Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/2912051603008595869
It seems that when the same situation repeats itself over and over, people inevitably start to feel something’s off.
In my case, that sense of unease took on a clear form one Friday after school.
“Kasugai, what time do you finish work today?”
“At 8:00 p.m.”
“Well then, I’ll stay until 8:00 p.m.”
“Himuro, don’t you say that every time?”
“Just checking.”
Sitting at her usual spot by the window, sipping tea, Rena Himuro replied as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Today, as always, the usual crowd had gathered at “Anemone.”
Himuro.
Natsume.
Shiina.
It seemed Shirasaki was also planning to show up a little later.
I don’t know why people always seem to gather around my shift.
I guess we’re all heartbroken, so we just need a place to go after school.
“Kasugai!”
Natsume raised her hand from the counter seat.
“Water!”
“Just place your order.”
“Fine, water then!”
“It’s free, so don’t include it in your order.”
“With the heartbroken discount.”
“There’s no such thing.”
“I’m a regular here, you know?”
“About half the time you come here, I’m the one picking up the tab, right?”
“Guys who bring up the past don’t get any dates.”
“I don’t want to hear that from a girl who forgot her wallet.”
Natsume laughed cheerfully.
In the past, even the slightest mention of Senpai Makabe would have made her face cloud over, but lately that hasn’t been the case.
It seems she still thinks about it occasionally, but at least she doesn’t seem to be dwelling on it all day long anymore.
I think that’s a good sign.
“Kasugai-kun.”
This time, Shiina called out to him.
“What?”
“About the message I sent yesterday—it showed as read, but I didn’t get a reply.”
“It was 1:00 a.m., after all.”
“You were awake, weren’t you?”
“How did you know?”
“I checked your last login time.”
“On what?”
“My reading app.”
“You’re checking that closely?”
“It’s necessary for tracking your progress.”
“Aren’t you stricter than an editor?”
Shiina jots something down in her notebook with a serious expression.
“Please get to page 120 tonight.”
“What about my free time?”
“That’s the time for reading novels.”
“Maybe we should start by discussing the definition of ‘free time.’”
Then, Himuro quietly interjected.
“Shiina-san. Please refrain from making demands that cut into Kasugai-kun’s sleep time.”
“But I want him to read the rest of it.”
“There’s no need to read to the point of harming his health.”
“……Alright, then—120 pages by 11:00 PM.”
“That’s not really a compromise, is it?”
Ignoring my own wishes, the two of them went ahead and decided on a reading schedule between themselves.
Lately, it’s been nothing but this kind of thing.
Himuro worries about my sleep schedule.
Natsume checks my commute schedule without asking.
Shiina makes me report my reading progress every night.
Shirasaki comes to pick me up at my classroom even on days when there are no student council meetings.
And every single one of them gets strangely upset whenever I talk to other girls.
…No.
Wait a minute.
I stopped wiping the counter for a moment.
This.
Could it be?
It’s really just a possibility, though.
I looked at the three of them by the window.
Himuro knows my work schedule.
Natsume has said several times, “I won’t accept anyone but Kasugai.”
The guy who appears in Shiina’s next work is, no matter how you look at it, modeled after me.
As for Shirasaki, she’s even stated outright that she has feelings for me.
Shirasaki aside.
Could it be that the other three…
Feel the same way about me—
“Kasugai-kun”
“Whoa!”
Before I knew it, Himuro was peering at my face from across the counter.
“What’s wrong?”
“No, nothing…”
“You’re flushed. Do you have a fever or something?”
“No. I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?”
Himuro stood up and reached out to touch my forehead.
Her cold fingertips touched me.
“Hey, Himuro—”
“Please don’t move.”
“You’re too close.”
“I’m just checking your temperature.”
Her face was close to mine.
Looking at her again, I realized Himuro really did have a beautiful face.
Long eyelashes.
Pale skin.
Lips with a slight flush.
Such a beautiful girl was touching my forehead to check my temperature.
…Would anyone normally go this far?
“You don’t seem to have a fever.”
“I told you so.”
“Just to be safe.”
Himuro exhaled as if relieved.
Seeing that expression, my doubts resurfaced.
After all, could it be…?
“Himuro.”
“Yes.”
“Listen, you—”
“Yes.”
About me.
Do you like me?
The words were on the tip of my tongue.
But at that very moment.
“Kasugai!”
Natsume burst in forcefully.
“Himuro’s the only one getting close! I’m going to check my temperature, too!”
“That’s not necessary.”
“Why does Himuro get to decide?!”
“It’s pointless for you to touch him—you don’t have any medical knowledge.”
“Himuro isn’t a doctor either!”
“At least I am calmer than you.”
“Bullshit! Kasugai looked like he was about to smash a cup just because a female customer smiled at him!”
“I didn’t smash it.”
“You definitely looked like you were going to!”
“That’s completely unfounded.”
“Then I’ll check myself.”
Shiina stood up too.
“What for?”
“It’ll be useful for describing the protagonist’s state of mind when they have a fever.”
“I’m not a guinea pig.”
“Your forehead.”
“I’m not showing it.”
“Then your wrist will do.”
“Don’t check my pulse.”
The three of them moved toward me all at once.
I instinctively took a step back.
“Wait, wait—you guys are way too close!”
“Because there’s a possibility Kasugai-kun isn’t feeling well.”
“I’m just worried about him, too!”
“It’s for a news story.”
“Isn’t just one of you giving a different reason?”
Just then, the shop door opened.
“Senpai.”
