Chapter 46: Ambush
Monday.
Most humans, from students to working adults, probably hate this day.
As for me, I also hate Mondays.
A holiday that allows citizens to celebrate freedom.
Sunday.
The next day inevitably brings melancholy or a sluggish feeling, which is unavoidable.
Such was the case on Sunday, the day before Monday.
It seems Fuyunagi-san’s family and Kuzuryuu’s held a dinner gathering that day.
Though called a “dinner gathering,” it apparently functioned more like an extended arranged marriage negotiation.
In other words, Kuzuryuu—who wanted to object to the public confession Fuyunagi-san made to me—decided to use his parents’ full authority to crush that confession and take action to make sure he could secure Fuyunagi-san for himself.
Forcing an engagement discussion at a high-class restaurant with both families present.
Honestly, at that point, nothing could be done.
Game over.
Fuyunagi-san became Kuzuryuu’s fiancée while I got dumped by her.
I braced myself for that inevitable future.
No, honestly, I had already accepted my fate…
The opponent is the heir of a major conglomerate.
He has the kind of brute-force capability where, if he throws money at it, he can pull off even the most outrageous schemes.
And on top of that, Fuyunagi-san’s mother turned out to be like that… so the outcome could only be described as the worst.
But looking only at the outcome, things didn’t turn out that way.
Before going to the dinner meeting, Fuyunagi-san told me.
“Leave it to me! I’ll put an end to this!”
And indeed, she did end it… apparently.
The next day after the dinner gathering was Monday.
At school, she said—
“All I have to do is make them understand that I’m not suitable for their precious son! If I make that perfectly clear on a big, public stage, there won’t be any problem at all! If I do say so myself, it’s a flawless plan!!”
“Eh… so you went to that fancy restaurant for this reason?”
“Yes! Exactly!”
“What about your mother?”
“She’s probably absolutely furious! I’m prepared for the possibility of being disowned, too!”
“Wha—!? That doesn’t sound good at all!”
“It’ll be fine! My father is paying my rent, so as long as I keep living alone like before, it’ll be okay!!”
That’s what she said.
Freed from everything she hated, Fuyunagi-san looked genuinely refreshed.
If there were ever a perfect example of someone looking like a weight had been lifted off their shoulders… it was her.
Meanwhile, Kuzuryuu—her would-be fiancé—still hadn’t shown up to school.
It wasn’t technically late since the warning bell hadn’t rung yet, but he only had a few minutes left.
I was a little worried he might skip school entirely from the shock, but then…
He showed up at the very last second before being marked late.
Normally he carried himself with calm composure, acting every bit the model honor student, but right now he was radiating a negative aura from head to toe.
“Good morning! Kuzuryuu-kun!”
“Good morning, Kuzuryuu-kun! What’s up? You’re cutting it sooo close!”
Some of the class’s cute, gyaru girls called out to him, but he ignored them completely and didn’t respond.
Even so, the gyaru girls kept trying until finally, it seemed they annoyed him enough…
“Tch, be quiet for a while, can’t you?”
He pushed them away.
The gyaru girls awkwardly distanced themselves from Kuzuryuu.
Kuzuryuu kept muttering something to himself under his breath, looking as irritable as ever.
Time passed, and just before lunch break, during a short rest period.
During the five-minute break after the third period, I headed to the restroom to relieve myself, which I’d been holding in throughout the entire class.
On the way there, I ended up getting stopped by Kuzuryuu.
“Hey, Majima.”
“…What?”
“Don’t ‘what’ me. You really ought to read the room, you know?”
So this is what you’d call an ambush…?
I got entangled with an annoying person.
Honestly, when someone tells me to read the room, I stubbornly want to remain clueless, but unfortunately, I can usually figure out the general gist.
“You should know without me saying it, right? Haa… fine, I guess I have no choice… I’ll spell it out so even a commoner like you can understand, alright? You’d better be grateful.”
“…What?”
“You, break up with Shizuku.”
“…”
Well… that was expected.
There’s no other reason he’d go out of his way to talk to someone like me.
Haa…
This is annoying.
