Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru

During that time, I thought I was relying on Chiwa.

The future was bleak, hopeless, disheartening.

That"s why at the very least, I wanted a "Goal", a "Hope".

Even though I was pretending that I wanted to help Chiwa, the one who was saved was me.

But yet, Chiwa believes in me.

That"s why I also have to believe.

In the "Me" whom Chiwa believes in.

When I woke up in the morning, upon looking at my watch, it was around half past nine.

"c.r.a.p, I overslept..."

On a Sunday, if I don"t get to the library early, the seats in the study rooms will be filled up.

I dressed up hurriedly, checked the stoves, locked the doors and left without eating. It took about 12-13 minutes to reach the library by foot. If I hurried and reached it by ten, then there should still be seats left.

However, my legs took off in a different direction by themselves.

The time was ten minutes to ten.

Ten minutes left to the appointed time for Chiwa"s date.

The distance to the appointed meeting place, in front of a certain station, was around ten minutes away as well.

"Hey, hey..."

How pathetic I am.

Am I"m going to spy on her?

Even if she is my childhood friend, I can"t do that right? I"m really a disgusting guy.

But: I"m so curious.

I really want to know no matter whaaaaaaaaaaat!

"Good morning."

"Uwaaaah?!"

I jumped at the sudden voice that called out from behind.

As I was wondering who it was:

"M-Masuzu, huh?"

"Fufu. Aren"t you overly surprised, Eita-kun?"

Even though it was a Sunday, Masuzu was in her school uniform (so was I), smiling.

"To be walking along this road, seems like we have the same objective, right?"

"Then, you"re also here to spy on Chiwa"s date?"

"The word "spy" carries such a negative connotation to it. As the president of the "Jien-Otsu" club, I have to watch over the gallant figure of the other members."

"Isn"t that the same thing?!"

"Oh, so Eita-kun is not going to?"

"[...]"

d.a.m.n.

Just a little, just a little more.

"Once we have ascertained that they have met up, we"ll leave."

"All right, I understand."

While giggling, she twined her arm around mine.

"Don"t cling to me. Move away."

"Oh. Why?"

"Chiwa is neither here with us today, nor is it after-school hour, there"s no need for us to keep up the pretense, right?"

"Nope. In this rural town, we never know when we might b.u.mp into students of Hane High. We definitely can"t afford to relax."

With her smiling face, Masuzu said that with a hint of sarcasm and following that, I could feel the softness of her arms pressing closer.

Why is her body so soft all over, I wonder.

But now was not the time for that.

We pa.s.sed a few guys who gazed at us and reached the station.

The plaza before the ticket counters, here was a standard waiting spot.

"Ooooooh..."

Chiwa was there.

Sakagami-senpai hadn"t arrived yet.

With her cell phone opened up, she was standing there, unable to stay still. Her shoulders were tensed up, and even from a distance, I could sense her nervousness.

But, what was more surprising:

"Chiwa is— Chiwa is fashionably dressed?!"

Long sleeve white blouse, and a flower-patterned balloon shorts.

The collar of her blouse was attached with lace, giving off the feeling that she was wearing layered clothing, making her very girl-like. Her shorts were also of a daring length, showing off and enhancing the slenderness of her legs.

Not bad. Suits her...

"How is it? I was who coordinated it."

"You? I see that you can also do good things!"

"Yeah. It"s hand me down from when I was in grade six. A perfect fit, right?"

"[...]"

As such exchanges went on, the time struck ten.

Sakagami-senpai had yet to arrive.

"What the h.e.l.l"s he thinking, to be late for the first date."

"...Exactly."

"During such times, isn"t this the case where the guy should arrive first? He might be a good looking guy[1], but he should know the fundamentals. Did he take it lightly because it"s Chiwa?"

The time further advanced and it was 10:20 a.m..

Not here yet.

"Hey, hey, what"s wrong with him?"

Chiwa looked anxious and had been messing with her phone for some time. She was probably either checking whether there was a mail from Senpai or sending one to him.

"Don"t tell me he stood her up? Or perhaps an accident?"

Masuzu said nothing and stayed expressionless.

The situation did not change as the time pa.s.sed on, and it was finally eleven o"clock.

The number of shoppers gradually increased, and the plaza before the station was filled with people. There were many families and couples as well. The people who had been waiting at that same place for their dates had one after another left.

Only Chiwa was alone.

