Does This Love Suit Your Taste? - Volume 1 Chapter 8.5

Riz au Lait 5

“It’s been so hard… Seeing Rira and Kiminami together, it felt like my heart was going to tear apart. I was afraid that Rira might be taken away, that Rira might go far away… But now you come back. I don’t want to let go of you anymore, Rira. Stay by my side, Rira. I want you to be with me.”

“I told you, I’m sorry but I can’t accept it…”

“What, why…?”

“Because I don’t like you, Kazama-kun…”

“No, you don’t understand… as long as you come to like me in the future, I’m saying it’s okay if you don’t like me now. If you’re with me, I’ll make you happy. I won’t make you suffer like that guy did. So why… why don’t you go out with me?”

“No, I’m scared… What are you talking about…?”

(I can’t find the right words to say. I was too overwhelmed by fear to pretend anymore. What was the point of this argument anyway? It’s like saying it’s okay to be in debt as much as you want because there’s a chance you might win the lottery in the future. I don’t like you now, so I don’t want to date you—it’s that simple. Yet here you are, twisting it with roundabout theories and justifications.)

“It’s not scary. Rira, you just don’t understand. You don’t realize how much I think about you. Being with me will be good for you too…”

“I don’t know what you are talking about…”

“That’s okay. I’ll show you how strong my feelings are from now on.”

Again, Kazama tries to take Rira’s lips.

“Wait a minute…!”

“I like everything about you. You’re cute and beautiful, everyone’s admiration, good at sports and studies, kind, always smiling, never hurting anyone. Such a wonderful woman…”

Kazama’s face slowly approaches Rira’s.

“No…!”

“What…”

Despite having exchanged kisses over and over again with Toui, whom she didn’t even like—She couldn’t bring herself to let go of these lips.

Kazama’s demeanor changed, and he grips Rira’s hand more tightly.

“Why? Why don’t you understand? After everything I’ve said…”

Rira struggles to break free from the restraint, but in front of the strength of a man, the situation doesn’t change at all. Only now does she realize that Toui has always been tolerating her attitude.

“Time and time again, that guy stole your lips…! Damn it! If I don’t overwrite it now, Rira will remain tainted!”

“No way… Why did you… know that…”

Kazama narrowed his eyes, his gaze fixed on Rira’s eyes was oozing with obsession.

“I know everything, okay? I know what the two of you have been doing here.”

“No way…”

Then Kazama recited all his wrongdoings as if it were good deeds.

“——All of it was for Rira’s sake. I locked you in the gym storage to find out your secret with him. I followed you after your date to protect you from him. I spread rumors to make Rira come to her senses. I reported the duel to the teacher to get Kiminami in trouble.”

Rira is shocked by the revelation.

“What… It was you, Kazama-kun…? All of it…? I thought you were a good person…”

“Sigh… You still don’t understand, huh. If that’s the case, I have no choice but to make you understand by force.”

Kazama stares at Rira vacantly with a psycho-like aura, as if he has lost part of what makes him human.

“Hey Rira, is it okay if I tell everyone that you’ve been kissing that problem child every day?”

“No, you can’t…”

If that relationship were to be exposed to everyone as it was, surely both Toui and herself would lose their place at this school.

It would also interfere with her job, and not only would it be a disadvantage to herself, but it would also cause trouble for the agency and everyone involved.

“So, what are you going to do?”

Ah, she was now tormented by a sense of guilt that was too late to do anything about.

This kind of thing was what she had been doing to Toui.

Breaking an unbreakable core, taking advantage of a weakness to forcefully bend it. Treating people as if they were a possession.

It’s like a reflection of her own disgrace.

“I understand… I’ll do what you say… Please don’t say anything…”

Kazama’s mouth corners rise slowly into a sly grin.

An unpleasant face draws near her, and like a revolving lantern, thoughts of him vividly come to her mind.

The last emotion that surfaced in Rira’s heart was a desperate wish to see him.

And thus, a single tear fell from Rira’s empty eyes as Rira’s heart was killed.

Just a few centimeters before Kazama’s lips reached Rira’s.

That was when it happened.

Rattle- rattle-

“Hmm, what… it won’t open… that’s weird…”

A voice came from outside. For some reason, it was a voice that seemed to fill the depths of her heart.

This voice——

“…Shirahime? You there?”

Hearing that voice—the real me—the one I’ve been pretending not to see, the one I’ve been suppressing with a mask, the one that I’ve been deceiving with another self, the one that I’ve been hiding somehow——

——Now, my real self is trying to break out of its shell from the depths of my heart. It longs to be freed from self-control and live as ‘she’ wishes.

“——Toui-kun…!”

“Damn it… be quiet…”

“No! I don’t want to! Toui-kun! Help me! Toui-kun!”

Rira resists with all the remaining strength, desperately calling out his name.

“Shirahime? Hey! Are you okay? Damn, this door… Shirahime!”

Toui-kun…

『It’s up to the person themselves about what kind of hairstyle they want to have.』

…Toui-kun.

『I don’t mind sticking with you if you want to. Sure, you can be annoying sometimes… but still, we’re both victims in the grand scheme of things.』

——Toui-kun.

『…If you don’t like it, you should just say so』

Toui-kun——

『The feeling of liking someone, the desire to do something—all of it, every bit of it, belongs to Shirahime alone—』

Rira’s struggling toes hit Kazama’s stomach.

Now is her only chance. Believing that her call will surely reach the one who was always by her side and always pushed her forward, she screams his name with all her might.