Volume 3 - CH 13

I still see it in my dreams.

Yuu-kun, who always had a smile like a sun and warmed my heart, was turning into a man of despair.

Witnessing Yuu-kun’s suffering that day, I hated Hazuki-chan and Kouki-kun with a passion. It was so selfish of them to betray the person they loved so cruelly and only try to make themselves happy.

I wanted those two to suffer as much, if not more than Yuu-kun did.

However, what should I do?

For example, do I send the recorded video of their infidelity to their parents?

No, I could not do that. If I did that, I might get into a mess with all three families. If we did that, there would be no day when Yuu-kun’s mind would be at rest.

Then, should I expose what Hazuki-chan did at school?

Hazuki-chan would feel ashamed of herself, and Yuu-kun would be pitied, but more than that, he would be exposed to curiosity and eventually treated like a tumor. As a man who took revenge on a woman who cheated on him. Even if he didn’t have a direct hand in it, there’s a good chance he’ll be thought that way.

Another way to do it would be to hire a bad guy to kidnap those two.

I thought about doing some cartoonish things, but I was just an ordinary high school student. There was no way I could do such a thing.

In the first place, I don’t want Yuu-kun to take revenge.

It might make him feel good for the moment, but a year or 10 years from now, he might not. But, a year from now, 10 years from now, and at the time of his death, will Yuu-kun ever regret having taken revenge?

Yuu-kun will probably regret it.

Even if I took revenge on his behalf, he will regret that he let me do it.

And that regret will remain a stain on his heart for a long time.

If he feels I took revenge to humiliate him, I don’t think he will be happy. Therefore, I decided to support Yuu-kun thoroughly and make him become more positive and happier than anyone else.

It was simple, but I thought that if the person who had caused him misery became happier than anyone else, that would be revenge, too. In extreme terms, I don’t have to be the one who makes Yuu-kun happy. But, I wanted to be the one who made Yuu-kun the happiest person, but that’s because Yuu-kun’s feelings are my top priority.

———

Yuu-kun and I witnessed Hazuki-chan confessing that she was carrying Kouki-kun’s child. Kouki-kun had said to Hazuki-chan that she should abort the baby, but I couldn’t forgive her for aborting his baby.

There was no way I could forgive her for betraying Yuu-kun in such a terrible way, for selfishly killing the baby she had given him, for becoming a university student herself, for playing and being young, for getting married, getting pregnant again, giving birth, and living a happy life.

When I learned that Hazuki-chan was pregnant, I came up with a plan of revenge.

To achieve this, Hazuki-chan and Kouki-kun had to get married and have a baby.

I want Hazuki-chan and Kouki-kun to suffer the same pain as Yuu-kun.

This thought has never faded from my mind since that day.

———

I decided what my course of action would be from now on.

The most important thing was to make Yuu-kun happy.

This was my first and foremost priority, and I decided to keep everything else to the point where if it worked out, it would be a windfall.

If I put revenge first and put Yuu-kun second, and if I hurt him as a result, it would be too much of a disaster.

In order to achieve my goal of making Yuu-kun happy, my first goal was to get into the same university as him.

So I studied hard anyway. Yuu-kun probably won’t fail unless he has the flu or some other reason.

I also had no time to spare, although my academic ability was better than before because Yuu-kun and his friends were teaching me what I didn’t understand.

So I continued to study at home until late at night every day after the study sessions with Yuu-kun were over. Thanks to his efforts, I was able to enter the same university as Yuu-kun.

When I took the entrance exam for high school, I did my best out of fear that Yuu-kun would forget me if I left him, but this time I did my best because I wanted to be next to him all the time. Yuu-kun was at the center of my reasons, but my mindset was completely different and I was able to stay positive about the entrance exam.

I could stay with Yuu-kun for the next four years. And we were together as lovers. I was more than happy about that.

———

My best friends Kozue-chan and Satoru-kun had also been accepted to college, so I slowly started a plan.

That plan was to show Kouki-kun that the four of us were having a good time or having a lovey-dovey date with Yuu-kun every once in a while. That was it. That’s all.

