“Takuma, what exactly do you think you’re doing? What are you thinking? I take my eyes off you for just a moment, and you start flirting with a middle schooler? You’ve got some nerve, don’t you? Tell me, are you even aware of where you are?

This is my house. You understand that, right? And you’re cheating on me in my own house? You must be either fearless or just stupid. Did you really think you wouldn’t get caught? Do you really take me for a fool? Hey, are you looking down on me? You are, aren’t you? Well? What is this? I’m asking what the hell you think you’re doing!”

“…” 

“Do you think staying silent will earn my forgiveness? You really are looking down on me, aren’t you? Don’t think for a second that being silent is going to get you off the hook. You think something like that works? Just how far do you plan on making a fool out of me before you’re satisfied?”

“No… I mean…”

“Another excuse? You’re always full of excuses, aren’t you? Could you show a little backbone for once? Hm? Do you think I’ll forgive you just by piling up all those excuses? Honestly! You should stop looking down on me! Honestly, you! You are always, always…”

It had to be at least thirty minutes since Fuyunagi-san began her lecture. I couldn’t check the clock because there wasn’t one in my line of sight. 

Huh?

Why not just look for a clock?

Ha! Don’t be ridiculous!

Fuyunagi is currently enraged, like a raging fire.

If I dared to glance around for a clock during this moment, her anger would only intensify and shoot straight through the ceiling. 

Where are you looking?! 

I’m talking right now, aren’t I!? Are you seriously incapable of listening to what people say!?

…something exactly like that.

That’s why I absolutely cannot look away or let my gaze wander. 

And yet, I’m an idiot. It was obvious something like this would happen if I sat there happily playing games with Kuzuryuu’s little sister, just the two of us…

Recently, Fuyunagi-san hadn’t been angry much, nor had she shown her menhera tendencies, so I let my guard down. 

But if I respond properly here, it’ll only make her snap at me for “just making excuses,” which is the worst possible outcome. 

What should I do? 

Then suddenly, a thought occurred to me about Fuyunagi-san’s father. 

I’ve met him before, but we’re not close, and honestly I don’t know much about him.

Even so, one thing I can say for sure is that he’s a handsome guy with a pretty passive personality.

He always gave off this impression of lacking confidence and never being able to stand up to Fuyunagi’s mother.

He was on Fuyunagi-san’s side, and he clearly has a sharp head, but at the same time, I could sense that weakness in him.

And yet Fuyunagi’s father, of all people, was able to win the argument, force Fuyunagi’s mother into submission, and on top of that, he even succeeded in increasing her trust in him.

On top of that, they’re so deeply in love it’s enough to make anyone certain they’ve conceived a child.

Just… how far did he go…?

………Well, whatever. That part doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter!

The question is, what did he do?

How exactly did he pull it off?

If I could figure that out, maybe I’d be able to calm down the currently enraged Fuyunagi-san.

Still, there’s no helping what I don’t know. In the end, I just have to deal with this in my own way.

The method I’ve developed over the course of dating Fuyunagi-san… the one I forged through experience!!

“Hey, are you even listening? I’m talking to you, and you’re spacing out? Must be nice, huh? You cheat on me and then act absent-minded on top of it. How full of yourself can you get? Do you have any idea how I feel? Of course you don’t, right? The feelings of someone who’s been betrayed like—”Fuyunagi-san.”—there’s no way you cou—”

I cut into her long rant without missing a beat, leaned in close, and locked my eyes onto hers.

Right here, I absolutely cannot blush or act embarrassed.

The key is to throw away every last bit of hesitation.

“Why can’t you trust me?” 

“Th-that’s not it… of course I trust you, but you—”

“I’m disappointed, Fuyunagi-san… so you don’t trust me at all, huh? So your feelings for me were only worth that much? You keep saying you love me, and yet in the end, all you do is force a hollow, superficial kind of love onto me.”

“T-that’s not—”

“But isn’t it true? No matter what I say, you just brush it off as an excuse. You don’t even try to believe me. How are we supposed to build any kind of trust like that? I left that room because your mother was practically showing her ‘womanly side’ in front of a middle schooler, your classmate’s little sister. I stepped out for your family’s sake. And while you all talked things out, I just killed time by playing a game. That’s all. Sure, maybe booting up someone else’s console without asking is a bit questionable manners-wise, but you told me before I could play whenever I wanted, and almost all the games are mine anyway. I never imagined you’d blow up this much over it.

And honestly, why does playing games with a classmate’s little sister automatically equal cheating? You always assume I’m cheating the moment I so much as talk to another girl, and you throw it in my face like it’s nothing. It was the same with Sakurada-san. You don’t trust me at all! Isn’t it that you just want an excuse to label me a cheater, so you can bully me without feeling guilty? You don’t believe in me one bit, do you? Maybe you don’t even like me at all. Maybe I’m just some scrawny, boring guy you toy around with for fun, right?”

“T-that’s not true, I really do love you, I mean it…”

“Then why can’t you trust me?! I’m trying so hard to make my feelings clear!!” 

Saying that, I close the distance even more, getting close enough for our noses to almost touch, and grab her hands so she can’t run away.

I force myself to cast aside any thoughts like, “Wow… Fuyunagi-san’s hands are so smooth and delicate,” or, “Her eyes look as beautiful as gemstones.”

“Awa… awawawa!”

“Hey, why? Why won’t you trust me?”

At last, Fuyunagi-san averts her eyes and crouches down, letting out strange little noises.

Looks like it worked…

Honestly, if she had gotten even angrier and we ended up fighting, I would have lost for sure.

Without the resolve to gamble everything on this risky move, it wouldn’t have worked. 

And this time, it seems I won the gamble.

I call it “Menhera Counter.” 

“I-I don’t hate you… It’s not like I don’t trust you, Taku-chan… But when you’re with other girls, I feel so anxious and overwhelmed! So…” 

“But if you really trusted me, you wouldn’t get anxious in the first place, right? So that means you really don’t—”

“No!! That’s not what I mean!!!”

Kuzuryuu Shiori, who had silently witnessed this entire exchange from the best seat in the house, was speechless. 

“………………….” 

She panicked when she first saw Shizuku’s anger flare up. 

Even after thirty minutes of scolding, she still couldn’t move from her spot.

She knew her own impulsive behavior had caused the whole situation, and she knew she wasn’t entirely in the right either.

Realizing that made her freeze up.

And yet… for someone like Fuyunagi Shizuku, the girl who usually does as she pleases, has someone who’s able to provoke such intense emotion from her.

And that same person is now skillfully reining in the notoriously difficult Fuyunagi Shizuku with nothing but his words.

No wonder her brother couldn’t handle her.

Even knowing this, it’s not something anyone could imitate so easily.

Majima Takuma. 

What an interesting person… Shiori thought.