The Story of Making a Popular Girl Dependent on Me - Chapter 22

After school. I quickly finished getting ready to go home and told Shizuku and the others that I was leaving, then headed towards Rokka’s seat.

“I’m going.”

With just that, I started walking without waiting for Rokka. Occasionally, I checked to see if Rokka was following me, but she walked along without saying anything.

As we left the school, I immediately held her hand. This was to show our relationship to those around us. And maybe to show off to the girl from lunchtime as well.

For a while, Rokka and I walked in silence, and when we were quite far from the school, I asked her about the girl from lunchtime.

“Hey, Rokka. I have something I want to ask you.”

“Hmm? What is it?”

In response to my words, Rokka replied with a casual tone that seemed to say, “What’s up all of a sudden?” This only added to my anger and jealousy.

“The girl who came to see you during lunch break. Who is she? You’ve never had a friend like her before.”

“Oh, that’s Misao. We became friends after school yesterday. She invited me to walk home together, and she’s actually a nice girl.”

(Misao? Did you just call her by her first name? Even though you only started calling me by my name after we started dating… that’s unfair.)

I couldn’t help but feel anger other than anger at the fact that this girl named Hasegawa was being called by her first name by Rokka.

“Misao…? Are you already calling her by her first name?”

“Well, yeah. We got along well, so we became friends quickly.”

We became friends. Those words pierced my heart deeply. I didn’t want her to get along with anyone else but me. I didn’t want her to spend time with anyone else but me.

Although possessiveness dominated my heart, I had no right to demand that since I had always gotten along with people other than Rokka.

Feeling frustrated by the fact that I didn’t have the right to monopolize Rokka’s time, I unconsciously tightened my grip on her hand.

After that, I couldn’t say anything to Rokka, and we walked to the station in silence. In the end, I couldn’t say a word until we reached my stop.

After parting ways with Rokka on the train and returning home, I desperately thought about various things.

How could I separate Rokka from that girl? How could I make Rokka’s time only for me?

But no matter how hard I thought, I realized that I had no right to demand that Rokka only spend time with me, especially since I had valued both my friends’ and her time equally.

Still, I couldn’t stand the thought of Rokka being with someone else, and most of all, I couldn’t forgive it.

It might have been easier to tell her how I felt, but that would have been selfish and troublesome.

Even on the weekend, I spent a lot of time thinking about the same things without finding any answers.

During that time, I didn’t feel like talking to Rokka, so I didn’t send her any messages.

The weekend passed without finding any answers, and Monday arrived.

That day, I felt heavy-hearted from the morning, making it difficult to face Rokka, whom I loved so much at school.

(I don’t want Rokka to get along with anyone else but me. But I can’t say that. What should I do…? Sigh. I hate myself for feeling this way…)

Thinking about such things, when I arrived at school, Rokka hadn’t come yet, and she arrived just a little before the chime rang.

As she entered the classroom, I just stared at her. Lately, it had become a habit for me to keep an eye on Rokka, always concerned about her.

After a while, the chime rang, and the homeroom teacher entered the classroom.

During the morning, I wanted to talk to Rokka to see if my worries would disappear, but I couldn’t find the right timing as she was often talking to someone else or went somewhere.

During lunch break, as I was getting ready to eat with Shizuku and the others as usual, I noticed Rokka and another girl, Katsushika, leaving the classroom to buy lunch.

As I watched the two of them, their movements suddenly stopped.

Then, I saw Hasegawa, who had been talking to Rokka last week, between the two of them.

For some reason, I had a bad feeling, so I kept watching Rokka and the others.

Hasegawa handed something to Rokka and talked a little before returning to her class.

It seemed like Rokka and Katsushika were also talking about something, and only Katsushika left the classroom, while Rokka tried to return to her seat.

However, Rokka had something in her hand that wasn’t there before, and it looked like a lunchbox. Probably what Hasegawa had just given her.

Realizing this fact, I unconsciously stood up and approached Rokka.

“Rokka, come with me right now.”

“Huh? What’s wrong, Setsune? I have to wait for Rio, though.”

“Just come.”

I said and forcefully grabbed Rokka’s wrist, pulling her along.

At that moment, I didn’t have the luxury of caring about appearances and acted on my emotions.

