Chapter - 11

It's a bustling, sunny day.

To gain confidence, I asked my friends for advice.

"Hey," I said, "is the purpose of a man's body to be a woman's body?"

The two of them, who were eating their bento boxes, nodded in agreement, but then the man next to them took a bite of fried chicken.

"Now, wait a minute, Araki. Be careful what you say while eating...!"

I glared at him.

The man closed his mouth with a demoralized look on his face and quietly ate the chicken he had spat out again. It's dirty.

"That's the thing, Araki. Men may whisper love, but they don't really know anything about that side of things..., so there's no way they're acting for the purpose of love."

The woman who pushes up her glasses while speaking in a rather polite tone is Jinnai, a leading committee member.

Even if it's only two months, the guanlok that has been cracking down on the school's gossip permeates near the lenses. She flashes a smile.

"You just have to listen to what men say. You'll see how much men see women as objects."

This is a normal tone. This is Haga, a member of the kendo club.

She has an attractive long face.

"So, what Araki wants to know is, what did you say about the second-year student... you have in mind?"

Jinnai asks Haga.

"Well. All I've heard is that he's a bedbug who's been clinging to Ayase-senpai in the archery club and eating her food."

"Let's call it a bedbug, then. So you're saying that Araki is bothered by the object of his uncontrollable lust?"

She's upset that her beloved senior was treated like a bedbug, but she decides to let it go.

"Yeah."

"Haha. Well, I don't know him personally, but...he doesn't touch Ayase-senpai on the subject of bedbugs. Maybe it's because he's deceased."

Another man spewed a petit tomato out the window.

Is it a trend in this school to spew food?

"Hey, hey, jinnai, such a direct expression is not...!"

It's annoying, so I ignore it.

"-──Senpai, I wonder if he's incapable?"

"Maybe."

Haga says, to which Jinnai interjects, "No...".

"It's possible that it's an extreme fool... A fool is a creature that exists only to take advantage of those around it. It's not that they don't care about women's bodies, but the harder you force them, the more it backfires. It's like when a herbivore is chased by a predator, it instinctively runs away. Pushing doesn't work!"

With a bang, he slams his fist down on the desk.

The sound was more forceful than emotional, like he was holding a personal grudge.

"So even if we switch to the pull strategy of pushing and if that doesn't work, there's nothing we can do about it."

Jinnai sighed softly after speaking solemnly.

There's a shade of rainwater near her eyelashes.

Perhaps it's because of the mix of real life experiences that she feels very alive from a moment ago.

Rumor has it that her crush is also quite the fool.

"In other words, you can't just fish with your body just because it's an object."

"Something like that."

I smiled inwardly at the answer.

Well, that eased my anxiety a bit.

Even if you know you're going to do well, there's a part of you that wants to reinforce that.

"But."

Haga adds.

"There's no race more terrifying when they're vocal than the idiots. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred they'll say no, but then--that one time they'll go berserk like no other, and they'll become beasts...!"

And then he's off. I wonder if this is related to the actual experience.

The kendo club member she's dating is also said to be quite an idiot.

This is the lid she repaired on a broken pot.

Even after that, the three of us girls are still talking about awkward topics and moving chopsticks around.

It was lonely being away from you.

I worked up enough of an appetite to finish lunch.

Kurumi Ayase induces self-destruction.

It wasn't really a deliberate plan or anything.

Just waiting for the inevitable to happen.

I've tried to make her come out of her shell and create a situation where she can't back down even if she wants to. I've tried to make a pact with a deadline and push back, but it's not something I've thought through very carefully, so I've just been improvising on the spot and somehow managed to arrive at the current situation.

I was improvising and holding on for dear life.

It was a tightrope walk.

But I kind of knew it was going to happen.

I wasn't 100% sure, but I was confident.

Because...what, it's a secret.

I finished my work as a book commissioner and said my goodbyes.

It's early summer, so the sun is out for a long time, and it's still light around here.

That bitch is probably holding hands with you by now.

That thought makes me grit my teeth, even if it was on purpose.

No matter how much you calculate with your rational mind that the odds are in your favor, you can't suppress your emotions.

It's like when you see a new product you want to buy, but you try to pass it up because the price will drop soon.

Even though your brain is convinced, you feel like reaching for it anyway.

You want to start walking toward the register.

If you could, you'd sprint, catch up to the two of them, and swat away the litter bug in the shell of a childhood friend who always follows you with a piece of wood or a pebble or a glass bottle.

But you can't. Violent behavior must be avoided.

It will definitely scare your senior more than the question of whether you are good or bad as a person. He'll definitely back down.

A girl, no matter how frenzied with jealousy, should never have a weapon in her hands.

By the time she pulls out a kitchen knife or something, she's already lost her grip on his heart.

"She'll just be perceived as dangerous and discarded.

It's troubling that Ayase-senpai doesn't seem to understand such obvious signs.

I wonder if she misunderstands the meaning of the phrase "it doesn't matter what it takes".

Even if there's no cheating in a relationship, stabbing or killing is a way to get satisfaction.

Simply wanting to "kill", "win", or "hit the player" paves the way for defeat...

Ayase-senpai, in that sense, you should have been a little more subtle.

Your courtship is too straightforward, it's insanely straightforward.

It's nothing more than kamikaze.

"I guess that's when you've been locked up?"

I glance at my watch as the cool night breeze from the window blows in.

I try to delay my decision by reading a book, just in case, but at times like this, time seems to drag on forever, and when I think enough time has passed, less than five minutes have passed.

There's nothing more impatient than that.

Fifteen minutes was the limit. I pull out my cell phone.

I finally dial my senior...!

Nothing but dial tone, and a moment of anxiety, wondering if I've failed.

I'm connected.

"...Araki?"

A voice with a distant echo. A bottomless feeling of emptiness washed over me.

Aha.

Ahahahaha.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

Ha-ha-ha.

"What's the matter, Mr. Senior? ...You sound weird."

I said, careful not to spill my glee into the other end of the phone.

I quickly began my act.