You’re the only one I’ll absolutely━━━
Reon’s icy, sharp gaze pierced through Sano. Despite that, Sano showed no hesitation, offering a gentle smile to Reon.
“It’s been about a month, hasn’t it? You’ve been well… hey…”
Reon ignored Sano and lowered her gaze to meet mine. I couldn’t help but look away, remembering her pathetic state from earlier, but Reon smiled at me like she was looking at a helpless child.
“I’m sorry, Satoshi. I’m a little late.”
“No, it’s fine. More importantly…”
“There’s no need to say anything more.”
Reon said this as she gently placed her hand on my lips.
“I’m happy that you care so much about us, Satoshi. But if I thought it was all based on guilt towards you… it would make me a little sad.”
“Reon…”
Reon slightly lowered her eyes. However, she quickly returned to her cold and composed expression and silently grabbed the handle of my wheelchair.
“Now, let’s go for lunch. Shino said she wanted to eat ramen. She wants to taste the food of the common people, apparently.”
“…Haha, that’s so like Shino.”
Reon’s cold and dignified voice was warmer than anything right now. It was strange. The tightness I felt earlier had eased a little, and I felt a sense of relief. Reon pushed my wheelchair from behind. Usually, I would feel embarrassed and want to get off right away, but now it was very reassuring.
“Long time no see, Reon. Have you been well?”
“━━━”
“Ugh!”
Reon treated Sano’s existence as if it had never been there from the beginning. As we passed through the doors of the lecture hall,
“Satoshi-kun, sorry to keep you waiting~!”
“Whoa!”
Sakurazuki crashed into my wheelchair with a smile. Then, when she raised her face, her expression changed and clouded over.
“Are you okay? Has your injury gotten worse? I was so worried because you can’t do anything by yourself when we’re not around…”
“I’m fine, I’m fine. Same as always.”
If anything, it hurt even more because Sakurazuki crashed into me.
“I was worried too━━━”
“That’s right~ I don’t want Sakurazuki-chan to get all the special treatment━━━”
Akina and Shino, pouting, came in from behind Sakurazuki, but their voices lacked emotion.
“Huh? Huh? What’s wrong━━━ oh, I see.”
When Sakurazuki recognized something behind me, her eyes turned pitch black, and her voice became monotone.
“Sakurazuki.”
Sano called out to Sakurazuki, but she didn’t react to his voice, instead staring at me with a smile.
“I think you heard from Reon, but there’s a delicious ramen shop outside the university. Right, Shino?”
“Yes, let’s go quickly. I’d like to try using this ‘vending machine’ thing.”
“You’re still such a princess~”
“Hey, wait a minute…”
Sano muttered, swaying slightly, but it seemed like none of the four except me heard him. More than anything, when I tried to look behind me, they formed a wall, blocking my view, and started pushing my wheelchair.
◇
“Hey…”
It was as if my legs were weighed down by lead, and I couldn’t move at all. Even when I reached out, I couldn’t grasp what was important. It was like a mirage fading into the distance.
“Wait! There are so many things I want to ask you!”
I called out, but there was no reaction at all, like hitting a curtain.
“Shino, do you even know what ramen is?”
“That’s a foolish question. What do you take me for…”
“A curious and troublesome princess, right? I wonder if it will fit in your stomach…”
“If you don’t have enough, give it to me~ I’m hungry~ Satoshi-kun too, right~?”
“Huh? Ah, um. Well, yeah.”
Not you!
When I made eye contact with Iriya, a wall was immediately formed, and our gazes no longer met. Among the five people walking in front of me, only Iriya recognized me. Ironically, that fact told me that the four people walking in front of me weren’t an illusion.
“Hey, stop ignoring me and listen to what I have to say!”
Finally, my body and mind were in sync, and I started to chase after them. It was our first reunion in a while, and I was a little irritated that the four of them weren’t even looking at me, but I tried my best to remain calm. However━━━
“Then, I’ll feed you~”
“Isn’t that a little unfair!? Hey, Satoshi-kun. If you try to eat ramen with your non-dominant hand, it’ll splash, so I’ll help you!”
“If a troublemaker like Sakurazuki is nearby, Satoshi’s appetite will be ruined, right? I’m not that hungry anyway, so I’ll take care of Satoshi. You guys enjoy your ramen.”
“Isn’t that unfair, Reon-san? It should be me, right?”
“No, I’m fine on my own…”
“Hey! Stop it!”
My Four Beauties were fighting over a man who wasn’t me. And they seemed to be getting along well. I had postponed my confession to give them time to deepen their bond.
