Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16818093079507847550/episodes/16818093080836877901
“You know, Chika ……, it’s about time you quit this habit of trying to convince yourself that you’re the only one who can move the conversation along.”
The threads that had been suppressing his emotions were snapped, and the strong words that had never been uttered by the man Takaaki were spat out.
Tojo was stunned by the change, as if someone else had possessed him.
“I have my own will, and I have a lot of things I want to say. Don’t think I’ll always be a convenient puppet who does what you want me to do. ….”
He faced Tojo with an imposing demeanor and a cold tone of voice.
Tojo, who had never been bitten by him before, was speechless with surprise.
With that beside her, Amamiya got up from the sofa and headed straight for the chair in front of which Karina was sobbing.
Kneeling on the floor, he pressed a handkerchief to Karina’s tearful eyes.
“I’m sorry, Karina. I’m sorry I hurt even you. ……”
He remember Kumatani’s words that people do not change so easily.
He was right. He can’t even protect the smile of the girl who leaned for him because he has remained pathetic. a scrub who was always being protected and never moved.
“Takaaki, ……gusu, ……I!”
Karina took the handkerchief that was pressed on her and sniffed her nose.
Amamiya turned around, feeling almost endearing at the sound of her closing her eyes and letting out almost nothing but air, like a child who is not used to sniffing
“Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere, and I won’t let Karina go anywhere, Because we’re partners, right?”
With his nervous, itch-free lines and muscular back, Karina’s eyes overlapped Amamiya’s backside with that of her esteemed partner, Rein
Amamiya patted the head of her sister Anna, who was hugging her pillow tightly, and then sat down across from Tojo.
“Chika’s feelings… I’m so happy. I never thought that someone like you would love me. I thought I was the only one who felt like it, confessed my feelings, and broke my heart. But… I was really relieved to know that there was a different meaning behind that insult.”
Amamiya tells her with a calm look in his eyes.
Hearing this, Tojo lets out a sigh of relief and begins to speak with great confidence.
“Yes, that’s right. That was all for your sake. I really want you to fix your unseriousness, but I’m glad you finally understand. ……”
“But I’m not going out with Chika.”
The world seems to have stopped, and silence falls over the living room.
Tojo heard these unbelievable words, and in order to confirm them, she asked a question, even though her tone was slow.
“Eh….What is that ……?”
“I still like that part of Chika. I think what’s attractive about you is that you have absolute confidence in your thoughts and opinions and doesn’t bend. You have changed, you can change.”
The image of the once shy Tojo Chika passed through his mind.
It was a nostalgic memory.
“So, you must have felt the hard road and efforts to reach that point more than anyone else. People don’t change so easily. The reason why you spat out those words to me so excessively was because you really wanted to change me, wasn’t it?”
Amamiya already understood the core of her words at that time.
Tojo remained silent, perhaps still shocked by his words about not going out with her.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t grateful. I would not have smiled in front of the mirror or practiced vocal exercises alone against the wall if it were not for Chika’s words. Sure, people may not change that easily.”
“Then why do you conclude that you don’t want to go out with me? If it’s because of me, there’s no reason to dislike me anywhere …….”
Tojo, contradicted by the words of affirmation thrown at her when he said he would not go out with her, interrupted him, but Amamiya did not allow it.
“Chika is right, you are right, but …… on the contrary, you don’t realize that your righteousness is a sharp knife that hurts people. You are so intoxicated and blinded by your own righteousness.”
Amamiya told her in a sad voice as he looked away.
Tojo’s words in his confession still stuck deep in Amamiya’s heart and have not left.
“Chika is amazing and I can respect her. But in the past, you weren’t the kind of girl who would hurt people like that with impunity.”
“T-That’s not how …… I meant to do it.”
“Then why is Anna and Karina weeping , is there any other reason …… for it?”
Amamiya was the first to raise his voice at Tojo’s attempts to deny the mistakes she had made.
More than anything, he couldn’t forgive his friend and family being hurt.
“……”
The force of the situation pushed Tojo into silence.
After taking a deep breath and regaining his composure, Amamiya continued.
“I confessed first, and it may be selfish of me. But I can’t go out with someone who would hurt the important people around me. ……”
That’s the extent of his romantic feelings, a cheap thought, isn’t it?
A third party might accuse him of that.
But that was Amamiya’s answer.
“Don’t be silly! How much do you think I’ve done for you! Who has been waking you up every morning when you can’t get up by yourself because of your stupid games! Who taught you two who can’t even cook a proper meal to cook! Everything, everything, everything! Me! Me!
I won’t forgive you. …… I’ll never forgive you! You’ve always been no good without me!”
Perhaps unable to forgive his rejection, Tojo leaned forward and glared at Amamiya as if she had changed.
It was perfectly reasonable, and there was nothing wrong with it.