According to the story, after graduating from high school, Kouki-kun is going to work for a transportation company through his father’s recommendation. So, I arranged our meeting time to coincide with the time he would finish work and used all kinds of tricks to show him that we were the real deal. How’s that? Aren’t you jealous?

But there were times when Yuuri, Hazuki-chan, and the others seemed to find out. [TLN: Yes, idk why but Kanade changed to calling him Yuuri instead of Yuu-kun here.]

I think it was the day we were discussing what to do with the apartment we were all going to live in. I was a little far away, but I saw a figure that I thought might be Hazuki-chan, so I just stared at her. Yuuri, who thought I was acting strangely, called out to me, and I quickly tried to cover up my mistake.

I felt bad that I had made such an ordinary mistake and secretly vowed not to make such a mistake in the future.

As we continued to do this frequently, around the end of the summer vacation of our junior year of college, I heard that Kouki-kun had an affair and subsequently divorced Hazuki-chan.

And after the divorce, Hazuki-chan apparently returned to her parents’ house.

———

Kouki-kun did exactly what I thought he would do.

In the first place, Kouki-kun apparently wanted to go on to college if Hazuki-chan had never gotten pregnant. And he wanted to enjoy his life until he became a member of society, having lots of fun that he could not have had in high school.

When he heard that Hazuki-chan was pregnant, he probably didn’t want to ruin her hopeful college life and told her to have an abortion without thinking straight. That is the kind of person Kouki-kun is. Moreover, he is the kind of scumbag who takes pleasure in stealing other people’s girlfriends, so I knew that if he saw us enjoying our college life over and over again, he would compare it to his current situation, get stressed out, and commit another act of infidelity.

Well, if I were, to be honest, the most ideal pattern would have been for Kouki-kun to commit infidelity and divorce, but even if this failed, it would not have mattered to me at all.

My main goal was to make Yuu-kun happy, and taking revenge on those two was just an afterthought.

Recently, I’ve been living with Yuu-kun, so I know what he’s going through, and I think he’s recovered completely from the shock.

I still think that forgiving Hazuki-chan was a big part of it.

So revenge against the two of them is completely just my ego.

I thought that they should taste the pain that they inflicted on Yuu-kun.

So it was the best outcome for me that Kouki-kun cheated on her and the two divorced.

Hazuki-chan would have known the pain of Yuu-kun’s betrayal by the person he loved.

And Kouki-kun would have known Hazuki-chan’s feelings about losing the person he loved.

After the divorce, Kouki-kun is a mystery, but, well, he will probably not have a good life.

At any rate, as for Hazuki-chan, I think she now understands, even if only a little, how Yuu-kun felt when he hurt her with his selfish behavior. And when she learned of her sinfulness, she must have been shocked to realize that the person she hurt had already stood up and looked forward and that she will have to carry the karma she created for the rest of her life without being able to apologize or atone for it.

Even if she regrets now knowing the depth of the hurt she inflicted on Yuu-kun, it is already too late for anything else, Hazuki-chan.

———

Yuu-kun was happily living his college life, never knowing the fact that I had encouraged Kouki-kun to have an affair with someone else.

His smile was like the sun was completely restored, and he continues to shine his light on me.

In the summer of his third year of college, Yuu-kun joined a newly established start-up as an intern. The president of the company was Yuu-kun’s senior, and although he was still young, he was a very talented person. Yuu-kun was invited to work as an intern by the company president, so he must have been amazing.

I also took on various challenges so that I would not lose to Yuu-kun.

I don’t know if it was a result of that or not, but I got a job offer from a major Japanese cosmetics company.

It seems that Yuu-kun is going to work at the start-up company where he interned.

“I’d like to get a job at the company where I’ m currently working as an intern. But if I think about it, I think it would be more stable to get a job at another major company where I have already received a job offer.”

Yuu-kun asked me for advice with an anxious look on his face.

I think he has been thinking about his future career path for a long time.

I had been shown the way by Yuu-kun so many times before, so now I wanted to give him a solid push.

“I think you should choose a company where you can do what you really want to do. Lifetime employment is not realistic nowadays, and you should go to a company that you can enjoy. Yuu-kun is a kind person, and I know you think about a lot of things, but no one will get mad at you if you let your ego out once in a while.”

But Yuu-kun still seemed anxious.

