When My Girlfriend Cheated On Me And Spread Rumors That I Was A Guy Who Would Sleep With Anyone, I Decided To Just Accept It And Ended Up Dating The Most Slutty Girl In School.

Apology, Announcement, and the Unease of After-School.

“Plan A: Operation- Anyone Who Steals the Wallet We Found Isn’t Worthy of Being Hana-chan’s Boyfriend!”

“ “Wow!” “

Linda, clenching her huge fists between her large chest, lowers her voice.

Minto and Konna are quietly clapping on either side.

It’s after school, and the plan involves the following day.

The location is a quiet residential area along Naoki’s route home.

By the way, Hanabusa has sought the help of her gal group to go to karaoke.

Initially, she was reluctant to hang out with her boyfriend, but after a bit of whining about how he’s been neglecting their time together and insisting they should hang out, things worked out.

“I’ll leave my wallet in the middle of the road. It contains thirty thousand yen in secret savings! If he steals it, he’s out!”

“Thirty thousand yen!? That’s a lot of money!”

“If there’s that much in it, he’ll definitely steal it!”

“In that case, we’ll just take evidence footage, then beat him up and get it back. We’ll be satisfied, Hana-chan will be disillusioned, and break up with that dick. It’ll be a happy ending!”

“I see!”

“As expected of Linda! You’re amazing!”

“Right, right! It’s time to redeem my silly image!”

The three of them line up like a totem pole and peek around the corner of the street.

Naoki is walking with a lonely expression.

“He’s coming! Set the wallet! Let’s hide!”

“Huh?”

“Hide? Where?”

“…Oh no, I didn’t think about that.”

“Linda!?”

“Seriously!? This is going to be so obvious!”

“If it’s come to this, just hide in some random house’s yard!”

“What!?”

“That’s trespassing! It’s wrong!”

“It’s an emergency! There’s no other choice!”

Linda hides behind the wall of a nearby house.

“L-Linda, wait for me!”

“Don’t leave me behind!”

Minto rushes after her, and a tearful Konna follows behind.

“…Is it really true she’s just going to karaoke with her friends? Maybe she just doesn’t want to be with me… No, Hanabusa-san isn’t like that. She’s been with me so much lately; it’s about time she’d want to hang out with friends… But I’m anxious… Well, it’s not like we’re officially together, so she’s free to hang out with whoever she wants… Damn it! When I’m alone, all I do is think about Hanabusa. This is totally love…”

Naoki mutters to himself, clutching his head and looking dejected.

Honestly, it’s disgusting.

It’s a mystery what anyone could find appealing about that guy.

Linda is also not at all interested.

In fact, Linda has absolutely no interest in men whatsoever.

“He’s coming, he’s coming… Alright, pick up the wallet!”

“Huh? What’s this?”

Naoki picks up the wallet from the ground.

“Whoa!? There’s thirty thousand yen in here!”

After checking the contents, Naoki looks around nervously.

“That guy’s checking to see if there are any witnesses.”

“He might just be looking for the owner…”

“No! That look on his face is definitely that of a thief! I can tell!”

After finishing his scan of the surroundings, Naoki starts rummaging through the wallet.

“…I see. He’s taking the money and tossing the wallet.”

“I can’t really defend this…”

“Once he’s looked through someone’s wallet, he’s guilty!”

“Huh? What’s this…”

Naoki mutters and suddenly makes a phone call.

“What’s that guy up to?”

“I don’t know…”

“I don’t want to understand what a thief is thinking!”

Shortly after, Naoki finishes his call, looking relieved as he slips the wallet into his pocket.

“Guilty as charged!”

“Linda, wait! He might be planning to take it to the police station later.”

“That’s a valid point…”

“Ugh. Let’s follow him just in case.”

Just as they were about to follow Naoki, Linda’s phone rang.

“Whoa!?”

“Linda!?”

“Scared me there!?”

The three of them quickly covered each other’s mouths and Linda hastily answered the call.

“Hello? Who’s calling at a time like this?”

“It’s me… Are you busy?”

“Hana-chan!?”

The bewildered voice was unmistakably Hanabusa’s.

She must be calling from outside the karaoke room.

In the background, faint sounds of friends having a good time could be heard.

“Why is Hanabusa calling me?”

“How should I know?”

“W-Well, I’m not really busy or anything!? W-What’s up!?”

Linda answered in a complete panic.

“Something’s up with you, isn’t it? Did you lose a wallet?”

Linda’s heart skipped a beat.

“H-How did you know!?”

“Oh, thank goodness!”

Suddenly, Hanabusa’s voice turned cheerful and excited.

“So, Asshi called me! He found a wallet on the street! When he looked inside, he saw a photo booth picture of everyone, and figured it might belong to one of my friends! And when he saw the karaoke card with Linda’s name on it, he figured it out! He’ll keep the wallet until tomorrow, so make sure to thank him!”

“Ah… yeah, I see.”

Taken aback by the unexpected turn of events, Linda slumped her shoulders in defeat.

“What’s wrong? You found the wallet but don’t sound very happy. What’s the matter?”

“Oh, nothing. Yay, I’m so happy…”

The words came out flat and unconvincing.

“You don’t sound like it… By the way, are you free? We’re all at karaoke right now. Why don’t you join us? It’s been a while since we hung out together.”

“Ah… I’m happy for the invite, but I have some things to do today…”

“Things to do? You don’t have a club, part-time job, or cram school, right?”

“Well, that’s true but…”

Linda desperately looked to the other two for help.

“Then you are hanging out with us instead!”

“Y-Yeah, Minto and Konna are with us too!”

“Seriously? Then you three should come over! There’s still room, and I’d really love to see you! I’m so sorry we haven’t hung out recently!”

“Ah!”

“Ugh!”

“Eek!”

The three of them clutched their chests, overcome with guilt for lying to Hanabusa.

Sorry, Hana-chan!