Should I tell her about my relationship with Mayu-nee? I was conflicted until the end, and decided to explain it to her on the condition that she would keep it to herself.
There is a stalker involved, and I didn’t want to talk about it if I could… I wonder why. Maybe I didn’t want Izumi-san to think I had a girlfriend.
Of course, I don’t know if this is a romantic feeling. But I was sure that I had felt this way.
So I revealed the secret to her, knowing that I would regret it.
“Hmm…”
Izumi-san tilted her head when she learned of our relationship.
She seemed unconvinced.
I told her the truth, and if she suspects me now, I can’t proceed with the story.
“Ah, I’m not doubting you. It’s just that…”
“Just what?”
“…Perhaps Shota-san has bad luck with women.”
“Um… As someone whose age is the same with his time without a girlfriend, I can tell you it’s not that I have bad luck with women, it’s that I shouldn’t have any.”
“Whoa. That’s a sadder turnaround than I expected. So much so that I hesitated to spout at you.”
“So what’s my bad luck with women…?”
“…First of all, let me say that I am a friend of Shota-san’s.”
“Eh, yeah. Thank you.”
“Thats’s why, even at the risk of sounding rude, I’m going to give you my own guess. I have no malicious intent. As a friend, let me say this for Shota-san’s sake.”
“I’m sure Izumi-san doesn’t hurt people for no reason. So I’m okay with your guess. Please feel free to tell me.”
“Then I’ll take your word for it–Shota-san may not be very important to Takamine-san.”
Izumi-san told me with an unusually serious expression on her face.
I felt like I was being forced to face a reality that I had been turning away from.
Because–
—I recognize it too well.
“May I ask why?”
“Is it okay if I say it out loud and clear?”
“…Yes. Please say it clearly.”
“If I had been the victim of stalking, I wouldn’t have asked Shota-san to be my fake boyfriend.” (T/N: Damn, best girl right here!)
I see. I knew it…
I was disheartened to be confronted with a reality that I had been trying not to think about.
“You don’t seem too surprised. I guess that means you have an idea of what I’m talking about.”
“…Yeah, I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t.”
Because if you think about it from the opposite side, you can easily understand it.
For example, if I was a victim of stalking by a girl.
Whether or not I should ask Natsukawa-san, Mayu-nee, or even Izumi-san to pretend to be my girlfriend in order to get said stalker to give up on me, the only answer I could come up with was ‘no’.
Because if you think about what could happen next, there’s a possibility that the girl who plays the role of my girlfriend could be harmed.
There’s no guarantee at all that the stalker won’t turn the tables. In fact, I think it’s more likely.
In other words, in the extreme,
It could be said that Shota Komori was someone Mayu-nee was willing to put in danger in order to escape her stalker.
Of course, I don’t think Mayu-nee was thinking that straightforwardly.
But it’s also true that Izumi-san’s point can’t be debunked.
“To Shota-san, is a friend who bows down to you and says, ‘Lend me money’ a true friend?”
I see. That’s an easy analogy to understand.
That means they don’t consider me a friend when they ask me to ‘lend them money.’
“I’m telling you this because I’m your friend. Shota-san should stop seeing Takamine-san.”