CH 10

“Haa~…”

After returning to his room, Yō rolled over in bed and let out a big sigh, remembering what he had just done.

(I know, I’m a horrible person… That’s why I’m trying not to make the same mistake again… You too, don’t become like me…)

The only thing that comes to his mind is the expression on Kasumi’s face when she was talking to Yō earlier.

She wasn’t the kind of person who would make a face like that in the past.

She was still cool, but she was a kind girl who cared about others.

But now, a demon lives in her heart.

And it was undoubtedly Yō who had created it.

(It was natural for us to be together… It’s because I didn’t understand what that meant…)

He remembered the look on Kasumi’s face when she was always smiling next to him.

He didn’t know how she felt about being next to him, or why she was smiling.

一It was because he had taken it for granted that they were together.

Because of that― In the past, Yō had hurt her a lot.

He still hadn’t been able to break free from that curse.

(I thought that she had gotten over it after we became high school students… But as it turns out, she hadn’t…)

Yō thought about what he should do from now on.

If the current Kasumi was really happy, there was nothing wrong with it.

However, it seems that Kasumi is acting in a way that is different from her own happiness.

If he remembered, he had already seen signs of this during their first year.

But after the incident with Kasumi, Yō became afraid to get involved with other people, and turned a blind eye to it.

Especially since it was about Kasumi, Yō was even more stuck.

Because of that, the situation was now quite awkward.

In the beginning, he thought it would be over if he only dealt with Marin, but it seems that ending it like this would only be unfortunate for all four of them.

“―Meow~”

As he was thinking with his hand on his forehead, he heard a cute cry in his ear.

When he opened his eyes, he saw that his precious family cat was looking down at him.

“Nya-san~…”

“Meow~”

When Yō called out her name, Nya-san~ slithered over and rubbed her head against him.

This name was not given by Yō, but he liked to call her that.

Yō took Nya-san~ in his arms and started petting her head and body.

Nya-san~ is a bit of a strange cat, she doesn’t mind being held or petted at all.

Rather, she is a pampered cat who asks for it.

Yō couldn’t help but think that Nya-san~ was cute, and decided to let her soothe him for now in order to clear his thoughts.

◆

“―Hazakura-kun, are you here?”

The next day at lunchtime, the class was suddenly startled by a cute voice that came out of nowhere.

The students first looked at the owner of the voice, and then at Yō, who was about to head to the cafeteria.

The owner of the voice, who had been following their gaze, happily approached Yō.

“I’m glad to see you’re still here.”

It was Marin, who went out with him yesterday, said this with a lovely smile on her face.

“I hadn’t expected this behavior…”

In response to her appearance, Yō wanted to hold his head.

It’s not only that he hasn’t been able to answer yesterday’s question, but more importantly, he doesn’t want a high profile student like Marin visiting him.

In short, because it attracts attention.

“Ah, I’m sorry…”

This is the first time I’ve ever seen such a thing.

It is a grave sin in this school to make Marin, who is popular with both men and women, sad.

He thought it was a bad idea to leave her like this, so he decided to take her out and move her to a different location.

“‘―So, what’s the matter?”

He asked anxiously, that something might have happened to cause her to come all the way here, or more specifically, that Kasumi had done something to Marin.

Then Marin opened her mouth awkwardly.

“It was… uncomfortable, so I ran away to Hazakura-kun’s place…”

“Uncomfortable?”

“Well… everyone seems to have guessed from the fact that I stopped talking to Haru-kun and the way Nemoto-san treated Haru-kun… They are very comforting…”

“Oh, I see…”

It seems that everyone is trying to follow up on Marin’s loss in love because they are worried about her.

On the contrary, it was too painful for Marin, so she ran to Yō.

(It’s a natural flow, but the situation has become even more complicated…)

Probably by the end of this lunch break, the whole school will know that Kasumi and Haruki have started dating, and that Marin is now free.

This was ugly news for Yō, who wanted to do something about the current situation.

Above all, it would be troublesome in many ways if the number of boys approaching Marin increased drastically in the future.

“And why did you come to me, anyway? Doesn’t Akimi-san have any other friends who can help you with your feelings?”

“Ermm… I was hoping you could become my amulet to help me ward off evil…”

“…Seriously?”

An amulet to ward off evil― That’s what Marin calls it, but the point is that it’s supposed to ward off men.

“I know it’s selfish of me, but right now the only person I can rely on is you, Hazakura-kun…!”

“Perhaps, you’ve already been approached by some of them?”

“Ten people have asked me to meet with them after school.”

“I see…”

As expected of the school’s one of the two most beautiful girls.

As soon as they found out she was free, she already had ten confessions planned for her.

“Also, from now on, I’ll be hanging out with Hazakura-kun even on my days off, so I think it’s better to get used to it, even if just for a little bit…”

“So that’s the plan, right?”

“Yes, I’m sorry…”

“Well, you answered honestly, so it’s okay…”

With Marin bowing down honestly by his side, Yō thought about what to do.

The fact that she and I work together at school means that we will attract a lot of attention and it will be difficult to get back together.

However, there will be a lot of boys who want to get to know Marin if they don’t do anything about it― They can’t overlook that especially since it’s essential to take care of her emotional state.

Here’s what he focused on―

Yō glanced at Marin’s face.

She looked up at him with an expression like a small animal clinging to him.

It seems that she is more troubled than what she is saying.

So, naturally, he couldn’t ignore her.

(Sh*t, I’m doing a lot of things out of character…)

With that in mind, Yō opened his mouth.

“I understand, if it helps Akimi, you can use me as you wish.”

When Yō told her so, Marin smiled a big smile on her face.

“Thank you very much, Hazakura-kun…!”

Yō nodded his head in thanks to Marin, and then the two of them went to the cafeteria.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author’s Afterword:

Thanks for all of the support, I was able to reach number one for the day! (July 11, 2021)

I’m aiming to create an Adolescent-centered story that can be enjoyed by both men and women.

I hope you enjoy not only the romantic elements, but also the emotional changes of the characters, including the main character!

And although it hasn’t been published as a book, I hope you’ll also enjoy this other story I’m working on, which has over 10,000 bookmarks (*´▽*).

It’s a popular story about hanging out with a beautiful foreign transfer student! (In addition, a young girl with silver hair who wants to be spoiled!)

“After Coincidentally Saving the New Transfer Student’s Little Sister, We Gradually Grew Closer”

[TLN: He’s referring to this series. I want to take over this because the new translator’s quality is not really good but I’m a bit busy to approach them. Reading it made me lose hope in it. I’m not saying that my translations are perfect, but their quality feels like pasting it in google translate then posting it as is.]