Part-3 Ch-02 Ep-04

Inuino-kun’s POV

“Mind if I talk to you for a sec?”

Even after saying that, Nagase-senpai did not begin speaking right away.

Watching her somewhat awkward expression and the tension in the air around her, it was easy to imagine that what she wanted to say was something difficult to bring up.

Among the possibilities that crossed my mind in that moment, the very worst one flashed through my thoughts, and I shook my head vigorously to drive it away.

No way. After all, Senpai herself had said before, “If it’s just cheering you on, that’s fine.”

“Sorry. Um, there’s something I need to talk about. Lately”

“I like you.”

The words spilled out of my mouth, cutting off Senpai’s sentence. At that instant, I clearly heard Nagase-senpai sharply inhale, “hyu.”

Seeing her eyes widen dramatically as she froze in place, an overwhelming urge to look away and run surged through me.

Ah, this was not how it was supposed to go. This was not how it was meant to happen at all.

I never intended to confess in a place like this, with absolutely no atmosphere, right next to the garbage dump.

Right. For example, the ideal would have been under that cherry tree behind the school building.

Thinking that far, I clenched my fist tightly.

Pathetic.

But if I do not say it now, I will definitely regret it later. Even if I already know that Nagase-senpai’s answer will be no. I have been watching Senpai ever since my first year.

I straightened my back properly and looked directly into Senpai’s eyes.

“I’m sorry for doing this in a place with zero mood. But I wanted to tell you how I feel. I still hadn’t said it properly.”

At my words, Senpai finally snapped back to herself, then began to move.

After her gaze wandered around in mild panic, she took a deep breath as if steeling herself and said clearly,

“…Thank you. But I can’t return those feelings.”

It was a firm and decisive response. Her voice carried Senpai’s unwavering determination.

For a while, silence flowed between the two of us.

At that moment, there was a “jari” sound, and I realized that someone was peeking out from behind the warehouse.

“Maki, you’re there anyway, right? Come out.”

Nagase-senpai called out toward the unseen person. Then, from the shadows, Ichinose-senpai slowly peeked out, wearing the expression of a scolded child.

I wondered why she was in a place like this.

This was the very edge of the school grounds. It was not somewhere someone would pass by accidentally.

You would have to come here deliberately.

“Maki.”

Called once more by Nagase-senpai, Ichinose-senpai bit her lip, then ran over to her.

And from the way she timidly grasped the hem of Nagase-senpai’s uniform, I suddenly realized it. Ah, could it be.

“…This girl is my girlfriend,” Nagase-senpai said.

“I see,” I replied.

My voice did not come out properly.

So that was why she had kept glaring at me and trying to intimidate me every time I went to the classroom to meet Senpai.

I looked at Ichinose-senpai standing beside Nagase-senpai.

Ichinose-senpai murmured, “It’s rare for Mari to tell people at school herself that she’s dating me.”

“Yeah. Well,” Nagase-senpai replied vaguely, then continued, “This is prevention,” and averted her eyes from us.

“Prevention?”

By sheer coincidence, the same word slipped out of both my mouth and Ichinose-senpai’s at the same time. Prevention of what?

Ichinose-senpai and I fixed our gazes on Nagase-senpai’s face, waiting for her to continue.

Nagase-senpai frowned and muttered, “Ahh, seriously,” before beginning to speak in halting fragments.

“This time, it seems I got a lot of things wrong.”

“I really do think of Inuino-kun as a cute junior. Wanting to get along with you was genuine too,” Nagase-senpai said.

Those words brought both happiness and a sudden rush of elation. They let me feel that at least some part of my feelings had reached her.

“But at the same time, I was thinking something sneaky.”

“Sneaky? What do you mean?” I asked.

Ichinose-senpai tilted her head, a frown forming between her brows.

“If Inuino-kun keeps liking me, then he probably won’t come to like Maki, right?”

I had no idea what she was talking about. The meaning of her words completely escaped me.

It almost sounded as though she was taking it for granted that I would end up liking Ichinose-senpai otherwise.

I wondered if she was teasing me, but the atmosphere around Nagase-senpai did not feel like that at all.

“…So you thought that if things stayed as they were, Inuino-kun would come to like me?” Ichinose-senpai asked. She looked just as confused as I felt.

“…Yeah.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Because Maki is cute.”

Nagase-senpai spoke in a slightly playful tone, yet her expression was serious and sincere at the same time.

“…There’s no way that’s true, right?” Ichinose-senpai said, sounding unconvinced, but Nagase-senpai did not seem inclined to explain any further.

There was probably some other reason Nagase-senpai had become convinced that I would come to like Ichinose-senpai. But it did not seem like she intended to tell us here. I could not accept it.

“Well, like I said earlier, it’s also true that I couldn’t bring myself to refuse because Inuino-kun was really cute.”

I did not know how I was supposed to respond to that. I still had not sorted out my feelings or my thoughts.

But one thing had been crystal clear from the very beginning. There was never any hope.

In this person’s eyes, I do not even exist.

That much, I understood.

“So I’m sorry. I really do think you’re a cute junior. But it won’t work. …I already have Maki, and that’s all I need.”

After hearing that much, all I could manage was,

“…Yes.”

That was the only thing left to say.