Chapter 31: Hayasaka Goes Up in Flames

♣♣♣

“They say the cherry blossoms will bloom pretty early this year.”

Hamanami says.

“Even though it’s this cold?”

Looking up at the sky, it’s a crisp, clear blue from the chill.

“Apparently, it’ll get really warm once the cold snap passes. I wonder if the ski trip will be okay.”

“It’s March, after all.”

“If there’s no snow, it’ll turn into a hiking trip, right?”

We happened to meet in the morning and were walking to school together.

Hamanami’s cheeks are flushed red from the cold air.

“By the way, Kirishima-senpai, is your head okay?”

Not in the sense of being an idiot, Hamanami clarifies.

“You’re still under observation, right?”

“Yeah. I’m going to the hospital again next week.”

After tumbling down the stairs at Tokyo Station, I was hospitalized for a few days for tests. Since it’s my head, there’s a chance symptoms could show up later, so I’m getting regular checkups.

“It’s just a routine check, though.”

“But you mentioned headaches and dizziness, didn’t you?”

“I’ve always had migraines, and I get lightheaded from mild anemia, so it’s not new.”

“As long as that’s all it is.”

I’ve been told I can live normally. I’m even cleared to participate in this month’s endurance run event. Of course, if anything unusual happens, I’m supposed to go to the hospital immediately.

“You haven’t told either of them anything, have you?”

“Yeah. No need to.”

I told both Hayasaka-san and Tachibana-san I’m fine.

“Is that kindness?”

“Exactly. I’m a kind guy. Overflowing with it.”

“I can see it, Kirishima-senpai’s kindness is spilling out. Let’s call you the Kindness Overflow Guy.”

Go for it. I say.

“But with that attitude, can you really be cold to them? Kirishima Soft Cream, was it?”

“Soft Landing. And, well, it’s a failure.”

The plan was to lower my favorability with both Hayasaka-san and Tachibana-san, then choose one, minimizing the hurt for the one not chosen—a soft landing for love. But I couldn’t be cold to either of them and only realized how much I care for both.

I thought this tangled situation was due to Hayasaka-san and Tachibana-san’s overwhelming affection for me.

But I’ve been directing just as much affection toward both of them.

“Oi, Hamanami, what’s wrong? Your eyes are getting all teary.”

“No, it’s just…… recognizing your failure so quickly? You’ve grown, Senpai.”

“Mom vibes?”

“But doesn’t that mean you can’t change the status quo?”

“Guess it’s Hard Landing time.”

Choose one and hurt the other.

“You’re serious about ending it properly, huh? I fully support that decision, but will Kirishima-senpai make it to third year unscathed?”

“Hey, don’t say scary stuff like that.”

Today’s a weekly school day, so third-years are attending too.

Hamanami glances at the third-years passing by and says,

“They feel so grown-up already.”

“Even though they’re just one year older.”

I’ve always thought so. Just unbuttoning their uniform shirts a bit, wearing pants low on the hips, or shortening their skirts makes the seniors look incomparably mature compared to my peers.

When I say that, Hamanami responds, “That vibe is so emo, I love it~”

Hamanami seems to love emo stuff. Very modern, I think.

“Keep going!”

I think for a moment and say,

“The sound of a metal bat echoing across the dusk-lit field.”

“That’s so good!”

“A coffee shop on a rainy day.”

“More, give me more!”

“Worn-out sneakers.”

“So emo!”

“A dusty music box.”

“Yes, Emo Artisan!”

I kept listing emo-evoking words. “You’re a poet, Kirishima Shirou!” Hamanami was thrilled. But I felt utterly hollow.

No matter how beautiful or poetic the words I string together, they lack any persuasiveness, and I’m not worthy of anyone’s praise.

Because, under my uniform, I’m wearing a girls’ school swimsuit.

I’m wearing a girls’ school swimsuit.

♣♣♣

If it were just a bit of anarchy, I’d tell Hamanami to get a laugh out of it, but even she’d probably draw the line at me wearing that under my uniform.

