Chapter 1

“Hee hee… You don’t have to think about a thing, Senpai.”

I can feel her skin.

Short, blue hair. A girl who isn’t my girlfriend is hugging me naked, trying to kiss me.

Simply put,

This is cheating.

But, hold on.

I’m aware that I’m doing something wrong.

Just… don’t cast the first stone until you’ve heard me out.

My girlfriend is what you’d call a “yandere.”

We’ve been dating since high school, for four years now.

For a college romance, I guess you could say we’ve lasted a while.

But as for me, honestly—my feelings had cooled off a lot.

“Hmm… Oh, interesting. This book looks good too.”

A call.

I narrate my own situation, like one of those announcers in a chase show. Pointless, I know.

“Shion, what are you doing right now?”

“…Didn’t I tell you? Today’s the club barbecue.”

“But you’ve been in front of the station for twenty minutes now?”

“I just got here early, so I’m killing time at a bookstore.”

“I see. So you’re not cheating.”

“Who cheats at a bookstore? …Anyway, I’m hanging up.”

My current girlfriend. Akane Akamine.

She goes to an all-girls college in Tokyo.

“It’s an all-girls college, so I can’t cheat. You can relax.”

—is what she told me, but I never doubted her in the first place.

Long red hair. A striking beauty.

Physically, she’s totally my type… but.

She tracks my every move with GPS.

If I’m off schedule by even ten or twenty minutes, she calls me instantly.

—Does she have too much time on her hands?

When we first started dating, I thought it was cute.

But as the years went by, it just became suffocating.

I tried to break up with her a few times. But every time—

“Shion, are you hiding something from me? If you weren’t, you wouldn’t say something like that, would you?”

“Then, tell me you love me.”

…At this point, it’s not even a conversation anymore.

“…I love you.”

“I’ll believe you♡”

Logic doesn’t work on her. That’s the kind of person she is.

“—Oh, Senpai! What a coincidence.”

Turning around, I saw a beautiful girl with short, blue hair smiling at me.

Sora Aoyama. She’s a year below me, a sophomore in college.

Same photography club, same information science department.

We’d talk about classes, complain about professors, and geek out over photography.

Somehow, we just clicked, and we started talking a lot.

She’s graceful and modest.

The very picture of a traditional Japanese lady.

The complete opposite of… the strong-willed Akane.

And so, we headed to the club barbecue.

“Alright, eat as much as you want!”

My friend from middle school, Daichi, was running the show.

Since I don’t have many friends, I’m really grateful to the guy for inviting me to the club.

“Senpai, you’re not drinking?”

“Oh, sorry. I’m a lightweight; I get drunk way too easily.”

“…I think I remember you saying that. I guess I’ll have to keep a close eye on you, then.”

“Can you drink, Sora-chan?”

“Yes. I can hold my liquor pretty well. …Senpai, do you prefer girls who are lightweights?”

“Nah, I don’t really have a preference. Maybe I should just pass all my drinks to you, Sora-chan!”

“Hee hee, you can count on me.”

As the party started to liven up, I got up to use the restroom.

When I got back to my seat—

“Senpai, that’s… my glass.”

“Huh? But it had a straw in it…”

“…A-Are you okay!? Your face is bright red!”

Right away, Sora turned to Daichi.

“Daichi-san, Shion-senpai drank something alcoholic by mistake… I’ll take him home.”

“Ah, gotcha. My bad, Sora. He’s all yours.”

And so, we ended up on a park bench to rest for a bit.

“Sorry, Sora-chan. The party was just getting good, too…”

“No, no, the way I ordered was confusing. …Are you okay?”

“Mmm, it was just one drink, so I’ll manage.”

“…By the way, Senpai. Could we exchange LINE IDs?”

“Huh?”

“I’d like to talk one-on-one, not just in the group chat…”

“…Sorry. My girlfriend’s really strict about that kind of thing. If she found out, she’d accuse me of ‘cheating’ again.”

“…Oh, I see. I guess that’s that, then.”

After smiling a little sadly, Sora spoke.

“You look pale. Would you like some water?”

—After that, I have no memory.

And that brings us back to the beginning.