THIS IS A FAN TRANSLATION, THOUGH THE WEBSITE NAME...HAS MTL IN IT...

Christmas ablaze!

TL: Furby

December 24th. The fateful day: Christmas Eve.

Karen and I were heading together towards a small fusion cuisine restaurant located in between the Hamamatsuchou and Takeshiba Stations. 

It was in this store that the Christmas party of our group would take place today. The store had been reserved exclusively for us, and what’s more, there’s a ‘Hotel Bay Tokyo International’ a short walking distance away.
(TL Note: ‘Hotel Bay Tokyo International’ is a reference to Intercontinental Tokyo Bay hotel, which is indeed right next to Takeshiba Station)

“Karen heard that the prize for the couple that’s declared ‘best couple’ this time is very luxurious.”

Karen was speaking merrily.

“Is that so?”

I tried my best to answer, but I wasn’t sure I had managed to put enough emotion behind it.

As for why, it was because I already knew what the prize which would be given at the end of the party was.

“Karen’s so looking forward to it~. Let’s make sure Karen and Yuu-kun are the ones to win it!”
(TL Note: I swear writing these cutesy speeches is tiring and confusing!)

“You’re right. I want us to get it too.”

The whole time I was letting my mouth move by itself, my mind was thinking about something else.

… According to our plan, it’s at this party that Touko-senpai and I will expose Kamokura and Karen’s cheating. After that, we’ll both declare then end our relationships with them…

That was Touko-senpai’s and my plan… Anyhow, these were Kamokura, who likes to act cool before everyone, and Karen, who wants everyone to think of her as being the cutest girl around. 

We were about to crush to pieces the image that both of them had in front of everyone from our group and make them suffer the biggest humiliation of their lives.

There was already not even the slightest remainder of feelings on my part towards Karen.

That was why there was no hesitation or anything of the sort in me about executing our plan.

However, there was one single thing that worried me. That was Touko-senpai.

It goes back one week ago to the day that Touko-senpai invited me over to her house for the food sampling session. 

She looked as if she was wavering about something back then.

Even the next day when I contacted her to tell her that Nakazaki-san would cooperate with us, all that she said was a simple, ‘I see’.

From that point on, even now that we were at this part of the plan, Touko-senpai hadn’t contacted me again in any way.

… What’s going through your mind, Touko-senpai?...

That was the thing that had me worried. It couldn’t be that she was thinking of going back to her previous relationship with Kamokura, right?

A while back, she had told me that, if Karen had reflected on what she’d done, it may have been better for us to continue our relationship. We both denied it back then, but could it have been that those were Touko-senpai’s actual feelings expressed in words?

“Yuu-kun, Yuu-kun!”

Karen was pulling at my arm.

“Eh? Ah! What is it?”

“What’s wrong? Yuu-kun was in a daze.”

“I was in a daze?”

“Yes, Yuu-kun was. Despite Karen calling Yuu-kun many many times, all he did was give these lukewarm replies.”

“I was? I’m sorry. So, what did you want to tell me?”

“Karen was telling Yuu-kun about how the restriction of informing the organizers with anticipation about any secrets to be revealed was taken off for this year. Now people can go any time they like and tell the host, and if they get the OK, they can stand in front of everyone and expose the secrets they want.”

“I see, that’s new.”

I may have answered like that, but I already knew that, too. Better said, that too formed part of our plan.

Up to last year, there had been an allotted time for ‘secret exposing’. The format was as follows: during that time, all those who wished to participate would line up one after another and disclose their secrets one after another. However, because the timing of our ‘cheating and end of our relationships revelation’ plan wasn’t something we could fit into a specific time in between, that format had been changed to one where you could reveal your secrets at any moment you liked.

“Well, there are many couples in the group Karen and Yuu-kun belong to. Karen doesn’t think there’s much that those without a lover can do even if they come to the party. Those loners should just go and have their own party in some other place.”

Karen continued to speak with some hubris in her tone. I simply stared at her from the corner of my eyes.

According to what I had heard from the group of girls, aside from being too clingy with many other boys, Karen also appeared to act too haughty with the girls that didn’t have a boyfriend, always showing off how she did have one. That had led to her being shunned by the other girls.

“Every year, many people end up becoming lovers thanks to this ‘secret revelation’ event at the party, right? Being that the case, isn’t it fine for them to join us?”

I didn’t want to continue that conversation with Karen, hence why I rebuked her about it.

Karen then went around me and stood in front of me suddenly. I reflexively stopped walking.

“What’s wrong?”

“Yuu-kun, wouldn’t you say that lately, Yuu-kun’s been talking to the girls more and getting a little carried away?”

Karen glanced up at me with slightly sharp eyes.

“That’s never been my intention.”

“Can’t Yuu-kun see? Even during the camping farewell party from a few days ago, Yuu-kun left Karen all alone and was having fun speaking with all the other girls, right?”

“Not really, I was only having a normal conversation with them.”

“No, no, no! Yuu-kun was having a lot of fun! And what’s worse, he was flirting all love-struck the whole time! He even ignored Karen after she asked him for attention!”

