The Best Friend of the Person I Like is Secretly Approaching Me - Chapter 37

Chapter 37

I rush out of the karaoke room, chasing after Yosaki.

I feared she might have left the building, but I found her standing in front of the restroom at the end of the hallway around the corner.

I quickly move towards her.

“Yosaki…”

I approach her and call out to her.

Turning around at the sound of my voice, I see that her eyes are filled with tears.

“Se… Rento-kun. I’m sorry, you don’t have to worry about this.”

Yosaki pulls out a handkerchief and wipes her tears, muttering, ‘I don’t even understand it myself.’

While I’m curious about the reason for her tears, I decide it’s not the time to pry and choose instead to thank her for what she did earlier since she says she doesn’t know why either.

“Yosaki. Thank you for speaking up for me back there.”

“…it’s fine. It was for my sake too.”

“For your sake?”

“Yes…I, I like the words you say to me.”

“…what?”

I’m puzzled by her words, and to my confusion, Yosaki gives a soft laugh.

“Every time you confessed to me, you always told me about my good points. Some of them I was aware of, but most were aspects of myself that I didn’t even know. With every word you say to me. I started to feel that it was okay to be myself. That’s why I’ve started to like myself more…to you, I’m truly grateful.”

It’s true that whenever I confess, I always make sure to praise her.

It’s not purely because I want to make her happy or anything like that.

I wanted to show her that I noticed all her charms, hoping that my strong feelings for her would come across, even just a little.

It was all with an ulterior motive.

Yet despite that, she expresses gratitude for such actions.

I feel a bit embarrassed.

“To me, your confessions are special…If you were forced to say such things by others, I would feel as if what is special to me was being defiled. That’s why it was for my sake.”

—Special… special?

My confessions are special to Yosaki?

If that’s the case, then why didn’t she respond to my feelings?

I get it.

She said she sincerely receives the feelings of others, but responding to them is a different issue, as she had mentioned earlier.

Indeed, she had received my words, but she just didn’t have the feelings to reciprocate them——and that’s all there was to it.

But her words and tears right seem to contradict that thought. I can’t understand her.

My head hurts.

Her true intentions must be there, so I have to think about it.

“Hey Rento-kun, don’t you think it’s unfair that it’s only me that calls you by your name?”

“…uh?”

Lost in thought, I was caught off guard by Yosaki’s remark.

She slightly puffs her cheeks out in dissatisfaction.

It’s rare for Yosaki to show her emotions like this. I can’t help but think Yosaki is cute.

“It’s unfair, you say… But that’s the Christmas present I got from you, Yosaki, and I gave you a scarf in return.”

“I know that. But when we talk like this, I still feel it’s unfair.”

“Is that so?”

“That’s how it is. Fufu. So, hey Rento-kun, won’t you call me by my name?”

For a moment, the face of Saki-chan flickers in my mind.

I sense a devilish quality from Yosaki in front of me.

Since she’s the older sister of the little devil Saki-chan…does that make her a femme fatale?

The word femme fatale doesn’t seem to fit Yosaki though, who appears more like a saint.

Yesterday, I decided to start calling Hinata ‘Haru.’

Considering that, maybe her claim of that being unfair was true.

“…Misa.”

“…Sorry, it’s noisy around here. Can you call my name again?”

“Misa.”

“One more time, please.”

“Misa.”

“Once more.”

“Misa.”

“Fufu. What’s with you calling my name over and over, Rento-kun?”

“Hey, Misa.”

“It feels… somehow nice. It gives me thrills.”

Yosaki…no, Misa has turned into a bewitching woman.

My heart has been restless since a while ago.

With that being said…I like Misa Yosaki after all.

Her appearance, her personality, and now this new aspect I’ve discovered, everything seems charming to me.

I find myself caught in an inexplicable excitement. I can’t predict what I’m going to say next.

I want someone to stop me, yet I don’t want them to.

While struggling with this conflict, I heard loud footsteps approaching rapidly.

“Seko! You’re here!”

“…Oda? What’s the hurry?”

“I’m sorry… There was nothing I could do. My body just wouldn’t move. If it were you, Seko, you would have acted…”

“So what happened? Explain.”

“…Hinata has been taken away by that Senpai.”

“…What?”

I could feel my heart, which had been so noisy just before, suddenly cooling down.

After getting a brief explanation from Oda, we hurried back to the room we had been in before.

When we opened the door and entered, no one was singing as usual.

However, everyone had a bright expression on their face.

It was as if they were relieved that a nuisance had finally gone away. Hinata and Arahira-san were nowhere to be seen.

I entered the room and walked up to that guy.

“What’s the meaning of this, Kaita?”

When I spoke to the classmate who was taking a breather on the sofa, he just replied,

“What is it?”

“Why did Hinata and Senpai go back together?”

“They said they wanted to. I don’t know anything about it.”

“You… I thought this get-together was organized by you. Everyone thinks the same, right?”

I called out to the others, but they just looked down and didn’t even try to reply.

“I thought so too.”

“Me too!”

Only the two from our group raised their voices in agreement.

“I never said I planned it…Well, to be honest, as Arahira-san himself said, he was the one who planned this get-together. He did it to get closer to Hinata-san.”

“Hinata and him?”

“Yes. We were just helping him with that. Seko, you might not understand because you’re not in a sports club, but our club has a strict hierarchy. Especially Arahira-san, he’s ruthless with his juniors, and we can’t go against him.”

“So you’re saying you sold Hinata out to that Senpai!?”

“I didn’t do anything like that. In the end, Hinata-san left with Arahira-san of her own accord, right, everyone?”

At Kaita’s prompting, nearly all the classmates, including those not in the soccer club, nodded.

“See? I don’t deserve to be blamed for it.”

Sure, Hinata might have decided to go home with that Senpai.

But it’s clear that wasn’t what she really wanted.

She was trembling before, and I know the atmosphere that was in this room.

I know her kind nature. She was simply intimidated by the mood here.

Thinking they had an advantage, a classmate I don’t even remember the name of, apparently from the soccer club, stepped forward.

“First of all, why is Seko so angry? You like Yosaki-san, don’t you?”

“…What? What do you mean by that?”

“You care about Yosaki-san the most, right? That’s fine. Why are you getting so worked up over Hinata-san? After all, Hinata-san always goes to stop your confessions and butts in when you’re with Yosaki-san. She’s a nuisance to you——”

“Shut up! What do you know about me and her! Stop talking about your own delusions!”

Seeing the dumbfounded faces of my classmates, I realize there’s nothing more to talk about with them.

I take out my wallet from my bag, pull out a few bills at random, and hand them to Oda.

“Sorry, but I’m leaving the rest to you. If it’s not enough, bill me later.”

“Seko… Turn left when you leave the shop. They probably headed towards the station.”

“…Thank you!”

I thank Oda and briskly leave the karaoke room.

“Seko-kun…!”

I hear Misa’s voice from behind, but I don’t look back and just head outside the store.

Following Oda’s advice, I turned left.