Standing there in isolation.

"That"s enough, Chiwa. Go back! Just dump that fella!"

And— at that moment.

A loud, moronic laugh was heard in the plaza.

It was a group of high school students consisting of four guys and two girls who were dressed in anti-social fashion.

"All right, it"s my win! One Yukichi-san get[2]!"

A darkly tanned, conspicuously brute-looking large man was in overly high spirits.

And beside him, was a bitter looking face —Chiwa"s date, Sakagami-senpai.

"Che. Still waiting, huh? What a shameless girl."

"Isn"t that great? She"s cute right? I think she"s fit to go out with you, though."

"Look at that outfit. She"s trying to make herself look taller, huh? Looks a little like a vase though."

The two girls with crazy-colored dyed hair said.

What the h.e.l.l"s wrong with them?

Today is supposed to be a date, but yet, why did his friends tag along?

What are you doing, Senpai?

Quickly, quickly go and apologize to Chiwa!

"Boringzzz, though. You can go home, Chiwawa-chan."

Facing the dumbfounded Chiwa, Senpai waved his hand in a shooing manner.

"My bad. I"m really shocked. Do you really think you can go out with me?"

"There"s no way that will happen, right? Know your place, "Pitiful Chiwawa"."

The six people laughed.

"But your body is really small, huh? Are you sure you"re not faking your age? Perhaps you"re actually an elementary school student?"

"A middle school acquaintance of mine is a lolicon, though. Shall I introduce him to you? I think he will call you cute. In a maniac way."

"Stop that, you guys, she"s really pitiful, you know, look, Chiwawa-chan is trembling. It"ll be bad to make her cry, right? Gyaha!"

Chiwa wasn"t trembling.

Nor was she crying.

She was merely smiling absentmindedly.

Looking at that expression, I got a deja vu—

"Seems like I can"t do kendo anymore."

"—Stop."

Masuzu caught hold of my arm as I was about to dash out.

"Let go of me, Masuzu."

"Stop. You a•r•e • n•o•t • l•i•k•e • t•h•a•t, r•i•g•h•t?"

"Whatever, just let go!"

"It will be fine either way, right?"

"Aaaah?!"

"We are indifferent to the many complications of love, right?"

Masuzu"s expression didn"t change.

It just, her blue eyes merely shone eerily.

"That man called Sakagami may have adopted the appearance of a cool sportsman in school... but this is his true nature. He two-times or three-times, and when he"s tired of them, he will dump them and repeat it again and again. He"s pretty famous for that among his middle school ex-cla.s.smates. However, even I would have never thought that he is garbage at this level."

"Then, you already knew this right from the start..."

So as to speak, when Chiwa mentioned Sakagami"s name, Masuzu did not seem too enthusiastic.

So, it was because of this reason.

"We can use this chance to let Harusaki-san properly learn the truth. "Love is a worthless thing". We can use this to brainwash her[3], a believer of pure love like her to realize the futility and stupidity of love. If that happens, she might even adapt our "anti-romance" doctrine."

"Don"t mess around!"

I grabbed hold of Masuzu"s collar.

But even with that, Masuzu"s expression did not change.

She, how is she able to make such a cold expression?

"Then, all those club activities were just an act, a play?"

"Didn"t I say it before? That it"s "Jien-Otsu". Everything is fake. There"s not a single truth."

"No way..."

That"s a lie.

That’s a complete lie!

"But weren’t you happy with us? When the three of us ate snacks in the clubroom, or when we just acted plain silly – weren’t you genuinely mortified when other called the "past life thing" a skit? Or when you heard Chiwa’s confession was successful, weren’t you overjoyed?"

The way Masuzu looked did not change, and I could not tell if she felt anything.

"Hey! just say something!"

"...There is neither a why nor how, didn’t you say it yourself before as well?"

"What?"

"I am a demon."

She spoke, and Masuzu laughed.

It was a grimace —a sad smile.

It was exactly the same "smile" that Chiwa had just a while ago.

When faced against romance, the feeling of bitter despair.

When faced against love, the feeling of profound hopelessness.

What had really happened to this girl in the past?

Truthfully, it"s probably something that my life could never be compared to.

It was darker than dark, like a cave that was cracked open, deep and profound——

"Hey, Masuzu."

"Heh?"

"Even if it’s fake, and even if it"s in name only, I’m still technically your boyfriend."

"Why are you suddenly bringing this up?"