… You… You call my not instantaneously answering all of your demands ‘ignoring you’? All you did was demand things from me like, ‘Give Karen her portion of the dish first’, ‘Bring Karen her drink!’, ‘Karen’s tired, bring her a chair!’…

The whole time before I discovered Karen’s cheating, I had thought of this selfish side of hers as something cute, but now, all it did was make this feeling of abhorrence within me grow.

I did my best to suppress my anger as I spoke.

“That’s not true, Karen. But if you did feel that way, I apologize.”

“It also seems like Yuu-kun’s been going behind Karen’s back and helping other girls with their programming homework.”

“I’m not hiding it from you. I explained it all to you, didn’t I?”

Karen narrowed her eyes even more and continued glaring at me.

“And what’s more, did something happen between Yuu-kun and Touko-senpai?”

I was shocked. I only barely managed to prevent it from showing on my face.

I didn’t have much interaction with Touko-senpai while we were on campus, and I have never spoken Touko-senpai’s name in front of Karen.

… This girl, does she suspect of something?...

“What are you talking about? This is Touko-senpai, right? There’s no way there could be anything between her and someone like me.”

I pretended to be calm.

“That so? Still, Karen has to say, lately, Touko-senpai has been looking at Yuu-kun a lot. That had never happened before.”

… Touko-senpai was looking at me?...

I had never noticed her doing that, though.

Although, was something as vague as ‘someone else looking at you’ really deserving of so much attention in the first place?

“There’s no way that could be true. It must be your imagination, Karen. This is the Touko-senpai that we’re talking about. There’s simply no way she could be interested in me.”

Karen then turned around in one swift motion and started walking once again.

“Karen hopes that’s all there is to it. However, she still has one thing to say. Karen really, truly haaates Touko-senpai. Yuu-kun has to make sure he doesn’t speak with her more than absolutely necessary!”

We entered the restaurant that acted as the venue.

The scheduled starting time of the party was 6 pm, but we were entering the venue 1 hour earlier to help out with the preparations.

The food for this party would be offered in the form of a standing buffet.

The homemade dishes and desserts that a number of the female members of our group had been asked to bring over were being lined up next to each other at the buffet table.

Of course, we couldn’t go and ask the restaurant for even more tableware for the food we were bringing ourselves, so we were lining them in the tray and plates that they were brought in. We asked for the restaurant to place an extra table next to where the one where the restaurant’s food was and placed a portable stove and lined the hand-made dishes next to it.

When I happened to turn to look, I saw that Kazumi-san had come over.

I surveyed our surroundings swiftly.

Karen was in a distant place speaking with the other boys.

She had been so engrossed in talking with them for a while now and hadn’t helped in almost anything.

“The time for it will be at the very end. You know what that means, right?”

Kazumi-san whispered to me.

“We’re aiming for the timing of the ‘best couple’, correct?”

Kazumi-san nodded as soon as she heard my answer.

“The moment that Touko calls for you, come to the front. That’s when…”

“Understood.”

I gave her a short reply.

“Everyone! Thank you for coming here today! It’s our last event of the year, so let’s all of us, those who have a significant one and those who are still single alike, celebrate in big together! We might even happen to witness some shocking surprise at the end!”

Kazumi-san yelled with the microphone in her hand. It signaled the start of the Christmas Party!

Everyone was bursting out in laughter, though there were a few jeering here and there too.

The moderator of this Christmas Party was Kazumi-san. 

Regardless of her having only joined the group in the middle of the fall of her sophomore year, thanks to her cheerful nature, assertiveness, and her personality which didn’t shy away from meeting new people, Kazumi-san was already a central figure in our group.

Next to her, supervising her activities as moderator, was our group’s president, Nakazaki-san. However, he had a grave expression on his face that concealed the wariness he must’ve been feeling.

Although, if you took into consideration what was about to happen from now on, it was only natural for him as the president to be worried.

From its foundation, there have always been many couples belonging to our group. By the way, even if your lover didn’t belong to the group, they could come and join us at this party. Even if you weren’t officially lovers at the moment and were only a couple testing the waters, it was OK to come, too.

To sum it up in a few words, it was similar to the ‘proms’ that took place at American high schools.

And even among the many couples, the one that stood out the most was, as you’d expect, Kamokura and Touko-senpai.

Kamokura was wearing a leather jacket and some slim-fit jeans together with a white, long-sleeved T-shirt, giving him an overall rough appearance, which naturally looked very nice on him.

Meanwhile, Touko-senpai was wearing a white, light mohair sweater with an obi belt running around her waist, tied up at her back in a big ribbon. Below her waist, she was wearing a navy-blue pleated skirt, which extended to right below her knees. On top of it all, she donned a beige bolero jacket.
(TL: Someone write these clothing descriptions for me, I hate them)

Her slim tightly tied waist, the bountifulness of her bust which was further accentuated by the light sweater, and those long, slender legs of hers which extended from below the pleated skirt. 

It was an outfit that splendidly accentuated the great figure that Touko-senpai had.

To top it all off, we had a whole lot of male students making conversation with her.

Touko-senpai was interacting with each and everyone one of them with a smile. While she was doing so, Kamokura put his arm around her shoulders, almost embracing her, as he spoke with her. It was almost as if he was emphasizing that she was his woman.

… Just you wait! Enjoy that you can show off like that while you can…

“What is Yuu-kun looking at?”

