Yandere? Menhera? Bring It On, If You're Confident That I'll love You For Who You Are - Chapter 55

Yuuna’s Secret, Mio’s Strategy

“Are you on a date with your boyfriend in such a place? Nice, it’s worth the wait for me too,” suddenly appeared a woman dressed in a flawless ladies’ suit, giving off an office lady vibe.

At first glance, her appearance might seem clean and tidy, but her creepy smile and the unusual atmosphere around her made some of the other customers in the store focus their attention on us.

Without caring about the stares from those customers, the woman bluntly asked,

“The repayment deadline has long passed, hasn’t it?”

“…”

With that single sentence, Shimazu Yuuna’s face turned pale with fear. Judging from the current words and situation…

“Going on a date with a high school boyfriend, huh? You must have found a really good job, right? Come on, hurry up and pay back. Including last month’s payment… 70,000 yen. You have to pay it all,”

Though the woman’s voice wasn’t loud, the amount mentioned caused a stir throughout the store.

“…”

Straightening her back, without uttering a single word, she looked like a small child standing before a strict teacher or parent, just trembling and rigid.

“…”

Amidst this, the woman clicked her tongue as if annoyed, showing her true colors.

“You… can’t pay back again? How many times has it been? And, you looked so happy. Cozying up to a child, saying it’s not you who borrowed so you’ll push the responsibility? Like mother, like daughter, huh?”

“Uhm…”

Shimazu Yuuna finally opened her mouth, but no further words followed.

She just trembled with an expression that said she had no idea what to say.

“Enough. Come with me. If you really can’t pay back, I’ll introduce you to a place where you can,”

Smirking, the woman reached out her hand towards Shimazu Yuuna.

The moment her hand was about to touch her shoulder…

“Hey,”

My single word made the woman’s hand, which was about to grab her shoulder, stop.

“70,000 yen is fine, right?”

“Eh?”

The one who reacted was Shimazu Yuuna.

I took out my wallet from my back pocket and, holding all the cash I had, thrust it towards the woman.

“There shouldn’t be any complaints with this, right? Then, please disappear. As you can see, we’re in the middle of an important date,”

“Ooh, rich boy, huh? But why cover for such a girl? Women are creatures of dependency. It’s fine to help, but you might just end up being used, you know?”

“Who knows. Well, let’s just say it’s a whim,”

With a thin smile, the woman left the store.

I looked around the store again. Perhaps because it was such an unusual scene, even if it was just for a short time, the customers’ gazes had completely turned our way.

“We’ve made it quite awkward here. Shall we go?”

Looking down, Shimazu Yuuna, who had become like a soulless shell, was forcefully pulled by me as we also left the store after paying.

Walking a bit, we stopped in a deserted alley.

At that moment, Shimazu Yuuna, who had been silent the whole time, finally spoke up.

“…I’m sorry.”

She seemed a bit calmer. However, she kept her gaze down, not trying to meet my eyes.

“That woman earlier, a debt collector?”

“!?”

Her reaction was too obvious. It seemed she still hadn’t sorted out her feelings.

If that was the case, she might need a little more time.

“Calm down, it’s okay. But, we can’t keep going like this. Give me your contact. If you’re going to be under my watch from now on, we should at least know each other’s contacts, right?”

“Yeah… that’s right.”

She took out her smartphone. I had thought for a moment whether she didn’t have one… but it seemed that wasn’t a worry.

We exchanged contacts without any issues.

“Alright, guess we’ll part ways for now. Contact me when you’re free. We can talk about the money then.”

Leaving those words behind, I started walking.

She didn’t hold me back.

Honestly, the situation was beyond what I had expected. Maybe even I hadn’t fully grasped it yet.

After the collapse of the Asagami Group, excluding Mio, she was supposed to be the most cautious person around her.

Just when I thought I had finally made contact with her, she showed no hostility towards me, and even ended up in a situation where I held a weakness over her.

