Chapter 5: I’m Fighting This Sailor-Uniform Girl I’ve Never Even Met! Wait, Who Is She Actually?

Nariki Kinjiro, that’s me. And I was about to fight some girl in a sailor uniform.

“…Nariki-kun, what do you mean? Did you just say you’re going to take me down?”

“Yeah. I did.”

She stared at me like I’d lost my mind.

“Ha ha ha, you’re so funny, Nariki-kun! Joking around like th—”

“It’s not a joke. I mean every word.”

“…Huh?”

“Hard of hearing? I said it’s not a joke.”

I’d made up my mind. I was fighting to keep Taeko alive. To stop anyone else from dying. I’d already seen what that looked like with Oka-P, and I wasn’t going through it again.

“Something’s definitely off with you, Nariki-kun! Forgetting things, saying you’re not my darling, saying you’ll take me down… yeah, I think I need to kill that woman after all. But first…”

“First what?”

She started toward me, slow and deliberate.

“I should probably make sure you can’t move.”

Then she slammed her foot into the ground and shot forward.

She came at me with those sewing scissors leveled right at my chest. I threw myself sideways, looped around behind her, and drove a punch at her back.

She spun around instantly. My fist caught nothing but scissors. (Damn. Reaction time like that?)

“I knew it, Nariki-kun. That woman did something to you. She drugged you, messed with your head. That’s definitely what happened. But it’s okay! I’ll fix it! I’ll take you home with me, nurse you back to health, take such good care of you! So… just be a good boy and let me hurt you right now.”

She swatted my fist aside with the scissors. I used the recoil to leap back and close the distance. But she was already launching into her special move.

“Monster Slash!”

She closed the gap instantly, scissors slashing. I threw both arms up to block.

Blood ran down both forearms.

“Ngh—that hurts!”

“Hehe. I knew you’d guard with both arms. Now you can’t use your Super Feather Cross Attack.”

The Super Feather Cross Attack — cross your arms and tackle full-force. She’d cut them on purpose, specifically to shut it down.

“Hehe♡ Once I get you home, first I’ll make you drink lots and lots of water to flush out the drugs~ Then I’ll chain you to the bed and keep you all locked up~ And I’ll take care of you like that forever and ever! Yes, for the rest of your life~!”

Her eyes were dead. No light, just madness. Same eyes as Yamamoto Akimi. I couldn’t leave someone like that walking around.

I let out a slow breath.

“Take this — my ultimate…”

I hauled my leg way back, and like a pro footballer absolutely rifling one into the top corner, I kicked my shoe straight at her face.

“Fortune Clog Blast!!!!”

“Wha—!”

The shoe flew true and smashed her right in the face.

“Ugh…such regret……”

And she went down.

Chapter 6: Let’s Get the Full Story from Taeko and the Sailor-Uniform Girl While We’re All in the Hospital!

Yo! Nariki Kinjiro here!

After I took down the sailor-uniform girl, I called an ambulance right away.

Both of them were seriously hurt.

I was, too, so we ended up in the hospital together. Same room, somehow. Not sure why. Aren’t guys and girls supposed to be in separate wards? No idea. I’ve never actually been hospitalized before.

The doctor asked how we got hurt. I told him: “Yeah, we were all hanging out together, just the three of us. On the way home, some random attacker jumped us right in front of my place. That’s how it happened.”

I’d already stashed the weapons Taeko and the sailor-uniform girl had been carrying. Smooth move, honestly. Airtight cover-up.

“Come to think of it…”

“What’s up?”

Taeko was talking to me from her hospital bed. All three of us were laid up. And speaking of the sailor-uniform girl, turns out her real name was Uchida Tetsuko. Pretty normal, actually.

“Why did you lie for us? You had no reason to cover for us…”

“Why? Because I didn’t want to get dragged into another mess when you two got arrested. I already went through questioning with the Yamamoto Akimi thing. Not doing that again.”

“Ah. Fair enough.”