Karen, who had come over next to me at some point, asked me.

“Ah, nowhere in particular. I wasn’t looking anywhere in specific.”

“Yuu-kun was looking at Touko-senpai, right?”

I didn’t say anything.

“Touko-senpai, she’s always coquetting with men like that.”

“She does?”

I made my internal jab that it was actually her who was always flirting with other men.

“That’s right. Not that men could possibly know. How she puts on that face that says she’s not interested in men at all, how she nonchalantly wears clothes that accentuate her b*****s; it’s all to get the eyes of men concentrated on herself. That way in which she puts on airs and acts like an ojou-sama too, it’s all part of her plan to be liked by men! It’s all too clear for Karen to see! Honestly, Karen gets so angry just by seeing her!”
(TL: Is this the first time ojou-sama comes up? Nice. Ojou-sama is basically a term for rich young ladies or girls)

Karen was showing her animosity towards Touko-senpai excessively today.

And I had a guess as to why.

It was the ‘voting for the best couple’ which was going to take place at the end of the party.

That together with the luxurious prize that would be given to the couple that was chosen as ‘best couple of the party’. There was no doubt that it would be Touko-senpai and Kamokura who would be chosen as the best couple.

I could bet that this girl was not pleased in the least about that.

Karen grabbed my left arm tightly.

“Karen doesn’t want to lose to those people, not ever!”

I could almost literally see flames from hell being reflected in Karen’s eyes.

All throughout the venue you could see men and women together in various groups and having fun as they spoke with each other.

Loud laughter and cheers resounded throughout the restaurant. Everyone seemed to be having a very nice time here.

In the middle of all that revelry, every now and then a buzzer was heard. It was the secret revelation time!

The confessant, who we called the ‘tattletale’ during the event, went to the front of the room and then took the microphone that the moderator, Kazumi-san, offered them.

Most of their ‘secret revelations’ were something closer to one-liners meant to further liven up the party.

“The last time I wet the bed was when I was back in elementary school when I was a 3rd grader!”

“One time, when I pretended to be a girl online, there was this man who was very persistent in dating me and it was a real paaain!”

“During summer vacations, I was hit on by some high school boys at the beach, so I lied about my age and ended up dating one of them!”

Well, that sort of thing.

While we’re on this topic, there were two love confessions in total this year. One was successful and the other was a failure.

However, the fact that the greatest, biggest, and most shocking ‘secret revelation’ would come last was something that no one, those two included, was aware of.

The food available in the venue had been greatly reduced by now.

By the way, the pork baby back ribs, the fried chicken-style karaage with garlic, the potato salad, and the shortcake which were brought over by Touko-senpai were all extremely well-received.

I, who had served as the food taster for her practice cooking, found myself happy in a way too.

When I went over to take the last back rib left, I found Ishida standing there.

“It’s finally time, huh.”

Ishida spoke to me in a whisper.

“Yeah, it won’t be long before the voting for the best couple starts, after all.”

“Everything up to now has been going according to plan… But the real problem is what comes next.”

“Yeah.”

Ishida left a small moment of silence before bringing his mouth closer to my ear.

“That aside, how has that matter from before been going?”

“That matter?”

In the beginning, I didn’t understand what Ishida was alluding to.

“Come on! The one we spoke of before! Remember, the whole thing about how if Touko-senpai were to have an affair, it would be after she had exposed to everyone the proof of Kamokura-senpai’s cheating and declared the end of their relationship?”

“Nah, didn’t I tell you that was nothing more than my imagination? It’s not as if Touko-senpai had any intentions to do that kind of a thing in the first…”

“But, wasn’t that something that Touko-senpai herself said in the first place?”

“That may have been so… But she immediately took back her words after that. At least the part of her having an affair.”

“However, doing that would be the most shocking way to dump Kamokura-senpai, wasn’t it?”

I remained silent. What he had said was indeed true. Nonetheless…

Ishida continued further on.

“Truth is there’s been something nagging at me. It’s about those hotel gift cards that are the prize. Aren’t those precisely for that?”

“Eh?”

Without thinking, I stared fixedly at Ishida.

The prize for the best couple was a hotel gift card for the Hotel Bay Tokyo International.

Kamokura too had been informed about this fact via Kazumi-san.

Thanks to that information, Kamokura was obviously more than expectant about being able to spend the night in a hotel together with Touko-senpai.

Nonetheless, at the very end of the party, Touko-senpai would declare the termination of their relationship to Kamokura, dashing his hopes to pieces in the process.

The plan was that Touko-senpai and Kazumi-san would use the hotel gift cards and spend a fun and friendly sleepover, the two alone. In the meantime, we would have our schedule full with beholding the sight of Kamokura’s stupid face as he stood there in shock.

“I don’t think that’s the case but, you don’t think that Touko-senpai is actually thinking of going with another man, right?”

“There’s no damn way! I mean, we already discussed that she’d stay together with Kazumi-san, remember?!"

"She did say that in front of us. However, if she wanted to deal Kamokura a good one, spending the night with another man would by far be the most efficient method, no?”

I turned my face away from Ishida, but he only further lowered his voice and spoke.

“Any other guesses as to who it could be?”

‘Guesses’… Did he mean someone else besides me who could spend the night with Touko-senpai?