It all started a few days ago.

That day, I was visiting a university open campus with Hayasaka-san.

“Kirishima-kun, look, look~”

Right after passing through the main gate, Hayasaka-san points at a club’s signboard.

“It’s a film production club! Looks so fun~”

Hayasaka-san is all excited.

“We shot a short film together last summer, right? With Maki-kun as director.”

“‘Roundhouse Kick Detective Q’s Hot Spring Mystery.’”

“A film production club could be cool.”

After saying that, Hayasaka-san smiles shyly.

“I’m so silly. University is for studying, isn’t it?”

“It’s fine, isn’t it? Everything’s better if it’s fun.”

“You spoil me too much, Kirishima-kun. You can say more ambitious stuff, you know.”

Hayasaka-san snuggles up to me.

After that day in the clubroom when sparks flew, I wondered how things would turn out, but it somehow settled down. Both Tachibana-san and Hayasaka-san seemed to think they went too far and apologized to each other.

“Hayasaka-san, I’m sorry. I got heated and bragged about being loved by Shirou-kun.”

“No, I’m sorry for using crude words. Saying you were used—it’s all true, but I’m sorry.”

With twitching eyebrows and forced smiles, they shook hands.

But since that day, they’ve been engaged in a fluffy popcorn-throwing kind of battle. Being naturally kind girls, they’re subtly holding back.

At school, Tachibana-san, the official girlfriend, has the upper hand. Every break, she comes to my classroom, clinging to my arm and hissing “Mii~!!” to intimidate Hayasaka-san, who stomps her feet in the distance, going “Punsuka~!”

This puts Hayasaka-san in the position of being shown up, and she ends up crying, “Waaah!”

“I’m your girlfriend, right?”

On the way home from cram school, she grips my hand tightly and says,

“You need to tell Tachibana-san properly soon. That you’ve broken up. I’m holding back because I feel bad for her, you know? She got dumped by you, so I try not to act too girlfriend-y in front of her at school. But Tachibana-san still acts like she’s your girlfriend, and she misunderstands that you hold her because you love her—”

And she stopped being so reserved at school, starting to act like my girlfriend.

“I love you, Kirishima-kun~”

In the classroom, in front of everyone, she tries to cuddle up, holds my hand on the way home, and mentions to friends that we talk on the phone until late at night.

This makes things worse.

Immoral girls aren’t welcome. To others, Hayasaka-san looks like she’s trying to steal a guy who’s already taken. At school, I’m still Tachibana-san’s boyfriend, no matter what.

During breaks, if I listen closely in the classroom, I hear voices like:

“Akane’s going in a weird direction, isn’t she?”

“Trying to make a move on someone else’s boyfriend? That’s the worst.”

“I’m disappointed in Hayasaka-san. I thought she was better than that.”

Last year, Hayasaka-san secretly worked at a maid café. Apparently, a schoolmate was among the customers, and pictures of her in a maid outfit spread around. She also dressed as a Santa girl at a Christmas party, smiling between two guys from another school. Combined with our questionable relationship, she’s been labeled a “saseko” behind her back.

“Ehehe.”

One day on the way home, Hayasaka-san laughed weakly.

“I’m Kirishima-kun’s girlfriend, I just love you, but everyone’s saying awful things about me. Why is that, ehehe?”

I couldn’t say anything.

“Do something about it.”

The next day, Sakai called me out and said,

“Akane’s reputation is getting worse and worse. If she breaks down, don’t blame me.”

That’s why I brought Hayasaka-san to the open campus, partly to let her blow off steam.

And it worked. Being alone together outside of school, able to act fully as my girlfriend, Hayasaka-san was full of energy. I planned to tell her at some point today to tone it down at school.

“Kirishima-kun, let’s go~”

“Yeah.”

Holding hands with Hayasaka-san, we enter the school building.

