"Things"

-What kind of expression did he have at that time?

The image I have is of Kotaro from the cultural festival.

At that time, he intentionally provoked Kirari with his words and actions to ignite her.

With his voice, expressions, words, and attitude, he managed to infuriate Kirari, who had been lamenting her unrequited love, and as a result, she became determined.

"――Just you wait and see."

After saying that, Kirari's world changed drastically.

At first, she stood up with the sole intention of getting back at Kotaro. However, her anger gradually faded away, and in tandem with that, the haze in her mind cleared.

Her field of vision became clear, and everything appeared vividly.

Things she couldn't see before became visible, and she became aware of things she hadn't noticed before, including her own way of being.

She wanted Ryoma to experience that sensation too.

Right now, his perspective is extremely narrow, or rather, it would be more appropriate to say "until now”.

Ryoma Ryuzaki's eyes have been fixated on "Shiho Shimotsuki" from the past until the present. Nothing else is visible to him. Because of this, Ryoma cannot align his perspective with what's around him.

Even if he manages to glimpse something, it remains blurry.

That's why he can't value the people around him.

That's why he always thinks only about himself.

That's why he can't forget Shiho.

After all, he can only see himself and Shiho, so it's only natural.

In this way, Kirari decided to "provoke" Ryoma to clear away the haze that clouds his vision.

She wanted him to see things from different perspectives, to gain the imagination to consider others' intentions, because that's what it means to "care” about others.

That's what it means to be considerate...

"Enough already."

She referred to Kotaro's performance during the cultural festival as a reference.

Kotaro was surprisingly good at acting. So, although not as skilled as him, it seemed sufficient to deceive Ryoma, whose perspective was limited now.

"I-It's not like I'm still hung up on Shiho or anything."

He was clearly flustered.

Just hearing her name seemed to make him lose his composure.

In the first place, even changing like this was strange.

Objectively speaking, Shiho was nothing more than Ryoma's childhood friend, and their relationship was shallow. But he still continued to have deep feelings for her.

In response to his sticky attachment, Kirari clearly declared:

"It's disgusting. Even though she rejected you, why do you still have feelings for her? Why do you still expect there to be a chance when she's treating you so coldly? Stop it... It's not good to be so fixated on Shiho for her sake too."

To describe it as one-sided was an understatement.

Kirari felt that labeling it as "because I love her" was disgusting.

"N-no... it's not like that... It's not like I still like her. She's just my childhood friend, so I can't forget her... Isn't that normal? After getting rejected, it's normal to not be able to sort out your feelings right away, right?"

"That's not normal."

This was abnormal.

Why couldn't Ryoma forget about Shiho?

It was because his distorted way of thinking had a significant influence.

"Ryoma Ryuzaki. Listen, Shiho Shimotsuki is not your 'possession’. She was just a childhood friend, so she wasn't your possession in the past either. But you deluded yourself into thinking you 'had' her. That's why, even though you've lost her, you're still thinking, 'She should have been mine’."

The signs of this had been there for a while. Kirari had a vague sense of it.

But she had only recently been able to put it into words.

"I don't think of her as a possession at all! Shiho isn't a thing!"

"Really? Because you used to call us 'hand-me-downs'. Doesn't that mean you saw girls as objects? Not as human beings... but as possessions to enhance your own value?"

Kirari analyzed that this was the root of Ryoma Ryuzaki's problem.

That's why he couldn't empathize with others.

That's why he could only think about himself.

Because he didn't see other humans as equals.

Even in a harem-like situation, he felt nothing because the more accessories there were, the better.

And the most valuable accessory was Shiho Shimotsuki.

If he let go of her, his own value would decrease.

That's why he had an abnormal obsession with her...

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