Chapter 1: I Stumbled Upon My Classmate’s Heated Confrontation
“What do you mean? Explain it to me in detail!”
—I, Ogami Yusuke, heard such a voice when I was waiting for my takeout order at a hamburger shop after my short-term part-time job.
Involuntarily turning towards that voice, which held both taut tension and anger, I saw the person in my line of sight and gasped.
At a table seat in a corner of the shop was Nanase Hiyori-san, a classmate from the high school I’d started attending this spring.
With her petite build, not even 150cm tall, her cute features, a cheerful demeanor that gave her a childlike air, and a figure that belied those traits, she was popular among some of the male students.
But now, Nanase-san, her black hair cut into a short bob disheveled, wore a stern expression as she sat facing Koma Yoshihide, a classmate from high school. They were talking about something with a dangerous atmosphere.
Although I thought it was in bad taste, I couldn’t help but wonder what those two were talking about. As I secretly started to eavesdrop on their conversation, Nanase-san began to question Ema in a trembling voice.
“What do you mean you’re dating another girl? You were cheating on me, is that it?!”
“Well, yeah… something like that.”
“Uwah,” a small voice involuntarily escaped my lips.
It seemed those two had been dating. And amidst that, Ema’s cheating had been exposed, leading to this heated confrontation, I figured.
Even though we’d only just started high school, they hadn’t given off that kind of vibe at all… As I was surprised that the two had been skillfully hiding their relationship from everyone around them, Nanase-san, her tone now subdued, posed a question to Ema.
“…Since when have you been dating Shibamura-san?”
“Since around last summer, I guess…”
“Last summer…?! That’s the same time you started dating me, isn’t it?! What’s going on? Does she know you’re dating me?!”
“Um, yeah. I told her I was dating Hiyori, but she confessed to me many times, saying she was fine being second, and so—”
“So you were two-timing me? You’ve been deceiving me for over half a year?”
The nature of the trembling in Nanase-san’s voice changed.
Until a moment ago, her voice had been trembling from breathless anger… but now, it seemed she was dazed and lost from the shock.
Of course, she’d be shocked. Her boyfriend had been deceiving her for nearly a year.
It wasn’t like he’d cheated on a whim; Ema had been deliberately betraying her. Even I, an unrelated bystander, felt anger towards him. Nanase-san muttered softly.
“…I knew Hidetoshi was popular. Even after starting high school, various girls were hitting on him. If it was just that he’d found someone else he liked, I could have accepted it. But this… this is too cruel…!!”
“B-but, it’s not like I’ve started to hate Hiyori, or, it’s not like I’ve decided who’s better between her and Shibamura-san, or, how do I put it, um…”
“…What? Are you saying that even though you got caught, I should accept you two-timing me and continue this relationship as it is?”
Anger returned to Nanase-san’s voice. She was right; there was no way such a selfish request—to not break up even after his two-timing was exposed—would fly.
I had already received my order, but I couldn’t help but be curious about their conversation, so I held my breath inside the shop… when Ema started saying something unbelievable.
“So, um… actually, Shibamura-san, she… let me grope her breasts.”
“…Huh?”
“She called me out to celebrate finishing our entrance exams and getting into the same high school starting this spring. And then—she said she’d let me do even more amazing things once we became high school students. You wouldn’t want to lose to Shibamura-san, would you, Hiyori?”
“…”
What is he saying? I seriously thought. Even watching from a distance, I could tell Nanase-san’s spirit was rapidly dying.
Being two-timed by her boyfriend, continuously deceived, and then hearing him report that he’d done that with his other girlfriend—she must be deeply hurt right now.
But, if I were to butt into their conversation here, that would probably cause its own set of problems. While I was hesitating about whether I should step in to help Nanase-san, who probably didn’t want to hear any more, Ema began to deliver the finishing blow to her heart.
“T-to be that shocked means you still like me, right, Hiyori? In that case… at least let me grope your breasts.”
“…Hah?”
“That thing with Shibamura-san, it was just, like, I got carried away by the mood of the moment. But I actually like you more, Hiyori! I think you’re cute, and your breasts are big too! So, just let me do something a little lewd! You don’t want me to dump you, right?! Huh?!”
—I understood firsthand that when people get truly angry, they can become calm.
At the same time, I thought from the bottom of my heart that I had to make that guy over there, saying the most despicable things, understand just how terrible his actions were.
It was truly the worst kind of shamelessness. On top of that, to make comments implying he was only interested in her face and body—it could only be described as rotten.
Were those really the words of a cheating man to his hurt girlfriend…? Yes, just as I was about to head towards them and say something.
“Hey, I’m begging you! Just once is fine—Bubeh?!”
Basha! Nanase-san, who had removed the lid from the cup on the table, splashed its contents onto Ema.
As Ema, drenched in purple juice and ice, his shirt soaked and stained the same color, stared wide-eyed, Nanase-san lifted her face and said in a voice that seemed squeezed out.
“You’re the worst…!!”
“Ah…?!”
For Nanase-san, who was silently shedding tears drop by drop, yet desperately trying to hold herself back from completely breaking down, that must have been her limit.
After muttering that single word, tinged with countless emotions, regret, anger, sadness, and despair, she bolted out of the shop as fast as she could.
“H-Hiyori…!”
Ema reached out a hand towards her, but it didn’t seem like he intended to chase after her.
Or rather, it looked like he was frozen in embarrassment as people around them turned to see what was going on.
Whether he chased after Nanase-san or not, what I had to do remained the same. There was no way I could just leave her like that.
I chased after her as she ran out, desperately searching for her small figure, and found her crouching at the entrance of a nearby park. I shouted.
“Nanase-san!!”
“Eh? Ah, Ogame-kun…?”
Nanase-san, who had made her already small body even smaller as she crouched and sobbed, looked up at me in surprise.
I had chased after her, unable to just stand by, but I hadn’t thought about what to do next. Seeing Nanase-san’s reddened eyes, I averted my gaze and groaned, then—
“Ah, uh… Want a hamburger?”
—That was how I pathetically started the conversation.
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I’ve already finished writing Chapter 1, so I’ll be posting multiple episodes daily.
Today, I plan to post up to three episodes.
If you like it, please add it to your favorites and give it a read.