mind.”

“…!”

Knowing she had been on the verge of going too far, Kana fell silent. Takumi gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze and offered a small smile before turning to the dazed Haruhiro.

“Haruhiro, I believe you were genuinely thinking about Shirayuki-san in your own way. I get it—on paper, it probably doesn’t look like she and I should be together. But if that was the case, you should have spoken to her first. More importantly, you should have considered the possibility that your assumptions, which had no evidence, were wrong.”

“…”

Haruhiro bit his lip, his gaze dropping to the floor. Takumi kept his tone intentionally gentle—partly to reach Haruhiro without triggering more hostility, and partly to keep his own rising anger from spiraling out of control.

“It’s not a bad thing to have ideals or wishes for how things should be. But when other people are involved, you have to step back and look at things objectively. Otherwise, you end up in situations like this. Be careful from now on. If you don’t, things will take a turn that nobody wants, and the person who loses the most in that scenario will be you.”

“—!”

Haruhiro’s eyes snapped wide. Takumi gave Kana’s back a light pat, signaling it was time to go, and they began to walk away.