“I’ve decided… Sado-kun.”

“…Huh?”

“Please… break up with me.”

“………… Wh…at?”

“Huh…?”

“…Eh?”

Everyone’s thought process stopped.

All three of us standing there… none of us could understand the words that Fuyunagi Shizuku had just spoken.

Break up with me?

That means ending a romantic relationship.

And what that meant—

In other words…

(She dumped Sado…?)

Why would Fuyunagi-san dump Sado here and now?

I don’t understand.

“W–wait, hold on! Why!? Why are you suddenly saying something like this!? Did I do something that upset you!? I can’t accept this! A reason… give me a reason!”

“You didn’t do anything wrong… I just fell for someone else. I don’t need to keep playing pretend-relationship with you anymore. That’s all.”

“…Pretend relationship?”

“W–wait, Shizuku! Isn’t that going too far!? That’s just cruel!”

“Cruel? Says the person who went on a date with the person I like—right here, of all places?”

“…Huh? A date…? The person you like…?”

“The only reason I was dating Sado-kun in the first place was to avoid getting confessed to by all the boys. I told him that from the start. I’m merely ending that arrangement. And now that I’ve found a person I can genuinely care for… isn’t it only proper that I date the one I truly love?”

“Huh…? You… w-what are you even…”

“So the person you like… is Majima?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

“…I… I see…”

Wait a minute… What the hell is going on?

Why did she suddenly start this exposé all by herself…?

Thanks to her, the pleasant atmosphere from earlier is completely ruined.

“Then I’m no longer needed… Goodbye.”

“Wait… Sado-kun!?”

Sado, who was abruptly dumped, was dejected. His usual cheerful smile disappeared, and he left with a gloomy aura surrounding him.

That’s bad.

He might actually attempt suicide if things get any worse.

“Sakurada-san! Go!”

“Eh…? But!”

“You like Sado, don’t you!? If this keeps up, he’s in trouble! Just go!!”

“Ah… o-okay!! And, um—Majima, don’t push yourself too hard!”

“Okay.”

Sakurada-san ran after Sado.

I can only rely on her now, but with her bottomless cheerful personality, she’ll probably be alright.

The problem is…

“Now that the obstacles are gone… Taku-chan.”

This troublesome menhera beauty, Fuyunagi Shizuku…

“Why did you suddenly confess like that in front of them?”

“Well, it can’t be helped, right? You were about to cheat on me. I’m keeping our relationship a secret for your sake, and yet you were sneaking off to see movies with Sakurada-san!”

“I’ve told you countless times, I just happened to run into Sakurada-san! Cheating is completely out of the question!”

“Just ‘happened’ to run into her in such a large place? That’s unbelievable. If you’re going to lie, at least be a better liar?”

She doesn’t seem to believe me at all.

What should I do…?

I feel bad for Sakurada-san, but if I don’t tell her the truth, she probably won’t listen to anything I say. Besides, it’s better to make it clear that she likes Sado and has no interest in me.

“…Sakurada-san was tailing you and Sado.”

“Eh…? Tailing… us?”

“Yeah! You and Sado!”

“…? Why? Is she trying to harass me?”

“Why would she do that? No way! Sakurada-san likes Sado, so she probably followed you two because you were going on a date here on Saturday!”

“…So you’re saying Sakurada tried to steal Sado from me?”

“Steal him… well, sure, if she could, she’d probably want that, but it seemed like she was trying to respect Sado’s feelings. I don’t think she’d force anything.”

“Hmm… You’re defending Sakurada-san a lot, aren’t you? Don’t tell me—you’ve fallen for her?”

“Fallen for her…? Not really ‘fallen,’ more like… I just see her differently now. She’s a top-tier gyaru and a beauty, so I thought she’d be way more stuck-up, but she was actually pretty easy to talk to…”

“What?! That’s cheating! When I’m right here!”

“I already told you, it’s not cheating! Sakurada-san likes Sado! Even if I were interested in her, there’s no room for me to get involved.”

“I see… If I pair up Sado-kun and Sakurada-san, then the possibility of you cheating becomes zero… or at least as close to zero as possible.”

Things have taken a strange turn.

But what is with Fuyunagi-san’s extreme stubbornness?

At least I managed to steer the conversation away from the fact that I was with Sakurada-san.

The fact that we went to see a movie together is undeniable, and things could have gotten bad if she had focused on that.

“I’m tired… Can I go to your house now?”

“But there’s nothing there…”

“I don’t need anything at allll~ That boring movie made me sleepyyy~ I wanna sleep~ Taku-chan, be my body pillow~”

“Huh? A body pillow?”

“Come on, let’s go~”

Fuyunagi-san walks away, looking unsteady.

What a self-centered person she is.

I briefly wondered if Sakurada-san was doing okay, but right now, I need to focus on Fuyunagi-san.

As I left the shopping mall with her and headed towards the bicycle parking lot, I let her ride on the back of my bicycle and pedaled home with both of us on it.

It’s a situation you sometimes see in romantic anime.

I had vaguely wanted to try this if I ever got a girlfriend, and it was happening now. But I didn’t have the luxury of getting carried away.