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

Final Stage

TL: Furby

Still holding my arm as she pulled on it, Touko-senpai and I left the restaurant and continued to walk briskly through the night street. 

She looked as if she was angry at everything around her.

“Erm, ahh, Touko-senpai…?”

Even if I tried to call out to her, she would neither reply nor turn to look at me.

She simply continued to pull my arm and walk forward. 

I was overwhelmed by that unlike-her behavior of Touko-senpai and was unable to say anything else.

… Touko-senpai, what’s wrong with her? Is she really going to spend a night together with me like this?...

I could feel something closer to uneasiness than anticipation well up inside of me.

It was true that Touko-senpai had said that if she was to have a love affair, it would be after she had confronted her partner with proof of their cheating.

And tonight, before every member of our group, she had made that declaration, terminating her relationship with Kamokura. 

That was the reason why there was no problem with where and with whom she spent her night.

Not to mention that deep inside, I had also been wishing to be that person that Touko-senpai would choose when the time came.

But I wondered, just what was this strange feeling?

Was this really the ‘night with Touko-senpai’ that I had been waiting for?

We were doing this on the basis of it being part of our revenge for their cheating, so of course, it was never going to be a very romantic development, but I still felt like there was something way off here.

Despite that, Touko-senpai only continued to pull my arm and walk towards the hotel in a manner seemingly unaffected by any of those doubts I had.

Or rather, perhaps I should say that she seemed to be trying to get rid of her hesitation?

Before long, the Hotel Bay Tokyo International came into view.

With the same gait as she had up to now, Touko-senpai entered the hotel’s brightly lighted lobby.

She walked to the reception, and when she was before it, for the first time since we left the restaurant, let go of my arm and went ahead to make the reservation by herself. 

During that time, all I could do was stand uselessly in place, not doing anything.

Though, considering that it was Touko-senpai who had the hotel gift cards, there wasn’t much I could have done, anyways…

Once she had received the key from the reception, Touko-senpai again grabbed my hand without speaking a word, and we entered the elevator.

You know, was it me, or did this look completely as if I was the one being led into some place?

I wonder what the people around us thought when they saw us pass.

We alighted from the elevator on the 12th floor. We walked across the luxurious hallway until we were before our assigned room. As soon as we were in front of it, Touko-senpai used the key card and opened the door of the room.

My heart was pounding fast and loud.

… Touko-senpai, are you really spending this night, with me?...

 I had been dubious about it until now that we had come here.

Now that she had come this far, it meant that Touko-senpai was serious about it too.

If that was the case, then what sort of a person would I be if I faltered at this point?

Despite my thinking like that, I could feel my legs tremble as I entered the room.

It was understandable. I was entering a hotel room together with Touko-senpai, the person to whom I had looked up and yearned for since my high school days.

Even now that we were in this situation, I could hardly believe it myself.

The room was a twin room. You could also enjoy the night scenery of Bay Bridge and Odaiba from outside the window.
(TL Note: "Bay Bridge” is a reference to the Rainbow Bridge)

I’ll bet this was the best room for couples to stay in during Christmas.

Touko-senpai threw the purse she had been carrying in her hand along with her coat on top of the bed and then she sat on the bed, too.

Timidly, I sat on top of the other bed.

This I did in a way such that Touko-senpai and I were facing each other.

Touko-senpai, who had until then had this expression of half-fear, half-nervousness, looked at my face and frowned.

“You’re bleeding…”

Hearing that, I hurriedly brushed my fist against my lips. I saw a small amount of blood smeared on my right hand.

I imagine it was from back when I got hit by Kamokura.

I was too excited at the time to notice it, but it would seem that it had managed to cut my lip slightly.

“Stay put for a bit.”

Touko-senpai opened her purse and took out some absorbent cotton.

She then pressed it slightly against the left side of my lip and wiped off the blood. 

“Honestly speaking, though, I would’ve preferred to disinfect it first…”

As was to be expected, she then took out an adhesive bandage and put it on me.

“I’m fine, really. It wasn’t such a big injury, to begin with.”

The moment she heard me say that Touko-senpai looked at me with worry in her eyes.

“I’m very sorry. To think that you ended up having to take a hit like that for me…”

“Oh, no. Please don’t apologize for that. It’s not something for which you should apologize, Touko-senpai.”

I stared back right at Touko-senpai.

She stared at me with those two eyes of hers which shone a deep indigo blue.

Her long eyelashes; her, though slightly on the small side, delicate and straight nose; her small yet voluptuous vermilion lips.

Realizing once again the beauty that Touko-senpai possessed, I felt myself close to fainting.

Touko-senpai and I found ourselves in the middle of a silence none of us could break as time continued to flow.