To tell the truth…that was not something that I hadn’t thought about any number of times before.

That partner who’d spend the night with her after she dumped Kamokura… There was no real need for me to be it.

If Touko-senpai already had someone she was interested in from long before…

If I was to say more, there had been many men who approached Touko-senpai to woo her today. There were many from our own group, and there was even a rumor that our president, Nakazaki-san, had confessed himself to her once before, and she turned him down. There were even some from among our ex-members and graduates who had their sights on Touko-senpai; moreover, there should be more than a few male students from her same major and school year with whom she was on relatively good terms.

However, I had been told that she had no personal investment in any single one of them.

Apparently, the only person to have ever successfully invited Touko-senpai on a date and been accepted was Kamokura.

That would make me the second one to have ever achieved it, then.

“Not that I know of, but that still doesn’t mean that there’s absolutely no other candidate, right?”

Ishida then spoke to me looking disappointed.

“Yeah, you’re right. It’s not as if all the men who approached Touko-senpai trying to court her were only those present here, after all. Her male friends from the university, her acquaintances from middle school and high school, her fellow co-workers form her part-time job. This is Touko-senpai we’re talking about; she’s bound to have had more people fall in love with her than you can count.”

All of a sudden, I found myself seized by uneasiness.

If that actually ended up happening… I wouldn’t be able to trust any other woman in this whole world anymore.

We were now entering the final stage of the party.

For this last stage, each of the couples here would have a few minutes to make an appeal for themselves so that other people voted for them.

Each of the 12 couples participating proceeded to give their own short speech. 

To my surprise, Ishida and Kazumi-san had entered themselves as a couple participating in this event.

And what was more, Kazumi-san’s speech was incredibly bold.

“Truth is, my being here as a couple with Ishida-kun is only a temporary thing. In reality, I’m single, ok? That’s why, all you lovely boys, I’m waiting for you to make your moves! See you soon!”

With that, she received a standing ovation as the venue erupted to life again.

Well, it wasn’t as if the couples in this party were restricted to only those that were officially lovers, so I guess no one was bothered by it.

Eventually, it was our turn to speak. Since we were only allowed a few words, I left it all to Karen.

“Hello~! Merry Christmas! Everyone’s so happy right no~w! Those with a lover are all happy, and those that don’t have one have their friends with them, so they’re happy too! And then, since it’s Christmas and all, everyone wants something slightly different from usual, some little element of surprise, no? That’s why, today, everyone should cheer on the funny couples! And if some of them decided to vote for cute little Karen and Yuu-kun, Karen will be very happy! With that said, Karen hopes everyone continues to enjoy themselves~!”

Karen’s speech was well-received by a portion of the boys present, but the majority of the girls were looking at her with apathy. I knew because, all the while, I was observing the reactions of the whole audience from behind Karen.

… Based on what I’ve seen, leaving aside the boys, I’m guessing that most of the girls won’t sympathize with Karen…

As her ‘ex-boyfriend’, I had some mixed feelings about it, but this too was her getting her just desserts.

Last came the favorite couple to win, the couple made up of Kamokura and Touko-senpai.

Kamokura standing before the microphone was enough to have several girls scream ‘Kamokura-senpa~i!’ in high-pitched, excited voices. I did have to admit that the tall and slim Kamokura standing under the lights with the microphone in front of him was almost like an idol or a superstar.

“Merry Christmas! It was fun having almost all our group’s members gather here today! This is the last event of the night. What everybody needs to do is to not say anything and write ‘Kamokura Tetsuya and Sakurajima Touko’ on those ballot papers! If I’m to say one last thing before leaving, know that there are only two kinds of couples: My couple and all the other couples!”

Here he was spouting some line that I feel like I had heard somewhere else before.
(TL Note: Not fully certain, but it could be a reference to a Japanese host, ROLAND)

Had this not been a restaurant, I would’ve spit in disgust at this moment.

Aside from me, however, the venue was engulfed in cheers and excitement. This was a reminder that Kamokura was indeed a popular guy here.

On my side, though, Karen was pouting in discontent as she looked straight ahead at him.

And if you were to ask about Touko-senpai…

She had her gaze cast downwards, hardly raising it from the floor, as she clenched her hands together in front of her.

Was she mulling something over? No, it looked like she was uncertain about something…

… Touko-senpai, don’t tell me that…

The anxiety within me welled up with even greater strength than before.

Everyone had already cast their vote for the best couple.

Each person had been given one ballot paper at the time they entered the venue, in which they were to write down who they thought was the best couple, ordered from first place to third place.

“Well then, we have finished tallying the votes!”

Kazumi-san was speaking through the microphone once again.

“Now then, I’ll start by announcing fourth and fifth place! Those who hear their names called out, please come to the front.”

“They’re starting from fifth place?”

There were many people voicing their doubts.

I too found it curious. However, Kazumi-san went on unimpeded by any of it.

“First of, fifth place: the couple of Isshiki-kun and Mitsumoto Karen-san!”

Karen and I were fifth place?

Considering the aforementioned unpopularity of Karen with the girls, I was amazed that we even managed to get fifth place.

Although, if you considered that there were only 12 couples in total, perhaps our placing near the middle wasn’t that much of a surprise.

