Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru

It was finally only a few days before the start of the finals.

The majority of clubs had already stopped their activities, but the "jien-otsu club" continued to hold meetings as usual since Masuzu said: "being a maiden does not have days off", I wanted to say: "I am not a maiden, so let me off already", but I figured they wouldn’t listen anyway.

But today, because one of Chiwa’s cla.s.smates wanted a study session for their exams, the club activities were canceled. She even sent me a text message asking if she should refuse the invitation, but I told her to go with it… If she didn"t study at all, she would"ve be in trouble.

I expected Masuzu would refute strongly, hence I didn’t expect her to understand the case so easily.

"We haven’t gone home together in a long time. Why don"t we do so today?"

Ever since the start of jien-otsu club activities, the three of us would all be going home together, so we hadn’t done anything like this in a long time.

The "boyfriend"Fake agreement, after all, originally only considered "go home together every day", so you could say that we were merely using the contract in its original form.

But...

"Why do you have that unhappy face?"

Masuzu switched her shoes, placed them in the cupboard, and smiled at me with her back to the setting sun.

"Is it because our previous after school date, you are wary of any conversation? Today look forward to it."

"Gre~at, leave it to me~"

An interesting conversation topic——

...Aaah.

How bleak.

I walked out of the school gates side-by-side with Masuzu and the attention of students all around focused onto us immediately, piercing us like needles. There was also a whispering sound. "Hey, it’s Mr. Popudou[1]!" "So today it’s not Chihuahua, but the ojou-sama?", "What should we do? Should we pray to him?", "I heard if you pray at morning, noon and evening, eventually you’ll get a lover." I had no idea when such strange beliefs did start appearing. The person who wanted to rely on G.o.ds was obviously me.

"Eita-kun."

Masuzu said while hanging onto my arm.

"Why are you doing this so suddenly?"

"Please stick a little tighter, otherwise we won’t look like a couple."

Thanks to the short sleeves, I could perfectly feel Masuzu"s body temperature as she clung to me. Somehow, it made me feel like I wanted to run away.

This girl’s body is just way too soft…

I pretended to be calm as I walked and said:

"What are you talking about now? At this point our relationship is the hot rumor of the whole school."

"No. Because Harusaki-san often comes home with us - the three of us together - there’s been some suspicion about our relationship. So we have to show off a little more from now on."

Masuzu hugged tightly, tightly close to my arm. With or without Chiwa around, we kinda stood out. I already felt that somehow… I already felt that anyhow… Aa— Aaahhh!

"A-A-A-A-As such is the case, we should partake in some conversation? It doesn"t matter what it is, we should talk about something!"

"Yes, well then—"

Masuzu’s eyes were already br.i.m.m.i.n.g with antic.i.p.ation as she looked up at me:

"Eita-kun, did you watch yesterday"s "Magure Punishment Extreme"?

"—!"

This woman...

What was is planning?

"Magure Punishment Extreme" was a popular TV series with an average rating of 18.5%. It focused on hardcore human emotions and was popular among men and women of all ages. Even I, who didn"t really watch TV, never missed an episode of this show.

However, the last time we talked about "Maguke", Masuzu said the show was "Whatever it"s fine". It was a really humiliating memory.

Well, today I would officially make her understand the charm of "Maguke"!

"But of course I watched it."

I carefully chose words for the conversation:

"I think the most interesting quality of Magure Punishment Extreme is the father-daughter relationship between the police protagonist Yasuura and the Yuki-chan. This episode specifically focused on this. The day of Yuki’s birthday, he was meant to lead a big drug search. The degree to which Yasu-san "tenaciously" hated drugs was already portrayed in previous episodes and everyone knows how that "devil Yasu" turns sweet whenever it"s about Yuki-can. This caused a split between "tenacity VS affection" one could ultimately only pick one! Which one would Yasuura pick? It really made the fans anxious like crazy and pinched with cold sweat. The arrangement of the last episode of the season was really amazing! This contemporary drama’s steady structure is really rare, this is G.o.dlike! The best show ever!"

The last part was the same as last time, but whatever.

I honestly thought that, so I tried my best to communicate my ideas to her.

Masuzu nodded vigorously:

""Tenacity VS Affection", what a wonderful thing to say."

"Isn"t it?"

I unconsciously clenched my fist: You did it, Yasu-san!

"Though, could you repeat the explanation of that...?"

"Huh?"

"I’ve never seen that TV drama."

"How can that be!? Then, why did you ask me about it?!"

"Well, I thought if I brought up a topic in Eita-kun’s area of expertise, it would satisfy your insignificant self-esteem?"

"Insignificant? You’re calling my feelings towards "Magure" insignificant?!"

Masuzu quickly shook her head, she was like a cap as she quickly escaped from me.

"No, I meant minced meat[2]."

