Not Doping, but "Medicine"

"Love"

Upon hearing those words, Ryoma suddenly collapsed on the floor.

"What's going on...?"

His legs wouldn't move.

It was as if his body was refusing to function.

He tried to stand up and say something, but words eluded him. His thoughts weren't cooperating either.

This was something he had never experienced before.

Right now, he couldn't comprehend the emotions he held.

"Kirari..."

He called out her name and tried to respond, but he couldn't say anything, making him feel absurdly inadequate.

"Being told all this and not saying anything back, it's uncool."

He thought as he attempted to respond.

"It's okay, you don't have to force it."

However, Kirari gently rejected his efforts.

"I don't need an answer yet... No, I don't want to hear Ryoma Ryuzaki's answer right now. I want you to think about your feelings, your position, and the future, and then tell me your answer to my confession."

Kirari held Ryoma's hand and smiled gently.

As he looked at her, Ryoma felt a strange sensation again.

--Here we go again.

Every time Kirari smiled at him with kindness, every time she touched him gently, his body seemed to freeze.

No, that wasn't it.

His body wasn't freezing.

"Haha... I can't move, my legs have given out."

It was just a feeling of relief and a lack of strength.

In short, he was out of his element.

Upon realizing this, Ryoma finally understood his own feelings.

"I see... am I happy?"

Until a moment ago, he had been angry, sad, and in pain.

But now, it was different.

"I'm happy that Kirari didn't dislike me, and she still liked the flawed me."

He confessed, finally making sense of his emotions.

In the end, he had been afraid of being disliked.

"I'm more afraid of being disliked by Kirari and the others than I thought."

With these words, he relaxed his expression.

Seeing his relieved expression, Kirari also smiled with joy.

"Surprisingly, Ryu-kun is quite the lonely one, isn't he? If you're concerned about being disliked, there's still hope."

"Am I still salvageable? I thought it was all over, not just with Yuzuki, but also with Kirari, and Azusa..."

That's why he had been sulking.

In other words, he had been giving up on his own romantic comedy.

　Since I can't do it anyway...I was about to throw away my own romantic comedy.

He had been on the verge of becoming the kind of protagonist an author would depict just before cancellation. But now, it was different.

Kirari's "love" had healed Ryoma's tarnished heart.

"I don't know about the other girls, but I still like you, Ryu-kun. Don't worry, it's okay to make mistakes. Let's work on it together from now on. Let's think again. What does 'love' really mean? I want you to face it sincerely."

She wouldn't abandon him.

Ryoma was saved by her feelings.

"Yeah, you're right... Wait, what?"

As he nodded, he suddenly felt warmth on his cheek, and he realized it was tears a little later.

"Am I crying?"

"...Yeah, you're crying. Were my words that harsh?"

"N-no, it's not that! I think... I'm probably happy."

--It was once upon a time.

In the first part, Ryoma had awakened thanks to Azusa's confession. He had used Azusa's affection as a form of doping, inflating his self-esteem to confess to Shiho Shimotsuki.

In the end, due to Kotaro's efforts, he never fully transformed into the protagonist. However, in the past, he had not accepted the affection of the sub-heroines but had taken advantage of it. That's the kind of person he used to be.

But now, it was different.

Instead of using Kirari's love as doping, he was accepting it as a proper "medicine" to heal himself.

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