“Isshiki-kun’s been quite popular among the girls as of late, after all~. That seemed to have played a role in earning them some votes. Their prize is a teddy bear!”

Kazumi-san handed us the stuffed toy after she finished speaking.

Karen was the one to take it. Nonetheless, she had an unhappy expression on her face.

Once we had taken our prize, we were asked to line up slightly up front, to the right.

In fourth place was a couple of two sophomores. Their prize was a pair of couple mugs. In case anyone was wondering, they were apparently of some famous brand.

Kazumi continued with the announcements.

“Moving on, third place! Ooh! Hoho, now this is an unexpected result! Even I who am seeing it can hardly believe it!”

Kazumi-san held up high the paper she received from one of the people in charge of counting the votes.

“It’s me and Ishida!”

There was furor in the audience.

“Okay then, Ishida-kun, come to the front. The prize is a library card for 3000 yen!”

Ishida came to the front as he laughed bashfully.

Kazumi-san spoke as she passed the prize to him.

“Hey! Half of this is mine, so don’t hog it all for yourself!”

Everyone in the venue laughed once again hearing that.

Second place was a couple of juniors that was known within the group as being the staple of quiet and calm. Even if those two had been chosen as the best couple, I felt that no one would have complained about it.

“And now, the couple that everyone’s waiting for, first place goes to…”

Kazumi-san was putting on a show as she made a pause to make the revealing more suspenseful.

“The couple of Kamokura Tetsuya-san and Sakurajima Touko!”

She pointed at them with her hand as she announced them.

From all around us were voices saying, ‘I knew it’, ‘No surprise there’. It was hard to tell whether they were voices of resignation or praise.

“Both of the winners, please come to the front.”

Having been called out like that, Kamokura came to the front, followed by Touko-senpai, who continued to keep her gaze down.

“The prize for first place is hotel gift cards for today of the best place to enjoy an unbroken view of the nightscape of Tokyo Bay, the Hotel Bay Tokyo International!”

Kazumi-san held the envelope with the hotel gift cards high up above her head, which led the interior of the venue to become a pandemonium.

“Eh!? Then!”

“This means the two of them are going straight to the hotel after this!?”

“Ugh, how obscene!”

“A night of passion?”

“Aah! Touko-senpai is…!”

“Dammit! Just die, you bastard!”

“I’m so jealous!”

“Oooh! How nice~!”

“I want to go to a hotel on Christmas Eve with a hunk too!”

“Spending Christmas Eve the two alone while looking at the night view… That’s the stuff of dreams!”

Everyone was voicing their opinions.

Kamokura, who had taken a step forward, extended his hand to take the hotel gift cards that Kazumi-san had, all while having a smile of victory on his face.

Notwithstanding, Kazumi-san only continued to flap the envelope in her hand, not showing any intention of passing it over.

“By the way, Kamokura-san. If you don’t mind me asking, how’re you going to use these hotel gift cards?”

Kamokura was taken aback for a bit, but he then answered with a wry smile.

“Well, I’m taking Touko with me and spending the night there.”

Kazumi-san closed her eyes, raised her index finger, and then shook it left and right.

“Tch, tch, tch! That’s no good, Kamokura-san. That’s completely unlike this group’s most handsome guy. Wouldn’t you say something like dragging your girlfriend over to a hotel on Christmas Eve is something that fits some second-rate guy better? And this right in front of all your kouhai, too. Don’t you think it’s utterly uncool?”

“What’re you suggesting, then?”

“Let Touko have both of these hotel gift cards. This day’s night is something that both of you should forever remember and treasure. Isn’t it fine to let your girlfriend take the initiative at the very least on days like these?”

Kamokura stared fixedly at Kazumi-san for a while.

“Oh, whatever. The end result won’t change, after all. Fine, I’ll let Touko have them.”

With those words, he took one step back.

Touko-senpai then took a step forward and stood before Kazumi-san in his stead.

“Now that’s the Kamokura-san we know. What a man!”

Kazumi-san grinned.

“And with that, we will now be giving these two hotel gift cards to Touko. Everyone, please give her the biggest round of applause you can!”

With that, she handed over the hotel gift cards to Touko-senpai.

For whatever reason each had, everyone was applauding half-heartedly.

“By the way, Touko, if I remember correctly, you had something you wanted to say in front of everyone, right?”

With those preluding words, Kazumi-san handed the microphone to Touko-senpai.

Touko-senpai accepted the microphone in silence.

Seeing this turn of events, everyone stared at her with curiosity in their eyes, wondering if something was about to happen.

Touko-senpai continued to stare downwards for a while before finally raising her face.

“I have something that I want everyone to listen to.”

She then looked in my direction.

“Isshiki-kun, come over here.”

It felt as if time had stopped for an instant for everyone present.

I took a quick glance at Karen and saw that she had an expression of perplexity.

“Wh, why Yuu-kun…?”

I ignored the shocked Karen and walked towards Touko-senpai.

I stopped right beside her and turned to look at everyone.

Touko-senpai resumed her speech.

“I, Sakurajima Touko, hereby declare that, as of this day and hour, I end my relationship with Kamokura Tetsuya.”

For a moment, the venue fell into absolute silence.

Looking around from the corner of my eyes, I noticed that even Kamokura had his eyes wide open as he stood stupefied.

