C.F. Ch.9

Ch 9 Self-Sacrifice (Souta’s POV)

On my way to school in the morning.

That day, I was unusually alone on my way to school.

In this situation, I would normally enjoy the peaceful solitary time without the three beautiful girls hovering around me, and elegantly go to school while reading a novel, but I was not in the mood for that right now.

“How did this happen?!”

It reminded me of yesterday after school.

I was summoned to the roof of the school building by my seniors and juniors.

There were no other students on the rooftop, and the place was awfully quiet, with only the sound of the athletic team practicing echoing softly from the schoolyard.

In front of me were Azaka-senpai and Rinka, my junior. And my sister-in-law Chris was accompanying me.

Normally, Kanae, my childhood friend, should have been here, but she was not.

Just before I came here, I also approached Kanae in the classroom.

“Today, as I said at noon, I’ve been invited by Rinka and Azaka-senpai -are you coming, too?”

“No, I wasn’t invited. I’m leaving.”

“What? Oh, no, but…”

Kanae quickly left with an unusually difficult look on her face.

As expected, I was not happy with Kanae’s attitude, but at the same time, I came to realize the reason for her blandness.

Maybe Kanae was annoyed because I had responded to a call from another girl, albeit in our friendship.

No, don’t think I’m too self-conscious, I’m certainly an admittedly negative person, but Kanae has been by my side throughout elementary school, middle school, and now high school. I’m sure you can guess what that means.

I may be a gloomy little boy, but I’m not an insensitive character.

“Kanae’s feelings for me” – well, since Kanae hasn’t told me directly, I’m not going to take the meaning out of her words…

“Hmm, I guess it’s really time for me to pay my dues. Good grief.”

I couldn’t help but smile at my childhood friend, who seemed to be a bit messy.

I’m in trouble, my childhood friend.

I sigh a little and switch my thoughts to focus on the two girls in front of me.

In front of me, Azaka-senpai and Rinka, my junior, are standing side by side with mysterious expressions on their faces, and my sister-in-law Chris, who is accompanying me, is watching us from a little distance.

Aha – I know this arrangement and atmosphere well. When I was in elementary school and middle school, all the girls who called me out in a formal way had the same face…

The storyline and dialogues were just as I had expected, and first of all, Rinka opened her mouth.

“I was scared when I first started school. When I first entered the school, I got tangled up with some scary people… At that time, I eventually fainted, but I heard later that my senior helped me… Well, since then! I love you!”

Once Rinka was finished, Azaka-senpai was next.

“I think I fell in love with you when I first heard about you through a junior colleague and then when I actually scouted you here. And I want to be in love with you from now on… If possible, I want to be closest to you… I love you, Souta-kun.”

In response, I naturally keep quiet, because I don’t want to hurt anyone. If I give the answer, what will happen to those who are not chosen? What about our relationship up to now? What will Kanae, who is not here, think?

Because I’m a loner, I understand the difficulty of human relationships and the importance of friends.

That’s why I feel so strongly about it.

Answers and endings that might hurt someone are absolutely wrong!

As I shouted this in my mind, the skin all over my body bubbled up and I felt a shiver run through me. My heart raced and my chest felt hot.

Hahaha–this kind of hotness is not really my character!

“I understand how you both feel. I just need some time to think it over properly!”

I declared in a high-pitched voice.

And that’s all that happened after school yesterday.

“How did this happen?…”

No matter how much I think about it, I can’t come up with a solution.

Yesterday after school, when I received Azaka-senpai’s and Rinka’s confession and strongly denied in my heart that “someone would end up unhappy” – that moment when my heart was burning, I thought I could do anything. I felt like I could do anything, and in fact, I was in such a state.

However, now, my calmness and ability to think has become my downfall, and I find myself thinking even more.

In order to avoid hurting anyone, it would be preferable to keep our relationship as it has always been, without crowding or pampering.

It’s true that I’m a bit of a nerd, so I don’t want to be in a situation where I’m surrounded by three girls and attracting attention. No, on the contrary, from now on, Kanae will be joining me, so there will be four girls surrounding me, and my burden will double…

But I can’t hurt them, so it’s hard for me to reject them. I want to say something straightforward. But for the sake of the girls, I have no choice but to endure.

“Haha… self-sacrifice is not my thing…”

And at this point, Kanae, who is also a girl, would be more qualified than Yukiya to mediate between us and settle the situation.

In this situation, I think calmly and make a decision.

“But Kanae seems to have gone to school on her own again today.”

She followed my instructions and only sent me an email.

“I’m going to school first again today.”

Kanae is carefree enough to add a rabbit emoji at the end of text.

As expected, I felt annoyed, as Friendship was in a serious situation.

No, Kanae doesn’t know the situation. It’s no use scolding her. I have to tell her what’s going on and tell her what to do.

I calmed myself down and concluded that.

However, my idea of letting Kanae handle the situation was thwarted by a completely unexpected obstacle.

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