The Charm of the Popular Beautiful Succubus in Class Doesn't Work on Me ~ For Some Reason, This Beauty Keeps Trying to Hold My Hand ~ - 58

Chapter 58: The End of “That Incident”

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It happened when we were in our first year of high school. Since Michihito, Akanashi, and I had seats close to each other at the start, we naturally ended up spending a lot of time together as a trio. I think the balance of our group worked well precisely because the three of us had such different personalities. We’d hang out at family restaurants, talk about meaningless things, mess around at arcades and karaoke, and just have fun. I liked those mundane, everyday moments.

It feels a little embarrassing to say it like this, but at some point, we naturally started calling each other “best friends.” Then, one day… Michihito came to me with a request. He wanted to confess to Akanashi. Just to be clear, I had absolutely no romantic feelings for Akanashi, so this wasn’t one of those messy, love-triangle situations. That said, I wasn’t completely oblivious. I had already suspected that Michihito had feelings for Akanashi before he came to me. Still, to be honest, I wasn’t sure how to respond.

I considered both Michihito and Akanashi to be my friends. If possible, I wanted the three of us to continue enjoying our time together at school.

Of course, a part of me held an optimistic way of thinking, hoping that if they started dating, everyone would get their happy ending. But unfortunately, I wasn’t the kind of person who could think that simply.

I mean, think about it.

For starters, there was no guarantee that Akanashi would even accept Michihito’s confession. And even if the confession went well, high school relationships were rarely built to last. There was no telling when they might break up. And if that happened, wouldn’t it destroy the friendship we had now? Even so, Michihito was serious. He said he had thought long and hard about it before coming to this decision.

Michihito truly, deeply liked Akanashi. In the end, I gave in to his determination and made a promise… That I would help him and Akanashi get together.

That choice… Was a mistake. On the day “that incident” happened, I canceled our plans at the last minute so that Michihito and Akanashi could be alone. The three of us were supposed to go to an amusement park that day. As a result, Michihito and Akanashi ended up going together, just the two of them, and our plan proceeded smoothly.

Then, on their way home from the amusement park, Michihito confessed to Akanashi… And at that exact moment, Michihito was attacked by “Shibuya.” That “Shibuya” was, as you might have guessed, the same person that you are imagining right now. He was from the same middle school as you and Akanashi, but after causing a certain incident, he was transferred to a school in the countryside.

On the way home from the amusement park, when the sun had already set, Michihito told Akanashi, “I want to talk a little more,” and took her to a park. In reality, this was a plan that Michihito and I had come up with together. There, Michihito confessed his feelings to Akanashi. Akanashi probably never imagined in her wildest dreams that Michihito would confess to her. She was so shaken that she ended up running away from the scene.

According to what she later told me, at that time, she had only thought of Michihito as a friend. So when he suddenly confessed, she didn’t know what to do, and before she realized it, she had fled. Michihito, shocked by being rejected, stood there in a daze for a while. But as time passed, he started worrying about Akanashi and went after her.

That was when he saw Akanashi talking to Shibuya in an alley. It turned out that the countryside school Shibuya had transferred to was the same elevator school Michihito had attended when he was in middle school. In that area, “Shibuya” was well known as a member of a delinquent group.

So, Michihito instinctively thought that Akanashi was being attacked by Shibuya. Naturally, he had no way of knowing that Akanashi and Shibuya had gone to the same middle school.

And to be fair, Shibuya was raising his voice and cornering Akanashi. Seeing that, Michihito, in a desperate attempt to protect her, jumped in between them without thinking.

Later, Akanashi told me that Shibuya had actually been looking for Sarashina at the time.

It seemed that he had approached Akanashi, who was acquainted with both Sarashina and him, to get information about you, Sarashina. But when Akanashi showed signs of resisting, Shibuya lost his temper and started closing in on her. As a result, Michihito and Shibuya… Well, to put it bluntly, they ended up in a fistfight.

Michihito suffered a serious head injury that took three months to fully recover from. Shibuya was injured as well, but Akanashi managed to call for help, and that caused him to back off. But… “that incident” didn’t end there. This whole series of events ended up distorting our relationships.

For some reason, the story spread at school was that Michihito had started a violent incident. It was true that he had injured Shibuya, but that had only been to protect Akanashi. The case should fall under a case of legitimate self-defense.

However, rumors tend to grow exaggerated, and since Michihito had red hair and wasn’t exactly well-behaved, the fact that he had “injured someone” got twisted into a completely different story. The rumor that started circulating in our school was one that said “a student from our school got into a massive brawl with students from another school.”

Of course, I desperately tried to deny those rumors. I used every bit of my information network to spread the truth as much as I could. But… No one actually wanted the truth… They just wanted something to spice up their dull school life… In the end, I had no chance of winning against the spicy rumor and Michihito was branded as the one responsible for an all-out fight with students from another school. When he was finally discharged from the hospital and returned to school, there was no place for him anymore…

That incident also had a huge impact on Akanashi. After that, she was no longer able to talk to Michihito. The regret of seeing her former crush, Shibuya, and her dear friend, Michihito, fight, only for Michihito to end up gravely injured because of it… She couldn’t handle the guilt. Just recalling that incident made it hard for her to breathe and when she saw Michihito in front of her, she couldn’t even speak. At that moment, I regretted everything.

If I had been there when Shibuya attacked, maybe Michihito wouldn’t have gotten hurt… If I had been able to make people believe the truth, maybe Michihito wouldn’t have ended up isolated at school… If I hadn’t come up with that plan in the first place, if I hadn’t agreed to help him, maybe none of this would have happened… Unable to bear the guilt any longer, I confessed everything to Michihito. I told him about my regret, my remorse.

I was prepared to take whatever scolding he had for me. But do you know what he said to me? He called me his “best friend.” Even though he was the one who had suffered the most… He smiled at me like nothing had happened and said, “I’m glad you were there, Kokubun.” I couldn’t even begin to describe how much those words saved me.

At that moment, I made up my mind. The next time Michihito needed me… This time, for sure… I would be there for him. That was how it all happened. That was the end of “that incident.”

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