In that small window, Touko-senpai passed the microphone over to me.

Having taken the microphone, I too spoke in a clear, loud voice.

“I, Isshiki Yuu, hereby declare to everyone that, as of this day and hour, I am breaking up with Mitsumoto Karen and cutting any and all relationships with her!”

The venue, which had fallen into a complete silence until then, started to buzz again with my words.

“W-wait a moment! What’re they saying?”

“What’s wrong with those two?”

“Did something happen?”

“Why are they doing it here and now?”

Everyone was murmuring the same kind of questions from all over the place, at the same time.

That was when Kamokura made the first move.

“Hey, Touko! Just what do you think you’re saying!?”

As he spoke, he started drawing closer to Touko-senpai. And as he did,

“Stay away from me!”

Those harsh words from Touko-senpai stopped him right in his tracks.

“Tetsuya, tell me, are you even aware of what you’ve done?”

Though flustered, Kamokura answered back.

“Wh, what do you mean? You’re saying I did something?”

“Do you really intend to make Touko-senpai say that, Kamokura-senpai?”

I responded in place of Touko-senpai.

“What?”

“I asked you: Do you really intend to have Touko-senpai, a woman, say everything explicitly?”

“Wh, what’re you talking about?”

“Then, I’ll be the one to say it in her place. Kamokura-san, you cheated together with my ex-girlfriend, Mitsumoto Karen!”

There was a big fuss in the venue.

Better said, everyone gasped in shock in unison.

Kamokura’s facial expression and movements immediately froze.

In the middle of it all, there was a single piercing, hysterical shriek coming from a different direction.

“That’s a lie! A lie, a lie, a lie! Karen wouldn’t do that!”

I turned to look in the direction from which that voice came.

There, I caught sight of Karen as she desperately tried to refute my asseveration.

“Karen, she’s never cheated! It’s the truth! Please believe her!”

If you were someone who didn’t know anything about the incident, you would end up believing her from how she made her voice tremble as she pleaded her innocence before everyone.

“The one lying here is you, Karen! I have undeniable proof of it here with me!”

“Proof of what?”

This girl! Did she intend to feign ignorance to the end?

“Later third of October, Saturday. It was Karen’s birthday. You were together with me until sunset, right? However, where, and with who were you that night?”

For an instant, I could see Karen’s eyes waver.

“That… Karen doesn’t know. She doesn’t remember!”

“Then I’ll be kind enough to remind you. That night, you were at Kamokura-senpai’s apartment. The whole night. Both Touko-senpai and I know that for a fact.”

There was a voice of amazement coming from the audience.

More than a few girls were now looking at Karen with reproach.

“That’s not true! That never happened!”

Karen then glared at Touko-senpai with hatred clear in her eyes.

“Yuu-kun, he’s being tricked by that woman! Karen knows it! That woman has been eyeing Yuu-kun for a long time now!”

Hearing her diss Touko-senpai like that made my blood boil with unprecedented anger.

“Karen, the one who has continued to deceive me this whole time is you! Touko-senpai and I saw you enter alone with Kamokura-senpai into his room that night! We even have photos of it!”

Even then, Karen refused to fall back.

“That time, Karen only went to drink tea at senpai’s house!”

“You’re saying you two drank tea for hours on end? For so long that even the last train of the day was gone!?”

Karen, who had up till then performed such a perfect and realistic act, showed for the first time some wavering.

“Karen, she didn’t intend for that to happen… She was secretly given alcohol. Because of that, by the time she came to her senses… It had already happened… Yeah, she was forced to do it! It wasn’t Karen’s fault! Karen is not the bad one here!”

This bitch! Just what was she saying now?!

No sooner had that thought come up than Kamokura started yelling.

“You! What’re you saying!”

However, I ignored Kamokura and continued speaking to Karen.

“Stop it with this unsightly display! I have more evidence than those photos! I have screenshots of the message exchanges you had with Kamokura!”

I displayed those images of Karen and Kamokura’s conversations on my smartphone and thrust it right before Karen’s eyes.

The moment she saw them, Karen’s face turned pale.

At the same time, all of the girls who were looking at the images started to berate Karen one after another.

“That…”

“There’s no mistake there.”

“She really was cheating with Kamokura-san…”

“That’s horrible! She was tricking Isshiki-kun this whole time?”

“And she still dares to have that attitude now?”

“I can’t believe her!”

“That’s unacceptable as human beings!”

Was she hearing those comments from everyone around her? Or was she choosing not to?

Right before my eyes, Karen’s countenance did an about-face.

Even her tone and manner of speech changed together with it as she yelled.

“Who do you think you are to be looking at other people’s phones without their permission?! Ugh, you’re the worst! I can’t put up with you anymore! This thing you’re doing is actually the lowest of the low, you know! You stalker! How disgusting! So gross! I can’t stand you! Just die, will you?!”

Karen threw away her masks of ‘cute and innocent, helpless girl’ and ‘tragic victim’, and she was now yelling with the look of a yaksha on her face, finally showing her true colors.

“You speak big time, but aren’t you the same? I’ll bet you cheated with Touko yourself! I can see right through you! That’s why all I did was take revenge on you and cheat myself! You’re the one who’s at fault here!”

