Chapter 40: I Really… Can’t Compete With Them
After exchanging a brief talk with Majima, whom they had run into by chance at the shopping mall, both Sado and Sakurada saw him off.
They had only chatted briefly, and the conversation ended quickly.
Since they were on a date, they could sort of guess that he was probably being considerate.
“Didn’t he seem kinda down? Majima, I mean.”
“…Yeah, he did.”
Sado watched the direction Majima had walked off to and thought to himself.
The time I dated Fuyunagi-san wasn’t all that long, but now I understand that being with her isn’t something just anyone can handle.
But ever since she publicly declared she was dating Majima, it’s clear that the former image of her as an earnest, universally kind, ideal girlfriend figure has peeled away, and she’s living as her true self.
If I were still dating her now, would I really have been able to maintain a good relationship with her?
The answer is no.
First of all, the fundamental issue is that she didn’t like me to begin with.
I still don’t know what kind of person she prefers, but at the very least, Majima must have been far more appealing to her than I ever was.
I don’t have any lingering attachment anymore, and the ordinary but precious daily life I have now with Nagisa-chan feels irreplaceable to me. So I don’t have any desire to go back to those days.
But regardless of that, I can’t help being curious about what will happen between those two—and apparently, Nagisa-chan feels the same way.
“Her mother being like a powered-up version of Shizuku sounds pretty rough for Majima…”
“Eh? Ah… yeah, true.”
“Do you think those two will break up?”
“Eh? …I wonder…”
“I don’t think they will~”
“Uh… why do you think so?”
“Because it’s Shizuku, you know? Even if her parents told her, ‘You’re going to date Kuzuryuu-kun!’ there’s no way she’d just go, ‘Okay!’ and listen.”
“…Haha, yeah, that’s true.”
As expected of her friend, she really understands her.
Nagisa probably understands her far better than someone like me ever could…
“Kengo… are you still hung up on Shizuku…?”
“Eh…? N-No! Of course not! I—!”
“You don’t have to force yourself, you know… it’s completely obvious you still are.”
“That’s not… I’m—”
“I don’t know when it’ll happen, but someday I’ll make sure to drive Shizuku completely out of your heart so you’ll become my Kengo.”
“Nagisa-chan…”
“And also, it’s not like I hate Shizuku or anything, so don’t get the wrong idea, okay? I still think of her as an important friend.”
“I see… Honestly, I thought you two weren’t that close…”
“I think… that girl probably helped me.”
“Eh…?”
“Back when I was being bullied…”
“…!”
“Katou-kun gathered all the evidence and exposed Miyo and the others for me, right?”
“Yeah… that was incredible. I could never have done something like that… Katou’s amazing… I really respect him.”
“…That was probably Shizuku’s idea.”
“…What!?”
Katou standing up on the podium and exposing everything… that was Fuyunagi-san’s idea…?
“I don’t know Katou-kun all that well, but there’s no way a normal person could pull out evidence so smoothly like that. He was way too prepared! And besides, the way he did it was exactly like Shizuku. That girl… when she hates someone, she’ll take her time and corner them thoroughly, and when she decides to act, she’s absolutely ruthless. You know? Back when she was still the class favorite, the girls actually hated her to death.”
“Eh…? Ah… really…?”
Honestly, I had no idea.
She was always surrounded by people, always smiling…
Both the boys and the girls smiled when they were around her.
I thought creating that kind of atmosphere was part of her charm…
But she was actually hated back then…?
“That’s why Shizuku usually keeps a hold on most of the girls’ weaknesses, just in case. She probably also gathered evidence against Miyo and the others—Shizuku likely prepared it and handed it over to Katou-kun.”
“Then… why go through Katou? Why not just say it directly herself?”
“That’s why Shizuku usually keeps a hold on most of the girls’ weaknesses, just in case. The evidence against Miyo and the others was probably the same—Shizuku likely prepared it and handed it over to Kato-kun.”
“Then… why go through Katou? Why not just say it directly herself?”
“She can’t… doing something like that… With her current position in the class, if she did that, she’d stand out in a bad way.”
“…”
“The most important thing to her right now is the time she spends with Majima. If she was going to help me, she wouldn’t want to draw attention to herself… That’s why I think she used Katou-kun.”
“…Haha… she’s amazing…”
“…Huh?”
Really…
She’s incredible.
Truly incredible.
Thinking they might hate each other… that was just me reading too much into things.
She… they understand each other.
Nagisa-chan, her friend, understands her far better than someone like me ever did as her ex.
These days, they hardly even talk to each other anymore.
They grew distant, their bond hollowing out, thinning away…
So I thought their friendship had faded as well.
But… if anything… if anything, they understand each other more now than before.
Really…
“…I can’t compete with that…”
I can’t compete with them.
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. A stunningly beautiful woman whose refined looks make it obvious where Shizuku inherited her charm. Beneath that elegance, however, lies a strict and controlling parent with deeply traditional values. Reiko is determined to restore the Fuyunagi family’s former prestige, and she sees arranging Shizuku’s marriage as a necessary step toward reclaiming their past 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.