We tour the campus, checking out facilities, attending a faculty presentation in the auditorium, and listening to seniors. When Hayasaka-san, who’s aiming for a science major, goes to visit research labs, I act alone for a bit. There’s another reason I came to the open campus.

“Sorry, there’s someone I need to meet.”

When I say that, Hayasaka-san smiles and replies, “That’s fine.”

“I’m gonna check out a bunch of labs and get super motivated!”

She’s the most wholesome Hayasaka-san ever. When we’re alone, she’s so honest and cute.

I step outside and sit on a bench under a large zelkova tree in front of the auditorium. After a while, a woman with brightly colored hair walks up and sits next to me.

A university student who works part-time at the bar run by Tachibana-san’s mom.

It was Kunimi-san.

♣♣♣

“You changed your hair color.”

“What do you think?”

“It suits you.”

Kunimi-san’s hair used to be pink, but now it’s blue.

She’s added more ear piercings too.

“So, how’s my university?”

“It’s quiet and really nice.”

“Take the entrance exam.”

“You say that so casually.”

Kunimi-san is a slacker college student who pours beer and drinks it herself during her shifts.

But she’s also the author of the Love Notebook, rumored to have an IQ of 180, and this university she attends is genuinely prestigious.

“Come back to the bar once you’re a college student. We’ll peel potatoes together again.”

I quit the job at the start of the year to focus on studying for exams.

I told the owner, Rei-san, about it from my hospital room, so my goodbye with Kunimi-san was a bit rushed. That’s why I wanted to use the open campus as a chance to properly say farewell.

By the way, Rei-san sent me off warmly but said, “I’d be in trouble if my daughter’s boyfriend failed his exams.” Being an adult, Rei-san has noticed our tangled romance. By calling me “my daughter’s boyfriend,” she was subtly putting me on notice.

When I mention this, Kunimi-san cackles.

“You won’t be able to come back to the bar unless you choose the girl with the nice hips.”

We catch up on recent events.

As time passes and Hayasaka-san’s lab tour nears its end, I bring up what I’ve been wanting to ask.

“Are you still working on the Love Notebook?”

“Kinda.”

“Because it’s unfinished, right?”

The Love Notebook is a book of love’s secrets. But recently, I’ve realized it’s missing something. It details methods and psychology for bringing a guy and girl closer, but thinking about it, everything with a beginning has an end. The notebook clearly lacks any discussion on how to end a romance.

“Who knows?”

I haven’t thought that deeply about it, Kunimi-san says.

“But if you look at love systematically, it’s true that not just the notebook but all discussions on love in the world tend to neglect the closing part.”

What we need is the right way to end a romance.

“In your case, Kirishima, there’s a quick solution.”

“What’s that?”

“Tokyo Station was rough, huh?”

Kunimi-san must have heard from Rei-san.

Rei-san covered my hospital bills, so she knows everything.

“That broken girl, she’s erased the truth from her memory, hasn’t she?”

That’s the truth I haven’t told anyone.

It’s not about distorting perception—some of what happened at Tokyo Station has been completely erased from her memory.

“If you confronted her with that truth, she’d probably walk away on her own. One leaves, one stays. Problem solved.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Figured. Since she erased it from her memory, remembering it might not just break her—it’d be way worse.”

That’s why I’m careful not to touch on it. Compared to that truth, her believing she was chosen is a trivial thing. But—

“That makes it tricky, huh?”

As Kunimi-san says, I couldn’t be cold to either of them. Can I really choose one and bring this to a satisfying conclusion?

“So, I’m giving you this.”

Kunimi-san hands me a folded piece of loose-leaf paper.

“What’s this?”

“A new love game.”

Talk about dropping it out of nowhere.

“I came up with it during a lecture, sacrificing sleep.”

Kunimi-san is still working on the Love Notebook even as a college student. It’s called the True Love Notebook, supposedly far more powerful than the one she made in high school, and this scrap of paper is slated to be included in it.

Hearing that, I can’t help but feel a sinister aura emanating from the paper.