All that Karen was spouting at this point was nothing more than nonsense.

“You’re wrong there.”

The one who interrupted Karen was none other than Kazumi-san.

“Touko had been meeting with Isshiki-kun with no other goal aside from obtaining proof of you two guys cheating. I can vouch for it!”

“She’s right. Yuu consulted with me from the very start when he discovered that Karen-chan was cheating on him. After that occasion, Yuu met with Touko-senpai only for the sake of discussing with her what had transpired. There was no contact whatsoever between the two of them before that. I am absolutely certain that there was never any kind of romantic involvement between Yuu and Touko-senpai!”

Ishida made a follow-up for Kazumi and declared that.

“Karen! You! Just give it up, will you?!”

The one who shouted in anger was Mina-san.

“Right, right! It’s clear as day that you betrayed Isshiki-kun! And despite that, not only are you not apologizing, but you’re even lashing out at him?!”

The next one to yell was Ayaka-san.

One by one, all of the other girls started to voice their reproach at Karen.

In response, though, Karen glared at all of them before bellowing like a wild animal.

“Don’t fuck with me, you bitches! You’re all gross! Gross, I tell you! And don’t tell me that you all weren’t leering at other men all this time! Gross, gross, gross! To hell if I can remain here! Idiots! You should all just die!”

Karen picked up all her belongings while she disparaged, after which she gruffly left the store and disappeared from view.

… There was no repenting nor apology from her up to the very end… She truly was the worst woman of all…

… And to think that I thought of a woman like her as ‘my girlfriend’… There is no denying that I was a fool…

Touko-senpai, who had been observing the course of events in silence this whole time, then spoke out.

“With this, I imagine that you now understand everything, right, Tetsuya?”

She spoke so calmly and coldly, almost admonishing him.

“I’m breaking up with you. I’ve already put an end to our relationship as lovers. I want us to go back to being two people who have never seen each other.”

Those words of Touko-senpai sent the venue into a complete silence once again.

No one dared to speak a word. The place was engulfed in a silence so deafening that even breathing proved to be an ordeal.

Before long, a dry, scornful laugh resounded throughout the place. It was Kamokura.

“Fufu, hahaha! What’re you saying, Touko? That you’re breaking up with me? There’s a limit to how far you can take a joke. Is this some sort of elaborated show you decided to put on?”

Kamokura took on a dramatic pose as he ran his right hand across his bangs, brushing them upwards.

However, Touko-senpai shook her head sideways, seemingly saddened.

“It’s not an elaborate joke. I’m serious here. I am well and truly breaking up with you.”

“Hey, hey. Wait a moment, Touko. Calm down for a bit, will you? Aside from me, there’s no other man in the world who could be a good match for you, right? You’ll regret it if you break up with me.”

Nonetheless, Touko-senpai only stared at Kamokura with cold, distant eyes.

The smile on Kamokura’s face froze in place.

“Did the thing with Karen bother you that much? If so, I apologize. But you know, a man cheating is no big deal, right?”

A flash of emotion ran through Touko-senpai’s up-to-then distant eyes.

Whether that was anger or sadness, I could not tell.

“No big deal? I see, Tetsuya. So for you, it’s simply a ‘no big deal’, correct? Do you even know how much Isshiki-kun and I suffered? How much it hurt us? How much it saddened us? Not only that, but you’re telling me that, in your opinion, all of that can be taken care of by simply calling it ‘no big deal’?”

Kamokura’s eyes wavered. The next moment, however, he smiled bitterly.

“That’s why I’m telling you to wait, Touko. Don’t let yourself get carried away by some transitory emotion. That thing with Karen was nothing more than me having a good time…”

“Don’t think that you can deceive me with those words! Do you have any idea of how much of an insult those words of yours are to others?”

Touko-senpai wasn’t mincing her words in the least.

“Tetsuya, you don’t understand other people’s feelings. No, that’s not it. You don’t even bother to try and think of them. That’s why you can say those kinds of things so easily. I can’t possibly think of that kind of a person as my boyfriend.”

The smile on Kamokura’s face disappeared. He took one step towards Touko-senpai.

“Touko, you’re the only one I’m serious about. You know that, right? That’s why there shouldn’t be any reason for you to be so obstinate about…”

“I’m not being stubborn here. Could it be that this is incomprehensible to you, Tetsuya? I can no longer think of doing something like dating you.”

Kamokura’s face contorted. At long last, his bravado came to an end.

“I won’t accept it! You are mine! I won’t allow you to do something like breaking up with me on your own! Never!”

Kamokura tried to get closer to Touko-senpai.

However, before he could do so, I swiftly stood before him and blocked his way.

“Move it! Isshiki!”

“I won’t move! You’re the one who should get away from Touko-senpai!”

“I see now, Isshiki. You’re the one who did this to my Touko!!”

Kamokura landed a direct hit on my left cheek with his right fist.

For an instant, I felt my body reel back from the impact, but I refused to falter and instead pinned Kamokura in place. It had now turned into a struggle between Kamokura and me.

Immediately after, Nakazaki-san placed himself behind Kamokura and held him in a Nelson hold.

“Kamokura! Stop this!”

“Nakazaki! You too?! You’re going to side with these guys?!”