Even so, Amemiya did not lose face in her agitation.
He knew from the beginning that this is what he would do.
“…There are a lot of things I’ve noticed recently since I started getting up before 7:00 a.m. I’m not as heavy as I used to be. I don’t feel as heavy or depressed as I used to. I’ve started cooking meals with Anna, and she’s been nagging me like a thousand songs, but I feel like I’ve improved more than before thanks to her. I often cut my fingers when I peel vegetables, though.”
“……”
“I’ve also started to improve myself in my own way. My friends often ask me if I’m going to make it to graduation. I’m not lying when I say that I’m really trying to change,……, and I just now painfully realized that I can’t protect anyone if I’m my usual weak and gloomy Takaaki.”
Witnessing that he made someone important to him cry, he can no longer be the same person he has always been.
Takaaki must change.
“Thank you for always coming home early in the morning for me. Thank you for teaching Anna how to cook …… but I won’t forgive Chika. Chika can continue to look down on me and say I’m just a dark-rooted, gloomy person.”
Contrary to his usual self-loathing statements, Amamiya told her with a clear mind.
“But someday I’ll be able to forgive Chika, and I’ll change into someone who will be recognized by her. Maybe in six months, or next year, or after graduation. But this time, like Chika, I will have the confidence not to bend this will.”
“… idiot.”
Tojo took out something like a pendant from her bag and threw it on the floor.
There was a cracking sound.
It was a heart-shaped pendant.
“I was going to give it to you, but you don’t need it, do you ……?”
Despite her overflowing tears, Tojo remained calm.
Even in the face of her painful appearance, Amemiya’s thoughts did not waver.
He would not bend on his decision, even if the other party was his childhood friend whom he had had a crush on since elementary school.
“….”
She glared at Karina, who was listening intently to Amamiya’s story, for a moment with a hostile gaze that had not yet disappeared, and then quickly stood up as if she had given up.
With weak steps, she walked to the entrance.
Considering what she had done, she deserved it.
That’s what Amemiya told himself as he stared at her wistful back.
When the front door slammed shut, Amamiya collapsed to his knees and crumpled to the ground.
Crawling on the spot, he burst into tears, letting out the emotions he had been suppressing.
“I’m sorry,…… Anna,…… Karina,…… I,…… I.”
Amamiya did not feel any sense of accomplishment that he was able to get Tojo argumentative for the first time.
The kiss had allowed him to let his heart soar for a moment and made Tojo say the awful words to Karina, “You must not invite her home again.”
Amamiya could not forgive himself for being such a simpleton and a fool.
“It’s my fault,…… that I let this happen.”
“Don’t worry,……, it’s all right. Because Takaaki kun did his best for us,…… so don’t suffer anymore.”
Karina and Anna gently hug Amamiya from behind as he breaks down in tears.
Karina desperately tried to comfort Amamiya, keeping her voice from shaking so that he wouldn’t belittle himself any further as he fell into self-loathing.
“I was afraid that I would never be able to talk with Takaaki kun again. I was in pain when she told me not to come to the house,…… and I couldn’t say anything back. But Takaaki kun stood up for me and Anna and protected us.”
“……”
The fact that he cries while trying to look cool is very Amemiya-like.
No matter how pathetic he appears, Karina will not be disappointed.
Amamiya declared to Tojo with a strong will that he wanted to change.
Karina once told him in the game that he did not have to change.
However, one can understand now that this was a mistake.
The reason why Amamiya is trying to change is not only because he was rejected by Tojo.
More than that, Amamiya said he did it so that he would not hurt the people around him who were important to him.
Struck by his words and determination, Karina realizes for the first time the true nature of the feelings she had for him.
Karina is in love with Takaaki
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Didn’t make sense to me
I thought her facade would at least be broken down when confronted…
What a steaming pile of shit. The actions and motivations of the CF just make no sense. Nobody acts like this in real life. Especially if they’ve had a long relationship together before this where nothing similar happened. And the MC has been extremely timid and anxious the whole time, but then he suddenly just turns super eloquent and confident just so he can scold and reject the CF. It would’ve been fine if they worked up to this by showing him like, learning something and working on his anxiety, but it just comes out of nowhere, so it’s very jarring. And Karina choosing this moment to officially fall in love with him, after having him spew his unconvincing lecture on the CF, is just impossible to get behind. Everything is just so cringe.
honestly, not a fan, I wish he was ruder to her, not only did she play the victim, she didn’t admit she did anything wrong at all, she stole his first kiss, was horrible to the person who had been helping him, ignored how she hurt mcs sister etc & still at the end acted like she was owed him without realising maybe she’s the reason he was unable to change for so long because she was babying him instead of even lightly pushing for him to change. the first kiss thing is extra annoying because this is a romance story, she stole his first kiss right in front of the main girl which just feels gross