“But there is the risk of bankruptcy, and I don’t know if I will be able to find a job again, you know?”

“I think that’s fine. I’m sure Yuu-kun can bounce back from any kind of adversity. I’m sure of it because I say so. Because I know how great you are, probably better than you do. So, have confidence in the path you have chosen. I’ll do my best too.”

Yuu-kun hugged me and said, “Thank you. I’m really happy to be with Kanade.” I don’t know what he was talking about. I wanted to tell Yuu-kun all those lines.

———

After graduating from university, Yuu-kun joined a startup where he had been working as an intern as a full-time employee. From then on, Yuu-kun’s performance was tremendous. He was highly regarded by many people, both inside and outside the company.

The company continued to grow steadily, and finally, he bought out the company and became the chief manager of the listed company. To put it bluntly, he is too awesome…

As for me, I work in the public relations department of a cosmetics company, mainly in marketing. It was one of my current dreams to one day be in charge of TV commercials.

We both have busy days, but we enjoy a little bit of dinner at home every day, and on weekends, we go out on dates as much as possible. In other words, Yuu-kun and I are as much in love as ever.

———

One day I was invited by Yuu-kun to an expensive-looking French restaurant. The restaurant was on the top floor of a luxury hotel, and the view from there was wonderful.

While I was admiring the night view, Yuu-kun said, “I have something important to tell you.” I thought he was going to start a business by any chance, but apparently not.

I didn’t understand what Yuu-kun was talking about, and as I stood there blankly, Yuu-kun pulled out a small box from his bag and held it out in front of me with a wry smile on his face.

This is… No way?

I opened the box with Yuu-kun’s approval and found a beautiful ring with shining diamonds inside. At that moment, my eyes went blurry and I couldn’t keep my eyes fixed on the beautiful ring.

Then, Yuu-kun proposed to me.

But I knew I couldn’t accept Yuu-kun’s proposal with such a swollen, disheveled face, so I wiped my tears with a handkerchief and took a deep breath.

“Please let me stay next to you forever. I will love you forever and ever and ever.”

When I said that, he looked relieved and then gave me his usual sunny smile again.

I love you, Yuu-kun. I love you, Yuu-kun.

I was so overcome with emotion that I let out another big tear.

He held my shoulder and gently stroked my head.

———

Two years have passed since Yuuri and I got married.

I decided to change my nickname from “Yuu-kun” to “Yuuri” when we got married.

Because it seems more intimate, doesn’t it?

And in my arms, I am holding a cute three-month-old baby girl.

Her name is Tsumugi.

When Yuuri explained to me that her name was inspired by the wish to weave connections between people and make them happy, I thought it was really wonderful, so I didn’t object.

One day I invited Yuuri to have dinner at a local Italian restaurant for the first time in a while.

I used to go to this restaurant often when I was a university student, but I rarely go there these days, so Yuuri happily agreed to go.

On the day of the meeting, we were a little late for the meeting place, and Yuuri was handing a bag to a girl. He probably picked up something she had dropped.

When I called out, “Yuuri,” he turned to me and ran up to me. I asked him about it, and he told me that he had picked up something she had dropped.

Yuuri is still so kind even as an adult.

As we were walking to the Italian restaurant, Yuuri suddenly looked at me and opened his mouth.

“Kanade. Thank you so much for saving me that time. I love you.”

That’s not true.

I wanted to say thank you to Yuuri more than him.

“Thank you for loving me. I love you too.”

———

We had a memorable Italian meal and then came back home, making a short stop at my parents’ house.

Yuuri is taking a bath with Tsumugi.

I opened RINE and sent a message.

“Thanks again for the info today.”

As soon as I sent the RINE, it was read and a reply came back.

“Good work. It’s no problem.”

“You originally ended your revenge when Kouki-kun and Hazuki-chan divorced, but I really appreciate you sticking with me this far. Thank you, Sayuki-chan.”

———

How was I able to find out information about Kouki-kun and Hazuki-chan until now? It was because I had an inside informant, Sayuki-chan.

Actually, Sayuki-chan was dating Kouki-kun.

The reason I know this is because I witnessed Kouki-kun at our school festival, where he and Sayuki-chan were together for a little while.

