My Cute, Quiet Girlfriend Since Childhood Is Walking Down a Love Hotel Street With a Guy Who Is Not Me - Part 3 - Harumi Hinagiku
ㅤI first met Ruka when I was in the third grade of elementary school.
ㅤAt that time, I was just happy that one of my classmates had moved nearby.
ㅤHowever, it didn’t take long for me to fall in love with Ruka-kun.
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ㅤRuka-kun protected me from being bullied.
ㅤNothing big happened, but as we played together for a long time, I started feeling that it was fun to play with Ruka-kun. I felt relaxed when talking with him, and that I was happy to greet him before anyone else at school when I arrived at school. ㅤThese feelings accumulated day by day, and before I knew it, I had already fallen in love with Ruka-kun.
ㅤBut it seemed that Ruka-kun didn’t seem to think of me as anything more than a good friend who lived next door.
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ㅤRuka-kun is a very kind boy.
ㅤHe knew that I didn’t like to play with many people, so he always gave priority to playing with me.
ㅤHowever, because Ruka-kun might be bullied if he hung out with me too much, I suggested to him that sometimes, he should accept the others’ invitations to play with them.
ㅤRuka-kun kept saying things like “Hinagiku-chan is awesome for thinking of so many things!” and praised me a lot.
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ㅤWhenever he played with other friends, Ruka-kun would always report to me.
ㅤI had never asked him to, but Ruka-kun said, “We always go home together, so if I disappeared without saying anything, it would make you sad, wouldn’t it?”, and kept on doing so.
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ㅤRu- Ruka-kun, you are too kind!
ㅤMy heart hurts because of how much I love you.
ㅤI love you, Ruka-kun. I love you I love you I love you I love you!
ㅤI hope we can get married someday. I’ll be happy if that happens. Papa and Mama love Ruka-kun too, so even if we say we’re getting married now, it should be allowed, right?
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ㅤHowever, it seems that Ruka-kun entered puberty when we entered junior high school, and sometimes he would say cold things to me, but afterwards he would always shyly say, “That doesn’t mean I don’t like you, Hinagiku,” which was super cute.
ㅤBesides, he goes to and from school every day and plays with me as well.
ㅤRuka-kun has always remained kind to me.
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ㅤBut, one thing I wasn’t too happy about was that he didn’t come over to my house as much anymore.
ㅤI knew he was an adolescent boy and that he might have been embarrassed to enter the room of a girl. But until just two months ago, he had been coming and going many times, so it would have been nice if he had come as usual.
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ㅤHe was a bit twisted like that, but sometime in the second year of junior high school, he suddenly came to my house and invited me to go to Octo Park.
ㅤWe didn’t really play there much anymore, but it’s one of the places that I treasure the most because it is filled with countless many memories of Ruka-kun and I.
ㅤSo I was really happy when Ruka-kun invited me.
ㅤI changed my clothes and hurriedly got ready.
ㅤI put on the cute floral one-piece dress and cardigan that my mom bought me the other day and went to see Ruka-kun downstairs, who had a surprised look on his face.
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‘Eh? Could it be that these clothes look weird on me?’, I thought to myself.
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ㅤI was a little worried, but Ruka-kun said, “Shall we get going?”. I told him that I was happy that he asked me to come with him, from the bottom of my heart, and suddenly Ruka-kun looked into my eyes and said “I like you”.
ㅤThat caught me completely off-guard, so I accidentally let out a “Eh?” in a dumb voice. Then Ruka-kun began to claim that “It’s nothing” so I confronted him about it saying “You said that you liked something didn’t you?”. Ruka-kun confessed his feelings for me and apologized for his attitude towards me till now.
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ㅤTo be honest, I didn’t really mind it because Ruka-kun being a tsundere was really cute, but from his point of view, I think he had thought that he had done something terrible. Even imagining Ruka-kun going home after doing his tsundere act, burying his face in his pillow and screaming “Uwaaaa!” is so cute that it makes my heart pound.
ㅤWell, I don’t think he would have done such a thing.
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ㅤMaybe because he was embarrassed to tell me how he felt; he looked away and closed his eyes. That gesture was way too adorable. I just couldn’t resist hugging him. And when I confessed my feelings to Ruka-kun, he opened his eyes and he hugged me tightly as our gazes met.
ㅤI was so happy that I pressed my face against his chest, but I had forgotten that we were still at the front door of my house.
ㅤRuka-kun suddenly pulled me away from him, and I heard Mama’s voice behind me.
ㅤAfter I complained to my mom, we finally went to Octo Park, and talked a lot.
ㅤThe tsundere Ruka-kun was cute, but the Ruka-kun who smiled happily and talked with me was unbeatable.
ㅤWe confessed our feelings to each other again, and we officially became a couple.
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ㅤEven after entering high school, Ruka-kun and I remained close.
ㅤI still love Ruka-kun very much, so I recognize boys other than him not as the opposite sex, but as other living beings.
ㅤHowever, since entering high school, things have been getting more troublesome.
ㅤEveryday when I come to school in the morning, I find love letters in my shoe box.
ㅤEven though everyone sees that I come to school and go home with Ruka-kun everyday, why do I still keep receiving love letters?