“Uh, I don’t want it.”

“Just take it. It’ll definitely help you, Kirishima.”

Saying something like a kung-fu master, Kunimi-san stuffs the paper into my coat pocket. I have a really bad feeling about this.

“No, I’m giving it back.”

“Take it. I promise it’ll be a thrilling time.”

“Thrilling? That’s scary!”

As we tussle back and forth, I spot Hayasaka-san coming out of the research building in the distance. She’s looking for me, unable to find me, and starts scanning the area with a slightly anxious expression.

“Go to her.”

Kunimi-san says, firmly tucking the paper into my pocket. With no choice, I stand up.

Finally, Kunimi-san says with a meaningful tone,

“You’re trying all sorts of things, Kirishima, but what you’re doing might not be what she wants. Especially when you think you’re doing the ‘right’ thing—be careful. Your shallow thinking will be seen through.”

At the time, I didn’t understand what she meant.

I only got it on the way back to the station.

“I’m gonna study hard when I get home~!”

After touring the university, Hayasaka-san was full of motivation.

I felt like I was doing something very righteous. Hayasaka-san is working hard on her studies, and Tachibana-san has been diligently practicing the piano lately.

Everyone’s looking toward the future, moving forward positively. Aiming for a future where everyone’s happy, solving problems bit by bit—it felt like playing a game of chess.

So I tried to solve this problem too.

“Hayasaka-san, let’s keep a bit more distance at school. It’s hard to say, but people still see me as dating Tachibana-san.”

I gently explained that her stepping into that image is worsening her reputation. It’s like celebrity scandals—people defend the wife and bash the mistress.

I wanted to protect Hayasaka-san. But—

“Kirishima-kun, you’re such a scumbag.”

Hayasaka-san clings to my arm, saying it brightly.

Oh, crap. I stepped on a landmine.

“You’re still worried about what people think. I want you to say I’m your girlfriend even if people point fingers, but you’re too concerned with appearances to do it. You want to be the righteous guy. We’ve come this far, and it’s just…… wrong!”

Hayasaka-san laughs.

“I kinda felt it, you know? If we study together and act all sincere, you get to feel good about yourself, Kirishima-kun. But you don’t give me what I really want. No, you try to, but you hit the brakes because you care about what people think. You say you don’t care about society’s values, but you’re the one most bound by them. So what if people say I stole you? Just let them talk!”

She puts her index finger to her chin, thinking.

“How can I make Kirishima-kun stop caring about what others think? How can I make him truly be my boyfriend?”

“That’s it!” Hayasaka-san exclaims.

“We should both crash and burn! If I’m not a good girl at all, but a really bad one, and everyone finds out Kirishima-kun’s a scumbag, it’ll be perfect! If everything we’ve done gets exposed, people will tear us apart! Those same people who got mad when I shortened my skirt, saying, ‘This isn’t the pure Hayasaka-san!’”

I think to myself,

It’s been a while since I’ve seen this! That Hayasaka-san overload!

“And when we’re completely torn apart and there’s no reputation left to care about, you won’t care anymore, right, Kirishima-kun? Oh, that’d be great—if everyone hates you and you’re all alone, you’ll be mine and mine alone.”

“But that’d mean you too—”

“Why? Why are you worried about me?”

Hayasaka-san says, genuinely confused.

“Kirishima-kun, you like it when I’m hurt, don’t you? You want to see me all broken, right? Ehehe, it’s okay. As long as you’re my boyfriend, I’m fine with anything. Just a little hug makes me happy.”

“How should we get torn apart?” Hayasaka-san muses.

I think, How do I stop her?

“Oh, how about leaking that video I made for you, Kirishima-kun?”

“No, that’s seriously not okay.”

“Why not? I’ve been everyone’s fantasy since middle school, you know? Pictures of me in gym clothes or swimsuits get taken without me knowing and passed around.”

Might as well show the video too, Hayasaka-san says.