It was Shirasaki.
As soon as she entered, she looked at the three people surrounding me.
A few seconds of silence.
“……What are you doing?”
“We’re checking on Kasugai-kun’s condition.”
“In that case, I’ll join you.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m concerned about your health, Senpai.”
“I’ve already checked, so there’s no need.”
“I can’t trust the vice president’s judgment alone.”
“That’s rude.”
Here we go again.
As I looked at the four of them, I recalled the question that had popped into my head earlier.
Himuro.
Natsume.
Shiina.
Shirasaki.
They’re all close to me.
Too close.
Plus, they react blatantly whenever I talk to other girls.
This is really something.
Maybe—
“Yuto-kun.”
The manager’s voice rang out from the kitchen.
“Table Four, please.”
“Got it!”
What a relief.
I grabbed my tray and headed toward the dining area as if fleeing.
As I carried the orders, I desperately tried to clear my head.
Think calmly.
Himuro had a crush on Chairman Kuze for three whole years.
Even Natsume had feelings for Makabe Senpai until just recently.
Shiina spent half a year writing a novel about Shinozaki Senpai.
Do you really think girls like that would fall for me just a few weeks after a breakup?
No way.
No chance.
That’s just not going to happen.
They’re hurting.
As a fellow loser, I’m just sharing a little of that pain.
That’s why we’re close.
It makes them feel safe.
That’s all.
Shirasaki is the only exception, but she had feelings for me from the start.
To think the other three feel the same way would be way too self-centered.
I’ve been burned once before.
When Kotonoha called me out after school, I got my hopes up, thinking she might confess her feelings to me.
And what was the result?
“I’m going to start dating Takamiya-kun.”
It was a spectacular defeat.
I can’t repeat the same mistake.
The girls are kind.
She’s close to me.
She contacts me a lot.
So she likes me.
It’s not that simple.
“All right.”
I muttered under my breath.
That was close.
I was this close to making a huge mistake.
To delude myself into thinking that multiple beautiful girls like me would be a total failure as a “losing hero.”
“Kasugai-kun.”
When I returned to my seat, Himuro looked at me.
“What were you thinking about just now?”
“I almost made a pretty embarrassing mistake.”
“A mistake?”
“Yeah.”
I gave a wry smile.
“For a split second, I thought maybe you guys liked me.”
Silence.
Truly.
It was a perfect silence.
Himuro froze.
Natsume dropped her spoon.
Shiina closed her notebook.
Only Shirasaki pressed a hand to her forehead.
“But that’s definitely not the case, right?”
When I laughed,
“……Ha?”
Natsume said in a low voice.
“No, come to think of it, it makes perfect sense. Himuro had a crush on the president for three years, Natsume on Makabe-senpai, and Shiina on Shinozaki-senpai. As for me, we just got close because we’re both heartbroken.”
“Kasugai-kun.”
Himuro’s voice was trembling.
“Yes?”
“You really are…”
Having said that much, Himuro closed her eyes.
A deep breath.
“……No. It’s still too soon.”
“What is?”
“Nothing.”
Natsume clutched her head.
“You’ve got to be kidding me… I realized it for a split second, but I went back to my old self…”
“What are you talking about?”
“Forget it!”
He got scolded.
Shiina quietly opened her notebook.
“‘The protagonist reached for the door to the truth. However, he locked it again himself’…”
“Don’t turn this into a novel again.”
“It’s a fact.”
“What is?”
“This conversation.”
Then Shirasaki, still staring at me, let out a deep sigh.
“Senpai.”
“What?”
“I clearly told you I have feelings for you, didn’t I?”
“Yeah.”
“Then why don’t you think there’s a chance the others might feel the same way?”
“No, Shirasaki, you’re the exception, right?”
“The exception…”
“A rare junior who liked me from the very beginning.”
“So I’m being treated as a rarity, am I?”
“I mean it as a compliment.”
“I’m not happy about it at all.”
For some reason, all four of them looked exhausted.
I tilted my head.
I guess what I said earlier really did come off as creepy.
“Sorry about that. I got the wrong idea.”
“Please don’t apologize,”
Himuro replied immediately.
“Please, absolutely do not apologize. It just makes me even angrier.”
“Why?”
“Kasugai-kun.”
Himuro looked straight at me.
“Someday, without fail, the day will come when you’ll want to punch your present self.”
“Was I that far off the mark?”
“Yes.”
“Do you really have to put it that way?”
“Please regret it deeply.”
I didn’t get it.
But there was one thing I did understand.
It seems I really was overthinking things after all.
They’re just friends who’ve all been through heartbreak.
Shirazaki is the only exception.
There’s definitely no other meaning to it.
As I came to that conclusion, the manager was chuckling quietly behind me.
“You were so close, though.”
“Manager, did you say something?”
“No.”
The manager was happily polishing a glass.
“I was just thinking, ‘Yuto-kun is so peaceful today.’”
Is that so?
Right in front of me, Himuro was glaring at me in silence, Natsume had her face buried in the desk, Shiina was writing something furiously, and Shirasaki was thinking about our next steps with a serious expression.
It didn’t look peaceful to me.
Even so, I still didn’t know.
That on this day, after seeing me come close to discovering the truth, each of them had reached their own separate conclusions.
Himuro decided she should be a little more proactive.
Natsume decided that being indirect would never get the message across.
Shiina decided she should take action in reality, not just in a story.
And Shirasaki…
“After all, we mustn’t leave Senpai any way out, must we?”
That’s right—she had quietly made up her mind.
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