(Chastity Reversed) The Legitimate Wife War: How I, a Harem-Hater, Ended Up Creating an Ultra-Eccentric Harem with a Villainess, a Sadistic Beauty Teacher, a Scheming Classmate... etc. - Chapter 148.1 - Tachibana Mizuri and the Taste of Youth

“…I came again.”

The one who peeked her face out from the hospital room door was Tachibana-san.

The time was 3 PM.

Two days since being hospitalized. I was still being kept in the hospital.

And Tachibana-san was coming to visit every day.

“You came again today. Is school already over for today?”

“Yeah, it’s over~ At school today, Setsuna got scolded again~”

Since being hospitalized, she’d been reporting what happened at school while I couldn’t attend.

Not just that, she also sent me summarized data of the lesson content, which I was very grateful for.

Small talk in between.

“What did Aoyama-san get scolded for?”

Was it tardiness or something? She’d been searching around until late into the night the other day. It wouldn’t be strange if she was dragging sleep deprivation.

In that case, it couldn’t be helped—

“—Early lunch.”

Huh?

“E-early lunch? You mean that… eating food early?”

There’s no way a high schooler would do something so trivial—

“—Yeah, early lunch. And during third period class at that.”

Like a hungry baseball club member!

Tachibana-san also had an exasperated face, and if I looked in a mirror, I’d probably have the same expression.

“…I couldn’t help thinking, ‘Is this the same person who coolly told me off the other day?'”

“You thought that, huh…”

“I thought that. I wondered if I should stop being friends.”

“Maybe you should.”

We both smiled wryly.

Honestly, the up and down between coolness and uncoolness was too extreme.

“Huh, where’s Kazari-sa… onee-chan today?”

She called out “Kazari-san” partway through, then hurriedly corrected herself to “onee-chan.”

She apparently still wasn’t used to the new relationship with Kazari-san.

Well, making up for lost time in these two days would be fundamentally impossible.

It would take time slowly.

“She’s making phone calls and such right now~ Have you been able to talk with Kazari-san since then?”

“Just a little… I guess we talked. Onee-chan hasn’t been coming home much lately.”

Ah, that’s completely my fault.

Because she’s been taking care of me while I’m hospitalized.

“Sorry about that…”

“N-no, I’m not trying to blame Kyou-kun or anything!”

Tachibana-san denied it in a flustered manner.

“Kyou-kun getting injured is partly my fault… actually, it’s mostly my fault.”

So she’s still bothered by it. I’d sensed it here and there, but apparently my worry wasn’t unfounded.

Perhaps thinking the conversation was heading in a suspicious direction, before I could say anything, Tachibana-san continued talking rapidly.

“B-but you know, when Kazari-san came home to get Kyou-kun’s change of clothes, we talked then too. A-at that time, we discussed going to Mother’s hospital together next time.”

She spoke happily with a slight bashful smile.

From this demeanor, Kazari-san being her older sister seemed to be working out well for Tachibana-san.

“I see. Then next time I’ll also go properly greet her again.”

“Eh… why?”

Tachibana-san’s eyes widened in surprise.

Eh, conversely, why? Isn’t it normal to greet my fiancée’s mother?

…Did I say something strange?

“No, I mean, back then I said terrible things without knowing the circumstances. From now on I’ll be involved with Karen-san as my mother-in-law… I’d like to reset the bad memories from the beach and return to a neutral state. Ah, of course it’s totally fine after Karen-san has settled down, and if she doesn’t seem to want to talk, that’s completely fine too.”

I thought that much was natural as a fiancé.

But I certainly understood Tachibana-san’s concern about having me and Karen-san meet. We clashed at the beach, and while I don’t think anything of it, Karen-san probably hates me—I said some pretty terrible things.

Hmm, what should I do?

Having Tachibana-san caught in the middle from now on wouldn’t be good, and on top of that, there’s Kazari-san too…

As I was thinking such things and sinking into a sea of thought,

“…Hey, Kyou-kun.”

Tachibana-san began speaking hesitantly.

Tachibana-san, who had looked happy until just now, was now looking at me with a solemn face.

“Wh-what’s wrong? Such a serious face.”

“Can I… stay as your fiancée?”

“Eh?”

I didn’t understand what she was saying.

Eh, what?

“To be honest… I’ve been thinking lately that I don’t have the qualifications to be a fiancée~”

“Why?”

It would be easy to say [That’s not true] here, but surely that wouldn’t solve Tachibana-san’s worries.

Let me hear her out for now.