Just as that silence began to feel suffocating, unable to withstand it any longer, I opened my mouth and spoke.

“Ah, erm, Touko-senpai…”

“… Yes?”

“… Are you really fine with this?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I mean, about the thing with Kamokura-senpai, and about you coming here together with me…”

If you asked me, I had no intention of ignoring Touko-senpai’s feelings and forcing her to spend the night together with me.

From the very beginning, her deciding, of her own volition, that she wanted to do it was the single most important condition. 

Should Touko-senpai have even the slightest bit of doubt about this, I was prepared to go back to my house without saying another word.

"The matter with Tetsuya couldn’t be helped. I too had long since made up my mind in that I would break up with him.”

Touko-senpai answered calmly.

After that, I took a deep breath and asked my final question.

“Then that means…that you coming here, with me… Erm, you’re spending the night, together with me…?”

Touko-senpai instantly broke eye contact with me.

Next, with her gaze still directed at the floor, she turned her torso to the right and tightly grasped both her hands atop her brought together knees.

Seeing her profile, I saw that her transparent-like white skin was tinged a soft pink.

“… First, go and take a shower…”

Seemingly bashful, Touko-senpai spoke in a barely audible voice.

“Ah… Yes…”

Following her instructions to the letter, I clumsily rose to my feet and headed toward the bathroom.

 

The bathroom was constructed in an equally lavish manner as the rest of the room. You could even enjoy the bay area’s nightscape from here, too.

Still standing under the shower with the water running, I stood still for a while, thinking.

… Am I really going to do it with Touko-senpai after this?...

… With her, who is also called the ‘Secret Miss Jouto University’ and the ‘True Queen of Campus’? She who is the one that every boy from Jouto University admires?...

… The very person who I have looked up to and had a one-sided crush on since my time at high school?...

The sheer nervousness made it hard for me to breathe. This sort of stuff hadn’t even happened during my time with Karen, who was also my first time.

Nonetheless… Now that we’d come this far, all that was left was going forward.

I too had been wishing for this. I should have been wishing for it.

After all, ever since the beginning, it was I who first asked her to cheat with me.

I had succeeded in everything according to my initial goal: getting my payback on that scumbag of a senpai who had stolen my girlfriend by stealing his own girlfriend myself. There should have been nothing over which to hesitate anymore.

… Are you sure that you want to get together with Touko-senpai in this manner?...

In my head, I heard someone’s voice asking me that question.

 

After I finished wiping off the vapor from the shower thoroughly, I left the bathroom feeling refreshed.

I was properly dressed from head to toes. 

Touko-senpai was seated on the bed in exactly the same position as she was before I entered the bathroom.

Perhaps sensing that I had exited the bathroom, she suddenly lowered her head.

“I’m very sorry! I, I’ll go back to my house after all!”

Not even bothering to look at me, she spoke in a voice as loud as a yell.

“I was too enraged at the party and…ended up saying that without thinking. And then I came all the way here while still angry and not thinking clearly… But, as I thought, I can’t do this. I am NOT doing that sort of things until after I marry!”

“Eh?”

I let out a voice of surprise unintentionally.

‘I am not doing that sort of things until after I marry’? Then that meant…

“Erm, I don’t have any problem with you going back to your home for the night, Touko-senpai… But what did you mean by ‘I am not doing that sort of things’?”

Touko-senpai, her face beet red, nodded.

“Then… You haven’t done anything like that with Kamokura-senpai, not even once. Is that it?”

She nodded once again.

“But if I remember correctly, Touko-senpai, you said that Kamokura-senpai was your first.”

With her face still flushed, she looked up at me with her two eyes.

“I meant that he was my first boyfriend. I never said anything like him being the first person with whom I had had s****l relationships! Up to now, I have never done anything of the sort! Not once!”

She answered with a slightly pouting tone while looking embarrassed.

Heeehh…

I felt like, not only my mind, but even the whole world went blank at this moment.

“I had been telling Tetsuya all this time that I would give him my first time during Christmas Eve. Because of that, Tetsuya had been really looking forward to it, and with that as leverage, I had been making him listen to all my unreasonable demands…”

Still dumbfounded, I simply stood there, listening to Touko-senpai as she explained.

And…at the same time, I was unbelievably relieved.

The thing which I had resolved myself to while I was in the bathroom. That was that I wouldn’t do anything with Touko-senpai tonight.

My relationship with Touko-senpai wasn’t something that frivolous. Not to mention that getting to be together with her like this was not what I really wanted.

Touko-senpai had become a far more important and valuable existence for me.

That’s why her saying that there wasn’t anything of the sort between her and Kamokura was a most pleasing surprise.

