The Day After I Told My Shut-In Genius Childhood Friend, Who’s Highly Dependent on Me, “I Got Confessed To,” She Showed Me a Hypnosis App - Chapter 31

◆ “Momose Nanaka”

I was left speechless again.

This time, I understood even less than before.

“…A… alliance…?”

“Here, sit down first. I’ll explain everything.”

She sat back down, and I followed her without thinking.

(…An alliance to win over Honamin? What does that even mean?)

I had thought she was a normal person, but maybe I needed to rethink that.

“…I thought you were normal.”

“Don’t be so suspicious. I’m fairly normal.”

“Normal people don’t talk about alliances to win over someone.”

Hehe, she was somehow enjoying what I said.

(Why is she happy when I say she’s not normal?)

The president kept smiling as she explained.

“First, let’s be clear. Both I and Nanaka-san like Honami-kun. That’s for sure.”

“…Ah, yes.”

I had just spoken boldly a moment ago, so I didn’t deny it.

I didn’t deny it, but hearing it said seriously made me a little embarrassed.

(So she really does like Honamin, too.)

That part went just as I had feared. The conversation was going in a very different direction than I expected, though.

“If it were just the two of us, we could keep approaching him like before. But now, Honami-kun’s childhood friend, Shinonome Mio, is at this school too.”

“That’s right.”

Shinonome Mio. I had just faced her today and felt completely hopeless.

“With her around, Honami-kun will be hard to reach. She seems to be watching him closely.”

“Watching?”

“The other day, there was a bug hidden in the stuffed animal Honami-kun had.”

I was speechless again. This was the third time today.

“…That’s really bad, isn’t it?”

“Of course it is. And it shows just how obsessed she is with Honami-kun.”

I remembered her cold and piercing eyes that seemed to freeze me to the core when I met her in the park at night.

“…Should I tell Honamin about this?”

“I’m not sure. They seem to have their own reasons, so I don’t know what will happen. Honami-kun has always taken care of Mio when she didn’t go to school, so maybe he understands her.”

I remembered that Shinonome-san had been absent a lot. Today she seemed normal enough, though.

“Honami-kun’s childhood friend, Shinonome Mio, can’t be separated from him. If we want to win over Honami-kun, we have to deal with her.”

She clenched her fist and looked me straight in the eyes.

“That’s why we who like Honami-kun should form an alliance.”

“…W-wait. How does that solve anything?”

I hold up my hand to stop her.

What exactly would happen if we formed an alliance? I had no idea.

“With the two of us, we can support each other, right? And since I’m the student council president, for example, I could call Mio to the student council room and leave Honami-kun alone with you.”

“…”

Is she seriously planning to abuse her authority like this?

“And since Nanaka-chan is in the same class, you can gather information too.”

“…Why not just get help from the fan club or something?”

“I don’t want to involve my fans in my love life. Worst-case scenario, it could start a riot. I need someone with the same goal as me. Someone like Nanaka-chan.”

A riot, what kind of world does she live in?

And somehow she had already started calling me Nanaka-chan.

“―Alright, I understand.”

I had a lot of mixed feelings, but I decided to go along with it. I couldn’t take on Shinonome-san’s guard alone anyway. Still, I wondered if having the president as my ally was really a good idea.

“Don’t worry. Believe it or not, I’m good enough to have my own fan club.”

“That’s just because of your looks, isn’t it?”

“No, it means I have the looks to completely captivate Honami-kun.”

Maybe she was more of a fool than I expected, but even so, she was my tiny thread of hope.

The president reached out her hand.

“After meeting you today, I’m glad it was you, Nanaka-chan.”

“…Why?”

“It’s rare for someone to call me out on my nonsense.”

I thought it was weird for her to be happy about that, but I didn’t say anything and just held her hand.

◆ “Kirisaka Shino”

After parting ways with Nanaka-chan, I walked home.

For now, I had managed to form an alliance with her. If I’d been alone, I would probably have fallen behind, so having Nanaka-chan as an ally was a stroke of luck.

(Still, Honami-kun really does have an incredible childhood friend.)

My phone had a message with detailed information from the fan club.

Honami-kun’s childhood friend was a girl.

“Shinonome Mio.” Her maiden name was “Hizumi Mio.”

I recognized that name. A lot of people probably did. She had been on TV a lot when she was younger.

I remembered seeing news about her getting a difficult qualification while still in elementary school. She had been the youngest to do it. Later, she won programming competitions, published papers, and received praise from professors at famous universities. Her name appeared everywhere.

She was an unbelievable genius. Someone from a world so far away that I never imagined she would be right next to us.

(But she’s Honami-kun’s childhood friend.)

The world wasn’t as big as I thought.

Thinking about how someone so talented was always nearby made it clear why Honami-kun sometimes acted strangely. The cause could only be her. I sighed.

(It would be nice if she just accepted a relationship between Honami-kun and me.)

But that was probably impossible. She was the type of girl who would plant a bug in Honami-kun’s stuffed animal.

There was no doubt. She was completely serious about Honami-kun. A pretty troublesome type.

But because of that, I could understand certain things.

“If she’s that kind of person… she’ll probably come to watch our club too.”

There was no need to check.

Soon after parting from Nanaka-chan, I walked back to school. My destination was the second school building.

I opened the door to the literature club room.

“—Hey. It’s a bit lively today.”

“Kirisaka Shino-senpai!”

Honami-kun had been the first to notice me. He was so cute.

Next to him sat the girl I had come to see.

“Honami-kun, who is she?”

“Ah, I’ll introduce you. She’s the childhood friend I mentioned before…”

“—I’m Shinonome Mio. Nice to meet you… I’m thinking of joining the club too.”

“I see. A new junior is joining. That’s wonderful.”

She was a very delicate and graceful girl. I thought that maybe this was what a princess from a story looked like, or perhaps a fairy. Either way, she was beautiful. She had lost some of the childish look she had on TV, now appearing more grown-up.

I sat down in the chair across from the two of them.

Mio narrowed her eyes and looked cautious.

I deepened my smile.

(—This is getting interesting.)

She was the kind of girl who was seriously obsessed.

But I wasn’t some pure, innocent, straight-laced person either.

Right now, my heart is racing in this situation. I found it exciting to be stared down by the beautiful childhood friend of my favorite junior.

Normally, even if a cute girl is near someone I like, I might get a little excited, but I don’t panic as Nanaka-chan would.

Doesn’t someone who’s liked by others feel somehow more special than someone who only likes you?

No matter how hard it is to win them over, if you want them, don’t you want to get them?

I don’t need to be the only one he likes.

Do you understand that?

“Shinonome Mio-san.”

I gave the smile that was popular with all the fans, and held my smartphone in front of her.

“Do you use LINE?”