The Story of Making a Popular Girl Dependent on Me - Chapter 4

I, Asahina Setsune, have been dating for half a year now.

I fell in love at first sight when I was in my first year of junior high, and we became classmates in our third year, which gave me the chance to approach her.

It was our last year in junior high, so I wanted to create memories with the person I liked.

So, I would initiate conversations and invite her to hang out. The year we spent together passed by in a flash, and it was the day of our junior high graduation ceremony.

On that day, Rokka called me to the back of the school building and confessed her feelings to me.

I was so happy when she confessed that I cried, which made Rokka misunderstand and try to leave in rejection. I panicked but managed to stop her and express my true feelings.

That’s how my three-year crush bore fruit, and I started dating the person I liked.

The days that followed were very enjoyable. We went on several dates before entering high school, and even after starting school, we spent fulfilling afternoons together, going to cafes, shopping, and so on, for half a year.

However, because I couldn’t take that final step, we still haven’t kissed. At best, we occasionally held hands or hugged.

I’m not bragging, but I’m quite popular in my class. I have many friends regardless of gender, and I’ve been confessed to a few times since starting school. However, I politely turned them down because of Rokka.

Looking at myself objectively, I could be described as popular or, less kindly, a people-pleaser. That’s how I see myself.

Because of this tendency to please everyone, I didn’t spend much time with Rokka at school.

Certainly, I love and cherish Rokka, but because I also value my friendships, unless Rokka initiates, I often spent time with my friends instead.

I thought Rokka understood me and prioritized my feelings and thoughts.

My beloved Rokka is very cool. With beautiful black hair that reaches her shoulders, she’s about 10 cm taller than me with long limbs like a model. She doesn’t seem aware of her cool demeanor and beautifully structured face, which quietly makes her popular, especially among girls.

I sometimes feel a strange unease about her popularity among girls, but Rokka always considers me first.

For example, she never fails to message me first thing in the morning, gets to school earlier than me to greet me first, replies promptly to my messages, and unless there’s a special plan, always walks home together.

As a routine, we also talked on the phone before bed, and I cherished those days and was happy that Rokka always put me first.

So, I thought Rokka understood me.

However, I think I started to take that for granted at some point.

Rokka always prioritizes me. She lets me do what I want.

The first time I felt something was off was yesterday after school. Normally, she’d message me to walk home together after homeroom, but that day’s message was different.

“I’m going home alone today. See you tomorrow.”

It was a somewhat distant and indifferent message.

At that moment, I felt a slight unease, but I replied, thinking she must have had something urgent.

“Okay. But that’s unusual. Did something come up?”

After sending that, I waited a bit, but there was no reply from Rokka.

Afterward, feeling inexplicable anxiety, I hurried home, feeling lonely without Rokka beside me.

Rokka’s reply came several hours later.

Relieved that she replied, I opened the messaging app, hoping she had returned to her usual self.

However, her message was again distant. It simply said, “It’s nothing.”

I became filled with anxiety and worry, wondering if something had happened to her, or if I had unintentionally done something to upset her.

Even after that, I tried subtly asking Rokka about the cause, but all I got in response were vague answers that seemed to keep some distance.

Furthermore, our daily phone calls had changed to just a brief “I’m tired today, so I’m going to sleep.”

That night, I pondered why Rokka had started keeping her distance, hoping she would return to her usual self tomorrow, as I drifted off to sleep.

In the morning, I checked my phone right after waking up. Normally, by the time I woke up, I would have received a greeting message from my beloved Rokka.

With hope in my heart that there would be a message from Rokka, I opened my phone, but there was no notification that should have been there.

This hadn’t happened before. Maybe she overslept? I tried to convince myself, feeling increasingly anxious, and sent her a message.

After that, while getting ready for school, I kept checking my phone every few minutes to see if Rokka had replied.

Because of that, despite not finishing my preparations, it was already the time I usually left home, so I hurriedly completed the rest of my preparations and left.

(Ah… I want to hear Rokka’s good morning. Since I couldn’t talk to her yesterday, I really want to hear her voice. I wonder what’s wrong with Rokka.)

Checking my smartphone screen repeatedly and thinking about Rokka while walking to the nearest station, I received a message from Rokka.

“Good morning.”

Just seeing those words made me feel relieved. It must have been because she overslept or wasn’t feeling well that she had been late in replying.

Thinking so, I immediately replied, concerned about her health.

“Good morning. I didn’t get a message from you today, so I sent one. Are you okay? Are you feeling unwell or did you oversleep?”

It was unusual for me to reply so quickly, but I couldn’t help it. I was worried because I hadn’t received her usual message.

However, the reply I got from her wasn’t about oversleeping or feeling unwell.

So, I wondered why she hadn’t contacted me and decided to ask her when we greeted each other at school, as usual.