“(Well, I never thought I’d come to trust her in this way)”

While self-mockingly smiling at my twisted way of thinking, I walked on.

Along the way, I couldn’t help but feel a complex emotion seeing her tremble with a face full of unbearable expressions… Well, it’s probably not just my imagination.

***

The scene shifts to a kitchen room in a certain apartment.

On its countertop were discarded cup noodle containers and convenience store bento boxes, with a bit of mold growing on them. With the sound of a door opening, an out-of-place beautiful girl — Amano Mio — returns home.

As soon as she enters, she notices the boy in the same uniform standing in front of her.

“Oh, did I arrive before you?”

“Calling me out and then welcoming me like this. How about doing some cleaning for a change?”

“That sounds like a good idea. I’ll consider it positively.”

The one waiting was a male student from the same school. Just by looking at this scene, they might seem like a couple.

However, for Mio… she had no such feelings at all.

This was the place where she had taken Minato Kurogane’s virginity when she was sheltering him. It was obvious from the state of the room that it hadn’t been cleaned in months.

On the kitchen countertop, there were finished dishes and plates, and even the cups and dishes that seemed to have been washed after use were left with more stains than before.

“Really, no charm as a woman at all. I feel sympathy for Kurogane Minato who lost his virginity in such a room.”

“Cough. More importantly, what about the principal?”

“Ah. With the way things are, he’s fully intent on pulling him in. Sneaking around is that old man’s specialty.”

“Hehe… that’s the same for us, isn’t it?”

With those words, Mio smiled.

It seems it was the right choice to ask this male student, the “principal’s real son,” to be a collaborator.

“But man, you’re really going for it, huh? If you don’t want him taken away that badly, why not just openly claim him? You’re not scared because you lost once, are you? Or maybe, you’re actually satisfied with the current distance?”

“I have no such intentions.”

Even against the male student’s provocation, Mio answered without faltering.

It was mostly as expected, but it seems his head wasn’t something to rely on.

“Well, as long as I get paid, I’m good with anything. But that rookie teacher, wasn’t she supposed to be a bodyguard in training? Sending such a woman to keep an eye on Kurogane Minato, really?”

“…Who knows? I can’t say for sure either.”

Though she maintained her composure in her words, Mio’s gaze sharpened. The male student’s opinion was probably correct.

Currently, Kurogane Minato was so powerful that even Akutsu, who had been active as a bodyguard for many years, or Asagami Kou, the head of the Asagami Group, would be defeated if they were to face him directly.

Even Mio, who had been picked up by the Asagami Group and underwent training akin to torture, was convinced that she wouldn’t stand a chance in a straight fight.

Sending a rookie bodyguard to watch over him would change nothing.

“I don’t get it. The rookie teacher would have every right to hold a grudge, and they barely know each other, right?”

“…Who knows. Considering it’s Kurogane-kun, there might already be… such a situation.”

“…”

Jokingly laughing, Mio’s eyes were filled with intense anger.

The male student realized. The cold smile Amano Mio showed was filled with anger, murderous intent, madness… and jealousy towards the woman allowed to stand beside him.

Feeling this, the male student hurriedly changed the subject.

“So, you’re starting to move from tomorrow?”

“…Yes. Regrettably, Kurogane-kun’s attention is likely on Shimazu-san and the principal for now. Kanzaki-kun, please continue investigating Shimazu-san. Just in case.”

“Ah… got it.”

After getting confirmation from the male student, Mio took out her smartphone.

Swiping through, she opened the photo folder.

Displayed there was a picture of him and another male student from a few days ago.

“(No matter how much I want to change my feelings, I can’t save him with my own power. That’s why I have to borrow the power of others. I understand that feeling very well. So this time, let me save you with your own hands?)”

Looking at the photo showing a serious scene far from their usual ones, Mio wore a chilling smile.

“(Hey, Saotome Yuuya-kun?)”