Vol 2 CHAPTER 19: Summer Festival Scramble ③【Volume 2: With the Footsteps of Ruin Echoing, I Come Crawling for You 【NTR Execution Arc】】

Sitting shoulder-to-shoulder on a bench, we leaned back and I listened to Kotofuki’s concern.

And sure enough, it was about Ichinose-senpai.

“Um… I wanted to hear a guy’s opinion, but… this is something I can only ask you, Kudo-kun—”

And then she starts talking about her relationship with Ichinose-senpai over summer break, but—Kotofuki.

No matter how generously you look at it, asking the ex-boyfriend you dumped for advice about your new boyfriend is, at best, an act of pure cruelty.

Well, I’m the one who kept saying smooth crap like, “You can talk to me about anything,” and led her into misunderstanding things, so it’s not like I have room to complain…

So I swallowed it. If anything, this was proof the plan was progressing nicely—and I resigned myself to listening to Kotofuki’s hard-to-describe worries.

And according to Kotofuki—this summer, for them, was nowhere near what you’d call “the best time.”

“I don’t really know what kind of date makes a guy happy…”

Apparently Kotofuki and Ichinose-senpai did meet up plenty of times, but he often seemed unmotivated—or even when he was with her, she didn’t get the sense he was having fun.

And Kotofuki says the reason might be that she didn’t know how to please a guy.

“No, I don’t think you need to put yourself down like that.”

“But…”

“Hold on. Let me think for a second.”

I put on a show of pondering, but I had about a million ideas what the cause was.

Ichinose-senpai was probably exhausted.

Because Takanashi and I colluded to give Ichinose-senpai zero breathing room all summer.

If some big, talked-about spectacle movie was coming out, we made him go with Takanashi on opening day. If we found some kind of online “event calendar” article, we had them clear everything on it, one after another. And as for good local food—honestly, they’ve probably eaten their way through all of it.

In that sense, for Takanashi and Ichinose-senpai, it should’ve been a very fulfilling summer. And then if he turns around and tries to date Kotofuki too, of course he’d want something low-burden—quiet, calm time. You can’t really blame him for that.

From what I heard, Ichinose-senpai watched that same spectacle movie twice—once with Takanashi, and once with Kotofuki.

No wonder he couldn’t put on a fun face.

I can only shake my head at how passive Ichinose-senpai is.

Even if Takanashi is his childhood friend, a guy with a girlfriend doesn’t normally indulge her to that extent. And yet if Takanashi pushes even a little, apparently he goes, “Haa… good grief, fine,” and agrees like some smug protagonist.

No—this isn’t a “good grief” situation.

What, are you saying, I’m just doing what I’m told, so I’m not responsible, or something?

If you’re going to cheat, do it with a little more aggression, will you?

Honestly, he gets under my skin.

Maybe he took advantage of how mild Kotofuki is, and decided that time with her was his “break time.” That’s the nasty suspicion that comes to mind.

“Well, you know—Ichinose-senpai is a college entrance exam student this year, so maybe he’s just got a lot to think about, and it’s making him anxious?”

“Yeah… I get that, but… actually, today too, he said there was a class he absolutely had to take, and… he totally stood me up.”

I tried bullshitting my way out of it—and she nodded.

Looks like “I’m an exam student” is the excuse Ichinose-senpai leans on constantly. And today, he used that reason to brush Kotofuki aside too, but since I know he’s actually out at a fireworks festival with Takanashi, all I could think was, Man, that guy’s kind of a sloppy skirt-chaser.

“I see…”

“Yeah…”

Kotofuki said it with a pained expression, and I didn’t know what to say—so I just fell silent.

Bad move.

I need to say something, and fast.

“And also, he… even though he’s like that, every time—um, Kudo-kun. Guys, you know… they’re still… like, they…”

Kotofuki got weirdly fidgety and struggled to force the words out.

Watching her, I got it.

“Well, Ichinose-senpai is a guy, so… that part can’t really be helped.”

“U… yeah.”

When I spoke like I understood what she was hinting at, she nodded—her ears turning bright red.

Looks like my guess was right.

What she wanted to say was—

Even though Ichinose-senpai acts like he isn’t into their dates, he still keeps persistently seeking out Kotofuki’s body.

“So it’s Ichinose-senpai, huh…”

“E-Embarrassing…”

Watching Kotofuki cover her face with her hands, all flustered, I thought—

Isn’t this the kind of story where I’m allowed to die of rage?

Because come on. First I get my girlfriend stolen, and then she comes to me like, “He keeps wanting me physically and it’s a problem,” asking for advice.

If I were some tragic protagonist, I’d already be heading to the roof of a tall building at this point.

But—of course—

That’s not how this works.

“Kotofuki, do you hate it?”

“Hate… isn’t quite it, but… still, it’s like—”

While drawing out Kotofuki’s dissatisfaction with Ichinose-senpai, I thought to myself.

—Hm. It was a “maybe” without proof, but it looks like it actually worked.

It was me—nobody else—who asked Takanashi, who was eager to stir up Ichinose-senpai’s lust to make him “look her way,” to “please hold back somehow.”

Even though doing that would definitely reduce how much he touched Kotofuki.

So throughout summer break, Ichinose-senpai didn’t do anything with Takanashi. And because of that, it seems he ended up aiming all that young libido at Kotofuki instead.

“Talking about this… you won’t despise me, Kudo-kun?”

“I won’t. There’s no way I would. You’re a couple—this is normal. So? If there’s anything I can answer, I’ll answer it.”

“Uuu… thank you…”

Now, before I explain why I intentionally chose to drop my guard against that “good grief” bastard—

There’s at least one thing I want to declare first, so I will.

It’s fine. I planned for this.