Kamokura tried to break free from Nakazaki-san and me as he spoke.

However, being in a situation where I had him pinned from the front while Nakazaki-san held him from the back, it was all but impossible for him to do so.

Kamokura yelled at Touko-senpai as he ground his teeth.

“Touko! This guy, Isshiki is tricking you!”

Unfortunately for him, Touko’s response to it was to once again shake her head left and right sadly.

“That’s the same line that Karen-san said just now, isn’t it? Tetsuya, please don’t make me feel so disappointed in you in our last moments…”

“You planning to dump me and then start dating this guy?! Isshiki doesn’t have any worth to him! He’s the same as some mob character no one cares about!”

At that moment, when I managed to look at Touko-senpai, I got the impression that there was a sharp, glaring shine in her eyes.

Kamokura meanwhile continued shouting.

“I am the only one who can be a match for you! You’re not the kind of woman who would look fine being together with any of those lesser men! There’s no way some trash like Isshiki could suit you!”

This time, it was clear that her eyes had grown in severity.

“Even Karen herself said it! That ‘Isshiki is boring, he doesn’t have any sort of manly charm. In more ways than one, he has too little experience with women’! A man like that coul…”

“Shut up already, Tetsuya!”

Touko-senpai’s voice was loud enough to be called a yell.

It was the first time I heard her speak in such a loud voice.

Most probably, it was the first time seeing Kamokura too saw Touko-senpai like that. He was dumbfounded for a moment.

Time within the venue seemed to have come to a stop. In the midst of it, Touko-senpai walked with firm steps as she drew closer to me.

In that same manner, she grabbed my arm and pulled it strongly, almost as if trying to pull me away from Kamokura.

Touko-senpai held my arm firmly against her chest and spoke with a shaky yet clear voice.

“I’m going to spend this night, with this person here, with Isshiki-kun…”

‘Spend this night with Isshiki-kun’.

Those words made the whole venue fall into silence. 

That statement… It was something that no one, not even I, who should have been expecting it, could believe.

I too had frozen in place as I stared at her fixedly.

Kamokura, who seemed unable to parse the words which Touko-senpai had said, at last, if only barely, moved his mouth to speak.

“That… That’s a lie, right?”

However, Touko-senpai continued as if making a declaration.

“I’m serious. I’ve already resolved myself to doing it.”

“You’re breaking up with me… And going with this guy…? Someone like Isshiki?”

“Isshiki-kun is honest. At the very least, he hasn’t lied to me.”

She said it calmly and matter-of-factly.

Kamokura looked at me with eyes filled with hatred before yelling.

“You! Some trash like you couldn’t possibly be a fit for Touko!”

I replied to him unwaveringly.

“I’m well aware of that! However, while you were having your love affair with Karen, I continued to fight together with Touko-senpai our way here the whole time. We’re fellow people who carry the same painful feelings and who have supported each other until now! You are the one who isn’t suitable for Touko-senpai!”

“Stop fucking me! In the first place, those hotel gift cards were given to Touko and me. There’s no way they’ll allow another man to go with her!”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Kamokura-san!”

The one to so cleanly deny him was Kazumi-san.

“You agreed but a few moments ago to hand over these two hotel gift cards to Touko. How she’ll use them is now up to Touko alone!”

“I won’t accept it! I absolutely won’t! Touko’s mine! Only I can have her!”

And as he spoke, Kamokura once again struggled, trying to break himself free from Nakazaki-san.

However, Nakazaki-san didn’t loosen his grip on him.

“Stop it, Kamokura! Touko-san’s feelings for you have already disappeared! Give it up!”

At the same time, everyone in the audience started booing him together.

“That’s right! Leave Touko-san alone!”

“You’re the one at fault here, Kamokura-san!”

“You’re the worst! To think you’d go as far as cheating with the girlfriend of your kouhai!”

“You reap what you sow, you bastard!”

“You! I’ll bet you were even laying your dirty hands on other women too!”

“You’re a disgrace, Kamokura!”

“Why would you even do it with someone like Karen?!”

“He even said that he liked me and invited me to date him! Can you believe him?!”

“He hit on me too! Does that mean he sees me the same as he did Karen?”

“I’m disappointed in him!”

“You lascivious bastard!”

Kamokura was showered in unrelenting, harsh criticisms from both men and women in equal measure.

Hearing everyone reproach him like that, as if finally accepting his fate, Kamokura let all strength leave his body. 

“… Touko…”

He whispered that word without any strength behind it.

Touko-senpai then spoke to me, almost as if she had wanted to avert her gaze from Kamokura.

“Let’s go, Isshiki-kun.”

She pulled on my arm after speaking. In that manner, both of us headed for the exit.

As we walked, everyone in the venue stepped aside and created a path for us to our destination.

“Touko!”

Kamokura yelled.

Despite that, Touko-senpai didn’t even try to turn around and look at him anymore.

Once we were close to the exit, she picked up her belongings. I followed her example and took mine into my hands too.

Grabbing onto my arm once again, Touko-senpai spoke when we were in front of the exit, never turning around to her back.

“Tetsuya, I think that it would be good for you to be more honest with yourself, too. It may have been that that was where we went wrong.”

Leaving those words behind, Touko-senpai left the restaurant together with me.