Chapter 17: Machi Chika Is A Bad Girl

"You're overthinking this, Machi," I insisted. She seemed to be overanalyzing everything, maybe even harboring this suspicion for a while and overthinking it until she reached this conclusion..

"I'm not, Kurogane. I just have better intuition than most women. I've used it to guess test answers when I didn't know them, and most of the time, I've been right."

Her intuition must be pretty strong if she was confident enough to mention it.

"3 out of 4 guesses were correct," she clarified.

So, a 75 percent success rate, huh? That did make her seem rather confident. But it still wasn't definitive proof. I could find a way to refute this.

"You're not some naive, dense protagonist in a harem comedy light novel, Kurogane. This is real life. And I'm quite certain you're aware of their feelings for you. What I'm wondering is why you haven't reciprocated to one of them. Do you believe it's better this way, to spare one and avoid hurting the other? Or perhaps you just don't feel that way about them?"

I was genuinely surprised that she'd come to this conclusion based on her observations and gut feeling. I wasn't sure how to respond.

"I'm not sure where you're getting this, Machi, but you're mistaken."

"Then tell me exactly where, what, why, and how I'm mistaken."

"Even if you ask me that, I don't know how to answer. But I truly believe you're mistaken about all of this, Machi."

Machi suddenly grabbed me by the collar and pulled me closer to her. She smelled like strawberries, just like Chinatsu. I hadn't had many opportunities to closely examine Machi, but upon closer inspection, she was undeniably a beautiful woman.

"Kurogane, if you ever hurt Chi, I'll make you regret it, understand?" Her gaze was ice-cold, and she appeared dead serious. Was she... in love with Chinatsu? I never pegged her for that. She didn't seem that way at all.

"Um, do you maybe have feelings for Chinatsu?"

"What? No way. I'm totally straight."

"Oh, okay." I had assumed she might be lesbian or possibly bisexual, but it seemed I was mistaken.

Machi released her hold on my collar, her tone shifting to something more melancholic.

"You know, Chinatsu was the first real friend I ever had."

She sounded wistful.

"I spent most of my childhood alone. Bullied from elementary through middle school, I never had any friends. Then, when I entered high school, I made a conscious decision to change myself, to be someone I'm not, so I wouldn't get bullied again. I dyed my hair, wore makeup, and dressed provocatively. It was all to protect myself."

She turned away from me, walking towards the blackboard and absentmindedly tracing her finger across its surface. Bathed in the warm sunlight, she looked like a work of art. I hadn't expected to see this side of Machi. It made me wonder if spending more time with her could lead to a genuine friendship.

"In order to protect myself, I had to project an image of power. In my first year, I dated numerous guys, especially those who were well-known and held some degree of authority in our school. I thought that if I was seen with them, I wouldn't be bullied anymore. And even if I broke up with them, no one would dare bully me. They would just see me as some sort of woman who enjoyed dating those in power and then discarded them when they were no longer useful. And that was fine by me. I was okay with it. Even if I was labeled as a bad girl, or even a slut, that was fine too. As long as I wasn't being bullied, I was fine."

I had heard rumors that she dated and broke up with guys frequently. It was said she was a power-hungry woman who sought fame and would date anyone with high status.

"Then, out of nowhere, a rumor started circulating in school. They said I was involved in prostitution and compensated dating. I was shocked when I heard it, but that rumor somehow solidified my position in school. I became the gal known for being promiscuous. Oddly enough, I stopped getting bullied because of it. And so, I began to wear even more provocative clothing."

She stopped tracing her finger on the blackboard. "And because of that... I was also avoided... And I didn't make any friends. I was okay with that, to be honest. Even if I didn't have friends, as long as I wasn't bullied, I was fine with it. I mean... It was partly my fault for being avoided, right? Who would want to get close to someone known as a promiscuous girl?"

She turned to me.

"Did you also think of me as a promiscuous girl, Kurogane?"

"I didn't."

She smiled at me. "Liar. I could tell from your eyes every time they met mine. You thought I was promiscuous."

"No, I didn't. I did think you were rebellious at times, but I never saw you as promiscuous, not even once."

"You don't have to lie just to spare my feelings. I've grown immune to those words now. Promiscuous, slut, bad girl... they don't hurt me anymore."

I wondered how much Machi had been through. I hadn't experienced it, so I couldn't truly understand. Those words probably made her cry at some point, but she had learned to hide those tears. She only cried when she was alone. I was certain that if I were in her shoes, I might have cried too.

She had heard those hurtful words so often that she had developed immunity to them. It was truly admirable how she had built up that resilience and protected her heart. If she had been a more fragile person, those words could have broken her.

But I never saw her that way. I had never used those words to describe her.

"I'm telling the truth, Machi. I never thought of you as a slut."

Machi blinked several times. "Are you serious?"

"Do you think I'm joking?"

"It seems that... you're not. But why?" Machi asked, clearly surprised by my response.

I smiled at her, and she seemed to understand that I didn't see her that way.

There were rumors in my class, with guys claiming that Machi had engaged in sexual activities with them, from touching their genitals to even performing oral sex for free. One of them even went as far as to claim they had sex with her for just a thousand yen.

While rumors and stories circulated about Machi's behavior, I didn't buy into them.

I was sure she wasn't that kind of woman, especially when I saw how close she was to Chinatsu.

"Because Chinatsu is your friend," I explained.

Sure, her clothing was a bit provocative, but clothing alone doesn't define a person. A man wearing a suit isn't always a gentleman; he could be a killer or just someone showing off. Similarly, a woman wearing an expensive dress isn't always rich; she might be a gold digger or someone who enjoys appearing wealthy.

Machi was the same. She dressed provocatively as a form of self-protection.