But that was all so that I could be at the center of this circle, not for someone else. I was overcome with impatience and could no longer suppress my emotions.
“Why are you near that guy! You all liked me, didn’t you! You ignore me when I contact you. What the hell is going on!”
The backs of the four finally stopped in front of the elevator.
“Haa, haa, finally stopped.”
Only my breathing echoed in the space. The four who had been so noisy just now became as still as a calm sea.
I couldn’t miss this chance.
“Hey, if it’s hard to answer, just nod. Send out an SOS. I’ll help you no matter what!”
This wasn’t what they wanted. Iriya was taking advantage of their kindness and had also grasped some weakness. Otherwise, they wouldn’t treat the man they liked like this.
However, as the light reached the second floor and the doors opened, the four of them entered the elevator with Iriya without even looking at me.
“Guh! Wait!”
I couldn’t stop━━━ I thought, and I stepped forward with force, sticking my foot into the gap of the closing elevator doors. The doors stopped with a slight jolt, and the closing motion came to a halt.
“Ugh! You’re all so kind, Sakurazuki! You must have been blackmailed, right!? You don’t really want to do this, but you’re being threatened by Satoshi Iriya!”
Their ears twitched slightly.
“Iriya too! Say something, you bastard!”
I blamed Iriya, whose face I couldn’t see because Reon and Shino were still pushing my wheelchair. His silence was cowardly and cunning.
“Hey.”
“…Sakurazuki? Sakurazuki…!”
Had my desperate plea reached her? Sakurazuki mustered her courage and responded.
As I thought, Sakurazuki was being treated terribly by Iriya. Then, I would immediately━━━
“━━━Die.”
Zok
Before I could react to Sakurazuki’s terrifying eyes, which were like black ink, and her cold voice that pierced my ears, Sakurazuki’s right hand quickly reached out from the barely open elevator door.
Her slender fingers grabbed my chest, and with a sudden burst of strength, my body was pulled forward before I could do anything. Sakurazuki’s hand showed no hesitation as she tried to drag me into the elevator.
“Eh…?”
A small murmur mixed with confusion and fear escaped my lips, and at the same time, Sakurazuki pulled her hand back, and the doors closed mercilessly.
I was thrown forward, my head hitting the door, and a dull shock reverberated across my face. I grimaced in pain and fell to the floor.
“~~~~!”
“━━━”
Fresh blood danced in the air, staining the floor.
When the elevator doors opened again, Sakurazuki was looking down at me with eyes that saw me as trash. In my blurred vision, I could see Akina smiling as she pressed the open/close button.
Ironically, the pain quickly rebooted my brain.
“Wh-what…?”
My words were immediately cut off. Not only Sakurazuki, but Shino and Reon were also looking down at me with similar expressions.
“You scum… who do you think you are, talking to our benefactor like that?”
“Taking advantage of us? Being blackmailed? Stop slandering our Satoshi.”
“H-huh? What the hell are you talking about? Hey, Akina.”
“Could you not call me by my name~? ━━━It’s going to be tainted.”
Her usually gentle and kind tone had crumbled, replaced with coldness and anger. The mask of Akina’s smile, which was supposed to heal everyone, had been peeled off, revealing a terrifyingly serious face.
What? What the hell is really going on?
My thoughts and reality continued to diverge, and my perception was unstable. Then, Sakurazuki sat down in front of me, who had fallen, grabbed my hair roughly, and lifted me to her eye level.
Our eyes met, but Sakurazuki’s eyes were like a black hole.
“After playing with us so much, how dare you talk to us normally? And on top of that, you try to hurt our (……) Satoshi-kun’s heart. Die, die, die, die, die, die━━━die.”
“Hii!”
Is the person in front of me really Sakurazuki…?
I retreated to forcefully break free from Sakurazuki’s restraint, and some of my hair came out, but the fear blocked my senses, and I couldn’t feel anything. As Sakurazuki stood up, the door began to close mercilessly.
“Don’t ever speak to me again. You, of all people, absolutely—”
The last words were cut off at the same time as the elevator doors slammed shut completely.
I was completely dazed, my mind blank. The contemptuous expressions on Sakurazuki’s faces at that moment were burned into my memory, impossible to forget. There was unfathomable anger and coldness dwelling there.
Kill…
The movement of Sakurazuki’s lips at the end seemed to say just that.
“W-What did I even do…!”
My chest was filled with fear, confusion, and—
Thank you for reading this far!
Please [Follow]!
If possible, I would be happy if you could return to the [Work Page] and press the [⊕] three times in the [Praise with ★] section of the [Review]!