Chapter 49: Conflict, Hesitation, and Suffering
The only incident today was being approached by Kuzuryuu Souma; otherwise, it was a peaceful day without any major events.
I no longer feel his gaze lingering on me. If he’s finally learned his lesson, I hope he’ll stop bothering us from now on.
After school ended, we left the school together and headed home.
Surprisingly, the group of people who used to complain about me and Fuyunagi-san dating have completely disappeared by now.
Unbalanced.
Incompatible.
An odd couple.
I know people say things like that about us, but honestly, it’s too late to care now.
Right now, she shows me affection, and I… I somehow find myself liking her despite everything.
If asked bluntly whether I genuinely have romantic feelings for her, I can’t claim with certainty that I do. There’s no proof either way.
I have no confidence in being able to have the kind of cheesy, youthful romance you see in manga, anime, or novels. And if I were pressed about whether I’m only dating her because I like her face and figure, I wouldn’t be able to deny it.
I’m a guy too—so of course I’m drawn to Fuyunagi-san’s beauty, which anyone would acknowledge, and it’s only natural that she stirs up my desires from time to time.
Her long, lustrous black hair, the large chest that surpasses typical high school girls’ proportions, her slender waist, and toned legs—all of it tempts me instinctively.
If I ever laid hands on her, I’d probably… no, definitely become just like those other lustful monkeys.
I don’t even know if what I feel counts as genuine `romantic emotions, yet the thought of disappointing her or being dumped by her terrifies me.
I don’t want to be thrown away.
Which probably means… that I really do want to continue being in a relationship with her.
And that’s why I’m still pretending to be the kind of guy she would like.
Trying to keep that up is far more painful and far more agonizing than I ever imagined…
In the end, I guess the very fact that I’m clinging this hard to the position of being Fuyunagi-san’s boyfriend means I must like her that much too.
“What shall we do today?”
“Huh? …Right. Maybe we could walk around town together for once—like a normal date?”
“That sounds nice… If we hold hands and look at the scenery together, it might feel a little less dull.”
We continued walking while talking.
Neither of us had any particular destination in mind.
Just holding hands and wandering aimlessly.
No real purpose—just walking.
It’s gotten much colder lately, and human warmth feels precious now.
Fuyunagi-san’s hand is cold.
A slender, delicate, and graceful hand.
I felt a sense of superiority just from being able to hold the hand of a woman whose beauty anyone would acknowledge.
A trivial moment with no meaning at all.
Just walking together for no reason.
The wind blew through and caressed her hair.
Once again, I am reminded how beautiful she really is.
Her mature, composed appearance full of grace.
But I shouldn’t be clinging to her.
She strongly dislikes the shadow of those ordinary men who act on their desires.
If I let that shadow linger over me, she’ll surely discard me without mercy…
Haa… this twisted relationship… I just want it to be over…
But I don’t want it to end… I want to stay her boyfriend right up until the very end.
All things considered, I probably like Fuyunagi-san about as much as anyone else would.
And I like her enough that if she dumped me, I’d be shocked, just like anyone else would.
Because her face is my type?
Because her body is sexy?
Because her chest is big?
Because we’ve been together long enough that I’ve grown attached?
Because I’ve come to like her personality?
Any reason would do.
The reason I came to love her could be anything.
The process itself doesn’t really matter.
What matters is the simple fact that I want to stay her boyfriend—and that I’m aware of that feeling.
It’s simple enough.
I simply want to remain as Fuyunagi-san’s boyfriend.
“What’s wrong, Taku-chan?”
“No… it’s nothing… I was just thinking that… walking with Fuyunagi-san with no real purpose feels nice.”
“Is that so? But I don’t feel the same.”
“Huh…? What do you mean…”
“Taku-chan… you have no idea how deeply I’m trapped by you.”
“Eh?”
“The truth is, Taku-chan… I know you’re not so different from any other boy. You’re just acting so I’ll like you, aren’t you?”
“Wha—!?”
…She noticed?
She noticed I was acting…?
“Ufufu… that expression… it’s arousing… I told you, didn’t I, Taku-chan? I’m trapped by you. Even if you were no different from any other boring boy out there, I wouldn’t care. The fact that my heart was crushed, toyed with, and violated by you… that doesn’t change.”
“Huh…? Violated?”
“I might have awakened a strange fetish because of you… I can’t function without you anymore. To put it plainly, my body has become dependent on you… It’s like you’ve become my entire sexuality, Taku-chan.”
“What?”
“Even when I try to satisfy myself alone, I can’t feel satisfied. But just thinking about Taku-chan makes me satisfied… Now I can’t live without you at all.”
She just started confessing something absolutely outrageous…
A confession on a level that swallows up all my conflict, hesitation, frustration, and suffering in one go.
At some point, the hand I was holding had become warm.
She squeezed back, firmly.
“Hey… Taku-chan… do you want to come to my room now?”
“Ah… uh… y-yeah.”
This is…
This is… could it be… that the day has finally come when I stop being a boy and become a man!?
Just as I thought something absurd like that,
“Ah! I finally found you here!!”
A girl’s voice came from somewhere.
No—there was a girl standing right in front of us.
A very… very eye-catching beauty.
It’s obvious just by looking at her beautiful, jade-colored eyes that her golden blonde hair is neither a wig nor dyed.
Yet her face looked young enough that you could mistake her for a middle schooler.
A half-foreign girl, perhaps?
“You are…”
For some reason, Fuyunagi-san reacted to the half-foreign beauty.
“It’s been a while, Fuyunagi-san. Would you be my friend?”
The half-foreign beauty casually said that to Fuyunagi-san.
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.