"Aren’t I your boyfriend?"

"And that, what are you talking about?"

"If then, there is one thing that I have to ask. Even if it’s just for right now, just listen to that buried part of you that has a love-struck mind."

I put my hands on Masuzu’s shoulders, stared straight into her dark pupils, and breathed deeply:

"Don’t warp yourself! Natsukawa Masuzu!"

At this moment, a crack in broke Masuzu’s perfect "smile".

I had always felt, since the very beginning that she had been covering her everything with a "mask"Fake.

"W-What are you talking about? You and I are of the same kind, aren’t we?"

"Yes. We are unquestionably similar. We’re accomplices, with distorted systems of values, with despair that no one else can understand."

"Don’t idealize words so beautifully. Why do you say something like this—?”

"Because Chiwa is an extraordinary person!"

I bellowed in anger.

"She’s so blunt, honest and rash .. Even when her dream of kendo was destroyed, there was no change in her cheerful tone. Rather, she continued on with foolish strength, that"s the absolute and complete opposite of us!"

"...—is true."

Letting out a broken sound, Masuzu lowered her head.

"That child, is so dazzling.""

Like a curtain, silvery hair poured down her shoulders and hid her facial expression.

I shook off Masuzu’s arm.

"I"m going to Chiwa."

I walked away.

—Or not

Masuzu’s fingers barely grasped the end of my shirt, her body trembling.

A complete different person from before, her strength now was so fragile.

"...Ooo?"

"Don’t go."

Masuzu’s head was lowered and she looked just like a desperate child who was crying "no, no, no, no" while shaking her head.

Exactly like a child.

I"m also just like that, I understand that well.

She was just like someone who had been abandoned without regard, without an idea of what to do. A child who could only stand motionlessly and alone.

"Masuzu..."

At that moment, I was sure of one thing:

Someone who also needed help —there was one here, too.

"Idiot—"

Then, I flicked Masuzu’s forehead.

She lifted her head with a surprised expression and with a smile I said:

"Don’t look down. Look carefully here."

"...Look at what?"

"Do I really have to say it?"

Pat~ I patted Masuzu the shoulder:

"Your "boyfriend’s" heroism."

I ran towards the plaza.

"Woooooaaaaaaoaahhahhhaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Ah!

Ah – This feels quite refreshing!

"Woooooaaaaaahhhhhhhh – Chiwa – aaaaaahhhhahahhhhhhhhh – I’m coming now!"

I didn’t feel bad to be shouting lines like a manga character.

Even though some people would call this chuunibyou, I couldn"t seem to stop doing it!

"The cool guy over there, leave Chiwa alone! Uowwwwaaaaahhhh!"

I let the momentum of the running carry me and I wanted to get Sakagami-senpai’s back with a flying kick – but I failed.

When I was just about to kick him, he suddenly dodged out of the way.

Ah, if I continued a.s.saulting so loudly, anyone would be able to notice us.

"Who are you?"

"I am that Chihuahua"s childhood friend!"

Chiwa was astonished and dumbstruck, completely frozen.

"Humph - Well, Mr. childhood friend, what’s your business?"

"What? Is this part of the misunderstanding gang, or the brain-dead gang?"

The four boys that surrounded me smirked and clearly expressed the guts to start a fight. The tan one looked particularly strong and he wore a huge pile of rings on both of his hands. If he hit me, I was sure it would hurt a lot.

"Oh— oh— hit him, hit him!"

"Flatten him! Flatten him until he cries!"

When their two accompanying girls screamed out, the four boys" eyes changed.

Hmph! The entire group was a bunch of brain-dead worshipers of the Religion of Love.

There was no need to be afraid of them.

These guys were nothing.

Because I—

"Recovered!"

"Huh?"

"I recovered the memories of my past life!"

The plaza square was instantly silenced.

"My real name is Burning Fighting Fighter. Although I was stronger than the S-Cla.s.s Demons, Triple ZZZZ level, I had no interest in demonstrating my strength! As a result, I was only D-level. But when my true powers are released, I can completely wipe away the entire galaxy single-handedly!"

"Huh?"

Sakagami’s group of six people simultaneously tilted their heads, puzzled.

"While the Wyverns use a illumination"high amount of camouflage" to cleverly hide themselves, they cannot fool my insignia! If they’ve hidden themselves somewhere, imaginary pain will become true reality…!"