“Oh, that’d be great. I’m calling your name in it, so everyone will tear me apart, right? But we’ll crash and burn together. They’ll know we’re really boyfriend and girlfriend.”

Hayasaka-san is flooring the accelerator of self-destruction.

I try to stop her, saying I don’t want her to be unhappy, but I’m still involved with Tachibana-san, so nothing I say has any weight. But I genuinely don’t want her to get hurt anymore, so I say,

“Alright, I’ll be the one to crash and burn. I’ll do something so ridiculous that caring about appearances seems stupid. So please, take better care of yourself.”

But what should I do?

Hayasaka-san wants me to be torn apart, stripped of reputation, and left alone. But I can’t break the law.

As I’m thinking, Hayasaka-san says,

“……Then wear it.”

“Wear what?”

“My school swimsuit.”

♣♣♣

It’s art class.

Since it’s an elective, Tachibana-san from another class is here, along with Hayasaka-san, Sakai, and Maki.

Before, during art class, we’d casually gather and chat. Hayasaka-san would talk excitedly, Sakai would give vague responses, Maki would say random stuff, and Tachibana-san would nonchalantly poke my leg with her foot.

We weren’t all close, but there was a loose connection, a comfortable flow of time.

But now, no one talks anymore. We’re just facing our sketchbooks.

Will I ever be able to look back on those days as a page of youth?

I think about it, but I probably don’t have the right to indulge in nostalgia. I can’t make this art room a beautiful memory. Because—

Right now, I’m wearing a school swimsuit under my uniform.

And I’m posing as a drawing model.

At the center of the circle of seated students, I’m striking a pose. They’re probably observing the folds of my uniform, thinking about how to draw them, unaware that there’s a girls’ school swimsuit underneath.

I’m currently in the pose of the famous sculpture The Thinker. And while striking this pose, all I can think about is how the swimsuit is too tight and a bit painful, or whether it’s showing through my shirt.

Even Rodin could never have imagined that, far in the future, a Japanese high school boy would wear a school swimsuit under his uniform and mimic this pose.

But from here, I have to open the gates to an even deeper hell.

I have to strip in front of everyone and reveal the swimsuit.

That’s what Hayasaka-san wanted.

After the open campus, Hayasaka-san said,

“Kirishima-kun, you need to be pathetic too.”

We were riding the panda car on the department store rooftop again. This time, Hayasaka-san was in the back, clinging to me.

The department store rooftop always feels like dusk.

Caught in that atmosphere, I say something I’ve kept quiet about until now.

“You actually know everything, don’t you?”

That I didn’t know the penalty for breaking the no-cutting-in-line rule, that I didn’t hold Hayasaka-san not out of some noble desire to cherish her body but for less pure reasons, that she’s convinced herself she was chosen as my girlfriend, that the wholesome Hayasaka-san is all—

“An act, right?”

Hayasaka-san, pressing her face into my back, answers, “Yeah.”

“Because if I don’t do that, I can’t keep you, Kirishima-kun. Tachibana-san took all the firsts. I lost everything.”

But if I’m broken, Kirishima-kun will keep paying attention to me, she says.

“Kirishima-kun, you like pitiful girls, don’t you?”

Apparently, she talked to Tachibana-san.

“You met Tachibana-san when you were little, right?”

Yeah. During summer vacation, I was staying at a relative’s house. In a nearby park, I met Tachibana-san.

“Tachibana-san said, ‘I think Shirou-kun talked to me because I was alone and lonely.’”

I recall that memory. The park was full of kids playing, but Tachibana-san was alone on top of the jungle gym, looking bored.

“Kirishima-kun, you fall for pitiful girls. That’s your tendency.”

“That’s not my intention……”

“That’s why I have to be more pitiful than Tachibana-san. I have to be more broken than her.”

“Even so, hurting yourself isn’t okay.”

“Stop it with those generic lines anyone could say.”

Tachibana-san probably knows too, Hayasaka-san says.