"That’s some greasy self-esteem that you’re talking about! Is that what you meant? You mixed up self-esteem with deep-fried[3]? You actually meant self-esteem chicken it? Hahaha!"

"Right, right, fascinating, fascinating! Anyhow, I want to change the subject."

"You don’t want to keep going?"

I was nearly crying. Wait, in fact, I was already crying...

"Wuwuha! W-W-Why do you want to change the t-t-topic? A-W-Wfter all that trouble, could i-it be thanks to my gag that could finally start an energetic conversation...?"

"Forgive me, forgive me."

I don’t know why Masuzu apologized to me twice, but she rubbed by back.

"Well, I’ll go buy a few drinks for us from the vending machine over there, I feel like having something cold, so let"s help ourselves."

"T-Thank you..."

I did not expect Masuzu to be so mild.

But somehow I felt as if she were tricking me…

"Here, Eita-kun, some sweet red bean soup."

Ten seconds later, I realized my hunch was correct.

"...You... wouldn"t happen to hate me, right?"

"Absolutely."

"Didn’t you say you would buy a cold drink?"

"It is ve~ry ~ co~ld. Feel it."

I took the canned red bean soup, which was in fact ve~ry ~ co~ld[4].

Why would they sell this kind of thing…

It would have been very strange to drink while standing, so we sat down on the bench near the vending machine. This was a quiet residential area, located in an obscure area, so there were practically no pedestrians in this quiet place. I could even hear the wind chimes of the neighboring homes and it would have been unbelievably elegant… if I weren’t drinking red bean soup!

Masuzu was drinking canned oolong tea as she spoke, surveying the sky. "They are very beautiful, those sunset clouds. " From the side, she looked almost expressionless and it made one wonder whether or not she really believed it was "beautiful".

She was one of those people you could never guess what she was thinking.

I felt as if the more I got to know her, the more the amount of her dark sides seemed to increase.

"Eita-kun."

"What?"

"There’s something you should be saying to me, isn’t there?"

Masuzu attentively stared at my eyes as she spoke,

"There is actually something that you are hiding from me, right?"

"W-What are you talking about?"

"You’ve been stealing looks at Harusaki-san these past few days."

Oops.

"I-I never did! Why would I want to look at Chiwa?"

"Fuun, don’t pretend to play dumb."

When Masuzu leaned her face close to my ear, she said:

"Those who protect me, Bi Mai Angels[5]."

"Guuh?"

I unconsciously looked at Masuzu’s face.

Her eyes were laughing.

"The most embarra.s.sing entry from your Chuuni notes... Do you want me to read it aloud right here?"

My whole body burst out in cold sweat.

That...

That isn"t good!

Even though there are a lot of black marks on my history, the shame of reading "That One" out loud in public, which is one of the most embarra.s.sing out of the top five. It had five times the destructive power of "Rampaging Animal"Beast …I did not have the confidence of maintain a normal mental state during that one.

"M-Masuzu! You!"

"I’ve said it before, Eita-kun."

Masuzu suddenly narrowed her eyes and said:

""Don’t be so kind to other girls right in front of me. ""

"I-I have n-not been kind to Chiwa at all!"

"It’s the same. Even though we’re fake, you are still my boyfriend, so you’re not allowed to look at other women."

Really...

How strong are this girl’s possessive feelings?

Whether it"s fake or real, things that were mine stay mine!

"No matter what you say, I can’t tell you."

"Think? It doesn’t matter even if I read aloud your notebook?"

"Even if you do that, I can"t, absolutely not!"

As a human being, one should never reveal the contents of a love letter to other people.

It was the same regardless if Chiwa wrote it or someone else.

"I see."

Masuzu sighed and said:

"So after all, to Eita-kun Harusaki-san is special... "

When she finished speaking, she lowered her shoulder, sank into silence, and gave off a very lonely appearance. She stared at her empty oolong tea can.

…Is she not going to read from the notebook?

....Of course it"s not like I want her to read it.

It"s just that normally I think that Masuzu would just read everything aloud the moment I refuse her.

—But this time.

There was a sudden change in Masuzu’s expression.

Astonished, she opened her eyes wide, her cheeks stiff, while staring forward a little—— no, it would be more accurate to call it glaring.

I was unconsciously fascinated by looking at this Masuzu, since this expression was a rarity among rarities.

As a result, I was late by a few moments before I realized what Masuzu was looking at.

"Eh? Is this guy Suzu’s boyfriend?"

The first thing I saw was two bundles of tied golden hair floating by me and a little girl with blue eyes.

Blonde.

She could easily be cla.s.sified into a four-character idiom with that kind of stereotypical, albeit very old-fashioned combination – "Emanating Intense Aura Standing Before Others". It was like the residential area around this girl had been cut open into s.p.a.ce.

