Chapter 39 Unseemly Jealousy

Unseemly Jealousy

I never expected to run into Takeshi.

The distance between my house and the Itsumi family is only a few tens of seconds on foot. Besides, it’s after 22:00. The chances of running into him are slim…but if you think about it calmly, it’s not impossible.

In fact, it would have been good to be alert.

I was obviously caught off guard…or maybe it was a side effect of trying so hard not to think about Takeshi.

Whatever it is, the wound of being betrayed by this guy is still not completely healed.

Although I’m slowly recovering, I think I need more time to face him.

That’s why this encounter was ill-timed.

“Takumi…What are you doing with my mom? You seemed to be getting along well.”

Takeshi’s gaze was sharp.

The expression on his face was also strong, and he radiated anger to the point of being intimidating.

(Lately, she seems to be cold to him at home…Of course, if he saw me chatting with Hana-san at such a time, he would be angry.)

Even though he seems to be in a rebellious phase, Takeshi is quite attached to his mother.

As Hana-san mentioned earlier, she was a spoiled child and always clung to Hana-san.

“Why are you so quiet? Hey…say something!”

Obviously, he is jealous.

He can’t stand the fact that I, whom he looks down on, am getting along with someone he cares about the most.

He is frustrated with me. That’s probably why he yells and stares at me.

(…Calm down. There’s no point in being impatient.)

For example, even if I resisted, got angry, and confronted him here about the fact of the affair…we would end up in a fistfight, which would only produce a result that would make Hana-san sad.

I’m also not sure if Hana-san is ready to confront Takeshi yet.

So what I need to do here is——avoid him.

It’s not like the situation is weird right now.

I was just walking and chatting with Hana-san.

Then it would be more natural to be dignified.

“Hey, Takeshi…? Why are you mad at me? You can’t just yell at me out of the blue.”

I blurted it out on purpose.

I thought it was the best way to settle the situation peacefully.

But…it may have had the opposite effect.

“Don’t mess with me!”

He grabbed my chest and squeezed my neck.

This is not good…

“Hey, calm down. I just happened to see Hana-san carrying heavy luggage nearby, so I just helped her.”

“Takumi…are you making fun of me?”

Takeshi refused to accept any words of explanation.

Rather, his expression was more distorted with anger.

“You never make eye contact when you’re lying…it’s a habit you’ve had since you were little. Hey, what’s wrong with you? What are you trying to hide by lying like that?”

…Damn.

This is the downside of being childhood friends. We know things about each other that we don’t want to know.

“Hey, Takeshi…!”

Hana-san, who had been so quiet until now, as if she didn’t know what to do, obviously couldn’t keep quiet about this situation.

She tried to stop Takeshi from grabbing my chest, but,

“Shut up, Mom. This is between Takumi and me.”

Takeshi didn’t listen after all——