“Kirishima-kun, you’re trying to choose, right? Thinking about our futures, trying to neatly arrange us and wrap things up nicely.”

And she’s super pissed about it.

Hayasaka-san taps her head against my back.

“Why did you do it with Tachibana-san?”

Her voice is bright but tearful.

“Even if you chose me now, it’d be kind of sad. You and Tachibana-san shared your firsts, and you’d keep that as a beautiful memory while standing by my side, right?”

When she found out I’d been with Tachibana-san, she thought about doing it too.

“But I couldn’t. I was scared. You learned what a girl is through Tachibana-san’s body, and that’s absolutely special. Compared to that, I don’t feel like I could ever win, no matter what I do.”

Hayasaka-san hugs me tightly from behind.

“Even now, while touching you, I keep thinking about whether I could go all the way. But I’m scared. I’m scared of being compared to Tachibana-san and disappointing you.”

Even if I’m chosen, I’ll always be second, she says.

“And yet you’re sitting there with a serious face, trying to choose, acting like you’ll neatly settle everything. That pisses me off, it’s unforgivable, I love you so much but I hate you, and if I’m not chosen I’ll cry, but even if you choose me, letting your thing with Tachibana-san become a beautiful memory isn’t right either.”

She says, kicking her feet on the panda car.

As a child, Hayasaka-san was here, basking in her parents’ love, laughing.

I want her to stay on that path of happiness. I want her to keep that sunny smile.

“Alright. I’ll be pathetic. I’ll make it so no one cares about me anymore, so I can’t act all righteous. So please, take better care of yourself.”

Hayasaka-san probably truly loves me. Because she loves me, loves me so much, she wants to destroy me, to see me fall. She wants to love the lonely me that’s left. That’s what I thought.

And now, in the art room.

The end of class is approaching.

It’s almost time to take off my uniform.

The art room will probably be filled with screams of horror. I’ll taint everyone’s memories of this school. Some girls might even cry at the sight.

But I have to do it.

The school swimsuit is a kind of symbol for Hayasaka-san. While she’s expected to be pure, people have lusted after her for that very image.

By wearing it and exposing my pathetic self in front of everyone, I’ll destroy that image in her place.

A proxy destruction.

By doing this, Hayasaka-san, who’s suffered under the weight of being a pure icon, will be saved…… or so I almost convince myself, but I snap back and think,

No, this is just Hayasaka-san’s wild pitch, isn’t it?

A school swimsuit? It might even be kinda funny if I mess it up.

Isn’t this just one of her usual goofy ideas?

I start looking for reasons not to do it.

But if I don’t, Hayasaka-san will sink even further.

Lately, during breaks, she’s been making provocative comments in group conversations.

“I love kissing.” “I’ve been to a love hotel.”

She’s deliberately ruining her own reputation. If this continues, her school life will become unbearable.

I have to stop this.

So, to make myself utterly pathetic, I reach for the buttons of my shirt to strip off my uniform. That’s when—

Hayasaka-san puts down her sketchbook, stands up, and walks over to me.

“You don’t have to do it.”

She grabs my shoulders as I sit in the chair.

“I can’t let you be the only one to be pathetic.”

And before I can stop her, she kisses me.

I’m shocked, but while thinking that pushing her away might hurt Hayasaka-san, she slips her tongue into my mouth.

“So let’s be pathetic together.”

Leaning her weight into me, she pushes me to the floor and keeps kissing.

It’s the kind of kiss we’d share when alone. Probing my mouth, exchanging saliva, a kiss charged with humid emotion.

Hayasaka-san, what are you doing!?

The teacher and students start murmuring loudly

But Hayasaka-san doesn’t hear them and continues the kiss. As usual, she ramps up the intensity.

“Uwaa…… Kirishima-kun…… uwaaa……”

Moaning, she sits up. In a pose that unmistakably suggests that, with drool dripping from the corner of her mouth, she’s subtly moving her hips.

And then—

At the center of the circle of students.

In front of everyone watching, she says it.

