Volume 3 - CH 1

December, the 28th.

It was the end of the year,

Yuzuru and his two male friends, Soichiro Satake and Hijiri Ryozenji decided to hang out together.

And while having lunch at a random family restaurant.

Yuzuru suddenly announced to them, 

“I seriously fell in love with Arisa.”

Soichiro and Hijiri looked at each other.

Then…

“O, oh, …….”

“…… now you are saying that?”

Finally, you’ve realized you’re in love.

That was the expression on their faces.

But Yuzuru ignored them and started talking on his own.

“On Christmas Day, I realized… I didn’t want to give her to anyone else.”

“Hmm.”

“…What are you trying to tell us?”

“Arisa is my girl, so don’t try to touch her even by mistake, okay?”

In short, he drove the point into them.

Soichiro and Hijiri are both men with sufficiently good-looking faces, even from Yuzuru’s eyes as a man.

Of course, they are not the kind of people who would mess with someone’s “fiancée”…

They may think that Arisa is a beautiful woman to admire, but they wouldn’t want her to be their girlfriend.

But…

It seems that when people fall in love, even the most trivial things bother them and they get jealous.

Yuzuru couldn’t help but warn them.

“You don’t have to tell me… I’m busy taking care of Ayaka and Chiharu. Don’t worry.”

Soichiro said this with a calm expression.

‘I wonder if this guy will get stabbed to death ‘, Yuzuru and Hijiri thought.

“I’m not going to mess with my friend’s girl either, but… if I do, what will happen?”

Half-jokingly.　

Hijiri asked Yuzuru in a somewhat playful tone.

“I’ll never forgive you.”

“You’re scaring me!　Don’t say that in a low voice!”

Yuzuru meant it as a joke, but his voice came out lower than he expected.

After all, he couldn’t joke about it.

Once again, Yuzuru vowed that he would make sure that Arisa would be his.

“So, what are you going to do?　Are you going to ask… ‘Please go out with me’ or something? Even though you’re already engaged?”

“……Well, that would certainly be a weird thing to do.”

What confuses the relationship between Yuzuru and Arisa is the fact that she is his fiancée.

They are not just lovers, they are engaged to be married.

Of course, both of them were going to break it off in the future….or were supposed to.

The current Yuzuru does not want to break off the engagement, though.

“If you confess to Yukishiro now, it’s practically like asking her to marry you.”

Soichiro pointed out calmly.

The relationship between Yuzuru and Arisa as “fiancée” is established on the premise that they do not love each other.

But if that premise is broken, they will become just …. normal fiancées.

“…. Unless I’m mistaken, I think Arisa likes me.”

When Yuzuru said this, Soichiro and Hijiri nodded.

“Well, yeah.”

“From the outsider’s point of view, you guys are just an idiot couple.”

“No, we’re not… Well, whatever”

While Yuzuru regretted this, he could not move forward with his discussion by arguing about it.

So he just gave up and moved on with the conversation.

“But if I ask her to marry me …. or she asks me if I’ll marry her…”

“You guys are high school students”

“Well, that’s heavy.”

Arisa is a smart girl.

That is why Yuzuru fell in love with her… And because she is a smart girl, she will not act rashly.

“If I may advise you, the sooner the better.”

Suddenly, Soichiro began to say something like that.

It’s as if Soichiro himself has confessed his love to someone before and failed in the past.

“…… Hey, Soichiro.”

“No way…”

“…… Well, I told Ayaka. on Christmas.”

Soichiro said in a crisp tone.

The distance between Soichiro and Ayaka is very close.

They are childhood friends, but they are even closer than that… The two of them have maintained that relationship ever since they were children.

“So, how did it go?”

” ‘eh? But we’re already lovers.’ … is what she said”

” “…….” “

Soichiro and Ayaka were indeed lovers for a long time.

While Yuzuru and Hijiri have been making fun of it… Ayaka herself seems to have been aware of it.

… No, when you think back, her words and actions were clearly a recognition that she was Soichiro’s lover.

“When she put it that way, well, it made sense to me, too…”

“You didn’t notice?”

“Getting used to it is a scary thing.”

Yuzuru and Hijiri were dumbfounded…

But when they thought about it, that sense of distance had been the norm for both of them since they were born.

Because they had been lovers from the beginning, their awareness of being lovers must have been vague.

“And here’s the important part, okay?　Then Ayaka hit me.”

“…… Why?”

“You never got stabbed before, so why did she hit you all of a sudden?”

His confession came up empty, but that was because it had already paid off.

Why had Soichiro been beaten up by Ayaka when their romance was already fulfilled?

Yuzuru and Hijiri tilted their heads.

” ‘Did you really think I was the kind of woman who would do that to a man who wasn’t her lover?　You would do something like that to a woman who is not your girlfriend?　You’re the worst!　Idiot!　Scum!　Seducer!　Die!’ was what she told me while scolding”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

“Just die, man.”

“Shut up, I’ll kill you.”

When Yuzuru and Hijiri stirred him up, Soichiro started to get upset.

However…

If Soichiro’s story is correct, Soichiro and Ayaka are now in a state of quarrel and seclusion.

“So how are you going to die and apologize?”

“You want to commit seppuku like a samurai?　Shall I assist you?”

“I am not going to die… I got Chiharu to mediate for me, so I managed somehow. No need to worry about it.”

It seems that something has been done.

Yuzuru and Hijiri were relieved.

At least, they hope that their friend will be happy, even if he is a scumbag. Yes, even if he is a scumbag.

“Well, you know what? If you don’t want to end up like me, you’d better make sure you’ve made the right decision. If you keep dipping into lukewarm water just because it feels good, you’ll end up like a boiled frog.”

“…I’ll keep that in mind.”

Soichiro’s scumbag episode was more informative than expected.

… Though when thinking back on it calmly, it doesn’t seem like it’s already too late.

“By the way, Soichiro. What are you planning to do with Chiharu?”

“Eh? … Well, don’t worry. I can’t tell you the details yet …….but we’ll figure it out.”

“… Really?　Before you talk to Yuzuru about lessons learned, you should first make use of your experience, right?”

Yuzuru and Hijiri were very worried that Soichiro would be boiled to death in a pot.