The Story of Making a Popular Girl Dependent on Me - Chapter 30

The week after catching a cold and staying in bed was truly happy.

Rokka and I would walk home together every day, and when we found ourselves in a secluded place, we would kiss each other without a word.

Sometimes we would kiss even if there were people nearby, the thrill of possibly getting caught was fun, and I often initiated the kisses.

However, as the week went by, I started getting invited out by friends more often, and even when I tried to decline, I couldn’t easily say no, causing a gradual distance between Rokka and me.

And somehow, I always found myself alone with a boy, with no one else around.

I would have preferred to be with Rokka if we were alone, but leaving at that moment would have been rude, so I reluctantly stayed until the end.

After school. Today, as usual, I was teaching my classmate, Hayato Hayato. I had messaged Rokka that we couldn’t walk home together after school, so she left first, but my heart strongly wished to walk home with her.

I tried hard to hide my feelings and put on a smile, answering Hayato’s questions as we went along.

“If you solve the problem like this…”

“I see. How about this one?”

“Yes, that’s right!”

I wished I could study with Rokka instead, but thinking about it was pointless, so I continued to respond while praising Hayato.

“Hayato, you catch on quickly!”

“No, no, it’s because of your teaching, Asahina-san. Thanks to you, I think I’ll do better on the next test than usual.”

“That’s not true. Let’s both work hard for the test!”

I said that, and while engaging with Hayato, I kept thinking about Rokka.

Two weeks had passed since I couldn’t be with Rokka, and then an extremely unpleasant incident occurred for me.

After school that day, I was in the library as usual with my friends.

Since exams were approaching, we were all studying together today, but one by one, they left for various reasons.

Eventually, only Hayato and I were left as usual.

After finishing studying, we left the library and walked down the hallway.

Hayato would talk about various things, making it enjoyable to be with him, but I didn’t like how he seemed too comfortable around girls.

After walking for a while, Hayato suddenly stopped and faced me, blocking the way.

“What’s wrong? If you stay like this, I can’t go home…”

Before I could say I couldn’t go, Hayato approached me and hugged me.

I couldn’t understand what was happening, so I couldn’t resist and was held in his arms.

“Asahina-san. I like you. If you’re okay with it, would you go out with me?”

“Stop it!”

The whispered words in my ear were extremely unpleasant and made me feel sick, so I pushed him away without thinking.

When it was with Rokka, being hugged was a happy act, but being treated like this by someone I wasn’t interested in made me feel sick and uncomfortable.

“…Huh?”

Hayato seemed unable to understand that I rejected him and stood there dumbfounded for a while.

Taking advantage of that moment, I hurried to the entrance, changed my shoes quickly, and ran home.

When I got home, I immediately took a bath to wash away the dirt.

However, no matter how many times I washed my body, the discomfort of being hugged didn’t go away, and tears started to flow gradually.

“Ugh… Rokka. What should I do…”

The uniform that had been hugged by Rokka and had her scent all over it now made me feel sick after being hugged by someone else.

I didn’t want to have anything to do with Hayato anymore, but since he got along well with other girls besides me, I couldn’t avoid him and be with everyone else.

So, I realized that I had no choice but to endure and continue living like this, but I felt that I should at least tell Rokka that I had been confessed to and properly rejected.

I didn’t know when we could walk home together again, but I made up my mind to tell her when we did, and I got out of the bath.

A few days later, the day finally came when I could walk home with Rokka.

These past few days, despite rejecting him, Hayato kept persisting, and our friends kept trying to leave us alone, so I couldn’t walk home with him.

However, even though we could walk home together after a long time, Rokka remained silent, and I couldn’t bring myself to talk to her because of her cold demeanor.

Still, I had decided to tell her what had happened during this time, so I gathered my courage and spoke up.

“Rokka, after this, what do you say…”

“What?”

She replied, but Rokka didn’t look at me at all, and she seemed disinterested in talking to me, appearing cold.

“Uh, how about we stop by a nearby café and catch up?”

“Sure, that sounds good.”

Since Rokka agreed, we walked silently to the café.

However, even after entering the café, we remained tense, unable to talk as we had before, as if we had forgotten how to communicate.

Still, feeling that things couldn’t continue like this, I decided to express what I had been thinking.

“Um, Rokka. Actually…”

“What?”

“Sorry, Rokka. He confessed to me…”

I managed to say those words, which were so small that they seemed like they might disappear soon.

I hoped that Rokka had heard me properly and that she would forgive me, saying it was okay, that I had rejected him because I was with her.

“Hmm… And?”

However, the response I received from her was in a tone colder than I had ever heard.

“But, but! I rejected him properly! I’m your girlfriend, Rokka, and I’m not interested in anyone else!”

I hurriedly emphasized that I had rejected him, that I was Rokka’s girlfriend, and that I wasn’t interested in anyone else.

“I see. Well, I understand.”

Upon hearing those words, I held onto a glimmer of hope. I hoped that Rokka would return to her usual kind self, that she would love me as she always had. I earnestly prayed that we could go back to those happy days we had two weeks ago.

“Um, well then!”

However, reality was cruel, and the next words she said made me despair.

“But, you know, I saw it. Setsune being hugged.”

“…Huh?”

At first, I didn’t understand what she was talking about, but when she mentioned being hugged, I remembered that moment.

At the same time, the fact that she had seen that and the thought of being seen by Rokka tore at my heart.

“You saw it?”

“I saw it clearly.”

“No, that’s not it! Hayato suddenly hugged me, and I was just surprised, and I asked him to stop right away!”

I desperately denied what had happened at that time, but Rokka’s demeanor remained unchanged.

“That’s right. But, you know, Rokka. Frankly, I don’t care about how it happened. What I can’t forgive is that the guy touched what’s mine without permission and that you were hugged because you let your guard down.”

With those words, Rokka clearly rejected me. In shock, I couldn’t find any words to say, and I struggled to hold back the tears that threatened to spill over.

“This time, I’ll pay for it, so calm down and come back when you’re ready.”

I felt like Rokka said something at the end, but I couldn’t bring myself to listen to it at that moment.

I don’t remember much after that, but I found myself back at my house in my room.

However, Rokka’s words kept swirling in my head, and my thoughts became a jumble.

“Let my guard down… Maybe that’s true. I’ve been so happy lately to be loved by Rokka that I might have gotten carried away.”

Upon reflection, there were many strange things. I realized that we were always left alone with Hayato, with no one else around.

Perhaps he had sought help from our other friends to get closer to me.

“What should I do from now on…”

Rejected by Rokka, I desperately pondered what the right path forward was and how we could return to our previous relationship.