“I want to…… I want to do it with Kirishima-kun……”

♣♣♣

A few days later, Hayasaka-san is walking down the hallway with a dejected expression.

“I might get suspended.”

It’s not about the art room incident. For that, both Hayasaka-san and I were called to the staff room. The head of the grade and our homeroom teacher didn’t get angry or show sympathy; they just gave a bland warning using the bureaucratic phrase “adolescent sensitivity” and let it go.

From the adult world’s perspective, what we did was incomprehensible but not particularly shocking. They wore deliberately composed faces.

Hayasaka-san’s potential suspension is for a different reason.

“Someone told the teachers about my part-time job.”

Apparently, there was a detailed report, complete with photos from when she worked at the maid café.

“They were really mad about that. It’s turning into a big deal.”

Probably because a rule-breaking job is a clear-cut issue with a standard protocol. Standard guidance, standard anger—it’s easy to follow the script.

“Guess I didn’t have any ‘good girl savings,’ huh?”

Hayasaka-san says.

“What’s that?”

“I was always the good girl everyone wanted, but it didn’t matter at all. In the end, I was just used for their convenience, just to make them feel good. A Hayasaka-san who can’t make herself feel good? They can snitch on her or do whatever.”

Ah~aa Hayasaka-san laughs weakly.

“I really want us to be alone together.”

Hayasaka-san tried to ruin herself on purpose.

But, as expected, she’s not used to this situation and seems down about it. She’s been a good girl all this time, so it’s only natural. She’s called to the guidance office every break, gossiped about, and spoken to distantly.

On the surface, she’s living a normal school life.

But the old Hayasaka-san has collapsed.

Her female friends have noticeably dwindled. I often see her alone or with Sakai. She’s no longer useful as a cute accessory, so they don’t need her.

The way guys treat her has changed too. Her pure, ideal-bride image is gone, leaving only unreserved lust. Girls who exude sexuality tend to be treated lightly. They approach her with less distance, as if thinking, She’s fine with this, right? They touch her shoulder when calling out to her, and such physical contact has increased. Even in conversations, they bring up crude topics more often.

“But it’s fine. This is fine.”

That’s what Hayasaka-san said.

But I still wanted to somehow salvage her reputation. I didn’t have any ideas or leeway, though.

If anything, I was getting harsher treatment.

I was undeniably a two-timing jerk, a scumbag, and the target of hate.

“Kirishima, what’s going on?”

One lunch break, a few meddlesome girls came to me with a group in tow.

“Tachibana-san’s been lying on her desk all day!”

This was tough. Because no matter how I explained, they’d never be satisfied, and from our perspective, we didn’t need to satisfy anyone else.

But since Tachibana-san and I were the culture festival couple, everyone was paying attention and wanted to have their say. I didn’t just understand it—I’d accepted it as how people react to romance, like how they respond to news. It was typical for Tachibana-san to be supported while Hayasaka-san and I were trashed.

Hayasaka-san, sitting at a distance, gives me an I’m sorry look. I did something weird.

I love both of them and have been trying to make everyone happy. Why did it turn out like this?

Either way, I wanted to calm things down. That’s when it happened.

“Kirishima isn’t the bad guy.”

That person strode into the classroom. Their clear voice drew everyone’s attention.

“Hayasaka-chan isn’t bad either.”

It’s Yanagi-senpai, looking at us as they speak.

“They haven’t done anything wrong. Kirishima didn’t cheat, and Hayasaka-chan didn’t steal him.”

It’s not some immoral love story everyone hates. Because—

“Kirishima properly became single before dating Hayasaka-chan. That’s normal, right?”

The bad guy is me, Yanagi-senpai says.

“Don’t blame them. It’s my fault. I approached a girl who had a boyfriend and asked her to break up and date me.”

And as a result—

Senpai says in an even louder voice,

“Right now, Tachibana Hikari is dating me.”

The classroom falls silent.

I think to myself,

What’s going to happen now?