Chapter 49: Nightmare (2)
Both of my girlfriends turned to me, fury blazing in their eyes. "Tsubasa, explain what's going on?"
"That's right, Tsubasa-kun. And don't even think of lying to us. Doing something like that is a no-no."
I didn't mean for this to happen. It's just that since my first year, I'd gotten into the habit of looking at Nagumo-sensei's butt. Sure, she wasn't exactly a bombshell, but her lack of curves still had a certain, uh, appeal. Okay, enough of this internal monologue. I told myself to take this seriously, so I said, "To the best of my knowledge, I've never looked at Nagumo-sensei's butt. If I ever did something like that, which is, of course, unbecoming of me, you can label me the lowest degenerate in this room. I swear I didn't do anything like that. Ichinose must be lying." I rambled on incoherently, desperately trying to steer the conversation away. I definitely didn't want anyone to know about my crush on Nagumo-sensei from my first year.
"I'm not lying. I know basically everything about you, from the number of your hairs up top to your, well, down there."
"Okay, now I know you're lying!" I retorted. There was no way she could know that. Could she?
"I said I'm not lying. Anyway, what will your answer be?"
"Answer? To what?"
"To my confession." She smiled angelically.
"He's not going to answer," Chinatsu declared. "Of course, he wouldn't. Am I right, Tsubasa?" She gave me the scariest glare I had ever seen from her, even surpassing the one she shot me when I suggested dating both her and Natsumi. After I got a slap from each of them and landed on my butt, she looked down at me and simply said, 'Scum.'
"Tsubasa-kun, you wouldn't answer her confession with a 'yes,' would you?" Natsumi said, looking down at me with arms crossed over her chest, her chin raised in a way that suggested she found me utterly repulsive. It was the same look she gave me after the slapping incident.
"O-Of course not. I mean, her confessing to me is so sudden," I stammered, looking at Ichinose. Whether her confession was genuine or not, I didn't care. I already had two girlfriends, and I didn't want any more drama. I needed to draw a clear line where she shouldn't cross. "Ichinose, I'm sorry, but I must decline. I don't have any feelings for you, and I don't think that if I said 'yes' to your confession, I would learn to love you. You need to direct those feelings towards someone who's worthy."
I couldn't lie to her. While I found Ichinose beautiful, I wasn't about to fall for her just because of that. I had already figured out why she was doing this, especially after that encounter with her and Hondou yesterday. Ichinose was like a career-focused woman, no time for relationships, avoiding boyfriends as they'd be a nuisance. Perhaps she had too much on her plate. Whatever the case, it didn't change the fact that Ichinose was trying to pull something from me, and I didn't like it.
"Is that so? Ouch, that kind of stings. I've never had a boyfriend before, let alone confessed to someone, so I've never experienced this kind of pain before. But this must be the pain of a broken heart, right?" Ichinose lamented.
"Are you sure you're not just being overdramatic?" I retorted. I was pretty certain that was the case, but then I saw tears streaming down her face.
"Huh?" she stammered, also noticing. "Wh-Why? Ha ha, silly me, why am I crying?"
"Minami-chan!" Sunohara and Shiina rushed to her side. Sunohara attempted to wipe away her tears with her handkerchief, but Ichinose pushed her hands away.
"I-I'm sorry." Ichinose abruptly pushed herself from her chair and bolted out of the room.
"Minami-chan…" Sunohara tried to follow her, but Shiina stopped her.
A heavy silence lingered in the classroom for a moment, then chaos erupted.
"Seriously, this is news! Ichinose Minami spilled the beans to Kurogane, and he turned her down. She bolted out of the classroom in tears!"
"Why are you talking about it like it's some juicy gossip? Shouldn't you be worried about Ichinose-san?"
"Sure, I'm concerned, but honestly, the surprise factor beats out the concern. I mean, who saw Ichinose-san confessing to Kurogane coming?"
Hold on, Kaneda. What's so odd about her confessing to me? Well, I suppose...
"What's the plan for Ichinose-san? Just gonna let her wander off like that?" Sunohara asked.
"I'll go after her," declared someone getting up – Hondou Daiki, the guy who's been chasing Ichinose. As he straightened up, he shot me a nasty glare.
"Uh-oh. Kurogane, this looks like bad news for you," Kaneda chimed in. No surprise there. Hondou had announced to the world that Ichinose was his and only his. He's still chasing her, but he's already got the possessiveness cranked up. If I were a girl, even with Hondou being easy on the eyes, I wouldn't want him as my boyfriend. The guy's basically a yandere. A male version, for sure.
"No. Not you, Hondou-kun," Shiina interjected. "If you end up with her, things would probably get worse."
"Why?" Hondou raised an eyebrow.
"Well, because it's you, Hondou-kun."
"What's that even mean?"
"Anyway, Hondou-kun, you're not the right person for this. Just stay put. Now, as for who's gonna go after her..."
I glanced around at everyone present, discounting Ichinose's two friends. Who was Ichinose close to? I didn't know much about her, but it was clear she didn't have a ton of friends in this class. I wondered who would be the best person to go after her. Huh? Wait, why was Shiina looking my way?
"It's you, Kurogane-kun," she declared.
My mouth dropped open. Why me? How me? I couldn't wrap my head around it. I mean, how could a guy who just turned her down be the best one for the job?
"Morikawa-san, Matsushita-san, is this okay for the two of you?" Shiina asked.
Chinatsu and Natsumi exchanged glances, then both sighed, "Well, if it's Tsubasa who can do that, then I guess it's fine."
Why are you okay with this, Chinatsu? Aren't you mad? I am your boyfriend, right?
"O-Oh, well. I suppose there's no better person fit for this job than me," I mumbled as I lowered my head and left the room.
***
It didn't take too long to find her. She was in the rooftop staircase, with her back turned, heading towards the rooftop door.
"Took you long enough," she said.
That's when it hit me. She was expecting me to be the one to come after her.
"What do you want from me?" I asked straightforwardly, now that I knew the reason behind her actions.
"Your cooperation, that's all," she said.
Cooperation, huh? "Let me guess. You're planning to use me to fend off boys like Hondou, am I right?"
"That's right." She sure didn't sugarcoat it. Did she really hate Hondou that much?
"And it's not only Hondou-kun. There's this guy at work who keeps trying to seduce me, and this underclassman who's always so full of himself, thinking that with enough sweet talk, he could sway me into dating him."
I wasn't exactly surprised by that. Honestly, I was already convinced there were a lot of people gunning for her attention. What I didn't get, though, was why she chose me for this cooperation thing.
"I don't have the time or motivation for a relationship right now. If I want a boyfriend, I can get one with just a wink, but right now, it's not my priority. That's why I'm asking you to be my boyfriend so no one bothers me anymore. If I weren't single, surely no one would court me, right?"
I don't think that's practically true. If anything, some douchebag would be happy to steal someone who's already taken. I hate those kinds of people, just as I hate the NTR genre.
"So that's why you confessed to me, huh? So, what do you want me to do?"
"Just pretend to be my boyfriend, and whenever I need help from you, you'll come to me pronto."
"What if I don't agree to this?"
"Oh, Kurogane-kun. I'm not asking you for a favor. I'm ordering you."
So here it was... she was going to play her card now.
"If you don't want people to know about your unique relationship with Morikawa-san and Matsushita-san, you have to agree to this. Else, you'll be dooming not only your future but theirs as well. After all, your relationship is unconventional in this country."