As we walked for a while with me pulling Rokka’s hand, we saw an empty classroom, so I entered and closed the door, locking it.

Turning to face Rokka, I couldn’t contain my jealousy and anger anymore and confronted her about what had just happened.

“Hey, Rokka. What was that all about?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean the lunchbox! Why did you get a lunchbox from that girl?”

My head was a mess of jealousy, anger, and impatience, and I ended up blaming her louder than usual.

However, she didn’t seem to care about my outburst and replied with something even more unpleasant.

“Why? Maybe it’s a thank you for hanging out with Misao on Saturday?”

“…Huh? You hung out with that girl? Just the two of you?”

I hoped I had misheard. I asked again with that hope, but the reality was cruel.

“Yeah? She invited me when we walked home together before. We became friends, so I thought it was okay.”

“That’s not okay! Why didn’t you tell me anything! I’m your girlfriend, right? Why did you go see another girl without telling me!”

“Girl? She’s just a friend. Setsune, don’t you hang out with friends alone sometimes? It’s the same thing.”

“…But! You could have at least told me!”

“I’ve never heard you talk about that kind of thing before, Setsune. Isn’t it a bit unfair to only tell me that?”

“…Yeah, but… but…”

Everything Rokka said was right, and what I was saying was just selfishness based on my past.

I knew that. I knew it, but I couldn’t accept it.

(…Unfair. That’s true. As Rokka said, I’m a selfish person… I don’t know what to do…)

Feeling frustrated, anxious, and sad, I felt like crying, so I looked down. I couldn’t bring myself to look at Rokka and talk to her.

Rokka gently hugged me. While I usually found comfort in that, today, I felt incredibly miserable. Maybe that’s why I still couldn’t lift my head, and all I could see was the gray floor.

While hugging me, Rokka spoke gently to calm me down.

“Setsune, I’m sorry. I might have said too much. I’ll make sure to tell you from now on, so can you also let me know next time? I think it’ll be better this way, and we can both feel reassured.

So, please don’t look so worried? It’s okay. I only love you, Setsune.”

Her voice, saying she only loved me, conveyed a sense of genuine affection. I timidly raised my head to look at Rokka.

“…Really?”

“I mean it.”

Her expression was very serious, and I could tell she wasn’t lying.

Even so, the anxiety I had once embraced didn’t disappear easily, so I asked her for a favor.

“Then kiss me.”

“Okay.”

Rokka said and gave me a gentle kiss. When our lips parted, Rokka asked if my anxiety had disappeared. But that alone didn’t fill my heart, so I asked for another favor.

Rokka didn’t say anything and kissed me again. I was happy about it, so, like Rokka did before, I put my tongue into her mouth and entwined it with hers.

The sound of our tongues entwining faintly echoed in the empty classroom, and her affection for me flowed through her tongue.

It filled my heart, gradually easing the anxiety I had felt earlier.

After a while, we separated our lips without any prompting. I looked at Rokka’s face, and she blushed slightly, which was unusual for her cool and stylish demeanor.

As I admired her rare appearance, my uniform collar was suddenly moved, and she kissed me near my collarbone.

“Mm. Rokka, that tickles.”

“Just bear with it for a bit.”

It tickled a bit because it was my first time, but if Rokka asked me to bear with it, I had no choice but to comply.

After enduring the tickling for a while, Rokka raised her head and fixed my collar.

“What did you do?”

“Uh, well, check it out later.”

“Got it.”

I didn’t know what she did, but since she didn’t tell me, I decided to check it out on my own later. When I asked her what to do with the lunchbox before returning to the classroom, she said she would eat it because it would be rude not to touch something she had made.

Certainly, it would be rude to return something she had made without touching it at all, so I decided to let it go this time.

But to prevent such things from happening again, I made sure to set some boundaries.

After that, when we returned to the classroom, we each went to our seats. When I returned to my seat, Shizuku asked me about the mark on my collarbone.

I had no idea about the mark, so I borrowed a mirror from Shizuku and checked it myself. There was indeed a red mark, and it was where Rokka had kissed me earlier.

(Is this a hickey?!)

Understanding this, my face suddenly grew hot, but I didn’t want it to be known that it was a hickey, so I casually brushed it off as a bug bite.