“Well then…”

Yō was puzzled, but placed the hand that had been reaching for Kasumi on Marin’s head.

He carefully stroked the fluffy hair, and Marin looked as comfortable as a cat.

When Yō saw Marin’s expression, he couldn’t help but think it was cute.

Next to her, Kasumi was trembling slightly.

“Kasumi…?”

“I’ve been robbed…!”

“Hey, Kasumi, stop pulling!”

Yō’s hand was stroking Marin’s head, and Kasumi, once again, her cheeks puffed out, began to tug his clothes at it.

It seemed that she was trying to pull him towards her.

But since Yō was stronger, she couldn’t drag it away from Marin’s head.

“Mou~…!”

Kasumi’s cheeks puffed out as Yō continued to stroke Marin’s head, even though she wanted Yō to pet her.

Then she looked at Yō’s face as if to appeal to him. 

“Um… I’m sorry.”

As if she thought it wasn’t a terrible idea, Marin apologized to Kasumi.

However―

“Though you say that, you’re still getting patted on the head…!” 

Marin didn’t leave Yō’s hand and didn’t even stop him, which made Kasumi even angrier.

“Calm down, he promised to do it for you two originally.”

When Nagisa realized that Kasumi would get even angrier, she went behind Kasumi and gently held her hand.

She didn’t want to agitate her anymore and decided to quiet her down.

“But the timing of what she just said was just wrong…!”

“We were the ones who interfered with Marin-chan first.”

“But he was petting me…!”

“Calm down will you? Just wait for your turn. Hey, Yō-kun, you’re going to give Kasumi-chan a good petting after this, aren’t you?”

Nagisa asked, holding Kasumi’s hand and looking up into Yō’s face.

“Y-Yeah…”

Yō nervously nodded, unable to say that he wouldn’t do it under the current circumstances.

With that, Kasumi reluctantly gave up.

Yō’s heart ached a little when he saw Kasumi’s pouting face.

(Hmmm… I knew it wasn’t a good idea to be like this…)

Even though they had drifted apart once, Kasumi was still a very dear childhood friend to Yō.

It did not please him to hurt Kasumi.

But then again― he couldn’t just cut off Marin, who was being spoiled by him.

If spoiling her was helping her heal from her broken heart, then Yō had to accept Marin.

However, from Yō’s perspective, Marin was like a younger sister that wanted to be spoiled, and he didn’t think there were any romantic feelings involved there.

So, he thought that one day, she would leave him.

(Until that time comes, should I continue to pamper Akimi…?)

In the end, Yō decided not to interfere, but to remain calm.

After stroking Marin’s head, he stroked Kasumi’s head.

After that, Marin offered her head to him again, so he stroked her head again, and that was the end of it.

“―Hey, Yō-kun.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I apologize in advance. Sorry, really.”

“What are you even saying…”

“No, nothing. Sorry.”

Nagisa felt a little guilty, because Marin had become more aggressive than she had expected, and she was going to have to keep being indulgent with them before Yō got used to it and built up a tolerance.

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Translator’s Afterword: In the meantime while waiting for new updates for this series, I have finished translating the first volume of “How Could You Like Another Girl When You Already Have A Cute Fiancee Like Me?”. I hope you guys could give it a read sometime soon, thanks in advance!