Chapter 14 You're Not Alone in Betrayal

You’re Not Alone in Betrayal

Ichika apologized profusely even though it wasn’t her fault at all.

Of course, I wanted to stop her. But she continued her words with a force that wouldn’t let me, so I didn’t have time to stop her.

“Takumi-nii, you always loved that woman…”

“Huh? How do you know that?”

“Don’t you remember…? You said it yourself when I was in fifth grade.”

“Me? To Chika-chan?”

“Yeah. (I like a girl named Kaori, but what can I do to make her like me?) You always say that.”

…If Ichika is in fifth grade, that means I was in first grade.

I wonder if we talked as part of our daily conversation because I don’t remember it at all.

“You are single-minded. You always say that you have loved her since elementary school…so I was rooting for you behind your back. I was also happy to hear from my brother that you two finally started dating recently. So why…?”

I see…she also heard about my recent situation from Takeshi.

So does…mean that she knew about Kaori’s and my situation, so she was able to guess a lot when she saw them at the hotel?

“…is the worst.”

Normally, she is a pretty girl with a bright, innocent smile.

That is Itsumi Ichika.

But not now.

She has the coldest expressionless face I’ve ever seen, and her voice is devoid of emotion.

“I really…despise my brother.”

In some ways, her disgust is even greater than that of her mother, Hana-san.

For an adolescent girl, Takeshi’s actions are physiologically unacceptable.

“If I had friends who did that, I would cut them off. It’s not normal…How do you think people feel? I can’t believe it, I can’t understand it, I can’t relate to it at all. I can’t believe my…relatives are doing this disgusting act.”

Takeshi and Ichika were supposed to get along well as brother and sister.

Well, their relationship was good, although Takeshi’s love was a little too strong, or he tended to be overprotective of his sister.

“I was a fool to think that my brother was somehow…kind, even though he was a bit strange in some ways.”

…I’m not the only one who was betrayed.

Ichika and Hana-san were both betrayed by Takeshi.

To the two of them, who were kind and pure, it seemed like his actions were something they could never tolerate.

“If something like this happens…I want to be by Takumi-nii’s side.”

The regret seems to go back even further.

“What does that mean?”

“…I left Takumi-nii so that I wouldn’t interfere with your love.”

I have often wondered why I became estranged from Ichika…but now the reason has finally been revealed.

“Kaori-san? I didn’t want to be misunderstood by someone named Kaori…and I have a brother too, so I thought I could trust her with Takumi-nii.”

Earlier, she said that the last time she talked to me was when she was in fifth grade. That was around the time I told her about Kaori.

I knew she was nice…and thought about me a lot.

But she had a regretful look on her face as if she was telling me that her decision had been a mistake.

“If I had known this would happen…I should have taken better care of you…Takumi-nii is a careless person. You trust people easily, you’re not careful…and if I had been right next to you——I could have protected you.”

I’m not sure if I was really that careless.

Well, like she said, there’s a part of me that doesn’t know Takeshi and Kaori’s true nature, so I couldn’t deny it——