"Hey, what did were you talking about—?"

"Hyeahhh!"

At this moment, I used the Dragon Secret Move, "Rare Eagle Stance"!

Don’t ask why a dragon can use an eagle’s stance!

"Pa! Papapah!"

Then, I continuously used "Fate Dark Black Flame" on Sakagami.

Of course I did not forget about the sound effects!

"T-This guy is disgusting!"

"c.r.a.p?! The look in his eyes is not normal!"

Sakagami’s friends looked afraid.

The surrounding spectators cl.u.s.tered around us, anxiously on edge.

"Hey, let’s leave, okay?"

"Just ignore this kind of person. Just ignore him."

It seemed like Sakagami’s group was in a hurry to walk away.

—I wasn’t going to let them leave!

"Idiot! You’ve exposed your weakness! Completely undefended!"

I seized Sakagami’s back, and used my body weight to push Sakagami over.

Straddling his stomach, I hit him! Beat him! Flattened him!

"What are you doing?!"

The tan boy used all of his force to kick my stomach. Good thing I did not eat breakfast… The fluid that rose in my throat was very acidic.

But I still didn’t let go of Sakagami.

I absolutely wouldn’t let go!

"Apologize!"

"Huh?"

"Apologize to Chiwa!"

"You’re annoying!"

"You tricked her, and then you said all those things to her! Apologize!"

"Everyone says you’re annoying!"

A violent punch pounded my face head on.

My nose sprayed blood and dyed my shirt bright red.

"I-I’m not letting go...!"

As Sakagami tried to stand up, I silently clung to his feet.

Come on! It was time to show my ZZZ strength!

I will shed my Grade D ability and show my true strength!

"Hahaha! He’s so pitifully weak, this disgusting otaku."

My face was kicked a lot and I almost lost consciousness.

Why...

Wake Up! With the strength of the dragons! ZZZ! Sweep away the galaxy!

Only at this moment, I was very confident.

I wanted to believe.

Even though I didn’t believe the delusional entries written in the notebook.

I wanted to believe in the "coolness" that Chiwa vainly and completely had faith in.

"Hey, what’s wrong with you? Aren’t you this Burning person? What happened to your energy from just moments ago?"

Sakagami stepped on my fingers with his shoes, and viciously squished them.

"Aaaaaaaaghhhhh..."

It hurt.

It was killing me.

My fingernails had probably already split open, and it felt like a hard object was embedded in my flesh… It hurt! It hurt, hurt, hurt, hurt! I wanted to cry – actually, I was already crying – blood and snot streamed down my face, leaving a large blot on the ground. It hurt so much! The reality of the pain was forced onto me… It looked like I was going to lose.

It was so true.

Regardless if I was a holy dragon knight, or any other character, pain was still pain!

The reality was: I couldn’t win.

It hurt.

Reality was really painful.

But—

"Yeeeooaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh, that hurts! Yaaarrrghhhh!"

Sakagami screamed like a girl.

Clutching his ankle, he rolled about on the ground.

"d.a.m.n, t-this guy. H-He actually bit me…"

I glared at Sakagami’s teary eyes and stood up.

"Watching..."

"Huh?"

"She[4] is watching! Wuuoooohhhhh!"

Sakagami’s three friends surrounded me with murderous eyes on their face.

Their hippie smiles from several moments ago had already disappeared.

"This is no joke, right?"

"Before the police comes, you should beat him up now."

"The police station is nearby. Is that okay?"

I stood up wiping the blood on my nose, my knees trembling. I could not hear what they were saying.

"Hahaha! Now it’s an easy win, right? Police station, police station… strange? There’s a police station near here?"

With my consciousness blurring, I nearly fell down——

"Stop it, that"s enough!"

The person who shouted was Chiwa.

"Enough! If Ei-kun keeps going, he’ll die! Don’t fight with these low b.a.s.t.a.r.ds! Anyways, I don’t even care! I-If something happened to Ei-kun, I…"

Chiwa’s teary eyes were swollen red.

She staggered and hobbled, intending to come over.

"Who’s a low b.a.s.t.a.r.d? You short little winter melon?!"

The tan boy flushed red and seemed ready to attack Chiwa.

"W-Wait! If you’re going to hit someone, hit me! Chiwa—"

At that moment...

Under a clear and cloudless sky, a half-rod suddenly flew in out of nowhere,

It was a long aluminum rod used to support young trees.

