[Sad News] Living Together with the Unattainable Beauty—Her Overwhelming Affection Is Way Too Calculated - 11

Chapter 11: Apparently, a Flag Got Triggered

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My weekend was spent in an anime-watching session with Fujigaya-san. That event brought about a definite, undeniable change in my heart. I had been able to talk normally with Fujigaya-san.

We laughed together, saying we liked the same things. That simple fact seeped into my heart like a drop of water soaking into parched earth, giving rise to the tiniest sprout of confidence.

And what I couldn’t forget was Fujigaya-san’s loungewear that night. She was cute. Just plain cute. And also, a little erotic.

No matter how hard I tried not to look, my eyes kept catching it—the deep neckline where I clearly saw cleavage, the shape of her chest, and above all, those protruding tips. 

She wasn’t wearing a bra… Right? Th-that must be how you’re supposed to wear it. She’s a model, after all—there’s no way she’d get it wrong.

Her image wouldn’t leave my head, and so I tossed and turned, sleepless, until I stumbled into Monday’s lunch break. I was dying to share the excitement of that weekend with someone. Absolutely not about the boobs—about the anime.

In the corner of the classroom, our haven for us introverted types, I was talking to my otaku friends Kimura and Satou, giving an unusually heated commentary on Magical Girl Magical☆Ruby the Movie.

“Man, it was seriously amazing! Especially the climax—the team-up scene between Ruby and that other kid tied in perfectly with the foreshadowing from the TV series… You couldn’t watch that without crying!”

I gestured wildly as I explained, and Kimura, munching on a yakisoba bread roll, said in admiration.

“Whoa, Gen-chan, you already watched it? That was fast! I haven’t seen it yet.”

“Well, yeah. I streamed it the second it went live on Saturday night!”

I puffed my chest out a little proudly. But then Satou, who had been sipping a suspiciously colored energy drink beside us, gave me a sly grin and asked.

“Ohh? Saturday night, huh? Must’ve been a lonely evening spent with anime, right, Gen-chan? You watched it alone?”

His teasing tone hit a nerve. And with the lingering high from the weekend still buzzing inside me, my mouth became far too loose.

“Well, actually…”

By the time I realized my mistake, it was too late. I faltered for just a moment, but their looks—“of course he was alone”—fueled my stubbornness.

“…I watched it with Fujigaya-san.”

Silence. In that instant. The air around us in the corner of the classroom froze solid. Time stopped.

Kimura froze with yakisoba bread still in his mouth. Satou was stuck mid-sip, turned entirely to stone. And I myself was paralyzed, thinking I had made a grave mistake.

“…Hah?”

“What did you just say…?”

Snapping back to themselves, they dropped what they were holding on the desk and grabbed me firmly by the shoulders from both sides, shaking me violently.

“Hey, Gen-chan! What the hell do you mean! Explain in detail!”

“You’re telling me—you and Fujigaya-san—the two of you! At night! In a locked room! Watching anime together!? What kind of event is that supposed to be!?”

“C-calm down! It was just…We are just housemates, that’s all!”

I scrambled desperately to explain.

“Housemates!?”

“Whaaaaaaaaaat!?”

I dug the hole deeper. I quickly slapped my hands over my mouth, but it was already too late. Their eyes gleamed like hunters who had just spotted a legendary rare monster.

“Gen-chan… So all this time, you’ve been secretly living some insane, ultra-normie lifestyle behind our backs…”

Kimura looked into the distance and slumped his shoulders in defeat.

“No! Absolutely not! This is an accident! Just an unavoidable mistake from the realtor, that’s all!”

“I have no need for excuses! Commit seppuku at once! Seppuku!!”

Satou sliced through my words with the bizarre samurai speech he only broke out when excited.

“That’s already a full-blown romcom flag raised to maximum, isn’t it!”

“Think about it.” 

Kimura continued, pressing his index finger to his temple like some great detective.

“First, the unexpected cohabitation with a beautiful girl. Mmm, yes—that’s the ultimate classic, the most ironclad introduction in any romcom.”

“Indeed.”

“Next, the home-cooked meal event. This is—ah yes—an absolute must for raising affection levels. Perfect.”

“Mm-hm, mm-hm.”

“And then—sharing a hobby, leading to a private anime-watching session, just the two of you…! At this point, it wouldn’t be strange if a confession event triggered at any moment! Are you trying to die, you fool!?”

“No, no, no way!”

Where did his detective persona just go? I shook my head frantically.

“Fujigaya-san is kind and caring to everyone! There’s no way she’d have feelings for me! None at all!”

“That low self-esteem of yours is exactly the essential skill of a romcom protagonist!”

Kimura pointed sharply at me.

“Exactly! And that absurd obliviousness… The way you’re completely blind to the obvious affection from the heroine! You’ve totally got what it takes to be the protagonist!”

Satou nodded deeply in agreement. The two of them grew more and more excited, spouting nonsense at will. I buried my head in my hands, feeling perplexed.

They were just fitting my heart-stopping nightmare of a situation into a light novel template for their own amusement. But this was reality. Not a light novel. There was no way Fujigaya-san liked me—there couldn’t possibly be such a convenient storybook-like development.

I repeated that firmly to myself, denying their stupid fantasies with all my strength.

But… Somewhere deep in my heart… Just a little… Barely 0.1 millimeters’ worth, really… I pretended not to notice the part of me that was daring to hope for a “what if.”

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