She wore the uniform of a famous private middle school from the neighboring town, which was on a totally different level from our public school. The design was high level and very fashionable. "It’s very difficult to look good while wearing those kinds of uniforms", Chiwa told me that before, while pretending to know things she didn’t. On this girl’s body, it looked completely fitting… Was it because the quality of the person who wore it was very high? This girl was someone who lived in a completely different world than me.

Masuzu spoke in a very coa.r.s.e voice:

"Mana, you, what are you..."

"Because I wanted to see Suzu’s boyfriend."

It took me a little before I figured it out——

When this girl said "Suzu’s boyfriend" earlier, she actually meant "Masuzu’s boyfriend".

"Fuu-m..."

The girl called Mana approached my face, laughing, and examined me from head to toe several times. Highly inquisitive, she left nothing unexposed and it made me feel uneasy.

After thirty seconds of examination, she smiled and said:

"Somehow, he gives this totally plain feeling."

Tche! How can she say something like that with such a broad smile?

"Anyhow, you don’t really like Suzu at all, right?"

"Eh?!"

She saw through the fake boyfriend act? But how?

I could not help but turn around and look to the side. I only saw Masuzu with her head bowed, her hair covering her face.

Masuzu clenched a fist on her knees, she spoke:

"Mana, don’t say things like you know everything. What can you possible understand?"

As soon as she finished, the girl immediately burst out into laughter. “Ahahahaha!”

"Just kidding! I’m just teasing you. Like always, you are weak to those things. For that very same reason you always make Papa worry endlessly."

I let out a sigh, relieved. Apparently this girl had been bluffing.

But... Papa?

Normally, this would refer to this girl’s father…?

"What are you doing here now? Did that man order you to do something?"

"Yup, he wanted me to take a look at your situation. Even though we were on the phone, the tone of his voice was very angry! He said he didn’t let you come back to j.a.pan to fool around randomly. It seems he found about your school affairs through a representative politician or something?"

Masuzu’s body began to tremble severely.

The girl spoke in a gentle voice:

"Sorries, did I scare you? I’m kidding, it’s nothing. I"ll stand up for you. Silly, I wouldn’t say anything bad enough that it’d upset Suzu later!

Because she was wearing a middle school uniform, she must at least be younger than Masuzu – but this girl was totally treating Masuzu like a child.

I never expected that the audacious Natsukawa Masuzu could actually be this afraid of anything.

"Because of that, Suzu; In exchange——"

The girl soon turned her eyes towards me.

She approached me.

As I sat on the bench, I tried to lift myself up to escape – but the girl shoved her chest against mine.

While I staggered, the girl brought her face close to me and said:

"Suzu’s boyfriend, just let me have him!"

My lips were kissed by her.

The girl named Mana, whose lips were a lot smaller than mine and soft, seemed as if they were almost sucked into mine.

"——Guu—?!"

She kept her eyes open and staring at me, seemingly because she did not want me break away from her. Her bluish-green pair of eyes seemed to contain a radiance of mischievous childishness.

After our lips were in contact for a few seconds, it ended.

She rapidly pulled her body away, and looked neither shy nor timid as she licked her lips and said:

"Plundering complete! Thanks for the meal♪!"

I could not even moan in reaction.

Masuzu face seemed to lose its color and she stared at the girl in a daze.

At this time, a large black limousine pulled up beside the vending machine. From the driver’s seat, a tall black bald man wearing sungla.s.ses stepped out. Why did he look as if he were a bodyguard not just a chauffeur?

The man respectfully saluted the young girl:

"Ojou-sama, it’s time."

"Ah, is it?"

The girl said as she solemnly combed her blond hair.

"So, Suzu, you should consider it before the next time we meet. All aspects of it."

Masuzu did not respond.

"Onii-san, let’s do a little more than just kissing next time."

This arrogant manner of speaking made me very angry.

"You’re just a middle school student! Don’t talk like you’re an adult! Just who is your Onii-san!? Don’t be so familiar with me!"

"It’s not wrong to call you Onii-san, right?"

The girl opened a window from the back seat of the car, smiling.

"After all Natsukawa Masuzu is my Nee-san."

"What——?"

"I am from the middle-school section of the Nenaka Private Girls School, third-year Natsukawa Mana. Just call me Mana, since you’re my future Onii-san♪."

Even after the limousine left carrying the girl, I was still unable to move.

What?

Masuzu’s sister?

"Hey, Masuzu! What was that about—"

"Don"t say anything."

She flatly refused.

"I also have things I don’t want to talk about. Aren"t you just the same?"

Masuzu said without looking at me, her hair covering her face.

Her tight shoulders expelled an aura of rejection.

"...I get it."

I gave a big sigh and scratched my head.

Even though I wanted to ask about her sister, I also had a secret in my love letters, so I couldn’t complain. There was nothing left to try even if I was impatient.

I only understood one thing.

My very own "girlfriend" – I don’t know anything about her.