The Beautiful Girl Who Asked Me to Pretend to Be Her Boyfriend Didn’t Want to Break up With Me for Some Reason - Chapter 66

Chapter 66: Are You Embarrassed?

“…Now that I think about it, did I do something unnecessary?”

After parting ways with Nishijo, we arrived at a spot with a great view, preparing for the fireworks.

Hearing Shirafuji’s uncertain voice, I shook my head. “Not at all. If it were just me, I probably would’ve made some small talk and left. You really helped create the opportunity for us to say what we needed to say. I’m grateful for that.”

“As long as you think so… But I don’t think I’ll ever be able to like her. After hurting you, she suddenly acts all friendly like nothing happened. I just don’t get it.”

“…Yeah, but maybe she genuinely wanted to apologize. In the end, that’s how it turned out.”

“Hakuto, you’re too kind. There was no point in accepting an apology like that, even as a formality. It’s not like being apologized to changes anything.”

“Even if nothing changes, the fact that she apologized remains. That alone is proof that what I did in the past wasn’t wrong.”

Being rejected by Nishijo was painful and difficult. If I had done something terrible, it would be a different story. But in my memory, I had only tried to help.

My family supported what I did, but I kept wondering if, from Nishijo’s perspective, it was just unnecessary meddling.

So, in a small way, I feel relieved by this outcome.

I know I’m being naive. But I just can’t bring myself to hate people. At most, I can only categorize them as “people I’m not fond of.”

“Well, that’s just like you, Hakuto. You’re too kind. After going through all that, no one would blame you for becoming more cold-hearted.”

“That’s thanks to my family. I was lucky.”

“You suffered enough misfortune first. You deserve at least that much luck.”

Maybe she’s right.

If I had been alone, I might have become the person Shirafuji described. But my family was always there for me. Even when I tried to distance myself, they never let me go.

In the end, I was just blessed with unexpected good fortune.

That’s why, at the very least, I don’t want to do anything that would make me unable to face those who stood by me.

“By the way, there’s something I want to ask you, Shirafuji.”

“What is it?”

“How did you know the girl I talked about before was Nishijo?”

I never mentioned her name, so she shouldn’t have had any confirmation.

When I asked, Shirafuji simply answered, “It was easy,” and gently reached for my cheek.

Her slender fingertips touched me lightly.

Even through such a small point of contact, I could feel her warmth, more noticeable than usual.

“When you saw her, you unconsciously gripped my hand a little tighter. You weren’t aware of it, were you? Your expression and voice also tensed slightly, probably due to nervousness. Plus, when I looked at the album, I memorized the faces and names of the girls in your class. So when the name ‘Nishijo’ came up, I had a feeling it might be her. I was a little worried since part of it was just a guess, but my intuition as a woman told me I wasn’t wrong.”

“…”

“Hakuto?”

“Ah, no, I was just thinking… you really pay attention.”

Almost scarily so.

Having spent so much time together, I’ve seen Shirafuji make plenty of careless mistakes due to her clumsiness, which might make one misunderstand her true nature. But in reality, she’s highly capable.

She has excellent insight, memory, and deduction skills. Setting aside her “woman’s intuition,” her reasoning made sense to me.

…But seriously, she memorized the faces and names of all the girls just from that brief moment looking at the album? It’s like she anticipated running into a classmate from the start.

Then again, if even I could predict that possibility, there’s no way she wouldn’t have noticed.

“Of course, I watch you closely. After all, I’m your girlfriend.”

“…Well, that was the only thing I could say at the time.”

“I know. I just wanted to say it. I was the one who asked you to say it that way, after all. But… I was happy when you called me someone important to you.”

“…That so.”

“Are you embarrassed?”

“Is it so bad if I am?”

“Not at all. A blushing Hakuto is cute.”

I couldn’t shake the feeling that she was toying with me, but I let it slide.

The lively chatter around us was suddenly drowned out by a heavy sound.

Boom!

Fireworks bloomed in the night sky.

“Looks like it’s starting.”

“Glad the weather’s clear. The view is perfect.”

“I was planning to take pictures, but… for some reason, I can’t look away.”

“I get it. Fireworks have this special charm. They’re colorful, beautiful, sparkling, elegant, and come in so many shapes that you never get bored.”

One after another, fireworks lit up the sky.

They blossomed like giant flowers, some bursting all at once, some showering down like golden rain, drawing cheers from the crowd.

The rhythmic booms were pleasant, their echoes in my chest making me forget everything else.

Then, for a moment, my gaze drifted to Shirafuji’s profile.

Her deep blue eyes were fixed on the sky, filled with wonder.

She looked so purely innocent, so different from usual, that it struck me as oddly adorable.

“Hakuto, look! That one’s huge!”

“…Yeah, it really is.”

Shifting my eyes to the largest firework yet, I agreed, all while still slightly conscious of Shirafuji’s glowing profile beside me.