I later heard about this from Sayuki-chan.

“You told me that you saw us at the festival, right? You were surprised that Kouki-kun would come to the festival, weren’t you?”

“I forced him to come. Instead, he made me check my shift several times, and since I was only there for about 15 minutes, now that I think about it, maybe he was trying to avoid Hazuki-chan.”

“Well, I would have avoided him. But still, you were only there for about 15 minutes.”

“Yes. I was an idiot at the time, so I was so happy and excited that he came to see me.”

However, shortly after the festival, Sayuki-chan was dumped by Kouki-kun.

Sayuki-chan didn’t even know that Kouki-kun and Hazuki-chan were dating, and she didn’t doubt that she was the one who was the lover. Well, it seems that Kouki-kun only thought of Sayuki-chan as a friend…

And then, at the time when those two were getting married, Sayuki-chan was dumped, and she was in a state of heartbreak when I approached her.

“Don’t you want to know the real reason why you were suddenly dumped by Kouki-kun?”

Sayuki-chan’s eyes widened and she was very surprised at my words.

“The real reason? That guy said he wants to break up with me because he doesn’t like me anymore. How did you know about Kouki-kun in the first place?”

”Actually, we’ve known each other since we were in elementary school. Besides me, Yuu-kun and Hazuki-chan too.”

“Eh? Hazuki-chan too?

“Yeah, I do. So what do you want to do? Do you want to know the real reason?”

Sayuki-chan was afraid to know the real reason, or maybe she was worried for a moment, but then, as if she had made up her mind, she said, “I want to know.”

“I see. Then I have one condition.”

“Condition?”

“I have a grudge against Kouki-kun, and I want to take a little revenge. I want to have Sayuki-chan help me with this revenge.”

I don’t want to commit criminal acts….

“I don’t want to do anything criminal. All you have to do is make friends with someone, find out what their schedule is, and tell me.”

“Is that someone a man?”

“No. It’s a woman. And she’s not a scary person, so it’s okay.”

Again, Sayuki-chan was troubled for a moment, but eventually, she said, “I understand,” and agreed to cooperate with my revenge.

However, I was afraid that if it was a verbal agreement, Sayuki-chan would betray me, so I drew up a simple contract and asked her to sign it. In order to reassure Sayuki-chan, I clearly stated that Sayuki-chan’s role was to ask for information and pass it on to me.

By the way, the way to make a contract was easy to get when I searched the Internet, so I thought the Internet was the best, huh?

“Then, can you tell me the real reason why I was dumped?”

We had the contract signed, and I told Sayuki-chan everything.

That Kouki-kun and Hazuki-chan were dating, that Hazuki-chan was going to have a child and get married, and also the reason why I wanted to take revenge.

And actually, I also told her that I want to take revenge on Hazuki-chan, who betrayed Yuuri more than Kouki-kun.

After hearing my explanation, Sayuki-chan seemed to be at a loss for words because of the sheer content.

She was surprised about the marriage and pregnancy, of course, but more than that, when she heard the reason why Hazuki-chan and Yuuri broke up, she was so shocked that she sat there.

“If that’s true, then I understand why Kanade-chan hates those two. And I also know whose information I should give you.”

“Yeah. That’s what this is about. It’s going to be hard on Sayuki-chan, but I want you to give me a lot of information about Hazuki-chan from now on. It doesn’t matter if it’s something trivial. Like where she’s going tomorrow, or her and Kouki-kun’s life as a couple.

“What are you going to do with that information, Kanade-chan?”

“I’m not going to do anything about it directly. I’m just going to show them our happy life. But I’m mainly showing it to Kouki-kun.”

Sayuki-chan didn’t seem to understand what I was saying, and she was at a loss as to what to say back, tilting her head.

“Kouki-kun, perhaps he’s sick. Otherwise, he wouldn’t target several women who have boyfriends, and he wouldn’t surround himself with several women at the same time. And then you have someone like that working a job he doesn’t want to do, putting up with his wife and kids, and working hard to have fun?”

“Yeah, that’s probably true…”

“I wonder what Kouki-kun, who feels good about stealing Hazuki-chan, would think if he saw Yuu-kun’s life of happiness? I think he would be extremely jealous and think that he is the only one who is being unreasonable. Even though he deserved it all.”