ㅤOf course, Ruka-kun, who comes with me every morning, knows this.
ㅤEvery time Ruka-kun sees a love letter in my shoe box, he looks a little sad.
ㅤWhen this happens, I feel angry at the sender of the love letter, who made Ruka-kun make such an expression.
ㅤThat is why I never look inside the letters, and just throw them away when I get home.
ㅤI’ve never looked inside them, and I’ve never once gone to where they were supposed to confess their love to me.
ㅤSometimes I would be called up in person, but I would decline on the spot, saying that I would not be coming.
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ㅤWhenever they would come up to me, it was always when Ruka-kun wasn’t present.
ㅤHow cowardly.
ㅤI want to tell them that If they can’t invite me in front of Ruka-kun, to not come up to me at all.
ㅤActually, I have said it.
ㅤBut I didn’t go too hard on him…
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ㅤRuka-kun and I are very close, but we are not together at all hours of the day.
ㅤWe have friends of our own, so it’s normal for us to chat with our friends during breaks.
ㅤHowever, we only have the lunch period together, and I am not willing to give up that time with him to anyone else.
ㅤI was living a pretty peaceful school life like that, despite the love letters and other bothersome things. But about halfway through the first semester, some people from the “top caste” started talking to me.
ㅤThe most popular guy in our school, Goutoku Hayate-kun was also among them. To be honest, I don’t really know why he is so popular.
ㅤCertainly, he is above average-looking, and his grades are excellent enough to get into this school. Apparently, his parents are big shots at some company. When I heard about this from my friend, I was like, “So what?”
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“Oh, Harumi-san.”
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ㅤRuka-kun was helping the student council today, so I was on my way home when I heard a familiar voice calling me.
ㅤI turned around to see Goutoku-kun walking with his friends, Koyama-san and Morito-kun.
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“You’re on your way home, aren’t you? Let’s go home together”, he invited me. I had no reason to refuse, so we were on our way home when Kouyama-san said, “How about we take a break at a cafe”. I tried to refuse, but she said that she wanted to get to know me better, so I was kind of forced to agree. Morito-kun said, “I know a nice place that we could go to” and took us to a cafe on a pretty shady street. Few students use this street because it’s known for its love hotels.
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ㅤAt first we were having a casual conversation, but Morito-kun said he had something to do and left, and then a little later Koyama-san also left. I was about to leave with Koyama-san, but Goutoku-kun insisted that I should stay, so I had no choice but to stay. I think he had probably planned this situation from the beginning. If that was the case, he might try to make a move on me. I decided that if he did, it would be best if I rejected him clearly.
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ㅤThat’s what I was planning on doing, but then he suddenly asked me about my relationship with Ruka-kun. I told him that we were very close because I had no need to hide that from him. He then suddenly started prying about the more sensitive sides of our relationship. This made me a little annoyed, so I said, “That’s none of your business, is it?”, but he continued to say that he wanted to help me.
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ㅤHe wants to help?
ㅤHelp with what?
ㅤIt’s true that Ruka-kun and I haven’t had that kind of relationship yet.
ㅤBut we have promised that we’d do it on my next birthday.
ㅤI made a sad face when I remembered that I really wanted to do it with Ruka-kun, on my birthday last year, but perhaps seeing my expression made Goutoku-kun misunderstand?
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ㅤWithout giving an answer to Goutoku-kun, I told him I had to use the restroom and got up from my seat.
ㅤOnce in the bathroom, I sat down on the toilet and tried to figure out what he was up to.
ㅤGoutoku-kun probably likes me.
ㅤIf he does, then he might be trying to split me and Ruka-kun apart.
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ㅤThat is unforgivable.
ㅤThere is no way I could forgive such a thing.
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ㅤBut along with my anger came fear.
ㅤOne of the reasons I have never gone to a confession is that I don’t trust men other than Ruka-kun.
ㅤIf I refused the confession and he tried to force himself onto me, there is no way a weak person like me would be able to overpower him.
ㅤSo by rejecting him, I was also protecting myself.
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ㅤHowever, right now we are at a cafe, so he probably won’t use forceful means.
ㅤStill, you never know what he might say.
ㅤAnd I still don’t exactly know what he meant by “I want to help you”.
ㅤFrom what precedes that statement, I would assume that it’s something sexual, but what is it really that he wants to help me with?
ㅤI don’t know what he has in mind, but I would like to prepare a trap for him.
ㅤSo I took my phone out of my bag, opened the voice recording app, started recording, and returned to my seat with a nonchalant look on my face.
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ㅤThe next morning I was on my way to school with Ruka-kun as usual, but something was a bit off about him.
ㅤI don’t know how to describe it, but he didn’t seem to be interested in what I was saying to him, or rather, he didn’t seem to be interested in what I said.
ㅤWhen I asked him if anything was wrong, he just said, “Nothing.”
ㅤMaybe he somehow knew that I was with Goutoku-kun yesterday.
ㅤBut if I told him what I was planning on doing, he would definitely stop me because of how kind he is.
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ㅤI’m sorry.
ㅤPlease let me be selfish for a little longer.
ㅤSo that I won’t be approached by any man other than Ruka-kun again.
ㅤAnd to prevent other girls from being deceived by the words of guys who say such things.
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