Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/2912051596567318343/episodes/2912051597376889049
(Hanazawa Yuna)
“Huh? Wait, what?”
When I woke up, I was slumped face-down on my desk.
The desk and my cheek were both covered in drool.
My eyes felt dry, and I kept blinking repeatedly.
My body felt strangely stiff, and muscles I don’t usually use were cramping.
The stream’s over… what on earth happened to me?
It’s as if I’d rolled my eyes back and been twitching.
…Or maybe not.
“Ugh, ugh… ugh.”
I started to cry.
I really thought today had gone well.
[What do you want? Is there something you want?]
[Yeah, just tell me anything.]
[A girlfriend, maybe…]
The girlfriend Ibusuki-kun wants.
The position I’m in—where I want to be her so badly, so desperately, I can’t stand it.
The position I’m in—unforgivable, given that I’ve treated him with contempt, even though he saved my father.
So, to give Ibusuki-kun what he wants, the only thing I could do was introduce him to another girl.
[I hate it and I’m so sad I can’t stand it, but the fact that I can make a boy happy makes me unbearably happy, and yet I still hate it. But it’s the scene where I realize that seeing him happy is my greatest joy.]
I was talking about the drama, but that was my true feeling.
I cried over and over, I hyperventilated, and yet I still wanted to see Ibusuki-kun’s happy face.
[U-uh-huh! There’s a scene where I introduce a girl to the boy even though I’m actually the one who likes him, and I just got so emotional. Since I’d learned from my mistakes and found the perfect girl for him, there’s a scene where I’m sad because ‘it’s going to work out 100%’… you know? But I had no choice but to do it for his sake…]
That, too, was my true feelings.
Chika was a friend I’d been in the same class with since first year.
We were the closest of friends, and I knew her very well.
I would never call her a “shy girl”; in fact, she’s the type who loves subculture stuff like games and manga.
I’d compared the games in Ibusuki-kun’s gameplay videos with the ones she liked, and I knew their interests matched.
They’d definitely get along.
It wouldn’t feel forced; Chika would naturally come to like him too.
The more I looked into it, the more convinced I became that they were a perfect match.
It wasn’t just that they got along. Her appearance was exactly his type too.
Lustrous, shoulder-length black hair, translucent white skin, and a face that combined the best of both cute and beautiful.
Her face was stunning, and her figure had that classic “girly” appeal.
Her bust was a D or E cup. Her waist, thighs, and other curves were just right, giving her a sensual allure.
She was just over 160 cm tall—the perfect height for a girl that boys would fall for.
Apparently, she was rather plain in middle school, but now she wears her uniform with a casual, slightly undone look and keeps her skirt hem short. She’s by no means flashy, but she doesn’t give off a plain impression at all.
She’s the class sweetheart who quietly attracts the affection of others.
No, I thought that if it were Chika—who boasts the popularity of a school sweetheart—Ibusuki-kun would surely like her too.
On the other hand, when I asked Chika about her type, Ibusuki-kun immediately came to mind, so I was relieved that his appearance wasn’t an issue at all.
Her personality isn’t bad either. Being with Chika is the second most fun after being with Ibusuki-kun.
It’s frustrating and sad, and I can’t quite bring myself to let go, but I could trust her with this girl.
I felt that strongly… no, I wouldn’t actually accept it, but among my potential girlfriends, she was the least damaging option.
So I introduced them and tried to make things go well.
I said things like, “You two really hit it off,” ordered the couple’s menu to make him aware of her, and even got them alone together on the Ferris wheel.
I thought I’d taken the first step toward helping him find a girlfriend…
“I didn’t know he was the childhood friend Chika cut ties with! How was I supposed to know?! Waaaaaah!!”
I bawled my eyes out.
The girl I introduced was the biggest landmine imaginable for him.
To him, Chika was a childhood friend who, even though he’d actually been helping her, directed nothing but hatred his way.
“But I decided not to let it show. I mean, there’s no way I could say that! The girl who invited me was looking forward to today! Plus, it was supposed to be an apology! I couldn’t possibly say, ‘The girl you brought here is a childhood friend I’ve cut ties with, so this is super awkward…’ could I!?”
Ugh.
“Well, for me, it was nice to see her face again after so long, so I was relieved… but since that wasn’t the case for my childhood friend, I felt really bad in my heart that I was there.”
Ugh.
“I could feel she resented me, and it was so awkward. Plus, the ‘apology’ gift was a couple’s menu, so we drank from a single drink using a couple’s straw while she glared at me the whole time. It sounds like a lie, but it’s true. I was completely exhausted, thinking, ‘Is there really such a hellish situation?’”
Ugh…
“Also, after that, the girl who invited me said she wanted to go on the Ferris wheel, so we ended up riding it, but for some reason, it was just me and my childhood friend. The atmosphere inside the gondola was so heavy… it was so suffocating I wondered if we’d climbed all the way to space.”
Sniff, sniff. I’m sorry.
“Well, I think my childhood friend probably feels the same way, so I feel bad about it. Right before we got off, she told me, ‘Today is the last time we’ll have anything to do with each other,’ so I’m going to be extra careful not to get involved with her from now on. If I end up in her line of sight and make her feel bad, it would defeat the whole purpose. Heh, the skills I picked up in high school are finally coming in handy!”
Maybe… I really do have quills growing out of me like a hedgehog.
A piece of trash like me… isn’t allowed to have anything to do with him…
Overwhelmed by guilt and sadness, everything before my eyes gradually went dark—tap-tap-tap-tap-tap♪
“Huh!?”
When I opened my eyes, the world was upside down.
Snapped back to consciousness by the ringtone, I wiped the drool from my mouth and grabbed my phone.
I tapped the call icon and held the phone to my ear.
“Hello, Yuna!? Can you give me Ibusuki-san’s contact info!?”
The caller was Chika, and for a moment, I froze.
Didn’t she hate Ibusuki-kun?
Even though he saved her and she’s living a happy life now, didn’t she act like a total jerk?
And didn’t she say, “Today is the last day I’ll have anything to do with him”?
My brain, still groggy from waking up, couldn’t process all this, so I voiced my genuine confusion.
“……Who do you think you are to say that?”
There was a long silence,
“……Huh?”
Chika asked back.
“Wait, I’m the one who wants to know here.”
“Uh, well, there’s something I want to apologize to Sawa about, but I don’t have her contact info, so I wanted you to tell me, Yuna…”
Sawa… Sawa?
A fierce wave of jealousy welled up at that familiar way of addressing her, and I clenched my teeth tightly.
N-no, that’s not it. That’s not what surprised me.
Sawa, you say!? And she wants to apologize!?
My brain, which had been dead, began to race.
The fact that she called him “Sawa” is proof that Chika’s feelings toward Ibusuki-kun have recovered.
I can guess what she wants to apologize for from the desperate tone of her opening words.
I don’t know how it happened, but this girl watched the livestream… Wait.
The livestream that Ibusuki-kun looks forward to more than anything else in his life.
Does that mean the only viewers are me and Chika?
Does that mean we’re a pair of ungrateful jerks who’ve cut ties with the trash that looks down on us and now direct our hatred toward them?
…I shuddered, and cold sweat poured down my face uncontrollably.
“O-okay! I’ll send you the contact info right now, so come to the family restaurant I usually go to! Let’s talk face-to-face!? Please!?”
Panicking, I called Chika and hung up the phone.
I stuffed my phone, my wallet, and a cable to use as a rope into my bag and bolted out of the room.
This is bad. I can’t let Chika talk to him and take away Ibusuki-kun’s joy.
So I have to stop her… even if I have to use force.
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