“I’m sorry, Isshiki-kun. I ended up doing something akin to playing around with your feelings… But this is something I won’t conced…”

“It’s fine, Touko-senpai.”

Calmly, gently, I spoke to her.

“You’re the one who saved me when I had fallen to the deepest of the low in despair. You’re the one who, when I was in the middle of that helpless suffering, gave me a purpose for which to aim in the form of the plan of ‘getting revenge on the two of them’. Touko-senpai, the reason for which I was able to come this far without giving in to despair was you. I am well and truly grateful to you.”

Touko-senpai looked up at me. Those eyes of hers were full of tears about to overflow.

“Me too… You being there with me saved me more than I can say, Isshiki-kun. You were the one who supported my heart, which was on the verge of breaking. I should be the one to give you my thanks.”

Touko-senpai kept her gaze fixed on me.

Like her, I too stared at her fixedly. I could feel myself being absorbed into those two beautiful eyes of hers.

Never looking away from each other, our faces were drawing closer to each other… At that moment, a cellphone rang.

Both of us were startled by it and pulled our bodies away from each other.

Touko-senpai grabbed her purse from atop the bed in a fluster. She took out her phone from inside it.

Touko-senpai stared at her smartphone for a while, and before long, lifted her gaze from it.

“I’m sorry. It seems my father came to pick me up. I have to go already.”

“It’s okay, really. Don’t worry about it.”

I answered her with a smile. Truthfully speaking, though, I did feel a bit disappointed. 

Touko-senpai got off the bed and quickly took her coat and purse in her hand.

“Well, then. I’ll be leaving. Feel free to take your time, Isshiki-kun. The checkout for the room is tomorrow at 10 am, after all.”

If I’m being honest, spending the night in this room by myself felt a bit lonely… Though I guess it couldn’t be helped.

“Ah! One last thing before you leave!”

I called out in a hurry to Touko-senpai as she was about to leave the room. She turned around to look at me.

“Oh, well… Now that the plan has come to an end, I believe it right to say that I no longer have any reasons to meet with you, Touko-senpai… Even so, we’ve gone through so much and I finally managed to get on such good terms with you. Do you think that even after this I could perhaps meet and talk with you every now and then?”

Touko-senpai looked at me bewildered, but after she heard me, she smiled sweetly at me.

“Sure. We’re both fellow lonely people who don’t have a partner, after all. Please call me later, Isshiki-kun.”

After one last bashful ‘see you again’, she opened the door and left the room.

 

Now that I was alone, I stretched my arms and legs as I lay down on the bed.

I was feeling oddly refreshed.

‘I am not doing that sort of things until after I marry’.

The words that Touko-senpai had spoken not too long ago came back to my mind.

It may have been a rarely heard principle in these modern times, but I found it quite like Touko-senpai.

I was certain that that part of her too was one of her many wonderful charms.

… In other words, this meant two things. One, that Touko-senpai is still a virgin; two, that even that Kamokura hadn’t been able to do any kind of s****l thing with her…

And now, I was finally able to join the dots and make sense of everything.

 

Why had Kamokura so readily canceled his cheating trip with Karen without even asking for her opinion?

Why was Touko-senpai able to manipulate Kamokura all this time?

What was the trump card that Touko-senpai held against Kamokura?

The answer to all of these questions was ‘Touko-senpai’s first time’ and how much Kamokura was hoping to have it!

 

The instant I thought that far, I burst into laughter. My laugh echoed all around the room.

… Kamokura had been aiming for Touko-senpai since his high school days.

… This year, at long last, he had been able to date her.

… However, he hadn’t been allowed to have s*x with her even once.

… And then came tonight, when it turned out that I would spend the night together with that very same Touko-senpai.

Wasn’t that like the greatest ‘stolen from right under one’s nose’ ever?

Did this mean that, because he had been too busy having fun with someone like Karen, Kamokura had gotten the very best maiden of all stolen from him by me?

This had to be, as a man, the most frustrating thing that could happen to someone, right?

Also, forget about paying him back with interests, this had just become the greatest, impossible-to-beat payback ever.

… This is the best. It really is the best, Touko-senpai! Just how in the world did you even manage to create this situation…

I found myself rolling around in laughter. I could bet that if someone else saw me like this, they’d think that I’d gone soft in the head.

… Alright! How about I make this happen for real? I’ll show you. I’ll become the real boyfriend of Touko-senpai. And then, I’ll be the one to take all of Sakurajima Touko!...

I had decided on my new goal.

It would be only until I had done that much that the ‘Cheating back plan’ would truly be completed.

 

My, Isshiki Yuu’s fight, had only just gotten started!