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

Chapter 27

Karen’s POV

“…they left.”

“Why did you tell them to go for an errand together?”

“I feel like they need some time together.”

“Well, I guess that makes sense.”

“Anyways, there’s something I want to discuss.”

Miyazaki-senpai is someone I’ve always wanted to talk to at least once. He’s the only person outside Maeshima-senpai’s family whom has never betrayed him since he entered high school. Because of that, there’s something I want to ask him.

“How broken do you think Maeshima-senpai is?”

“…I see, so that’s what you want to talk about.”

“We may need to change our future plans because of that.”

At first glance, Maeshima-senpai seems fine, but that’s just on the surface. What about his true feelings?

It’s not something I can tell just by looking.

“I don’t know his mental state. Now that things have calmed down, I want to ask Miyazaki-senpai about it.”

“I see…”

After a moment of hesitation, Miyazaki-senpai finally opens his mouth.

“It’s impossible.”

“Eh?”

“He’s completely broken. Don’t you notice his eyes?”

“His eyes? Seems completely normal to me.”

“At first glance, you would think that way. However, except for Hanamoto, me and his little sister, no one else has probably noticed, but his eyes just look dead. Does that sound normal to you? Ridiculous. When he first entered this school, his eyes seem brighter, more alive, but now, they’re gone. He has been broken for a while, and since what happened with Shinozaki, it’s gotten even worse. The reason Hanamoto is so cautious around him is because of that.”

“…!?”

“He’s lying to himself, he deceived himself into thinking he’s fine. Being friends with Motomura, making himself believe he’s angry at him even though he feels nothing towards Motomura’s apology—it’s all an illusion. Everything about him right now is a lie. He doesn’t have any friendship towards Motomura. It may sound bad to say it that way, but it’s the truth. To forgive and have a friendly relationship with someone he absolutely can’t forgive…even if he claims he has ulterior motives behind it, normally you wouldn’t form a friendship with someone you can’t forgive. If I were in Shintani’s boots I’d absolutely hate that. But he, lacking emotions as he does, doesn’t realize that. So this contradictory situation is born, not forgiving Motomura yet forming a friendship with him. He keeps deceiving himself into thinking that he still has emotions, that he still has the capacity to forgive others.”

“So senpai is that broken, huh…”

“Well, it’s difficult to notice at the first glance, his mask is so meticulously crafted.”

Even after all of the bullies Maeshima-senpai suffered, he still wears a mask in front of others as if he is not bothered by it, but deep inside, he is completely broken…

“I-If…let’s say, if senpai were able to get his revenge on Shinozaki-senpai, would he be able to go back to how he used to be?”

“That’s not possible.”

“Yeah, I guessed so.”

Perhaps, it was a mistake to let Hanamoto-senpai go with him.

With a hint of unease, I wait for Hanamoto-senpai and Maeshima-senpai to return.

Chapter 28

Without talking to each other, Me and Hanamoto bought the items on the list and returned to where Karen and Kotaro are.

“We’re back.”

“Thank you, Hanamoto-senpai.”

As we settle back into our seats, Karen begins to talk.

“Now then, let’s discuss about our future plans…”

With that, we talked about our future plans for about an hour. By the way, the things we bought are for Karen herself, it seems we won’t be needing them for our plan. She should’ve gone to buy them herself.

“Well then, that settles it.”

Then, we call it a day and I start to head back to my home.

On the way, just as I’m about to reach home, a man stands in front of me.

“…!?”

I tried to walk past him, but suddenly he grabbed my arm and pulled me back, causing me to instinctively place my hand on the ground to hold my body.

Then, the man launches an attack at me while I’m off guard.

I can’t react in time and take the blow.

“Ugh!”

Somehow, I managed to stand up and face the man. He is taller than me, wearing a hoodie and dressed entirely in black. Since it’s already dark, I can’t see his face clearly.

Hmm? Blood? It seems he cut my mouth when he punched me earlier.

All I can think about now is how to escape. I can’t fight this guy. He’s too dangerous.

We stare at each other for a while.

Perhaps, growing impatient, the man comes charging towards me.

I take a step back, avoiding his punch.

Thanks to the streetlight, I managed to catch a glimpse of his face.

“…!?”

That face…he is the person who brought despair upon me. He is the one who I caught Shinozaki having sex with on the rooftop. He is a senpai at my school, one grade above me.

His name is—

Yasumoto.

At that moment, I can feel something shatter inside me.

I feel emotions draining away from my face, from my head, from inside me. It’s like water leaking from a cracked cup, little by little.

While dodging Yasumoto’s punches, I realize that I’ve been unconsciously avoiding this. I’ve been acting as if nothing’s wrong, as if I still have emotions, preventing them from disappearing, because once they’re gone, I won’t be able to feel anything ever again.

Hah…

Let’s go home.

With that, I quickly pull out my phone from my pocket, snap a photo of Yasumoto with the flash on, and take advantage of this momentary distraction caused by the light to bolt towards home.

I run at full speed without looking back. After turning about three times, it seems Yasumoto gave up, as he doesn’t continue chasing.

I back up the photo on the spot and send it to Karen along with a message.

‘—I’m going to destroy Yasumoto.’