The Boy Who Gave Up on Romantic Feelings ~I’m Done Because I Was Betrayed by The Girlfriends I Used to Date~

Chapter 25

This is the third time I received a confession from a girl. However, I feel nothing.

Other than surprised to receive such a sudden confession, I don’t feel anything.

The first time I received a confession, I felt joy.

The second time was relief.

Then this third time is…emptiness.

I literally feel nothing. Not happiness, not gratitude for liking me, nothing. It seems like I’m just not interested in such things anymore.

Lately, the environment around me have been changing rapidly, and I had forgotten all about this, but my heart just won’t accept her feelings.

It’s because I decided to close my heart to such things.

Besides, I don’t trust any classmates other than those I’m currently close with. The person in front of me is just a mere stranger for me, that’s all.

“I’m sorry, but I have to turn you down.”

“Can you tell me why?”

“I’m not interested. Besides, why now? It’s just too sudden, too obvious. On top of that, I’m not that free to waste my time on something this boring.”

“That’s a bit much, don’t you think? Even so…”

“Then, let me ask you. What made you confess to me?”

“That’s because…I really like you…”

“That letter, Shinozaki wrote it, didn’t she?”

“…!?”

“I know…we dated for a bit. You were probably told by Shinozaki to do this, right?”

“N-No…! I…”

“That’s enough. I’ll say it again, I’m not interested in you. See you.”

“…wait! There’s something I haven’t said yet!”

She yells something as I leave the classroom, but I don’t care enough to ask her about it.

Hah…

Another rumour will probably spread because of this.

Feeling gloomy, I leave the school.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And as expected, what happened yesterday has become a rumour the next day. It is quite exaggerated, and it seems like I’m portrayed as the bad guy. Well, it’s nothing new, but unlike last year, there are no writings on my desk, and I don’t receive disdainful looks as well.

Instead, there are some people who seem doubtful about the rumour. It seems like there are still people in this school who don’t easily trust rumours.

At that moment, a girl is looking at her phone, and with a surprised expression, she shows it to the other girls. I happen to catch a glimpse of it, but without paying much attention, I try to take a nap to not get involved in it.

However, when I hear the words she utters, I can’t help but to turn my gaze in that direction.

“Shinozaki-san is such a bitch.”

It seems like Shinozaki’s true nature has been revealed.

From there, it gradually spread throughout the class. People like them excel at spreading information, I’m truly amazed at how fast they can do it.

Before I knew it, by lunchtime, it has even spread to other classes. Kotaro and I are puzzled by this. How did Shinozaki’s true nature suddenly get revealed? Shinozaki should be able to control the rumours about herself. So how…

With an indescribable sense of unease, time passes.

Chapter 26

A week has passed since the rumours about Shinozaki started spreading. The idea of Shinozaki is a bitch has been spread through my grade. I really feel like almost everyone who comes to this school are trash, including myself. For better or worse, my school is a typical private high school. Moreover, it seems that my grade in particular, there are a lot of people who are susceptible to rumours. It can’t be helped…can’t it?

“It’s impressive though.”

Kotaro who is sitting behind me says so.

“Yeah, you’re right. But I wonder how it got spread. At this stage, Shinozaki won’t be able to get rid of this rumour.”

“That’s just how our grade is. Isn’t this part of the ‘strategy’ that Karen came up with? At least it seems like it’s all according to plan.”

“No, it seems like even Karen couldn’t have predicted this. Who could’ve done it…and how did they managed to do it? It’s all a mystery.”

“Well, we’re not detectives. It’s impossible to figure out no matter how much we think about it.”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Shinozaki has been absent from school since two days after the rumour started spreading.

From my perspective, it looks like she’s “running away”. Or perhaps she’s preparing something?

“Now that Shinozaki is absent, I guess this is our chance…”

“Are you meeting with Karen and the others today? Can I come too?”

“Of course, it’s fine.”

“Thanks.”

We decided to meet with Karen and Hanamoto at a family restaurant after school.

By the way, Maho has club activities, so she can’t come.

After waiting for about ten minutes.

“Senpai, sorry to keep you waiting.”

“Sorry for being late.”

“It’s fine, we just got here anyways.”

Both Hanamoto and Karen arrive at the family restaurant.

Now everyone is here.

“I must say, it’s quite surprising. I didn’t expect things to turn out like this…”

“What? It’s not Karen’s doing?”

“What do you mean by ‘what’? I was planning do to it. It was scheduled for today, you know?”

She was planning do to it? I didn’t hear anything about that.

“Did I not mention it?”

“You didn’t.”

“Well, whatever. That’s not important. What’s more important is what are we going to do now.”

“Don’t just brush it off. Why didn’t you tell us anything about it?”

“Maybe I just forgot to tell senpai about it. Anyway, we need to carry on with our plan.”

“Hey.”

This guy…trying to act like nothing happened.

“For now, let’s have Motomura-senpai to continue spying on Shinozaki-senpai. Next, it seems like a good idea to prioritize identifying Shinozaki-senpai’s last collaborator.”

“Why?”

“It’s been five days since she stopped coming to school. It wouldn’t be surprising if she has already started making her move. In that case, Motomura-senpai and her other collaborators should have started moving as well. Any word from Motomura-senpai?”

“No, nothing so far.”

“Then, the last collaborator should be making their move as well…I guess Motomura-senpai is the last trump card. Well, let’s think about that later. First, let’s focus on identifying the last collaborator and…”

“Hmm?”

“Maeshima-senpai, there’s something I’d like you do to with Hanamoto-senpai…well, to put it bluntly, it’s an errand. There are some things I want you to buy, here’s a list for it.”

With that, Karen hands me a note with items listed on it, all of them are electronic devices.

“What about the money? I have limited pocket money, so I don’t have much.”

“Ah, that’s right, don’t worry about that. Please take this.”

Karen casually hands me her wallet.

I mean…is it really okay for her to trust me this much?

Well, I definitely won’t steal from her…but even so, she should be more cautious.

“Are you sure about this?”

“It’s fine. It’s not my entire fortune. Besides, it’s not like I’m giving you my actual wallet.”

“Oh, I see.”

Well, then there shouldn’t be any problem.

“Alright then. Should we get going, Hanamoto?”

“Y-Yeah.”