As if it cleaved the wind wildly, it flew to its target, into Chiwa’s hands.

"—This is!"

The pupils of Chiwa’s eyes brimmed with a burning radiance,

It really had been a long time...

This tense expression was how she looked just before kendo matches.

With both hands on the aluminum rod, she immediately shifted into a high stance.

"——Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen[5]!"

With a beautiful explosive motion, she struck the tan boy’s forehead.

Without even the time to cry out, he collapsed backwards to the ground, motionless.

"That b.i.t.c.h!"

The other two boys shouted in near unison as they flung their fists at Chiwa, but missed. Chiwa wove in between the two males, swiftly and gracefully dodging their moves. The surrounding crowd cheered, “Wow!”

"Dora! Dorara!"

Chanting like in the previously practiced "Dorarara ~Live Performance Event", Chiwa dodged sideways and struck with lightning speed the two boys’ midsections! I thought they would cry out "Wuahhh", but instead they clutched their abdomens and fell to their knees.

Instant victory.

"...Haha."

Suddenly exhausted of strength, I fell sprawled out on the stone floor.

—Chiwa really is strong.

Chiwa put down the shinai, and approached Sakagami.

"Yieeieh!"

Sakagami dragged himself on the ground, looking like a c.o.c.kroach crawling away to escape… his handsome image was ruined.

She faced Sakagami—

"Senpai, I apologize!"

Chiwa forcibly bowed, her salute formal and beautiful like a kendo bow.

"To be honest, I also lied to you."

"Huh?"

"I actually don’t even like you one bit. Rather, because I got in a quarrel with my incomparably stupid childhood friend, I decided to find a boyfriend. Thus, I randomly picked a target. I’m sorry."

After she said this, Chiwa bowed again.

"Can you forget about everything that happened today?"

"Ah! I’ve had enough! I don"t want anything to do with you and I never want to have any relationship with you ever again!"

Sakagami stood up, helped by the shoulders of the two girls and nodded bitterly.

The surrounding crowd also took the opportunity to disperse and no one remained to watch us. They must have been quite shocked by us.

Sakagami’s group also snuck into the midst of the crowd, dejectedly.

"Your face looks miserable."

Chiwa examined my face while I was sprawled on my back.

"The nosebleed keeps running. Ei-kun, do you have some tissues?"

"...Forgot to bring some."

"It can"t be helped..."

Chiwa knelt down on the ground and lifted my head. She placed it on her lap —the so-called "Lap Pillow", Saeko-san once said: "A lap pillow from a childhood friend is simply the best", or something like that.

"I-I have to say something..."

"Huh?"

"From earlier, that "battle with the enemies of our past lives" part, I only did it out of habit. It"s not like I did it for you."

"...Ei-kun really is a tsundere[6]. Tsundere Childhood friends are usually female, right?"

"Who cares? Shut up."

"OK, OK. Does it hurt?"

She used some tissues to wipe some blood from my nose.

"It still throbbing with pain deep inside my nose."

"Well, should I show you my panties? Maybe you’ll feel better?"

My nosebleed erupted again. Aren’t you making me worse?

"W-W-Who would want to see your p-p-p-panties?!"

"Hmph, don’t be so grudging. It doesn’t matter."

Hateful person, you dare to mock me!

I looked around and saw the aluminum rod rolling on the ground.

The person who originally threw this pipe, was it really her—?

I already couldn’t see the silhouette of that person anymore.

"Oh, Ei-kun."

"What?"

"Earlier when you stated loudly filled with anger, right? You said, "She[7] is watching"!"

Guhuh?!

"D-D-Did I-I-I say s-something like that? I don’t remember."

"Yes, you definitely said it. ~~My ears heard it very clearly~~."

This tone of voice was really annoying to the max[8].

Chiwa looked all around on one side, then everywhere nearby, and said:

"Natsukawa didn’t come today?"

"Aah? Um, I think... she didn’t come."

When I finished saying this, Chiwa’s eyes immediately sparkled with brilliant joy.

"Then... when you said, "hergirlfriend, that was me?"

This time my nosebleed really sprayed.

"H-H-H-H-How is that even possiblllle…?"

My blood continued to flow, and my consciously gradually blurred…

"Hey! –Ei-kun, Ei-kun! Stay awake! Wake up a little!"

Chiwa’s voice seemed to grow distant. It really… was a relaxing ending.