If I’d told the truth, I might’ve ended up as a suspect. I’d already been mixed up in something just a week before. Anyone would look at that and start wondering. I hadn’t done anything wrong, but there’s always that one-in-a-million chance. If something went sideways and I ended up arrested over a misunderstanding, that’d be it for me.

“…….”

Uchida was staring at me. There was something about her that reminded me of Yamamoto Akimi, and I hated it.

“I’m sorry, Nariki-kun…”

Both Taeko and I jolted.

What? She just apologized — out of nowhere? Taeko looked as shocked as I felt.

“I was stalking you and that b*tch when I saw it… I was waiting in front of your house to get to the truth, and then she just showed up out of nowhere… and the second I saw her, I just snapped… and then I…”

“First of all, stop calling her a bitch. She has a proper name. Suzuki Taeko.”

“That’s right, you pig! You don’t go around calling people ‘bitch’!”

“…You literally just called her a pig.”

“Oh, shut up! …And Kinjiro… did you just call my name ‘proper’…? That’s… that’s kind of sweet. Ugh.”

She looked annoyed. Her cheeks were red. She was clearly pleased—total tsundere.

“If Nariki-kun says so… Taeko, I’m sorry.”

“Excuse me, who said you could drop the honorifics, you little— …Add something. ‘Taeko-chan,’ ‘Taeko-san,’ anything.”

“Taeko-cha-ko………”

“Where are you putting the -chan?!”

Hm. Were these two actually getting along? Enemy of yesterday, friend of today?

“Anyway — you kept calling me ‘my darling,’ saying we were together. What was all that about? We’ve never even met.”

“Oh, that was just me doing my own thing. I saw you in town one day, fell for you at first sight, started following you around — and then the fantasy of us dating kind of blurred together with reality, and it just came out.”

“You said that so casually, and it was absolutely insane…”

“Shut it, Taeko-cha-ko.”

“Excuse me?! I will stab you!”

“Both of you!”

Never mind. They hated each other.

“But it’s too late now, isn’t it… No chance anymore… for you and me…”

“…Are you sorry for what you did, Uchida?”

“Huh?”

“I asked if you’re sorry. For what you did.”

“……I am. I really am! I calmed down. I thought it through. And I won’t do it again — never again! I’m never going to try to kill anyone! I mean it, I really mean it!”

She looked like she was about to cry.

“Alright then. I forgive you.”

I smiled.

“Hold on, Kinjiro! What are you saying? She stalked you! She hurt you! Why would you forgive her?!”

“I can tell from her eyes. She means it. I’m sure of it. She’s not going to try to kill anyone again.”

“Even so…”

“I’m sorry, Taeko. I won’t. Ever.”

“And you owe her one, too, Taeko. You did some pretty bad stuff yourself. You know you did.”

Taeko’s face went through several arguments before landing somewhere honest.

“……I’m sorry.”

“There you go.”

And then I apologized too.

“I’m sorry, both of you. I hit you, and that wasn’t right.”

“Kinjiro…”

“Nariki-kun…”

“And one more thing, Uchida…”

“What?”

“You said it was too late. Don’t give up. Right now, honestly? I can’t say I like you. But if you change — for real — maybe I could. So don’t go saying it’s too late.”

“N-Nariki-kun!”

She started crying.

“I’m so happy… I’m really happy… Okay. I get it, Nariki-kun. From here on, from here on I’ll…”

Both of us waited.

“Stalk you even more openly!!!“

Both of us short-circuited.

“Huh? Wait — what? Were you even listening?!”

“R-Right?! What do you mean by ‘openly’?! And Kinjiro! Why do you keep tagging ‘daze’ onto everything you say?!”

“Oh, that’s just a bit I’m doing.”

“‘A bit’?! What does that even mean?! And Uchida! Don’t you dare stalk my Kinjiro!”

“Your???? Taeko-cha-ko, you and Nariki-kun are just grade-school baggage. You’re not even real childhood friends — stop acting as if you own him!!!”

And that was how a stalker became a friend. Oka-P… think I’m gonna make it through high school in one piece?