The Beautiful Girl Who Asked Me to Pretend to Be Her Boyfriend Didn’t Want to Break up With Me for Some Reason - Chapter 57

Chapter 57: I Didn’t Expect Someone to Be Overprotective and Extremely Caring

In the afternoon after visiting the grave.

After having lunch at a conveyor belt sushi restaurant, Dad suggested going somewhere while he still had time off—

“I wonder how long it’s been since I last came to an aquarium.”

We had come to an aquarium.

It was Tansui who suggested going to the aquarium.

When I asked why, she said, “Maybe because we ate sushi?” That was a bit scary.

By the way, Dad and Mom came with us, but they were off doing their own thing.

Apparently, they were on a date.

Watching my parents walk away arm in arm for some reason made me feel uncomfortable.

“I think this might be my first time at an aquarium. There are lots of fish here, right?”

Surprisingly, Shirafuji seemed to be enjoying it more than Tansui.

Even though we had just entered and hadn’t seen a single fish yet.

Well, that made sense.

If this was her first time, it was understandable that she was excited.

“Calling them ‘little fishies’ is kind of cute.”

“…Isn’t that fine?”

Shirafuji responded, slightly blushing with embarrassment.

Apparently, she hadn’t realized it herself.

That was another cute thing about her.

After that little exchange, we all followed the aquarium’s route.

The first thing to greet us was a tank filled with small fish.

Shirafuji stared blankly at them as they swam smoothly between the water plants.

“Watching the little fishies swim is kind of relaxing, isn’t it?”

“I know what you mean. It feels nice.”

“This is what they call ‘chill,’ right?”

“That’s probably the word farthest from you, Tansui.”

“That’s rude, big bro! Even I have times when I want to chill, you know!”

Tansui grinned confidently.

I didn’t say it, but I had a feeling she just wanted to use the word “chill.”

“Must be tough being a student preparing for exams.”

“That’s a forbidden topic! Now you just reminded me of something unpleasant.”

“You say you hate studying, but your grades are actually pretty good.”

“That and this are two different things.”

That part of her was really admirable.

She looked like she wasn’t serious about anything, but she was actually more put-together than I was.

“Studying is never a waste. It broadens your future choices and brings you closer to what you want to do.”

“Yeah, yeah. That’s why I’m reluctantly doing my best. High school is whatever, but I want to go to a university in the city.”

“And why is that?”

“Because it seems sparkly and cool!”

…Correction.

Even if she was put-together, her core thinking was still kind of off.

Well, not that I had any right to say anything.

As we moved forward, the fish in the tanks gradually got bigger.

A huge glass tank stretched before us.

The sight of the large fish swimming leisurely was both impressive and mesmerizing.

“By the way, it’s really late to ask this, but is it okay for you to be here, Tansui?”

“…I can kind of guess what you mean, but it’s fine.”

“You can always go on a date. And honestly, every day feels like a date when you live together.”

“Yeah, since you two live together, I didn’t want to intrude. But it’d be weird to go around the aquarium alone, and there are a lot of couples here, probably because it’s the holidays.”

I had already noticed that even before Tansui mentioned it.

Everyone had the same idea about going out during the Obon holidays.

Since there weren’t many places to go in the countryside, it was natural for people to end up in the same spots.

Sendai was a regional city, so it was probably a little better, but an aquarium was one of the most obvious places to visit.

“By the way, Tansui, do you have a boyfriend or anything?”

“If I did, I wouldn’t be here right now, would I?”

“Yeah, fair point.”

“Ohh? Big bro, did you panic for a second thinking your beloved little sister might have a boyfriend?”

“I wasn’t panicking. Not that I don’t care… I guess I’d be a little curious if you had one. But I can’t imagine you dating some weird guy.”

“Well, someone as cute as Tansui wouldn’t be surprised to have one.”

“Ehehe… I do get confessed to from time to time. But I turn them all down. It just feels like a waste of time to date someone I don’t even like.”

It wasn’t surprising that Tansui was popular at school.

She had a pretty face and an easygoing personality.

Now that I wasn’t around, it wouldn’t be strange if some guys had started making a move.

She was a bit carefree at times, but maybe that just made her more appealing.

“Some girls change boyfriends every month, but I just can’t be that proactive. In that sense, you and Shirafuji are amazing. You’re almost at your one-year anniversary, right?”

“Now that you mention it, yeah. Time flew by so fast I didn’t even notice.”

“That’s true. I didn’t realize we were almost at a year.”

Strictly speaking, we weren’t actually dating—it was just a fake relationship.

But we couldn’t tell Tansui that.

The fact that we had spent nearly a year in this strange relationship did make me feel something.

But I guess being with Shirafuji was comfortable enough that I didn’t mind.

“A year-long relationship in high school is pretty rare, isn’t it?”

“Probably. If we were adults dating with marriage in mind, it’d make sense. But for high schoolers, it’s unusual.”

“I really didn’t expect it to last this long. At first, I thought we’d break up in less than a month.”

“I was the one who suggested it. I wouldn’t just throw it away so easily. Though, I didn’t expect someone to be overprotective and extremely caring.”

“That’s on you for showing me that room and your eating habits. I don’t regret anything.”

“I’m grateful, though. I probably wasn’t very honest back then.”

“Yeah, maybe. But you still made sure to thank me, so I could tell you were raised well.”

Back then, we had just started our fake relationship.

It wasn’t strange that Shirafuji was suspicious of how much I was looking after her.

Since I had told her from the beginning that I’d be in trouble if she actually fell for me, I felt conflicted about closing the distance between us myself.

But if the results were good, then everything was fine.

“I’m looking forward to our anniversary.”

“…All I can do is cook, though.”

“That’s exactly what I want.”

—Remembering anniversaries is the key to a happy relationship.