“Like, I tried to take compromising videos of Kyou-kun, twice at that. Plus my real mother even pointed a knife at you. If you go back even further, I haven’t done anything good for you, right? Isn’t there no merit to me as a fiancée? So I wondered if it’s really okay for someone like me to remain a fiancée… Kyou-kun, honestly, aren’t you bothered that I’m your fiancée?”

I see.

Now that she mentions it, it wouldn’t be strange to think that.

Oops, I completely didn’t think about such things. About wanting to quit being a fiancée or such.

Hmm. Would I be bothered?

“…Is that what you’ve been trying to ask me lately but couldn’t?”

I’d somewhat sensed that Tachibana-san was trying to ask me something.

But since I didn’t know what it was, I couldn’t ask.

“Yeah. Honestly, I was prepared for Kyou-kun to say he wanted to annul the engagement anytime. I thought if you said that, I wouldn’t be able to refuse. …Because it’s true, right? I’ve only done unpleasant things to Kyou-kun.”

Unpleasant things?

Everything she did seemed like it couldn’t be helped.

“Why ask, I wonder… I don’t know, but I was scared. …But I thought I couldn’t stay like this. When I worried and asked Setsuna, she told me~”

“What?”

“Yeah, Setsuna apparently noticed I had a slightly gloomy face. When I asked her about this, she said one thing. [Just ask the person directly.] With an exasperated face.”

Well, I thought Aoyama-san would say that.

“She even said [That was such a trivial worry~]… isn’t that a bit harsh?”

Remembering Aoyama-san’s words, Tachibana-san looked irritated.

But unlike before, Tachibana-san had become able to consult someone.

“Why are you smiling too, Kyou-kun?”

She showed a slightly displeased look.

“No, I was just thinking I’m glad you seem to have properly made up with Aoyama-san.”

“Ah… well, that’s… isn’t it fine?”

Is she embarrassed?

I won’t pursue it further either.

“I’ll be honest.”

“Y-yeah.”

“I’ve never even thought about it—annulling the engagement or such.”

“…Why?”

“If you ask me why… well, there’s no reason for something I haven’t thought about, but let’s see.”

Come to think of it, there was something like this before too.

Akizuki-san said something similar to me.

Like [Please don’t make me your fiancée] or something.

“Why… don’t you think about it?”

“Why, huh…”

Thinking about reasons for not thinking is pretty difficult, isn’t it?

“…Because I know Tachibana-san’s good points, I guess. I never even thought I’d want to annul it.”

“How can you say such things?”

“When the fiancée life first started, Tachibana-san was the one who talked to me. That helped me get used to things a bit. Among everyone’s harsh tones, Tachibana-san wasn’t like that.”

“…That was just apathy~ I just didn’t care.”

“That may be, but for me, having someone talk to me casually was significant.”

Well, the content of what she talked about was that though.

She just warned me about what Kazari-san and I were talking about.

“And that made it easier for me to enter that house, the new residence.”

“That’s not such a big deal…”

“That’s right. But even so, it was big for me. I was tense because of Mio-nee too, so in a good way, I could relax.”

“…I see.”

“After that too, living together. I learned various things, like how you can be considerate of various people, your kindness, how your mouth gets bad when you become close, your slightly devilish side, your surprisingly innocent side?”

“Somehow the last one doesn’t feel like a compliment~”

“I’m praising you, I’m praising you. I want to keep learning more about Tachibana-san from now on.”

“Does that mean you like me? …Sorry, I don’t know. I’ve never liked anyone myself, so teach me?”

A serious gaze.

So I answered seriously too.

“Who knows? I don’t know.”

I didn’t know how to describe this emotion myself.

“Eh.”

Tachibana-san blinked in confusion.

Well, of course. When asked yes or no, I said “I don’t know.”

“‘Like’—we’re not in such a deep relationship that I can say that much, but I want to know more about you. And the other day when Tachibana-san came on to me in the room, honestly my reason almost flew away.”

“…Even with a body like this? I have scars, you know?”

Tachibana-san rubbed her back anxiously.

“That doesn’t matter, does it? If I’d lose interest because of scars, I wouldn’t have needed to headbutt myself.”

“…”

“I don’t know if I should say this, but you’re attractive enough to make my reason almost fly away, and I think you’re attractive in appearance too. Of course, on the inside as well.”

“That’s kind of a terrible way to put it.”

Yeah, I think so too.

I feel like I said something pretty terrible myself.

“Like I said earlier, I don’t know if I’ll come to like you. I don’t know if I can, you know?”