Character Summary (non-official)
- Majima Takuma / Taku (真島 拓真 / タク) — Taku is an utterly average high school boy in both appearance and ability. His hair and uniform are always neat but unremarkable, giving him the classic “background character” characteristic.
- Fuyunagi Shizuku (冬柳 雫) — Fuyunagi Shizuku is a stunning black-haired high school beauty with a mature, graceful aura. Her long, silky hair, elegant posture, pure and innocent atmosphere, and impressive figure—including her large chest—give her an appearance so gentle and comforting that a tired working adult might instinctively want to cling to her and call her “Mama.” Her looks alone make her feel like a UR-rarity heroine. At school, she’s admired as a pure, wholesome, and almost ideal girl—popular among girls, constantly confessed to by boys, and always at the center of her class. In private, however, Shizuku reveals a selfish, bratty, and emotionally unstable side. She’s clingy, easily upset, mentally fragile, and relies heavily on her boyfriend for emotional support while demanding secrecy and setting controlling conditions in their relationship.
- Sakurada Nagisa (桜田 凪咲) — Sakurada Nagisa is a gyaru and one of the central members of Fuyunagi-san’s friend group. With light-brown hair, piercings, and perfectly applied bold eye makeup, she has a flashy style but is undeniably beautiful—cute enough to stand out even among the popular girls. Sado Kengo’s current girlfriend.
- Natsume Kano (夏芽 華乃) — The class president. A dignified, serious beauty whose pure appearance gives her a charm distinct from Fuyunagi-san. She prioritizes efficiency, logic, and rationality above all else, resulting in a rigid, no-nonsense personality that makes her unpopular with most classmates.
Sado Kengo (佐渡 健吾) — A high-spec soccer club member who once acted as Shizuku’s fake public boyfriend. He is now Sakurada Nagisa’s actual boyfriend.
- Katou Susumu (加藤 進) — The textbook “protagonist’s best friend” character. He’s a founding member of the self-proclaimed “Unpopular Men’s Club”. Although he’s extremely jealous of Takuma for landing a girlfriend like Fuyunagi—thus “betraying” the Unpopular Men’s Club (a group Takuma never actually agreed to join)—Kato remains loyal to him despite both his jealousy and the negative public opinion surrounding Takuma.
- Fuyunagi Reiko (冬柳 澪子) — Fuyunagi Shizuku’s mother. She is, in every sense, the woman Shizuku was shaped from—from their breathtaking beauty to the way they view men and even their underlying desires all mirror one another. Beneath that elegant, doll-like exterior lies a strict and controlling parent fixated on restoring the Fuyunagi family’s former prestige. Unlike Shizuku—who directs her warped affection toward someone she genuinely chose—Reiko tries to force her ambitions onto her daughter, believing that arranging Shizuku’s marriage is the key to reclaiming the family’s lost glory.
- Fuyunagi Kanemasa (冬柳 兼政) — Fuyunagi Shizuku’s father. A highly capable and successful man who even took the Fuyunagi family name in order to marry Reiko. Despite the family’s rigid traditions, Kanemasa is the one person who genuinely supports Shizuku, encouraging her to live freely and choose her own path—including whom she loves. The only reason Shizuku’s mother and grandfather don’t openly oppose his stance is because his success and value to the family make him too important to antagonize.
- Kuzuryuu Shiori (久豆流 詩織) — Souma’s younger sister—a beautiful, sharp-tongued genius with strikingly foreign features. Despite her Japanese-sounding name, she is a natural blonde with radiant golden hair, inherited from their great-grandmother, and possesses elegant looks that stand out strongly against Souma’s more traditionally Japanese appearance. Cold, dismissive, and brutally honest toward her brother, she seems to harbor open disdain for him, even though she once adored him as a child. Academically, she is a prodigy who skipped grades at fifteen, now attending university with multiple acclaimed research papers to her name. Her intelligence creates a stark contrast to Souma, fueling his inferiority complex and twisted sister-obsessed longing.
- Kuzuryuu Souma (久豆流 創真) — Fuyunagi Shizuku’s arranged marriage partner.