Chapter 17: I’ve Totally Fallen for Him…♥ (Hiyori’s Perspective)
“Ah~, this is bad. I’m so happy, I can’t stop grinning…!”
The warmth of the hot water enveloping my whole body, and the happy feeling spreading inside me, made me grin uncontrollably. I murmured that to myself in the bath as I looked up at the ceiling.
Soaking up to my shoulders in the bathtub, which hasn’t changed much in size since I can remember, I lightly pressed down on my chest as it threatened to float… and I started to recall today’s events.
“‘I want to get to know you better,’ huh… Ehe, ehehehehehe…!”
As I uttered the same words Yusuke-kun had said this morning, I felt another wave of warm happiness spread inside me, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
I was happy that Yusuke-kun was the one to suggest exchanging contact info… but even more than that, the many things he said afterward were truly, truly wonderful to me.
When my friends were grilling me and I was flustered, Yusuke-kun skillfully glossed over the fact that Hidetoshi had cheated on me and the events leading up to it.
On top of that, he told them that he wanted to get to know me better. That made me so, so incredibly happy, I couldn’t help it.
Just childhood friends, nothing more, nothing less… Those were words I’d heard from Hidetoshi’s mouth countless times.
There were times when that was true, but from a year ago until just a little while ago, we were a couple, no longer just childhood friends.
However, even after we started dating, Hidetoshi didn’t want to be teased by his friends, so he didn’t make it public and continued to act like we were just childhood friends, same as always.
“There’s no way we’d date.” “We’d never be more than friends.” “Definitely not him.” Hidetoshi denied our relationship in all sorts of ways, and I, thinking that’s what he wanted, kept telling everyone around us that we were just childhood friends.
But I believed that someday… someday, if something happened, he would tell everyone that he was dating me, and we could build a normal relationship as a couple.
Until that day, I just had to be patient. If that’s what Hidetoshi wanted, I just had to support him… That’s what I thought. Our relationship kept being denied, but we still ended up going to the same high school, and just when I thought things were about to start… I found out Hidetoshi was cheating on me.
Hidetoshi kept betraying me, was only interested in my body and face, and his heart had completely swayed towards Shibamura, who forgave him for it… He even told me to let him grope my chest if I didn’t want to be dumped.
That’s when I understood. To him, I was just a convenient girl, and he didn’t actually like me at all.
The words he kept saying, “We’re just childhood friends,”… were the undeniable truth, Hidetoshi’s true feelings.
The moment I realized that to Hidetoshi, I was just someone he “started dating because she confessed, and it’d be great if he could eventually sleep with her,” it became unbearably painful, frustrating, and I wanted to cry—
—If Yusuke-kun hadn’t chased after me that day, I think something terrible would have happened.
Whether I’d have given up on myself and done something stupid, or become a shut-in, hugging my knees in a state of depression… I could easily imagine myself ending up like that.
“Yusuke-kun…”
He was kind to me, encouraged me, and supported me.
He made me laugh a lot, his family are warm, good people, and even though it hasn’t even been a week since Hidetoshi betrayed me, the fact that I’ve recovered and am living an almost unchanged daily life is undoubtedly thanks to him.
And he was the one who said it. That he wanted to get to know me better, so he wanted my contact info.
When I heard him say that so openly in front of my friends… I was truly happy, and my heart was pounding.
Unlike Hidetoshi, who hid the fact we were dating, Yusuke-kun, while acknowledging we were friends, properly declared that he wanted to become close to me.
And then, he took the necessary actions himself to make that happen. He asked for my contact info and said he wanted me to come over to his house again.
Maybe I’m overthinking it. I think there’s some wishful thinking mixed in too.
But… having someone properly convey their goodwill towards me, having them express it in front of others without hesitation, made me uncontrollably happy, and my heart wouldn’t stop fluttering.
Maybe Yusuke-kun’s actions were out of consideration for me.
Even so, I’m incredibly happy. Because it means he understood what I wanted and acted on it.
Even if that wasn’t the case… that in itself would make me very happy.
Because it would mean Yusuke-kun said he wanted to get to know me better out of 100% pure thoughtfulness and affection.
“Aah…! This is bad. I’ve already, completely fallen for him…!!”
What my friends said was right. I’ve already completely fallen in love with Yusuke-kun.
But, having just broken up with Hidetoshi, I hesitated to convey these feelings to him, somehow feeling it would be an imposition.
…Of course, it’s not that I’m still hung up on Hidetoshi.
It means I understand that if I confessed to Yusuke-kun in this situation right now, it would only trouble him.
Yusuke-kun wouldn’t be able to tell if I genuinely like him, or if I’m just trying to use him as a replacement for Hidetoshi.
Besides, I could easily imagine kindhearted him worrying that maybe he’d taken advantage of a girl when her heart was vulnerable to make things turn out this way…
So, for now, it’s fine. Let’s stay friends for a while.
I want to get to know Yusuke-kun better too. We’ll gradually learn about each other, close the distance, and after enough time has passed that we’ve almost forgotten the circumstances that first brought us closer… then, I can tell him how I feel.
Thinking like that, I was now waiting for the catalyst to get closer to him… in other words, a message from Yusuke-kun.
He said he’d contact me tonight, so ever since I got home, I’ve been restless, so much so that I even brought my phone into the bath with me, eagerly awaiting his message.
I thought about sending a message myself, but this time, Yusuke-kun went out of his way to make a move. I want him to take the lead until the end.
And so, continuing my long bath even after washing my hair and body, a wide smile spread across my face when the long-awaited notification appeared on my phone screen.