After hearing that much, Sayuki-chan seemed to have come to understand the revenge I wanted to take.

“So you’re saying that Kanade-chan is trying to use Yamagishi-kun to make Kouki-kun feel inferior so that he’ll cheat on her?”

“I think it would be great if that happened. If that happens, Hazuki-chan will know the pain of being betrayed by someone she loves, and at the same time, she will understand how terrible what she did was. However, if Kouki-kun really loved Hazuki-chan and the child, I don’t think he would cheat on her. In that case, I just need to show our happiness to Kouki-kun who is working hard.”

“I see. I’m relieved to hear that there is no criminal activity. Also, the fact that I, who was supposed to have broken up with him, am having tea and hanging out with Hazuki-chan, is also likely to be revenge for that guy.”

Thus, Sayuki-chan and I teamed up and made a contract to take revenge on those two. However, Sayuki-chan seemed to be angrier at Kouki-kun.

After that, Hazuki-chan voluntarily dropped out of high school to have a baby.

With that as a catalyst, two of the three people who had been close to Hazuki-chan seemed to naturally lose their relationship with her. People inevitably become estranged when their lives change, but it must have been sad for Hazuki-chan.

Hazuki-chan truly trusted Sayuki-chan, who was the only one left, and they had come to a point where they could talk about anything.

By the way, Sayuki-chan at that time was just an ordinary pretty girl, but she made a splendid debut at the university, didn’t she? Well, I don’t know how I feel. Maybe Sayuki-chan wanted to shake off the past, too.

I got frequent leaks of Hazuki-chan’s information, and as planned, I showed Kouki-kun how Yuuri and I were living our lives.

And then the time came. When I heard that Kouki-kun was coming home late recently, I thought he had finally cheated on her.

Since then, Sayuki-chan and I kept an eye on Kouki-kun as long as the timing was right. Then, Sayuki-chan took pictures of the scene of the affair. All I had to do was pretend that Sayuki-chan saw it by accident and send the photos and RINE to Hazuki-chan, and she would divorce him on her own.

———

“Don’t worry about that. What about now? Should I continue to give you information about Hazuki-chan?”

“Before that, I want to ask you, how was Hazuki-chan’s condition today after that?”

It seems that after Yuuri and Hazuki-chan met each other at a local station, Hazuki-chan crouched down on the spot and cried, leaking “Yuuri …… Yuuri ……”.

She was probably quite shocked that he saw her face at such close range and didn’t even realize it was her. But, Hazuki-chan, you must have had a hard time. She looked a lot older than us, so maybe that’s why Yuuri didn’t notice her.

I had Sayuki-chan lose something on purpose. If Yuuri would notice Hazuki-chan, or if he wouldn’t. To be honest, I was fine either way.

The relationship between me and Yuuri now was originally between her and Yuuri. But now I am next to Yuuri. Because you abandoned it with your own hands. The relationship that Hazuki-chan lost. I wanted to show it to her.

“I’m grateful to you for telling me. I’m done with revenge on my part. I’ll end my revenge now, too.”

“I see.”

“Thank you for everything. So, what are you going to do now, Sayuki-chan?”

“I will always remain a friend of Hazuki-chan’s. At first, I was going to leave Hazuki-chan after the revenge was over. Hazuki-chan has had a really hard time since she left the scum, and if I keep seeing her like that, I’m going to have sympathy for her. Besides, she probably wouldn’t make it without me.”

“I see. I see. I can no longer stand next to Hazuki-chan since we parted in the past, so I would be happy if you could support her from now on.”

“You don’t have to say that, we’ll be as happy as you are. We will be as happy as you are.”

“Yes, I’m looking forward to your report.”

I put my phone down on the table and looked up at the ceiling blankly, then quietly closed my eyes. I remembered so many things from my elementary school days to more recent times. The hatred that used to well up in the pit of my stomach was no longer there. I thought that I had finally been able to get rid of the lumps.

Then I remembered the last words I had said to Hazuki-chan when we parted ways, so I spoke them again.

“Goodbye, Hazuki-chan.”

TLN: This is the last chapter. Thank you to everyone who finished reading this series.